The fact that we were back on a journey with only two people swept over us with a strong aftertaste a few days after we left Porusaro.
The Luoan girl felt like never before that her teacher was really a silent person. She was used to discussing things with two other girls of similar age. Now when she had something to share and wanted to say something, she turned around and found that she couldn't find those two girls who would respond to her. People.
Although her respect and closeness to him have not changed, at this delicate and sensitive age, some topics are difficult to talk about without worry despite the fact that they are elders and members of the opposite sex.
Lulu and she have many common topics, even if they are not very profound things, they like to eat, think things look good, and have endless interesting stories to talk about; and Ling, to a certain extent, like her teacher, can use wise words While giving answers through thoughtful thinking, there are also many delicate thoughts unique to women.
After discarding the conversation about the content of the women's meeting, there were only a few topics left for her to talk to the sage: What happened today? ——But they have always been together and experienced almost everything together; the weather is so nice? ——It’s a shame if we can continue to talk about this kind of thing; her inner feelings—she may just throw it out just to find something to talk about, but Henry will most likely take it seriously and give her real opinions.
He was an almost perfect guide and teacher, but that was why she couldn't think of anything she could easily chat with him about to spend this boring time on the ship.
Sometimes she doesn't want deep and philosophical opinions or suggestions, she just wants to talk about something light, easy and mindless.
For the first time in history, Mira felt a little bored staying with the sage, but she also understood that this was him.
Perhaps the closer you get to a perfect living encyclopedia, the more you lose all the emotions of being a human being.
As she became more and more looking forward to meeting Margaret again because of this series of delicate and complicated thoughts, time passed quickly. The ship made a stop for supplies along the way, and some people disembarked at the station and continued sailing. At the beginning of February they returned to Parnira, the pearl of the Padrosi Empire.
Although I have already seen Xinjing in the Kingdom of the Moon, an imperial capital that occupies an extremely large area and is unmatched by any capital in the world of Rigar, once again, Parnilla still has the beauty of Parnilla.
The cities of the Lamanites have a seamless combination of architectural functionality and aesthetics. Those magnificent buildings made of brightly colored stone bricks and finely carved stone pillars are not simply monuments built to show off national strength - they have been inherited from thousands of years ago. The water transmission tower and the small courtyard with its own bathhouse in the suburbs are still inseparable from the lives of ordinary people to this day.
Although it is difficult to compare with the more powerful Xinyuezhou in terms of boldness and scale, there is a consideration of meticulous planning and building functional buildings as beautiful as possible in a limited space.
If Xinjing is a product of "single-purpose" as the center of the imperial state that maximizes the function of coordinating and commanding a huge country, it suffered from the plunder of coastal barbarians both when the empire was still alive and after its demise. Laman City is the result of thorough consideration of “comprehensiveness”.
What a unified country needs is for each province to perform its own duties. The central government issues instructions and the bureaucracy at each node is responsible for executing them. In comparison, although they are both empires, Padrosi actually has more complete independent powers whether he was the governor during the Gulaman period or the lord of key cities today.
This kind of detail is also reflected in the cities they built - in terms of the overall national strength and military scale, at least the current Padrosi Empire is difficult to compare with even the Moon Kingdom that was severely damaged after the disaster, but every La The city of Manchester's ability to survive a siege and its garrison's ability to operate independently are superior to their counterparts in the Moon Country.
Two equally ancient civilizations took different directions in different historical situations. The Lamanite city-states, which suffered from barbarians, were often isolated and helpless, so this kind of independent power was necessary for their survival.
The royal family of the Kingdom of the Moon, whose terrain is broken and has many mountains, does not know that decentralizing power can solve many problems in time. However, if the sky is high and the emperor is far away and the authority cannot be demonstrated, then it will be too late for these independent provinces to proclaim themselves kings. Not far away.
Nothing can be viewed completely independently.
Whether it is national culture that only exists in people's common memory or buildings as physical carriers of its history, they are the crystallization of people's ways of thinking and the decisions of those in power accumulated from generation to generation over a long period of time.
These things constitute the local people's way of life and also constitute the very different cultural customs seen by outsiders.
It is the soul of a nation, but it is also their shackles.
The great Lamanite history is magnificent and belongs to the legionnaires; to the emperors and nobles; to the bishops, popes and holy warriors of the Holy See.
But there are few records of ordinary people.
There is never a story about slaves other than their execution after the rebellion.
But slaves are still common in Parnilla today. When Henry and Mira got off the ship, slaves in tattered and obedient clothes just boarded the ship from the trestle on the other side to carry supplies.
Slaves formed the cornerstone of the empire, and now that commerce has flourished, they have provided a steady stream of labor and their own value for sale as commodities through the cheapest manpower.
Even the other ship coming from the south next to them was carrying densely packed slaves. It was being taken out at the moment. The slaves who passed by carrying the goods had numb expressions on each other's faces.
The first group of slaves whose hands were tied with hemp ropes were mostly teenagers, children and women, as well as some thinner men. These people looked very obedient, and walked out honestly with only one businessman's subordinate pulling them in front. Then they were restrained with iron chains, and the smaller number of them were very strong and seemingly more capable men in their prime. Behind these people, in addition to the whip holders, there were even guards equipped with weapons.
Judging from their faces, most of these slaves were also Lamanids or mixed with other ethnic groups. Except for the defeated mercenaries, they were civilians kidnapped from some places in the south.
"For the glory of the Lamanites!"
"Long live His Highness Constantine!"
"Saint Constantine!" A group of citizens in the crowded Parnilla Square were crowding together and cheering. They seemed to be celebrating something. The southern Laman slaves who had the same faces and bloodline as them walked by with gloomy faces and lowered heads.
They formed a unique rapport.
Those who shouted for the glory of the Lamanites and the great restoration of the empire collectively ignored the existence of slaves who were fellow Lamanites with them. And even if the slaves could really understand these Imperial Lamani languages, which were only slightly different in pronunciation and wording, they would not have the slightest urge to refute.
They clearly understand that they do not bask in the glory of these people, and they may not even fully understand the concept of "Lamanite nation". They are people from a small country in the south, and when they call themselves, they refer to themselves as people of rural origin rather than the vast and vast concept of "Lamanites".
This is such a wonderful scene.
From the perspective of Henry and Mira, who were not Lamanites, these people had similar faces and heights; spoke similar languages; ate similar foods, and even believed in the same religion. If you ask these people whether they are Lamanites, from an outsider's perspective, most people will answer in the affirmative. But in the eyes of the citizens of Padrosi and the southern Lamanites who were slaves, the similarities that accounted for more than 90% did not matter. Only the small part of the differences was really important.
What is the concept of the Lamanite nation?
A very young concept, to say the least.
The original ancient Lamanite Empire was a huge country that took the Lamanite city-states and surrounding residents as the initial subjects, and was eventually formed by absorbing other ethnic groups through continuous expansion, conquest, assimilation and assimilation.
In their heyday, even the ancestors of the Avenera people on the west coast, who had many differences in face and hair color, were also citizens of the empire who spoke the Laman language, and the group that moved westward now even went to distant Tantan. On the other side of the Bull Mountains, another Lamani-speaking empire was formed by mixing with the steppe peoples and other local peoples who were originally frontier barbarians.
The Lamanite Empire itself was a huge multi-ethnic country. They were not distinguished by skin color and hair color but were marked by citizenship and cultural identification with the empire. However, the concept of "Lamanites" and "Lamanite nation" promoted by the people of the Padrosi Empire is limited to the East Coast ethnic group with black hair who speak Laman today - or even more accurately. , confined to the Padrosi themselves.
The Luoan girl, who was familiar with Lamanite history and had traveled along the coast of the inland sea of Mobigas and witnessed many traces of Lamanite culture, found it incredible that all this was clearly their own history and that they kept saying that they were orthodox. Heirs, but these people seem not to understand the real ancient civilization of the Laman Empire at all.
The steps at their feet did not stop when they were thinking. After the slaves passed through the bustling square where citizens were giving speeches, they no longer walked with Henry and the two of them. They were dragged to the left. On the road, over there is the emerging slave market, which is now the largest place for human trafficking in the empire.
"People will always tamper with history to give new explanations and publicize it for their own convenience. This has been the case since ancient times." Henry seemed to have guessed Mira's thoughts and spoke to her in Avenella.
Communicating in the language of a small, backward country on the West Coast that most Padrosi people don’t bother to learn can avoid a lot of unnecessary trouble, although sometimes it’s because “You don’t speak Lamani in Padrosi?” And it causes trouble in another sense.
"Here's another one." On the way to the city lord's palace, heavily armed patrols would pass by from time to time. After all, merchants who were originally in the southern border poured in in large numbers and new slave markets were established. Conflicts in densely populated areas would also become more intense. frequently.
In addition to the halberdiers, the 16-man patrol also included hand artillerymen and crossbowmen. They were well-equipped and marched in neat steps. During the march, they glanced back and forth at the people on the roadside from time to time. Henry and Mira also attracted the attention of the patrol, but there was still an old-fashioned mercenary guild in Parnilla, and they clearly wore their mercenary cards. Those who comply legally will not be targeted. These people are obviously acting in compliance with the laws of Parnilla.
But despite this, they are not Parnilla's city defense army.
Regardless of whether they are close combat or long-range personnel, the members of the patrol team are uniformly dressed in tight pants and tops that are loose on the shoulders and upper arms and tight on the forearms that Padrosi soldiers like to wear. This garment retains the flexibility of the shoulders and upper arms for easier use of weapons, while preventing the bulky sleeves on the forearms from getting in the way of using a shield or catching on the guard of a sword.
In terms of clothing style, it may just be the common Padrosi military attire, but the most eye-catching thing is their uniform black tone including helmets, gauntlets and breastplates.
Orthodox black dye is not cheap, and the so-called black worn by civilians is actually mostly dark colors such as gray or brown. The deep black color like night requires special dyes to make, just like the representative color of the Royal Fleet, it is the representative color of Padrosi's court.
This is Constantine's Black Army.
They are stationed in Parnira - this does not need to be inquired from the people around, it can be judged simply from the size and equipment of these patrols.
Without a garrison, it would be impossible to patrol the city so easily and frequently - and the presence of these soldiers combined with the newly built slave market and other things, it is obvious that the city has undergone some changes and is no longer what they used to be. The familiar Parnilla.
"Even at the entrance of the City Lord's Mansion?" After the two people who tried to meet Margaret finally arrived at the City Lord's Mansion, there were two guards from the Black Army standing at the door. Although they were not overly embarrassed, they directly asked the two of them to leave directly as idlers.
"You can see the city lord if you want. If you have any opinions, just write a letter." The guards of the Black Army said this, and when Henry asked where the letter was to be sent.
Their answers were no surprise.
"Of course it's the headquarters of our garrison, located near the east city wall."
