September 18th, Fangcheng, King Xi’s Mansion.

Fangcheng is located in the plain area in the middle and lower reaches of the Sotou River. In the past, it was the capital of Anzhou and now it is the Xi Mansion of the Xi tribe's headquarters.

King Ah Huizheng, the Xi king, claimed to be himself and was not recognized by the small sect leader Turkic Khanate and the large sect leader Zhongtu Dasui. In the Turkic Khanate, all the leaders of other tribes were Shi Lifa, and Ah Huizheng was the Xi tribe. As for the Central sect leader, he was disdainful of the Xi tribe, because the Turkic Khanate was all vassals of Zhongtu, and the Turkic Khan had to claim his own subordinates. So the Xi tribe was just a larger sect leader of the Turkic Khanate to Central sect, so of course he did not pay attention to it.

In comparison, Middle-earth overlord Goguryeo, the Western Tuyuhun, and the Western Regions countries, reluctantly made it difficult to grant their leader a "king", which was considered to recognize their vassal status.

From the perspective of Middle Earth, if you have a vassal status and don’t have a vassal status, you will have completely different treatments in politics, military and economic aspects, etc. Take the tribute every year as an example. Both the vassal states and the tribes outside the Frontier have to go to the Eastern Capital to pay tribute. The reception standard of the vassal states is very high. If the vassal state lords visit the Eastern Capital in person, the Central Earth emperor will also welcome it grandly. However, ordinary tribes outside the Frontier sometimes cannot even enter the gate of the imperial city. To put it bluntly, it is strength. If you do not have strength, you will not be recognized by Middle Earth, and you will not be able to win the respect of Middle Earth, and of course you will not be able to enjoy the preferential treatment given by Middle Earth.

Middle-earth did not recognize the vassal status of Xi, Shi and Khitan Northeast tribes. The lack of strength was one of the reasons, and there were also complex political reasons. These three tribes were nominally vassals of the Turkic Khanate, and the Turkic Khanate was a vassal of the Middle-earth tribes, so these three tribes were of course not qualified to become vassals of the Middle-earth tribes. If Middle-earth insisted on accepting them, it would be equivalent to snatching food from the mouth of the Turkic Khanate, which was both shameful and untrustworthy, and meaningless. However, these are all high-sounding reasons. In fact, Middle-earth people have been coveting the Northeast for a long time and have to take it into their pockets only when the time is right. Since that is the case, why should they recognize their vassal status? Moreover, after Middle-earth puts forward the momentum to erode the Northeast, the Turkic and Goguryeo felt threatened and increased their control over the Northeast, which also played a role in restraining the Turkic and Goguryeo to a certain extent.

The Xi tribe was surrounded by the great powers and was in danger. Of course, he tried every means to break through the siege and do his best to strengthen himself. The most direct and convenient way was to surrender to a powerful "boss", and this "boss" was naturally Zhongtu, who lived next to him. How could the Xi tribe's speculative intention be hidden from Zhongtu's eyes? How could it be played with by a small alien race? So Ah Hui went to Dongdu to pay tribute repeatedly, expressing his loyalty to the Holy Lord of Zhongtu, begging Zhongtu to recognize the vassal status of the Xi tribe and recognize him as the King of Xi, but was politely rejected.

Ah Huizheng had no choice but to act like a hooligan and spread the word that Zhongtu recognized his identity as King Xi. However, in order to avoid stimulating the Turks, he dare not say that Zhongtu recognized the vassal status of the Xi tribe. Everyone understands people. As long as Ah Huizheng does not harm the interests of others, he will let Ah Huizheng use such boring means to satisfy his vanity. Zhongtu smiles but doesn't speak, and the Turks are happy to watch the fun, so Ah Huizheng becomes the veritable king of the Xi tribe. In fact, Ah Huizheng suffers face and I want to be the king of the Xi tribe. What can you do? What do I have to admit to you and the Turks?

However, Ah Hui not only needs face, but also needs inner strength, and also needs to expand his territory and development strength.

The situation in the Far East was basically clear this fall. Goguryeo was almost collapsed under the attacks of Middle-Turkish two consecutive years, and the Khitans lost strong support. In addition, the internal conflicts of the desert tent were fierce. Bulishi Ashinaduer, who was in charge of the three tribes in the northeast and Chiji Shi Ashinaduer, who was in charge of the three tribes in the northeast, and Chiji Shi Ashinaduer, who also intended to disrupt the situation in the northeast to threaten the tent. The two tacitly agreed and even encouraged the Ahui to attack the Khitan. As soon as the Middle-Turkish was also caught in internal and external troubles and could not take care of themselves. These favorable conditions gave the Xi tribe a rare development opportunity, so the Ahui decisively sent troops and devoted all the power of the Xi tribe to attack the Khitan, trying to change the pattern of the three-legged stadium in the northeast.

However, the power of the Xi tribe is limited after all. It can only survive in the cracks between the powerful. It is too difficult to seek development. However, the five tribes of the Xi tribe cannot develop, and their control over the land that originally belonged to Middle Earth and the Han Lie people living on this land is weak. The local forces in Anzhou and the local forces of Youyan in Middle Earth were originally one family. This intimate relationship connected by blood and interests cannot be separated even if there is a Great Wall. Therefore, the Xi tribe is also suffering internally and externally, and it is very serious.

The reason why the powerful Xi tribe Ah Huizheng rose rapidly and dominated the five tribes of the Xi tribe was because he adopted the correct method to deal with the internal crisis better. The solution was to compromise and compromise. On the basis of common interests, unite all forces that can be united, alleviate the conflicts between the Xi tribe and the local forces to the greatest extent, and form an alliance to the outside world. Therefore, the Xi tribe used the local forces in Anzhou to obtain a large amount of resources from Middle-earth to develop rapidly, while the local forces in Anzhou won the maximization of their own interests with the help of the five tribes of the Xi tribe and the stable internal environment. The interests of external forces and local forces were satisfied.

However, this win-win situation is ultimately limited by the constraints of the external harsh environment and will soon be unsustainable. Whether it is the Xi tribe or the local forces in Anzhou, they urgently need to break through the siege of the great powers. Otherwise, under the siege of the great powers, they will sooner or later die of suffocation.

Under the double oppression of the severe survival crisis and the increasingly fierce internal conflicts, Ah Hui had to take risks, but the risks can be imagined. The Middle-earth and Turkic people were eyeing each other, and the strength of the Jun tribe and Khitans was not weak. They stood out among the Donghu races and occupied the weak Luoshui and stood with the Xi tribe, which was enough to show that they had the strength to compete with the Xi tribe head-on; there were conflicts between the Xi tribe and the local forces inside, and there were conflicts between the five tribes of the Xi tribe. What's more serious is that Ah Hui had risen for too short time, and was repeatedly attacked by opponents due to different political views, and did not achieve impressive results in external expansion, resulting in insufficient authority. There were many people who conspired to replace him within the Xi tribe.

Under the heavy internal and external crises, Ah Hui was entrusting Hechenshui to try to seize fat food from the mouths of the Khitans. The risk actually exceeded the opportunity. Once the opportunity was not seized, the risk would expand infinitely. The most serious thing was that the internal and external crises broke out together. By then, the Xi tribe would be in danger and would be destroyed.

Ah Hui and his supporters have a full understanding of this crisis. Before making the decision to make the Northern Expedition, they must have made various deductions and come up with various responses. They are not afraid of ten thousand, but afraid that if they are. Once the situation is critical and the risks are out of control, the main thing to protect the overall interests of the Xi tribe is the survival of the Xi tribe. To put it bluntly, it is to do its best to protect the Xi land and the Xi tribe's home. As long as the home is there, hope is there, and the future is there.

If you want to protect your home, you must first defend against invasions from foreign enemies, and secondly, you must guard against internal rebellion. For Ah Hui, the biggest enemy is not the Turks and Middle-earth people, but the internal enemies. Those strong people in the tribe who conspired to overthrow his clan, those local forces in Anzhou who conspired to kill him, especially the remnants of the old ministers of Gao Qi who were betrayed by him, have been hiding in the dark waiting for the opportunity to avenge revenge. Therefore, before Ah Hui went to war, he left heavy troops in the Xi Palace and handed over the heavy responsibility of garrisoning Fangcheng to his most trusted son, Ah Changsheng and his most trusted auxiliary minister Feng Hong.

Feng Hong came from the Feng family in western Liaoning. The Feng family in western Liaoning dominated Shandong about two hundred years ago and established the Yan Kingdom (known in history as Northern Yan). Although the dynasty was only thirty years old, the Feng family in western Liaoning became famous and became a descendant of the royal family in the previous dynasty. Whether in the Tuoba Wei Kingdom (Northern Wei) or the Gaoqi era, the Feng family was the main marriage partner of the royal family in the dynasty and the Shandong wealthy family. The Feng family became one of the powerful wealthy families. The Feng family was also active in Shandong politics from generation to generation. The most famous of them was the Queen Mother Feng of the Northern Wei who led the reform of the surname Shenization of the Lie.

After the war of unification between China and Turkey began, the first to perish was the Gao clan Qi State in Shandong. At that time, many old ministers of Northern Qi fled to the border to resist stubbornly, and Feng Hong was one of them. However, he was young and had a low official position and was not conspicuous. Therefore, when the Xi tribe betrayed the old ministers of Gao Qi to Middle Turkey and carried out a major purge, he escaped by chance. After that, he defected to Ah Huizheng, and made outstanding achievements with his outstanding strategies to plan for Ah Huizheng, help Ah Huizheng stabilize Anzhou, strengthen his strength, and surpassed the five ministries, and sat on the throne of King Xi, thus winning Ah Huizheng's trust and becoming the chief historian of Prince Xi's mansion and the chief aide of Ah Huizheng.

In the early morning of September 18, the worried President Sheng and Feng Hong received a letter from Gui Fang.

Although the previous Fenghuo transmission was fast, I knew that the situation of Gui Fang was extremely critical when he encountered a strong enemy, but because there was no specific information, I could only make a rough guess and quickly assemble the army to prepare for defense and support. At the same time, I sent a scout to go north to inquire. As for how to deal with it in the next step, it depends on the situation of Gui Fang.

Fortunately, the Guifang Guard General Xihe Wangyun sent a specific message in time, solving the urgent need of the Xiwang Mansion. Otherwise, after dawn, President A and Feng Hong, who were blinded, had to make decisions based on the guesswork of Guifang's military information, which would be great.

"The Turks finally launched an attack." President Sheng shook his head and sighed after reading the urgent report, "The situation is clear, and chaos in the northeast is not allowed at all. Now the Turks have surrounded Guifang and cut off the king's food and grass. The king has to withdraw his troops, otherwise there will be a disaster of destruction."

Feng Hong also sighed bitterly, "Under the current situation, Goguryeo is dying, and the Middle-earth people will deal with the Turks next. The war between the north and the south is getting closer. At this time, Bi Khan still hopes that the three tribes of Xi, Wu and Khitan charge for him. How can we ignore it and let us attack the Khitan and chaotic Northeast?"

"What will happen?" President A asked, "Do you need to support the ghost party in case of an accident?"

Feng Hong shook his hand, "It's just a matter of surrounding Wei and saving Zhao."
Chapter completed!