Chapter 1758 - 559: Lin Chu Changes Hands, Wei Bo Arrives
Chapter 1758: Chapter 559: Lin Chu Changes Hands, Wei Bo Arrives
Among the Four Vassals of the Moao River, the territory of Cai Qiu is the smallest.
Cai Qiu governs four counties, two lakes, and one valley. The counties are Lin Chu, Bai Shui, Qingcang, and East River; the two lakes are Yanze and Cold Wave; the last valley is Evergreen Valley, with a total territorial area of 120,000 square kilometers.
Yanze Lake is shared between Cai Qiu and Chen Cang; Cold Wave Lake serves as a barrier between the Moao River and the Outer Domain’s Lulong Feudal Town; while Evergreen Valley is resource-poor, if not for the Bone-Eroding Path on the southern side, hardly anyone would look toward this area.
With these three premises, the basic outline of Cai Qiu’s territory is very clear.
It is the four counties!
And the positions of the four counties vary in importance.
The current situation of the Four Vassals is very clear.
Landgrave Hezang Fu Wanhe is nearing the end of his lifespan, solely focused on extending his life, barely caring about the affairs of his own Feudal Town; Wei Bo is strong, but Landgrave Li Gangfeng is obsessed with immortality, neglecting political affairs, leading to frequent natural disasters within the town and a sparse population, with little capacity for external expansion.
Only Chen Cang presents a threat. Though the internal turmoil is like a double sun hanging in the sky, it also strongly intimidates the other three vassals. Additionally, Landgrave Chu Longteng is ambitious; his offspring are talented and outstanding, with large population, strong military, and a significant number of powerful individuals, creating a considerable gap with the other three vassals.
Chu Longteng has been relentlessly suppressing the Chen Family in recent years, promoting new talents, even daringly employing Foreign Fief individuals, vigorously advancing Feudal Town reforms, and seemingly poised to challenge the Six-class System.
These actions may seem like internal matters of Chen Cang, but anyone with some insight can detect a hint of change.
Chu Longteng desires to unify Moao River!
With Moao Mountain as the natural barrier, the Four Vassals already have no room for outward expansion. Originally, Chen Cang and Cai Qiu could extend southward, but midway, the Blood Miasma Plain emerged. Not even considering the newly risen Great Xia, bypassing the Blood Miasma Plain itself is no simple matter.
Unable to expand into unknown territories, naturally, familiar neighbors become the targets.
Chen Cang, with ambition coupled with matching power, makes Cai Qianshan deeply uneasy.
Among the four counties of Cai Qiu, Lin Chu County holds the utmost importance for two reasons:
First, Chen Cang’s ambitions are clear, and Lin Chu borders Chen Cang’s Yanling and Heyang counties, making it the frontline defense against Chen Cang for Cai Qiu, undeniably significant;
The second reason, being even more critical, is that Lin Chu County’s elevation is notably higher compared to the other three counties of Cai Qiu.
The terrain of the Moao River is generally higher in the west and lower in the east. More precisely, Chen Cang’s overall elevation is the highest, while the other three vassals are lower. Chu Longteng’s ambition to unify Moao River largely stems from this unique terrain feature.
Chen Cang holds an overarching elevation advantage over the other three vassals.
Of course, this is overall. In specific regions, including some minor locales, the other three vassals still possess their unique advantages.
The localized advantage of Cai Qiu lies in controlling Lin Chu County, which shares the same elevation with Chen Cang’s entire territory.
Lin Chu, as its name suggests, signifies proximity to Chu Land. Before Chu Longteng unified all of Chen Cang, the Chu Family’s old base was in Yanling, previously known as Chu Mountain, leading to the name Lin Chu.
This also reveals that the name Lin Chu existed before Chen Cang established its fief, but probing further unearths a century-old grievance between Chen Cang and Cai Qiu.
"What nonsense Lin Chu, this is Chu Mountain!
Over a hundred years ago, within the fief’s fifteen towns, they were parallel, perpetually warring. Lord Landgrave set forth from Chu Mountain, campaigning east and west, subduing various tribes one by one, laying the foundation for establishing the fief!
This despicable Cai Qianshan saw Chu Mountain was unguarded at that time, seized the opportunity while Lord Landgrave led the army battling the Chen Family in Longxing City, and captured Chu Mountain.
Chu Mountain, after all, is the root of the Chu Family. At the time, everyone thought Lord Landgrave would retreat the army, yet unexpectedly, he didn’t care and continued sieging Longxing City, eventually defeating the Chen Family’s army, solidifying the foundation of the fief before turning to deal with Cai Qiu’s army..."
On the eastern side of Lin Chu County City, amid the Snow Forest, a dozen armored soldiers strolling and patrolling, their leader, whose armor was clearly of higher specification than the others, was recounting old stories of Lin Chu County.
"Barely finishing the battle with the Chen Family, then turning back to confront Cai Qiu’s army, that’s too hasty, can they win?"
Interrupted, the person showed no displeasure; instead, he looked at the inquisitive individual, showing a hint of admiration, nodded, "Of course, though our fief’s army is strong, consecutive battles lead to exhaustion among soldiers, hurriedly returning, how could they win against Cai Qiu’s troops who were prepared?"
Upon speaking, he couldn’t help but chuckle coldly several times, then with a proud smile continued, "But Chu Mountain, after all, is the foundation of the Chu Family. At that time, the predecessors in the military fought fiercely, ultimately snatching half the territory from Cai Qiu. If it hadn’t been for Cai Qiu bringing in Wei Bo for reinforcement, Lord Landgrave surely could have reclaimed the entire area."
"Wei Bo extends its reach too much, meddling in affairs they shouldn’t, no wonder the fief is disaster-prone, they deserve the annual loss of so many lives."
"With two vassals joining forces, Lord Landgrave could only withdraw his troops."
"No wonder, I heard people say, in the past, Chu Mountain was large, far larger than today’s Yanling, I used to wonder, turns out Cai Qiu’s Lin Chu County used to be part of Chu Mountain."
.........
Hearing his subordinates’ words, Chu Dongying couldn’t help but coldly sneer, "Wei Bo intervening to assist Cai Qiu back then, clearly didn’t want to see Chen Cang rise, aiming to maintain balance among the four vassals, although Hezang didn’t openly intervene, secretly they did quite a bit, undeniably, reviewing the past century’s situation among the four vassals, Li Gangfeng and Fu Wanhe’s actions were indeed effective."