Chapter 420: Zakar, the Jatu Warlord
Raphael is Leon's mysterious younger brother.
He has always admired Leon since he met him in Fletcher Village.
Most young people admire strong and ruthless warriors, especially those who grow up on the Jatu grassland.
The image of Leon standing in a pool of blood with his whole body red and black, and spilling a large amount of blood when he took off his helmet, has always been deeply imprinted in Raphael's mind.
He also always carried the visor in his saddle bag, and whenever he was afraid or nervous, Raphael would take out the helmet and look at it.
Although his father Ralph was also a fearless warrior, Raphael did not admire his father very much...
This is probably the dark side of the lamp.
People are always like this. They can't see the idols around them, but they can't forget those they don't know well.
Raphael really didn't understand Leon - he was a little confused now, he didn't quite understand why Leon asked him to give gifts to the Jatu people.
Yes, a gift, for free, without any charge.
A king, and probably the most powerful king in the entire continent, actually gave gifts to a group of barbaric looters...
And these gifts are precious.
There are spices and wine from the Bacchus Empire, artworks made by the Noldor elves, glass products and velvet produced in the western part of Sarleon, sea salt and salted fish , and gauze and some expensive medicines from Singal...
There were even a few luxurious carriages.
Moreover, His Majesty Leon even said that if Zakar was willing, he could even give Zakar dozens of luxury villas - every Jatu warlord above the rank of a thousand men would have a share.
In other words, the gifts that Li Ang gave out covered all aspects of food, clothing, housing and transportation, and they were all high-end products that ordinary people could not afford.
To be honest, Raphael was a little envious - apart from the salted fish in Lion Lake City, he couldn't afford anything else...
To the Jatu people...
What a waste.
However, no matter what he thought, Raphael would still strictly follow Leon's requirements. After all, His Majesty Leon had just appointed Raphael as a sworn knight - not a knight of the Principality of the Sarleon, but a knight of the new Pendor Kingdom, directly loyal to Leon himself.
This is rare, because Leon does not have many direct subordinates, and even fewer sworn knights appointed by him personally.
Those who had been following Li Ang before are now all big shots.
Eric is currently the Minister of State Affairs of the Sarleon Principality, Lord of Baranli, and Deputy Commander of the First Army of the New Pendor Kingdom - the commander of the First Army is Leon himself. Although he has never been granted a title, being able to serve as the chief official of the entire Sarleon Territory is at least equivalent to the status of an earl.
Charles is Lord Fletcher and has just inherited BraveShield from Hereward. He is currently the Sheriff of BraveShield - he is also not a knight, but he also rules an earldom.
After the Glorious Knight Anson led the Phoenix Knights to defeat the Snake Cult army, Leon personally acted as a guarantor and made Anson a member of the Glorious Cross Knights. He also officially appointed Anson as the Lord of Karen Deer Castle - he was not granted a title, but was in charge of an earldom.
Klose is now the commander of the Second Legion of the New Pendor Kingdom and the leader of the Knights of the Silver Hand. Since he is still from Mettenheim, he cannot accept the title and fiefdom of the New Pendor Kingdom. In other words, he is just a sworn knight who is loyal to Leon, and this knighthood was granted privately. But there is no doubt that his status as a legion leader is equal to that of an earl.
Including the Noldor elf Lisadilan, who is now the lord of Almera Castle and Pavlon, and the commander of the new Pendor Kingdom's guards - he also controls a county.
Jocelyn, the former Twilight Knight, is currently the chief instructor of the new recruits of the New Pendor Kingdom. He is currently organizing the New Pendor Third Legion, the "Mortal Legion", in Changhe City. If nothing unexpected happens, he will become the leader of the legion once it is completed.
Leon has only conferred titles on a few sworn knights. Compared with other kings, this number is really too small - but the knights under Leon are actually all earl-level figures.
And now, Raphael has the same opportunity as these predecessors.
Another person who got this opportunity was Sigismund Sinclair, who was now the commander of the Free Corps, the sergeant major of the Silver Hand, and the person in charge of supplies and troops for this "mission" - Leon asked Sigismund to escort Raphael and those precious gifts.
Letting a person who is good at running do the work of a bodyguard... To be honest, Raphael always feels a little uneasy.
But Sigismund was relieved - Leon had told him that if things got bad, he could just leave the gifts behind and run away. It didn't matter if the talks with Zakar failed, as long as he came back alive. Sigismund was deliberately asked to lead the troops to escort them because he was worried that Raphael was young and hot-blooded and would get carried away easily...
"Rafael, what kind of person is Zakar?"
Sigismund's question interrupted Raphael's vision of the future.
"How should I put it... He is a terrible enemy, but he is an enemy with a sense of honor and chivalry. To be honest, I don't like him, but I kind of admire him..."
Raphael spoke somewhat contradictorily about the great warlord Zakar of Jatu.
In most people's impressions, the Jatu people are often bloody, bloodthirsty, rude and brutal savages, and they have a special...love for horses.
These impressions are actually correct, but they may be somewhat one-sided.
On the other side of these labeled stereotypes, the Jatu people are actually human beings. They also have love, hate, and emotions, and they also have many good qualities.
Everyone has two sides. It is true that the Jatu people are plundering, bloodthirsty and barbaric, but this is mainly affected by their living environment. Anyone who lives in a society where they have to rely on plundering to solve the problem of food and clothing will become the same as the Jatu people.
At the same time, the difficult living environment has also made some of the Jatu people have excellent qualities such as tenacity, love of freedom, and emphasis on honor.
The " warlord" Zakar is such a hero who is completely different from the impression of the Jatu people in ordinary people's minds.
Unlike the bloody and brutal 'Destroyer' Judah, Zakar relies on his personal charisma to lead his army, rather than relying on fear and violence.
He was an excellent warrior and always the first to charge into battle.
He was generous and always gave most of the spoils to the warriors who followed him;
He values honor and keeps his word. Once he makes a promise, he will do his best until it is fulfilled.
Of course, he would also lead the people to plunder, but he would not usually kill all the men and take away everything including women and children like Juda did - Zakar would not kill civilians at will, and would usually leave some rations for the village to survive.
A few years ago, Zakar's tribe was located in the northern part of the Jatu Grassland, and Zhuda's territory was in the southern part of the grassland. Therefore, Zakar usually went to the Stern Crow Realm to make a living, while Zhuda usually went to the Fierce Lion Realm.
In fact, the Dark Falcon Castle, Oldenburg, and the area around Xiaolu City in the Stern Crow Realm were often extorted for money and food by Zakar, but at least the people there could still survive.
As for the Fierce Lion Territory... just look at the hundreds of miles of wasteland to the east of Lion Lake City and you will know that there were dozens of villages and towns in that area twenty years ago.
Many things are afraid of comparison. Zakar's shining points are quite rare in comparison with the Destroyer Juda, so he is respected by both his compatriots and enemies. The young Jatu warriors all admire Zakar; and the proud knights of Ravenstern also respect him - of course, perhaps more of a fear.
In fact, Zakar was only a small warlord at first, and his initial strength was probably similar to that of Drash, who was raising horses for Leon.
But in just a dozen years, he became one of the most powerful tribal leaders on the Jatu grassland, and even defeated the strongest Zhuda, forcing Zhuda's tribe to move south and give up the best pastures.
This is because Zakar has a precious quality that is rare among other Jatu people - the courage to innovate.
Whether it is the Jatu people on the grassland, the Misty Mountain people in the mountains of the far north, or the Deshar people in the desert, they all have one thing in common - traditional and conservative.
Nomads always endow their way of life with sacred meaning - only by freely walking on the prairie and practicing the ancient ways of plunder can they cultivate true warriors. Those so-called civilized people are weak and weak, like lambs to be slaughtered. The Jatu are hunters and they are prey. Although the world is constantly changing, the Jatu remain unchanged...
These are the words that the Jatu people often say.
Even though they crossed the Great Sea and came to Pendor from the grasslands of Amaran, the Jatu people still adhered to their traditional way of life and resisted change.
After breaking away from Emperor Osa and defending themselves in the northeastern grasslands, the Jatu people lived an extremely difficult life for more than a hundred years.
Because the grassland borders the Noldor Forest, the Noldor elves' extremely xenophobic culture and hatred of humans have led to constant conflicts between them and the Jatu people.
But most of the Jatu people only regarded the Noldor elves as fierce and ruthless opponents. They hated the Noldor elves' sophisticated weapons and armor, but never tried to learn the Noldor elves' advanced technology.
Most of the old-fashioned Jatu people regard the equipment of the Noldor as evil objects that blaspheme the god "Indar" and will bring curses after touching them, so they will even destroy or discard them after seizing them.
The Noldor horses were regarded as evil monsters by them. For a long time, the Jatu people killed Noldor horses on sight.
Is it stupid?
certainly.
But that ancient Eastern country, which once led the world for thousands of years, also did countless more foolish things during the period of nomadic rule.
It seems that tradition, gods, archery and plunder are everything to the grassland people.
But Zakhar is different.
He is an outlier among the Jatu people.
In many battles with the Noldor, Zakar realized the advanced nature of the Noldor technology. The sophisticated Noldor composite bow and the tough Noldor sword gave him a great shock. He was also envious of the Noldor elven horse's speed, strength, and agility.
In one encounter with the Noldor, despite remembering the curse spoken of by the old men, he tried to strip the weapons and equipment of a fallen Noldor warrior and captured a wounded Noldor horse.
He put on the boots of the Noldor, carried the sword and shield of the Noldor, and rode on the Noldor Elf horse, but found that nothing happened...
The so-called curse is nothing but old-fashioned superstition!
He rode a Noldor elven horse, wearing a cool Noldor equipment, and paraded through the Jatu tribe.
The older generation of Jatu warriors glared at him, shouted curses at him, and told tales of ancient curses; but many of the younger Jatu warriors saw their idol wearing the gear of the Noldor, and the tales of the curse were dispelled.
After this, Zakar no longer adhered to the traditions of the tribe. He began to consciously collect the equipment of the Noldor and began to introduce advanced technologies from various countries.
He attacked the sentinels and patrols of the Noldor, and equipped his young followers with the war boots of the Noldor;
When he was raiding Sarleon, he came across a strange group of witch archers. He keenly discovered that the witches had pretty good bows and arrows, and that Jatu's cavalry could easily crush - so Zakar seized their darkwood bows.
Due to the introduction of new equipment and Zakar's style of leading by example, Zakar's tribe quickly stood out from the many Jatu tribes.
Most of Zakar's tribe are young Jatu warriors. Zakar gave his young followers a very unique name - Zakar the Grim Rider.
He obtained armor technology from the Raven Crows and equipped these young people with Jatu Honor Armor to remind them at all times: Don't forget honor!
Under Zakar's influence, most of these young people grew up to be honor-conscious, brave and fearless warriors. They gradually became one of the strongest groups on the grassland and achieved a series of victories.
Afterwards, countless young Jatu people from other tribes flocked to join Zakar, and he quickly grew from a small warlord to the leader of the northern grassland.
Those Jatu warriors who still adhered to tradition had to admit that Zakar was powerful, but they were dissatisfied with Zakar's unorthodox practices, so they followed the "typical" Jatu leader in their minds - the Destroyer Juda.
The Jatu people then split into two groups - the Zakar tribe, which was trying to change, and the traditional and conservative Juda tribe.
Judah's tribe was a typical repressive warlord rule, but Zakar was not.
He has been trying to develop the tribe into a real nation.
And, judging by what he had done in Ravenstern, he might be on the verge of success.
If Zakar was born in the Kingdom of Sarleon, he might become a very successful general, Raphael thought.
"Raphael, if Zakar is really as you said... then maybe we can talk about some business with him..."
Sigismund suddenly stopped, turned sideways and looked at the wilderness in the distance.
"Talk about business? Didn't His Majesty Leon say that our main mission is to find out the intentions of the Jatu people?"
Raphael looked at Sigismund in surprise, and also looked towards the wilderness - there was nothing?
"This is business... The Jatu people did not rob food or attack towns this time, and they have been hiding... They endured such expenses to negotiate a big deal... Raphael, help me ask in Jatu language - Lord Zakar, what business are you going to do?"
Sigismund had been staring at the distant wasteland, and the last sentence seemed particularly loud.
"Your Excellency has a very good eye... You can spot me even when I'm hiding here."
Hundreds of people suddenly appeared in the wilderness, all of them covered with grass.
The leader was a guy with dark green paint all over his face, dressed in camouflage - full of Noldor gear, and it was indeed difficult to find him lying in the bushes in the wilderness.
"You can actually speak Pendor? Great!"
Sigismund smiled, put his hand on his chest and bowed: "Sir Zakar, His Majesty Leon wants to invite you to dinner with him."
"Dinner? Where are we going to have dinner? Shouldn't Li Ang be in Changhe Town now?"
Zakar smiled and said, "It's already afternoon, could he fly?"
