Time flies, spring passes and autumn comes. It is early October in the 34th year of Datong. The dry season in southern Xinjiang has just passed. In the blink of an eye, Wu Xie has been in Yucheng for more than half a year. Nowadays, the Mountain Puppet Army is in great power. Taking advantage of the chaotic political situation within Taisha, under the planning of Wu Xie, the military advisor, the Mountain Puppet has annexed a lot of Taisha's territory under the guise of mediating the internal conflicts among the Taisha nobles. The military strength has increased greatly, and now the mountain puppets have nearly 200,000 soldiers, and their reputation in southern Xinjiang has been greatly enhanced.
As the Immortal Emperor, Mu Sheng fully learned from the expansion strategies of the later ancient Roman Empire in view of the national conditions of Taisha. He gave the newly conquered Taisha region full autonomy and just paid a proportion of the taxes to Yucheng. How to govern the local area? , without overly intervening, after the war, the Taisha nobles in the newly conquered areas were also absorbed into the Noble Presbyterian Council of Shanpu. As a result, the cost of governance and management of the newly conquered Taisha old land was higher than expected. It is much lower. As long as the Taisha nobles are not forced to a dead end, between keeping most of the wealth and having nothing, everyone will know how to choose.
In fact, Shan Puppet's military conquests over the past six months are to force the Taisha nobles to take sides. In the past, they swore allegiance to Emperor Taisha. Now they have just changed their masters. They are still loyal to Emperor Changsheng as in the past. There is not much difference. Even though the two races have different beliefs and living habits, it still takes a long time for them to fully adapt before they can become a family.
Although Taisha was wary of Shan Puppet's wolfish ambitions, he couldn't stand the fact that there was a Xi clan neighbor to the northwest who was even more vicious than Shan Puppet.
After all, Shan Puppet wanted to show off his face and annexed the Taisha land in the name of a Taisha noble mediator. However, the former tribe was different. They looked like gluttonous beasts. No matter how much Taisha land they ate, they would never be satisfied. The Xi clan has taken advantage of Taisha's weakness and occupied more than a dozen states in Taisha. They are expanding unscrupulously and are about to reach the core area of Taisha.
The expansion strategy of the Xi tribe is very different from that of the Shanpu. The Shanpu annexed these large and small kingdoms in Taisha, at least leaving a way for people to survive. As long as the Taisha nobles are willing to join the Yucheng Presbyterian Council, they are their own people, even though they have no army. The right to command, but wealth is guaranteed.
However, after the Xi Clan conquered and annexed these large and small states in Taisha, they directly drove out all the original nobles of Taisha, and the territory was directly divided among the Xi Clan dignitaries within the Xi Clan Presbyterian Council. Compared with the Shanpuppet, the Xi Clan The appearance of the Xi tribe is so ugly that now everyone in Taisha hates the Xi tribe to the core. In the face of a formidable enemy, the main battle direction of the Taisha noble coalition is to resist the violent invasion of the Xi tribe in the northwest.
At the military camp on the outskirts of Yucheng City, the current Emperor of Immortality, Mu Sheng, was dressed in casual clothes. He took a chariot to the military camp outside the city for inspection. The leader's inspection of the military camp meant that the country was going to use troops abroad again recently. Mu Sheng was accompanied by people on his side. , including Buc King Jiakun Patula, Military Advisor Wu Xie, Elder Bortas, Elder Tesha Morosh, and other core high-level officials of the Mountain Puppet.
Now, with the repeated persuasion and support of Shan Puppet, King Buc Jakkunpatula has simply left Taisha and established an independent country to become king. Anyway, after the Civil War, his political future in Taisha was ruined and it will never be possible in this life. Returning to the capital of Taisha, Jakkunpatula is no longer tolerated by Taisha. The territory of Buk State is close to Shanpu, so it is better to be a vassal state of Shanpu. It can not only enjoy the pleasure of being a king, but also keep the security. The family is wealthy.
Morosh, the elder of Taisha who accompanied the Lord of the Mountain Puppet, was originally a real nobleman of the Marquis of Taisha. However, when the Mountain Puppet army came to kill him, he could not resist it, so he had no choice but to preserve his wealth and honor, and surrendered the city to the Mountain Puppet. In the end, he was able to After joining the Shanpu Presbyterian Church, his surrender led a large number of unsteady Taisha wall-riding nobles to surrender. Facing the Shanpu's unparalleled military strength, these Taisha dignitaries surrendered to the Shanpu one after another in order to preserve their wealth and status as Taisha. The Sha surrender faction set an example, and the Taisha noble Morosh was elected as one of the standing elders and became an important minister around the Changsheng Emperor.
In the past half year or so, Mu Sheng had made great efforts to win over and divide the Taisha nobles. In order to allow the newly joined Taisha nobles to have a voice within the mountain puppet, he also dedicated his time to the seats of the ten standing elders of the mountain puppet. Three new quotas have been added. These three quotas are limited to Taisha nobles. Only Taisha nobles can choose. This will effectively integrate Taisha's old forces into the mountain puppets and gradually encroach on them in the future. Taisha, unify southern Xinjiang and lay a solid institutional foundation.
Sixty years after the fall of the Ming Dynasty and the rise of the Qing Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty's ruling technology was quite advanced. The reason why the Qing Dynasty was able to destroy the Ming Dynasty and complete the feat of snake swallowing the elephant was because the Qing Dynasty fully integrated various forces and joined its camp. In the early Qing Dynasty, In the Eight Banners system, in addition to the Manchu Eight Banners, there were also the Mongolian Eight Banners and the Han Eight Banners. On the surface, the Qing Dynasty seemed to be a tribal alliance headed by the Jurchens. In fact, in the early Qing Dynasty, the Manchu Qing Dynasty had already built itself into an entrepreneurial With the platform, anyone can join the Qing camp to seek wealth and wealth. This is the institutional innovation that allowed the Manchus to seek the world. Otherwise, the Eight Banners army, which numbered more than a hundred thousand in the early Qing Dynasty, would not have been able to defeat the Ming Dynasty with millions of armored men. , it’s already pretty good if we can keep the Northeast.
What Mu Sheng needs most now is these Taisha version of "Wu Sangui, Hong Chengchou, Geng Jingzhong, and Shang Kexi." If we don't engage in united front, it will be difficult for the country with the size of Shanpu to become bigger and stronger.
The master of the Mountain Puppet, King Booker, and other senior Mountain Puppet officials arrived in front of the military camp. The Mountain Puppet soldiers guarding the military camp immediately opened their gates to welcome the Emperor.
The mountain puppet soldiers stood upright on both sides. Seeing the arrival of the emperor, they shouted long live the emperor in unison, and their shouts reached into the sky, which showed that the emperor of longevity had a god-like status in their hearts.
After Shanpup's senior officials accompanied the emperor to the military training school, the military commander, Boyak, came to report on the work: "To inform our ancestors, this batch of newly recruited Taisha sergeants will be trained and can officially join the army in the second half of the year."
Hearing this, Mu Sheng smiled and said: "Okay, very good, Jacques, thank you for your hard work. From now on, when we continue to go south, you don't have to be Zongbi's deputy, and it's time to lead the battle independently."
When Borjak heard this, he was overjoyed. He knew that his ancestor was going to reuse him, so he kowtowed: "Thank you, ancestor, for your kindness. Jacques will definitely live up to your high expectations."
As the core executive of the Bor family, Borjak also knows that the old emperor is gone, but in his heart, the current Immortal Emperor Bordesa is obviously more wise and powerful than the old emperor. Nowadays, the power of the mountain puppet country cannot be used to rise. To describe it, in his heart, he seemed to have seen the bright prospect of Shan Puppet dominating southern Xinjiang under the leadership of the new emperor.
Mu Sheng nodded and said, "Okay, let's start the drill. I want to see how your training goes."
Borjak nodded in agreement, took the order flag and began to practice the military formation. This is the territory that Shanpu has absorbed Taisha. The newly recruited Taisha soldiers, after training is completed, will be mixed into the main force of Shanpu to assist in operations. , Mu Sheng did not want to make the Shan Puppet Army look like Taisha, loose and loose. There is no division between the Wang Family Army, which belongs directly to the central government, and the Imperial Association Army of the local princes. With this kind of military organization, it can only bully small countries and return them. Okay, if you encounter a little difficulty, it will become obvious immediately.
At this time, in the military camp, the newly recruited Taisha soldiers lined up in a neat square formation, holding wooden shields and spears. Under the command of the commander's flag, they shouted slogans, stabbed and blocked in uniform.
Mu Sheng was very satisfied when he saw this. King Buc Jiakunpatula took the opportunity to come forward and flatter him: "The emperor has such a king's army. One day he will send his army south and he will surely take over the capital of Taisha again and dominate the world."
Mu Sheng laughed and said, "Then let me borrow your good words from the king."
Taisha elder Morosh had a complicated mood when he saw the Taisha elites trained by the mountain puppets. It won't be long before these awesome guys from the Taisha tribe will go to the battlefield to deal with their mother country. Now even he has become a mountain. As a puppet minister, he just remembered his motherland in his heart.
After Jia Kun Patula shamelessly finished licking it, Moro Shi also stepped forward and spoke: "The emperor is wise and powerful. I really hope that I, Moro Shi, can also wear a strong sword for you, go to the battlefield in person, and open up frontiers for the emperor. The soil is used to achieve unparalleled achievements."
Mu Sheng heard this and said: "Morosh, there will be opportunities in the future."
After Borjak ordered the infantry to retreat, he went forward to report: "I would like to inform my ancestors that the Shenji Battalion that was previously trained according to your wishes has been initially formed. I invite my ancestors and elders to watch the battle."
Borjak waved the command flag again and sounded the bugle. The soldiers of the Shenji Battalion lined up neatly. The sergeants all carried daggers at their waists and wore leather armor. They held repeating crossbows and aimed at the straw man target in front. Seeing Jacques giving an order, and with the sound of bugles and drums, the soldiers in the front row fired their crossbows ten times in a row. The arrows were as dense as locusts. After the first row of arrows were finished, the sergeants of the second row came out more and more, holding up their arrows. The repeating crossbows fired wildly, and then the third row came out of the crowd, and the fourth row stepped forward to fire arrows. At this time, the sergeants in the first row had already loaded the arrows. After the fourth row finished shooting, the first row He went up and fired again until all the arrows in his hand were used up. At this time, the grass target was filled with arrows like hedgehogs.
At this time in the school field, Bortas, Tesha Elder Morosh, Booker King Jakunpatula, and others were stunned. Now they somewhat believed that the emperor's military plan was true.
The 5,000-plus-mountain Puppet God Machine Battalion actually produced a firepower output that could only be achieved by tens of thousands of crossbowmen. Coupled with the mountainous terrain of southern Xinjiang, this was simply an ambush artifact!
Mu Sheng saw all the elders looking dumbfounded, and he was secretly proud of himself. This was the divine machine camp he modeled after Zhuge Liannu in later generations. This would be a divine weapon in the future battles for hegemony in southern Xinjiang!
After visiting the military drill, a group of high-level mountain puppets returned with satisfaction and returned to the Yucheng Palace. A group of high-level mountain puppets began to discuss state affairs and formulate the next strategy for sending troops south...
Military advisor Wu Xie and guest minister Guo Xuan had just finished attending the meeting before the imperial court, and they made an appointment to go out of the palace to play chess in a tavern.
The two of them were originally from the Central Plains, had similar customs and languages, were old acquaintances, and were in a foreign country. As the aides of the Immortal Emperor, they went to the tavern to play chess in private and chat about the news coming from the Central Plains. .
The two came to the private room of the tavern. This inconspicuous tavern in Yucheng had been bought by Guo Xuan with a lot of money. As a transfer station for the exchange of information between the Central Plains and the Mountain Puppet, Guo Xuan, as a guest minister, was not good at making suggestions. He took over the intelligence work in Yucheng.
In addition to doing serious business, this tavern is also a good place for Guo and Wu to have fun at public expense.
In the private room, Guo Xuan took the first step with the black chess pieces. An hour later, the white chess pieces already accounted for the majority on the chessboard.
When Guo Xuan saw this, he smiled, abandoned the black chess and admitted defeat, saying, "Alas! I lost again."
Wu Xie smiled slightly and said, "Come on, let's move on to the next one."
The two were just about to clear the chessboard and move on to the next move. After a while, a waiter entered the private room and handed Guo Jue a bamboo tube, which was obviously news just taken from the carrier pigeon.
Guo Xuan opened the bamboo tube, took out the cloth, looked at it carefully, let out a light sigh, and handed the cloth to Wu Xie for inspection.
Wu Xie looked thoughtful.
Guo Xuan asked: "Old Wu, this letter says that Mr. Zhao has been recalled to the court from Huai'an County by His Majesty and appointed as the Shaofu again. This is unusual!"
Wu Xie nodded slightly and said: "Well, it is indeed unusual. I am afraid that Lao Zhao will be appointed as the Assistant Minister by His Majesty in a short time."
Guo Xuan was shocked: "Minister of the Assistant Government? Does that mean that the young master has a chance?"
Wu Xie shook his head and said: "This is not prepared for the young master. This assistant minister is to protect An Guojun's succession. Thanks to Lao Zhao's repeated letters recommending An Guojun as the crown prince, Lao Zhao made the right bet. Well, I’m lucky enough to be selected as the auxiliary minister to Lord An Guo by His Majesty. Once the new monarch succeeds to the throne in the future, Lao Zhao will definitely be favored by the new monarch."
Hearing this, Guo Xuan said thoughtfully: "So it seems that His Majesty is probably preparing for his death?"
Wu Xie frowned and said, "Well, I suspect that His Majesty's body may not be able to hold on for long, otherwise he would not act like this."
Hearing this, Guo Xuan said to himself: "Minister, I wonder which auxiliary ministers your Majesty will arrange?"
Wu Xie analyzed: "Since His Majesty has always refused to establish a prince, in order to protect the country and the country, at least four auxiliary ministers must be arranged to escort the new monarch's succession. The prime ministers, Huo Zheng and Wang Yi, are absolutely loyal to the emperor. He must be the best candidate to assist the government. Yang's relatives, in addition to Yang Yan who is in charge of the Great Wall Corps, the left general Yang Lin is also the uncle of An Guojun, and must be an important candidate to assist the government. Plus Lao Zhao, With these four ministers assisting the government, it should be certain that An Guojun can successfully succeed to the throne."
Hearing this, Guo Xuan was convinced and sighed: "It seems that Lao Zhao has really joined An Guojun's faction. At least he can achieve the feat of following the dragon!"
Wu Xie smiled calmly and said: "Old Zhao will not join any faction. Don't forget that since Elder Meng was killed by the Tsing Yi envoys, he has been the elder of the Fuxing Society who is popular in the world. Our first goal is to replace the young master. If the attempt to seize the throne fails, we will retreat to the next best thing and wait for the opportunity. If the world changes, it will be time for us to revive the Yue Kingdom."
Guo Jueqi asked: "Will the world really be in chaos?"
Wu Xie affirmed: "There will be chaos, but I don't know when it will happen, and I don't know under what circumstances it will happen. Maybe there will be a Holy Lord in Jin Dynasty, and maybe there won't be chaos, maybe it will just be a small chaos for a while." , the world may be in chaos, this is just my personal inference, God’s will is unpredictable, maybe only God knows.”
When Guo Xuan heard this, he was even more confused. He thought to himself, why is this old Wu talking so confusingly? Is it a mess, or is it not a mess?
