1699 of the Third Age, the Year of the Blood Front
The war on the Western Continent has entered a new stage, and it is also a stage that is more cruel than ever.
The Battle of Green Hills, the ambush of Tixilan, the Battle of the Thirteen Counties of Falcon, and the battle for Mount Neibaer, the fierce battlefield was like a meat grinder, ruthlessly devouring life.
Countless soldiers were blown away by artillery fire on the battlefield, pierced by long spears, and their throats slit by sharp swords. Every day, thousands of soldiers were killed in action. Countless names were scratched out in red on the pages of paper, and then passed on. distant hometown.
Those messengers dressed in black brought sturdy military satchels and delivered the unknown white envelopes to the dazed parents, who were greeted with tears of sadness.
Tears fell on the unfolded letter drop drop by drop, wetting the ink-printed formula text, only the name column was written in a hurry, inadvertently, maybe a second was useless, but this represented a young man. life is gone.
Perhaps not long ago, this young man smiled at the people around him before he left, and said that he was waiting for the news of his victory and return. But in the end, what was waiting was just a letter and the medal of sacrifice that could no longer be undone.
"I know you are sad, but please allow me to pay the highest respect to your child." The black-clothed messenger took off his hat and pressed it to his chest.
"He died for this country and fought for the future of all of us, and the country and the people will not forget this."
"Vengeance for tyranny must be paid for with blood."
——
Seabuckthorn City, the former west wind frontier city, is now occupied by the imperial army.
In the barracks in the city, thousands of soldiers are repairing here, many of them are wounded, and the sound of pain and mourning can often be heard in the camp.
The large tent housing the wounded was opened, and an imperial soldier came out, looking at his face in his early twenties.
Compared to the smug, enthusiastic and excited face in the early days of the war, there is only a dull and numb expression on his face at this moment.
When he came to a corner of the camp, he was about to hit his hands full of stains under water. This was caused by the cleaning of the patient's body just now. The smell of blood and stench was unbearable.
But when he got to the well, a wooden sign that had been written for a while was erected beside him.
'The well has been poisoned! '
The bright red writing on the white wooden board is shocking.
"Damn it!" he spat lowly, then thought back to these days.
This is not the first wellhead to be poisoned, and those local residents are always looking for opportunities to cause trouble for them.
Poisoning, arson, assault, all kinds of things happen.
The noble officers in the camp were very angry and killed many suspected local residents. Thousands of corpses were even piled up outside the city.
"If they dare to rebel again, they will keep killing until the other party is afraid."
"To deal with such stubborn people, you should kill more and make the other party tremble, so that even if there are a few of them who want to do something, they will be immediately confessed by the people around them." The officer described the experience left by his ancestors. .
It has always been difficult to conquer a country and a nation, but killing is indeed the simplest and crudest method.
There will always be people who are afraid of death, right
After the invasion of Crancia, many aristocratic officers have adopted this method. In their minds, the civilians and livestock of these enemy countries are not much different.
"Stupid, sluggish, unwilling to surrender properly!"
It is difficult for the above people to understand such a situation, because such a situation has never happened in the past conquests. As long as the opponent's large army is defeated, many small towns and villages are all looking at the wind, and you can send some people to receive them at will.
"Gene Era"
But now the expedition seems to have entered a quagmire, and no matter what you do, you will feel a resistance, and this resistance comes from the people on this land.
He had seen a local peasant woman on a field march, a tanned woman wearing burlap and holding a small child in her arms.
The woman would whisper in her child's ear when she saw Imperial soldiers walking by.
'This is our enemy, the one who must be killed in the future. '
Unlike other soldiers, he had an exceptional talent for hearing, and so did he know what the woman was saying.
But he didn't report the matter to the superior that day, nor did he pick up the spear and stab the peasant woman who didn't know what to do with it like other colleagues.
'I understand this is wrong and war only brings out the worst of our humanity. '
He said so to himself in his heart, but he himself knew that such rhetoric was useless.
Now that the war has reached this stage, the two sides have accumulated a lot of blood feuds and cannot stop.
Sometimes he even had dreams of the slain Crancias coming to his bedside and demanding their lives, as in the history of the Mercury Dynasty.
What a disgusting feeling.
Sitting at the edge of the camp's clearing, the Imperial soldier looked into the grey sky and rose.
"What's the matter, Lig, are you looking for water? Come here."
A slightly tall and strong soldier came. He was wearing scales covering his chest and back, with a gray-black broken cloak behind him, and he was holding a steel halberd at the moment.
"Well, it's Tulong." The soldier named Lige raised his head and looked at Tulong, the comrade-in-arms of the acquaintance Jian fellow.
Following Tulong's tall body, Liger came to another part of the camp, where there was the only safe wellhead, and many people were lining up to fetch water, some for drinking and some for washing.
Seeing that there were still a lot of people in front of them, the two of them waited for a while and chatted.
"There seems to be another bad news coming from the front. The entire legion led by a certain Viscount was wiped out on the battlefield."
"Oh, it seems that some of the wounded will be sent back, and then many of us will have to go to the front."
"Maybe you won't see me next time." Lig lowered his head, swiped the dust on the bottom of his feet, and mocked the increasingly uncomfortable situation.
"What, want to escape?"
Tulong jokingly said that in the Canghong Empire, being a deserter on the battlefield is the most shameful reputation. Such people can even laugh at and insult beggars on the street. If the other party wants to resist, they will attract all kinds of attacks.
The empire was founded on military merit, and in its cultural traditions, deserters and cowards were especially despised. In various dramas, these deserters often also play the role of harlequins, or the final footnote of the villain.
Celebrating bravery, glory, and justice are enduring contents of the Empire. The boys yearned for the heroic knight in the legend, and the girls also dreamed of the dashing knight riding a white horse and greeting her.
This is also the reason why, even now, many people still reluctantly persist. If you say that you are afraid and fear war, you will be ridiculed and bullied by others.
This is especially true of the nobles who pay attention to fame and glory. Years of propaganda, generations of narratives and teachings, many nobles also naturally believe that the battlefield is glorious, and even if they fail to win, they can't be a deserter.
Relying on this steadfast tradition, the army of the Empire has been heading westward, constantly throwing itself into the brutal battlefield.
If, if there were no Crancia, or the Seven Kingdoms of Xuehua in the past, this expedition would probably be a success. And they will also be praised by future generations as heroic and glorious existence.
It is a pity that the Starlight Alliance now dominated by Crancia is not the Seven Kingdoms of Xuehua in the past.
If they cannot be defeated, they will be nailed to the pillar of shame in history and ridiculed mercilessly.
At this stage, even though more and more people realize the difficulty and impossibility of winning, the idea of the main battle is still reluctantly maintained within the empire.
Even if you can't win, you must beat the opponent.
With this thought in mind, the emperor started a new round of conscription after consulting with many great nobles.
Maybe they didn't realize it themselves, but they were already panicking about defeat.
The process of experiencing the blood of the blade made many nobles and imperial soldiers on the front gradually realize what a terrifying group of opponents they were.
They seem to have an almost fanatical belief, they are not afraid of death, they are strictly disciplined, and they will never retreat. They stand on the ground like steel pillars.
Recalling the countless bodies that fell in this war, if they failed here, the ending might not just be as simple as returning to the boundary line between the two sides in the past.
And the more fearful, the more united the empire is, more and more conscription teams are cruising in the provinces, some conservative aristocrats have to come up with some strength to press the bottom of the box, and start thinking about how to continue this protracted war. .
With the organizational ability and will to fight that Crancia has shown in the past two years, it seems that it is not difficult for him to lead the army into the internal battle of the empire, and if such a thing happens, the land, wealth, resources, etc. of many nobles will disappear.
Some visionaries began to appeal, suggesting that the offensive should be moderated, and that it would be good to make peace with Crancia. But such voices were quickly drowned out.
Although there were many deaths in the war, it was impossible for these nobles to give up their interests and land. Then they didn't do it for nothing and became a joke.
So in the end, neither side had any room for concessions.
"When will it end? I want to go back to my hometown. It is probably the season of dandelion blooming. Yuna from the neighboring village often comes to pick wild vegetables near our village with her mother at this time." Lig slightly blocked the sky with his arms. sun.
"Be quiet, if you say that, the people around you will report it." Tulong put a hand on Liger's shoulder, telling him not to show that he wanted to be a deserter.
"Oh, what's there to be afraid of, I guess everyone thinks so."
"Relax, man, maybe the future is not so bad, maybe one day we will win." Tulong said comfortingly.
"Have you heard that the pure iron general has now led the army to victory on the flank, and the emperor has sent an envoy to reward him."
"Do you mean Darcy? He is indeed the idol of many people, but such a genius is too far away from a little guy like me, and it can't inspire me at all."
Under the gloomy sky, the two chatted casually until they hit the water and dealt with things before slowly returning to the tent.
After the army of the Empire fought one after another in Crancia, many people, like this soldier, gradually faded from their initial enthusiasm and became silent, and the blood they saw every day, the fallen companions , all stimulate the nerves of anxiety.
It is beautiful to gain wealth and land after winning, but the cruelty of life and death on the battlefield is also appalling. They are only here for profit, and naturally they do not have the firm will to fight like the Crancia soldiers.
After being hit and tortured one after another, the empire's offensive became slower and slower. More and more front-line nobles began to protect themselves and fight passively. They preferred to occupy and defend the land rather than attack rapidly.
During the year, the situation on the battlefield began to change, and the empire gradually turned from offensive to defensive.
The capital of the Crimson Empire, Titania.
Another huge wedding is being held in the bustling city, but this time the protagonists are not just one pair, but nearly a hundred newlyweds.
After being promoted to the upper echelons of the empire with military exploits, many new nobles began to marry old nobles. The new generation of nobles has real power and newly acquired fiefs, but lacks wealth and personnel means to manage fiefs. Although the old aristocrats have accumulated wealth for generations, they lack power and need new resources to develop family industries.
Thus exchanges and alliances arose.
After realizing that such a combination of powers was inevitable, the emperor did not forcefully prevent it, but instead joined it, selecting nobles who tended to be his own, and combining with the officers he promoted. This makes its power more stable.
Today, although he clearly controls the entire empire, the other great nobles in the fiefs of the four dukes still retain considerable strength and are not completely under his control.
"Congratulations, Darcy."
During the wedding ceremony, the emperor summoned his most capable general and patted his shoulder as a reward. On the other side, Lily, the Red Queen dressed in a luxurious rose dress, also received Darcy's wife, Wei Lin.
The genius of the former Emenas, the noble girl who has won the second place in the Winter Festival Gala for many times.
Compared with the slightly publicized appearance in the school in the past, Wei Lin seems to be much more dignified and virtuous today. She was wearing a black and red noble dress, her fingers covered with black lace gently took the back of Lily's hand, and she simply kissed and saluted.
"I've seen Her Majesty the Queen." Wei Lin raised her head, her black hair forming a small bend around her cheeks, and the red roses on her ears had a mature temperament.
"You don't have to be so polite, Senior Sister Weilin." Lily looked at the woman who was bending over and saluting in front of her, full of emotion.
"Perhaps you don't know me. I entered Chengzhai College after Senior Sister Wei Lin graduated, but my grades are average, so naturally not many people know me in the school."
"Everyone's eyes are always on those geniuses."
"Your Majesty's words are serious." Wei Lin stood up again and answered cautiously.
When a big man occasionally laughs at himself, don't agree with it at will. If you think you are agreeing, you may be mistaken for offending, so it is generally best not to comment.
In the years after graduation, Wei Lin has experienced a lot. Although she is the direct daughter of a big noble family, she is alone and has no siblings. Relatives from far away want to come over to compete for the family property. The intrigue has cost her a lot of energy. So that her development was not smooth.
When I look back, the boy in the school who defeated her and left her with hatred has grown into a famous army commander in the empire and is in a higher position than her.
After learning about the situation, a complex emotion rose in her heart, and the disputes within the family troubled her again and again.
At this time, the emperor's messenger arrived.
The emperor intends to match her to marry that Darcy, because she is the only daughter of the Viscount Yan Falcon. After marrying Darcy, Darcy can immediately obtain the title of Viscount Yan Falcon. And Wei Lin can also keep everything in herself, no longer affected by those annoying relatives, and continue to pass the title to her children.
After a period of difficult thinking and choice, Wei Lin agreed to the proposal, and met Darcy again after many years.
"This is a man you can trust."
Perhaps in the competition that year, the opponent's tenacious will made her unwilling and hated, but if this man became her husband, such a quality would make people feel at ease.
After letting go, the only grudge in Wei Lin's heart dissipated, and she began to sincerely think about the feasibility of this marriage and the future scenarios.
She is no longer young. Although the supernatural age is slower than that of ordinary people, among the nobles, it is very late to get married, and then I am afraid that I can only find those divorced objects.
Under the influence of various factors, the two finally came together, and today's situation may not have been imagined by each other back then.
At that time, they were like birds in the sky and fish in the water, nobles and commoners, living in two unrelated worlds.
Not wanting the reality to be so bizarre and unexpected, the pair finally came together.
"Then, the wedding celebration officially begins~"
In Titenian, there were flowers and music. In the middle of the stagnation and easing of the war, the emperor recalled a group of officers with outstanding military merit, arranged marriages for them, and once again strengthened the emperor's ability to control the front-line army.
This kind of wedding has also greatly stimulated the young people in China who have not yet joined the army, and in the new round of conscription, more young people are encouraged to join this glorious expedition, adding another bargaining chip to the balance.
The stagnation, pessimism, and numbness at the front, and the cheers, envy, and optimism at the back, two completely different landscapes have formed in one country at the same time. And where will this country with roses as a metaphor go in the future
Did you finally see the dawn of victory over and over again, or did you end up collapsing and torn apart because you couldn't bear the heavy chips