The news that Solderlin brought was crucial.
Anyone with a brain would realize what kind of impact this would have on the current situation between the Typhon and the Ansu.
For Gawain, this was both bad news and good news. The bad news went without saying. Ever since he crawled out of his coffin and saw the huge swarm of Aberrations outside (My previous fight was for nothing), he had been worried about this matter. He was worried that the Great Wall was declining day by day, and that more and more Aberrations would break out of the wasteland and attack the human world. The attack at the border of Tiphon meant that the previous Aberration attack was far more serious than expected. The thousands of monsters that Cecil Hill faced were only a portion of the Aberrations that broke through the Great Wall. But on the other hand, the appearance of the Aberrations as a civilization's greatest enemy might delay the war...
Delay the war between the Ansu and the Typhon.
Rebecca, who was slow in this regard, only realized the significance of this matter after Heti reminded her. She blinked and looked at Gwen curiously. "Ancestor, if the king and the emperor on the Typhon side realize the threat of the Aberrations, will there be no war?"
But Gwen could only break the girl's train of thought. "The Ansu and the Typhon will fight. It's just a matter of time."
This was the conclusion that Gwen came to after analyzing the current situation of the human countries.
Rebecca obviously couldn't figure out how they came to this conclusion. Even Amber, who had the most wicked ideas, had a cute look on his face. Heidi was the only one present who frowned slightly and seemed to be deep in thought. Seeing this, Gawain didn't keep them in suspense. He simply took the opportunity to start teaching everyone present a lesson.
"Typhon has developed very quickly and is now very powerful. But in fact, it has developed into a critical transition period, which is also a bottleneck period. This is the most dangerous time for it. Through many successful domestic reforms, Typhon's current population, economy, and military have made great progress. But the rapid development has also buried hidden dangers. On one hand, the increase in productivity means the increase in the efficiency of resource consumption. This behemoth needs to devour a lot of resources to achieve the final transformation of society. On the other hand, Typhon's population is growing too fast, and its officials and domestic nobles lack effective new management methods. The huge population is gradually turning into heavy pressure for the empire.
"Whether it's to absorb 'nutrients' or to release pressure, Typhon has to find an external means of catharsis.
"And there is an even more important point: Rosetta? Emperor Rosetta's reforms have gone so deep that it has touched the interests of the nobles. Whether it is the return of legislative power to the royal family or the reassessment of the land nobles, it has greatly stimulated the sensitive nerves of the traditional nobles. Although Emperor Rosetta has used his strong hand and personal ability to suppress the backlash and push the reforms into place, this part of the pressure has not been released.
"The domestic economic development has indeed brought a lot of benefits to the land nobles of Typhon, but these benefits are obviously not enough to satisfy the greedy people who have lost many privileges in the reforms. Emperor Rosetta still needs to find more dividends, more dividends that can prove the correctness of his vision to satisfy the dissatisfied vassals. Or, in the process of seeking dividends, 'naturally and reasonably eliminate those who can't keep up with the times'.
"A foreign war is the best choice. It can almost solve all the problems faced by Typhon after the reforms.
"Typhon has already ruled all the land in the eastern part of the continent. Its current expansion can only go in two directions. The Kingdom of Kaolin is in the south, which is obviously not suitable for attack. The Kingdom of Kaolin is the closest to the Silver Empire, and the Silver Elves' Astral Temple is floating above the southern strait, monitoring the large ancestral forest at the border of the Kingdom of Kaolin. Do you think the Silver Elves will watch as Typhon invades other countries through the ancestral forest?
"So Typhon has only one choice, and that is to go north and use Ansu as a sacrifice. Among the four human countries, only Ansu has experienced the deadly civil strife of the Month of Mist, and its national strength has declined the most. How can Typhon stand it?"
Rebecca listened to Gwen's analysis in a daze, and the circles in her eyes did not stop. But her brain was not slow (probably). Although she could not think of these things, she could at least understand. The maiden frowned and said, "That is to say … even if the two countries don't go to war this time, in a few years, as long as the monsters don't make any big moves, Ansu and Typhon will still fight?"
"That is inevitable." Gwen nodded. "And even if the Aberrations appear a few more times, as long as the Great Wall itself does not collapse, the two countries will still go to war regardless of the cost. Typhon can't wait much longer. Rosetta? Augustus is already middle-aged, and he doesn't seem to have a strong successor. So as long as he can't solve the hidden problems of the reform in his lifetime, or even in his prime, Typhon's prosperity will definitely turn into a disaster as the emperor ages. Rosetta himself knows this, and so does our king. "
"… There is actually such a complicated reason behind this war …" Rebecca said in a daze. "Ancestor, how do you understand all this? You have only been resurrected not long ago, but you seem to understand things better than all of us … "
After seeing so much, one would naturally have experience. Many things, as long as one saw a little sign, one would be able to fill in the gaps of the cause and effect. This was the power of the Satellite Goblins.
Gwen shook his head. "There is nothing new under the sun. This world has not changed for thousands of years."
No one would understand if he said the Satellite Goblins directly, but when he said it this way … although no one would understand, it was obviously much more impressive.
"Old friend, if I didn't know about your experience, I would be curious as to how you think so much." Solderlin shook his head with a strange look on his face. "Back then, you didn't bother to think about these things. You would just kill whatever you didn't like."
Gwen sighed. "That's because back then, everyone was poor, and there were only magical beasts and barbarians around. Diplomacy was useless, and when there was a problem, we just had to deal with it. Now, everyone is civilized. Who doesn't want to use their brains more?"
"Civilized …" When Solderlin heard Gwen say this word, he could not help but feel a little emotional. Then, all his emotions turned into a long sigh.
Just when Gwen was about to ask Solderlin why he sighed, the elven ranger asked a question first. "Old friend, why do you think we led millions of refugees across the wasteland and built a kingdom in this barren land?"
This question came out of the blue. Gwen was slightly stunned. Heti, Rebecca, Amber, and even Pitman, who were standing next to him, showed a slightly curious look at the same time, as if they were looking forward to Gwen's answer.
After two seconds of silence, Gwen smiled faintly. "To put it in a grander way, it is to lead the people out of the predicament, to protect and continue our civilization. To put it in a more mundane way, it is just to live — to let everyone live."
"Yes, even the most mundane idea is to ensure everyone's survival." Solderlin smiled bitterly. The cold night when he crossed the Eastern Region kept replaying in his mind. "But you know what? In this land that we fought together back then, many people can no longer live.
"Have you heard of something called the Tenant Amnesty Act?
"That's in the Southern Region, the territory of Earl Berry …"
The elven ranger could not hold back the urge to tell them everything he saw and heard on that night. In his seven hundred years of traveling, he had seen the dark side of society, and had seen people and things that were more tragic and unfortunate than that. But as a high-grade Extraordinary, he had always seen everything from the perspective of a bystander. It was only on that night in the Eastern Region that he witnessed and heard the dark details that he had never paid attention to before. Ansu's current depravity shocked him, and he could not help but tell them all.
Some people in the room fell into silence, some were deep in thought, but there were also some who were silent and thinking, and most of them were surprised.
Rebecca could hardly believe what she had heard. "How could they do that? That Earl Berry, and that Knight who collects rent … How could they rob the farmers of their land?! "
"There are many such things, my lady," Pitman, who had not spoken for a long time, said faintly. "Why do you think the land in the hands of the nobles keeps increasing? Why do you think the kingdom reclaims new land every year, but the number of farmers who lose their land increases year by year, and the number of serfs increases year by year? Even if you can't see the situation outside, just look at the territory — where did most of the people in this land come from? Serfs, slaves, and homeless people who lost their land. Should these people be born with nothing? "
Rebecca's eyes widened, and her knuckles turned white from clenching her fists so hard. "But … Shouldn't the nobles protect their people? Since I was young, my father and aunt taught me this, and the precepts left by my ancestors were also …"
"If the precepts were useful, there wouldn't have been the War of the Bastards a hundred years ago." Amber rolled her eyes at Rebecca. "Do you think all the nobles are as stubborn as you?"
If it had been Rebecca's usual self, she would have raised her staff and unleashed a Total Annihilation at Amber's teasing. But this time, she was caught in a dilemma and couldn't understand. "But … don't those peasants realize that it's a trap?"
Gawain gently patted Rebecca's hair. "Rebecca, you've forgotten one thing. Most of the civilians don't know how much one-third or two-thirds of a taka's grain is, nor do they know how much double a third of a taka's is. They also don't know how much rent they will have to pay in five years. In fact, they don't even understand a single word of the 'Tenant Amnesty Act' that the liege issued. The ones who read the liege's orders are the noble soldiers, and the noble soldiers will never explain anything. So, the reality is that the liege issued a decree, but most of the civilians know nothing about the contents of the decree. They only know that when the liege declares that they are collecting rent according to law, they cannot resist. As for whether the liege is really following the law … if the liege says so, then so be it."
"But there will always be a few people who will understand …"
"Of course, there will be a few people who will understand. Some of them can even memorize the law after listening to the soldier read it out. But what's the use?" Heti, who was standing behind Rebecca, shook her head. The lady's face was full of sorrow and sympathy. "Do they have the ability to fight against the Lord? Do they have the ability to find the loopholes in these laws? Do they have the ability to let other civilians know the loopholes in these laws? If not, then the only thing they can do is to memorize these things, and then tell these things to a foreigner after losing their land. "
Rebecca looked at Gwen. "Is … Is there no way to change this situation?"
"Of course there is." Looking at the silly roe deer who foolishly followed the 'noble self-discipline code' and now fell into confusion, Gwen could not help but laugh. "We are walking on this road."
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