In the golden autumn of October, Jinzhou, Luo family...
Duke Xin Luo Yutian walked hurriedly in the Luo family mansion. When the servants, maids and guards of the Luo family saw him along the way, they hurriedly stood aside and bowed to greet him. However, Duke Xin Luo Yutian walked with the wind, said nothing, and came directly to the door of the quietest and most heavily guarded backyard of the Luo family.
The ginkgo trees outside the yard were covered with golden yellow. The hunchbacked old servant was holding a broom and quietly sweeping the ground outside the yard. After seeing the old servant, Luo Yutian took a deep breath, calmed down his emotions, and walked over directly. But before Luo Yutian could speak, the hunchbacked old servant stopped sweeping the broom in his hand, raised his wrinkled old face and looked at Luo Yutian, "The master has come out of seclusion and is in the yard. You can go in directly..."
Duke Xin swallowed the words that were about to come out of his mouth, just nodded, pushed open the door of the yard and came into the yard.
The sweet-scented osmanthus in the courtyard has faded, but the maple leaves in the maple forest in the garden in the distance are red, burning like clouds of fire under the warm sun at noon. An old man with silver hair and unparalleled bearing is standing in a pavilion in the garden, admiring the autumn scenery in the distance, holding something in his hand, and feeding the goldfish in the pond in the courtyard, looking leisurely and contented...
Luo Yutian walked over directly and came to the pavilion. "I thought father was still in seclusion, but I didn't expect that he came out today. I wonder if father has made a breakthrough this time?"
Luo Xianzhang turned his head and smiled at Luo Yutian who was walking over. "The realm of the Martial Emperor is a step further from the peak of ten thousand feet. Among the ten Martial Kings, not one person may be lucky enough to enter this realm in his lifetime. It is not so easy to break through. I suddenly had a whim today and felt that something should happen, so I came out of retreat. Looking at your appearance, your steps were hurried, your heartbeat accelerated, and there was sweat on the back of your neck on the way to this courtyard. This character needs to be tempered. It was only at this time that I realized that at the end of martial arts practice, what is practiced is no longer the body, but the mind. Many times, when the character is reached, the realm of martial arts is also reached. I used to plan too much, the pattern was not enough, and I lacked a bit of the bearing of swallowing and spitting the six directions. Now I am stopped at the level of the Martial Emperor. If you want to break through in martial arts in the future, you must work hard on your character now..."
"Thank you for your teachings, father. Yutian will keep them in mind!" Luo Yutian bowed respectfully to his father.
"Tell me, what's the matter? I haven't seen you like this in many years. It must be a big deal if it makes you come to me so anxiously!"
"Father guessed correctly, something big is indeed happening!"
"Did something big happen in the White Lotus Sect or in the Northeast?" For the Luo family, the big event that could make Luo Yutian so anxious was most likely to come from these two places.
"It's not the White Lotus Sect, nor the Northeast, but the Northwest!"
"northwest?"
"Yes, the northwest!" Luo Yutian nodded slowly, took a deep breath again, suppressed his inner fear, and tried to speak in a calm tone, "I just received an urgent report from the northwest. Qiyun Governor Yan Liqiang sent troops to Gulang Grassland. After annihilating the seven tribes of Shatu and the Black Jie army that invaded Gulang Grassland, he led his troops over Qiyun Mountain and sent troops to the Black Jie tribe, completely subduing the flat-bottomed Black Jie people and expanding the territory of the Han Empire. He has annexed the entire Black Jie tribe's territory to the jurisdiction of Qiyun Governor's Office..."
"What?" Even though Luo Xianzhang had just been teaching Luo Yutian to temper his character, his face changed when he heard Luo Yutian's words. He couldn't help but exclaimed, and the fish food in his hand slipped to the ground.
It was no wonder that Luo Xianzhang lost his composure, because this news was so shocking, like a myth. For hundreds of years, the Black Jie people had always been a major concern for the Han Empire in the northwest. It was already very difficult for the Han Empire to resist the invasion and encroachment of the Black Jie people, let alone defeat them. In such a situation, anyone who suddenly heard the news that the barbaric and brutal Black Jie tribe had been conquered and pacified by the Han Empire, and that the Black Jie people's territory had been incorporated into the territory of the Han Empire, would probably be extremely shocked and find it hard to believe, as if they were hearing something from heaven.
And it was not just the Black Jie people, but even the seven Shatu tribes were wiped out. Putting these two pieces of news together, the shock brought to Luo Xianzhang was like a magnitude 10 earthquake, which was completely unbelievable.
Luo Xianzhang kept feeding the fish. His whole body was stiff for almost half a minute before he finally relaxed. He didn't need to ask Luo Yutian whether the news was true, because if the news was not confirmed and verified, Luo Yutian, as the governor of a state and the commander of the Black Mountain Army, would definitely not come to find him.
"How did Yan Liqiang do it?" Luo Xianzhang stared at Luo Yutian and asked in a trembling voice, "How could he wipe out the seven tribes of Shatu and pacify the Black Jie in such a short time? This is an eternal achievement for the Han Empire!"
Luo Yutian frowned and tried to speak in a calm tone. "I received the news that Yan Liqiang had wiped out the seven tribes of Shatu before. I was shocked and unbelievable at the time. My father was in seclusion at that time, so I didn't come to disturb him. After receiving the news, I specifically asked the secret agent in the northwest to verify it. The news from the secret agent confirmed the news that Yan Liqiang had wiped out the seven tribes of Shatu. It also mentioned that Yan Liqiang had formed an extremely powerful archer cavalry unit. It was that archer cavalry unit that killed the remaining army of the seven tribes of Shatu in the Gulang grassland like autumn wind sweeping fallen leaves, and they were defeated..."
"Archer archers?"
"Yes, they are cavalry archers. There are five battalions in total, with 12,500 cavalry archers, most of whom are students of the Yan Liqiang Archery Club!"
"Where did Yan Liqiang get so many bows? Could it be that all the bows made by the Northwest Artisan Battalion in recent years were given to his cavalry archers?"
Luo Yutian shook his head. "It was not a war bow made by the Northwest Artisan Battalion, but a war bow made by the Manufacturing Bureau under Yan Liqiang. I heard that the war bow made by Yan Liqiang is completely different from ordinary war bows. It uses metal as the bow arm, and there are ingenious mechanisms in the war bow. Ordinary people can pull the war bow of more than one stone, and the range is far and accurate. Yan Liqiang led the army into the Gulang grassland and encountered a surprise attack by 40,000 to 50,000 Shatu cavalry from the seven tribes for the first time. He only sent out his archers. The 45,000 Shatu cavalry didn't even get within a hundred meters of the archers. Most of them were shot and killed, and then the whole army was defeated and finally annihilated. In that battle, the number of injured archers could even be counted on one's fingers. Countless rangers saw it at the time..."
Hearing these words, Luo Xianzhang closed his eyes and opened them half a minute later. "What about those Black Jie people? Were they also wiped out by the army led by Yan Liqiang? If he had 100,000 horse archers, it would be possible to wipe out the Black Jie tribe. But with only 10,000 horse archers, how could he wipe out the Black Jie people and make them submit?"
"The Black Jie army that invaded the Gulang Grassland was almost completely destroyed by Yan Liqiang's fire attack in the Crescent Valley of Qiyun Mountain. Afterwards, Yan Liqiang led his army thousands of miles to raid the Snake God Tribe of the Black Jie people. It is said that the Snake God Tribe was severely defeated. However, in the end, it was not his army that made Yan Liqiang make the Black Jie people submit, but himself!"
"he himself?"
"Yes, the news we have received now is that on the night of the raid on the Snake God Tribe, Yan Liqiang rushed into the Snake God Palace alone during the battle, killed the strongest man of the Snake God Tribe and then disappeared. Many people thought he was dead, but just when the Black Jie Tribe's united army was preparing for a battle with the army under the command of Mera and Yan Liqiang, Yan Liqiang suddenly appeared on the battlefield riding on the Black Jie people's sacred object, a nine-headed giant snake. Then the Black Jie people regarded Yan Liqiang as the incarnation of their god Mo Po and worshiped him. The entire Black Jie tribe surrendered without a fight and all happily submitted to Yan Liqiang!"
"How can there be such incredible things in this world?" Luo Xianzhang was also shocked when he heard it.
Luo Yutian shook his head. "I also find it hard to believe, but that's the reality. The Black Jie tribe originally believed that the nine-headed giant snake was the mount of their God Mo Po, and it was a sacred object that protected them. Apart from their God Mo Po, even a martial emperor could not make the nine-headed giant snake surrender, let alone use it as a mount. In the Black Jie people's belief, their God Mo Po is the god of creation and destruction. He created the world and will one day destroy it. All Black Jie people believe that before their God Mo Po destroys the world, he will definitely appear in front of them riding on their sacred object, and take the most pious among them into the paradise created by the God Mo Po, and let the impious be destroyed. Yan Liqiang seems to have confirmed all the stories of the Black Jie people..."
"This is God's will!" Luo Xianzhang sighed faintly, "Su Baiya is right. Who else can do such a thing except the Lord of the World!"
Luo Yutian hesitated for a moment before asking, "Father, what about our five-year agreement with Yan Liqiang..."
"If our Luo family's Black Mountain Army were to confront Yan Liqiang's horse archers one day, how many horse archers could our Luo family's Black Mountain Army withstand?" Luo Xianzhang looked at Luo Yutian and suddenly asked.
Luo Yutian was silent for a while. "Our Black Mountain Army can be expanded to one million. If it is a duel in the wild, if the record of the archers under Yan Liqiang on the Gulang grassland is not exaggerated, our one million Black Mountain Army can resist his 100,000 archers!"
"Now Yan Liqiang has taken back the Gulang Grassland and made the Black Jie people submit. How big is the territory Yan Liqiang has?"
“Far beyond the six northwestern states!”
"Has he got any money?"
"The profits from the wool of Gulang Grassland can make him the richest man in the world. His wealth is unmatched in the world!"
"Is he famous?"
"Reclaiming the Gulang Grassland and pacifying the Black Jie Tribe, expanding the territory of the Han Empire to the west of the Qiyun Mountains, adding several more states, this is an unparalleled achievement, no one in the world can compare to it. After this battle, Yan Liqiang's name will definitely make a sensation throughout the world, no one in the Han Empire can compare to him!"
"Then how many archers do you think a man like this can form within five years?"
"Even if we don't count the Black Jie people, Yan Liqiang can easily build an army of 500,000 archers within five years!"
“Who in the world can resist?”
Luo Yutian was silent for a moment, but still shook his head, "No one can resist! Last time, my father said that he had already advanced to the Martial Sect. This time, the chief priest of the Black Jie Snake God Tribe was a powerful warrior at the Martial King level, but he was still killed by Yan Liqiang. His strength is unfathomable!"
“Then what choice should the Luo family make? Do I need to tell you?” Luo Xianzhang shook his head and smiled bitterly. “Originally, I made a bet with him because I was unwilling to give up. I wanted to fight for the Luo family and see if I could get a glimpse of the secret. But now it seems that God’s will is God’s will. Su Baiya is still Su Baiya. There are some things and some people in this matter that our Luo family cannot control. Perhaps this is the best choice for our Luo family and the Han Empire!”
Luo Yutian also let out a long breath, "I understand, should we stop the matter of King Min ascending the throne..."
Luo Xianzhang looked at Luo Yutian and shook his head. "It's not about stopping, but speeding up. If it's too late, I'm afraid it will be useless even if King Min ascends the throne. But it's still useful now. King Min is his disciple, and he is innocent and lively by nature. He will be fine in the future. Now we can do big things. The future of the Luo family is like this. Half of it depends on the Black Mountain Army, and half of it depends on King Min..."
(End of this chapter)