The formation of the Golden Triangle and the farmers in the western part of Erathia who wanted to go to Avili to make a living were undoubtedly the source of everything.
These humans want to leave Erathia, which means the church will be short of believers and laborers, so the church will "manage" these farmers who enter Avili in the name of population dispatch.
Those farmers work so hard but can only get 1/3 of the wages paid by the elves. 2/3 will be confiscated by the church and used to provide food, drink and entertainment for all levels of the church.
Farmers cannot refuse to pay this money.
Erathia stipulated that only farmers who were married and had children could go to Avili, and neither children nor wives could be brought along.
And it must be a farm or ranch that cooperates with the church, and the church will only allow farmers to work there.
Various interests and rules were woven into an invisible net, trapping the farmers who attempted to escape from Erathia.
But even so, those farmers who were fortunate enough to leave Erathia still lived a much better life than those who stayed in Erathia.
At the very least, in Avili, working six to nine hours a day would allow one to save enough gold coins every year.
In Erathia, working 12 hours a day can make survival a problem.
Thanks to Avili's efforts, the church gave the farmers some hope.
As long as he advances to the 4th-level agricultural scholar, Avili will, in his official capacity, use the agricultural scholar's two-year salary to buy out this agricultural scholar .
For the peasants who knew about Avili's road, it was an excellent way out - as long as they worked hard, there was hope, which was much better than Erathia, where there was only despair no matter how hard they tried.
But only a few can go through formal channels.
The church has limited control and cannot control such a large border.
Because of this, some of the farmers who gathered near the Avili border risked their lives to cross the border illegally.
But the success rate of smuggling is too low.
The border of Avili and the border of Erathia are not closely adjacent to each other, and there is a wild monster area in between.
If you force your way into the wild monster area, you will definitely die.
Only under the guidance of some explorers, merchant groups and adventurers could the farmers sneak across.
Where there is oppression, there is resistance. Where there is resistance, there is repression.
To be able to carry the peasants through the wild monster area, you must at least be a strong team led by a hero.
The church and the Erathian border guards keep strict checks on these teams, and once they are caught, they will be severely punished.
Over time, fewer and fewer people dared to take on this kind of business.
However, there will still be a steady stream of farmers pouring from the western border of Erathia to the Aveli border.
They hold on to their last hope, barely making a living by doing some tiring and low-paying jobs, looking forward to a chance to change their fate.
These farmers have their own nicknames in the three forces.
The Erathian Church and Roland's men called them the "Human Mine".
What this means is that these farmers are like gold mines that automatically mine. They don’t have to do anything and they will squeeze out gold coins for themselves.
Moreover, you will never finish digging.
The necromancers of Diya called them "living zombies", which means spare corpses that can be killed at will.
Avili called them "Migratory Birds".
The migratory bird is a kind of bird unique to the Elf Empire. It is at home everywhere and has no fixed place to live.
After migratory birds get married, they will show closeness to other birds. The couple will live together in the nests of other birds and raise their young migratory birds. Then the whole family will go their separate ways and continue to wander.
Except for Avili's relatively neutral name for these farmers, Diya and Erathia's names were full of malice towards them.
These Erathian farmers gathered at the border and lived together in villages, which were contemptuously called by local residents:
【Tent Village】
At this time, seven luxurious carriages, which were in stark contrast to the barrenness of the western border of Erathia, were heading to the [Tent Village] under the guidance of several guides.
In front of each of these carriages were four tall and spirited war horses.
Just by looking at their smooth fur without a single stray hair and the clearly visible strong muscles all over their bodies, you can tell that these war horses are definitely not cheap.
A horse like this can make a tattered convertible cart look noble.
However, the carriages they were pulling at this time made people feel that these war horses were not worthy of them.
In addition to the various reliefs decorated all over, those luxurious carriages also had many shining mechanical devices, indicating that they were all luxury goods imported from Bracada.
Even in the royal capital, Shengtian City, only the richest and most powerful people could ride in such a carriage.
Each carriage was the size of a small room and could easily accommodate a dozen people.
Even an outsider who knows nothing, when seeing these carriages, would immediately realize that they cannot afford to offend the people sitting in them.
There were four flags erected on the top of each luxurious carriage.
The [Holy Angel Flag] representing the church, the [Blue Flower Flag] representing the Dragon Tongue Port City, the [Dove] flag representing the Timely Rain Chamber of Commerce, and the [Holy Grail Flag] representing Saint Adela.
Even if you don't understand the specific meaning of these four flags, just seeing the exquisite embroidery and expensive fabrics is enough to make you understand that the meaning behind these four flags must be extraordinary.
Liuxing and his sister Liuli sat alone in the front carriage, and the other carriages behind them were filled with professional players from the Tianxia Baiye Guild.
This is a team of wealthy businessmen composed entirely of players with strong financial capabilities.
"Oh~~~~"
Several coachmen gave the order to stop at the same time, and the luxurious carriage convoy slowly stopped on the muddy road.
The guide who was in charge of leading the way asked the leading carriage with a flattering smile on his face:
“Vice President Meteor, we’ve arrived.
This place is full of lowly refugees, each of them has nothing to worry about, and it's a mess.
Some people are so poor that they are willing to do anything.
Please wait here for a moment with all the adults. I will go find a local steward."
"go."
Meteor said coldly in the tent and threw a small bag of gold coins out of the tent.
Not many, just 4, divided among 4 guides, with each guide getting only 1.
But for these guides, this is unimaginable generosity.
The guides thanked us repeatedly, backed away and reunited with the other three companions.
Liuli pushed aside the curtain of the carriage and looked outside curiously.
It is called a tent village, but in fact there is no village at all.
[Tent Village] This is not a village at all. It is just a muddy field with many tattered tents.
Many tents had leaking roofs, and there were wooden barrels underneath to collect rainwater.
Many unsupervised children were looking at Liuli and her companions' carriage with curiosity. There were both boys and girls among them, but they all had long hair. It was not because there was a tradition of keeping long hair here, but no one in the entire tent village could afford a pair of scissors.
Liuli felt a little uncomfortable.
The arms of these children were pitifully thin, about the same size as Meteor’s thumb, and their clothes, regardless of whether they were clean or not, had many irregular holes on them.
Liuli saw that there were no beds in the tents where the children lived. There were only some dry straw and leaves piled up together, and then surrounded by stones.
Some tents are even home to chickens, ducks and pigs, and there is animal excrement everywhere.
It can be seen that the owner of the tent lives in the same tent with these livestock.
Before Liuli could take a closer look, the four guides who brought them here came over, dragging a skinny old man.
One of the guides said to the old man arrogantly:
"Your luck has come. These are all important people from the capital. As long as you serve them well, you will definitely get some benefits."
After he finished speaking, he ran to the carriage and introduced it flatteringly:
“Vice President Meteor, this is the local manager.
This old man will take you to understand the situation of each family here.
He has lived here for decades and is more familiar with this place than we are.
Don't worry, we will pay for it, so you don't have to waste a single penny."
Liuli looked at the old man. His eyes were evasive, his dirty hands were trembling, and his face was full of confusion and helplessness.
Liuli was a little angry for some reason. She opened the carriage curtain and said:
"In that case, the four of you don't need to follow us. Just let him lead us."
"this……"
"Miss, it's very chaotic here. We're not here, and we're afraid those people might bump into you."
"Yes, yes. They dare not mess around when we are here."
"People here are evil and can do anything."
The four guides became anxious at the same time, and they all spoke words of advice and kept recommending themselves.
But Liuli had no intention of listening. She just looked at the meteor and shouted:
"elder brother!"
"Whatever my sister said is what it is. Why are you dissatisfied?"
Meteor glanced at the four guides, and they immediately fell silent, not daring to say another word.
Liuxing protected Liuli and got off the carriage together. He pushed aside four people and walked in front of the old man.
Meteor gently said to the old man in charge:
"Old man, we are here to investigate and see the living conditions of the villagers in the tent village. Can you take us to have a look?
Please introduce it to us.”
"Sir, of course, this is my fusion form."
How could the old man dare to refuse? He quickly learned a sentence he had heard from somewhere, but his pronunciation was not standard, so the system translator made a mistake in the translation.
Liuxing had to guess before he understood.
"Sir, this way please."
As soon as the three of them got rid of the four guides, Liuli couldn't help but ask:
"Old man, I see you have a lot of children here, don't these children have to go to school?"
The old man looked confused, his mouth open, as if he was afraid to go in.
Liuli said quickly: "It's okay, just tell the truth, we want to hear the truth.
We won’t blame you no matter what you say.”
The old man sighed and said:
“How can I let my children go to school?
Most of the people who come here have suffered misfortune in their hometown.
But even if we hadn't suffered any misfortune, we couldn't afford to go to school in the village.
Only children from the city have the blessing of going to school.
The children here usually start working when they are over 5 years old.
Their parents also get up early and walk for 1 to 2 hours to nearby villages and cities to do some cleaning and hard labor work, and barely exchange them for some food.
We are all refugees. We have no land to cultivate and no way to support ourselves.
The ones who are doing the best are those who have livestock in their tents.
Usually, only when someone in the family is chosen can we send some money back to buy it for them.
These chickens, ducks, pigs, etc. can be raised and sold to cover expenses for about half a year.
The tent with pigs that you see now belongs to Chaplin and his family.
Chaplin was lucky to be chosen, so he could leave something for his wife and three children. "
The old man in charge pointed to a tent as he spoke.
Seeing herself being pointed at, a thin woman in the tent immediately stood up and called out to the three children in the crowd.
Then she asked the children to take shelter in the tent and quickly lowered a tent curtain made of rags to cover the entire room.
The old man in charge was a little embarrassed for a moment.
He coughed and said:
"The Chaplin family was relatively well-off, so often some lancers would come by on patrol and catch a chicken or two eggs.
At least their family could survive if some of their belongings were stolen.
But other families didn't even have any food in their jars, let alone livestock.
If the little coarse wheat that the adults earned after a day's hard work was taken away, the whole family would starve.
If you get robbed a few more times, you’ll starve to death.”
So, were the Chaplin family treated as victims?
Liuli moved her mouth but didn't say anything.
What else can this skinny old man in front of me do except this method?
Don’t advise others to do good unless you have experienced their suffering.
Meteor took a deep breath and said, “You misunderstood, we are not here to steal anything.
Turn around and look at our carriage. Do you think there is anything here that we would like?"
The old man in charge was so frightened that his legs went limp and he almost fell to his knees.
“Bang!”
He slapped himself hard, loudly, which scared both Liuxing and Liuli.
“My Lord, I have a foul mouth and I talk nonsense.
Sir, I have little knowledge and speak nonsense, so please don't take it seriously with me."
"What are you doing?"
After he did this, Liuxing actually felt a little guilty.
The respect for the elderly and love for the young is ingrained in the Chinese nation, which makes Liuxing somewhat uncomfortable with such scenes.
"You, ah, forget it. Just lead the way.
I said, I won't blame you no matter what you say.
Don't be afraid of us, just tell the truth.
We want to see the most realistic scene here.”
"Hey, okay, okay."
The slap came so hard and fast that there was no reaction at first, but now the dark cheeks of the old man in charge began to turn red and swollen.
He took Liuxing and Liuli to visit several places in the [Tent Village] and looked at the stoves made of cracked mud pots and the walls made of garbage.
Finally, the old steward brought Liuli and the others to his own yard.
Compared with the tent, the old man’s yard is more advanced.
At the very least, there were some white stone and earth walls surrounding the city.
Although the height of the earth wall cannot prevent robbers, soldiers, or wild beasts, it can prevent the invasion of chickens and ducks.
This makes the old man's yard look particularly clean.
In this small courtyard live the old man's three sons, two daughters-in-law, and nine grandchildren.
From the conversation, Liuxing and his friends learned that the old man's youngest son also had a daughter-in-law who was also a refugee.
But the daughter-in-law was so beautiful that a priest from a nearby city took a fancy to her.
The young daughter-in-law had a hot temper and didn't want to bring trouble to the old man's family, so she jumped into the river and drowned herself.
As a result, the old man's youngest son, who was originally the smartest and most capable, and who dreamed of becoming an archer, became muddle-headed and lived like a useless person, and he had no plans to remarry.
If he hadn't been afraid that the old man would be too sad, he would have gone with his daughter-in-law long ago.
Meteor keenly sensed the nature of the mission and began to try to get close to the old man's youngest son.
But the youngest son was so stupid that he didn't respond to anything Liuxing said.
Even when Liuxing said he wanted to help him get revenge, he just shook his head and lay on the ground with lifeless eyes.
Perhaps, the old man’s youngest son had died that day, and the only one left alive was a corpse.
Liuli looked around the old man's house and saw a bed made of vines and wood in the tent of the old man's eldest son.
Sitting on it was a girl about ten years old, combing the hair of another little girl about six years old with a bone comb.
At the older girl's feet, there was a piece of floral cloth hanging under the bed, and in the cloth lay a baby sleeping with his eyes closed.
While the older girl was combing the younger girl's hair, she gently kicked the cloth with her feet, causing it to sway from side to side.
It looks just like a cradle for babies in real life.
The old man looked very nervous when he saw Liuli approaching the house.
He approached Liuli cautiously and said to her:
“Sir, these three are the daughters of my eldest son.
My eldest son and daughter-in-law both went to work in the city. I couldn’t take care of the two children by myself, so my eldest granddaughter helped take care of them.
There's nothing good to see in there, sir. Let me take you to see Widow Wang and her family.
That was the most miserable family in the village. All three of her husbands had died, and she was left alone to raise seven children, two boys and five girls.
She had no choice but to sell…”
"Huh?" At this moment, the old man's eldest granddaughter and second granddaughter seemed to have heard the noise and turned around.
The second granddaughter was confused, but as soon as the eldest granddaughter saw Liuli, an expression of longing and admiration appeared on her face.
She gently got off the bed, walked to Liuli, looked at Liuli with sparkling eyes, and exclaimed in a low voice:
"Big sister, you are so beautiful.
You are the most beautiful person I have ever seen."
Liuli looked at the bright smile on her eldest daughter's face and felt her kindness, and she couldn't help feeling a little sad.
She felt that if the roles were reversed, she would never be able to laugh like the girl in front of her.
For some reason, Liuli suddenly thought of Smith.
She imitated Smith, leaned down slightly, held the girl's face, gently stroked the girl's rough cheek with her fingertips, and said softly:
"Thank you, you are beautiful too."
"Hey." The girl happily put her hand on Liuli's hand with a smile on her face.
She turned around and hurriedly and tiptoed to find a wreath of flowers from a pile of clothes on the ground.
She held the wreath in both hands, raised it high, and said softly:
"Sister, this is for you."
Liuli felt mixed emotions for a moment, she covered her mouth and raised her head.
The sun is shining and the breeze is not dry.
It seemed that all the suffering was melted away in the sunshine.
…
…
Liuxing and Liuli returned to the carriage. Liuli felt a little uneasy:
"Brother, the people here live such a miserable life.
I, I want to help them.”
Meteor shook his head grimly and flatly refused:
"Sister, it's just a plot designed in the game, don't take it too seriously."
Liuli pursed her lips and said unconvincedly:
“But I think it’s too real.
The game World of Heroes, really, why does it have to be so realistic?
It makes me feel so uncomfortable.
Seeing them like this, I always want to do something to help them.”
Liu Xing looked at Liu Li with complicated eyes for a long time, then sighed and said:
"Have you forgotten what the Seven Pigeon God told us before?
Never be too sympathetic, never give them gold coins and food directly, and never help them indiscriminately.
People living in darkness will not think there is anything wrong unless they have seen the light.
But sometimes, this kind of well-intentioned light makes it impossible for them to adapt to the darkness.
Once they develop the habit of asking for things, it is not helping, but harming.
Most of these NPCs, who have already suffered greatly, will fall into depravity at a speed beyond our imagination.
Moreover, even if they were given it, they could not keep it.
Those spearmen who even robbed chickens might even kill people when they saw gold coins.
Don't forget, this is not Queen Catherine's territory, it's the church and Roland's territory.
The military discipline of the NPC troops here is not as good as that of Queen Catherine.
Besides, there are thousands of tent villages like this in the entire Western Territory, and each one has at least a thousand people, which means there are millions of NPCs.
How much does food cost per day ?
Let alone you, even if we put all the funds of the Tianxia Hegemony Guild into it, we can’t help.”
Liuli leaned back on the cushion and touched the wreath on her head.
She said somewhat sadly:
“I know, I know it all.
But I still want to help them.
The little girl who gave me the wreath was a little dark, but her facial features were very regular and she was really pretty.
She lives here, and what if one day she gets noticed by someone like that young wife?
Will she be trampled on, will she be humiliated, will she be tortured to the point of being torn apart and then sold into the slave market like garbage?
Or, would she jump into the icy river in despair like that young wife?
I feel bad when I think about how one pure heart after another is treated like this.
Brother, I'm not as smart as you, and I can't think of any good solution. Can you help me think of a way to help them?"
Meteor smiled softly and said:
“If I had known you were like this, don’t worry, Great God Qi Ge has already thought of it for us.
Take a look at what I sent you."
"Huh? What is this?!"
Liuli opened the message from her friend, and her eyes suddenly lit up and sparkled.