In the end, Zhou Bai chose to admit the Yan family into the Cangshan Alliance after confirming that the Yan family had completely lost their ability to be independent.
Of course, this requires the Yan family to pay a lot of money. At least the alliance will send troops to help the Yan family and deal with the aftermath, which will require resource subsidies.
The Yan family handed over most of the family property in exchange for the blessing of the Zhou family and the alliance, and gained a glimmer of hope for continuation. This was the final result.
Except for the families near Cangshan who formed an alliance and defended themselves against the Jin soldiers under the leadership of Zhou Bai, the rest of Pingcang could be said to be fighting against each other and suffered heavy losses.
Because there were too many small groups of golden soldiers who crossed Cangshan Mountain and often wandered around the county town, the county soldiers did not dare to leave the county town at will. After all, the defense of the county town was the top priority.
Only Ji Hongzhe remembered the key point mentioned by Zhou Bai, Kukou Pass. He ignored the obstruction of the county captain and forcefully asked the county soldiers to support the pass.
As for Bei'an County, although it was not threatened by the Jin people, the heavy snow blocked the roads and the long supply line made it impossible for the county soldiers to support them.
For this reason, when faced with powerful families organizing a group of local soldiers to practice bravery, the government could only acquiesce.
As for Cangbei County, the court will not mention it, and Bei'an County will not take over.
This provided Zhou Bai with a favorable opportunity to further expand his influence. He led the rural soldiers of the Cangshan Alliance to clear out troops from the north of the county to the south of the county, and attracted more than a dozen rural people to join the alliance.
Of course, there are also levels among allies, except for the first few families, which are first-class allies of the Zhou family and belong to the all-weather strategic alliance.
The remaining allies still lack contribution and cannot ask for unconditional support from the alliance.
Families within the alliance must break down business barriers and exchange what they have, and the market does not need to go through the closed county.
Zhou Bai even promoted a lot of business shares, such as high-quality liquor, red mud, soap, and perfume. Each major family can choose to buy shares and then sell them to different business routes.
For a time, the Cangshan Alliance completed the transformation from a military alliance to a comprehensive alliance, and Zhou Bai also gathered a large amount of funds in a short period of time.
In just one month, the capital reserves of the inner government have exceeded 50,000 taels, which allowed him to accelerate the planning of industrial layout and dump a large amount of high-quality liquor to the north of Cangshan Mountain.
The last days of the forty-sixth year of Xiangxing were not wonderful. A sudden heavy snow disaster swept across the northern border. Not only did the Jin Kingdom begin to plunder southward, but other border states also had conflicts and frictions with their northern neighbors.
At the same time, various natural disasters began to occur in the inland states. Guangnan Prefecture, which had not seen snow in a thousand years, faced a heavy snow winter, and this was just the most common one.
Droughts, floods, and earthquakes occurred one after another in most states and counties, and the Qintian Supervisor's predictions of celestial phenomena completely failed.
In this situation of disasters all over the country, the response of the Daxu court was as slow as a snail. The central court did not have any response measures, and some only empowered local states and counties to deal with it easily.
But such second-line border counties like Bei'an are okay, but Cangbei County, which is on the front line of the war, can no longer support it.
There was insufficient food transportation and supplies, and the border soldiers could not hold on even if they were huddled in the city. Gradually, the border troops opened the city gates and surrendered.
This is a very rare situation for the Daxu frontier army, because they come from China and have their own pride.
They had fought countless battles with these prairie barbarians and accumulated a blood feud, but now they were defeated by hunger.
The situation in the north has never been so dangerous. Just because the emperor is seriously ill, the Daxu Dynasty, which has lasted for more than 300 years, has a tendency to change dynasties.
Fortunately, the Dukes in the court were not useless. Before the New Year passed and the heavy snow stopped, the court came up with a complete set of countermeasures.
It's easy for the inland states and counties to open the treasury for disaster relief, but for border states like Dingzhou that have been invaded, they have to be careful.
The imperial court's counterattack against the Jin Kingdom was very vicious. Emperor Xiangxing, who was barely able to support his illness, summoned Hu Yanhe, the Marquis of Yinshan of the Jin Kingdom who lived in the sacred capital, and issued an edict to appoint him as the new leader of the Jin Kingdom.
At the same time, he issued an imperial edict to the world, reprimanding the current eldest prince of the Kingdom of Jin for being an unworthy descendant, poisoning the former leader of the Kingdom of Jin, and not allowing foreign ministers to enter the palace to have an audience. This is an unfaithful, unfilial and unjust person.
Holding the imperial edict, Hu Yanhe entered Cangbei County under the escort of three thousand Daxu Forbidden Army, and erected the banner of the King of Jin in Cangbei County.
He wanted to recruit his old troops in Cangbei County, recruit the Jin Kingdom's southward invading army, and recruit the ministers and generals within the Jin Kingdom who were dissatisfied with his eldest brother.
In short, according to the etiquette system, the Kingdom of Jin is a vassal state of Daxu. Now that Huyanhe has been canonized by the emperor, he is the orthodox king of the Kingdom of Jin.
This time, the Kingdom of Jin is not stable. There is an old king, a supervisor, and a new king. Who should the Jin people listen to?
Later, Hu Yanhe did not wait for the Jin army to enter Cangbei for crusade, but turned around and took his old troops deep into the grassland. He wanted to buy time for Daxu to organize the border and lure away the marauding Jin army going south.
Some people may laugh and say that Yanhe was used as a sword by the Daxu court, but no one knows how long he waited for the opportunity to use it as a sword.
It is precisely because of the various methods of the court and the ineffective opening of warehouses for disaster relief that after the end of the forty-sixth year of Xiangxing, the world has returned to some peace.
After all, Emperor Xiangxing, who had been sitting on the dragon throne for forty-six years, was not dead yet. After all, there were no real rebels in Daxu World, and everything seemed to be under control.
However, an even stranger natural disaster swept the entire world.
On January 15th, Zhou Bai was explaining to Yu Yueyun about the affairs of the family, because he was leaving home to take the exam again, this time to Shenjing, and he needed to prepare for plenty of traveling time.
The bamboo shadows faded, the lights flickered, and in the quiet study, some people were reading under the moonlight, while others were wearing red sleeves.
Zhou Bai held the Taoist scriptures and asked Yin Ren, who was studying ink next to him casually, "Why, are those casual cultivators still unwilling to become worshipers of our clan?"
"Alas, we still don't have enough channels to collect spiritual stones and spiritual objects, and we can't come up with the resources and conditions to make them excited. However, Brother Bai, you mentioned cultivating Tao seeds. I have already selected a few seedlings." Yu Yueyun glanced at them. Glancing at the Dao Sutra in Zhou Bai's hand, the corners of his mouth curved.
Although I have already surpassed me in Taoism, I am still studying like this, and I am not afraid of entering Taoism early.
Zhou Bai nodded slightly and said: "Well, the direct line needs to be cultivated, and the outside line also needs to have thugs, but it doesn't matter. They will naturally come to me when I am named on the gold list."
Not to mention being a Jinshi, he is a direct descendant of the imperial court and has control over a large amount of resources.
Jinshi have the hope of immortality, and it is worth serving them to support them on the road to the future.
"The basic magic circle requires too many spiritual stones. It is better to reduce the area covered by the magic circle first. I think it is enough to protect the area near the ancestral hall." Yu Yueyun thought for a while and gave his own suggestion.
During this period, she had been secretly expanding the clan protection formation in accordance with Zhou Bai's request, and almost all of the spiritual stones collected from various industries had been filled in.
"No, the magic circle must be there. This is related to the foundation of the family. Don't worry, there will be no shortage of spiritual stones." Zhou Bai glanced in the direction of Cangshan and said with great certainty.
He recently read the imperial newspaper and felt that something was wrong with the frequent natural disasters happening in various places. This endless calamity almost pervaded the entire world.
Yu Yueyun also wanted to refute that building a magic circle was a waste of manpower and material resources. The key is what kind of crisis can such a magic circle be used. Could it be that several Taoist priests came to the door?
"But if those spirit stones are freed up, the Tao species in the clan can be used..."
Suddenly, both of them felt that the spiritual energy between heaven and earth suddenly became violent. The cool night wind instantly blew out the candles in the room, and there were many commotions outside.
Zhou Bai and Yu Yueyun hurriedly walked out of the house. The sky that was originally full of stars became dim and dim, as if the world had fallen into deathly silence.
Just before they could figure out what was going on, the moon, which had been hiding in the clouds for a long time, poked its head out, and the boundless blood-red moonlight covered the earth.
This is definitely not a normal moon!
"The bloody moon is a sign of great catastrophe." Zhou Bai's heart was pounding and he whispered silently.
"Yueyun, activate the magic circle immediately, block the moonlight, and tell everyone to stay at home and not go out!"
With an urgent and serious tone, Yu Yueyun didn't have time to ask, so she turned around and went straight to the ancestral hall, where the formation eye was.
At the same time, the clear and majestic voice echoed all the way, carrying magic power.
"The patriarch has an order. Everyone must close their doors and windows. They are not allowed to go out or look directly at the moon. Anyone who disobeys the order will be severely punished!"
Zhou Bai used his soul power to protect his whole body. He squinted his eyes and looked up at the blood moon. There seemed to be some truth hidden there.
The first collision between the two worlds, using the lunar star to transmit the chaotic power of the other world.
Swish~
Before Zhou Bai could think about it, another wave of anomalies appeared in the sky, and dark red meteors streaked across the sky, seeming to bring uncertainty to the world.
Sure enough, if you don't play your cards according to your memory, there won't be so many outsiders coming at the beginning of the world catastrophe.
