Chapter 0 Prologue

  In the 618th year of the Divine State, the eleventh emperor of the Qingfeng Empire, Shenzong Liu Haonan, died suddenly in Jiangzhou, the first city on the Jiangnan Road, while touring southern China. Since Liu Hao did not leave a will before his death and did not specify a successor to the throne, both of Shenzong's sons were eager to move, and the three major families were also unwilling to be silent. The imperial court was corrupt, the military government was in disarray, and the Qingfeng Empire, which had been established for over 300 years, suddenly became precarious in the long river of history. At the same time, the Northeastern Three Kingdoms gathered a coalition army of one million soldiers to march south, while the three major nomadic tribes in the northwest also invaded the borders. The Divine State continent, which had been peaceful for hundreds of years, finally fell into a decade-long war due to Shenzong's sudden death.

  In the summer of 618, the Western Sea Kingdom, the Baijing Kingdom, and the Mandan Kingdom formed an alliance and launched a southern campaign, breaking through the northeastern long wall defense line of the Qingfeng Empire. The Northern Legion was annihilated, and part of the Xuanwu Legion was defeated. Under the relentless pursuit of the three kingdoms' coalition forces, the Xuanwu Legion retreated southward until it crossed the Great River and entered the empire's core region, Yu Province. With the assistance of local troops, they finally stabilized their position. However, due to limitations in national strength, although the coalition forces pursued as far as the Great River defense line, facing the natural barrier of the Great River and the empire's powerful naval force, the Dragon Legion, the coalition wisely halted its advance and turned to sweep away the remaining imperial troops in the three routes north of the river. In the autumn of the same year, the three routes of Donghai, Beiyuan, and Taihang in Hebei fell.

  At the same time, the three major nomadic tribes in the northwest also moved south to graze their horses. Due to the incompetence of the border generals and military corruption, the Western army stationed at Jiayuguan was ambushed and annihilated. Faced with tens of thousands of nomadic cavalrymen, the White Tiger Army retreated to the Yellow River Road. In the autumn of the same year, the two roads in the northwest, Anxi and Hexi, fell. As the imperial army moved south, countless refugees also fled south. The northern tribes, in order to satisfy their demands for wealth and land and alleviate their food pressure, faced the already powerless empire's Hebei five-road people, and began to massacre while plundering strong men back to their country as slaves. At that time, the bodies of the dead accumulated like mountains, and blood flowed like rivers. Especially in the three roads of Donghai, Beiyuan, and Taihang, which were originally inhabited by tens of millions of people, under the butcher's knife of the Three Kingdoms' allied army, except for more than 50 million young men who were taken away, a year later, the entire Hebei three-road population of 300 million was reduced to less than 10 million households and fewer than 50 million people. The situation in the two roads in the northwest was slightly better, but the total population also dropped from 12 million before the war to 4 million after the war.

  There is a saying that good fortune never comes singly, and disaster never travels alone. As the empire's national strength declined day by day, the surrounding vassal states that originally belonged to the empire also began to show their sharp claws. In the spring of 619 in the Shenzhou calendar, the southern Three Yue and Golden Flower Dynasty allied forces invaded the north, with their military might pointing directly at the empire's largest granary, Dahu Road, and also had a hidden intention to attack Jiangnan Road, which was heavily taxed. Fortunately, the commander-in-chief of the Southern Military Region, Duke Jingnan Ouyang Jingzhong, was old but still strong, facing the enemy's superior military strength, although he only had an army of 100,000 men, relying on the empire's powerful water force, the Jiaolong Army, and the relatively intact defensive line of the Western River, steadily blocked the allied forces outside the national gate. At this time, the Dongyi Dynasty, which was circling over the East China Sea, also refused to be left out. Since most of the empire's naval forces were concentrated on the Great River and the Western River defense line, Dongyi King De Kang repeatedly used his naval forces to frequently harass the empire's eastern coastal areas. While plundering the wealth along the coast, the Japanese naval forces also openly plundered strong laborers back to their country as slaves.

  In the summer of 619, after a winter of hibernation and a spring of recuperation, the three northern kingdoms and the three major nomadic tribes all sharpened their swords and formed an alliance of one million troops with the intention of marching south. Faced with unprecedented pressure from the northern barbarians, the various forces within the Qingfeng Empire that had been internally consuming each other finally reached a temporary compromise. In June, Liu Hui, the eldest son of Emperor Shenzong, ascended to the throne and was known as Emperor Yinglie. The second son, Liu Xian, was appointed as the Crown Prince. After a brief but intense negotiation, the Qingfeng dynasty managed to assemble an army of 600,000 troops, with General Zhang Mingjing, who was known for his bravery, as the commander-in-chief and Grand Tutor Peng Ye, who was known as the wisest man in the empire, as the military strategist. The Northern Expeditionary Army was formed to prepare for a campaign against the northern barbarians beyond the Yin Wind Mountains, along the Great River defense line within the Helan Mountains. However, since the army came from different places and had not been coordinated before, the various generals under Zhang Mingjing's command each had their own plans, and instead of putting aside their differences to work together, they continued to bicker and undermine each other in the face of the million-strong barbarian alliance north of the Great River.

  In the 619th year of the Divine State calendar, after a two-month standoff, 150,000 Rouran cavalrymen led by General Qinchah Khan secretly crossed the river upstream using sheepskin rafts. After lying in ambush for three days, they took advantage of a rainy night to bypass the Northern Expeditionary Army's scouting range and launched a surprise attack on the army's main camp. Due to the lack of coordination and suddenness of the attack, the White Tiger Army Corps was almost completely dispersed. The Hebei Allied Army also took advantage of the situation to cross the river, launching a fierce attack on the Eastern Army Corps with the support of the Rouran cavalry. Faced with the sudden attack, the Northern Expeditionary Army's main camp collapsed entirely. Dingbei Marquis Zhang Mingjing, Eastern Army Corps Commander Donghai Marquis Zhao Mu, and Xuanwu Army Corps Commander Weiyuan Marquis Hua He were killed in action, while Military Advisor Peng Ye went missing. The Qinglong, White Tiger, and Xuanwu Army Corps were completely routed. The remaining army corps, still intact, retreated to the Yin Feng Ancient Fortress under the command of Northern Expeditionary Army Deputy Commander Li Tie. Faced with the treacherous terrain of the Yin Feng Mountains and the extremely advantageous position of the Yin Feng Ancient Fortress, as well as the approaching change in weather, the Allied Forces of the Barbarian Tribes began a slow retreat northward after plundering extensively. The Qingfeng Empire, having just lost tens of thousands of elite soldiers, was unable to launch a counterattack in the short term. Thus, the two sides began a prolonged standoff across the still-burning River Suo route. And our story begins from here.

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