The knight stared at the farmer, who was trembling, but gritted his teeth and did not move at all.

It was the first time he had been rejected, and from these humble crowds, he couldn't believe he really heard "no", he wasn't even angry, and he felt a little funny. "Do you really understand what you're talking about?" he was still a young man, and it would not be an exaggeration to say that he was a teenager, and his father was a knight, and so was his uncle, and he would be, and these people ...... These men were only peasants, or even more inferior outcasts, and how dare they reject him, a great future knight? Do they not understand that his position is so high as they do not know where to go? especially now that he has the right to lash them, and to hang them if the army does not need labor.

In the dim light, the shadows of the people moved, Hu Cong suddenly felt a wave of timidity, he was taller than them, the fitting leather armor made him look imposing, his posture was vigorous, he had a dagger and a short sword hanging from his belt, he was also the best among his companions in training, why should he be afraid of this group of slaves who had only held hoes and wooden plows? He swallowed and straightened up, "Do you want to disobey the orders of the Grand Duke?!" He accentuated his tone: "I am the knight of the Grand Duke......!" Do you want to go to the prison, or stand in a cage, or hang on a gallows?"

There was a small movement of the people, and the shadow of yīn retreated, and the knight felt a pride and confidence: "If you delay the affairs of the adults, all of you here will be hanged......!

"If only I let you take my last remaining grandson, will you?" said an old man, and then the crowd began to squirm, and a child, perhaps seven or eight years old, was pushed out, with plump cheeks that looked like a plump fruit, and how well he could be raised when the Grand Duke had already taken most of the wheat shows how much his relatives loved him.

Hu Cong stretched out his hand, and he vaguely felt a hint of foreboding, but his eagerness to complete the task assigned by his uncle still prevailed. He didn't realize it was for him when he heard a low, suppressed roar, and he couldn't understand what had happened to him when the heavy stone axe broke his arm, when the filthy rags covered his head, and when the powerful fists of the peasants struck him in the abdomen and head, how could these people, these slaves, these bleating sheep, resist? From the time he knew how to ride horses, he followed his father and uncle, and they did not resist when they took the last copper coin from the peasants, nor when they took the last ox, nor when they took away their wheat, chickens, and eggs, even when the Grand Duke ordered them to hand over their daughters and sons as sacrifices to the gods, they wept but did not resist.

Why...... And they rebelled?

The knight could no longer figure out these things, his chest was sunken, his head was flattened, his leather armor was stripped of his clothes, and his boots were given a new owner.

After the boiling blood of the rage gradually cooled, these people, whom the nobles regarded as livestock, also seemed to come to their senses, and the fear of being late made them panic, and they looked at the old man at the head, in the village, this man who had studied with the priest for a long time had always been the brains of the peasants, he looked around and saw the confused faces, although their anger was the same, but it was conceivable that if he could not show them a clear way forward, the courage that he had gathered would soon disperse into sand, and in order to cover up the truth, the lords might charge them as thieves and cut out their tongues, openly under various tortures. But are they really guilty?!

"Let's go west. The old man said.

"What's up to the west?" asked someone in a whisper.

“ZìYóu。 The old man said, "Of course, there are pains and sorrows, but it doesn't matter, we are soaked in this bitter wine." ”

A thousand years ago, Falun was an incomparably vast land, and there were more human beings in Falun than anywhere else. And Grenada, the barren land that the red dragon Gredi had to choose in order to avoid the eyes of the gods, in the midst of them, was a wilderness mixed with gravel, as if under some kind of curse, where the soil was so full of salt that it could not be cultivated at all, not even weeds could grow, and when the sun shone, the white light could almost make human eyes feel pain.

But here, there are no lords, no archdukes, no kings, only a weak but hopeful state, which is controlled by a council of seventy, and in the council, the beasts who are only discriminated against and humiliated elsewhere occupy a staggering proportion, and their speaker is the winged man who used to be a mercenary, but unfortunately became a warlock test subject, a beautiful and dignified woman, she, and eight beasts form the main framework of the council of this city-state, and the other councilors are either farmers, craftsmen, not a single nobleman, they have not even had the opportunity to watch how to control a country or a city, also have various weaknesses, but they know that behind them stands the huge yīn shadow of the black sè, and he supports them, and above the bottom line he set, they can dance to their heart's content.

Of course, the souls of the other world can't just be grown like weeds by them, so instead of going beyond the norm and then pruning them harshly, it is better to cover them from the beginning.

"There are seventy lords in the council," said one of the inhabitants of the city-state to the newcomers, "and we are under their rule, but they will also be under our supervision." ”

"The gods are above. The outsider couldn't help but exclaim, "How can we supervise the master?"

"Because out of seventy masters, only thirteen can have rights...... Well, I mean, I don't know exactly what the laws are, the articles, or whatever, but these seventy men, before they become masters, are going to stand on the platform and tell us what he's going to fight for us—like tidying up the streets, or aqueducts, or finding seeds suitable for the place, providing cheap flax, and so on, and if we think he's worth trusting, we'll throw the ball in the box at his feet. ”

The newcomer listened, "What about after that? if he doesn't keep his promise?"

Then he lost the opportunity to be a master. The resident said: "We will not elect him, and if he makes a mistake, then even if he is a master, he will be caught, judged, and revoked...... Position. ”

"That sounds incredible. The newcomer curiously asked, "Would they be angry if they saw that you didn't choose them?"

"They couldn't see or hear, and there was a big curtain on the box, and there were soft cushions in the box, and they could only see us reaching in, but they didn't know if we had dropped the ball. "But the councillors are said to be discussing a safer and more discreet way – they're teaching their children to read and write, and then our kids will be able to write the names of the candidates directly on a slip of paper to decide our future," the resident explained. ”

"Kid?" the newcomer shook his head: "You guys are really thinking long-term, I've also heard that there are poor people in some places who become councillors, but they quickly have money, and then use this money to ensure that they will always be councillors." ”

"But there are only thirteen councillors who can stand on the stage, and they can only have two chances at most, once for three years, and after six years, they will no longer be councillors. Said the resident.

There are many other things that surprise the newcomers, such as the fact that there is a window outside the town hall inlaid with glass, and the wooden board in the window shows the annual tax, where the agricultural people have only one kind of tax to pay, which is settled in coins, and only men over the age of thirteen have to pay, women and children do not, and there is only one kind of tax paid by the merchants, either the one who buys or the one who sells, which is very simple and not easy to deduct and confuse, which makes the nascent city-state swell rapidly. It doesn't matter if the land is barren, the saline land near the sea can be used for salt, and the land farther away from the sea is attracted by the river, which washes the loose soil along the dense canals, taking away the salt inside, although it is not easy to grow wheat and rice, but you can grow some strange herbs and dates, cotton, beans, although they are not as rich as before, but the peace and stability here cannot be compared with the current Falun.

What makes the newcomers a little unaccustomed is that there are so few temples and sanctuaries here, some people have carved icons, muttered prayers and sacrifices in the field, it doesn't matter, as long as it does not affect others and work, they will only be slightly supervised, but more people feel that no longer praying and sacrificing makes them relaxed, they are just mortals, they cannot see the light of the gods and cannot hear the call of the gods.

"But an unbeliever will be crucified to the walls of the city of the dead. ”

So do the panbelievers. The Speaker turned, the Mithril Bone Armor on her body made her look strange and beautiful, maybe it was the secret art of a warlock, she looked the same as it had been decades ago, "Do you think there will be a devout fanatic among these giftless mortals? ”

The winged men behind her said no more, they were also unbelievers, and when they were captured by the warlocks of Grenada, transformed into beasts, reduced to playthings without dignity and future, they prayed to every god they knew, but to no avail, none of them answered them, whether he was good or evil, they admitted that their previous faith may not be religious, but after losing hope, even if the true gods came to them, it would be difficult for them to trust their fate on their favor.

"In the last three months, we have taken in another 1,227 displaced people here......"

The Winged Speaker listened to his subordinates' returns, and looked into the distance, if she had any faith, it was only the black-haired Dragonborn, they had heard of it before, and they longed to meet someone who had mercy on them, but at that time, they only thought that they would be kept in the courtyard, but that was enough, and they sometimes even fantasized about a neat death. They never imagined that they would be able to stand before the crowd like a real person, to be their protector and leader, to have a meaning of their own life, to no longer be confined to a small room for people to play, it was he who helped them regain their dignity and pride, to receive a deeper and noble education, otherwise, even if they had obtained Zì Yóu, they would have disappeared silently from people's sight like a small sand.

Things like the beginning of the article keep happening all over the place, and people don't realize that they "can still do it" Before, they were indeed cowardly and stupid like a livestock, but when they suddenly understood that the so-called knights and lords were only flesh and blood, they turned from sheep to wolves and wild boars, and the cruel repression and stricter management only inspired more people to courage, and often a village disappeared in two or three days without a single person missing, and they all heard that in the west, between Grenada and Falun, there was a deserted land, barren, but peaceful and comfortable, without greedy lords and evil gods。 There is no doubt that the rulers, large and small, are furious about it, but they cannot prohibit it unless they can give up their ambitions and value their people over the army and luxuries, but no one can do it. And they soon discovered that if these untouchables were willing to leave quietly, some tyrannical lords would even have their throats cut in their sleep, perhaps a humiliated husband, or a mother who had been robbed of their children, and so on more and more, even the capture of castles from time to time, and they had to gather their armies back, lest they lose their crowned heads before they became emperors.

The "ugly chicken" was surrounded by such mobs, there were only a hundred of them, most of them were strong men of adult age, and many of them were injured because they had stormed the castle before leaving their homes, and had their lord's head run through a long pole, just like his favorite before. For this reason, they suffered heavy casualties, but in addition to sadness, they were more excited and happy, and their eyes were full of hope again. They were accompanied by their loved ones, the women with their children, and the gray-haired elderly, and they could finally sleep peacefully at night, without fear of being selected for service or sacrifice one day.