The great golden tent of the Great Khan of the Turkic Empire is located in the Flame Maple Forest City at the core of the Western Continent.
Over the course of thousands of years, this city has been the capital of many dynasties. The Yeni, Dakulun, Deyan, and now the Turks all chose this place as the center of politics and economy.
Even many gods or holy places from traditional religions in the Western Continent exist here.
The current owner of Flame Maple Forest City is the Golden Clan.
After the snowstorm that lasted for dozens of days, the capital city finally ushered in the rare sunshine.
In the soft and warm light, the Fenglin Lake embedded in the middle of the city shines particularly magnificent and quiet. Tens of thousands of military tents are dotted around the lake, as if huge yellow flowers are blooming on the lakeside.
At this moment, the roar of Ashina, the Turkic Khan, was making the whole camp tremble.
More than fifty Turkic princes and nobles and hundreds of generals knelt obediently outside the main tent. A two-meter-tall Blood Guard warrior held a giant ax in his hand and stood solemnly around them, his expression indifferent and stern.
There were only seven people qualified to enter the Golden Tent to participate in the imperial meeting, but now there were five.
Just now, General Gulitai and Duke Keren of the Blood Wolf Clan were dragged away from the tent by the Blood Guards, leaving only two heads on the flagpole outside the tent. The big heads of Gulitai and Kelun were swinging in the wind in mid-air. Their grinning expressions made it unclear whether they were mocking the people kneeling below or mocking themselves.
"Duolun, check in!" the Blood Guard yelled.
Everyone trembled in shock. Duolun, the leader of the Iron Pigeon Army, agreed, suddenly jumped up from the ground, and walked into the tent in three steps and two steps at a time.
The great golden tent of the Turkic Great Khan was extremely spacious, covering an area of up to a hundred paces. On the top of the huge tent, there is a skylight for ventilation. The sunlight after the rain is shining in through the window, making the interior of the tent extremely bright.
The floor of the big tent was covered with a thick brown felt blanket, decorated with various patterns. When stepped on with leather boots, it was like a meadow in August or September, soft and extremely elastic.
Unlike the royal tents and palaces of many Turkic tribal leaders, Ashina's huge gold tent looks very simple. There are no common beast skins, no precious carpets from Persia; there are no rare coral treasure trees, black jade geodes, luminous dragon beads, and there are no symbols of the golden clan - huge and intricately carved gold ornaments.
Not even the most basic incense could be smelled.
The entire huge tent was clean and empty to the point of being a little shabby.
In the middle of the huge tent, there was only a sandalwood desk and a throne. The four treasures of the study placed on the table looked like those used by ordinary scholars in the Holy Tang Dynasty. There was nothing unusual about them.
The Flame Maple Forest City obviously has a magnificent palace, but the supreme Holy Lord of the Turkic Empire, the Great Khan Ashina Zhijin, prefers to stay in this tent and handle military and state affairs.
Ashina Zhijin, who is fifty years old this year, looks like he is no more than thirty due to his martial arts skills.
His face has sharp edges and corners, and the slightly protruding nose bridge makes his eye sockets appear deep. A pair of clear eyes, always emitting a cold light, possessing an aura that is not angry but powerful.
When Duolun walked in, Ashina Zhijin was talking to Prince Ronya who was standing next to him: "The Guritai family and the Karen family, except Naning, all will be killed!"
The prince didn't say anything, just nodded silently.
The Turkic Prime Minister Kolya, the Golden Tribe General Dueri and two other important ministers who were standing further back did not say a word.
The eldest prince Ashina Kamu frowned and said in a deep voice: "Father Khan, Guritai and Karen, as well as the generals and generals who participated in the war in Western Xinjiang, have been beheaded so far, a total of sixty-two people. Erchen feels that although my sister's life or death is still uncertain, and even though Karen and the others are inevitably to blame for her death, her family is still..."
Ashina raised her hand to stop Camus from speaking, and her voice was extremely cold: "Do you think I did this because of what happened to Hesijia to vent their anger on them?"
"I don't dare. I just think it's too harsh to deal with him like this." When Camus said this, he didn't dare to look directly at his father.
Ashina smiled coldly, "Is it too harsh? You are wrong! In my opinion, the essence of the matter has nothing to do with whether it is harsh or not!" He stood up, raised his finger and pointed outside the tent, calmly Said: "The princes and generals kneeling there are not only members of my Golden Clan, but also leaders of the Blood Wolf, Divine Eagle, Yunhe, Changsheng, Ghost Dou, Tianmu, Yelun and dozens of tribes, large and small. They are all here. Wait and see how I will handle this matter!"
Ashina put his hands behind his back, left the desk, and walked slowly in the tent: "Don't forget how our Golden Tribe became the king of the entire Turkic Empire, let alone twenty years ago The bloody imperial war. It was in that cruel war that we single-handedly defeated the aloof ruler, Shandu Yimo of the Blood Wolf Tribe; and then, dragging our bodies covered with wounds, After desperately blocking challenges from other tribes again and again, they finally secured their current position. Turks, and even the entire Western Continent, belong to the world of the strong. Only the strong are qualified to live, and live better! And to become a true A strong man must not only have wisdom and courage, but also a hard heart and ruthless means! Think about it carefully, how many golden warriors have sacrificed their lives for the glory of our clan, and how many enemies have been killed Shall we annihilate? Today, if I cannot severely punish the failure and shock all the tribes, then tomorrow they will not only surrender to the Golden Clan and follow us to conquer the Holy Tang Dynasty, but they will also take advantage of the bloody battle between us and the Holy Tang people to pounce from behind. Bite us hard until we are bitten to death!"
Having said this, Ashina Zhijin was silent for a moment, then looked up to the sky and sighed: "May the God of Fire bless you, please give victory and peace to the Golden Clan, and let me bear the endless evils in the world alone."
"Great Khan!" Several senior members of the Golden Clan in the tent knelt down quickly: "Follow the Great Khan to the death, God bless the Golden Clan!"
Camus was so ashamed that he choked up and said: "Father Khan, I have just become childish, and I beg for your forgiveness. May the God of Fire have mercy on our clan! I am willing to lead the troops myself and conquer the Holy Tang for my father Khan!"
Ashina stretched out his hand to help Camus up: "Child, the enemies we have to deal with are not only the Shengtang, but also the tribes within the Turks who are ready to make trouble. Do you know why I insist on forcing Shan Duhan this time to let Are their blood wolf tribe’s troops going to attack Western Xinjiang?”
Camus stood up: "I know that Father Khan wants the blood wolves to explore the way for us and test the depth of the Holy Tang. At the same time, it can also consume their strength and prevent the blood wolves from having evil intentions."
"You are right." Ashina said in a deep voice: "Although Shan Duhan bows to us and takes the initiative to lead his people back to the land of thousand-year frozen soil, the blood wolf's bones will never change. Back then, their ancestors came out of that bitter cold land and conquered all the major tribes along the way. Who can say for sure whether Shan Duhan or his descendants will come out again? Therefore, I can't help them. Use more thought. In addition, there is another more important factor, and that is the power of Shengtang."
"The Holy Tang Dynasty was founded for eight hundred years. It dominated the eastern part of the mainland and was arrogant in the world. No one could rival it. When I was young, I studied and traveled in the twenty-eight states of Middle-earth. I was always shocked and impressed by his great power. , and it was from then on that the dream of 'one day taking over the Middle-Earth' was gradually established in my heart. However, precisely because of the power of Shengtang, I was more cautious and fearful, and the only way to do this was to use the minions of the blood wolf. , can we help Turks test out Shengtang’s true strength!”
Prime Minister Kolya nodded slightly when he heard the words: "The Great Khan's far-sightedness is really lucky for our Golden Clan. In this battle in the Ghost Desert of Western Border, the strength of the Holy Tang Army cannot be underestimated. Who could have expected in advance that 150,000 blood wolves would The main force was actually beaten by them and fled in confusion in such a short period of time."
Duery continued: "From this point of view, the Eastern Expedition requires long-term planning."
"Although planning is necessary, it may not be long-term." Ashina smiled and said: "I really didn't expect that the Blood Wolf would be defeated so quickly, but what I didn't expect was that Shengtang actually sent Xuanjia as soon as he came up. Legion.”
Prince Ronya asked curiously: "Is there anything unusual about this?"
Ashina hesitated and asked: "Do you know the military system of Shengtang?"
Ronya nodded: "Ever since the Great Khan asked us to prepare for the Eastern Expedition, Shengtang's information has become a desk book for the ministers, and is always at hand."
Several other important officials of the Golden Tribe also expressed their agreement, saying that they have worked hard in this regard.
Ashina smiled and said: "In that case, you should know that the Xuanjia Legion is the absolute trump card in the hands of Shengtang. However, what is surprising is that in the face of a sudden war, the other party did not even make a tentative observation. I didn’t have any patience, so I just sent out my strongest combat force, what does this mean?”
Ronya thought for a while: "Does it mean they lack confidence?"
"That's right, lack of self-confidence!" Ashi's trembling face showed a cold smile: "There must be some problems within Shengtang, causing them to be afraid of a protracted war, and even more afraid of losing the war. This point, Maybe they don’t realize it yet, but that’s what it is.”
Prince Camus: "Since the other party is in this situation, how can we take advantage of it?"
Ashina said: "There are only three reasons why Shengtang is wary. One is the unstable situation inside the court, the other is the worry about the long-term chaos in the Western Xinjiang, and the third is the powerful forces of the major military departments. And the blood wolves I sent are only It’s just an outpost, and the real contest between the two sides has just begun. Doron!”
"Wei Chen is here." Duolun quickly agreed.
"How is the strategy you and Mr. Lao discussed?"
Duolun replied: "Reporting to the Great Khan, the details of the Western Xinjiang strategy have been discussed, and Mr. Lao has already set off first. On the one hand, we used Loulan, Shule and other countries to use various dissatisfaction with Shengtang to provoke them to rebel. , completely disrupting the Ghost Desert of Western Xinjiang. On the other hand, we promised Geerhan to help him regain the royal power of Chechi Kingdom in exchange for his horse bandits dispatching in large numbers to attack important strongholds on the trade routes and disperse the capital of Zhenjiang. The energy to protect the mansion. Geerhan has agreed, and his horse bandits have been dispatched one after another half a month ago. In addition, my Iron Pigeon Army only waited for the Khan's nod, and immediately left the ghost desert to secretly reinforce Geerhan."
Ashina shook his head and nodded: "Okay, the people of Shengtang often say that they should attack with troops and attack. I just want to use the strategy they are most familiar with to make them suffer some hardships first."
Duolun said: "The Great Khan is wise. Mr. Lao also said that as long as the Xijiang Ghost Desert itself is in chaos, all the hard work of the Xuanjia Army and the Zhenjiang Protectorate will suddenly be in vain, and once Shengtang becomes in a hurry, It will definitely fall into the Great Khan's plan. He said that this strategy can be called 'driving the tiger to devour the wolf'."
"This name is inappropriate." Ashina smiled slightly: "The wolf is one of the totems that all our Turkic tribes believe in, so this strategy should be called 'driving tigers and killing dragons'." Wait. The day when the giant dragon Shengtang is bitten and bruised all over, it will be the time for my Turkic Empire to leap into the middle of the earth!"
