Green Empire, the mountain behind the Burris family.
The ground in the mountains is covered with withered yellow and green leaves. The black soil is very soft. When you step on it, you can hear the sound of broken leaves. Occasionally, you can see a few ants crawling under the fallen leaves and on the tree trunks. They are moving
Small particles of food, some of which are the corpses of other insects, and some of which are pine nut debris, are crawling in various crevices.
The fence made of dead wood branches is stretched diagonally, and part of it has fallen loose, exposing nails full of rust. It will sway a little as the wind blows. The woods are very quiet, with only a few long and long birdsong occasionally.
A young man with golden brown hair walked over. He was about sixteen years old. He was wearing a white shirt that was easy for movement and wear-resistant leather pants. He was carrying a broad sword on his shoulder. Look at the old scabbard and
The polished and shiny weight ball must be a few years old.
He casually stepped over the simple fence, with some scraps of dead tree bark stained on his leather pants. He patted it casually to shake off some dust, then turned around a few big trees, and a simple wooden frame appeared in front of him.
The wooden frame is just a piece of thick wood stuck in the ground, and a section of wooden branches is nailed horizontally to the upper part. The overall height is about the same as an adult. Judging from the marks on the corners of the wood, it must have been made recently.
He pulled out his broadsword, put the scabbard under a tree, and then began to get used to swinging it. The broadsword he held tightly in both hands seemed a bit big. It would probably take him a few years to use this sword before he could fit it.
Although the sword was not swung very fast, there were gusts of wind in the air, and it sounded impressive. He must have received professional instruction.
First, he practiced swordsmanship several times, and his body felt a little warm. Then he put down the sword, stretched his legs, and stretched his lower ligaments. Then he jogged around the woods a few times before returning to the place where the sword was placed.
Judging from the weather, it was probably around three or four in the afternoon. He went to a mountain spring not far away to drink water, and then leaned under a tree to rest for a while.
At this time, a short figure slowly walked over from the woods behind him, not very fast, but his footsteps were so light that he couldn't even hear the sound.
This figure slowly approached the big tree that the young man was leaning on. He held the dagger in his right hand and relaxed his left hand in the air. He saw it getting closer and closer, but the young man didn't seem to notice it and was still leaning against it.
On the tree trunk, close your eyes and relax.
The figure approaching from behind saw that he was unprepared, and was secretly happy in his heart, and was about to attack him.
"drink!"
In the silent woods, the young man opened his eyes and screamed suddenly. It was so sudden that the figure behind him trembled in fright. His feet stepped on the dead leaves and made a sound. Before he could react, the young man in front took the
He picked up the sword at hand and stood up to strike back. He could only respond hastily and block with the dagger in his hand.
But how can a light and thin short sword compare to a heavy broad sword? After two simple blows, the short sword was knocked away and fell on the gravel next to it. The hilt bounced slightly, then fell and remained motionless.
The young man also pointed his broadsword at the figure who was the same height as himself.
"Haha, I won this time, Rock." The young man announced his victory excitedly.
"cut."
Looking at the broadsword pointed at him, Rock turned his head dissatisfied.
"It's just this once, what's the point of being happy about it."
"No, no, you forgot, Rock." The young man waved his sword proudly and continued.
"We agreed at the beginning that if I win, you will agree to be my follower."
"You also know, you have lost to me so many times before, why don't you become my follower?" Rock said dissatisfied.
"This..." The young man was stunned for a while, and then he spoke.
"Because Uncle Wade is my father's captain of the bodyguard, your words should not..."
"What should I do, why? I won't be stupid like my dad, and I don't want to be a bullshit follower." At this point, Rock was a little excited.
"Isn't the captain of the guard very good? He's not very tired at ordinary times, and he can go to banquets with me to eat and drink." The young man put down his sword, a little confused.
"So what if I go? Those ladies from noble families won't like me. They just want to marry the heirs of noble families with fiefdoms."
"Besides, Isaiah, you are only the third oldest, and it is not your turn to inherit the title. It would be too hopeless to follow you."
It was heartbreaking. After hearing this, the young man also felt a little depressed.
The Verdant Empire is a highly hierarchical class society, with a huge power gap between nobles and civilians. For example, many schools only admit children of nobles. If they also recruit children of civilians, noble families will not let their children study in this school or under the name of a teacher.
Because the tribesmen don’t like to see their children sitting in the same classroom with those wild children of unknown origin, thinking that this will lead them to bad luck. The same is true for some high-end restaurants, libraries, and even shops.
If you are an ordinary member of the green population, you will not be able to access many parts of this country, as will many of its benefits.
When walking on the street, nobles have special passages. When carriages meet at intersections, nobles must be given priority to move forward, etc. This inequality is reflected in every part of society. Even the laws of the empire clearly state that human life is not equal.
Some people just want to be more noble.
It stands to reason that in such a system, a lot of conflicts and grievances should accumulate between classes, but the builders of the empire cleverly designed many channels for advancement. For example, a very complete military merit system, not only can you gain wealth and respect from others, but also accumulate wealth by fighting in wars.
Military merit can even allow people to be promoted to the ranks of the nobility.
The various benefits brought by the nobility status inspired batch after batch of people to step onto the battlefield and fight hard to gain military merit and change their own destiny. This also allowed the Green Empire to greatly suppress domestic anti-war sentiment in the early days, and
Improved the combat effectiveness of the army.
At the same time, in addition to military merit, outstanding craftsmen, priests, scholars, and high-sequence extraordinary persons can also be granted noble status, separating them from the civilian class.
In this way, the nobles used various channels to recruit the most elite and outstanding people in the country. There were no extraordinary people or masters among the common people, so naturally they could not make any waves.
And most civilians also agree with this concept. The reason why aristocrats are aristocrats is that they are indeed powerful, diligent and have the courage to fight. Many civilian families will also educate their children and strive to become aristocrats in the future.
The privileges of the nobility are also divided into three, six or nine levels. The top level is naturally the royal family, the four major duke families, and then the lower levels include earls, viscounts, barons, and a large number of lords who cannot be hereditary. At the same time, the nobility will also be registered according to rank and family.
Each person pays a considerable amount of taxes to pay for their benefits. In a sense, the privileges of aristocratic status are bought with money.
If insufficient taxes are paid, the title will be downgraded until he finally becomes a commoner, which becomes a means of reclaiming the title.
Relying on this unequal treatment and giving a certain hope, constantly motivating civilians and even small nobles to keep climbing up, the Green Empire maintained extremely high vitality, constantly iterated forward in internal and external competition, and finally defeated the Austrian Empire.
The country of Zhi suddenly became the strongest country on the continent.