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Calradia 1257.

Since the division of the Karad Empire, there were six kingdoms on the continent of Calradia at this time: the Kingdom of Svadia, the Duchy of Rhodok, the Sultanate of Salander, the Khanate of Kugit, the Kingdom of Vegia, and the Kingdom of Nord.

The Swadias settled in the plains of central Karadia, bordering all other countries (and the only one that would share borders with all of them). The leader is King Haraus.

The army of the Svadias can adapt to any need. Their advanced units are equipped with the heaviest armor and weapons. Known as fearsome heavily armored knights, Svadia relied on archers and infantry to guard their castles.

The Rhodoks occupy the mountainous region southwest of Calradia. Led by King Griffos.

Rhodok had the best spearmen in the country, and were the best weapon against cavalry. Rhodok's soldiers possess a stronger physique compared to other nations. Their armies relied on infantry armed with light swords and large broad shields to repel enemy attacks and armoured armies. In addition to being good at dealing with cavalry, crossbowmen with large shields are also comparable to professional infantry in both shooting and hand-to-hand combat. Due to the geographical location, there were no cavalry in Rhodok's army. (Because the mountains are not suitable for cavalry combat)

The Virgians settled in the snowy areas of the mainland. Their leader was King Yarogerke.

The Virgian army was very balanced, with strong infantry, but no loss of knights, and archers who were so strong that they could make it difficult for the enemy to storm the city. The Vigian army was armed with axes (the infantry was two-handed axes), and they were very difficult to defeat. If you're going to attack their castle, you'll have to be careful with their archers. They knock down the enemy like flies, because they shoot faster and more accurately than other countries.

The Nords lived in the northern part of the continent and were ruled by King Ragnar.

Due to the large number of forests and rivers in the Nord region, and the Nord people advocate migratory warfare and enemy fighting. Therefore, they have no cavalry, and to become the strongest infantryman, they must not only be good at fighting, but also have accurate vision. Because their infantry not only cut men with axes, but also threw axes or javelins. In comparison, Nord's archers were treated much worse.

The Kugit occupied the steppe on the southeastern border of Calradia. The leader is Saiga Khan.

The Kugit army consisted entirely of cavalry. They easily use the advantage of mobility to get rid of and destroy the infantry. Mounted archers can also take advantage of this to shoot hoplites or infantry into hedgehogs unscathed.

The Salanders are the masters of the brutal desert region of Karadia, ruled by the Sultan of Hakim in the city of Sharez.

The Salanders, like the Virgians, had a very balanced army. However, the two are different in terms of strength, and the Virgians are represented by archers. The Salanders were represented by Mamluk heavy cavalry.

The territory of the six countries was finally determined, and the power of each country was balanced, and each country contained each other, but it was also ready to move, and each thought about what he wanted. This continent with broken mountains and rivers but coexistence of opportunities and challenges has attracted many adventurers, many of whom come from outside the continent in search of opportunities.

Western Europeans, Gronyas, Clotis, mercenaries, explorers, bards, rangers, these various people make up the unique landscape of the continent of Calradia.

Of course, everyone has troubles, not only merchants, farmers, soldiers, mercenaries, mayors, but also lords and kings.

Merchants are afraid of wars and difficult bandits, peasants are afraid of enemy raiders, soldiers are defeated or killed or sold, mercenaries are afraid that no one will hire them, so they will only speak boldly when they are hired, and the mayor of the town has to deal with many civil matters, but the biggest headache is that the lord is not very happy to invest too much energy in civil affairs.

The lord was busy ganging and exploiting the people, and the king had to always be on guard against the regents, after all, every king would play some shady conspiracy when he ascended the throne, and the king was very taboo to be mentioned by others, and of course the king would never admit that his throne was illegitimate.

The six kingdoms of Calradia attacked and plundered each other, and civilians were displaced, and civilians who joined the army or fell into the grass for revenge abounded. Among them, because most of them hate officers, most of them fall into the grass.

So much so that bandits are rampant throughout the continent of Calradia. Some of the weaker bandits avoided the army and plundered only those who came and went, while the stronger ones were even more dominant in the battlefield, and even occasional fights with the local lords' private armies.

However, the major kingdoms adhered to the policy of securing the outside world before securing the interior, and only some villages not far from the outskirts of the city would send troops to deter them when they were plundered. As a result, many of the most remote villages had large numbers of civilians fleeing their homeland in a vain attempt to gain protection from their lords.

But the fate of these people was either death or slavery, or abandoned by the lord, persecuted by bandits, and in this situation, many desperate people began to unite and form mercenary groups. They were not subordinate to any lord or state, but were hired to guard caravans, drive out bandits, and even participate in national wars, as long as their employers could afford to pay enough dinars.

In such an environment, wars occur even more frequently, between countries, between mercenaries and bandits, between mercenaries, between bandits...... In addition to plundering property, war has an even greater benefit, and that is slavery!

In this endless war, a large number of villages were burned and countless people and animals died. People were displaced, starved and threatened with death, and in those years, pastors were too busy to sleep, and as soon as they had finished praying for one of the dead, they had to rush to the next house.

Outside the church doors in the countryside were crowded with begging refugees, even the choir hall was lined with dying starving people and groaning wounded, and church nuns had to lift their feet and jump over a dying body to stop the bleeding of the sick.

In fact, dying in the church is a kind of happiness, lying at the feet of God, bathed in holy light, and passing away in the prayer of the Gospel verses, and it is said that you will ascend to heaven and be forgiven.

Many more died on the roadside in the countryside, and the ugly-looking corpse collectors dragged them to the cemetery outside the village like pieces of pork, dug a shallow pit, and buried them hastily.

And the corpse collectors don't go to chase away these Grim Reaper's blackbirds, because there are too many. Just drove away a group, and that group flew over again, fighting for the eyes of the dead.

In the evening, rows of wooden crosses have been planted on the graves, and in the afterglow of the setting sun, long shadows have been drawn. The weary collector was silent, pulling the empty cart and staggering towards the hut on the side of the barren wheat field.

Even so, the unfortunate man is considered to have returned to the arms of God. Those who starved to death on the edge of the ridges became food for wild dogs or jackals at night.

Many villages were infected with an unknown plague, and the last remaining livestock foamed at the mouth, and the peasants were reluctant to burn them with fire, so they ate them.

Soon the people were also infected with the plague, first with a high fever that did not go away, then the skin began to rot, and red blood and green pus flowed, and then they lost consciousness, stared at their eyes, and showed a look of great fear, and when darkness fell, the village sounded the death knell again.

The next day, when the quilt was lifted, the body of the deceased was already crawling with black meat maggots, and swarms of flies were buzzing, sucking the juice on the dead man's body with pleasure.

The living were terrified and said that this was God's punishment for them. And some say that witches came to the town, which caused many ugly-looking girls to be burned alive. The fear of the end of the world is transmitted between towns and villages, and people can only pray day and night.

While civilians were deeply traumatized by the war, the nobles increased taxes on their domains to support high military spending.

The economy of Swadia collapsed further, and farmers were reluctant to plow, because the wheat in the fields was requisitioned for military rations before it was harvested, or it was looted by the rebels just after harvesting.

The shepherds did not want to graze anymore, and if their sheep were targeted by the hungry, it would not be long before they would become a pile of bones, and even the raw sheepskins would be snatched away for use as jackets. The shepherds simply killed all the sheep, salted them in coarse salt, and hurriedly put them in a blanket without waiting for them to dry, and took advantage of the darkness to hide in the mountains.

The situation became more and more chaotic, and the craftsmen in the city were reluctant to continue working, and the copper pesos given to them by the boss became less and less valuable: eight copper pesos could sell a bag of flour and 55 could buy a pound of beef, but now 500 copper pesos could not buy a pound of pork.

Prices skyrocketed every day, and only the market value of the gold dinar was stable, but it was in the hands of a few nobles and black market merchants.

Countless people lost their jobs and went bankrupt, and they began to flee the workshops and estates, and became the green forest robbers of the Wuthering Heights, killing people and setting fires, and robbing homes. The entire kingdom is plunged into an unprecedented crisis of domination.

The deceit between people and the entanglement of interests between countries have written an epic chapter in this land.

Although personal prowess is of little use on a battlefield where hundreds of men are often fighting, the tavern's bard will surely compose a song of praise for you.

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