Law of the Devil

Nine hundred and sixty-three years of the Roland Empire.

During this year, many important things happened in the empire. No matter from any point of view, these things that happened are worthy of special mention in the history books.

In particular, these things happened before the era of the Roland Continental War that followed, which highlighted the subtlety of some things...

At first, in the early spring of the Empire’s 663rd year, Earl Raymond, who had made great contributions to the empire and was known as the last famous general at the end of the Augustinian Dynasty, was in his hometown in the castle of Rollin Plain. Died in bed. This imperial general who participated in the Northwest Station Master more than 20 years ago and personally led two expeditions to the South China Sea has completed his life journey. Although there is also a stain in his career: the coup.

But this does not negate his life's achievements. In the evaluation of this general by later generations, there is an additional very interesting sentence:

"Throughout this general's life story, whether it is the outstanding performance in the first grassland northwest war or the contribution in the later Nanyang expedition, it has been comparable to any famous general in history. However, this is not the case. The greatest contribution of the general to the empire. Many people believe that the greatest contribution of this general Raymond to the Roland Empire...to the mainland and to the people is...he gave birth to a good son." The second thing, on a continent-wide scale The massive conscription began. The empire has invested a lot of financial and material resources to draw out the elite from the reserve, and select the elite from the local garrison on a large scale to form a new imperial support army.

And at the time -- no one knew why. The public remarks are to supplement the Northern Storm Corps, which suffered heavy losses after the rampage of Warcraft. However, everyone knows that this is just an excuse. The third thing is the spring of the nine hundred and sixty-third year of the empire. In the imperial capital, a unique baptism ceremony was launched. The current actual ruler of the empire, the supreme ruler of the mainland, His Royal Highness Prince Chen, the regent, accepted the religious baptism given to him by Pope Paul XVI.

Although every emperor in the past has to be baptized by the Pope to be considered a legal emperor. However, the baptism process of the regent is extremely rare: he actually announced his baptism in public. Pope Paul XVI will be his own godfather!

The receiving ceremony that day was very lively. Tens of thousands of citizens of the imperial capital attended and watched the entire baptism process.

This matter has been strongly opposed by many royal nobles. In everyone's opinion, this is definitely a great shame for the royal family, and even a strategic failure! During the thousands of years of confrontation between the royal family and the church, even when the empire was in the most crisis in history, the royal family maintained its pride and dignity as always. Never bow to the church! However, this future monarch, who was called young and wise, did such a "stupid" behavior, which made everyone extremely puzzled.

Many people think that this is a deal: Obviously, because of the strong support of the temple in the coup, the regent is giving the temple a reward for that incident.

This guess is correct. However, everyone thinks that this will inevitably leave a stain on the career of the wise regent: for his own selfishness, he actually exchanged the dignity of the royal family for the support of the temple. In this way, what is the difference between him and the late first prince who started the coup?

However, the two things that happened afterwards once again increased people's support for Prince Chen!

On the third day of the christening. The Prince Regent issued a proclamation: By order of His Majesty the Emperor Augustine VI. The little emperor's grandson Charlie is the first heir to the imperial throne, the crown prince! Before the crown prince came of age, the state affairs of the empire were still in charge of His Royal Highness Prince Chen, the regent. at the same time. Prince Chen was awarded the title of prince.

Prince Chen used his actions. In fact, it is equivalent to voluntarily giving up the throne... although he is actually the actual ruler of the empire.

The temple suffered a loss: they did not get a godson of the emperor, only a godson of the prince. The political significance of this baptism. It's a big discount.

Just when everyone thought that the temple would be furious and launched a series of counterattacks with the royal family --- to everyone's surprise, the temple and the royal family were even more united!

The Pope and the Regent signed a series of agreements after meeting and negotiating many times. In the next three years, the temple expressed its willingness to give up religious taxes in some areas, and then donate them to the imperial army in the form of free donations. Support for imperial military spending.

The empire, on the other hand, announced the construction of new religious centers in more than a dozen places to promote the teachings of the Goddess of Light. Among them is the territory of the Duke of Tulip, the province of Desa.

It is worth noting that, in fact, someone has discovered that His Majesty the Pope who was present at the Regent's acceptance ceremony was full of old age. The spiritual leader of the Roland Empire seemed to be very old and weak, and he was very pious. All believers are worried that His Majesty the Pope will be called away by the Goddess soon.

Only after Du Wei got the news, he understood in his heart that it seems that after the battle with the Witch King Bai Hechou, the Pope's serious injuries are far from recovered.

Another detail is that the leader of the Mosa sect in the Temple of Light, His Excellency Maximus, the archbishop of the North Central District, also attended the baptism ceremony. To everyone's surprise, the leader of the Mossas sect was actually wearing a red robe, which already showed that his status in the church had changed: Cardinal Archbishop!

Moreover, during the christening ceremony, the new cardinal always stood in the first position under the pope! This further hinted at his identity, having been designated by the Pope as the "Chief Archbishop".

And usually, in the church, the status of "Chief Archbishop" also has a special meaning---heir to the Pope!

Taking advantage of this public occasion, Pope Paul XVI undoubtedly announced his future successor silently.

Anyone who knows anything about the interior of the church knows that. In the church, the Mossas represent the moderates, while the Yenis represent the hawks. Pope Paul XVI's move undoubtedly laid the foundation for the rise of the Mossas.

After such an announcement was released, people with a sensitive sense of smell immediately saw the actual nature of it!

The mercenary group of the Roland Empire has been legalized since then! !

After the age of chivalry has fallen for many years. And the release of this announcement undoubtedly has a special meaning! Stimulated the vigorous development of mercenary adventure organizations everywhere, and a large number of low-level warriors who had no work or food finally found their own way out - a large number of newly built mercenary groups in the north are being recruited widely Announcement for newcomers! .

And there is news that the Knights Association in a city in a certain area in the north where monsters are ravaging suddenly received 300 applications for the samurai level assessment within a day after the announcement--and usually, this number It has been their workload for a year.

Due to the rise of large-scale mercenary groups. In addition, hunting monsters is profitable, although monsters are terrifying. However, driven by interests, many people still embark on this adventurous road.

And soon. The situation of the raging monsters has been greatly eased. A large number of monsters fleeing into the north of the empire are hunted by a large number of human bounty hunters who have been dazzled by money-the empire does not need a single soldier. It effectively solved the problem of World of Warcraft raging.

And... the empire's finances are not without small supplements. Although there is a bounty to be paid for hunting monsters, the empire is not without income... Any mercenary group must declare the roster to the empire official. The empire even opened an official mercenary jurisdiction, and... Each mercenary group must pay taxes to the empire every year in order to maintain its legal status.

Some people support this decree, and some people oppose it. The supporters think that this can effectively solve the problem of the rampage of warcraft in the north. Opponents, on the other hand, are worried that once the mercenary group's legal opening is opened, they are afraid that there will be troubles in the public security issues in the future! In turn, a large number of desperadoes are produced, which is not what people want to see.

After Du Wei got the news, he just smiled. He is considered a supporter, and his attitude is: "Anyway, even if the empire didn't have this order, there are already various mercenary groups in the north. Can pay more taxes." The fifth major event. The imperial military announced that they would build a large military fortress in the north of the empire, about ten miles from the southern end of the frozen forest.

The location of this military fortress has been strictly selected, and the location finally selected is very critical. It is just on the main road leading to the south from the frozen forest. There are large mountains and difficult places on both sides. Only this area is relatively flat, and, in the last event where the monsters rushed out of the frozen forest, this place was the main direction of the torrent of monsters.

According to the official statement of the empire, this time the empire is going to spend a lot of military expenses to cultivate an unprecedented, largest and strongest military fortress! From now on, eradicate any possibility of World of Warcraft raging! As long as there is such a fortress standing in the north of the empire, then the large area of ​​the northern territory of the empire to the south of this military fortress can be guaranteed to be safe.

Under the leadership of the old prime minister Rob Schell, the imperial military proposed a huge plan.

"This military fortress will become the most outstanding product in the history of the imperial military." All military experts who have seen this plan expressed such emotion. , to create this almost miraculous military iron wall, just to stop those ignorant monsters...wouldn't it be too wasteful?"

Until now, no one knew that the great enemy would invade the north in the next three years.

In order to create this military fortress, the military once again had a big quarrel with the Chancellor of the Exchequer for several days. In the end, it was still Duke Tulip who solved their problem.

The Duke of Tulip once again donated 10 million gold coins for military expenses in his own name.

such a move. Let everyone be amazed, and guess... how much wealth does this Tulip Duke have? The previous act of donating 50 million gold coins is no longer a secret.

Under the leadership of Duke Tulip, Delan Mountain Warcraft expressed its willingness to donate weapons worth three million gold coins. Used to arm the new main battle legion of the future. And the Earl of Villa and other nobles. They also donated tens to millions of gold coins.

In the summer of this year, on Du Wei's sixteenth birthday, Du Wei received a small gift from the military.

The envoy sent by the military said that this military fortress was built with military expenses donated by His Excellency Tulip. So in order to show their respect for Grand Duke Tulip, they are willing to ask Grand Duke Tulip to name this future new military fortress.

In fact, Du Wei had already seen the construction drawings of this military fortress. Although it is highly confidential, judging from the relationship between Du Wei and the regent, there are no secrets anymore. And... many of the construction contents were even suggested by Du Wei.

For example, the strongest prismatic city wall is covered with sharp barbs! There is also a tower every ten meters above the city wall. A military heavy ballista was placed on it! And the huge military fortress is enough to accommodate more than 200,000 troops. even more! Inside the military fortress, a huge cellar was also excavated. Used to store food. Coupled with the cold weather in the north, the food is not easy to perish. If the cellars were filled to the brim, there would be enough grain to sustain the defenders for a long time.

Even Du Wei personally designed several trebuchets... Moreover, the trebuchets did not launch stones. It is a new type of "gunpowder bomb" that has been improved based on the production base in Gilliat City.

Everyone who has seen the design plan agrees that "this is a line of defense that will never be breached!"

Will never be breached?

After Du Wei heard these statements, his heart suddenly moved, and the idea of ​​spoofing came up again.

So, in the face of the envoy sent by the military, Du Wei swiped his pen on the document and gave this future strongest and strongest line of defense a name...

Kaspersky... the sixth big thing. In the spring of this year, according to the traditional spring drills of the empire's army, about 50,000 private troops belonging to the Luolin family in the southern part of the empire, the recruits of the two divisions---in fact, they can't be regarded as recruits, they are all dismissed Afterwards, the veterans who re-enlisted in the army were carefully selected and reorganized. In the name of "spring exercise" long-distance training, they set off from the Luolin Plain and rushed all the way to the northwest.

Subsequently, this army was stationed in the Northwest Desa province. Although this army is nominally the private army of the Luo Lin family, everyone knows that as Du Wei is now the eldest son of the Luo Lin family, and the patriarch is his underage younger brother, this private army is actually run by Du Wei. He came to command -- what's more, even the military salary was paid by Du Wei.

In this way, plus the more than 40,000 troops of the Tulip family under Du Wei's original command, Du Wei's command has gathered a total of 100,000 troops, and the Governor of Bohan in the neighboring province has also exceeded 40,000 troops after the last conscription. Ten thousand. The pattern of the northwest region has undergone tremendous changes at one time. Even a fool can see that Du Wei's move is obviously aimed at the Northwest Army. .

On the mainland, everyone is watching, not knowing how the future of the Northwest will change. The Northwest is like a fireball that could explode at any time. It only needs a slight change at this moment, and it may trigger the largest war in the empire in decades--and, this is still a civil war! The seventh major event... At the time when this event happened, no one noticed its happening, the process. And it wasn't until the result of this incident that people were dumbfounded. It can be said that the pattern of the mainland has been completely reversed by an extremely small, even insignificant person...

Nine hundred and sixty-three years of the empire, late autumn.

Loulan City in Northwest Desa Province. Tulip Duke Governor's Palace.

Du Wei frowned, and gently stroked his brows with his fingers, as if he wanted to soothe the worries between his brows. He was looking at a document, a report to be exact. In the Tulip family, Du Wei is currently the number one advisor under his command. Also Chief of Staff. Philip stood in front of Du Wei. The appearance of this young man is a bit more mature, and there is a hint of calmness between his brows. His hands are habitually folded in his sleeves, and he stands there quietly, exuding an unfathomable smell from his whole body. Come.

Du Wei finished reading the document in front of him. Then it was slowly closed, and on the cover, there was a line of big red characters written:

top secret! Northwest's military plan for the next three years.

Du Wei pondered for a while, then glanced at Philip: "You wrote these contents by yourself?"

Philip smiled: "No, I have listened to some opinions from General Longbottom, and Knight Ruolin also gave me some inspiration." Ruolin? Du Wei raised his eyebrows. Over the past year, Ruolin has done quite well. Since Nanyang's actions. After thoroughly developing Ruolin's military talent, Du Wei simply transferred the female knight to his army. When it started. Du Wei asked her to command a cavalry brigade for a year. Ruolin stands out because of her performance. Coupled with Du Wei's intentional promotion, he has become the commander of a cavalry battalion with 3,000 cavalry.

And if nothing else. She will probably be the first female general under the tulip family in the future.

Even qq, this guy, when he chatted with Du Wei by chance, when he mentioned Ruolin, this guy couldn't help but let out an admiration.

"This female knight reminds me of the Messiah back then."

"Aragorn's wife? The chief knight of the Saint Laurent Knights" is her. "

As for Ruo Lin's performance, the proud cavalry trained by Longbottom had to be convinced. After being sharpened, this female knight's martial skill level has reached level four—although it is not high, it is already considered good. After thinking about it for a long time, Du Wei asked Hussein for his opinion, so he taught Ruo Lin the basic moves of Starry Sky Dou Qi. After that, Ruo Lin's strength increased again immediately. During her time in the Northwest, Ruolin spent all her spare time besides her military career, seeking advice from the two strong men, Hussein and Rodriguez.

Rodriguez's evaluation of Ruolin is: "She is very similar to me...a late bloomer."

It can be said that this descendant of the Munn tribe, who experienced too many ups and downs when she was young, finally sharpened her sharpness and edges.

Du Wei looked at Philip, and then sighed: "The plan is good...but it will be very, very difficult to implement...Philip, we seem to have a big business and a hundred thousand soldiers...but you have to understand, our The army is inferior to Lu Gao of the Northwest Army in terms of quantity and quality! His 200,000 troops are all elites, and all the generals under him are veterans."

And there was still one thing he didn't say in his heart: Lu Gao's identity is actually Chishuiduan, a disciple of Snow Mountain! If there is a real fight, I am afraid that Hussein and Rodriguez will not be his opponents alone.

"Also, we have to beware of the prairie people in the west." Du Wei sighed.

Although, Snow Mountain Witch King Bai Hechou seems to have established a good personal relationship with him, and Bai Hechou also promised not to enter the mainland within ten years... But what he promised was not to enter the mainland, it was him! He didn't promise that the prairie people would not invade!

And, going one step further... Du Wei is not a child! For such a matter of life and death, he would not base his confidence on verbal promises!

Three years... three years. It has been more than half a year now, time is getting tighter and tighter, and there are not many things left for myself.

"I mean...first west and then east." Du Wei tapped the table lightly: "At the Northwest Army, keep an eye on it, and we have an ally, Bohan, beside the Northwest Army, even if there is something When things happened, he was the one who topped the tank first. Our goal is to get rid of the prairie people before the Northwest Army goes to war. At least one thing must be ensured... That is, when we deal with Lu Gao in the future, the prairie people will not stab us in the back! "

Philip smiled, and then he seemed to say leisurely: "In this case... Your Excellency, Mr. Alpha, should be back soon."

Alpha Guard. Uncle Alpha. For more than half a year, he was not by Du Wei's side, not even in the northwest. Most people in the Tulip Duke's Mansion don't know where this Mr. Alpha Knight has gone. Only a small number of people in the inner circle including Philip knew where Alpha was going. Original. To be precise, he has been staying on the grassland during this time. The sun on the meadow. She had a dark complexion. And the life of drinking this mare's milk and eating mutton almost completely turned him into a prairie man, and even his hair was dyed a common brown among prairie people by Du Wei's special medicine.

and. He has a long knife scar on his face, which allows him to blatantly cover his face with a veil - which hides his nose. After all, the Roland people have straight noses, while the prairie people have rather flat noses.

Alpha's current public identity is the number one fierce general beside Lord Saladin. His name is "Igo". According to the language of the grassland, this name means "Eagle on the Prairie".

Saladin. The kid named Saladin that Du Wei put back at the beginning was the thirteenth son of the Prairie King. A fellow born of a Roland slave girl.

After he went back from that defeat, he suffered a lot at the beginning. Because of defeat. The prairie king's anger vented on all the deserters who were lucky enough to escape back, and after executing hundreds of deserters. The Prairie King was so angry that he almost demoted his son into a slave. Fortunately, he was persuaded by the people around him, "After all, he is your blood. If he becomes a slave, it will also damage your majesty.".

The Prairie King didn't know that these people who interceded actually took a lot of benefits from Saladin---of course, Du Wei was the one who paid.

After Saladin escaped the punishment by chance, he was punished and left the royal court, and was sent far away to the far west of the grassland royal court to graze horses, cattle and sheep. In fact, he was left to fend for himself.

And then, Alpha's chief guard came to the grassland with more than 2,000 grassland slaves given to him by Du Wei—half of these slaves were bought by Du Wei from various places in the mainland, and half were from the peace talks. It was presented by the prairie prince.

For the two thousand slaves, Du Wei selected some obedient guys, and Alpha led them into the grassland, and then contacted Saladin.

Du Wei asked Alpha to bring a message to Saladin: There is only so much I can do. If you can no longer become successful, it can only mean that you are incompetent.

Facts have proved that this Saladin is not incompetent, he is very capable!

With his superb skills, he quickly subdued the two thousand slaves, and then organized them into a cavalry team. He was black at first, and after robbing a few small groups of prairie horse thieves, his subordinates immediately increased to 4,000 people. In less than half a year, he annexed a weak tribe, and finally broke away from the royal court openly. Became the chief of a small tribe.

These things did not attract the attention of the royal court. After all, the tribe that Saladin annexed was just a small tribe with a population of less than 10,000, and most of them were old, weak, sick and disabled.

But then, Saladin's power grew like a snowball!

Alpha became the liaison between him and Du Wei. Alpha made the connection, and Du Wei provided Saladin with many high-quality weapons produced by the empire!

There is a lack of minerals on the grasslands. Although the cavalry on the grasslands are sturdy, they lack high-quality armor and weapons. This has always been their weakness. After receiving Du Wei's weapon support, Saladin became even more powerful. He was originally a very capable guy. It took another year, and the population controlled by his subordinates reached tens of thousands, and more than 20,000 strings were controlled.

In any case, this number was enough to be considered a medium-sized tribe on the grassland.

What's more, in order to increase his strength, Du Wei even sent two magic students under him! !

When Wang Ting finally noticed the abandoned son of the Prairie King, the Prairie King was surprised at the astonishing development momentum shown by the son he didn't like, and on the other hand, he was faintly dissatisfied.

But soon, Saladin made a move. He voluntarily surrendered to the royal court, saying that the tens of thousands of people and 20,000 cavalry under his command were willing to obey the orders of the Prairie King, and they were the most loyal fighters of the Prairie King.

And the only condition he put forward - it even makes people feel that this is not a condition.

His request was: "I just beg my father to treat me like a son! After all. You are my father."

The Prairie King was very happy. He only made a gesture, and he could get tens of thousands of people and 20,000 cavalry. No one would refuse such a thing.

In the next month, Saladin sent people to worship a lot of cattle, sheep and horses in the royal court... although the Prairie King did not lack these. But this son who gave up on his own. He was very satisfied with such a filial act.

Moreover, Saladin didn't even bring any entourage, and went to the royal court alone! Then that day, in the royal court. In the golden tent of the Prairie King, in front of many leaders under the command of the Prairie King, there are more than a dozen other sons, and many tribal chiefs.

This Saladin actually knelt down in public, and then performed the most solemn and respectful etiquette on the grassland:

Kiss the feet of the prairie king!

Such a submissive attitude even moved the Prairie King. He even felt that he seemed a little too harsh on this son. After all, although he was born by a female slave. Can also be regarded as their own species. And... it seems that he is quite capable. And respectful to myself.

Then something happened. Let the Prairie King dispel the last trace of doubts about Saladin.

Here's the thing. Because of the defeat of Jinlangtou's 20,000 cavalry, a tribe that was originally loyal to the royal court was made. Disgusted with the royal court, the tribe decided to move away and no longer obey the orders of the royal court.

This angered the Prairie King, and he ordered to conquer this disobedient tribe. Saladin, on the other hand, volunteered to do this.

He did a very good job, he wiped out that tribe very quickly, and returned with the head of the chieftain of that tribe in his hand and handed it over to the Prairie King. But when this tribe was wiped out, all the captured people, cattle, sheep, and horses were all handed over, and he himself did not hold back any of them.

More importantly, in this battle, the cavalry under his command suffered great losses, and more than 4,000 people died. Almost a quarter of its strength was lost. But he didn't complain at all, instead he sincerely expressed on the golden tent of the king's court: he is his father's son, and his subordinates are his father's subordinates. It doesn't matter if one's own strength is lost, no matter how big the loss is, as long as it can make father happy.

This kind of thing, say, anyone will say it. But if you really do it, there are not many people. Saladin was ruthless enough. He exchanged the death and blood of four thousand subordinates for the trust of the Prairie King. The king of the grassland believed that this son was not a self-respecting soldier, he was indeed an obedient guy who was willing to bleed for himself.

In less than two years, in such a short period of time, Saladin became the son of a slave girl in Wang Tingli, one of the trusted sons of the Prairie King.

At this time, Du Wei was still recruiting troops in Luolin Plain. Du Wei knew all the process and various things about this Saladin based on the letter sent back by the chief guard of Alpha.

When he saw that Saladin was in the tent, in front of everyone, prostrated on the ground and kissed the grassland king's feet regardless of his dignity...

For some reason, Du Wei suddenly felt a chill gushing out of his body! !

After sending Philip away, Du Wei took out Uncle Alpha's handwritten letter again. He read it again, and then sighed softly: "Almost, it's about time."

Afterwards, Du Wei walked out of his study room. Without letting any guards follow him, he went directly under the castle, walked through a long corridor, and came to a small building behind the castle. From far away, the melodious sound of the organ came from the room.

Du Wei opened the door and went in, and saw beautiful and attractive girls, all wearing light gauze, dancing to the rhythm of the organ. They danced standard court dances, all trained by the best court etiquette masters. .

All the girls here are the poor "prey" that Du Wei brought out from the Northwest Army camp.

Du Wei's eyes soon fell on the girl sitting in the middle of the house, playing the organ.

There is no doubt that she is the most beautiful among all the girls, her eyes, just like her name, are as calm as the moon.

When Du Wei walked in, the people here saw him, and everyone stopped their movements immediately, and then these girls turned around in unison, bowed to Du Wei to salute, and then under Du Wei's wave, They backed off quickly.

"You stay." Du Wei pointed at the girl playing the organ.

The room fell silent. The girl seemed a little nervous, but the strict training made her stand up gracefully. Then, like a spring breeze, she smiled at Du Wei and performed a court courtesy.

Du Wei narrowed his eyes: "Your name is Hanyue, right?"

Hanyue blushed a little, lowered her head and said: "Yes, Your Excellency Duke."

Du Wei took two steps, then he suddenly raised his hand, gently lifted Hanyue's chin, raised her face, and carefully looked at every detail of her face.

Hanyue blushed, her eyes were a little dodgy, a little shy.

"I remember you. I remember you back then. You are a very beautiful girl." Du Wei let go of his hand, his face was only satisfied, but there was no look of indulging in beauty.

Obviously, he hadn't finished speaking, so Hanyue listened quietly. "How have you been living here for more than a year?"

Hanyue immediately raised her head and said solemnly: "My life was saved by the Duke. I live here very well and happily. I have never lived such a happy life in my whole life."

Du Wei nodded: "So, are you grateful to me?"

"Yes." Hanyue's voice trembled: "I... I am willing to use everything I have to repay the Lord Duke." Very good. "

Du Wei smiled, his voice was steady and calm.

"Well, now is the time for you to repay me."