There are strict regulations on knighthoods in the empire. Those who pay military expenses and donations under the uncle are false titles, and they cannot inherit without actual fiefdoms. However, any title related to territory, even if it is only at the level of viscount, has strict laws and regulations on conferring titles, inheritance, and exercise of power .
In particular, the border marquis, hereditary will not surrender, and every word in the name is particular, and it will never be sealed indiscriminately. The beginning of every feudal marquis and feudal title comes from the expansion of territory, and the price of hereditary non-surrender is that if the first land is lost, the title will be lowered and the title will be transferred. At this moment, Song Zining was asking for the title of Marquis of Fengjiang, and there was no specific area yet, so the ambition represented after that was already clearly revealed.
Song Zining wanted to use his own strength to open another high-grade family! Song Zining was like this, but what about Qianye? Lan Xincheng suddenly had an idea, and his heart skipped a beat: Could it be that this Qianye is trying to claim the land as king? Great Qin is not the only kingdom established by the human race.
Lan Xincheng glanced over Qianye and Song Zining, his heart was agitated, and he immediately put this idea aside. Since the other party didn't say it clearly, he just couldn't hear it. Qianye has a delicate relationship with the empire at present, and there are too many forces involved in him. Lan Xincheng is a soldier and not a politician, so it is absolutely useless to step in.
As for Song Zining's three conditions, after careful consideration, there are many key points. Qianye has made it clear that he will not be under the control of the empire in the future, but Song Zining still seems to intend to stay within the empire system.
The status of Fengjiang Marquis is special. If Song Zining wins this title, he will officially enter the upper echelon of the empire, at least in terms of status and status, and he is qualified to keep secrets. At the same time, during the period of expansion, the feudal marquis can develop private armies almost without restriction, open up territories abroad, and seek support from the imperial army when necessary.
Song Zining's request for the title of knighthood can be described as extremely brilliant. It seems that the empire did not show any strength at all, but if you think about it from another angle, when Song Zining made this title worthy of the name, it also meant that the ownership of the land he conquered was recognized by the empire. Even for the sake of their own face, the imperial family would not easily allow other forces in the empire to invade Song Zining.
So how much the title is worth depends entirely on Song Zining himself. And this Seventh Young Master, who was once regarded as the future military god of the empire, has proved his ability in several miraculous victories in the Evernight Continent.
As soon as Lan Xincheng thought about it, he knew that the three conditions Song Zining proposed were intertwined, and there was probably no room for bargaining.
But one thing is not very clear, that is, what do you want those frigates for? This kind of frigate is fast, flexible and maneuverable, and has obvious shortcomings. Its defense and range are not very good. It can only move with the fleet and has limited ability to independently perform tasks. Especially in expeditionary fleets, frigates are even more limited due to their poor endurance. Therefore, in the fleet configuration based on outer space warfare, destroyers and above are the main force.
This is why Lan Xincheng is confident in delivering the frigate even if a war in outer space is imminent. On the decisive battlefield in floating land and outer space, there is basically no room for frigates to play.
But since Song Zining insisted, in Lan Xincheng's view, these were not unacceptable conditions, so he was happy to agree. As an important member of the military department, Lan Xincheng has a very high record of information that can be queried, and he has studied Qianye and Song Zining's battles in detail. The series of results that almost violated all common sense in warfare can only show one thing, that is, Qianye Ye and Song Zining's real combat power was far higher than the paper data.
That being the case, Lan Xincheng gritted his teeth and agreed to all of Song Zining's conditions. The next step is to handle the handover of the battleship. These common affairs will be handed over by Fang Zhan and An Huo, while Lan Xincheng himself will return to the empire day and night to submit Song Zining's request for participation in the war.
On the following day, Song Zining selected a group of mercenaries with crew experience from the dark fire mercenaries, and Qianye also transferred a group of sailors and Gaohu people from the Hall of Valor to accompany Fang Zhanqian to receive the battleship.
After Fang Zhan's airship lifted off, Qianye suddenly said to Song Zining, "Are we really going to participate in this war?"
"You've already decided, haven't you?"
Qianye was silent for a moment, then said: "I'm still hesitating, mainly because I'm not sure if the plan is... drawn up by Shuai Lin."
"There will be no difference. This kind of plan that can properly calculate the factors of all parties, at least all the forces of the empire, can only be drawn up by Marshal Xitang. If it is King Qingyang, I am afraid that I will be impatient and go to Fulu I went to the dark powerhouse to fight alone. Others may be able to come up with similar plans, but they can't grasp the overall situation with such a broad mind, and they can't handle the details so perfectly. This plan has an extremely balanced Beauty. Well, war is an art, and Teacher Zhang Jing really did not deceive me."
Song Zining's previous analysis was quite serious, but the last sentence made Qianye's frowning brows slightly relaxed.
Song Zining looked at Qianye, and said solemnly: "You don't need to participate in this war. You don't owe the empire anything at all, but the empire owes you. If there is something in your heart that you feel that you have to make up for it , It has already been completed in the maelstrom. You don't know what everything you do in the maelstrom means to the empire."
Qianye smiled lightly and said, "I don't do anything because I feel indebted or to make up for it. What I do is what I think I should do, or it's just what I want to do."
Song Zining remained silent.
"Will you join the battle?" Qianye asked.
"Of course I want to participate. It's not so easy to be a Marquis of Borderlands. You have to think about it. You know, after the end of the era of great empire development, there are almost no new titles that are second only to the duke. Even if Lin Shuai He is a character with a noble title of a town and a feudal border marquis, but he is inferior after all." Speaking of this, Song Zining was a little elated.
Qianye looked at Song Zining's appearance of loving both power and money, he couldn't help but shook his head, and most of the gloom that had been entrenched between his brows dissipated.
Song Zining said again: "Not to mention anything else, if you give me instructions along the way, it should save the empire a lot of deaths."
Qianye nodded, and said, "Since that's the case, why don't I participate if you all participate in the battle?"
Song Zining glanced at Qianye, no longer dwelling on this question, but asked: "There is a key point here, are you going to let the Hall of Valor participate in the battle?"
Qianye said: "The first battle is the key, and the Hall of Valor must be used. Now that it has gradually merged with me, it is almost impossible for outsiders to take it away."
Song Zining's brows were slightly frowned, and after a while they relaxed, he said slowly, "That's fine, let's show it to the world. If we lose this battle, then naturally we don't need to mention anything. If we win, you and I will make a big deal." Thanks to you, the empire will never try to take your things again. What's more, even if someone dares to be greedy, they will probably not be able to accomplish anything. Now in the empire, there are many people who are willing to help you."
The last few words made Qianye a little puzzled. Of course there are people in the empire who are willing to help him, but they have to share some things and how to help him. Whenever major interests are involved, many of them are heavily constrained, pulling the whole body into motion. What's the use of talking about it now.
However, Song Zining always said only half a sentence, and was often so mysterious that he didn't see anything clear at the end. Qianye was too lazy to chat with him, and didn't ask any more questions.
Now that the plan to participate in the war has been set, the focus of Dark Fire's next operations will change accordingly. Song Zining aggressively recruited sailors and gunners from the entire neutral land, and at the same time continued to recruit experienced mercenaries. On the other hand, when the imperial army left behind a large amount of weapons and equipment, Song Zining took them out of the warehouse and began to arm the dark fire mercenaries in batches.
After laying down the stronghold at the other end of the floating land, it still needs to hold on for a while, so the ground troops are also very important. The neutral land mercenaries are powerful individually, but compared with the dark race, they lose in the army organization and overall equipment.
Now there are elite troops from the two camps on the floating land. The individual combat power is not inferior to the mercenaries in the neutral land. The command and discipline and even the combination of arms are far better than the mob who have never participated in a decent war. If the two sides meet in the wild, even if the number of mercenaries is doubled, they will be easily defeated.
On the one hand, Song Zining wanted to make up for the gap in equipment, and on the other hand, he wanted to strengthen the mercenary's discipline and tactical quality in the shortest possible time. Before the latter attacked Tingchao City, the dark fire mercenaries received special training, and a large number of veterans survived after the battle. Song Zining used the veterans as the foundation to continuously expand the dark fire mercenaries, training day and night.
And Qianye received a special task assigned by him to visit the Frost Thunder Temple.
Carol of the Frost Thunder Temple used to have a relationship with Qianye. In several key battles, her support was also the reason why Qianye overcame the difficulties. This time the expedition to the floating land, the biggest shortcoming of the dark fire is that there is no general to sit in command. Although Qianye already has the strength to rival a god general, he is not a god general after all. It is still very dangerous to fight head-on with the generals.
Qianye once promised Carol that he would seek a fief for her. Then this battle of empire and fortune is the best opportunity. At least with a cooperative transaction, the empire will not obstruct it when occupying foreign territories in the future. Otherwise, according to the consistent means of the empire's extraterritorial promotion, proxy wars alone can drag down a small country.
With this relationship, Song Zining asked Qianye to visit the Frost Thunder Temple and persuade Carol to help.
Carol is not the only general in the Temple of Frost Thunder. It is said that the strongest among them is actually Carol's younger brother, and his strength is far above Carol's. With the support of the Shuanglei Temple, at least when Song Zining and Qianye left to join the war, Nan Qingcheng would no longer be watched by anyone.
Qianye soared from the dark fire headquarters, went straight to Yunxiao, flew out of the protective layer of the land block, and entered the Hall of Valor that had already stayed in the void.
The huge body of the strider turned slowly, and its tail swung rhythmically, like a giant whale entering the water, swimming to the depths of the void.
After half a day, a silver-wrapped land mass appeared in front of the strider. This landmass is much smaller than the East China Sea, barely maintaining the level of the protective layer. Because it is inclined to face the sun, the climate is cold and the whole body is covered with ice and snow.
Qianye hovered the Hall of Valor above the ice and snow land mass, jumped out from the ship, and threw it towards the land mass like a meteor.
There was ice and snow everywhere on the landmass, and the wind blew like a knife. Fist-sized snowballs whizzed by in the wind, hitting the body like being hit by a stone, and ordinary people couldn't bear it at all.
Qianye was in the air, through the wind and snow, he saw a high mountain in the center of the landmass, with steep walls, surrounded by several groups of whirlwinds whistling and circling around the mountain.
With one side of Qianye's body, he took advantage of the wind and flew towards the mountain peak. According to legend, the mysterious and powerful Frost Thunder Temple should be on the mountain.
The cold wind was strong and powerful, blowing Qianye towards the mountain like a cannonball. Qianye adjusted his posture in the air, stretched his limbs, and stuck to the mountain wall like a spider.
Not far away is a winding mountain path covered with thick snow and ice. If you don't look carefully, you can't tell there is a road there.
Qianye was too lazy to climb up the stairs, and simply climbed along the mountain wall. The storm around the mountain peak is a fatal danger to ordinary strong people, but it is not enough for Qianye who has the ancient blood physique. Qianye was like a spider with long hands and long legs, he went up briskly all the way, and reached the top of the cliff after a while.
The top of the cliff is another world.
There are no snowball ice cubes whizzing back and forth here, and there are dark blue ice everywhere that has existed for an unknown number of years. Qianye stands on it, his figure is refracted by layers of icicles, and there seem to be more than a dozen Qianye standing here .
This is a suffocatingly beautiful world, but the temperature is desperately low, and even Qianye feels the slightest chill. Roughly estimated, the temperature on the top of the cliff may be lower than minus 150 degrees. With such extreme freezing and low temperature, even steel will become brittle, and ordinary life cannot survive at all.
Occasionally, colorful ribbons can be seen floating in the air, often dyeing half of the ice peaks colorful. However, these seemingly beautiful ribbons are actually extremely dangerous. They are formed by the force of the void from the weak places in the space, and will transform into space cracks that can split everything without warning at any time.
In the center of this beautiful but dangerous ice peak stands a temple made of ice and snow, with twelve giant pillars tens of meters high shining brightly in the sun. The main body of the Ice Palace is also nearly 100 meters high, with a three-shuttle icicle erected on the top, which symbolizes something, and an ancient and sacred atmosphere blows towards us.
This is the Temple of Frost Thunder.