The five hundred and seventieth chapter [ten thousand years of faith]
Chapter 570 [Ten Thousand Years of Faith]
Rohart looked at the "breakfast" in front of him.
This is a green, bowl-shaped leaf, containing a shallow crystal clear liquid, which is said to be fresh dew in the morning.
As for the living habits of the elves, this is their breakfast.
This tent is where the Elf King falls into the snow.
When he was hoisted into the oil pan that day, Rohart thought he was dead. In his opinion, there was no need for the enemy to keep him as a prisoner. What's more, these enemies were not "human beings." Since the beginning of this war, they had not kept any prisoners.
The habit of taking prisoners is that all human beings who are captured will have only one fate in the end: to be killed and become the food rations of these guys.
Rohart is not afraid of death, but he is still a little afraid of becoming the food of these monsters, so what he does most every day is to pray silently to strengthen his faith.
After being unhooked from the oil pan that day, Rohart was actually soaked with sweat. And, to be honest, if he hadn't drank water after being captured, I'm afraid he would have peed on the spot in that scene.
There is nothing shameful about it, it is a normal physiological reaction. It does not mean that he is not brave, but in fact, the so-called "warriors" are not those great and glorious images that have been deliberately beautified. Even brave people, in
They will still be afraid before death, but they have stronger faith to support themselves. This does not mean that the fear disappears, but that the power of faith overwhelms the fear.
But...he is not dead!
Moreover, he has been locked up in the Elf King's tent and is still alive today.
Luoxue's attitude towards him was very strange: on the one hand, Luoxue did not torture him or ask him anything. In fact, compared to his status as a "captive", Rohart received preferential treatment to a certain extent. The Elf King told Rohart,
As long as he is in this tent, he can move around at will, and even look through everything in the tent at will as long as he does not leave the tent. He almost enjoys the treatment of a guest.
Except... what I eat every day is a bit different.
Do these elves seem to not eat meat?
What I drink in the morning is dew, but it comes in different forms, such as rose dew, lily dew... but in the end it is just dew.
At noon, they will eat some strange pancake-like things, which seem to be ground from some kind of plant. And at night... they will make some very refreshing and tender plants and fungi...
Rohart remembered that after he woke up, and until today, these elves did not let him go hungry. But the food sent by the elves really made Rohart feel that he was about to turn into a rabbit and eat grass.
Although the Elf King also said that he could order the orcs to send some meat, Rohart firmly refused this offer (or was it a temptation?)
Because Rohart is very afraid: those orcs will eat any kind of meat, including human flesh! God knows whether the meat they send is from animals, or...
This tent has a certain amount of magic, which Rohart has gradually learned over the past two days.
At this moment, winter has begun to enter in the north of the continent. However, this elf tent looks like a huge mushroom. It is indeed a huge mushroom with magical properties. The umbrella-like edge has been dragged to the
On the ground. A circular handle in the middle supports the roof high.
This is something created by the special magic seeds of the elves. The temperature inside is very comfortable. There is a cold wind blowing outside, but inside, Rohart can't feel the slightest chill.
This huge tent is divided into two rooms, inside and outside. The Elf King seems to live outside, and Luoxue will spend an hour or two every day chatting with Rohart. This kind of chatting situation was just
Luoxue spoke unilaterally, while Rohart either shut up and didn't answer, or cursed or sneered.
But gradually, Rohart was surprised to discover that this elf's patience was ridiculously good. No matter how bad his attitude was, the other person didn't seem to get angry at all. And... Luoxue's knowledge was really amazing!
Luo Xue was very careful about the content of the conversation and never touched on human military affairs. However, Luo Xue talked casually from the astronomy, geography and humanities knowledge of the human Roland Empire to history and culture. The topics were often unconstrained. Think of it.
What to say...
Although Rohart is the son of a carpenter, he has also undergone some cultural studies since he joined the Tulip family's air cavalry regiment. After all, Du Wei believes that qualified officers must not be illiterate. In the Tulip family, there are already
A systematic and prescribed cultural course education has been formed specifically for people at the officer level.
Rohart has been in the northwest for three years, and he is no longer the son of a carpenter who can only write his own name. At least, he has learned well in history. However, when chatting with this elf, he often feels...
…humiliation and shame.
Yes, it is shameful!
This elf talked about the history of the human Roland Empire in a very clear and logical manner, including the history of civilization in that era, the rise and fall of that dynasty, and even the history of the Roland Empire from its founding to the present, some major national policies, the political system of the empire, etc.
When this elf talks about it, he often picks it up and talks about this magnanimity. No matter how much Rohart hates these enemies in his heart, he has to admit that this guy's knowledge is probably far better than when he was in the northwest.
, the teacher who teaches you is much better!
I am afraid that the only people I have ever seen who can rival this elf in terms of knowledge are the Duke of Tulip himself and the chief administrator of the northwest, Philip. In order to vigorously promote the culture of learning among officers, when he was in the northwest, as a
To set an example, Duwei once taught these officers personally, and Philip also taught these officers.
But Duke Tulip is famous in the empire for his erudition! And Lord Philip is often called the prime minister's talent. Moreover, he is also a disciple of the famous scholar Mr. Lan Hai.
The most important thing is... they are all human beings!
But this elf... As an elf, it has such a profound understanding of human civilization. It is obviously not done casually. It must have been studied carefully and with a strong purpose!
Even when they talked about some famous buildings of the Roland Empire, such as the city walls of the Imperial Capital, the famous Magic Guild Hexagram Building in the Imperial Capital, the terracotta-style pillared hall of the Temple of Light, etc., Luoxue even talked about it.
From the origin of this architectural style to its actual historical origins, historical background, etc...
These topics are obviously beyond the comprehension of Rohart, a man who is not well versed in literature.
There are also some splendid poems left by famous poets in human history, those wonderful chapters, magnificent epics, beautiful operas, etc...
It even gave Rohart a slight illusion: Is there anything else in this world that this elf doesn't know?
What made him very angry was that as a human being, when the other elf talked to him about the splendid culture of his nation, he often left him speechless, and even said a lot of things. He either knew only a little about it, or simply didn't understand it.
Never heard of it!
Luoxue could even recite some ancient poems in more than two ancient languages of the Roland continent. Rohart couldn't even understand a single word of these languages.
But...I am a human being! It is just an alien race!!
"I have read your General History of the Continent thirty-one times in total. There are also some versions from different eras, and versions before revision... Well, when I came to your empire last time, I was in some cities in the north.
, and got a lot of books, and I brought back a total of about 4,600 volumes."
Luoxue sat casually in front of Rohart, her expression and tone as if chatting with an old friend: "To be honest, I admire you humans very much. You have indeed created a very splendid civilization."
"Why do you want to study our human civilization so hard?" Rohart said coldly.
"A thousand years ago, Aragorn, the current founding emperor of the Roland Empire, said something: To defeat your enemy, you must first understand your enemy thoroughly. Well, the original saying recorded in the history books should be: Know yourself and the enemy, and you will never be in danger in a hundred battles."
(If Du Wei were here, he would definitely despise his previous life and plagiarize Sun Tzu's art of war.)
"Hmph. So you have bad intentions. The harder you work to learn from our human civilization, the more vicious your intentions become." Rohart shook his head.
"No. In fact, it's quite the opposite." Luoxue shook his head, with a faint smile on his face: "Rohart, let me tell you a secret, do you want to hear it?"
"It's up to you." Rohart said in a very cold tone: "Of course you will say whatever you want to say, but I won't tell you any of my secrets."
There was a hint of mockery in Luoxue's smile: "To me, you have no secrets, Rohart."
After saying that, Luoxue stood up. With a wave of his hand, the tent door closed silently. Turning his head, the Elf King looked at the human prisoner with a faint tone:
"The more I learn about your human civilization, the more a thought pops up in my mind. Although we are enemies now, as I learn more about your race, I feel more and more that maybe I can defeat you on the battlefield.
Yes, but...it is absolutely impossible to completely defeat mankind, or to exterminate your species."
When it said this, the look in its eyes was very clear and calm.
As the commander-in-chief of the invasion of sinners, Rohart was stunned for a moment when he said such words.
"You still remember what I told you two days ago, right? A long, long time ago, our race was expelled from this continent."
"Well, ten thousand years ago, you were expelled..." Rohart shook his head: "Of course I remember."
Luoxue nodded.
Its subsequent voice had a hint of erraticness...
"When I was born, I was far, far away in the north, beyond your frozen forest, across a huge ice field, then over a high mountain guarded by dragons, and across an endless wasteland. All the way to the north, there
It is the place where I was born. Different from the fertile continent of you humans, it is a barbaric land. There is a lack of water resources there, and the land cannot even be described with words like "barren". If you have been to that place, you will
Understand that if you squat on the ground and grab a handful of soil, you will find that half of your hands are hard gravel. There are also dangerous mountains there, but most of those mountains are made of hard stone, and iron ore is
Extremely rare and rare things. Even the common forests on your continent...we don't have them there. Even if the magic seeds of our elves are planted, they will be scarce.
There are cold winds blowing there all year round. In winter, strong winds fill people's eyes. Even strong orcs cannot go out because the strong wind can blow people directly into the sky. That kind of wind blows every year
About two months.
From the time I was born...or even earlier, from the time our race was first expelled there, food has always been a scarce thing.
In our place, the orcs are very thorough in drying the land. But when the old and frail orcs reach a certain age, they will take the initiative to say goodbye to their families and go into the depths of the wilderness alone. Then they die quietly just to reduce food.
waste!
Also, when a young orc is born, the clan will strictly check the baby's physical condition. If it is unanimously determined that the baby's physical condition is very weak and may not be able to become a strong laborer when he grows up, then the parents must endure the sadness and sadness.
In desperation, kill the frail baby, or... send someone from the tribe to use a broken car from a distance and push it into the depths of the wilderness...
Every autumn... for you humans, it is a festival to celebrate the harvest.
Oh, by the way, you humans also have a major festival called the Harvest Festival. But what you don’t know about us is: Autumn, for us, means: war!
The food harvested every year is very scarce. There is never enough! Therefore, when autumn comes, many tribes and tribes will start wars. In order to seize the winter food, those tribes will fight each other and rob each other's poor hands.
Some food...
But there is no winner in the fight until the end! Because the war reduces a lot of the population, so in the war every autumn, after a large number of people die, the remaining people have enough food to survive the winter.
I read from the book that when you humans celebrate the Harvest Festival every year, you sing and dance and brew a lot of wine... But in our place, when winter comes, the prime men of the orc tribe have to say goodbye to their wives and children.
The children then gathered in batches and went to the battlefield to die. When they left, no one knew whether they could come back alive or survive this winter.
You who live in this fertile continent may never experience that kind of pain and cruelty."
Even though he was in a hostile position, Rohart couldn't help but be moved when he heard this!
Luoxue's voice was still so faint, and there seemed to be a hint of sadness in its tone...
"All orcs, dwarves, and us elves, including me. Each of our races, when we are born, come to this world, and become wise, our elders will tell us: We are not born to live.
In such a desolate world, our ancestors once lived on a fertile continent, where there were countless sweet and clear lakes, countless rivers, and dense and boundless forests.
Fertile soil that can produce grease! There is sufficient rainfall, gentle wind and warm sunshine. Our ancestors once lived in such a beautiful land.
However, we lost that land.
We were defeated by a race called "humans". The evil and greedy humans drove us away and occupied that continent, forcing our descendants to live in this hungry and cold world!
Generation after generation!
These things have been instilled in each of us since we were sensible. Then, every time our elders finished speaking, they would tell us in a tone full of longing: We must work hard, and one day in the future, when we are strong, we will return to that place.
On this fertile land, we will avenge our ancestors, kill all those greedy and evil humans, and take back our homeland!"
At this point, Luoxue clenched her fists: "Every orc, dwarf, or elf has been taught this since childhood until the day they die!"
Rohart was moved.
Even though he was just the son of a carpenter, he could still feel the shock of the content of these words!
This...countless generations have repeatedly inculcated this kind of thinking. The desire and hatred that have been accumulated for thousands of years...when it bursts out, this will be such a terrifying and huge energy?!
Do humans nowadays... have this kind of almost crazy belief?
"I am the king of the elves." Luoxue said softly: "I was destined to bear this responsibility since I was born. I want to bear the future destiny of my tribe on my shoulders. My father is the king, and I
My grandfather was a king, and my great-grandfather was also a king. So was I! Therefore, as kings of every generation, we are always looking for ways to return.
On the day I was born, it was snowing heavily. My father named me Luoxue. But when I was still an adult, my father died... He left the tribe and took several strong men with him,
Go to the human world.
I know...he must have died at the foot of the sacred mountain guarded by the dragon clan.
In fact, we, the "sinful people". The leaders of each generation will take the strongest members of the clan to adventure in your human world, trying to open a way home. However, in each generation, no one
Can come back alive."
"I used to hate humans so much." Luoxue smiled, with a hint of mockery in her smile: "It's just like the thought that was instilled in me when I was a child: humans are robbers, a greedy and evil race, they robbed and occupied our homeland
.And the only goal of us sinners is to kill you back! Kill all you humans! Completely exterminate your race! Otherwise, it will not be enough to wash away the tragic fate we have suffered in the past ten thousand years, nor will it be enough to make up for it.
In the past ten thousand years, we have seen those old people who went to the wilderness to commit suicide when they were old, and those frail little lives who were killed just after they were born... After ten thousand years, this blood debt is really too big! The huge land
To such an extent, unless it is washed with blood, there is no room for relaxation at all!!”
"I once held this strong belief: kill all humans! Exterminate the human race!! But..."
Luoxue shook his head gently, and his smile was a little strange: "But. Now I don't think so... Because. As I learn about your human civilization, I have to force myself to accept the fact that you are such a
The race cannot be exterminated! At least, our race cannot do it! It may be possible to defeat it, but it cannot be exterminated!"
As he spoke, Luoxue sighed softly, and his voice gradually lowered his voice: "But, my thoughts are just mine...those orcs don't think so. The orcs have been until now,
They all insist that only by killing all human beings will we have a way to survive... However, I am very pessimistic that this goal may never be achieved in advance, even if the war lasts for ten, fifty, or one hundred years...
accomplish!
It may be possible to defeat a nation. But to completely wipe out a race that has developed for tens of thousands of years and has a mature civilization... This is definitely not something we can do. In my opinion,
This is a dead end. This war will continue and will continue! Keep going! I can’t see the direction of the future, nor can I see even a glimmer of hope. I’m afraid, my generation, my next generation, and the next generation after that,
We will keep fighting like this. Endlessly!"
When Rohart heard this, he frowned and finally couldn't help but ask Luoxue a question: "Then, what do you want?"
"Me?" Luoxue smiled softly and looked at the humans in front of it: "I want peace... We elves have never been a warlike race. We just want peace. As long as we have a homeland where we can thrive,
enough."
As he said that, Luoxue pointed outside the tent.
Its smile was bitter: "Just a few days ago, we have started to grow food in the surrounding land. For you humans, this is the north of the continent, and the land is not fertile enough, but for us, it is quite
Compared to the place where we have lived for generations, the land here is already unimaginably fertile! They have begun to grow food, and the first harvest will be available next year! The food will continue to supply our army to continue fighting here!
In the lands we have occupied, we will stay here firmly and will never leave unless we are all dead! We have waited ten thousand years to return here. Now there is no power to make us retreat!
The food has been planted this year, and it will continue next year! The year after that, and the year after that... and the year after that... generation after generation, the war will not stop!"
Rohart's expression turned grim involuntarily, and he murmured: "I think I understand what you want to say... Humph!"
"This is a war destined to have no winner. There will never be a winner." Luoxue said softly.
Lancang Grand Canal.
A Roland Empire navy warship was moored at the dock of the imperial capital.
To the surprise of the porters on the pier, such a warship was actually anchored in the civilian port. Moreover, soon, a group of heavily armed Royal Guards arrived in the imperial capital and sealed the pier tightly.
stand up.
For a whole day, no cargo was unloaded on this ship, and no one disembarked. There were onlookers around, and someone saw from a distance that within one day, there were three consecutive palace envoys dressed in robes and serving as palace etiquette officials, in the Royal Forest Army.
Accompanied by others, we boarded this big ship.
Such new news immediately attracted the attention of many interested people.
At the same time, a fierce debate was unfolding in the imperial palace.
"I firmly oppose it!"
In the main hall, an old man with white beard and hair, wearing a very strict and loose robe, waved his hands excitedly and argued loudly.
Then, he looked up at the two people sitting high on the throne...the current Emperor of the Empire, His Majesty Little Charles, and His Majesty's father, His Royal Highness the Regent of the Empire.
"Your Majesty! Your Highness!!" The old man growled quickly and resolutely: "I firmly oppose giving those indigenous people excessive courtesy!! They are different from the envoys on the grassland! The grassland has been at odds with us for many generations, although not
I am willing to admit it, but I have to say that we have basically acquiesced to the fact that there is an independent political power on the grassland! They have the power to compete with us in local areas, and the empire, as a compromise, has already recognized the grassland lord 'Wangjue' that year.
Fact! From a ceremonial point of view, if they are envoys from the Prairie King, we can treat them as vassal states. But... these Southeast Asian natives are absolutely not allowed! If we... it would be a humiliation! It would be equivalent to the empire recognizing these natives.
The legitimacy of that kingdom in Nanyang! Your Majesty! Your Highness! If there is a first time, there will be a second time! If there is a third time... it will become a routine in the future!! I think this kind of precedent is absolutely
It can’t be opened! Otherwise, if any of the indigenous tribes on the island call themselves kings in the future and send people to the empire, will we give them the treatment of an envoy from the kingdom??"
Following this, some senior military bosses echoed. Many of them still belong to the navy system.
"I agree with the statement of the Minister of Ceremonies." A military veteran bowed, with a trace of anger and pain in his eyebrows: "Your Majesty, Your Highness! Once upon a time, our huge navy was invincible in Nanyang, taking everything from it! Those Nanyang
The indigenous people can only bear the burden of our wanton rubbing! Even now, they have never had the power to compete with us, never!! For these indigenous people, they are just the granary of the empire in Nanyang. When we need it
, you can harvest it at any time. But now, we actually call it a 'country'! This is definitely something we cannot admit! They are different from the grassland people. The grassland people have the strength to compete with us, but these Nanyang natives do not!"
"If we recognize them as a 'country', then according to the laws and etiquette of the empire, we must give them the treatment of a country... and there will be a lot of trouble in the future! We also have to consider the influence of public opinion. Northwest
If the grassland people knew about this, they would definitely laugh at us for being too weak! The Southeast Asian natives are only worthy of being our slaves, they are not worthy of being our guests!"
The Minister of Ceremony raised his fist and shouted.
