Conquest

Shaar and the caravan of the Gallens Chamber of Commerce were troubled by the problem of road congestion, and they were forced to stay in Merika, the capital of Armenia.

Armenia County is very close to Osgiliath, the capital of the Empire. Administratively, it does not belong to the central jurisdiction of the Empire, but a Tema Military District. The military district consists of the county capital Merika, six surrounding small cities and dozens of villages and towns. The district has a population of more than half a million people. In terms of geographical location, the Armenian military district is the closest to the imperial capital, Osgiliath, Merika City is also the third largest city in the empire, and from the strength ranking of the empire's 46 Tema military regions, the Armenian military region is also firmly in the top three.

The Armenian military region is also the first batch of military regions since the establishment of the Empire's Tema military region system, and the current Armenian Governor General Hughes is a powerful figure in the empire. The Armenian military region fell into the hands of his family more than 70 years ago. After that, it has not been handed over again, and it has been passed down for three generations.

After seventy years of operation, Armenia, like most of the other military regions in the Empire, clearly looks more like a country within a country. The Governor General Hughes not only has more than 50,000 imperial Tema systems on the book. The peasants and soldiers under his command, more importantly, have developed a standing army belonging to their own jurisdiction, a corps with a strength of 20,000 people - of course, this corps does not exist in the roster of the empire's military department, and it is still reserved. In the name of "peasants and soldiers of a certain military region" - this is the same as most military regions.

It can be said that if you want to talk about the territory of the empire, among so many military regions, which military region is the most attractive to the emperor of the empire, then the Armenia military region can definitely be ranked first!

It's too close to the Capital Territory, the capital of Osgiliath!!
The Imperial Capital Territory is centered on the Empire of Osgiliath, plus six imperial acropolises and the surrounding land of about 1,000 square kilometers. Under favorable circumstances, it only takes up to three days to form an army under the city of Osgiliath! !

In addition, under the Tema military region system, these warlords and the central government of the empire are at odds with each other. How can the emperors of all dynasties feel at ease in such a situation?

The Armenian Military Region has an iron ore area with extremely high mineral quality. This iron ore was discovered 60 years ago. As a result, this discovery directly led to the prosperity of the family where Governor Hughes is located!! With land, population, and rich iron ore, the strength of the Armenian Military Region has almost doubled! There is even a saying that the infantry of the Armenian military region wears better armor than the standing corps of the empire.
The best armor and weapons of Byzantium are produced here! And the output is amazing.

Because of such an advantage, the governor's family of the Armenian military region is regarded as the core figure in the local military warlord party of the entire empire. The various armored weapons produced by Armenia are often sold to other military regions and become the core of this warlord party. strength.

The current Governor Hughes, even in the imperial party, is a person who can rank in the top ten in strength. Such a person will naturally not come to flatter a small person like Shaar.

Even though the day after Char arrived in Merica City, the Hughes family had managed Merica City for three generations, and the pervasive surveillance network had already discovered the arrival of the most powerful new character in the empire. When entering the city, the pass documents presented by Shaar revealed his identity.
However, after the news was reported to the Governor's Palace, Governor Hughes did not have any intention of meeting this "imperial hero". Only then, the spies from the Governor's Palace in Merika City got an order: Don't provoke that guy, let him cross the border smoothly.

It's a pity that because of heavy snow blocking the road, Shaar and others stayed in Merika for several days.

The snow scene in the suburbs makes the nobles flock to it, but the city is a different scene.

After the snow on the road was trampled by the carriages and horses, it turned into black mud and looked filthy. The snow melted everywhere and turned into mud puddles. Occasionally, when a carriage passed by, the dirty water splashed by the wheels would spill on the passers-by.

The price of grain has risen a lot. Although the Governor has ordered the release of the grain reserves and ordered the prohibition of those grain merchants from hoarding goods, the price of bread has risen by 40%, and the price of meat has doubled - Armenia Although it is rich in iron ore, it is not the main grain-producing area of the empire itself, and the animal husbandry is not developed. Part of the food in the military region is usually trafficked from other places.
In general, the Governor's family has been successful in the three-generation operation of Merika City. At least there are not many beggars in the city who freeze to death and starve to death.

However, due to the heavy snow blocking the road, the people who were trapped in the Armenian city were not only Shaar and others, but also many other caravans from south to north trapped here—that’s all. After all, people who go out to do business are often quite safe.

But this time, many mercenaries and samurai groups gathered in Merika City.

Because just after the beginning of spring, in the imperial capital of Osgiliath, there will be an annual competitive competition. In the entire Byzantine Empire, as long as you are a member of the Byzantine Empire and have an official title of warrior rank, you can sign up to participate in this way. 's event.
This is an ancient traditional grand event of the Byzantine Empire for thousands of years. It is said that at the beginning of the empire, such a grand event was held just to promote the martial spirit of the empire. There will be a group of winners with outstanding achievements, who can be received by His Majesty the Emperor himself and awarded some badges of honor, as well as a generous reward. There have even been examples of court warriors hired by the palace to become famous for participating in such events.

After thousands of years of history of the empire, the tradition of this event has been preserved, but the pattern has been renovated a hundred times.

In the arena, the original samurai individual competitions at the beginning of the game have been retained, and group battles have also been developed. The two sides of the competition are no longer individual samurai, but groups are allowed to participate! In the arena, under the watchful eyes of tens of thousands of spectators, amid the cheers and shouts of thousands of people, the two groups confronted each other, and warriors of various professions appeared, melee warriors, swordsmen, axe men, and even archers, assassins... Wait, wait, etc., this kind of competition is no longer a simple competition of individual martial arts, but also a test of team cooperation and collective combat skills.
Often in a competition, the losing party will suffer heavy casualties or even be wiped out by the massacre on the spot! But the reward for the victorious side is also extremely amazing!

In addition to the confrontation between people, there is also a more piercing confrontation between humans and beasts! !

Crazy bulls, lions, tigers, leopards, hungry wolves... and later even developed to throw the captured monsters directly into the arena to fight against the samurai who signed up for the competition!

And the rules of the game are becoming more and more cruel and bloody! Before the start of the game, all applicants must sign the life and death contract, and once they step into the arena, after the game starts, when the gate of the arena falls, it will be an endless situation! Only the victor who survives can ask to open the floodgates and end the game!

In recent years, the bloody level of the game has even reached an outrageous level!
Some convicted prisoners are also allowed to participate in such games, and once enough victories have been won, no matter what major crimes you have committed, you can get an amnesty signed by the chief officer of the empire! absolve you of all your crimes!

And there are some slaves, if they can become winners in such a grand competition, they will also be free!

Up to now, there have been many professional samurai groups in the empire that make a living based on parameters. These groups recruit brave samurai, organize in the city, and train hard on weekdays. Every spring, they will flock to the imperial capital to participate in such competitions. Once they win, It is to gain both fame and fortune, and once it fails, it is nothing more than a corpse in the arena, dragged down by soldiers.

There are also some slave traders who sell some strong slaves from all over the world, hire warriors for training, and then sign up for the competition. Once they win, the slave traders can get a lot of money, and the slaves can get free.
At the same time, the gaming industry triggered by this ancient game has also become a source of sin...

At this time, it was less than a month before the annual Osgiliath Athletics Competition, and many warrior teams in transit were trapped in the city of Merika because of heavy snow. These sturdy warriors were popular on weekdays They lived in various hotels in the city, and when they were full of food and drink, they watched the snow block the road, and the day of the game was coming day by day.

There are also some well-known samurai groups who have participated in the competition all the year round. In previous years, they formed a life-and-death hatred in the competition.

There are also some who have no hatred in the first place, but after hearing about the reputation of the other party's samurai team, it is inevitable that some people are cruel and ruthless, and take advantage of the opportunity to kill potential competitors...
Therefore, in the past few days, the public security situation in Merika City has been almost in chaos.

Although the patrolling soldiers have tried their best to suppress them, these samurai teams and mercenary groups who lick blood on the blade are living by their lives. In the face of these soldiers, the deterrent effect is very small, and there are even a few The extraordinarily sturdy samurai group also fought two battles with the soldiers who maintained the order, and then left Merika City while the chaos.

Anyway, the outskirts are icy and snowy, and the chasing soldiers in the city will not chase too fiercely. Instead, they will just find a small village and hide it, and then leave when the weather improves.

People like Shaar and Guro have been living in this hotel in the city for two days. In the evening, they were dining and drinking in the lobby downstairs of the hotel. Before they ate for a while, they heard yelling and scolding. Immediately, there was the sound of the table being lifted and the dishes shattered. Two groups of people sitting in the distance, obviously warriors, yelled and scolded each other across the table.
"Hey, it's the third time today." Shaar sighed. He picked up the bottle and took two sips, then sat there to watch the battle.

The boss and the guys in the hotel were already scared and hid behind the counter. The boss was lying under the table, his face full of fat trembling, and he heard the sound of the table and chairs smashing, as well as the smashing of dishes and more. It hurts so much, but I can only lie behind the counter and pray in my heart.

The Lantis people had already gathered together quickly, and surrounded Guro and others in the middle. I don’t know how many times I have seen this scene in the past few days, but everyone was not panicked, but watched from a distance.

The first time I encountered this kind of scene a few days ago, Shaar was still very curious to watch it, but after watching it for three days, he lost his initial interest, but there was another reason to attract him to watch the game:
Among these samurai groups, there are really hidden dragons and crouching tigers, and there are quite a few guys with powerful and unique martial skills!

Shaar himself is very aware of his abilities. His greatest abilities now are the crimson murderous aura and the dragon thorn. The crimson murderous aura can also be used as a regular combat power, but the dragon thorn can be used once, that is, basically if you do your best, you can't kill the opponent. It's over by itself.

As for the tricks, the only thing he knows is a set of "killing thousands of troops" passed down by the old man! This set of martial arts is naturally extremely powerful, but Dora in the pendant told Shaar that although this set of killing a thousand troops is powerful, it is obviously a group battle skill! In other words, this set of martial arts is very suitable for group killing on the battlefield. But if it is a one-on-one contest, it is enough to meet ordinary enemies, but when encountering some powerful enemies, the martial arts of this group battle will inevitably be somewhat insufficient.

Among the smashing and killing thousands of troops, the most common move is group killing, that is, a combo that is swung out and the attack area covers an area, but if you encounter a one-on-one situation, such a move is in terms of speed, attack power and defense. There are quite a few shortcomings.
Originally, Shaar didn't care, but Dora's words convinced Shaar.

"If you have seriously learned a powerful martial art, then you will meet Hasting again, and you will at least support him for a few rounds! Otherwise, with your current ability, even if you have crimson murderous aura, you will only be defeated by him. Instant kill. Even if you display the dragon thorn, it will only hurt him, and you will surely die."

But martial arts...where did you learn it?

When encountering enemies before, he relied on the strength of Shaar's physical fitness, and used the body's instinctive agile response, strength, and speed to counteract it. When encountering ordinary enemies, he naturally has the upper hand - this, Dora's evaluation Very mean: "You don't talk about routines at all, you just bully the weak. If you really meet a master, they see your weakness, and a sword can make you lie down!"

But serious martial arts, there is no place to learn... Although Dora seems to be very knowledgeable, she seems to know a lot, but she is a dragon after all, human martial arts, she can't.
As for the other acquaintances, Shaar and other friends, their martial skills are not as good as that of Shaar! And a powerful person... Hesyan is one of them, but is it possible that Hesyan came to accept him as his apprentice?

General Adrick's martial arts should be quite good, but it may not be feasible for him to save himself, after all, they have to lead troops to fight. Now watching these samurai groups fight, Xia suddenly had the idea of stealing learning.

I have seen a lot of mercenary fights in Wildfire Town before, but most of the mercenaries are also born in the wild! But these samurai groups in front of them are all serious samurai origins! After years of hard training in martial arts, the biggest goal is to compete! Among these people, most of them are skilled in martial arts. After a few days, there are actually quite a few masters!

Putting aside the actual combat, if you just look at the skills, I am afraid that if you just pull out one, it will be much stronger than yourself.

At this moment, seeing the two gangs fighting together, suddenly a roar was heard, and a warrior in black leather armor jumped up, flipped his hand, and a sword light shot out, and the enemy in front of him immediately covered his throat. Blood gushed out from the crevices of his fingers and fell.
This black warrior's sword edge shone with vindictive brilliance, obviously reaching the level of a middle-level warrior, but his sword skills were ruthless and sinister, the sword shadows were repeated, and with a flick of his wrist, a ball could be shaken out. Jianhua comes, people can't see the real and the fake. Every sword that comes out can always target the enemy's vitals and weaknesses, and the tip of the sword can always pierce through the gap in the opponent's armor and armor, and it takes less than a moment, five or six opponents fell in front of him.

Such ingenious swordsmanship made Shaar's heart move. Without knowing it, others picked up a dining fork in front of him and went back and forth to the mural, but it was obvious that the unreal ability to shake out the shadow of the sword was a skill that required a wrist. Where did time learn it, I just stared at the man with wide eyes.

Seeing an axe-wielding enemy slashed down with an axe, the black-armored warrior picked it up with the blade of his sword and held up the opponent's slash. The blade of the sword was attached to the side of the axe's blade, Huaxia, and after a ray of blood, it was cut off. The opponent's three fingers! Then a sword went up and said that the man with the axe was stabbed!

Seeing this, Shaar couldn't help but blurted out, "Okay!"
This shout is broken. The original black armored warrior group has won a steady victory, and more than ten opponents have all been beaten to the ground. Hearing this applause, the black armored warrior suddenly turned his head with a face full of faces. It was staring at Shaar with hostility.

Shaar's behavior at the moment is really outrageous. Others were fighting to death, but Shaar was surrounded by a group of Lantis warriors with bows and arrows.

The black-armored warrior snorted heavily and walked over slowly with his sword in hand. There was still blood dripping from the tip of the sword. It took about seven or eight steps to stand in front of Shaar. At this moment, his companions were also Gathered over, they all glared at Shaar, and some were gearing up, and they were ready to continue fighting without a word.

"Your Excellency, it seems that he is also a samurai." The black armored samurai sneered and glanced at the Landis people: "I just haven't heard that this year's competition allows samurai from other countries to participate, right? Which samurai group are you from? , looks very good-looking."
Shaar put down the wine bottle in his hand, sighed, and said with a smile, "I've watched it for three days, and today was the best fight! Your sword skills are really amazing!"

The black armored warrior's face sank, full of anger and said: "Wonderful? It turns out that we fought to the death and alive, in the eyes of Your Excellency, it is like watching a play?!"

Shaar scratched his head: "This... I'm having a good meal, and you guys are going to fight. Can't I just watch by the side? You can't just let Lao Tzu cover your eyes when you fight, right? It's not a woman. Bare ass, what's so shameful?"

As soon as he said this, the other party was at a loss for words. Although the turtle's words were rude, it was impossible for people to answer: In a large audience, it's you who are going to fight, why don't you allow others to watch?
The black armored warrior is obviously not a person who is good at words, so he simply slashed the sword in his hand and said coldly: "My name is Afre Carter, the head of the wolf-toothed warrior group! You look like a samurai too; I want to come to the imperial capital to participate in the competition. If you have not heard my name, then I don't mind making a good impression on you today! Say your name, samurai! Let me learn, you Does the arrogant face have matching skills!"

Before Shaar could speak, Guro jumped up next to him—it was the time to show his loyalty, how could Guro let go of this opportunity? And although the other party is fierce, the magician knows his master's ability! There is no fear, fox and tiger power, and there is no danger. At this moment, as a competent bastard, it is really a godsend opportunity!

"I'll Blind your dog's eyes!" The magician slapped the case and stood up, but he shrank next to the next month and did not dare to move forward. He pointed at the black armored warrior Alfre Carter and shouted: "How can we adults be the same as you? Joke! Our adults are military generals; how can your samurai groups be qualified to challenge? Humph! Challenge our adults? I think you are impatient! Do you know who our adults are! Do you think Can you be defiant if you know how to fight with both hands? How is your swordsmanship better than Odin Blacksteen! Humph! Blacksteen loves our family and escapes with serious injuries! Are you more powerful than Blacksteen? How dare you challenge Our family!!