High Above

  Chapter 683 Popular support is available (6900)

  —Have you heard of Dragon God Messenger?

   For the mountain people, this is a household legend.

  The first generation of Dragon God messenger, signed a contract with Dragon God. He established the original prototype of the Dragon Kingdom in the vast Baisen Mountains. Under his call, all the ministries merged into one, creating the most glorious and prosperous era for the mountain people.

  The last generation of envoys of the Dragon God was born in the time when the Dragon God left. She rekindled the sacrificial fire of the holy mountain, and single-handedly united the tribes of the mountain people who were about to fall apart. Fifty years after her death, she still had the majesty to deter the alliance, giving the mountain people a reason to stay together.

  Until the army of the empire ran over the people of the mountains, and all the surnames with ancient history and glory stepped into the dust.

  Priest Fyoto heard about the envoy of the Dragon God for the first time when he was six years old.

  His father was the chief priest of the tribe. At that time, the boy sat on the stone platform full of flowers in the back mountain of the tribe. His mother hugged him, and his father described the glory of his ancestors to him vividly.

The Chonglin Department is located on the edge of the Midra Autonomous Region, in the basin west of Yankai Mountain. This place is surrounded by many hills and mountains. The melting ice and snow from the distant mountains crossed the long stone road and finally gathered here, washing out a piece of land that is rare in the Baisen Mountains. Fertile soil.

  The back mountain of the tribe is covered with flowers of various colors in summer, and only the rosy grass in the holy land can overwhelm the magnificent picture scroll drawn by them.

  The Chonglin Department and the Jiamu Department were one in the past, and their ancestors had a dragon **** messenger. In other words, among the tribes of the mountain people, those big tribes with heads and faces, whether it is Xuanfeng, Afud, Jiamu, Zhengu or Linyan, have all had or claimed to have a dragon **** messenger, The ancestors of the priests of Fyoto also once had this highest honor.

  At that time, the priest who was still a child was full of aspirations. He wanted to become the chief of the tribe and become the priest of the Dragon God. He wanted to listen to the voices of the Dragon God in the holy land and become the messenger of the Dragon God.

  It's like everyone wants to be a big shot, like every child has a naive and lofty dream, like every wish has a shining brilliance at the beginning.

  In the heart of Priest Feotto, like all dreamers, he had the drive to change the world.

   But now, that motivation, like most people living in this land... has been exhausted.

   Seventy years have passed.

  The empire has changed three or four generations of emperors, from the decline of the past to the revival, and then to the current stability. It is still the largest and most powerful kingdom on Terra, but the mountain people are declining every day.

  And the child who was full of hope...

   Can’t even feed the other kids.

   "It's time to eat, kids."

The mountain dweller with blue-black hair still walked steadily. Although he was old, he had not yet reached the age of weakness. Priest Feioto rang the bell, and the doors of each room opened, and thin figures gathered from the courtyard and corridors come over.

   "Line up, everyone has a bowl."

The priest stood in front of the big table and scooped out a spoonful of porridge from the big porridge pot. The children carrying the bowls lined up in a neat line, praising the dragon **** softly or thanking the priest, while the expression of the old man There is no fluctuation: "Don't waste your energy and say useless words. After eating, go back and lie down. It's okay to bask in the sun, but don't move around."

   "Cobo, Harry, you two will go to the back mountain with me later, dig something edible. You two bowls."

   The cafeteria was silent. Even the swallowing sound seemed small. The two older children who had been named finished their share, then took their seats hesitantly.

   "Come here, the second bowl." The priest raised his voice slightly: "Don't think about giving it up to others, you are going to faint from hunger in the middle of the journey, let me carry you back?"

   "No..." "Sorry, Grandpa Priest..."

"Do not talk nonsense."

   Priest Feotto shook his head, and served a second bowl of porridge for the two of them: "After eating, take the brothers and sisters to meditate for a while, and then set off."

Even the conspirators of Flamingo cannot attack the ecology of the entire Bisen Mountains. They can only attack the rice and wheat domesticated by humans, destroy the roots of those fragile domestic plants, and corrupt those that are too standard and lose their complexity. branches with flowers.

In the forest and on the hillside, there will always be some wild vegetables and mushrooms to satisfy their hunger. In addition, those not fat lumpy rhizomes used to be the food of their ancestors when they pioneered in the mountains, and now they will also become their food. .

  Although it may be a little poisonous, as long as it is cooked, mashed, mixed in the porridge, soaked a little bit, it can always be eaten.

  At this time, there is no choice.

  Children eat carefully. This is hard-won food. They have to chew every bite, or delay the time of eating, as if they can take one more bite and another bite.

  The priest was silent, staring at them with a pair of rock gray eyes.

  —Why is this happening?

  A voice is asking.

   Because of the war.

   The war that was forced upon them.

The mountain people headed by Kamube have always longed for independence. They guard the steel dragon's nest and occupy one of the holy places. They have advanced enough to reach the inheritance of the third and fourth energy levels. They hate depriving them of leading to higher places. The empire of power, so when the olive branch was thrown, the mountain people who wanted to be independent immediately accepted it.

   Even behind the olive branch, there is bone-eroding poison attached.

  When the food disaster spread, panic boiled in Nanling, and the rebellion of the mountain people followed. They got rid of the shackles imposed on the mountain people by the empire...but life became worse.

  Food rationing, economic collapse, although it sounds a bit counterintuitive, but under the rule of the empire, since the agate plain was opened up by the empire as a grain land, the population of the mountain people has gradually increased.

  Over the past two hundred years, the population of the mountain people has increased by three times compared to the past. The meaning behind this incident is not important. What it represents is actually very simple: the mountain people can no longer be self-sufficient.

   Unless they want to starve most of the people to death.

  The empire **** most of the sane leaders of the mountain people with food, while the other part of the madness believed that the Flame Land could give another answer.

  So, even though most of the tribes knew that the biological warfare in Flame Land caused the food disaster, they still had to accept assistance from Flame Land...but what's the point? Rebelling for independence from the Empire, then accepting worse quality and more erratic food aid from Flameland?

   Is it really normal to be tied with grain by one person and less grain by another person?

  —Why cooperate with the enemy?

   "Yeah, they are the origin of all these disasters..."

  The mountain priest whispered to himself, but none of the children noticed it, only another voice could hear it.

He was kicked out of the meeting by his compatriots, even the food rations of his own tribe were cut, many people left, and many people died in the war. Priest Feioto now adopted these war orphans, and now he is in the independent The Mountain People's Union has no power at all.

  He can only take care of these children in front of him...but he can't feed them a full meal.

  Recalling the wish back then, Priest Feotto just wanted to laugh, whether it was a sarcasm or a helpless wry smile, it could only express a part of his inner melancholy.

   Dragon God Messenger.

  Vocabularies that are too far away, words that are too lofty, too many people, too many mountain people who can't even change themselves and the surrounding small environment, he, a priest, even has to work hard to take care of these children.

  Fate...is always so tricky.

  —You don't have to follow those rebel mountain folk, do you? You don't have a hatred for the empire that can only be settled by burning jade and stone, and Flameland hasn't offered you a price beyond your morality.

   That voice asked, and the old priest closed his eyes.

yes. There's no need for him to continue acting with the group of indie gamers...but if he refuses, what will happen to his tribe?

  The chief of the Chonglin Department is a weak person. He dare not face the voices of opposition from the various alliances, and even complains why he is against Feiyandi.

If the Chonglin Ministry really wants to maintain ties with the empire, they will be despised as 'obedient citizens' in their mouths... They don't have the superior geographical conditions of the Frodo Autonomous Region, which can block the overt and covert raids and attacks of other mountain people and Flaming Land. siege.

  They will be wiped out, as many small tribes have been.

  Those guys are not dragon **** messengers...they never hesitate to raise their swords against their own people.

  —You can contact the Empire. Contact Nauman City. They're willing to pay a lot of money for a tribal leader like you, just to let you pass on some information at a critical moment.

   Empire? The empire has never been a group of people, who should he contact? Who wouldn't betray him?

   And…should he make contact?

  The old priest may know more about the history of their country than most people in the empire, because when he was young, he also had a dream of becoming independent from the empire and leading the mountain people to greatness again.

  But it is precisely because he knows the history of the empire that he has doubts about this kind of thing.

The empire started from the original central city-state of Setar, conquering thirty-two cities and the kingdom in the dark mountains in the north, repelling the star-chasing tribal alliance, the predecessor of the royal court in the east, and conquering the three major spirit tribes, even Icewind Valley The titans of warcraft also bowed their heads to the emperor's scepter.

  In the west, the empire subdued the local ancient beliefs, and those moon people who worshiped the double moons in the sky concluded a contract in the sacred city of silver law, and canonized the spokesperson of the moon **** on the earth as their western prince.

   That was the predecessor of the Thorin family.

The empire has been conquering and expanding. They never stop. The Gad people living around the golden plain have also become part of them. Only the oldest priests of the mountain people can remember those ancient times and only a few records remain. Through the study of the hurricane cloud pillar, the Gad people summoned the spirits of heaven and earth to perform storm skills so terrible that even the mountains could hardly block the breath of the king of the wilderness, which was enough to wither the mountains and forests.

  But they were all defeated by the soldiers of the empire, and by the unbearable brilliance of the imperial power of the sun.

   Then, became an imperial man.

  Of course, the Setar Empire was not always victorious—two hundred years ago, when the 30th emperor of the empire died prematurely due to old illness, the Korolev family of the Grand Duke of the North became independent with the help of the apocalypse.

  Perhaps it is precisely because of this that the empire imposed so many restrictions on the mountain people who conquered at the same time, but it did not have time to completely conquer the mountain people, but left many autonomous regions.

   "Contact the empire, maybe we will become imperial people completely, and there will be no chance to change."

Facing that voice, the old priest expressed his deepest fear: "Flameland and the Independent Mountain People's Alliance... really made us suffer. But at least our lives have changed. If, the Mountain People are still like It’s been like the past two hundred years, stagnant in place, nothing has changed..."

   "Then I would rather go hungry and wait for a different possibility."

   "Even if that might... lead to a worse outcome."

   "I see..." The voice was silent for a while.

"Do you know the messenger of the Dragon God?" Then, the young voice said slowly: "In the legends of the mountain people, those heroes who brought change and change, they once created the most golden beginning of a glorious era, and they once Sustained the last glory of a decadent age."

  The old priest was also silent for a while.

  He replied softly: "I have heard it."

"Now, the envoy of the dragon **** has appeared." The young voice said: "The sacrificial fire at the Sacred Steel Mountain has been rekindled, and the turmoil in Xiahui has been quelled. A new era is coming, and everything now is just a brand new one." The storm before the beginning, it is destined to subside."

  The old priest said in a deep voice: "I don't believe in the envoy of the Dragon God. It's just a legend. Even if the Holy Land really shines again, it won't make the children full."

   "He can." The young voice replied firmly: "He has fed the residents of his territory, and he can do the same with one more, ten, or dozens of tribes."

   "..."

   Priest Fyoto was silent for a long time. He actually knew better than anyone else, better than that voice, that the other party was not lying.

  The reason why many people from the Chonglin tribe left the tribe was not to join the army of the independent mountain people, but to go to Xiahui to join the Dragon God messenger in their hearts.

   They never came back. Is it because they are afraid of the atmosphere in the Midra Autonomous Region today, or because they think they are no longer mountain people and can ignore their compatriots in their hometown?

  Will the Bai Zhimin who claims to be the envoy of the Dragon God really treat them equally?

  The mountain people in the independent area will not believe this. They can't believe it until they see the actual proof.

and…

"why?"

  The old priest suddenly questioned angrily: "Why did our hero die early, why our children have to suffer this kind of suffering—why are we the only ones who are restricted so much?"

"Because your heroes have to face other people's heroes." The young voice answered this question in a calm and indifferent tone: "Because you were too strong at the beginning, and you encountered bad times. This is a mistakes, and mistakes will be fixed, I can guarantee that."

   "The most important thing is that human beings will always foolishly use all kinds of inexplicable things to distinguish between 'you' and 'us'."

   "But I won't."

The figure of Bai Zhimin stepped out of the mist that covered his body. The ring of silence prevented his conversation with the mountain priest from being heard by anyone. The children could only see the old priest sitting on his seat expressionlessly, just like before. So silent, only the old man can see his figure.

  The young lord said calmly: "The ones standing in front of me are 'you', and the ones standing behind and beside me are 'us'. My standard is that simple."

   "Priest Feiotuo, those people in your tribe don't want to come back. In fact, they want me to tell you that they can indeed have enough to eat, and they hope that you can also come and have enough to eat."

   "But there are indeed a lot of spies in Flameland, so we can't let them disturb the target. So, tell me the distribution of tribes and important facilities in the Midra Autonomous Region."

   "In this way, you are 'us'."

"I have prepared photos and videos here. They hope that I can convince you. They know your unwillingness and anger of being isolated, and they think you can help me—you don't have to believe it, but I did come here with sincerity. "

   Priest Feotto was silent for a long time. He had gotten this invitation a long time ago, but he still hadn't made up his mind, so he delayed for a while with the excuse of cooking for the children.

   But now, he has to make a choice.

  The priest raised his head and looked at the children in front of him.

Skinny boys and girls whose bodies couldn't even support their clothes. The parents of these children died in the panic of the food disaster and the subsequent civil war, as well as the raids of various wild beasts. They should have had a happy childhood, even though Even under the rule of the empire, the mountain people have never had such a hard time.

   Feoto saw it. He saw a six-year-old child licking the bottom of the bowl. Her parents died in the civil war between the Jiamu Department and the Hongqiao Department. The Hongqiao Department was defeated, and most of the people who went to the Hongqiao Department to purchase supplies were not spared.

  She hasn't had a full meal for a long time, and she doesn't dare to waste even a little bit of food, so the child licks it very seriously and carefully.

  Just like seventy years ago, when he was in the back mountain of the tribe, he listened intently to his father telling him the story of the dragon **** messenger.

   But for very different reasons.

   “…Hopefully there will be a good price.”

Closing his eyes, Priest Feotto leaned back on the chair. After making a decision, his originally straight spine bent, weakening like a real old man: "Dragon God Messenger...haha, whether you are true or not, As long as you can bring about change...then I can only believe."

  In the eyes of the children, Priest Fyoto watched silently as the last of them finished eating, just like in the past.

  Then, the old priest stood up and said as always: "Disband, pack up the bowl, and then go to rest."

   "Cobb, Harry, meet me at the door."

  Amidst the children's chorus, the old man got up and walked to his room.

   There, he took out a map and marked in detail all the important information he knew.

"That's it." The priest put down his pen wearily: "Recently, the armed forces of several tribes have been completely lost in battles. The Jiamu tribe absorbed all their population and land, and began to build many strange buildings—I know that probably It is an alchemy workshop, but I don’t know what kind of alchemy workshop it is. Many people have been transferred to do coolies, of course, they are all from other tribes.”

"Be careful with Kamube, they are very powerful and have great firepower. If you don't carry a lot of siege equipment, it is impossible to pose any threat to them, but... I went to their hall during the meeting not long ago. Kamube The sacrificial hall was built halfway up the mountain, and because of the several major storms in the past twenty years, the pillars of the hall are already in jeopardy."

   "As long as a slightly larger shock is created at the rock platform in the southeast, it will probably collapse and attract most people's attention."

   "That's it. All the information I know is here. I only remember a general idea of ​​their firepower distribution. After all, I didn't even think about attacking them..."

  The old man's voice was full of sighs, and he seemed a little satisfied.

"enough."

The young Bai Zhimin said softly: "You go to Xiahui to get it. Later, a troop will come to the surrounding area, they will clean up the nearby spies, and bring the first batch of food - after you are full, you take the children to Let Xiahui take it."

   "Although that place is not peaceful."

   "But, at least it will make everyone feel full."

  The lord of the Xiahui collar picked up the map, and he left behind his own token, a badge with the silver peak coat of arms. He never doubted any words that Priest Fyoto said, he knew that the other party did not lie to him, so he turned his head and left without hesitation.

   Eat your fill. Only those who are full have enough time to think about other things. Most of the progress and changes occur when people can eat and work hard to eat.

  Humans will still kill each other and fight each other, but if even these fights don't feed people, then these fights are meaningless.

  People need to eat and drink enough, have their own homes, and have their own dreams, so that they can have the leisure to think about more ambitious things.

  In order to let go of all doubts and become the person you want.

   And this is what the teenager wants to do.

   Priest Feotto stared at the white figure that had gone away, and this generation of dragon **** messengers disappeared from his vision.

  The two older children at the door looked around suspiciously, and they felt a cool and refreshing breath passing by.

   "Sure enough."

  Looking at the clouds floating in the distance and the shadows of the mountains, the old man muttered to himself: "I still can't give up that dream."

  —He still wants to be the envoy of the Dragon God.

  He wants to be someone who can bring happiness and smiles to his people.

  He is old. It may be impossible to rely on one's own strength.

   But he still won't give up trying.

   "Come on, Cobb, Harry."

   Shaking his head slightly, Priest Feotto was not going to put all his hopes on the troop supplies that the young man said. He had to rely on his own hands to prepare the children's rations for tomorrow.

   "Yes, Grandpa Priest." The older children replied.

  At this moment, they looked at the old man full of trust and longing.

  They have never heard the story of the messenger of the Dragon God.

  But, if they ever heard…

  Then the envoy of the dragon **** will not be greater than the grandpa priest who rescued them from famine and death in their eyes.

  …

   "The hearts of the people in the mountains are available."

Ian, who observed the living conditions of the mountain tribes all the way, came to a conclusion: "Although it can't help me create riots, if I can defeat the main force of the independent mountain people, then most small and medium-sized tribes will probably not reject me or The future leadership of the Empire."

   It didn’t take Ian too long to lead from Xiahui to the Midra Autonomous Region. It took only a short flight to arrive, and it only took a while to go deep into the autonomous region.

  But the reason why he returned to the ground and walked slowly after he came to the edge of the autonomous region was that he didn't want to be found, but he also wanted to carefully observe the living conditions of the vast majority of independent mountain people.

   The results were pretty bad.

  “As long as I can guarantee the food supply of the mountain people, they are willing to support me.”

  Ian was thoughtful: "Also, the alchemy workshop?"

  Ian is very interested in the alchemy workshop that Priest Feotto mentioned.

   Obviously, this was insulated from the mountain people in the past. Even with the support of Flameland, it is absolutely impossible for the mountain people who know nothing about modern alchemy to directly build a complete alchemy system.

   Unless they are willing to spend a lot of money to directly transport a production line.

   But what exactly is it that can make the mountain people and Fei Yandi build several alchemy workshops for it? It's definitely a great value and well worth checking out.

  Ian was very curious.

  The Chonglin Department was originally located on the edge of the Midra Autonomous Region. After walking along the road for a while, Ian came to the depths of the autonomous region.

  Here, you can overlook the river area where Kagibe is located.

The core area of ​​Jiamube is located on the plain at the foot of the mountain deep in the mountains. Like most mountain people, they worship at the mountain. However, as the population continues to increase, Jiamube has also opened up a large plain at the foot of the mountain, densely packed The rock buildings and farmland are scattered in the flat area along the river.

  Find a hill. Standing on the top of the hill, Ian looked at Jiamubu. He found that the farmland of this tribe had not been attacked by the biological warfare of the Flaming Land, and there was no trace of decay left by rot and withering.

  —Good guy, it seems that they have discussed it long ago.

  Ian thought to himself, as long as there is enough evidence for this news, it is enough to make most of the mountain tribes who tend to be neutral feel disgusted with Jiamubu and even the Independent Mountain People Alliance. After all, who is not hungry now? Whoever can stay out of it is the enemy.

   But the most important information is not this.

  Ian narrowed his eyes, and he saw two huge figures on the altar halfway up the mountain.

Those are two sub-dragons made of poured steel. They have blade-like wings and silver-black scale armor. The transformed magnetic field supports their actions.

  The group of steel pterosaurs has come to the depths of the Baisen Mountains.

  (end of this chapter)