The largest city in the Central Territory of the Sea People, Ifondanro, is the capital of a certain Grand Duchy that was conquered by the Sea People. The city is backed by a mountain and faces a lake. The crescent-shaped urban area extends along the largest freshwater lake in the central region. A stone road no more than three feet wide goes up and down along the lake shore. It is the largest traffic artery in the city. Less than three feet below the embankment on the roadside is the crystal clear lake water. The waves of the lake beat against the clean and slippery roadbed rocks, making a tiny crackling sound.
A series of clean and tidy stone paths extend from this lakeside avenue into the city, leading to the small mountains behind the city. It is the time when spring flowers are blooming. On the mountains behind Yifengdanlu, the flowers of a very tall tree are blooming extremely gorgeously. They are as red as neon clouds and as pink as flying frost. Flowers of various colors make the mountains Beautifully decorated. Exquisite little castles and small pointed wooden buildings popped out from the trees and flowers, overlooking the pale red rooftops of the city below.
This is a peaceful and quiet city. Even when the sea people's army first swarmed in from the west to occupy this city, it did not suffer any disaster. Because the grand duke of this grand duchy was very wise, when hundreds of heavily armored knights under the grand duke at that time were easily blown to pieces by a heavy sea chariot in the wild, he immediately issued an order for the whole country to surrender. It was precisely because of his surrender that it brought great convenience to the Hai people in conquering the Central Territory. For thousands of years, Yifengdanlu has been highly favored by the Hai people. It is not only the key support target of the Hai people in building the Central Territory, but also Great deals and care in every aspect. The residents of Ifondanro are happy and peaceful.
But, since last year, everything has changed.
First, a group of extremely ferocious barbarians led countless monsters and swept through Yifengdanlu, annihilating hundreds of elite seamen troops and tens of thousands of levied troops in the city. A massacre frightened the Grand Duke of Ifondanlune and countless ministers and people. It was a cruel method that they had never seen or heard of. All the soldiers of the Sea Legion who were killed were not dead.
Subsequently, the Hairen army reoccupied this place and launched an attack to the east. According to the leader of the Sea Legion, the barbaric and primitive country in the east will be conquered by the Sea People. The people of Yifengdanlu cheered and bid farewell to the army of sea people. They even regarded themselves as the current Grand Duke of a pure sea people and sent three thousand knights to help in the battle.
But the good times did not last long. What ushered in was the complete defeat of the Hairen ground army, and Daxia's army that mobilized the whole country to sweep across the land like a swarm of locusts. Yfontainebleau suffered the only tragic robbery in history. All food, wine, and materials that could be used as military supplies were swept away. There were also some undisciplined Xia troops who caused great harm to the local people, causing three or four out of ten households in the city to have funerals. As for unmarried pregnancies, there were even more cases.
Therefore, the residents of Yifengdanlu have the deepest fear and awe for the army from the country called Bactria in the east. They have been harmed, they have been ruined, they have been ravaged, but they cannot muster the slightest spirit of resistance. For thousands of years, the Sea People's rule over them has perfectly brainwashed them. Respecting the strong, respecting the strong, and dedicating everything to the strong has become the consensus of the people in these territories that were invaded by sea people.
"Well, I like people like this. At least they won't cause us too much trouble."
Riding on Xuanwu¡¯s back armor, Xia Jie touched the prickly beard residue on his chin and smiled meaningfully at the densely packed people on Lakeside Avenue holding flowers to greet them.
With the sound of iron hoofs, the mounts mounted by the newly recruited "Barbarian Army" warriors - the triangular bison unique to the southern mountain forests, impatiently kicked the smooth stone slabs, making a dull sound of "Pap-Pap-Pap". The heavy sound The sound of hoofbeats seemed to hit the hearts of the people on the roadside, causing some of the gorgeously dressed people who were obviously nobles to lower their heads in fear, bow deeply at ninety degrees, and express themselves to Xia Jie who was leading the army into the city. The most pious sense of surrender.
Ai Wei, who was following Xia Jie on a pony, gritted her teeth and looked angrily at the servile people on the roadside, and cursed in a low voice: "These poor people have forgotten their roots. , have they forgotten who they are"
Xia Jie gently tapped Ai Wei's shoulder with the small bamboo whip in his hand, stopping Ai Wei's curses and complaints. Xia Jie sighed: "Ai Wei, you have to remember that because of your help during my first western expedition, I allowed you to take your retainers to rebuild your kingdom. But, don't give me Looking for trouble, okay?¡±
He looked deeply at Ai Wei, who was biting her lip and looking determined, and sighed: "Remember one thing, in Daxia, I am just a little person who can be crushed to death by some people. I letIt is not easy to restore the country. You must not think about leading your weak motherland to resist our rule in Daxia. "
"Your motherland is not in the central territory that I guard. Your country is in the eastern territory. Unfortunately, the current governor of the eastern territory is Xiang Liurou, an enemy of mine who is not very friendly. He has a heart like a snake and a scorpion. If you do something too extreme, I think he will not hesitate to massacre all the creatures in your country." Xia Jie solemnly warned Ai Wei: "I allow you to come to Yifengdanlu to recruit an army. Take it back to your homeland, but I won't allow you to do anything that might get me into trouble."
Xiang Liurou is guarding the Eastern Territory, which is really a troublesome thing. Xia Jie cursed angrily in his heart. However, there is no way. The positions of several governors are divided up by the four major witch families and the royal court. Since the governor of the central territory is Xia Jie, then the governor of the eastern territory becomes Xiang Liurou, and the governor of the northern territory becomes Xiang Liurou. After losing Shen Gongbao's brothers, the governor of the southern territory became a few capable children of the Fangfeng family. This was a matter of course.
Ai Wei bit her lip and nodded vigorously. She said a little unwillingly: "I'm not that stupid. The Hai people have been completely conquered by you. How could I think of resisting you? I just want to let our ancestors The flag is flying again. I hope that Xiang Liurou you are talking about will allow me to conquer those great nobles who split our motherland under the instigation of the sea people!"
Xing Tian Dafeng rushed over from the side with a bit of a bad smile. He smiled and said: "Ai Wei, actually this matter is simple. If you are willing to marry me, Xing Tian Dafeng, as my concubine Oh, you Do you really dare to take action?" Ai Wei whipped the back of Xing Tian Dafeng's hand that was stretched out to her thigh. Xing Tian Dafeng reluctantly withdrew his hand, mumbling, not knowing what he was complaining about.
Ahead was a gentle hillside. A group of well-dressed people stood on the top of the hillside, looking at Xia Jie and his party walking along the stone road. This slope is about two miles long. Xia Jie and the others stood at the bottom of the slope and had to raise their heads to see the group of people. Of course, these people were under the banner of welcoming the Daxia garrison to Yifengdanlu. The handwriting on the flag was twisted and ugly. It was obviously from some officials in Yifengdanlu who had learned the Daxia script in a hurry. hand.
Xia Jie ignored Xingtian Dafeng and Ai Wei's flirting, and Xuanwu climbed up the stone path steadily. Gradually, he reached the end of the stone path. Several fat men with shiny faces blinked their small eyes and looked at Xia Jie motionlessly. The position they stood on was relatively high, taking advantage of the terrain. Xia Jie still had to look up at them.
Xia Jie snorted in displeasure and patted Xuanwu's big head. Xuanwu understood, and his body quickly expanded, swelling into the shape of a giant turtle ten feet tall. Xia Jie stood up, stood on Xuanwu's back, glanced coldly at the frightened fat men, and sneered: "Are you welcoming us?"
Xuanwu's transformation frightened this group of nobles who had never seen the world of Yifengdanlu. The leader, a fat man wearing a golden and luxurious robe, knelt down on the ground with a "Gulu" sound and trembled. The chief shouted: "Dear Governor, your most loyal servant, Grand Duke Bailu, Will Bailu, leads the equally loyal nobles to welcome you."
Xia Jie sneered and looked at a palace-like building behind this group of people. This is the end of the stone road, located on the highest hill in the city of Ifondamlo. On a piece of flat land with a radius of about five or six miles, there are several buildings with strange architectural styles. The lower half is extremely thick and solid like a bunker, but the upper half is a palace that is exquisite and almost grotesque. It stands quietly. The red and white palace in the middle has a tower that is about a hundred feet high. It should be used as a lookout tower. Standing on it, you can overlook the movement of a hundred miles away near Yifeng Danlu.
Behind these fat men, nearly a thousand well-dressed men and women bowed to Xia Jie fearfully, not daring to show any slightness.
Xia Jie looked around and saw that the location of this high hill was very good. He could have an unobstructed view of the urban area of ??Ifondamlo and the lake outside the city. The scenery was excellent. Of course, the scenery would be even better if the group of fat people in front of us weren't an eyesore. He couldn't help but sneer in his heart, these nobles who have been conquered by the sea people for thousands of years may have lived in peace for too long and have no political sensitivity at all. They stood at such a high place to greet Daxia's conquering army. Fortunately, they were the ones who came here. If any other Daxia general had led the army, these nobles would have been killed long ago.
Shaking his head, not bothering to bully these nobles who had been trained by the sea people to be as obedient as slaves, Xia Jie motioned to Xuanwu to shrink his body, and gently tapped Wei Bailu's head with the bamboo whip in his hand: "I promise you The safety of your family and the safety of your property. As long as you support my rule in Daxia and pay your taxes on time every three months.??Grain, grass and taxes, you can keep your noble position. Of course, you must understand that you are now the people of Daxia, and your aristocratic status is a second-class noble. "
Second-class nobles, that is to say, they enjoy privileges, but in front of the real Daxia nobles, they are just inferior characters. Keeping their own noble titles is nothing more than saving some trouble. But Xia Jie knew that the good days for these people to retain their noble titles would not last long, and Daxia would slowly digest these territories. When Daxia has enough appetite to swallow up these new territories, these people will become ordinary people of Daxia.
Retaining their noble titles at this time is nothing more than to save them from making trouble, and at the same time, it just allows them to appease the people in the territory.
Xingtian Dafeng and the others also rushed over. Ai Wei couldn't bear to look at Duke Bai Lu, who was lying on the ground in fear, and whispered: "Lord Xia Jie, my army."
"Hmm!" Xia Jie nodded and hit Duke Bailu hard with his bamboo whip. He said coldly: "You can keep five hundred guards, and the nobles under you will be reduced in descending order according to their titles. All other extra guards and private troops will be handed over to Princess Aiwei, and she will lead them to do something. Princess Ai Wei wants to recruit an army of 30,000 people in the Bailu Principality, and you will be responsible for the military pay and food and grass, do you understand?"
Xiang Liurou can tolerate Ai Wei's restoration of the country in his own territory, but he will definitely not agree to Ai Wei's recruitment of troops in his territory. Only Xia Jie, a witch whose behavior is completely different from that of the great witches, would fulfill his promise to Ai Wei so softly.
Behind them, thousands of warriors from the barbarian army rode on three-cornered bison that were about three feet tall, wearing dark wizard armor and helmets with two sharp horns on their heads. They walked over like a group of devils from hell. With the appearance of this group of warriors full of murderous intent and ugly faces, more than a thousand noble men and women who greeted Xia Jie and his party in the square fell to the ground at the same time. Some even shivered and urinated, and even timid women were beaten to death. He fainted from fear.
Not bothering to look at this group of nobles who meant nothing to him, Xia Jie dispatched thousands of barbarian warriors to set up military camps nearby. The barbarian army recruited by the Xingtian brothers in the barbarian country had a total of five million people, and they almost wiped out the remaining elite shamans in the barbarian country. Five million Wuwu, all high-ranking warriors with Wuding or above, combined with a large number of other ordinary Wuwu and sorcerers, are enough to guard the vast central territory. As long as more than a hundred barbarian soldiers are stationed in each city, they can intimidate the people within a radius of dozens of miles.
As the largest city in the Central Territory, the number of garrison troops in Ifondamlu will reach 200,000. There are 20,000 high-ranking barbarian soldiers and 180,000 low-ranking or low-ranking barbarian soldiers, an army similar to reserve armies such as the Black Sword Army and the Xuanbiao Army.
Although Xia Jie is not good at matters such as internal affairs, this is an era where force is used to convince people. As long as he has enough force to destroy the Central Territory, there will be nothing left to say. Controlling the army and then urging nobles of all sizes to pay taxes and grain on time are Xia Jie's most important tasks now. Daxia is mobilizing and cultivating enough government officials, preparing to slowly replace these original nobles.
As long as Daxia has enough officials to rule this new territory, nobles like Duke Bailu will be completely abandoned. Of course, this process will be very long, because after defeating the Hai people, the territory obtained is too large, more than ten times or even dozens of times the size of Daxia itself, and it requires too many officials. Even the major witch families simply cannot spare so many manpower. What's more, they still have their own clan land to take care of?
Before Daxia can completely control the new territory, Xia Jie, the governor of the central territory, will have to work for a long time.
Not bothering to pay attention to these incompetent nobles, Xia Jie and his men commanded his generals to set up camp outside the city of Yifengdanlu. The five thousand barbarian troops stationed in the city, plus the 195,000 troops stationed in the three camps on the north, west and south sides of Ifondam, are enough to suppress all sudden changes within a thousand miles.
Poor Grand Duke Bailu dragged his fat body and followed Xia Jie. He was busy in front of the saddle and behind the saddle, constantly instructing the people in the city to donate various materials to help the army set up the military camp. At the same time, he also had to deal with Ai Wei's urging, gathering the private troops in the hands of the nobles of the Bailu Principality, gathering 30,000 troops, and handing them over to Ai Wei.
After four or five days of such busy work, it was finally possible to arrange Daxia's army properly. Ai Wei also rushed to the Eastern Territory with an army of 30,000 soldiers and a hundred expert guards from Xia Jie to support her. Grand Duke Bailu, who had lost a lot of weight, Then he breathed a sigh of relief, but immediately sent his butler to invite Xia Jie to attend the banquet he had carefully arranged. However, Xia Jie, who was so busy that his heels hit the back of his head, resolutely refused his invitation. Among the Xingtian brothers, Xingtian, the only one who came to Yifengdanlu? and Xia Jie's deputy Chi Ming also rejected the invitation, which made Grand Duke Bailu feel anxious again and hurriedly donated a large amount of gold, silver and jewelry.
Xia Jie and Xing Tian Dafeng, who were busy with their own affairs and rejected all the invitations from the nobles in the territory, made these nobles suspicious and doubted whether they had offended these terrible conquerors. At the same time, they also doubted whether these conquerors A massacre of these nobles is brewing. Because it is said that the nobles of some countries in the Eastern Territory have been completely killed by the newly appointed governor.
The nobles, who felt that their situation was precarious, hurriedly presented a large amount of property to Xia Jie. With thousands of years of family savings, the property presented by these nobles was very rich, and even Xingtian Dafeng felt a sense of astonishment that was almost suffocating.
It happened that Xia Jie had already completed the work of thoroughly mastering these recruited barbarian troops in accordance with Qi Xin's instructions. The five brothers Xingtian Xuanzhi who led the troops stationed in several other important cities also sent back the same news, so Xia Jie was in a relaxed mood. Jie happily accepted another kind invitation from Grand Duke Bailu and attended the palace banquet held by him.
It was at this banquet that Xia Jie received his first challenge after becoming the governor.