Chapter 213: Why Does Noxus Fight?
What did the Noxians fight for?
Of course it’s for Noxus!
This thought came to Marit instinctively.
"For Noxus", "For the glory of Noxus", these are the lines that every Noxian soldier will shout.
The Noxians fought for the Empire.
So what was the empire fighting for?
As if Levi had anticipated Marit's thoughts, he titled the book "Noxians", but in fact, from the very beginning, he focused his perspective on the Noxian Empire as a whole.
"Why has Noxus, as a political entity, continued to wage war for hundreds of years?"
Levi raises this question at the beginning.
This made Marit and Riven read on with some concern.
Because they have long wanted to know the answer to this question. Why has the empire been engaged in so many wars, especially the attacks in recent years?
The Empire gave them answers, but smart people who think carefully know that those answers are not reasons, but excuses for war.
What is the root cause of Noxus’ crazy expansion?
"It's to divert the conflict." This was Levi's answer.
What contradictions are being diverted? Of course, class contradictions.
But the situation in Noxus is different from that in the Twin Cities. Here Levi writes: "The class conflicts that the Noxian rulers care about, or the 'class' they care about, are very different from those in the Twin Cities."
The class conflicts in the two cities can be roughly seen as conflicts between workers and business owners.
In Noxus, workers and business owners make up a small proportion of the population, but there are many farmers and landowners.
Could the class conflict that caused the Noxian rulers so much trouble that they had to launch a war to divert it be the conflict between peasants and landlords, slaves and nobles?
"This is not the case," Levy writes. "Many readers who have learned Janna's theory will automatically assume that Noxian peasants and slaves were the main force in Noxus' class struggle over the past few hundred years."
"But in fact, in Noxus, the rulers have never been worried about peasants and slaves."
Because Noxus is too powerful and there are too many extraordinary people.
In the Twin Cities, if they encounter rioting workers, as long as there are enough of them, the Alchemist Barons and law enforcement officers will have more or less a headache.
Because those gangsters and law enforcement officers themselves were not that strong. However, almost all the workers in the Twin Cities, especially those in Zaun, were weapons experts who could make rocket launchers and homemade Gatling guns. When pushed to the limit, they could even pull out dozens of different biological and chemical weapons.
It's really hard to deal with so many people. Even if we can suppress them, we have to pay a huge price.
This is also the reason why Piltover gives preferential treatment to local workers.
But in Noxus...
You peasants want to fight? Slaves want to revolt? Why don't you try?
Try it and you will die.
No matter how many mortals there are, they are just ants that can be crushed to death by the Noxian army.
It’s like playing a game. The more minions there are on the enemy side, the happier the heroes will be in clearing the lane.
"So when the Noxian rulers considered class conflicts, they never considered the peasants and slaves who made up the vast majority of the empire's population and who should theoretically be the cornerstone of the empire."
"In Noxus, farmers and slaves are not considered human beings. They are weak and not even worthy of being a class in the eyes of the rulers. They are just living resources that can be taken away by the Noxians at will."
“…”
Seeing this, Marit, who was born into a noble family, might not have much reaction.
But Riven, who was a serf and later a soldier, had a lot of feelings. She had a deep understanding of the saying that serfs were not human beings.
Further down, Levi wrote:
"Since the main contradiction in the eyes of the Noxian rulers is not the contradiction between peasants and landlords, slaves and nobles, then what is the contradiction?"
"It's a conflict between the aristocratic families and the grassroots extraordinary people."
Although the talents of extraordinary people are related to their bloodline, the correlation is not strong.
You are not the only one who can be trained as a warrior or awakened as a magician.
So could peasants and slaves.
Although the peasants and slaves were individually weak, they could not withstand the large numbers of them.
Almost 90% of the population of the Noxian Empire were farmers and slaves.
This means that among the extraordinary people born in the Noxus Empire every year, about 90% are not from aristocratic families, but from peasants and slaves.
So, here comes the question…
Now that these grassroots extraordinary people have extraordinary powers, will they still be willing to be farmers or slaves?
In the extraordinary world, strength is more important than seeds. In other words, strength itself is a more valuable seed.
It is not difficult for grassroots extraordinary people to get rid of poverty and become rich. Once they have economic status, they will of course further seek political power.
"And this political power can only be obtained from the empire."
"If the empire cannot meet the demands of these grassroots extraordinary people, they will become an extremely unstable risk factor that continues to accumulate in society."
“But if their demands are to be met, where can they gain the political power they want?”
Of course, it’s those aristocratic families.
The cake is only so big. If the newcomers want to share more, they can only snatch it from the old seniors.
But can the old nobles tolerate their privileges, more specifically, their official positions and fiefdoms, being taken away by these grassroots extraordinary people?
Of course not.
"Whether it is to break the monopoly of the old nobles or to curb the rise of grassroots extraordinary people, it is not an easy task to do."
"So, in order to prevent the empire from being overthrown, Noxus took a very 'smart' approach—"
"War, a war of endless expansion!"
First, war requires the assembly of large and powerful armies.
The army needs talents, and the battlefield is just the right place for extraordinary people to display their talents.
As a result, those grassroots extraordinary people who were considered unstable factors in society were unknowingly "recruited" into the army by the empire and became part of the Noxian state machine.
Secondly, war can plunder resources and land from other countries.
These newly plundered lands and resources can be used as rewards to those meritorious grassroots extraordinary people, allowing them to be promoted from grassroots to a new generation of military nobles.
This not only satisfies their desire for political power, but also allows more grassroots masters to see a fair and effective channel for advancement.
At the same time, this method of expanding and plundering to make the cake bigger and then dividing the cake did not affect the interests of the old nobles.
As a result, over the past few hundred years, as the Noxian Empire continued to expand smoothly, the empire was very united and stable (if serfs and slaves were not counted as human beings, it would not be an exaggeration to say that it was a prosperous era).
"But the problem is... the desire to expand may be endless, but the map of Runeterra has boundaries after all."
"What's more, the Noxian Empire has already encountered its strategic expansion limit before even reaching the border of the map."
"To the north, the endless ice of the Freljord. To the west, the fortified city of the Demacia Alliance."
"To the east and south, seas of Ionian and Shuriman blood flowed."
Noxus can no longer be defeated.
If we can’t fight, we won’t be able to seize new land.
Without new land, the new generation of military nobles would have no land to be granted.
They had made military achievements but had no land to be granted, so naturally they would have huge conflicts with the old nobles who occupied large tracts of land.
"As Noxus sinks deeper and deeper into the quagmire of war on four fronts, the old land nobles occupy high positions but are far away from the front lines, while the new military nobles hold military power but are not rewarded. This contradiction continues to accumulate..."
"In today's Noxus, the old land aristocracy and the new military aristocracy have become two forces that are incompatible with each other."
"It is foreseeable that in the future, or even in the near future, a new military aristocracy will inevitably erupt in Noxus to completely settle accounts with the old land aristocracy."
“…”
To the Noxians, Levi's writing was shocking.
He also wrote at the end:
“When Noxus is expanding smoothly and its national fortunes are thriving, the interests of the grassroots extraordinary people and the empire are indeed the same. As new members of the ruling group, they can happily share the endless feast that the empire plunders from all over the world.”
"But Noxus today is no longer a paradise for grassroots extraordinary people."
"If you are a new generation of extraordinary warriors, a middle or lower-level soldier in Noxus, then you actually have only one mission in your battle:"
"Go to the front lines and die, and help the old nobles who hold power in the center of the empire to eliminate the unstable factors in their eyes - that is, you."
"Yes." The words pierced Riven's heart:
"You are no different from the slave army - you are all just cannon fodder!"
