The word "judg a book by its appearance", in today's modern language, most often appears in a discourse in a derogatory form.
It occurs so frequently, and in the context of this form of negation, that many people consider it a bad habit and resist it on many levels.
But there is nothing inherently wrong with this behavior.
If we trace the origin, it is actually the animal instinct of human beings as a biological creature.
In the world of wild animals where the jungle is strong and the strong eat the weak, every step must be taken carefully. Once a mistake is made in any judgment, the price will be paid with life.
Therefore, the practice of "judging a book by its appearance" is actually an important biological instinct used to make first-hand judgments, measure the opponent's level, and calculate the price you will pay if you conflict with him.
And with biological instincts, there will naturally be methods and plans to deal with this instinct.
Taking warm-blooded creatures such as birds and mammals that are covered with hair or feathers as an example, including vestigial humans and many dragons and dragons, they all have muscles called arrector pili muscles. As the literal meaning suggests, its purpose is to stand up its hair to make itself appear larger than its actual size, in order to intimidate rivals during courtship or intimidate larger predators.
In addition, many smaller dragon lizards also have neck membranes that can be opened like umbrellas, or like crocodiles, they can vibrate their throats and make threatening sounds.
These visual, auditory, and even olfactory senses, these external manifestations collectively referred to as "appearance", are very important foundations for one creature to establish the first impression of another creature. Therefore, even though humans have separated from nature, they have begun to establish civilization.
Sensory information such as appearance still plays an extremely important role.
The battlefield between predator and prey changed from the forest to the palace.
There is no smoke but the tension does not diminish at all.
The stage has been replaced by social interaction, but the essence has not changed. On this basis, politics has even been extended.
And the Lamanites responded to this.
It's within reach.
Duke Juliende was a little man.
He is no more than 1.65 meters tall and probably weighs no more than 50 kilograms. He looks quite thin.
Coupled with the long mustache that is popular among the aristocrats in the southern part of the empire, the overall face looks even more narrow and thin. Paired with his pale skin, which lacked sunlight after living in the castle all year round, he looked like a frail scholar who couldn't help but frail.
But the Duke himself was obviously not satisfied with this.
Both sides were silent for a few minutes after entering the camp. This was the time they used to "judge a book by its appearance" - or to break it down and use a more rigorous term, it was the time they used to judge themselves from various details. The time of negotiation.
The tent is very large, with huge interior space and extremely luxurious at the same time.
The inner layer is made entirely of velvet, and the outer layer is waterproof canvas, with animal fur sandwiched in the middle to keep warm in this weather.
The material cost of this area alone is enough to purchase 5 sets of full-body armor, not counting labor and various detailed embroidery.
The Duke sat high on a mahogany chair. The thick chair was so high that his feet were off the ground. He even needed servants to kneel on the ground as steps to walk up, which made him look tall and powerful. His actions didn't stop there. What made people feel more exaggerated than all the above combined was his helmet and armor inlaid with gold and silver and decorated with huge feathers.
'Male Peacock' Mira thought of this term in her mind. Although she had never actually seen it and had only read about this creature in books on the southern islands of the Moon Country in the far east, it was obviously very strange. Fitting the image of Duke Juliande.
The three-meter-long bright red cloak was decorated with exaggerated feathers. Just stepping down from the chair required a dozen attendants to carry the cloak and hold the feathers for him. This seemed extremely exaggerated, even among the soldiers. It looks very ridiculous, but it is not something that people without power or wealth can afford.
Facing the people who had just entered the camp entrance, dusty and covered with snow, it was obvious that they wanted to solve this matter quickly.
Juliande, however, deliberately slowed down.
His speech and movements were both slow and elegant, as if he was not in the wilderness with a bloody battlefield a kilometer away, but in the garden in the backyard of the palace, enjoying afternoon tea and desserts.
Putting on airs and embarrassing others seems to be a very stupid approach, but in relation to the current situation, his plan may not be understood by our Luoan girl, but Constantine and Henry know it well.
The Duke may be arrogant and inexperienced in combat, but when it comes to playing politics, he is a very qualified upper-class Lamanite noble.
He knew why his group came, and he deliberately made this slow and relaxed gesture.
Obviously want, bargain.
The commander-in-chief of an army of ten thousand people, this position requires a lot of responsibility. Although he is a duke, there are more than one or two dukes in the huge Padrosi Empire. Because of his haste and misjudgment, he directly lost half of the army. Even if he can win this war, a large sum of money such as pensions for the families of these fallen soldiers and retraining of the army will inevitably fall on him. Up.
If he wins, he will be glorious, but if he loses like this, he will inevitably suffer all kinds of criticism from above and need to bear this responsibility.
It is true that the current emperor of the empire has a weak temperament and can be bullied. Even young nobles like Juliande who have just inherited the title are not afraid at all. But there is no unity within the aristocratic circle. There are many princes who are like jackals and tigers and dukes from other regions who have various subtle conflicts with his family. If they are given a reason, these people will definitely not let it go. This kind of opportunity.
This is a popular saying among combat professionals.
An excellent swordsman, a master among warriors, was already thinking about his next move or even several moves when he made this attack.
But in politics, the urgent and bloody war was still going on, but Juliande had already begun to think about how to find a way out.
Needless to say, Henry understood the reason why Constantine and his party were waiting for them at the door of the battalion commander.
Although the Lord Knight Commander may appear to be ruthless and ruthless at times, he is essentially a decisive and decisive person who has been in the military for many years and is a leader in a high position. He is focused on solving the current incident, so he pursues a very military, orderly and purposeful creed of "use everything you can, don't care about the process, as long as the result is good."
Politicians' approach is to play both sides, and the first thing they consider is their own interests rather than the solution of the problem. Unless they can escape unscathed, they will rarely be very dedicated and dedicated to something.
The typical military mentality is to achieve the mission goal, act vigorously and resolutely, and put aside everything currently in order to achieve the goal.
Constantine belongs to the latter, and when he meets a guy like Juliande who clearly belongs to the former, he will not only be helpless, but at least feel very difficult to handle.
Excellent negotiators and first-rate politicians know how to play hard to get.
When they understand that they have what the other person wants, no matter how their hearts fluctuate, they will act like they are at ease and wait for the other person to speak first.
This is to take the initiative and make the opponent fall into his own rhythm. The party who speaks first in a negotiation will inevitably become the party who "demands others", so the aura and demands will change. If you become passive, you will often end up with various unfavorable demands made by the back-up party, and you will be unable to resist.
Constantine knew what Juliande was planning, and so did Henry.
The luxurious tent is silent and has a strange and peaceful atmosphere, which is in perfect contrast to the heavy snow and bloody storm outside.
Just as the Shivaliers always had a way of describing everything as a woman, the Lamanites had the gift of turning anything into a political struggle if they came together.
Intrigue is their normal state, and they will start fighting as long as there is profit. Even if it seems unprofitable, it's just that you don't have enough ability to see it.
What Juliande wanted to do.
It's nothing more than shirking responsibility.
To put it in layman's terms, he needs a character with enough status to shoulder all this, to help him take the blame for this failure.
Because of his own stupidity and arrogance, he did not accept Edwardin's suggestion, which resulted in the army being caught off guard. Furthermore, because of his shallow experience and lack of overall perspective, he did not let the army stay in place to sort out the confusion of order and control after taking the first blow, but directly sent the follow-up troops one after another into this losing war of attrition.
More than half of the army of more than 10,000 people had been lost in just a few hours, and it was still being consumed at this point in time when the two sides were negotiating.
The purpose of Constantine's coming was to take over the command, change the battle plan to stop losses, and try to get everything back on track.
This is the card Juliande holds.
To be fair, he would rather give up this position that has now become a hot potato to Constantine, but if he does not negotiate at this step, what if he wins?
Yes, the situation is very not optimistic.
But what if we win?
This guy will be burdened with all kinds of glorious titles, like the savior or the reincarnation of the military god, and he will face huge compensation, other nobles taking advantage of the situation, and most importantly for a noble, the loss of face.
So if we negotiate here, the positions of both parties will be reversed. Constantine did not "take over" the command midway, but "commanded from the beginning", and it was himself who joined in the middle and saved the defeat——
In this way, if he fails, there will be no problem in withdrawing his troops, as long as he shirks all the responsibility on the other party.
Although he was the one who initially took command, he could find various ways to excuse himself.
For example--
"For example, what means did the other party use to force you to give up your command, right?" Henry shrugged, while Juliand stayed where he was. The servant was about to pour the wine into his cup. As a result, the hot wine was not caught and splashed all over the floor.
But before Juliande could scold his servant, everyone heard the sage speak in a calm tone.
"as you wish."
"Qiang——"
Kramer drew two perfect slashes.
Duke Juliande's feathers and cloak fell off in response. The servants grabbed half of this luxurious decoration and were stunned in place. The guards hurriedly wanted to rush up, but many of them had stood at the door a few minutes ago and witnessed Henry and The scene where the two Horno almost unilaterally killed those giant ghouls.
A moment's hesitation allowed the sage to successfully take the Duke hostage.
Juliande, who was in his tent, didn't know because he didn't see it.
But compared to this method of impressing the other party through external actions, our Mr. Sage is several levels higher than a guy like him who only relies on his clothes.
Henry glanced at Constantine, while Mira watched the silent exchange between these two very similar men.
His teacher asked the knight commander back with his gray-blue eyes.
It was written clearly on his face.
"Are you satisfied with this?"
——She suddenly realized something, but then everyone's attention was interrupted again by Henry's voice.
"Ah, I know what you are thinking."
"You are thinking that I am a great Duke, with power and troops. Even other nobles must give me a little more face. What is wrong with this person's brain to draw a sword and threaten me? of."
"But, Lord Duke, look." He flashed the badge on his body: "I am not a knight with a fiefdom and a name who can't run away. I need to worry about the tricks of your nobles and pay attention to political struggles."
"I'm just a mercenary." Henry said calmly with a smile, but none of the Lamanite nobles standing opposite him could laugh.
"And what you may not realize is that the environment we're in right now is not a safe area where you can bargain."
"It's a battlefield where anyone can die at any time, facing a witch or a group of undead."
"Understand?"
"Anyone." He emphasized the word again.
"Mercenaries work for money, and unfortunately, compared to a guy like you who likes to play politics and is still thinking about how to protect his own interests at this critical moment, I am more willing to trust the knight next to him."
"So if I survive, I'd rather deal with him than you."
"You see, I'm different from you. My life is not that valuable."
"I know you are probably already thinking about how to retaliate against me, but I suggest you turn around and take a look at your guards to see who among them has the guts to charge forward now."
"If they really had the courage to save you, they would have rushed up early, wouldn't they." Henry said, and Juliande turned back and glared fiercely at the timid guards.
"So, why don't you try your luck now? Try to see what a worthless, unknown mercenary who is likely to die in this battle will do when he is extremely agitated."
"Do you think your life is worth the same as this mercenary's?"
A plain narrative, but it directly touches on the weakness in Juliande's heart.
He looked at Constantine, but the Knight Commander just pretended not to know anything.
In this game of identity to obtain an identity, in the end it is the party with the least identity who has the greatest freedom of action to change the situation.
There is a class struggle relationship between nobles and nobles. Constantine cannot take action in this way, but Henry is different.
He is just a free mercenary, and there are free mercenaries everywhere in the world.
As a traditional Lamanite aristocrat who was in the upper echelon, Juliand naturally had a disdain for this kind of individual mercenary.
The sage took a fancy to this point, so he questioned him.
Ask this man who values his own life and interests above all else, whether his life is equivalent to that of this lowly mercenary.
As expected, Juliande.
He lowered his head.
"I understand, I will follow your request."
"Ah - I don't believe in words. Please sign in white and black, and stamp it with your noble seal. I know you must be carrying that thing -"
""
The silent transfer of power lasted for a little more than a minute. In total, it took less than ten minutes after the sage and his party entered the camp to achieve their goal.
"Thank you." Constantine whispered as he passed by Henry, then increased his volume and began to quickly deploy and direct various personnel.
And Juliande, who was so frightened that he broke out in a cold sweat and was in a very complicated mood, sat slumped in his huge chair with a dull look on his face, and no one paid attention to him as people came and went.
"You were used by him." The Luoan girl said to the sage.
"I know." Henry shrugged: "But in this case, our interests are the same."
"So it's okay to deliberately attract the ghouls all the way." Mira looked at Horno, who shrugged like Henry: "You have to do enough to act."
"But then he took revenge-" The girl was still a little worried.
"Don't be afraid, he used cognitive interference." The elf once again spat out a word that she didn't quite understand, but felt that she should know.
"Cognitive interference?" she asked with a stiff pronunciation.
"A type of witchcraft that uses words and deeds to induce the other person's thinking to leave a wrong impression, making the other party unable to remember -" "She will know it later, it is too early to learn now." Henry stretched out his hand to stop him Horno continued to explain, while Mira looked confusedly at her teacher again - the latter stretched out his hand to ruffle her hair.
"Terrible, sir." The girl from Luo An rolled her eyes.
"It's coming." Horno's expression became serious.
"Um."
In the midst of the flying snow, Henry exhaled a white breath and said lightly.
"It's so similar——"
"The view that day with Aurora."
