"...Amid my mother's cry, I left there and passed the preliminary selection. Because of my excellent performance, I was handed over to officials from the capital. From then on, I was the "Oguran" or the "boys". We were sent directly to court schools in various places. There, like others, I completed several years of academic studies under the supervision of eunuchs, and the courses included theology, administration, military, literature, etc. Like all the top students, I went directly to the palace after graduation..."

When telling all this, Ahmed looked very calm when he was telling all this, as if he was telling other people's affairs, and had nothing to do with him.

But for Ilia, the story of Lord Pasha touched his heart, and all of this was also his experience.

In fact, among the Guards, there were many people like him, even those young people who inherited their father's business and entered the New Guards, their fathers or great-grandfathers were Christian teenagers selected from all over the country by Turkish officials.

Regardless of their identity, one thing is certain that they had the same experience when they left their hometown.

The Turks would send the selected children away with horses. Each horse carried two baskets, one on one side, like a fruit, and each basket contained a child. The children would bring a small bag and a piece of cake, which was the last bit of warmth that their parents gave them. The baskets were shaking and making rhythmic sounds. These children who were taken away would only poke their heads out of their heads when they were breathable, revealing their rosy, terrified faces. Some of them looked calmly from the horse's back to the distance, wanting to see their hometowns far behind, some ate and cry, while others leaned their heads on the saddle and dozed off.

And behind the horse team, there was a certain distance, followed by a large group of people. They were the parents or other relatives of the children, and they followed in groups of three or three, unhurriedly. Because these children who never returned will be circumcised and converted to the Green Church after they arrive in a foreign land. They will forget their religious beliefs, their hometowns and families, serve in the Ottoman Guards for life, and may serve in more important institutions.

Most of the people following the horse team were women, mothers, grandmothers or sisters of the children taken away. When they approached, the Turkish chief's guard drove them away with a whip, and rushed towards them with a horse. They ran around in all directions and hid in the woods next to the road, but soon they gathered behind the horse team again, trying to use their tears to look at the faces of their biological flesh and blood that were taken away outside the basket.

Even to this day, Ilia still remembers her mother's pain and crying like a funeral. She draped her hair, and ran after her feet deep and shallow. She almost had an insane state, and her mother cried like that. Maybe because tears blurred her vision and hit her directly under the whip. But every time she got a whip, she would ask without thinking:

"Where are you going to take him?"

My mother also called out his name, as if she was telling them a few more words to ask him to take care of him on the way.

"Ilia, my son, don't forget your mother!"

"Ilia! Ilia! Ilia!"

My mother screamed desperately, constantly, as if she wanted to imprint the name into his mind, because in a few days the name will never belong to him.

A few days later, they will conduct preliminary screening like Ahmed. Many of them are not as lucky as Pasha. They are just ordinary soldiers and even just serve labor. After all, the elite is a minority, and the same is true for Oguran. Therefore, the vast majority of the remaining Christian children can only be used as "Ajami Oguran", that is, "foreign teenagers". They work with the farmers and learn Turkic language, military skills and belief education. Once a training institution in a certain place is vacant, they will be sent there, training and taking on various labors of government departments. But only when the quota of the legion troops is vacant, they will have the opportunity to become a member of the official soldier.

"Ilia, when I asked you what kind of reward you wanted, why did you want your name?"

Ahmed asked suddenly.

"because……"

Elia said.

"This name is my only memory of my mother."

When he said this, Ilia's tone seemed extremely low, but anyone could feel the suppressed pain in his words. The pain was indescribable and unconcealable. It was like snatching a baby from his mother's arms. Even if he stopped crying, the memory of pain would still be engraved in his bones and in his mind.

"I remember when I left, my mother kept chasing me and shouting this name, but I couldn't see her in the basket. She kept chasing me, even if she was whipped, in the end, her voice disappeared, and since then, the only memory of her was left..."

"Ilia, this is the name of a pagan. If you want to return this name, it is equivalent to giving up your future..."

Ahmed said with a smile.

After they were elected, they would circumcise, change their names, change their faith, and then be assimilated. In fact, they were lucky. At least, now they do not need to be as conquered a hundred or two hundred years ago. The Slavs, Greeks, and Armenians, who had just been conquered and were forced to assimilate by the Turks, will completely forget their origins in the years to come, and when they grow up, they will be incorporated into their hometowns. The main force of massacre and suppression in the Balkans, "Janesari", or the "Guards", when they feed the bloodthirsty crescent scimitar with the blood of their parents and brothers, they are even more cruel than the Turkish masters. They no longer remember, or do not want to remember that their parents and relatives will be in their eyes.

Of course, there are a very small number of people who stubbornly stick to the freedom in their hearts. Ilia is such a person.

"As for future, I think I will always be loyal to you, sir."

And Ahmed suddenly fell silent at Ilia's smile, and then he said.

"You know, in the past few hundred years, many Christians in the Balkans chose to believe in the Green Church to avoid their children becoming cannon fodders for the empire and reduce the labor force in the farmland. In the Guards, we always became believers very quickly. We are the most invincible swords under the Ottoman Sultan because we have a fiery religious passion..."

In fact, this couldn't be easier. The treacherous ones are often more cruel than their opponents because they have to prove their loyalty.

"I have traveled many places over the years. I don't know who are the real Turks? But most of them are actually assimilated Asia Minor, as well as the Slavs from Southeast Europe, and the descendants of the Greeks..."

When saying this, Ahmed seemed to have a look of tears in his mother's face, and the sad cry of the mother who had lost her son seemed to appear in his ears:

"Mikhail, my son, don't forget your mother..."

Perhaps, Ahmed is already in a high position, but all of this is a scar on his heart that will never heal...

There are some scars that are destined to be irreparable. The so-called healing is just to show it to others. In fact, the scars in their hearts will always exist.

Many times, many people will try their best to cover up all this. They can deceive the outside world, but they can't deceive themselves or their true thoughts in their hearts. But most of the time, they are powerless. What they can do is just try every means to avoid touching. Why should they avoid touching?

Because with a gentle touch, blood will linger, and the sting will linger in their hearts. Sometimes it will even seize their reason and make them make unexpected choices.

Hate!

Each of them has unspeakable hatred buried in their hearts. Once touched, the flame of revenge will burn in their eyes...
Chapter completed!