The climate in the East Continent, which entered March, suddenly became abnormal. After the Spring Festival, God seemed to be a little stingy with the rain. There was still not much rain until the end of February, but this did not attract many people's attention. After all, March and early April are the most important seasons, and more than a month is the season when rain is needed the most. Judging from the performance after entering March, it seems not very good. There is no sign of rain. Until mid-March, there is still not much rain. What's more serious is that this drought does not seem to be just a certain area or a certain area, but occurs throughout the East Continent, from the Marston Wasteland to the north to the coast of the South Ocean to the south, from the coast of the East Ocean to the foothills of the Great Hengduan Mountains to the west, almost affecting the entire East Continent.

It seems that people remember that from the end of last year, rain has become a little sparse, and this year, there are only a handful of rainy days. However, until this time, no one would believe that this is the beginning of the disaster year that lasted for two years. Many people think that Xiaochun will experience a reduction in revenue this season, and hopefully, it can only be placed in Dachun in the second half of the year. Grain prices have already fallen after the sharp rise in large-scale grain purchases from the northwest in early March, but the abnormal climate after March has caused grain merchants to worry that Xiaochun will have a bad harvest and grain prices will rise slightly. Until mid-March, the rain has not yet fallen, so the price of grain has begun to rise all the way. From this time, grain prices have never fallen again until two years later.

Starting from March 15, 698, the small-scale conflict in the war on the Crescent Peninsula finally turned into a large-scale battle. After two days of rest, the 150,000 army from the Kingdom of Dodon finally began to attack the fortress in the Jeolla Valley. The Japanese army that had been constantly improving and strengthening the fortress also increased from 50,000 to 100,000. Although a large number of soldiers were upgraded from reserve soldiers to formal soldiers, the fanatical and persistent belief gave these soldiers extremely courage, even facing the Dodon soldiers who had the advantage.

Although the Jeolla Valley Fortress is located in a narrow throat area, it was built in a hurry for more than twenty days. The city walls are low and there are a lot of stones with different rules and soil filled with cloth bags to rely on. There is neither a moat nor enough long-range defense weapons. It is not so much a fortress as a temporary end of life built by rough soil buns and stones.

The courage that the Dutun people burst out when facing the invasion of their territory by foreign enemies and the huge threat brought by them is also worthy of praise. The 150,000 troops launched fierce charges on the valley fortress in turn, and the Japanese seemed to be prepared for this tragic battle. The two sides fought an extremely fierce strangulation battle in this building that was temporarily built in more than 20 days, and the tragic battle lasted for a whole month. The number of soldiers on both sides invested in the battle was unprecedented, and the casualties caused were unprecedented, so that the Dutun people had to draw troops from the inland of the country again. Liyuan Shanchuan had to issue a recruitment order again, and declared that the entire territory was in a state of emergency, and continued to recruit reserve soldiers to the battlefield of the Crescent Peninsula, using the advantageous naval forces to attack the rear of the Dutun people.

In this strangle battle that lasted for more than a month, the number of casualties on both sides attacked and killed more than 200,000. For this temporary fortress, the two sides fought repeatedly, and the positions changed hands more than seven times, while the death toll on both sides even exceeded 120,000, Duodun people exceeded 70,000, and the Japanese also paid the price of more than 50,000 lives, so that this war was called the "meat grinder battle" by later generations.

Both sides, who suffered huge casualties, had to stop and lick their wounds when they were bleeding. The Japanese, who received a large amount of logistics support from the Tanghe Water Army, successfully held the fortress, which made the efforts of the Dutun Kingdom not return. At this time, as the drought throughout the Eastern Continent also seriously affected the Dutun Kingdom. The Dutun Kingdom, which did not have much strategic reserves, had to stop the war, and the two sides re-entered a strange and long-term confrontation stage.

At the same time, the competition for the sphere of influence of Donghai County also entered a white-hot stage. Without the bonds and threats of Duo Dun people, the army in Situ Tai began to show its power and launched counterattacks everywhere. The Second Legion finally showed its style as the main force of the Empire's ace at the city of Cangzhou. Several death-death battles at Cangzhou City made the Kaman's Royal Guards' Corps feel that the Imperial Army was not as simple as they imagined, and they had to restrain the offensive. The First Legion even counterattacked the fierce Puer army several times in succession, causing considerable losses to the Puer people, forcing the Pur people to consider whether his side had a bit of a big appetite to swallow Peiping in one bite.

Situ Tai, who had drawn out several mobile divisions, finally could not bear it anymore. With the support of the respondents of Pengcheng Prefecture, the troops were sent to Pengcheng and swallowed the entire East China Sea in one breath. Situ Yuan's tenth legion performance was really disappointing. After only two days of persistence, the defense line collapsed. Pengcheng changed its flag in a blink of an eye and sent Situ Yuan's troops away. The gentry of Pengcheng was already beating gongs and gongs to welcome Situ Tai's army into the city.

Situ Tai also announced the establishment of the 12th Imperial Army on the same day as he stepped into Pengcheng Mansion. With the two backbone independent divisions of the northern military region and the five governments of Donghai County, the 12th Imperial Army was officially established. Just a week ago, Situ Biao had already announced the establishment of the 11th Imperial Army after conquering Wenning Mansion. Situ Tai's expansion pace once again made Situ Lang and Situ Yuan feel the threat from the most powerful brother from the north.

As the Imperial Guard Corps and the Third and Fourth Corps, Situ Lang had to station on the outer line of the imperial capital to guard against the Kaman attack, which forced Situ Lang and Situ Yuan to turn their begging eyes to the west. Li Wufeng still did not move in the west. Apart from wandering around the six prefectures of Guanxi, he seemed to have completely forgotten his original promise, especially at this time, Li Wufeng submitted a report on the establishment of the Western Frontier Protectorate, which made Situ Lang and Situ Yuan furious.

"Brother Seven, look, what is this bastard doing? He pushed our requests to attack Qinghe. He said that the Kamans are in full force and should not advance to advance. Now, it is good to set up the Western Xinjiang Protectorate. It is simply putting the cart before the horse and not taking the empire seriously at all." Situ Lang, wearing a yellow robe, walked around the hall in annoyed manner. The ministers had dispersed, leaving only King Situ Yuan, the Chu King, standing alone in His Highness.

"Your Majesty, I have known who Li Wufeng is for a long time. It is not surprising that he did this. This guy is indeed very skillful. He forced his third brother to withdraw from Hanzhong and Jincheng without a single soldier. Now he wants to establish a Western Xinjiang Protectorate. It seems that his appetite will only grow bigger and bigger." Situ Yuan said with a gloomy face. The failure of the situation in the East China Sea made him very depressed, especially the performance of his 10th Legion can only be described as bad. Jinling is also shaky. If he doesn't make it happen, the entire Donghai County will fall into the hands of his elder brother. He is both anxious and helpless about this. If he wants to hope to attack Qinghe with Li Wufeng to reduce the pressure on the imperial capital, it would be better to spend more time on how to improve the combat effectiveness of the 10th Legion. He has never believed in Li Wufeng.

"Don't mention him, it's disappointing to mention it. Brother is aggressive in the East China Sea. What are you going to do if you don't react? If you don't react, I'm afraid the situation in Jinling will be in danger. Even if the Seventh Legion has not experienced many tough battles, I'm worried that it may not be the opponent of Brother's troops." Situ Lang looked on his brother's face with a cold face. If the East China Sea loses, the imperial capital will become an isolated island surrounded on three sides. The Kamans are in the north, the Taiping Rebellion Army is in the west, and the Big Brother's power is in the east. The situation in the empire will become more and more critical. He has just sat in the position for a short time and seems to be a little shaky again.

"Well, but what can we do now? We can only defend Jinling and wait for the opportunity to retake Pengcheng." Situ Yuan's tone was full of uncertainty, obviously he was not sure. "Or why did Your Majesty ask the Eighth Ninth Legion to practice troops to see if he could open up the passage to the east."

When talking about the Eighth Ninth Legion, Situ Lang couldn't help but sigh. Although the two legions had been formed successfully, these two legions were purely new army. Compared with the rebuilt Third Fourth Legion, even as a military outsider, he could see the gap between the two. Fortunately, some officers and veterans were drawn from the Third Fourth Legion to strengthen the Eighth Ninth Legion, which seemed to be a little better. However, Situ Lang was not sure after reviewing the two legions. Maybe it would be enough to deal with the Taiping Army. If he really wanted to fight against the First and Second Legion of the Kamans and the eldest brother, he would definitely lose. This was Situ Lang's judgment deep in his heart.

Seeing Situ Lang shook his head speechlessly, Situ Yuan had no choice but to do anything. He also had no hope for the Eighth Ninth Legion. The army was established for a short time and had not been tempered. It was difficult to expect them to perform. The hall fell into a depressing silence.

"Your Majesty, if there is really a difficulty, do you see if you can borrow troops from the Kingdom of Milan?" After hesitating for a long time, Situ Yuan finally asked tentatively.
Chapter completed!