Time passed to June, and the vegetation along the long coastline of the west coast of Mobigas turned into a deep blue.
People put on looser and more breathable clothes. Fishermen began to catch and pickle salted fish in large quantities during this season. In the farmlands everywhere, the golden wheat ears were pressed to the top of the branches, and the construction of new buildings was in full swing. Most will choose to expand during this season.
In summer, both nature and the human world are in a state of full vitality——
Beyond Thoradin's highlands, let us temporarily move the camera away from the sage and his party. Instead of heading south, if they push a little further north, changes are quietly unfolding somewhere behind them where they passed, which was previously ignored by our vision.
- This is a war. After the fall of Duke Monroe of the Crant Kingdom in the Five Kingdoms, the battle for the succession of the provinces that began in April this year was like a bloody storm that came in advance, quickly sweeping through all parts of the country.
Just a small place, Krant's territory was divided into three forces. A group of nobles whose power was originally second only to the Duke and the royal family formed an alliance and openly raised the flag of rebellion. The greed of the royal family made these people worried. The feeling of death prompted those who originally supported the Krant royal family to stand on the opposite side. The royal guard knights existed in name only. Even if there were still a few noble heirs who had not left, King Krant, who was worried that they might assassinate him, directly The knights were placed under house arrest for various reasons.
The elite troops have been lost, but the royal family still has a large number of ordinary troops. It is still capable of competing with the noble alliance - but it has nothing unique, because no matter which country on the west coast, This kind of thing where nobles fight nobles to fight for the world is completely normal.
The most unique aspect of this dispute is the existence of a third force.
We have already mentioned before that when the Monroe incident occurred, a large number of residents in the city ran to the province of Xilin. And the Crant royal family, which was busy competing for this big piece of cake, like all the nobles who did not take the common people seriously, chose to let them fend for themselves.
They had just left their hometown, and the storm season was about to come. Not only did they have no clothes, but the living conditions were shabby and miserable, because the nobles had all deployed their labor force to fight, and no one was harvesting the crops that were about to mature.
When people are hungry, they become emotional.
When these civilians finally decided they had had enough, men and women, they took up whatever weapons they could find. Some small nobles who knew they couldn't get a piece of the cake hit it off with them, and with the addition of mercenaries who wanted to make war fortunes, this third force, a mixed bag of good and bad, unknowingly developed into the largest of the three forces. of one share.
The civilians who swallowed their anger raised the flag of rebellion, but the result was not so good. In front of the well-equipped elite soldiers of the major nobles, these ordinary people and even the small nobles at the knight level have no ability to resist at all. If they resist, they will be punished. With this kind of superior idea, whether it is the royal family or the noble alliance They all carried out brutal massacres against their own people.
This incident was like adding fuel to the fire, stimulating the resistance of more civilians who had originally planned to turn a blind eye - and their resistance led to more massacres, and so on in a vicious cycle. Infighting between the noble alliance and the royal family——
Crant, it's a mess.
And its neighbors did not miss this opportunity.
The year 192 of the Avenela calendar, the year 176 of the Crantic calendar, the year 340 of the Sivali calendar, and the summer of 1330 in the divine calendar. This tiny kingdom, like Avenella, where our story begins, was founded less than two hundred years ago. After experiencing a stormy civil strife, it perished in pieces under the iron heel of the invaders.
There are always striking similarities in history. After the Five Kingdoms region became the Four Kingdoms region, Beis, the neighboring country that captured Crant, became the target of public criticism again.
This battle for the dominance of a territorial province, after bringing about the destruction of the entire country, turned into a battle for the territory of a country, suddenly extinguishing the local wars that had been maintained throughout the Five Kingdoms region. It turned into a massive all-out war. People sharpening their knives were in panic. Wave after wave of refugees rushed in all directions. Many people fled directly into the forest. Some people became prey for monsters and wild beasts, while more survived. , trying hard to rebuild a home that will no longer be disturbed.
Two flowers bloom, one on each side.
Our long-term travels with the Sage and the Roan Girl have been to the south of the west coast, but let us continue our view northward, past the clawed dinosaur crocodiles and dragon lizards in the Ridela Wetland area, and come to the beginning of everything. The place to start——
The changes in Avenella in the past six months have been the most dramatic.
If you are a bald eagle common on the West Coast, and you fly from afar for food after half a year, you will find that the place where the strange upright walking creatures live is surrounded by lines. The white lines are connected together.
An endless stream of carriages and travelers passed through it, making the migration of residents and the transportation of supplies extremely convenient. This was the road established by Edward, which extended in all directions and was paved with stone slabs.
Muddy dirt roads are often unusable when it is windy and rainy. Even in relatively sunny weather, the soft dirt can still cause the carriage to roll over and damage its axles if not careful. In comparison, solid stone slabs are much better, and even It can be done rain or shine.
The masons of Avenella have now surpassed the status of blacksmiths and become a hot profession. The stones quarried from the mountains behind the Holy White City of Wawasika are constantly being pulled by oxcarts to the gate of Ellen's Fort. The studio was hammering and making, and the forest on this side was cut down in large quantities. Houses, wells, and craftsmen's shops were built one after another. The road first built in Wavasika led to Ashenil, and through Ashenil Er, the roads gradually connected to other places.
The solid and straight stone roads, and the advantage of being able to move quickly without worrying about the weather, made Avenella's business further prosperous. Workers who went up to the mountains to mine, mercenaries and hunters who went hunting, and the craftsmen who made these gradually became more and more popular within half a year. The access to roads in all directions and the alliance with the Otolo Empire brought unprecedented prosperity to this small kingdom with a population of only two million.
The common people of Avenella called all this "Pantacile", which means "as vigorous as flowers". Prince Edward himself was quite satisfied with this name, and even wrote a letter to his father This term was quoted in it, and this was the first time that the "Flower Era" as later historians called it appeared in historical records.
The benefits of contact with a huge imperial civilization are astonishing.
First of all, it was originally only possible to rely on the Sivalier side to see the Sivalier people selling a series of rare products native to Avenella through their Varsha port to the wealthy East. This side can benefit from It was entirely obtained by the people of Avenella themselves, and the strong support of the kingdom made the merchants praise Prince Edward more and more, and all this reached its peak after he announced that he would pave the road from Grigori's Gap to Otolo.
Brilliant, like the rising sun.
After a war between Avenella and Silvalier, although it experienced the threat of the Padrosi Empire again, like the Asahi that was bound to come, step by step, under the leadership of a capable prince, A burst of vitality.
A large number of Sivalier craftsmen began to flee towards Avenella. One of the reasons was for wealth. Another reason was because of this defeat and the loss of an important economic source. The territory of Sivallier had begun to flee. The clouds are gathering.
People who loudly criticized and cursed Philip II in public places were arrested one after another, but either those people were always released inexplicably, or their deaths would bring more opposition. sound.
As the head of the most powerful kingdom on the west coast, Edward's cousin had a lot of headaches. He wanted to govern, but the nobles from all over Sivalier had their own plans and failed to see what was easily available. When it comes to interests, only a very small number of people choose to stand behind him.
This is not the worst. Maximilian, one of the kingdoms bordering Sivalier, took advantage of the country's internal and external troubles and sent envoys to Avenella by sea, and initially announced in May this year An alliance between two countries.
——Although it is not a friendly country, and frictions on the border do occur from time to time, under the current circumstances, announcing a friendly relationship with Avenella is tantamount to directly confronting it to a certain extent. Sivalier declared war.
Philip II was really anxious. The intrigues among the nobles in the country and the emptiness of the treasury after the defeat made the voices against him as the king intensify. Businessmen, commoners, and even the bishops of the White Church, in the kingdom, "Philip II is the most powerful person in history." The rhetoric of "incompetent king" became more and more rampant, and it was under such circumstances that Maximilian announced an alliance with Avenella - which seemed to others to be an additional threat, but to Philip it was it's not true.
If we move our timeline back a little, we can go to the invasion of the territory of Avenella by Sivalier not long after the story began. Recalling what our sage said at that time, it is probably not difficult to guess what Philip was thinking about.
"The Lord shall not be angry and raise an army, nor shall he be angry and cause war." - Philip's biggest problem is that although he is the leader of a country, he does not have any due calmness and reason, but acts like a stupid Young people are generally full of impulses. Although the previous attack on Avenella was related to that important text, if he were a calm, rational and talented monarch, he could use other means to resolve this crisis.
——Or in other words, if it was a wise and talented monarch, then all of this might not have happened in the first place.
Philip II was impulsive and had blind self-confidence that he didn’t know where he was born from. Just like other Silvaliers before the Battle of Ecasta, the self-confidence and wealth of being the strongest kingdom on the west coast kept them They have always been arrogant to other countries, but ordinary Sivaliers and even some of the nobles who participated in the war learned from their mistakes after experiencing a great defeat and began to gradually lose their arrogance and enjoy glory and wealth. Philip, who is the lofty leader of a country——
However, I just feel that this matter is not a big deal.
The king, who had never been on the front line, did not have much real sense of defeat. His way of thinking was simple and crude, coupled with his overwhelming confidence as the leader of a powerful country, so when the Kingdom of Maximilian announced its alliance with Avenella, Philip II was different from those merchants and nobles who began to feel worried. I felt like I had an opportunity.
The king did not go into battle in person, which was one of the dissatisfactions of the citizens; as the strongest country of knights, Silvalier lost a war, which was the second dissatisfaction of the citizens.
——Then, if this neighboring country takes the initiative to provoke Sivalier, I will personally lead the army to attack it.
The king, who was forty years old but had never experienced even a war, brought the spoils of war with a perfect victory, proving that this country was still the strongest on the west coast. When the country is in crisis, a victory is used to restore the hearts of the people - if our sage far in the south knew the king's thoughts, I am afraid he would shake his head and sigh again.
The god of destiny is a malicious god who likes to play pranks.
And he once again made a joke to the world.
On May 15, 340 in the Sivalier calendar, Philip II led an army of tens of thousands of nobles and marched toward the Kingdom of Maximilian in the northeast.
June 19 of the same year - the second day after our sage and his party stopped at the hotel in the rainstorm, when Philip II led the army to pursue the vanguard, he encountered the main force of Maximilian's 7th Army of the South under General Bart. , and all 7,000 people including the Guards were wiped out.
King of Sivalier, Philippe de Avaliste Avalon II, died in battle one month and four days after the expedition.
There was an uproar in the kingdom——
After the news reached Avenella on the other side, it immediately caused a political earthquake.
Philip II had no children, and the only remaining orthodox heir to the Avalon royal family in the entire Sivalier territory was a young woman of only sixteen years old from a branch of the royal family.
King Ashbern II of Avenela, who was already coveting the throne of Sivalier, was said to be so excited that he jumped up on his seat in the palace. The vacant throne also attracted all the nobles in Sivalier. It was about to make a move, but in such a situation, the only orthodox heir, who was not favored by anyone, the sixteen-year-old Isabel de Avalon, ordered her loyal servants to prepare for the storm. On the occasion, a letter was sent.
The recipient of this important letter, which has been hidden from the eyes of all the nobles in the country, is——
Edward Chester Shulfaga.
"Click——" The gear rotates again.
The changes in the entire world were unknown to the sage and the Luoan girl who were traveling leisurely.
here we go. (To be continued.)
