The 'Valley of White Pigeons' has become the latest focus of attention of the citizens of Djerkhara.

The story of a captain who had no experience in naval warfare and who had captured a pirate ship within a month of launching soon spread from the docks of Djerkhala. On those days, the citizens of Djerkhara would flock to the docks in the evening to catch a glimpse of the strangely shaped Salander ship and the new warships of the Duchy's navy.

There has been a dramatic shift in the image of the Navy in the minds of the people. In the past, the image of navy soldiers as a group of scruffy, drunken sailors has now been transformed into a young officer with a well-mannered and neat uniform. In Djerkhara, officers in naval uniforms were favored by ladies and received invitations to various banquets. People were always excitedly recounting what they had heard from all sides: a group of naval soldiers had arrived at dawn with three times their own captives.

It is said that the soldiers of the navy fought valiantly, and all the pirates were terrified; People said they saw a lot of Swadia civilians on the docks, and these were refugees rescued by the navy soldiers. Glorious legends are passed on in taverns, bazaars and bathhouses.

In the port of Djerkhara, the 'White Pigeon Valley' watched the 'Elwin' call first. Two light pilot boats soon approached, one of which inspected the 'Elwin', and two doctors were busy all morning, handing out quarantine clearance certificates to the 190 people on board, while the remaining dozens were found to be carrying diseases and were allowed to go ashore only after they had recovered.

The White Dove Valley was on guard next to the Elwin. The Navy's military branch in Djerkhara quickly made contact with the White Dove Valley, and the men of the military branch warmly congratulated the young captain on his success and promised to praise the White Dove Valley in his report to Aaron's headquarters.

In fact, my father and Cesar knew very well that the capture of the 'Elwin' was actually complete luck. The Elvin was not staffed with professional soldiers at all, and in order to transport as many migrants as possible, the Alvin had reduced its crew to a minimum, and most of the food on board was used to maintain the consumption of the migrants. Apart from a small storm in the negotiations, the 'Alvin' did not put up any decent resistance at all, and in the whole process, only the 'Alvin' lost an old qualified pilot and a sailor. This result can only be described as luck.

Immediately after disembarking, my father and Cesara set about registering the Swadians aboard the 'Elwin'. Most of these people are from the Rendi area, but a few are from Lundia Fort. For most of the past six months, these men have been tortured until they were finally taken to Shariz and then put on the 'Alwin'. All that remains to be done now is to judge by the testimony of this man whether the 'Elwin' is a pioneer ship or a pirate slave ship. The results are clear: ninety percent of these Swadians claim that they have not been mistreated by the 'Elvin', and one Swadian says: "We were given half a piece of white bread and a piece of black bread per person a day, two litres of a drink like mulled wine, and we were well taken care of, sometimes even better than the sailors on the ship". At the same time, Roudock was soon contacted by the Pioneers, asking for negotiations to free the Elwyn as soon as possible.

It was clear that Captain Lily Marlene was not lying.

Since the matter involved the 'pioneers', Cesara had to report the matter. The people of the Djerkhara City Hall did not dare to make a decision at will, so they had to report the matter to Aaron in detail. When the response from Aaron's capital was delayed, the White Dove Valley received two completely different instructions from the army: the garrison of Viruga instructed the White Dove Valley to treat the prisoners preferentially, to get in touch with the Pioneer as soon as possible, and to wait for an opportunity to return the ship and personnel, while the Admiralty of Aaron asked the White Dove Valley to keep an eye on their captives and cut off the ship's contact with the Pioneers.

My father was in a dilemma and could only stay on the dock and watch the situation develop.

During these days, my father and Cesar went to the Coastal Defence and the City Hall every day to inquire about the news, and in the evening they returned to the 'Valley of the White Dove' to stand by. At my father's request, the Djerkhara Quarantine's personnel sent medical personnel on board the ship every day to treat those who did not pass the quarantine on the 'Alvin'. Cesara rented a vacant granary to house Swadia refugees. Cesar lived up to the standard of living of the citizens of Rhodok by providing the refugees with a daily ration of dry bread, wine, and broth. The refugees were amazed by their father's identity, and when they learned that the young man was a Swadiaan, they even believed that it was a miracle that he was suddenly rescued by his own people while being taken captive thousands of miles from home, and this kind of story can only be seen in legends.

Captain Lily Marlene was declared free by her father after she landed and was no longer a captive. The captain was very cold to Cesar, especially to my father, but she did not dare to provoke them at will. Lily Marlene has been placed with the refugees, and she has been temporarily stripped of the leadership of the Elwyn, and will not know her fate until the military department finally decides what to do with the 'pioneers'.

Whenever my father and Cesar visited the refugees, Lily Marlene would sit at a distance and watch them take care of the refugees: bringing them mattresses, bringing doctors, and providing food.

Many years later, Uncle Cesar told me that Aunt Lili-Marien thought it very strange in her mind, because these young men were doing the same thing as the 'pioneers,' and had no resemblance to the greedy officers of other countries on the continent.

One day, while my father was wandering around the docks, the boatswain came running and pulled him into a tavern.

"Sir, Lord Veruga has written to me," said the boatswain whispered to my father from the noisy corner. The father knew that General Garcia had brought him news. My father called the waitress and asked for two large glasses of wine and jerky.

The boatswain thanked his father, but was a little picky in his heart, and he liked to drink Sarande's tequila spirits, which, in his words, were "not tasty enough." But now that it had happened suddenly, the boatswain had nothing to be picky about, and he took a sip of wine with a look on his face that felt delicious.

"So, what are you going to tell me?" Father asked, and during the pursuit of the Elwin, he sensed that the boatswain was somewhat abusive, especially when he finally executed the Salanders. The boatswain was laughing and crying at the captain's criticism, and did not understand why the captain was interceding for the enemy.

The boatswain drank and said to my father, "Fort Lundia has fallen, brave fellows, for almost a year".

Father chuckled in his heart, the time to come is still coming.

The boatswain's news came from the Viruga military department, and it would come a little faster than the other channels. Father knew that Fort Lundia was not a very important place for the others, so the boatswain would not come to inform him of the fall of a fortress in the Northland, and Garcia must have something else to inform him.

"Well, I see," my father was reluctant to express his disappointment, "Is there anything else you want to tell me?" ”

"Yes, you'll find out at once," laughed the boatswain, "and the old man told me to tell you, 'Get ready to kick the Salandians in the ass.'" ”

All of a sudden, Su Ge'er and Sabel's words appeared in his father's mind, could the prophecy really be so accurate? Will the Salanders ally with the Kujits, and the Rhodoks will side with the Swadiaks?

Father tried not to surprise his voice, "Did the Salanders attack the principality?" ”

"That's not true. And it came to pass that last month the messengers of Svadia went to Aaron, and the emperor of the northern kingdom was in a hurry. Do you know who that messenger is? It was the elder brother of the Grand Duke, the man who had just packed up his belongings and went to Svadia twenty years ago, running faster than the rabbits in the mountains. It's really a touching scene: they don't interact with each other in normal times, but once there is a crisis, they want to talk about brotherhood again. The Grand Duke and his elder brothers, Rhodok and Swadia, are truly a wonderful pair of metaphors. Well, then again, this man didn't go home empty-handed. The Grand Duke agreed to open the borders to receive the scattered troops and refugees from Swadia. As we speak, thousands of terrified refugees and dejected soldiers are crossing the border, fleeing the Kugit cavalry like a nightmare from the Serindir Forest and the Amera Pass."

"The Kujites' tactics are very negative, and they clearly have no intention of staying for long. They just looted, looted, and burned it down. Kugit's soldiers are said to have numbered as many as 15,000 men, like ants. If you add the servants, servants, commissars, and horse breeders who crossed the border with them, then in the whole of Eastern Svadia there may be more than 30,000 kugits on the rampage. The Kujits' plan was to quickly close the city of Dehrim, and I think the Kujits should have been planning for a long time. Their strategic goal was clear: to bypass or quickly break the eastern fortress defenses of Swadia, and then join forces at Dehrim. But Kugit lost his face under the city of Lundia Fort: the low Lundia Castle was less than a mile from the border, but it held Kugit back for a year. This gave the Swadians of Dehrim a year to prepare: they fortified the walls; Reinforcements were summoned from the west; Armed the surrounding farmers. To a large extent, Kugit's strategic objectives failed because Fort Lundia was nailed like a nail to its rear. ”

"King Kugit is so angry that you might think that the steppe people must have taken very extreme measures, such as slaughtering the city. But this time the Kugit did nothing, and it is said that the farmers in Fort Lundia and the surrounding areas were not punished by the Kugit after giving up their resistance, which is really surprising. Maybe it will be a long time before we know what happened. ”

"Fort Lundia has sucked more than 10,000 Kugit soldiers firmly on the northern front in the past year, so that they dare not move at will, which may be the reason why the hinterland of the empire has not been plagued by war so far. Whoever is in command of Fort Lundia, if he survives, then he has a bright future. ”

"Now the Kugit are at the end of their crossbows, and their soldiers are tired. You know, the military structure of the Kugit is not able to sustain it for a long time, unless it can be supplied on the spot in the field to feed the war. But now that it has been a year, the whole of Eastern Svadia has been decimated, the food reserves are almost exhausted, and it is no longer possible to supply the Kugit soldiers to organize a new strategic offensive. The Kugit are now firmly entrenched in the East Swadia Plain. It could not survive until production resumed, because its immigrants did not follow, and the local agricultural system was cleaned by it, and no amount of fertile land could bring it a single grain; And let the Kugit give up the land they have been given and return to the steppe, hehe, have you ever seen a robber who will loosen the looted goods? Now that Kujit's old strength has been exhausted, and the new strength has not been born, he can only stay in East Svadia and cannot move. But the Swadias are not idle, they have succeeded in bringing the Kugits to a halt, and now all the Swadias have to do is gather strength and start fighting back, and every day dozens or hundreds of people are trained, equipped and replenished into the Swadia army. It is said that the New Eastern Army, which had contracted to the city of Dehrim, had more than 4,000 soldiers, while in Chade there were 7,000 Swadia recruits ready to go, and hundreds or thousands of lords from all over the country would rush to the front at the king's command. When the time comes, the Swadias will be able to squeeze the Kugit out like oil. ”

"Kugit has now become the ruler of the whole of Eastern Swadia, but this is only a flash in the pan, and every day that passes, Swadia's counteroffensive is close to one day. Every Swadiya who fled to the rear was the backbone of the future counterattack against the Kujits. As you might expect, the contract between Rhodok and Swadia is simply worse for Kujitt. The main forces of the Kugit are now stretched to control the northeastern part of Svadia, let alone the dense villages and towns in the south. Now Rhodok has agreed to absorb refugees across the border, and as soon as the horn of the future Swadia counteroffensive is sounded, these refugees and armed forces will be able to suddenly cross the border from the rear and give it a big surprise behind the back of the Kujits. Will Kugit let it go with an empty rear? Of course not. The old man's point is here", the boatswain who had been talking for a long time had a dry mouth, took a sip of wine, and looked at my father.

"Salanders?" The father asked, the answer he had been told a few months earlier.

"Yes, the old man said 'the Kujit will definitely get the Salander bastards to help, get the little cub ready to kick the Salander ass'", the boatswain finished his words, "The old man asked me to tell you, don't be at odds with the 'Pioneers' lately, the short-sighted fellows of the Admiralty won't know how important the 'Pioneers' are in the war with the Salanders." He told you to have a good relationship with them, and no matter how much Aaron urged you, you tried to turn it down. A month, two months at most, and the Admiralty guys will change their orders to you. Because at that time'''"

"What?"

"Rhodok will form a formal alliance with Svadia, and as Rhodok's navy, if it were to attack the only port of the Salanders at sea, who better partner than the 'Pioneers'?" The boatswain laughed.

"And what if nothing happens by then?" , the father asked.

"Oh, then you go to Aaron and write a review to Enor, saying that you have severe diarrhea and that you have been delayed in seeing a doctor in Djerkhala".

"That's what the old man said?"

"What do you say?" The boatswain said meaningfully.

A little later, the father sent the boatswain away. It was still early in the morning, and he decided to go to the refugee settlement to see his compatriots. He jumped into a wagon, and when the coachman saw that it was a man from the navy, he adoringly lifted his hat and put it back on.

Most people in Rhodok didn't know that the war in the North would soon change their lives, and no one would have imagined that the Rhodok soldiers would fight under the same banner as the Swadia soldiers. The whole city of Djerkhara is now quiet and peaceful, and my father would even think that if the people here were to choose, not a single one would want Rhodok to fight, although it was selfish, and my father very much hoped that Rhodok's well-armed and well-trained soldiers would alleviate the suffering of his homeland. But if this behavior will bring great suffering to Roddock, then his father will not bear it.

He jumped down around the granary, and the groom was surprised, "You're going to see the Swadia refugees?" ”

"Yes, thank you for sending me, sir."

"It's okay, stop by anyway. Do you know about the refugees in this? They were kidnapped by hundreds of vicious pirates, but the warriors of the Valley of the White Dove eliminated the pirates, who were said to have suffered heavy casualties and were left with only over seventy remaining. Tsk, what a brave bunch of soldiers, Rhodok will be a rock behind them! It is said that the captain of the White Dove Valley was a giant-like figure more than two meters tall and weighing hundreds of pounds, and in the battle he single-handedly broke six oars of the enemy ship. If you can meet him, please say hello to him on my behalf. ”

"Uh'' Good, okay. But I think you're talking about Cesar's first mate on the 'White Pigeon Valley', the captain only broke a few pulps, but the first mate broke one of the masts of an enemy ship with one hand, like a diner breaking a toothpick. If you have the chance, you should publicize his deeds."

"All of you are heroes, sir, and I will not forget your request," said the faithful coachman, with a look of surprise and admiration, and once more he lifted his hat and drove his horse away.

The father looked at this simple citizen, and a sudden feeling of guilt swelled in his heart, and their quiet life was about to be broken. He adjusted his mind one last time, pushed open the door of the warehouse, and walked inside. As he walked along, the Svadians stood up and greeted him when they saw him. He nodded, and walked on, wanting to speak with the Elvin clerk to see if there was anything he needed help with.

He stood outside the door of the clerk's office, and saw Lily Marie sitting expressionlessly, quietly listening to Cesar talking.

Suddenly, the clerk quietly approached and patted my father on the shoulder. The father turned around suspiciously, and the clerk smiled awkwardly:

"Hello Mr. Captain, Mr. Cesar's first mate came early in the morning, and he has been talking to Miss for a day, and he can't be urged to leave, and Miss is embarrassed to drive him away. Can you take the first mate of Cesara with you? He is always welcome to come back, but today is too long for the young lady to get bored. We don't know what to do. ”

"Huh?"