The Zhao family attaches great importance to craftsmanship, and its core industries are several large-scale workshops and caravans in the city.
In addition to Zhao Jin, the Zhao family in Lucheng also has a strong man in the Mingqiao realm who is under thirty years old. He is a leader among the younger generation in the eastern region of Jinzhou. However, because Lucheng's position in Pinglu Oasis is quite important.
In such a lose-lose situation, Taiwei Sect may only need three to five years to recover; while Demon Temple may need twenty or thirty years to recover, but the distance to regaining its peak strength becomes even slimmer...
Du Linan hoped that Chen Hai would persuade Patriarch Ge to act with caution, but he looked sideways at Chen Hai. Chen Hai frowned and looked into the distance. He had no intention of persuading Patriarch Ge. Du Linan sighed slightly in his heart, thinking that Chen Hai and Patriarch Ge would do well. The decision was not something he could persuade.
Du Linan presided over the Taiwei Guild Hall and was considered a unique figure in the sect, but why did Chen Hai say that this was the reason why Du Linan was not taken seriously in the Du family
Soon, more than a hundred riders were galloping towards us. The leader was a sixty-year-old swordsman in green robes, carrying a huge black sword behind him, and his whole body exuded a sharp edge.
Of course, Ge Xuanqiao also knew that the blood feud formed back then would not be so easy to resolve.
Only by achieving this effect can the Demon Temple claim a great victory.
Among the soldiers and horses in Hexi, Dao Yamen were the most elite, but in Hexi, the most elite Dao Yamen soldiers totaled less than 40,000. If a quarter or even nearly half of the elite were lost in one fell swoop, it would be a devastating blow to the Taiwei Sect, the Dong family, and Hexi.
Chen Hai didn't believe that Zhao really wanted to see Lucheng's status weakened after being controlled by the Demon Temple, turning it into a small border town in the Western Qiang Kingdom that was as insignificant as Xuanfeng City.
The Demon Temple was once a sect several times more powerful than the Taiwei Sect. Almost all of its elite disciples and the spiritual beasts they had raised for thousands of years were lost. Miao Mingcheng’s master, uncle, and a dozen of his fellow apprentices and nearly all of them were lost. Thousands of disciples and descendants were killed in that war.
All that Taiweizong left behind in the Pinglu Oasis was hatred. Even if the Ye family intended to make good friends with the Dong family and the Taiweizong, every assassination attempt ended in nothing. The Taiweizong and the Dong family were so powerful, There is no place for it in Pinglu Oasis.
"Although the Zhao family is not a big family, they still have two bones and will never take refuge in outsiders," Zhao Jin said loudly, "I came here to advise you not to waste your efforts and not to act rashly against Lucheng. What are you thinking? Even if you detain me now, it won't be of any use!"
Chen Hai told Ge Xuanqiao about the ambush at the Demon Temple in the mountains south of Lukai Gorge.
Of course, if Dong Ning is not with Chen Hai, if the two souls and thoughts want to enter the Blood Cloud Wasteland at the same time, Dong Ning needs to be in Black Mountain - the entrance to the Blood Cloud Wasteland is actually in Black Mountain, and Chen Hai's soul and thoughts It is also through the Black Mountain and then into the Blood Cloud Wasteland, but the snake bracelet breaks the limitation of space distance.
Therefore, between the Zhou family and the Zhao family, Chen Hai finally chose to meet Zhao Jin, the head of the Zhao family, not because he had much confidence in Zhao Jin, but also because he knew where the foundation of the Zhao family was.
The 13,000-4,000-mile journey from Tieliuling to Lucheng is a vast sea of sand. Even though there are nearly a hundred large and small oases that can serve as springboards, how can we solve the problem of hundreds of thousands of soldiers marching westward for more than 10,000 miles of food and grass
The Zhao family has two Mingqiao realm experts, and there is no way to control the power of Lucheng alone.
Although Ge Xuanqiao strongly opposed the Western Expedition of the Huben Army twenty years ago, he alone was too insignificant to violate the overall will of the Taiwei Sect. At that time, even the Taiwei Sect and the Dong family opposed the Western Expedition, but they could not violate it. Ying, the leader of Yanzhou, had a strong desire to expand his territory.
If anything goes wrong and Patriarch Ge dies in Lucheng, Du Linan really has no way to explain to the sect.
However, among the five surnames in Lucheng, the distribution of clan industries between agriculture, animal husbandry, handicrafts, and commerce is not absolutely balanced.
Chen Hai, Qi Hanjiang, and Du Linan rushed back to Lukai Gorge, where Ge Xuanqiao was already waiting.
"What, Patriarch Ge is going to Lucheng to meet Miao Mingcheng?" Du Linan asked in shock.
The Taiwei Sect would not disclose the fact that Ge Xuanqiao was in charge in Heishan at this time, but Du Linan also knew about it. He just didn't know why the ancestor Ge Xuanqiao suddenly rushed to Lucheng and happened to be waiting for them in Lukai Gorge.
After being reminded by Chen Hai, Du Linan swept away his frustration and believed that this possibility was extremely low.
"If I don't come forward, how can I convince the disciples of the Demon Temple to withdraw from Pinglu?" Ge Xuanqiao said, waving his sleeves.
However, the Demon Temple's ambush in the south of Lukai Gorge has been exposed, and there is no possibility of sneak attack on the elite Hexi Dao Yamen soldiers in Lucheng. Will they choose to openly choose Lucheng to start a bloody battle with Hexi that is likely to lose both sides
If the Demonic Temple does not retreat, then Hexi will have no choice but to respond by sending troops to Pinglu Oasis. Then the two sides can fight in Lucheng or somewhere else in the Western Qiang Kingdom.
Therefore, Du Linan believed that the Demon Temple might still retreat after its conspiracy was exposed, but he did not expect that Patriarch Ge would personally enter Lucheng this time to have a showdown with Miao Mingcheng, the elder of the Demon Temple.
Otherwise, the Demon Temple could have openly interfered in the political affairs of the Western Qiang Kingdom, and even directly intervened to stop the Ye family and the Dong family of the Western Qiang royal family, instead of using the horse thief Kong Peng to join forces with the Tianaishan Zhang family to overthrow the Ye family.
At this time, Hexi was at odds with the Hexiang Army in the south, the Musashi Army had ulterior motives, and the demon tribes in the north were ready to move. After Hexi experienced such a heavy blow, he would not be able to send troops westward to retaliate against the Demon Temple in a short time.
"I've seen Patriarch Ge..." Du Linan didn't expect that Ge Xuanqiao, the first elder of the Ancestral Hall, would wait for them directly at Lukai Gorge. Ge Xuanqiao was Du Linan's senior figure in the sect. At this time, he respectfully stepped forward to salute.
Knowing that Miao Mingcheng wanted to eat them alive, the manpower they deployed in Lucheng was far less than that of Demon Temple. Once Miao Mingcheng attacked, the problem would be troublesome.
Hexi did not directly send troops before because he did not want to be involved in a larger-scale war, but since the Demon Temple has directly sent hundreds of elite disciples, Hexi's response cannot be weak.
Hundreds of elite disciples from the Demon Temple were lying in ambush in the deep mountains before Lukai Gorge. This was a trap laid for Hexi's surprise attack strategy. They wanted to devour Hexi's most elite 10,000 to 20,000 yamen soldiers in Lucheng all at once, so that Hexi would have more power. The pain is unspeakable.
Zhao Jin and more than a hundred Zhao's children behind him reined in their horses on a stone hill of more than a thousand steps and did not move forward. However, they did not suspect that there was an ambush behind the Lukai Gorge. Zhao Jin's eyes were on Chen Hai and Ge Xuanqiao. The man's face was spinning, and he did not recognize Ge Xuanqiao, but he could feel Ge Xuanqiao's unfathomable cultivation level from more than a thousand steps away.
Therefore, after confirming the traces of the ambush in the Demon Temple, Chen Hai's strategy was very simple, which was to directly find Miao Mingcheng, the elder of the Demon Temple, and Su Chonghu, the chief disciple of the Demon Temple, who were lurking in Lucheng, to have a showdown and force the Demon Temple to withdraw from the civil war in the Western Qiang Kingdom.
After Dong Ning's soul breath was also refined into the snake bracelet, no matter they were thousands of miles apart, Chen Hai only needed to pull Dong Ning's mind and thoughts into the Blood Cloud Wasteland to communicate directly. The communication efficiency was so high and accurate that it was impossible to I know how much higher it is than the spiritual bird communication.
During the Western Expedition twenty years ago, the Demon Temple was so severely damaged that it is still far from recovering and cannot afford to suffer heavy casualties in a short period of time.
Before the Western Expedition, the population of Pinglu Oasis exceeded 10 million, but it once dropped sharply to less than 3 million. More than 90% of the more than 60 cities in Pinglu were destroyed. In the past twenty years after the war, only 40% of them were rebuilt. More than ten cities.
Hexi did not have long-term and sufficient preparations, and suddenly wanted to intervene in the civil strife in the Western Qiang Kingdom. The most straightforward method was to dispatch 10,000 to 20,000 of the most elite Dao Yamen soldiers to surprise Lucheng with lightning speed. The remaining soldiers and horses of the Ye clan defeated the rebels and took control of the entire Pinglu Oasis.
"I haven't seen Miao Mingcheng for many years. When I went to Lucheng to see him this time, he probably had the intention of eating me alive..." Ge Xuanqiao was filled with emotion when he thought of the Western Expedition twenty years ago.
Once the trade routes are cut off, the losses of the other four surnames will not be that great, but the foundation of the Zhao family will be shaken immediately.
This was only the loss of the Pinglu Oasis. The real decisive battle at that time took place in the Tahe Oasis where the Tibetan and Qiang Kingdom was located.
Hundreds of elite disciples from the Demon Temple were ambushing them in the deep mountains before Lukai Gorge. If their whereabouts were not discovered, it would definitely be a cunning plan beyond the imagination of everyone in Hexi.
You must know that at this time, the Taiwei Sect, even if it was restrained by the Musashi Army and the Hexiang Army, could only send out 10,000 elite yamen soldiers to march westward, and even if it ended up fighting with the elite disciples of the Demon Temple ambushing outside Lucheng, both sides would suffer.
This person is Zhao Jin, the head of the Zhao family in Lucheng, who is in the late Mingqiao realm.
Not only did Ge Xuanqiao rush to Lukai Gorge to meet Chen Hai directly, but the 25,000 soldiers and horses of the merged Jingjue Army and the Royal Army had also set off from Black Mountain, crossed the vast sea of sand, and came directly to Lucheng.
Under such circumstances, how could the Demon Temple, which had yet to recover its vitality, dare to use one-third of its elite combat power to start a battle with the Taiwei Sect on the edge of the Pinglu Oasis
If Hexi intervenes in the civil strife in the Western Qiang Kingdom, it would be unrealistic to dispatch hundreds of thousands of troops from Tielulingling to march westward in a short period of time.
This is because of the blood feud twenty years ago. Several directors of the Taiwei sect's guild halls in Lucheng and Xiqiang King City were all assassinated in office.
Zhao Jin hesitated for a while, then asked the hundreds of disciples behind him to stay where they were. He galloped towards Shitan alone on his horse.
"The Taiwei Sect has no intention of intervening in Lucheng, let alone being directly involved in the Western Qiang Kingdom's war against rebellion. Ancestor Ge Xuanqiao and I are also guests invited by the Ye family," Chen Hai said, "But Lucheng And whether the Zhao family can stay out of the matter, Sect Leader Zhao can send people to the deep gorge six hundred miles to the southwest to see how many ambush troops are hidden in the Demon Temple, and then consider choosing between the Zhang family's traitors and the Ye family's royal family. !”
Lucheng's agriculture, animal husbandry, and handicraft industries are quite developed, with a population of nearly 300,000. Farming, ranching, and handicraft workshops each account for almost one-third of the labor force. In addition, there are also considerable caravans.