Wendatil stared at Li Ang closely, his brows furrowed tighter and tighter.
But she finally controlled her temper and said, "Sir Leon, if we lose the traditions and pride of the elves, we will no longer be the Noldor elves!"
Very good!
This was the response Leon wanted. He was worried that these arrogant Noldor would ignore him, so he deliberately used such harsh words just to get a response.
"What is your tradition? Don't forget that you once lived in the center of the continent, in the biggest city, instead of hiding in the forest and struggling to survive!"
"What is your pride? It is the glorious civilization that once ruled the entire continent in ancient times!"
"But what are you like now? Even the Jatu and the Misty Mountaineers dare to attack you! Your traditions have long changed, and your pride has become only a remembrance of the past... Are you really still the Noldor elves?"
The lord was no longer laughing. His expression was serious and earnest. “Think about it. If you always treat humans as inferior creatures, you will never be able to walk out of this forest. Then, what will become of your traditions? What will become of your pride? You will only slowly become a barbaric tribe hiding in the woods, gradually dying out, and finally being forgotten by the world…”
"Only by walking out of the forest, returning to the sunshine, and rebuilding the glorious elven kingdom in the center of the earth, can you use your rich knowledge to create more breathtaking craftsmanship miracles, and make other races willingly recognize your greatness..."
"Only a group like that can be called noble elves!"
Every word the lord said sounded like criticism, but also like encouragement.
But at least, being able to say such words definitely means that Leon has no ill intentions, and the elves will definitely listen to him and listen very seriously.
Wendatil was silent.
My Lord was indeed deliberately belittling the Noldor elves before.
His words sounded like deliberate criticism, but this was actually an effective psychological hint. Perhaps the Noldor elves would be angry after hearing these words, but they would certainly care about these criticisms very much, and thus would care about every word Leon said next.
Moreover, the prouder a person is, the more he or she will care about such criticism.
Because these are objective facts, and do not involve any racial discrimination or personal attacks, they are just "evaluations" made from a neutral third-party perspective.
But this kind of evaluation is actually unfair, because only mentioning the shortcomings and not the advantages is intentionally belittling the other party.
This is a form of brainwashing that is rarely mentioned but is often seen in daily life - defective thought control.
That is to say, use the criticism that the other party particularly cares about to induce the other party to act according to your own wishes.
Yes, what Leon wanted was to control a part of the Noldor as a superior, rather than finding an ancestor to worship.
Therefore, he would not treat the Noldor elves in the way of making friends. He also did not have so much time to make friends with a race with a lifespan of thousands of years - they have been friends with each other for hundreds of years at any time. How many years can you get along with them?
A human being with a lifespan of only a few decades is just a brief passing moment in the long life of the elves and is not worth mentioning at all.
In Leon's opinion, every adult Noldor is older than his grandfather. If he tries to win their favor in the conventional way, he will only end up with a group of old men who rely on their seniority and will not listen to his commands.
Which centenarian would be willing to obey the orders of a twenty-year-old boy?
What's the point of putting in so much effort to gain the other party's favor but not being able to make the Noldor obey him?
The lord doesn't care whether the Noldor like him or hate him. What he cares about is whether the skilled Noldor warriors can obey his orders and whether the Noldor's enchanted equipment and elven horses can be used by him.
Moreover, it would be difficult for him to establish any real friendship in a short period of time - the hatred between races could not be resolved by just meeting and talking a few words, and the Twilight Knight in the stable who was hostile to humans was the norm for the Noldor.
Leon personally might be able to gain some favor from the Noldor by constantly supporting them, but this is just favor. The Noldor are neither willing to sacrifice their blood for humans nor will they listen to the orders of a junior.
In fact, to the Noldor elves, humans are probably like some animals with a lifespan of about ten years - such as kittens and puppies.
No matter how much a person likes cats, at most they will treat them as family members and friends, but they will never die for a cat...
The Noldor placed themselves above all other species in the world.
So, Li Ang has to try a different approach.
Sometimes you don’t need to like someone if you want them to obey you.
Moreover, once the other party has obeyed, it is actually much easier to gain their favor by using your status as a superior.
In fact, most people have definitely experienced this situation: someone you are not very familiar with suddenly makes some very impolite criticisms about a flaw in something you care about very much.
There are many things that you care about, such as your career, studies, hobbies, etc. in which you have put a lot of effort.
The person who criticizes you may be a new teacher or student, a new colleague (not necessarily a leader, but may be an equal or subordinate), or a strange teammate you just met on the basketball court.
When encountering this situation, if you are a proud person, your first reaction is often "I want to protect myself", so you will be angry - anger is actually a protective emotion that is basically not controlled by the brain.
If the person is a reckless person, the first reaction would be "No matter whether he is right or not, I am unhappy and I want to confront him" or just beat him up.
But as long as the other person is talking about something you particularly care about, you will definitely be affected because you are "unwilling".
If it is someone you are familiar with, such as a close friend, then it doesn’t matter because you won’t be angry. When there is no protective emotion like anger, you will think it is no big deal and will not care about it anymore.
It is precisely because it is a relatively stranger that you will subconsciously fall into a complex emotion of unwillingness - because that is something or a career that you care about.
No matter how open-minded a person is, he or she actually cares about other people's opinions subconsciously. It's just that some people will show it and some will not.
Because you know that what the other party said is actually an objective and neutral evaluation.
But this evaluation is deliberate and incomplete. It is a pure evaluation of defects without any mention of advantages - this evaluation is not good for you!
However, you can neither hide your flaws nor refute them on the spot because what the other person says is entirely true.
Plus, you're not familiar with the other person, and you can't even change the subject to avoid awkwardness...
At this time, your instinct will drive you to pay attention to every word said by that unfamiliar person.
Because when people are criticized, their subconscious mind will drive them to "find loopholes in the other person's views in order to prove that he is wrong"!
But in fact, it is difficult for you to find the other person's loopholes on the spot, because you will be uneasy, anxious, and in a bad mood - when your emotions are affected by others, it is difficult for most people to remain calm and think.
Moreover, you have unknowingly put yourself in an equal position to it.
You will no longer ignore the other party, but will regard them as an 'opponent' - this has in fact formed the basis for negotiation.
Even if you originally thought that the other person's status was not comparable to yours, even if you originally didn't want to talk to him.
More importantly, you will deliberately hide your flaws or find ways to correct them... but not to improve yourself, but to stop being seen.
At this time, if the other party uses the defects that have just been criticized to give you some positive encouragement, this is actually the beginning of control.
Because you will feel that the other party understands you and is not slandering you maliciously. You will be indignant at the other party's "contemptuous" attitude, but you will consider the other party's words very seriously.
This is actually pulling at your mentality, keeping you in a state of 'shallow anger' where you can understand what the other person says, but your thoughts are complicated and difficult to think fully.
Then, the other party will definitely come up with a methodology.
You will definitely pay close attention to this methodology, and use a "scrutinizing" approach to try to find the flaws in the methodology - your subconscious mind is manipulating your behavior, and you will try this method and try to find the other party's flaws.
Maybe you will eventually find loopholes in the other party's methodology and use it as a medium to make yourself open-minded again; maybe you won't find them, and time will eventually repair your angry and unwilling mentality.
But whether you find it or not, your behavior has already begun to be controlled by someone.
——Because you will try the method he proposes.
The other party’s methodology is meant for you to find loopholes. If you don’t execute this method for a period of time, how will you know if there are any loopholes?
Of course the other person knows that you will be unhappy and that you may hate him, but he doesn't care about these things.
Besides, the other party doesn't care about your flaws.
What the other person cares about is actually to make you act in the way he designs.
In fact, this method is the most effective and widely used psychological guidance method.
It is especially suitable for when you have just met but are in the cooperation camp - supporting manufacturers and brand companies, new employees or new leaders taking office, brainwashing marketing...
This situation occurs very often in real life.
This is also the simplest defect thinking control method in the operating process, but there are still few people who can use it well.
This is because most people who use this method do not understand the core of this control method - in order to achieve effective control, they need to come up with a contradiction for this methodology, or an "opportunity to release control."
Most people who attempt defect control never get to this last step.
If you want to effectively control others, then the methodology you propose must be full of contradictions, and it would be best if there is a real "loophole".
A good methodology is bound to have loopholes, just as the person the king trusts is bound to have something in the king's hands.
Because the people being controlled only care about two things: one is how to hide their own flaws, and the other is to find the loopholes in your plan - this loophole will actually be executed 100%.
Therefore, the methodology should be designed as a solution full of contradictions - the loophole should be designed to be the control target to be achieved.
The controlled party executes and finds the loophole, and the controller's goal is achieved.
If this loophole is not implemented, it will never be possible to prove that "the controller is wrong", and you will always be anxious and worried.
In this contradiction, almost no one can escape, and the only way to escape control is to lie down completely - but that means that the person no longer cares about this defect.
Everyone cares about his or her own shortcomings. Company bosses care about the company's shortcomings. But the leader of a group cares most about the shortcomings faced by the entire group.
Of course, what Felgoth-Arnold cared about most was the survival of his race. There were not many people left in his House of Finwë, and he had to care about the real flaws in the Noldor.
"Mr. Leon, you said before that you want to connect the interests of humans and elves. How do we connect them?"
This time, Felghath'an did not call him 'child'.
"Let me give you a hypothetical plan, Your Majesty. I can open my territory to your people, and your people can trade Noldor goods in exchange for a large amount of daily necessities for the entire tribe. This will make my territory prosperous and allow the entire Noldor tribe to have a better life. This is the first and simplest way to bundle interests, trade."
"If we cooperate a little deeper, I will issue a decree to ensure that everyone in my territory is treated equally. Humans and Noldor elves are both subjects, and they just need to obey the laws of my territory. My army will all come from the subjects, and they will naturally protect the safety of all subjects and their families. In other words, my troops will naturally provide protection for the entire Noldor tribe. If someone enslaves the Noldor again, my troops will of course spontaneously save the relatives of their comrades. Of course, this requires the Noldor to obey my call and military orders."
"If all goes well, then as my territory expands, the Noldor will be able to set foot in more places, your family will prosper more, and your people will be safer - this way, we will have more common goals and interests."
"In order to protect the interests of the Noldor, you can send some people to my territory. I will let these people become lords and let the Noldor elves themselves manage the Noldor elves living in my territory. This will also continue to maintain your cultural traditions."
"Is this assumption reasonable? In fact, my territory has always had a law of equal treatment. And you have seen that Lisadilan has been fighting alongside me. And I have indeed led my troops to help the Noldor repel the enemy. We have shed blood and sacrificed our lives for this, and we have no complaints."
Li Ang gave his plan, a plan that seemed normal and feasible...
It's just that I left a spot that is easy to see.
As expected, Wendatil immediately began to refute: "How can we trust you? Humans are too fickle and have been constantly starting wars! I think you just want my people to help you fight!"
This is an obvious loophole - Leon really wants Noldor to fight for him. From this perspective, the starting point of Leon's plan seems very suspicious.
But Leon felt that Wendatil was really cooperative. This plan was originally intended to make you doubt...
"You don't have to believe me. In fact, you can hold me hostage... Madam, your name is Wendatil, right? I believe that with your skills, I can't last more than three moves under your hands... And you should always be suspicious of me, right? Then, I suggest that you follow me and go to my territory to serve as the lord of the Noldor. If I break my promise, or if I intend to let the Noldor die, or if I have bad intentions... Anyway, as long as I am harming the Noldor elves, you can kill me with your own hands! You should be able to rest assured, right?"
The Lord's smile deepened, and he even asked Wendatil: "If I'm not mistaken, Lisadilan is probably your student, right?"
In fact, it was very obvious - when Lisadilan saw Wendatil, he was like a mouse seeing a cat. It seemed that he was more respectful to Wendatil than to the Elf King.
Li Ang was too familiar with this situation. If he met the teacher who was the strictest to him back then, he would probably be like this...
Wendatil glared at Lisadiran, then stared into Leon's eyes with an extremely sharp look.
But she no longer refuted, she also felt that there was nothing wrong with Li Ang's statement. If she was the one who "hostage" Li Ang, then what was there to be afraid of?
In fact, this is the contradiction left by the lord - if Wendatil and his men stayed in Leon's territory, the cooperation between the two sides would have been formed according to Leon's plan.
But if not, how can the problem be solved?
And Wendatil was indeed able to focus on this most suspicious point.
A simple mind control was completed, and the elves' thoughts and actions were directed to "how to ensure Leon's reliability."
However, if we want to confirm this, we can only follow Leon first...
"Sir Leon, although your previous words sounded rude, I admit that what you said makes sense, and I am willing to believe that you have good intentions. But for the time being, I cannot trust other humans, including your subjects... So I must consider your plan. But you are right about one thing, we should indeed leave the forest..."
Felgoth'an'r was obviously gentler, calmer, and less affected.
But in fact, his thoughts were also guided in the direction that Leon wanted - as long as the Noldor planned to leave the forest, they could only settle in Leon's territory, there was no other possibility.
As long as the Noldor can survive in Leon's territory, the Lord will have achieved his goal...
"Of course, Your Majesty, I am only giving you my advice. Look at the current situation. Your people have been captured, and Lady Vendatil will probably have to lead her troops out of the forest to pursue the enemy. In this case, I will lead the troops to fight alongside Vendatil and rescue your people. This will not only prove the goodwill of my subordinates towards the Noldor elves, but also allow Lady Vendatil to observe the outside world and see how to better lead her people out of the forest..."
Li Ang volunteered to take on this "rescue" job. It seemed that Wendatil could not escape the fate of being kidnapped.
Wendatil was a little confused: "Do you know where the enemy is?"
Li Ang looked at Wendatil and smiled: "I don't know, but at least I can guess where the enemy will take those female rangers after they capture them..."