Volume 7: Doing Business with the World Chapter 219: Cloud-style Soul Interrogation
Xiao Yun's words were more powerful and weighty than the four simple words of Yaman. After he finished speaking, the two descendants of "J" could not recover for a long time, staring at him blankly as if they were hit by a petrified magic.
Xiao Yun was not in a hurry to urge them. He picked up the cup and drank water leisurely, giving them some time to react.
The Snow Wolf Clan will inevitably face many enemies on the road to rise. The reason is simple... It has little to do with whether the productivity is backward or whether the magic technology tree is wrong. Can the five major gangsters on the earth allow the sixth one to emerge?
The original Snow Wolf Clan was one family with the Tiger Clan and the Cat Clan, and there was also a demigod in the Tiger Clan. Their words had weight, their fists were powerful, and only then could peace belong to them.
But now, the Tiger Tribe is walking alone, the Cat Tribe is in disarray, and if the Snow Wolf Tribe wants to stand up straight, or at least not be easily treated as a dish, it must gain new partners - New China is trying hard to unite the third world countries, the Snow Wolf Tribe is trying hard to unite the scattered Cat Tribe, the weak Snake Tribe, goblins, centaurs and gray dwarves, Saint Bridget with a mountain on his head, and Lord Bolton who has been drained of blood by Valentine... In the final analysis, it's all the same thing, they are all resolutely implementing the struggle strategy of Grandpa Taizu: make their own people more numerous and the enemy's people fewer.
The method of living behind closed doors and isolating the country has been proven to be unfeasible by the Qing government and the Japanese shogunate. Sitting at home and practicing to become the sword god of Shilipo and then taking up the sword and going out into the mountains is only suitable for fantasy...
Similarly, the descendants of "J" want their ideas to be recognized and want to practice their ideas to transform human society. The enemies they face are no less than those of the Snow Wolf Tribe. The reason why they can get help from the alien races is that they have no say! If the words they say are really powerful, the alien races would have slapped them in the face long ago~!
How did the Lich King die? He was surrounded and beaten to death by a group of alien demigods!
After killing the Lich King, they pretended to shed a few crocodile tears to mourn the Lich King being slandered and defamed by the human royal family... It's really hypocritical!
But after telling lies for hundreds of years, a group of alien races were still truly moved by his lies... The middle-level snow elves and forest elves that Xiao Yun came into contact with always praised Melville with mixed feelings, which really made Xiao Yun laugh and cry...
After a long silence, Alman J murmured as if he had just woken up from a dream. His usual calm expression disappeared from his face. The old man looked disappointed: "Are we really wrong? What we have done and what we have paid for is actually meaningless?"
Xiao Yun smiled slightly.
These guys live in the sphere of influence of the Dwarf King, who is the weaker of the three demigods. They would rather seek friendship with the extremely weak Snow Wolf Clan than seek out the seemingly compassionate Dwarves and Elves. They themselves know very well that the alien forces who seem to help them out of pity are not holding back.
If you can see this clearly, you are not hopeless.
"We have heard a saying from the Elf King from our friendly Snow Elves that any tribe must stand up on its own legs to survive." Xiao Yun said with emotion, "The Snow Wolf tribe has a population of only ten thousand. It took me seven years to unite these people. My like-minded cat companions are working hard to unite their tribe, which is ten times larger than ours. I think it may take them ten or twenty years to accomplish this."
"The human population is countless times greater than that of orcs like us." Xiao Yun paused, his expression becoming serious. "The population difference between our two groups is huge. The situation that applies to minority groups like us may not necessarily apply to humans, but in essence, our goals are the same."
Alman sat up straight subconsciously, forgetting the pain in his right leg, and looked at Xiao Yun with a focused look full of curiosity.
Talking about the future of the tribe with aliens was undoubtedly a novel experience for the Condemned Brother. He was extremely curious about what Xiao Yun would say next.
"Based on what I have seen and known about the human kingdom, I personally agree with and support the Lich King's philosophy. The wrong social form and institutional environment of the human race have restricted the future of the human race. The common people of the human race should not be oppressed and exploited, but should be respected and happy in response to the strength of the ethnic group, just like the dwarves, elves or orcs."
Alman nodded vigorously. Although he looked young, he was actually over a hundred years old. The knowledge he learned from his teacher and everything he saw with his own eyes in the Dwarf Kingdom made him extremely indignant about the situation of the human race. No matter whether it was a sea race or a land race, as long as the tribe was strong enough, the members of the tribe could share the dividends of the tribe's strength. This was completely different from the human race, which had a large population but all creatures suffered!
This is the only case where the Elf King changed the status of the entire Snow Elves by himself. Before the appearance of this Elf King, the most powerful elves in the elf tribe were the most populous forest elves.
Xiao Yun changed the subject: "But - this is also the reason why you have to deal with greater difficulties than us minorities. The smaller the population and the simpler the power structure, the less resistance there will be during reorganization. Conversely, the larger the population and the more complex the power structure, the greater the resistance you will encounter when you want to reorganize."
After a pause, Xiao Yun said solemnly: "In my humble opinion, if the descendants of 'J' want to carry forward 'J's ideas, they must have a deeper and more thorough understanding of human society and analyze the power structure of human society; they must thoroughly understand the power pyramid and human nature, and conduct in-depth study and systematic research on this basis, so that they can find the right direction to start with and use the right means to act!"
"You can't accomplish anything with just enthusiasm! You lack too much knowledge, and your learning attitude is problematic!"
Master and disciple Alman: "...(o言o)(o言o)"
Yu, who was listening, remained calm.
Yarman wiped his sweat and said firmly: "Mr. Ayun, can you... explain it briefly?"
Xiao Yun shook his head: "Why don't you understand? The Lich King's ideal is to reform the human society and change the existing pathological environment of the human society. To put it bluntly, your enemies are the vested interests . You must fight for power with these people!"
"Your goal is to save the suffering human race, while the interests of these vested interests are to continue to oppress these suffering human races, to ride on the heads of their compatriots and shit and piss, for thousands and thousands of years, and for generations to come!"
"You must kill them, rewrite the rules that serve them, and make the people in charge of the human race yours! The positions of both sides are absolutely irreconcilable hostile and contradictory!"
Xiao Yun slapped his thigh hard, angrily saying, "You can't even figure out who your real enemy is, and you keep getting entangled with King Kronin for no reason. Are you really not afraid of pissing Melville off so much that he crawls out of the cursed land?"
Master and disciple Alman: "...(o言o)(o言o)"
Xiao Yun ignored the stunned master and disciple and continued to drink his tea calmly.
The tragic hero of Melville J. Bancroft is not special. In feudal China, there was also a famous and eccentric person who was famous throughout the ages - Liu Zhanxiong.
The younger brother of the famous "gentleman" Liuxia Hui, also known as Dao Zhi, a thief with a code of conduct, and the wronged ghost who was casually criticized by Guan Hanqing in "The Injustice of Dou E"...
During the Spring and Autumn Period, China still had a slave system. Liu Zhanxiong, a descendant of Prince Zhan of Lu, was a legitimate slave owner. The term "Prince" was not used randomly during the Spring and Autumn Period. Only the sons of the rulers of the vassal states were qualified to be called that. In other words, Liu Zhanxiong's status was roughly equivalent to that of a royal descendant in this world.
With such a "noble" origin, this descendant of a young man with a unique style of painting did not want to be an exploiting class, but led the slaves to rebel, gathered 9,000 slave volunteers to fight in the Yellow River Basin, and beat the vassal states of the time. He influenced the transformation of slavery to feudalism with his own strength. He was really the first iron child in ancient China...
Being stubborn has its price. This leader of the slave rebellion who emerged out of nowhere in the Spring and Autumn Period has been slandered for thousands of years to the same degree as the Lich King, or even more so. For example, the famous "Biography of Boyi" criticizes him as "killing innocent people, cutting human flesh, being violent and ruthless, gathering thousands of people, running rampant throughout the world, and finally dying of old age. What virtue did he have?"
In other words, they pointed at Liu Zhanxiong's nose and cursed the world: This bastard killed innocent people, ate human flesh, gathered thousands of people to cause chaos, and endangered the stability of the world, but he didn't die a tragic death, but lived to the end of his life. It's very unjust and the world is unfair...
Of course, the scholar class that held the right to speak at that time was not unaware of what kind of person Liu Zhanxiong was. When Zhuangzi criticized Confucianism, he used Liu Zhanxiong's mouth to criticize Confucius: "You make up words, falsely claim to be civil and military, wear a crown of branches and trees, wear the ribs of dead cows, make many false statements, eat without farming, wear clothes without weaving, talk nonsense, and create right and wrong in order to confuse the ruler of the world, so that scholars in the world will not return to their roots. You falsely pretend to be filial and brotherly and get lucky to be a noble and wealthy person!"
Using Liu Zhanxiong's mouth to criticize Confucianism "not farming but eating, not weaving but wearing clothes, talking nonsense, and creating trouble", it can be said to be very charming... It can also prove that the scholars of the same period had a certain understanding of Liu Zhanxiong~
After all, if Liu Zhanxiong didn’t have this “personality”, this fabricated insult wouldn’t be convincing, right?
All in all, this is basically the treatment you get for singing against the mainstream ruling class, and it's not surprising at all.
Not to mention Liu Zhanxiong and Melville who failed to completely rewrite the rules of power, the revolutionary predecessors of New China who achieved earth-shaking achievements, it is not uncommon for later generations to smear, insult and slander them while enjoying the dividends they created with their blood and lives...Are there not enough people who mock the Law of Heroes and Martyrs in a sarcastic way?
Alman J, who was hit head-on X2, looked distraught and doubtful about his life, with a dazed look in his eyes; it was obvious that the latter attack was much more powerful than the former. This guy lost too much blood and entered a red blood state. Without milk to save him, he might die.
His disciple, the young man Adam, was not in much better condition than him. His face was extremely pale, his lips were trembling, his whole body was shaking, and his eyes were empty as if he had lost his soul.
Xiao Yun looked at the two laborers who were hit by his "friendly crit" with sympathy... ahem, friendly spellcasters, and said apologetically: "You two don't have to be like this. After all, you two are confused as the parties involved, while I am a bystander who can see things clearly. If I were the one involved, I probably wouldn't perform much better than you two. I might even do more stupid things and make people laugh."
The first part was fine, but the last few words made Alman's throat surge with a sweet and fishy feeling. He spurted out blood with a "puff" and fell down softly...
Before the world fell into darkness, all Alman could think of were the words "just making people laugh" - he was thinking of dealing with the grassland people as a wise man, but he didn't know that he was a complete joke in their eyes!
The young man Adam was more able to withstand blows. This self-proclaimed genius, who had a high opinion of himself and looked down on everyone except his teacher, stared at Xiao Yun for several seconds before he staggered and collapsed, without vomiting blood.
Yu held one with each hand and looked at Xiao Yun in confusion .
Xiao Yun sighed, "You have such a poor endurance. I haven't even started to exert any strength yet and you two are already kneeling down..."
He called Edward in to check on the master and apprentice, and after confirming that they were not in any serious trouble, he placed them in the guest room. Xiao Yun yawned and went back to his room to sleep - he had just sent Saier and the others off and was about to prepare to return to the grassland, as he had a lot of things on his hands.
As soon as he entered the room, Xiao Yun, who had just dealt a fatal blow to his friendly army, was also hit by a punch from his friendly army... Ruhua, who was lying at the door of his room, almost tripped him.
He barely managed to stand by holding on to the door frame, then Ruhua suddenly jumped up and knocked him to the ground, spitting all over his face.
"I've already told you that being cute is useless~!!"
When Alman woke up, it was already the next morning, almost noon.
Struggling to raise his arms, Alman was still in a daze when he saw a big white wolf face pressed against his nose.
Ruhua blinked and looked at Alman for a few seconds, then turned her head and let out an "Awooo".
"Is the guest awake?"
Qingcao peeked out of the door and saw that Alman had sat up, so she walked in with concern: "Are you okay? Are you feeling unwell?"
Alman looked confused.
"My name is Qingcao. Ayun is busy, so let me take care of you first." Qingcao introduced herself, "Don't worry, I've taken care of Sal before. You slept through breakfast, so you must be hungry, right? Get up and sit for a while to recover your energy, and then have lunch."
As he said that, Qingcao reached out and picked up Alman... in a princess hug.
Alman had lived to this age, and had spent 90% of his life either hiding his identity or fighting wits and courage with others. He was picked up by the snow wolf like a child and carried to the eaves of the outer yard. During the whole process, Alman's mind was blank, and he had no reaction to what was happening...
Qingcao placed him steadily on the recliner. It took Alman one or two seconds to come back to his senses and he suddenly jumped up.
"Don't get up so quickly, sit down." Before Alman could even stand up halfway, Qingcao gently raised his hand and pushed him back. The snow wolf man was still dissatisfied, "If you feel uncomfortable, you should just rest. There is no use in being stubborn!"
"..." Alman swallowed silently and became really obedient... Mainly because Qingcao's hand on his shoulder was too strong, and just pressing lightly made him unable to move.
"I'll go make lunch, don't worry." Qingcao nodded with a smile and turned to walk towards the kitchen on the other side of the yard.
Isaac's Knight's Mansion had no advantages except that it was large and had many rooms. Each room had only basic furniture, and the chairs and sofas were mainly made of simple wood. The empty yard had no flowers or decorations, but was filled with a lot of miscellaneous items that couldn't fit anywhere else...
Alman silently looked around this "courtyard" which was even less elegant than that of an average middle-class home. When he caught sight of the pile of empty wooden barrels that had not been moved away, he felt a dull pain in his right leg - it was those things that ruined his image... and his dignity!
With a slight sigh, Alman shook his head in self-mockery. How could he be so embarrassed and angry that he wanted to vomit blood in front of others? How could he still be decent?
"Excuse me, where is my disciple Adam?" Alman shouted towards the kitchen.
Qingcao, who was standing in front of the sink washing vegetables, turned around and said, "Are you talking about the child with you? He went out with Ayun this morning."
Alman: “…”
This careless disciple & no wonder Qingcao only said that he was taking care of him!
"Don't worry, Ayun is good at taking care of children." Qingcao seemed to have thought of something and turned back to comfort her.
"...I'm not worried." Alman said reluctantly.
The grass rustled as the vegetables washed away the dirt, and Alman silently looked up at the sky.
It’s not like Alman hasn’t seen smart people before, but in his eyes, the word “genius” is just a simple adjective... Every descendant of “J” is a genius.
Before inheriting the will of "J", Alman also had a good background. His father was a count in a certain country in the Federation. Although he was not the kind of person with real power and earldom, it did allow Alman to have the opportunity to come into contact with the top elites in the country since he was a child.
Precisely because he had access to human elites since childhood and had high vision from the start, Alman was disappointed with the human race from the bottom of his heart - the human race on the Bloomfield continent was only able to dominate the southern continent behind closed doors. Once they walked out of the southern continent, what was the human race?
By chance, he came into contact with "J" and learned of "J's" will. Alman, who was only in his early twenties and had just become a spellcaster, was so excited that he gave up his original surname and identity without hesitation and became a member of "J" - people who have seen the scenery outside the window will not be nostalgic for the bird cage, and he who was moved by "J's" philosophy naturally would not look down on the life of drunkenness and dreams in the small king's city.
Over the years, Alman, who was used to living in poverty and wandering, did not take hardship as a hardship, but enjoyed it... It was a pleasant thing to associate with outstanding people who shared the same ideals and pursue lofty ideals together. A fulfilling spiritual life and spiritual enjoyment were far better than material enjoyment, at least for Alman, who had developed a calm attitude towards material needs since childhood.
Alman, who was very proud of his career, was subjected to two consecutive attacks of Yun-style soul-searching. You can imagine how much he was hit...
The psychological shadow is particularly great...
If Alman had been baptized by Chinese culture, he would probably sigh and murmur with a wry smile, "I underestimated the heroes of the world", "There are always people who are better than you"...
But Alman is not a time traveler, so the only emotion he can express at this moment is depression, extremely low.
"Is it really the case that 'those involved are the most confused'? So many of us have worked so hard for so many years, but no one has noticed that this is all in vain?" Alman's eyes were empty, and his thoughts were in a mess. "No, no, maybe someone has discovered it, but they just can't think of a solution, so they can only blindly follow others and move forward with their eyes closed -"
Thinking back to the human nobles and royal family members whom he had personally visited and negotiated with over the years, Alman felt a pain in his heart.
"I have noticed it myself, but I was deceiving myself and turning a blind eye - those who are willing to contact 'J' don't care about 'J's ideas at all. They just want to use our power to fight for power... For example, King Kronin."
Alman clenched his teeth unconsciously.
"And we... blindly believed that relying on the power of the upper class was the right thing to do. We knew that others were taking advantage of us, but we still held on to hope...!"
Thinking back to the loss of manpower when helping King Kronen's coup, Alman was so heartbroken that he could not breathe... and the final promise King Kronen made was only to let the most enlightened noble Philip manage Valentine and turn this small fishing village into a so-called "free city"!
Moreover, he immediately distanced himself from them after the coup and did not let anyone from "J" participate at all!
"We are not as clear-sighted as a foreigner... No matter if they are from the royal family or noble families, how can they become our companions?"
Alman looked up to the sky and sighed, with tears seeming to glisten in the corners of his eyes.
"Green grass~~I'm hungry~~"
Following the call, several cats and snakes came into the yard in a lively manner.
One of the cat youths, whose skin was as black as coal, looked at Alman who was sitting under the eaves with surprise, and shouted to Qingcao who was busy in the kitchen, "When will we have something to eat, Qingcao? I'm so hungry!"
"Wait a minute, I'm still steaming the wheat cakes!" Qingcao replied.
The cats and snakes found places to sit and squat in the yard without any hesitation. The black cats even ran to the kitchen and fumbled around, saying in a very spirited manner, "What's the filling of the wheat cake? I don't want to eat rabbit meat... Hey, Qingcao, did you cook some stewed meat? Is the amount enough? Do you want to add some flour and cook it together? Did you make the dough? Do you want ramen?"
Qingcao shook the water off her hands, walked into the kitchen and took Xiaorui out: "Don't make trouble, play outside!"
"You're so stingy. I didn't steal any food." Xiao Rui walked towards her friends angrily.
Alman, whose sorrow was interrupted, was surrounded by a group of curious cats in the blink of an eye...
"You are the human whose leg was broken by Isaac, right?"
"What is your name?"
"You look just like Thrall. The Thrall in our tribe is just as thin as you."
"Hey, doesn't it look like Sal?"
"I mean the body, not the head."
Alman: “…”
"Don't disturb Alman, he's a patient!" Qingcao turned around and shouted.
The cats then dispersed...
Harris took a stool and sat next to them, smiling and shaking his head. After getting along with the cat tribe for nearly half a year, he understood how curious these guys were. In the beginning, these guys always coaxed their snake warriors to transform into snakes, and then turned into cats to play with them, and even specifically stared at their tails and scratched them.
The cats are very curious and their attention is quickly diverted. When they were not allowed to watch Alman, they started chatting with their snake friends... After spending such a long time of depression in Bolton Territory, the cats who returned to the Knight Territory were very moved by the truly free and relaxed atmosphere here.
"When we first came here, we complained that Isaac was not as good as the tribe. Now look, Isaac is much better. No wonder there are so many more families here in just half a year. If I were you, I wouldn't want to live anywhere else."
"Harris, is the southern part as annoying as Bolton County? It's hard to believe you've lived there for more than a decade."
"It's okay. When we lived in the south, the humans were reluctant to deal with us, and we didn't have much chance to interact with them," Harris said.
Alman took one look at the snake walker who looked like a bad guy and was a little surprised... As a human, he didn't think there was anything wrong with excluding other races, and he had never considered the position of the snake tribe, which was the most stigmatized.
A snake warrior smiled and said, "The human nobles don't just reject us. We've also seen that among their own people, those with lower status who don't have the conditions to dress nicely and take care of themselves are also rejected by them."
Xiao Rui felt unhappy when she thought of this, and shook her head, saying, "Let some people be born noble, and others be born humble, so that the former can naturally arrange the fate of the latter. As Ah Yun said, this simple and crude rule has a certain effect in stabilizing society, but in the long run, it is really not a good thing."
Alman looked at the black panther who had run into the kitchen a few minutes ago and tried to steal food in horror... Wait? Was there something wrong with his hearing? ! Such profound and philosophical , could this black panther really say them? !
Harris nodded in agreement. "Yes, the elders of our snake tribe are the strongest warriors in their youth. They have more experience and a longer-term vision than the average tribe member. Even if they occasionally make mistakes and the tribe members are occasionally dissatisfied, they will still believe in the elders. But which elder dares to say that his children can become powerful warriors like himself? If the elders' children continue to serve as elders, the tribe will be doomed."
Alman, who was shocked to numbness, turned his head expressionlessly, dully and stiffly to look at Harris.
I mean... like the sage Ayun of the Snow Wolf Clan, there are countless other races that can strike down a descendant of "J" like him, right ?
Author's words:
About Liu Zhanxiong.
Liu Zhanxiong was slandered in this way: "He had 9,000 soldiers with him, and he ran rampant throughout the country, invaded and bullied the princes, dug holes in people's houses and doors, drove people's horses and cattle, and took people's women. He was greedy and forgot his relatives, and did not care about his parents and brothers, and did not offer sacrifices to his ancestors."
The first half is about the behavior that angered the feudal rulers, but as modern people, when we see the crime of "invading and tyrannizing the princes", we probably just want to laugh...
As for the one about "taking other people's women", it means "robbing women", but it is interesting that no one criticizes Liu Zhanxiong for raping women, being lustful, etc...
I think there should be two reasons for this. One is that Liu Zhanxiong is indeed not lustful, and the other is that the patriarchal society at that time did not consider lust to be a moral stain.
Why do I guess that Liu Zhanxiong is not lustful? Because it is mentioned in "The Legend of Killing Ghosts" that Dao Zhi is believed to be the patron saint of prostitutes in North China. "Since the Spring and Autumn Period, until today, every family of prostitutes respects them and worships them as if they were their ancestors."
In other words, although there is no positive description of the feudal scholar, Liu Zhanxiong is very likely the earliest "friend of women" in my country's feudal history. At least he is much more decent than peasant uprising leaders such as Hong Xiuquan who immediately started a harem after jumping out of the rebellion.
