Chapter 10 Prologue of Wolf Smoke in troubled times

The first year of Mengyang Linxi, late November.

Approaching December, Mengyang's winter is getting colder and colder, and the whole earth looks desolate and abrupt. The winter wheat sown in a large area of farmland only pulls out a long bud, ** out black and brown soil. The cold wind from the far north was weakened by the tall and long wilderness and mountains, but it was still cold and piercing. People in the market tried their best to tighten their clothes and tighten their necks, but the heat from various stalls selling snacks on both sides of the market curled up, and the aroma of food offset the power of the cold wind.

And the imperial capital, which suffered from the fire of war more than a month ago, has returned to prosperity. The city is a paradise for rich people to enjoy themselves. Rich businessmen with giants spend a lot of money in the place of enjoyment, and even spend a carriage of gold to take a look at the most famous singers in the imperial capital, and spend tens of thousands of gold to give all kinds of jewelry for the celebrities of the imperial capital. Strange. There are also various luxurious restaurants, karaoke, dance halls, treasure pavilions and other luxury places! In Piaoming City, if you have money, you will live a very comfortable life, but the life of poor people is quite miserable!

How many people dream of entering the fairyland of Piaomiaocheng. Everyone wants to see the most prosperous and famous imperial capital on the land of Mengyang, but after all, Piaomiaocheng is the heart of the empire. The emperor ordered to strictly investigate the identity of those who enter and exiting the imperial capital to avoid chaos. The ten-foot-high wall isolates the grand scenery in the city from the desolation outside the city. More than a month ago, the remains of the bodies that had not been disposed of in the war outside the city, the incomplete armored weapons and various large siege machines were piled up in a mess on the ground. The scorched land was blown by the wind and rolled up the dark red and fishy dust! Inside and outside the city is simply the difference between heaven and hell!

But this still can't change people's yearning for the errty city! Some people have been eager to enter the erratic city to see the tall and gorgeous buildings, listen to the famous singers of the imperial capital to show their throats, or sit in a winery on the street and drink a cup of white moon drunk for a day, pointing their fingers on the table with the string music of the wine shop, and watching the carriages of big names in the street market are endless. Emperors are too easy to be intoxicated and lazy places, just because of the prosperity here.

But ten years later, endless wars ran through the history of the mainland. Huge military expenditures and the recruitment of people's husbands have always fascinated the land of Mengyang with the cry of family destruction. With the support of the imperial capital Fujia and the royal family, the imperial capital is the only happy land in the world of chaos. The unbearable exiles who lost their relatives broke through the ban of the guards of the city and entered the imperial capital by various means. They made a living by part-time jobs, begging and stealing in the streets and alleys, so the prosperity of the city in troubled times was just a temporary whitewashing and painting. Crossing the eaves of Chunyue Street, the sewage in the dark behind the street exudes a suffocating stench. The hungry eyes of the exiles gathered under the eaves of the broken wall. Some of them starved to death, some with daggers in their arms and looked at the people who came and went with the eyes of their prey!

Of course, this will happen ten years later! Now the errified city is still a holy place that everyone is fascinated by!

The central palace of the imperial capital is the heart of the empire. The highest star fall hall goes straight into the sky and stands on the top of the star fall hall. Cloudless days can have a panoramic view of this giant city. At night, the night sky is like hanging down on your head, as if you can pick the stars with your hand!

If the city is only accessible to the rich, then the palace of the city is not a forbidden place for high-powers to enter! Every day, instructions are sent to every corner of the empire to carry out the will of His Majesty the Supreme Emperor. The mighty Yulin guards firmly guarded the city in the city and guarded the glory of the royal family until the last moment before destruction.

Longyan Hall.

Emperor Lin Xi, dressed in a glazed dragon robe, leaned against the throne and closed his eyes slightly, as if he were listening to something. I listened carefully, but there was a faint sound of the piano. The emperor's fingers clasped on the armrest of the throne and slapped them one after a time. His pale face seemed to have not seen the sun for a long time, with dead gray! The young appearance was full of fatigue, and it took him a lot of effort to restore and rebuild the empire after Chi Naisi retreated! After all, not long after he succeeded to the throne, the empire had to look at everything in person, and the old ministers of the previous dynasty were also being replaced one by one, which made his workload more heavy.

It's hard to have a moment of leisure to listen to this faint sound of the piano.

Longyan Hall has always been the place where the emperor lives and works. There has never been vocal music and singing and dancing, but Emperor Lin Xi broke this rule and allowed the woman who was as cold as a piece of ice to play the Longyan Hall without a smile on her face. So he also knew that the imperial concubine was also a good player in playing the piano, which was not inferior to the celebrities of the imperial capital. That's right, it's not surprising that such a beautiful woman has such piano skills. But the emperor still hasn't seen this woman smile. The flawless face seems to be carved like cold ice, which is not consistent with beauty.

This white woman is like a peacock, staying in the side hall of the Longyan Hall all day, either sitting quietly or playing the piano or fiddling all over the ground - few women will study and learn this kind of thing that even the famous university scholar of the empire feels headache. Although the queen is very quiet and serene, her cold temperament is difficult to approach, and she is even indifferent to the emperor.

Emperor Lin Xi is a domineering emperor with a strong desire to control, but he only let this woman go and never forced her. Sometimes the queen's rude opposition to the emperor was overturned by the emperor. In fact, there is a faint awe of this perfect woman in the emperor's heart, just like imprisoning a demon in the palace... such a disturbing and frightening feeling.

When the emperor thinks of this woman, he will feel a sense of powerlessness. He can kill the emperor of the empire on the name of unwarranted 'rebelliousness', deal with the Zhentian general who has been the first person in the battle in 50 years, kill all the night country, and force this woman to kneel under his sword by forcing this woman's child; but To give her the grand wedding and the most luxurious life, but no matter what he does, he can't get close to this woman's heart. It's like imprisoning her body but can't keep her heart. Maybe that woman is complaining all the time...

The sound of the piano rotated, and the pluck of the strings suddenly became urgent, as if it were going to fight, and the tone of the piano was lazy and quiet. The emperor opened his eyes and found that Shura in a red robe had entered the Longyan Hall and was looking at him with a smile.

"Your Majesty, we can start planning for the next five to ten years--

"Listen to the sound of the piano first, not the government!" The emperor waved his hand to stop Shura from talking. Sometimes he felt that even if this woman didn't like him, it would be good if he could take time to listen to this woman's piano every day. Thinking of this, the corners of the emperor's mouth were dangerously **, and his eyes hidden under the crown rose to kill. This was his expression when he was angry - unconsciously, he put himself in a humble position! A sense of humbleness, this feeling that he hated the most but had to bear before...

Although he is now the supreme emperor of the empire, the terrible memories will still come out when he wakes up in the middle of the night. It's like sealing a demon in a deep well. He usually throw stones into the well, but at midnight, the demon broke through the soil again and bit him fiercely... He hated his former weak self, so after blocking the whole collection, he erased all the traces of the existence of his two brothers, Wanyi Changlong and Wanyi Hongyun and removed them. The palaces where they lived, the death of palace servants who served them before, burning their treasures, calligraphy and painting various property, etc...

But this sense of humility will still exist! Especially after this woman appeared beside him, he, the emperor of the Mengyang Empire, was nothing in front of this woman...

Shura paced to the thick pillar of the Longyan Hall, with his arms around his chest and his back against the pillar. His legs were staggered. His red hair lingered around him, and the lines of his chest muscles were extremely smooth, revealing a strong male breath.

"The queen's piano sound is really beautiful. I'm afraid that there are no more than five fingers of famous girls who can play such a tone in the imperial capital!" Shura said lazily.

"Well, indeed!" The emperor simply answered.

"The four singers in the imperial capital have their own temperament. Liu Meier is good at pipa. She is the teacher Liu Hua, a pipa fairy in the previous dynasty. She has a light rhythm and a sonorous atmosphere; while Fengyan's purple tune, which is good at singing, focuses on children's love. Most of her tunes are young princes from the big family, with a luxurious but soft tone; Hua Yueting and Shi Pingshui is a very accomplished person on the zither piano, but the two are divided into different worlds. Huayueting's kite has one more string than Shi Pingshui, and the rhythm has changed more than a dozen kinds. Therefore, Huayueting's tune is tortuous, sad for a long time, and many stages. After listening to it for a long time, it is easy to be sad. However, Shi Pingshui's piano is mainly happy, with simple tunes, but requires higher skills, so Shi Pingshui is promoted to be the head of the four singers of the imperial capital!" Shura said with a smile.

The emperor raised his head, looked at Shura with a little surprise, and said, "I didn't expect that you still have any research on rhythm? I also know about these singers in the imperial capital!"

"Ha ha, Shura wandered between heaven and earth all day before assisting His Majesty. If he doesn't find some fun for himself, won't he drive him crazy!" Shura smiled.

The queen's piano sound became calm again, like the gurgling sound of the unsealed stream and the crisp glazed wind chimes. The queen's piano always has an unspeakable feeling, like a string of pearl necklaces broken, and all the beads fell on the ground, banging and jumping away, while the owner of the necklace stood helplessly, looking at the pearls falling in all directions, and didn't know which one to chase... Such a strange feeling.

The emperor stopped beating his hand with the throne. His hand slowly clenched into a fist, with pale bones and bruised blue veins. He said slowly, "There is a dead air in the sound of her piano!"

"Oh? Dead?" Shura said with great interest.

"Resentment, anger, helplessness, but no despair, just like the bowstring slowly pulling. Sooner or later, the string will break, but I don't know if the arrow will shoot at me first, or the string will cut off her hand first..." The emperor said coldly.

He turned his head and said to the palace people who served beside him, "Take away all the sharp things such as scissors, needles and hairpins around the queen and take good care of the queen!"

"Are you afraid that she will committed suicide?" The smile on Shura's face disappeared, and his eyes, which had been narrowed into a line, opened. The dark red eyes were like red charcoal, staring at the emperor fiercely.

"Yes!" The emperor's voice was still indifferent, "After all, it took a lot of money to bring my peacock back. If I die easily, won't it be too bad?"

"Peacock..." Shura's eyes were cold, which was not consistent with the blazing red pupils. But after a while, he regained his lazy calm, as if nothing had happened to the society.

"She takes her life more seriously than anything and will never commit suicide..." Shura whispered, her pale cheeks were full of peace without a trace of smile. He still said a word under his tongue, at least until this woman achieves her goal, she will never commit suicide...

"Forget it, there is still a chance to listen to the sound of the piano. The government is important!" The emperor said. If there is anything, just say it!"

"I thought how long the queen would play the piano, how long your majesty would listen, and how long would I wait for your majesty!" Shura smiled lazily at the corners of his mouth, and his tone was a little unhappy.

"In my heart, Mengyang is the most important!"

"That's good. I hope Your Majesty will not forget the priority... We are people standing at the peak of power in the world, and we must abandon our unimportant feelings!" Shura loosened his hand around his chest and took two steps. He stood two steps away from the emperor and stood straight like a sword. His dark red eyes lit up and fell on the emperor.

"I want to ask Your Majesty to talk about the direction of the empire in the next five to ten years. According to my plan, we have just enough time, and the deviation is no more than half a year!" Shura said.

"Tell me! As long as you have a plan, I will use all the resources of the empire to support you. No matter how much it costs, I want an extremely prosperous dream!" Emperor Lin Xi said firmly.

"First of all, Your Majesty should know who our enemy is. At present, there is no power in Mengyang that can threaten your Majesty. We just need to fight against Fanyang and the extreme north China! Which one do you think we should do first?" Shura said playfully, in a frivolous tone, as if he didn't pay attention to these world's top powers at all.

"Chinasi in the far north should not invade Mengyang in a short period of time. Since the founding of Mengyang, the interval between the barbarians has invaded Mengyang for as short as ten years and 20 years. Therefore, we still don't have to face the barbarians for at least ten years. The emperor said that he pressed his painful temple with his hand, and his headache has been getting worse and worse recently. Fanyang began to fight against Fanyang. What do you think?"

Shura looked at the emperor with a smile with interest and said, "Your Majesty still thinks this chess game too small. What we want is the whole world. How can we let the other party rest while fighting with one side? What we want to ignite is the beacon of the whole world, and let the world break and stand behind, Your Majesty, do you understand?

"Fanyang, Chi Nasi, we can't relax easily. Do you really need to passively estimate the time of Chi Nasi's next invasion? Do you really need to give the barbarians ten years of time to rest? We fought with Fanyang first. Even if we win, how can we fight against the iron horse of Chinas? Ye Mingshan, the first person in the battle in 50 years, is gone. What else can your majesty rely on to fight against the barbarian cavalry? Shura's speech speed suddenly became extremely fast, and his tone was much more sonorous.

"Your Majesty, please listen to me. The barbarians are not a piece of iron. This time, the main force of the barbarians invaded Mengyang is the Chinasi tribe, but there are six major tribes of the barbarians on the far north grassland, but the Chinasi tribe is the most powerful, so Chinasi represents the whole barbarian tribe. However, there are also the Azeslan, the German and Soviets, Kuma and Kurig on the grasslands of the far north, and the military strength of these tribes should not be underestimated. As far as I know, the lion's tooth riding in the second-ranked Azislan is enough to compete with the vigorous riding of the Chinas. And the barbarians have always been at peace with each other and often meet each other. Doesn't your majesty want to make good use of it? Shura said.

"You mean, we support a tribe to draft the original war and let them consume each other. When the war between us and Fanyang is over, the pressure of the barbarians will not be so great?

"It's still too simple!" Shura said decisively, "Why do we have to fight head-on with Fanyang? We can form an alliance with the Azislan tribe of the barbarians and provide them with weapons, funds, food and fodder, so that the Azislan tribe can flatten the grassland barbarians. Then negotiate with the barbarians to jointly destroy Fanyang. But when it comes to war, we can push the barbarian cavalry to the front line of the war, and we just protect the troops. When Fanyang and the barbarians are the weakest, we will launch an attack against Fanyang and the barbarians. During this period, I will also call out those mysterious races to help us, so that the beacon fire in troubled times will be the most gorgeous. Your Majesty, if you want to do great things, you must have the determination to do great things!"

"Allied with the barbarians?" The emperor's eyebrows frowned and his face was very ugly. The barbarians and Mengyang are immortal. How can they form an alliance?

"At this time, your majesty, the barbarian cavalry is extremely powerful and allied with the Azeslan, which can not only be used to fight against the heroic cavalry of Chinas, but also lead the barbarian cavalry to the land of Fanyang. Use the barbarian cavalry to crush the Fanyang dynasty fiercely. When both sides are weak, Your Majesty, we will cut our knives to them. It's not so complicated to decide the world in one war.

"Align with the barbarians just to use their cavalry?" The emperor nodded.

"Yes, who would take those rude barbarians as allies? It's just some tools that will be kicked off after use. There is no need to look too much, and your majesty doesn't have to bear the burden. Anyway, they will all perish in the end. The only thing left on this land is Mengyang!"

"But I prefer my own cavalry. After all, other people's things are not easy to use! On the one hand, I have to form an alliance with the barbarians, and I also want to build my own cavalry that is enough to compete with the fierce cavalry. Shen Guo can build a fiery horse, can't I make it? The emperor said hatefully, "In alliance with the barbarians, I want their horses, the best-blooded horses, and I want to build the most powerful cavalry. We have always been focusing on step-by-step combat, and we can't compete with cavalry in terms of combat power or mobility. I want to have cavalry, a cavalry that belongs to my dream..."

The emperor looked at Shura coldly, and there was no expression on his face. He said, "What do you think?"