The mountains surrounding the Tea Castle are rolling and rolling. This hilly area and the Hope Mountains together surround a small basin. Xiangquan City is located in the relatively flat center of the land. The terrain gradually increases toward the Tea Castle.
In early spring, before the snow has melted, there are already troops marching among the vast forest and snow.
Thousands of people advanced along a rough and narrow mountain road in the forest. They were all full of energy and with hidden murderous intent. At noon that day, they arrived at the town under the fortress.
The unprecedented red Azure Dragon battle flag was flying in the formation. The flag was fierce and bloody, attracting the attention of many citizens and hunting teams, who all whispered: "Such a strong murderous aura... Who is this?"
Someone was sharp-eyed: "Look at the dark horse...isn't it our lord?"
"Yes, there are also the female immortal cultivators who are with him later. Hey, there seem to be three more..." This is a person who is curious and gossips.
Some experienced people pondered: "At least three thousand soldiers and horses, are you going to...winter expedition? Isn't the winter defense counterattack about to end?"
In the midst of many observations and speculations, the captain of the tea castle led a team of three hundred soldiers and ran down. When he saw that it was Ye Qing who was wearing a military uniform, he looked delighted and said: "My Lord, you want to march eastward in person?"
"Yes, time is a bit tight, but it's not too late... You can follow the team and talk about the recent situation." Ye Qing looked at him.
"Yes." The captain did not doubt that he was there and was overjoyed.
Ye Qing saw that he was high-spirited to fight, and nodded with satisfaction. Without wasting time, he ordered a Han general to hand over the defense to him - it was not that he did not trust the original team of Xianmen, but no matter what, the retreat must be controlled within the familiar route.
It is always easier to cooperate when a situation arises when you are in the hands of direct relatives.
The captain was just happy to accompany the team. He was worried that he had no military achievements this year. Who would care to guard the fort and clean up the savages? No matter how powerful the hunters are, they are also a civilian team. How can they kill more efficiently than the army?
The army did not stay in Tea Castle Town for long. They rested for a while, used water and then continued to move forward. At this time, Liniang said: "Your Majesty, there are people following behind, it seems to be a team of hunters."
Ye Qing looked back and saw many hunters, carrying food on their backs and holding bows and knives, spontaneously gathering behind the army, their eyes blazing.
"Just let them follow." Ye Qing said with a smile. He did not expel them, and even sent someone to guide them.
The captain of the tea castle just handed over the defense and led the team: "After passing the gap under the fortress, even if we break through the eastern edge of the basin and reach the front line...Although no large army has set foot in the front, it was necessary to prevent counterattacks last winter.
At the end of the battle, my subordinates went with the real people from Dongxiaomen to explore the terrain and military situation, and found that there was a savage nest a hundred miles away, called the Luoman tribe."
"From Chabao out of the gorge, all the way east is the vast virgin forest. The miasma settlement is much better when the snow has not melted. However, because there are no old roads in the past, it is still very difficult to open new roads in the dense forest. It is estimated that it will take half a day, that is,
It takes five days to arrive…”
Ye Qing didn't care about the time it took to travel, he only cared about the enemy's combat strength: "How strong is this Luoman tribe?"
"With a population of over a thousand... maybe two thousand people, it is considered a large tribe among the savages." The captain of the tea castle introduced with a somewhat regretful expression: "At this time last year, the elite magician group of the East Heaven Sect also made a trial attack.
It has not been captured. In fact, as long as the army moves over, it can be defeated in at most two days. In other words, the road is far away and the army has no time to attack. Moreover, there are stronger enemies behind them. If they hear the news and come to fight in a tangled battle, Xue
After the miasma rises, the army is in a bit of a dangerous situation.
After the team left the mouth of the gorge, there was no road ahead. The captain couldn't help but look around: "I am familiar with the forest. I will go to open the road ahead..."
A blazing white light flashed, the ground rumbled and shook, and immediately a mushroom cloud rose. The commander swallowed his words and widened his eyes: "Strong blast with thunder? This is such a waste, isn't it?"
The surrounding Han soldiers were laughing and just followed the front team eastward. Lu Xun explained to him: "That is not a thunder method, but an explosive made by Taoism."
Under the blue sky, the forest canopy is still covered with white snow. Under the reflection and refraction of the sun, it looks like a crystal clear ice field.
'Rumble, boom, thunderous vibrations are still heard on the ice field, continuous explosions of small fire thunders, snow slush splashing, and branches flying. The grenadiers opened a new path directly in the primeval forest, and the magician group
Then the slightly bumpy terrain was smoothed out, and then the main force followed up.
The efficient advancement speed turned the dense forest into a smooth road. The commander was dumbfounded: "How can my lord still do this?"
"Support...is there a city-state to support them?"
"Yes, two hundred miles deeper, there is a foreign city-state with three cities in series. This Luoman Tribe savage nest was deliberately left at the door of their house as a barrier to block us... Even according to the results of several test attacks by the Immortal Sect,
The wild god of the foreign city-state will arrive in less than half a day, and the city-state's army will arrive within three days. This is a bait."
Bait?
Ye Qing was a little surprised when he heard this. He thought that he had summarized the wisdom of war. This level of civilization was considered to be very high. He couldn't help but ask: "How is the strength?"
The captain racked his brains to recall, and only picked out the impression: "We did not investigate carefully, we only know that it is slavery. There are more than 50,000 nobles and civilians, and there are 150,000 or 60,000 savages and foreign slaves who have been conquered... Slaves cannot
In wars, nobles and civilians, and all the people can draw more than 30,000 warriors, and it is not like the simple sacrifices in the savage tribes, but a combination of ancestral sacrifices and wild beasts... The aliens call them wild gods, and some are stronger than ordinary Yang.
Gods and real people are powerful."
Early artificial gods?
Ye Qing listened thoughtfully, thought for a while, smiled and asked Qianqian: "You must have accumulated a lot of magical power over the past hundred years, do you have an appetite?"
Responding to her husband's joke, Qianqian just rolled her eyes at him: "Isn't the Xuanhuang Qi converted by 950,000 days of energy enough? The divine power is too complex and I won't like it. If I eat it, I will vomit... I only need to absorb the source of the green veins to defeat my husband.
You can try it... After assimilation, you can absorb their clan energy, and it is very good to sacrifice and refine the Xuanyuan Sword."
"Where are you Wenji?"
It was Cai Wenji's first time on the battlefield. She was a little nervous and almost followed every step: "I...listen to Sister Qian."
"Oh, my picky eater..."
After exiting the gorge, the old roadbed is no longer as convenient as the old roadbed. It is completely a new road in virgin land.
A road that is neither wide nor narrow goes straight east, and the speed is almost the same as normal marching. However, it is difficult to turn around on the road in the dense forest, so the real people accompanying the army are in the air and closely monitor the situation within a dozen or two miles nearby.
In fact, Qianqian's fifth-level telepathic reflection is the most accurate and safe. She is like a fish in water in this green-veined aura-rich environment, and her detection and concealment powers overwhelm all existences under the immortals.
However, there were three thousand Northern troops on this trip, and five hundred were selected by the Confederate guards to accompany them. Behind them were a large number of small teams of hunters who had caught wind of the situation. Each one of them was like a shark smelling blood, and they brought their own provisions with them.
With so many people, we cannot let the core do everything.
Therefore, Ye Qing did not stop the Xianmen real people from investigating. He only stayed in the Central Army with Qianqian, taking Chuanlin's notes to record the information along the way. In addition to the habit of checking whether there were any mineral deposits, he also looked for a suitable location to build a new city...
Seeing that the coach is so calm and composed, the tension that was originally racing against time has been reduced a lot, and the atmosphere in the team is even more confident.
The march was very fast, and in the afternoon, when the army left the tea castle and had gone thirty miles deep, a magician reported back: "My lord, the former army scouts have discovered several wandering savage tribes. Do you want to encircle and suppress them?"
"Regardless of the sporadic savages around us, we don't have to do the low-efficiency achievements ourselves, we can just leave it to the hunters... We go and acquire the land and population.
"Wan Sheng" all the soldiers shouted.
"Wan Sheng - Wan Sheng -"
The small team of hunters behind them followed suit, all with eager eyes, full of desire for land, wealth and points.
The team did not stop at all, heading towards the Luoman tribe's savage lair in the seventy-mile snow forest.
In that direction, a few pairs of wild eyes saw the invading army. They were horrified by the momentum of its way through the forest, and gray shadows rushed back towards the nest.
Immediately, the smoke rose and spread towards the east.
At dusk, the smoke arrived three hundred miles east of the tea castle, and a special signal showed the direction and quantity of the incoming enemy.
A large river meanders through the plains and dense forests. A large city stands on the bank of the river. The city wall is built with earth, and large tracts of farmland are opened around it. The city is densely populated, with many flat-roofed mud houses clustered around a bald pyramid in the center, white in color.
It is made of huge stones, the flame on the top does not go out day and night, and the majestic and noble atmosphere lingers in the tower.
Further north is the bustling slave market. The warriors who escorted the slaves through here all looked in awe and spoke softly.
The most lacking thing in the plains and dense forests is stones. They are mined in the mountains further east, transported here bit by bit, and finally built seamlessly. Such a building that consumes huge manpower and material resources is only to set off the glory of the owner's power.
, this is...the Temple of the Aragami.
Compared to the soft awe of the people passing by below, the dignitaries gathered in a circle in the city lord's palace for a meeting, but they broke into a row: "...invasion of aliens."
"This is our land"
"Please come out of the Aragami...please send down divine punishment," a young nobleman said enthusiastically.
Hearing the casual punishment from the gods, a woman in a snow-white sacrificial robe frowned and said, "The gods are still resting and recovering...can't interrupt them rashly."
"It's different from the past. The aliens this year are very powerful. We have been defeated once and almost couldn't escape..." Someone looked miserable.
There was also a nobleman in military uniform who calmly said: "So what? Winter has passed, the snow is about to melt, and the alien evil spirits are coming now, and they will never come back."
"The Luoman tribe reported that the enemy's strength is only three thousand, and they cannot reach our city-state before the snow melts. The most they can do is..." A nobleman said, his eyes flashing cunningly.
"We can't give up on the Luoman tribe, they are good hunting dogs..."
The venue was filled with chaotic sounds and various intentions, and the three city lords were all a little tired.
But this is the parliament. They were probably tired at the end of the quarrel. The nobles and priests looked at each other and gave a comprehensive opinion: "Let the Luoman tribe resist and lure them. We will take advantage of the enemy's attack on the lair and damage and exhaustion.
Even if we are defeated in one fell swoop...just like before, God will bless us to victory."
"good."
The city lord sitting on the throne in the middle nodded slightly and looked at the two city lords: "What do you think?"
"agree."
"As you wish."
After agreeing with the opinion, the big city lord immediately made a decision: "The meeting is adjourned and I ask the two city lords to gather the army. Within three days..."
At this moment, 'Boom, a powerful red light descended on the hall.
A half-human, half-animal figure opened its eyes. It had snow-white wings like a goose, thick cloven hooves like a cow, and fine golden scales like a snake. On its head was a human with a strange and ancient appearance. Even though it was injured, it still showed no signs of diminishing.
The bloodthirsty and cruel body is yet sacred and glorious.
These two feelings, hell and heaven, are intertwined, and their combined power makes mortals hold their breath and tremble.
"God... God is above me." Everyone, including the city lord, knelt down and asked in a trembling voice: "What divine inspiration do you have?"
"The group of foreigners from the west... disgust me. Destiny tells me that they will blaspheme the face of God... kill them on my behalf."
"Yes, my God"
"Kill them all at all costs, kill them all..." Aragami roared, and his face suddenly changed: "No, there is a woman in there, she wants to be brought to me alive."
Believers have become accustomed to Aragami's moodiness and occasional self-logical contradictions. The oracle did not say anything, and they did not dare to ask who the woman was. They only echoed: "Yes, it is our honor to sacrifice for you. We will kill everyone."
, take that woman and dedicate it to you.”
Aragami was very satisfied after hearing this, and disappeared into the hall as soon as the light and shadow dispersed. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, and then looked at the three city lords with some worry: "Killing them all is easy, but according to the oracle... what woman will be brought?"
The great city lord pondered for a moment, clapped his hands and said, "Kill all the men, capture all the women, do not touch them, and offer them intact to God."
"Understood……"
The meeting dispersed one after another, basically divided into three waves. The three city lords looked at it with some worry.
The ethnic identity of the primitive city-state was very weak. Although they were all tribesmen who came from the earliest cities, as they successively captured two enemies, the people who migrated there naturally formed new factions.
These two generations are still dominated by the leaders of the old city-states, but frictions and estrangements are constantly arising. There is no one-way intermarriage and integration of the national and rural systems, and there is no patrilineal label of sacrifice, tracing of origins and political identification. They are maintained entirely by the memory of the living.
It is difficult to maintain the same ethnic identity by the third and fourth generations and be recognized by the same ethnic group...
Or for the new city in the future, the male and female slaves who are hardworking and capable are more pleasing to the eye than the cousins in the outer city. Distant relatives are not as good as close neighbors, and it is so realistic that favors come naturally.
If Ye Qing were here, it would be clear at a glance - if they want to maintain the city-state system and maintain it, the only way they can take is to constantly promote a desolate god, let him transcend the limitations of the gods worshiped by the earth, lift the divine domain from the underworld, and appear on the earth
, the gods can freely walk on the water, spread their glory widely and unite the city-states.
In fact, it is tantamount to letting the wild god possess the national destiny and letting it swallow up part of the national destiny, thus achieving the stability of the core of civilization.
The warriors of these foreign city-states have not yet realized this clearly, but after they recognized the Aragami as their master, they have been invisible and developed in this direction instinctively and consciously.
The three city lords were all from the older generation and stayed in the secret room to hold a small meeting and discuss with each other: "The legitimate daughters and virgins of each family are also selected to be married to the Aragami... The gods want to accept foreign women to breed heirs, and we cannot refuse.
But Aragami is very energetic and cannot allow foreign women to have too many children. He wants women of his own race to receive more seeds...
"Yes, the blood of gods flows in our ancestors, and our people will be the future gods... The descendants of foreigners can only be vassals at best, not gods.
"The bloodline is not strong enough... As we multiply and expand, the natural divine power of our ancestors continues to weaken. No method can make up for it. The only way is to let more aliens believe in the Aragami, so that the energy seeds of the Aragami can be more spiritual, and more immersed in our women...
...The divine power of the Aragami can make up for the dilution of the power of our ancestors, and our descendants will be stronger..."
"In the end, we will become a race of gods, ruling over all heretics and enjoying their women."
"The wombs of heretics are born for our Gods, but they are only God slaves. They must be beautiful, white, and pious, and have no authority...We cannot recognize the children born from them, which will dilute our divine blood...Savages and foreigners are not worthy.
Alongside us, all they have to do is be slaves and vassals."
These voices dissipate in the secret room, but their will and influence are broader. For a hundred years, this land has had a "god-man" assimilation policy that is completely opposite to the "national wild" assimilation policy and competes with it.
The goal of the "Chinese-Savage" system is to give the daughters of savages to Chinese gentlemen to enjoy, so as to sow seeds and reproduce the Han race.
The goal of the "Desolate God-City-State" system is to give the daughters of the people to the desolate beasts to enjoy, so as to sow seeds and reproduce the gods.
The trends of these two assimilation models are completely opposite. At present, the Tuhanchen chose Dongzhou as the starting point for spreading the seeds of the world. The two models are in opposition, and there must be a struggle.
In terms of assimilation, in a world where Taoism and Dharma are not sacred, the reproductive power of Chinese people should be tens of millions of times stronger than wild beasts, forming an overwhelming force of bloodline assimilation.
However, in the immortal world, because the strong have extraordinary energy and have powerful and efficient reproduction and expansion capabilities, there may not necessarily be a difference in numbers.