22 The Battle of the Black Gate and the Dragon

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The history of the Old Splice Kingdom has always been full of drama, with its ups and downs like a tidal wave. It was not until the reign of King Albert Royer that the Kingdom of Sprout finally entered a period of relatively stable development, and after suppressing the control and intervention of the Wanyuan Sect in power, King Albert implemented a series of internal reforms, which gave the kingdom a solid foundation and laid the foundation for subsequent expansion. Ironically, King Albert's style of governance was not the intention of expanding his domestic affairs, and his successors seized the fruits of his reforms and carried them forward.

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The history of the Kingdom of Split during the 20 years from 1230 to 1250 is very vague, and the official historical archives lack a systematic and detailed archive, but several major historical events are still recorded, including the great reduction of grain production in 1231, the establishment of the Royal Academy of Magic in 1238, and even the coup d'état in 1244. Interestingly and strangely, there is no record of the "Battle of the Black Gate" in any of the official historical archives of the country in Spreett.

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The Battle of Kuromon, which took place from September 1243 to March 1244 (July to February 1243), was the first war in which a magician was directly involved. The mage transforms into an animal to scout behind enemy lines, fireball attacks, siege cities, and transform into beasts to participate in attacks...... These methods of warfare were soon used on the battlefield. Of course, where there is a spear, there is a shield, and countermeasures have also emerged: probing magic arrays, teleportation magic, and "illusion" magic have also changed the situation on the battlefield. However, magic has not completely subverted the combat mode and rules of war on the battlefield, ordinary grassroots soldiers are still the main force on the battlefield, unless one side has an overwhelming advantage in magical power, the probability of magic affecting the outcome of the war is still very low. The "Battle of the Black Gate" is a typical example.

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In the library of Alex City, I searched a large number of records of the "Battle of the Black Gate" in many countries between 1243 and 1244, especially the many neighboring countries of the old kingdom of Spalet and the kingdom of Eust, which have left some historical archives, including the historical documents of the kingdom of Eust. The content of these accounts is basically the same, and the simple summary is: as the attacking party, the army of the Kingdom of Yousd was unable to attack the Black Gate on the northern border of the Kingdom of Spallow for a long time, which caused internal contradictions to intensify, and finally had to withdraw its troops. It is difficult to make sense that Spreett, as the victorious country, did not leave any historical record of this battle.

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Some of the soldiers' letters surviving from the people can give a glimpse of the combat situation between the two armies: the army of the Kingdom of Sprout was at an extreme disadvantage in numbers, which is also confirmed by the optimism of the soldiers of the Kingdom of Eustea. It can be seen that the old Sprelet kingdom won more with less at that time, why was such an epic victory not recorded by historians?

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Thanks to these scattered letters, I learned that the commander of the defenders of the Old Kingdom of Sprout was the leader of the White Shield Akayi family, and that the "White Shield" was an honorary title bestowed on the family by the Royer royal family in recognition of their loyalty and merit. The Akayi family is still alive and well, loyal to the Spellet Empire, and most of its members are members of the Imperial Army. I visited members of his family while passing through Wal Harbor, but they did not know about the involvement of their ancestors in the Battle of the Black Gate.

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I found in the basement of the chapel on the southern outskirts of Ann Leicester a diary of the battles of the Kingdom of Justid about the Battle of the Black Gate, from which the date of the decisive battle between the two sides was probably 11 or 12 February 1244. Curiously, this remaining log does not record the information of the day of the decisive battle, but jumps from the eve of the decisive battle to the withdrawal stage, and the record of the decisive battle is obviously missing in the middle. At first, I thought it was an incomplete diary, but other materials such as soldiers' family letters, diaries, and family stories do not contain any records about the day of the decisive battle, is it a coincidence? Or is it intentional? What really happened on the day of the decisive battle? Could the absence of the "Battle of the Black Gate" in Spreett's historical record also have something to do with this? If we can know the details of the day, these mysteries can be solved.

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By chance, when I visited Port Passima, the "Golden City" of the Dragons, I interacted with a group that specialized in the culture of the "dragons", and I actually found a record of the "Battle of the Black Gate" in their historical documents. It's bizarre, around 1244, both the Kingdom of Eustal and the Old Kingdom of Sprout were landlocked and had no contact with the Kingdom of Dragonon at that time, so why would the Kingdom of Dragons be interested in this war? I looked through their records with curiosity, and the content was generally the same as in other countries, but there was one sentence related to the day of the decisive battle that stood out in the eye:

"On the day of the decisive battle, a dragon appeared on the battlefield."

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In the countries of the mainland, the dragon is regarded as a symbol of evil, tyranny, and calamity, and plays the role of villain in many stories, and only a few countries that worship dragons are represented by Dragon. If the dragon did appear on the day of the "Battle of the Black Gate", it was probably the reason why all the historians were silent about it, and ordinary soldiers would not have the courage to spread the word about it, after all, talking about dragons at the time was as avoidable as talking about rebellion.

This makes sense, because of the presence of dragons at the time of the decisive battle, there is a gap in the historical record, but a new question arises: What is the position of the dragon on the battlefield? Which magician became it?

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There are examples of magicians turning into dragons, and the archmage Para Dax is a dragon-changer, the only proven dragon-changeling to date, and her ability to transform into a dragon for a period of time is an important basis for publicizing the results of her magical reforms. However, there were no more dragon changers, and some of the clumsy deceptions and deceptions were quickly discovered, and the dragon became an unattainable legend.

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Could the dragon that appeared on the day of the decisive battle be transformed into a Spellet magician? This speculation is very likely, but it is not very credible: judging from the results of the battle, the old Sprout kingdom was victorious, and the dragon should have contributed, but this dragon appeared only once, and in the subsequent records, there was no information related to this dragon in the history of Split, since it served Split, why only once? There is a speculation that answers this question: the dragon changers were loyal to the old kingdom of Split, and when the coup took place, the dragon changers were killed in the coup or for some reason removed from public view, and eventually lost to history.

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Interestingly, I also read this sentence in Dragon's record: "On February 11, 1244, signs of the dragon moving westward were found. "Could it be that the dragons of the Sea of Dragons are the dragons of the battlefield? Judging from the timing, it was very reluctant, considering that the calendars of the countries were nearly unified at that time, the possibility of error was very small, and it was also impossible to explain why the dragon guarding the dragon of Dragon was involved in this battle that had nothing to do with it. I've always had a bold guess: the dragon in the Sea of Dragons may have gone to find the dragon on the battlefield, and there may be something to communicate between the two dragons, but what exactly is unknown.

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It may be irresponsible to speculate on the mysteries of the Battle of the Black Gate in the dragon's words, but it is by far the most plausible explanation.

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I never thought that the "Battle of the Black Gate" and the dragon could have such a delicate relationship, perhaps this is an accident of history, and at the same time an inevitability of fate. There are many legends and speculations about dragons, and the most common ones we see today are the mysterious and legendary stories of the Sea of Dragons.

If we can meet that dragon, I think we can solve many of these mysteries, but there may be many more to come. Putting aside the unrealistic reverie, we can continue to collect and consult information, and over time, many truths will slowly emerge in front of people's eyes.

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—From The Rise and Fall of the Split Sun, by Koran Dutwid