Garmic Fort.

The victorious soldiers held a grand celebration, and the local Rhodoks came to meet the soldiers and contributed the few foods.

The fortress of Gamichi, which had been run by the Sultan of Salander for many years, left him, and although the rule of the Salanders was moderate and incorruptible, they did not enjoy the support of the native Rhodoks. The assimilation policy of the Salanders tends to be based on a number of criteria, such as in Barrière, where the assimilation policy of the Salanders is active and thorough; At Kamitchburg, the religious power of the Salanders was mediocre. Such a lively civilian-military celebration would not have been possible if a third of the inhabitants of Fort Garmic had converted their faith in the sixteen years since the fall began.

The Rhodok soldiers of the fortress of Garmic ate at the table that the Salanders had used not long ago, and in the kitchen, the local cook, after a few days of panic, returned to work as before. The traces of the Salanders seem to have been completely erased, except for the Salander-style dome of the fort, which tells the story of how the Salanders once ruled the area.

The officers and soldiers at the bottom did not know the intricate game behind the fortress of Garmic, and what they saw was a war in which the Rhodoks attacked slightly after the battle began, and then conquered the fort under a sneak attack. The Rhodok soldiers had no reason not to rejoice in the simplicity of the victory, and with this encouragement, the hundreds of dead comrades seemed to be less grieving, and the soldiers discovered the beauty of war, knowing that once they returned home, they would be treated like heroes, especially those who had made meritorious contributions.

My father was surprised to learn from Garcia that there was a split within Salander, because he had been unprepared for it before. He always thought that everything was simple: Salander helped Svadia's enemies, and Rhodok was a friend of Svadia, so Rhodok entered the war and was victorious.

It was only at this time that my father vaguely felt that the soldiers fought dutifully and sacrificed their lives, while many people only regarded all this as a strategy. The soldiers are just pawns, and the people are just bait to lure the enemy.

After Garcia's explanation, his father fell into a state of loss. He couldn't understand why Garcia would be so desperate for the life and death of a soldier.

"Uncle Garcia, are you saying that our whole war is not about assisting the Swadiaans, not about saving civilians, not about administering justice. Are we just trying to lure the Salanders into civil strife and then profit from it? In other words, if the Salanders were as solid as a rock, the principality would not have gone to war? ”

"Little Arcadio," Garcia knew the young officer's mind, "there are some things that your father knows better than you do. There has never been a distinction between good and evil in war. Not really. You have to keep this in mind, I remember that your father also came to the war with a noble sense of mission, and once your father discovered the nature of war, he was no longer willing to go to war. This is the difference between me and your father, he chose to leave, I chose to stay, that's all. War is very simple, just the pursuit of interests, if you carefully analyze each war, you will find that behind them, there is a hidden conflict of interests. ”

"Uncle, you didn't understand what I said. We've come all the way to fight here, just because Rhodok can take a fortress? What about so many refugees? I've heard that before the attack on the fortress of Gamici, you said that it was revenge for General Gamic sixteen years ago, is this also a lie? ”

His father's last words made Garcia's face look unhappy, "Listen, if the most I've thought about in these sixteen years is not to avenge General Garmic, then I should go to hell when I die." But hopes and dreams cannot be used to fight, nor are they grounds for war. As you said, the Duchy may have had an impure purpose in going to war, and there were many conclaves that made the war taste bad. But you have to know that as a country, there is no such thing as a righteous feeling. I don't want to talk to you about this anymore, I am not obligated to waste time on your naivety, you are already a man, you have to think about these things clearly. ”

Father never noticed that Garcia had become so cold, and Garcia continued: "You can think that the country is full of intrigues, and there is nothing to be ashamed of, because this is the real world, and it is not justice that protects the people, but all kinds of means." This is not the bedside story you heard as a child: the beautiful outcome of the victory of good and the defeat of evil. Behind all the seemingly reasonable policies of the state, there is a deliberate plan. There is nothing to blame for this. ”

"But you have to believe that although we can't control things at the national level, and sometimes we do things that go against our conscience, we have to believe that people's hearts are unchanging. The nobility of your own heart is unmatched, but don't expose it, let alone make a big deal about it, because it will be of no use except to kill you. ”

"All the saints have died, this is not a pessimistic summary, but a fact. Maybe there are real saints in this world, then let them live in their hearts, and don't let them out, otherwise they will be killed by this world immediately, and we ourselves will be implicated. This is not to teach you to be evil, it just tells you the fact that many times, justice cannot be used as a guide for your actions. ”

Garcia talked for a long time, but in the end it didn't convince my father, Garcia shook his head, knowing that his efforts had no effect.

"Let's go", Garcia stopped looking at my father and looked at the papers on the desktop instead, "We'll talk about this later".

Garcia's words were wise, but at that time, my father had vowed from the bottom of his heart that he would always be on the side of justice and weakness.

He couldn't agree with Garcia, which may have been the source of his later tragedy.

And although Garcia praised him and Wright as eagles in front of people, in private, Garcia made all kinds of criticisms of my father's behavior. For example, he risked politics to reach out to pioneers, such as when he went alone to rescue refugees. If it weren't for the coincidence of all kinds of good luck, my father might have died many times ago.

Garcia tried to make the young man know more about the nature of the world when he was on the front, but Garcia did not succeed. This young man had been instilled with a creed of extreme holiness and innocence, and if his father had been a monk with peace of mind, and had studied the scriptures in a monastery deep in the mountains and forests, and had written and spoken in a monastery, he might have been able to live a lifetime of well-being. But my father has always tried to catch up with the footsteps of this world, and the times have entered a dark age, full of wars and riots, and my father's knightly way has left him behind by the times.

In the years that followed, my father tried to prove that his faith was the only way to restore the purity and beauty of the world, and in some events, people seemed to really see a bright age, a kingdom of kindness and trust, and a kingdom of heaven where God's grace was sprinkled on the earth.

But soon, my father's flame was extinguished on the cold earth. That was many years later, when I was four years old.

I have no right to comment on my father's status. For many years afterward, he was called a demon by the nobles and a saint by the peasants; He was despised by his enemies as an idiot, and by the revolutionaries he was called an immature; He was hated by the emperor, and he was missed by the people.

When Calad became more and more fanatical, his father kept his heart like a clear spring. When he found that the earth was already full of cruelty, his father stood on the opposite side of the world, trying to make it change direction, it was obvious that it was in vain, the wheel of the great era would not stop because of one person's obstruction, and his father was crushed.

However, the glory of my father was not in vain, he showed everyone that there was still goodness and glory in this world, and people began to examine their silence from the blood of one person. When people finally stop being numb because they are moved and ashamed, the world will change again. At that time, people will find that my father is not a person who is behind the times, on the contrary, he is a person who is too far ahead of the times.

When the battle of Garmic spread throughout Karad in a state of jubilation, my father was left alone. He knew the kind of conspiracy Garcia was talking about, and he knew the kind of glory that Garcia was after, but he didn't know how to combine the two things. In his view, this could not be combined.

His thoughts were so complicated that he didn't know what he was doing, as if everything he had done had lost its meaning at some point.

In the fortress of Gamic, the father's helpers conducted many trials. Many Salander officials were found guilty, and the Rhodoks near Gamic came forward to testify against Salander officials who had not had time to escape, and many were hanged, and many Salanders hung from the palm trees near Gamic.

Garcia knew that the Salanders might not have been guilty, but they had been falsely accused because they were envied for their land and wealth. But Garcia had no choice, he had to stabilize the locals as soon as possible, and in order to do so, the Salanders and their wealth had to be sacrificed. Some of the Rhodoc families in the vicinity of Garmic, after receiving a generous gift from General Garcia, were determined to support the government of Kiallon. Garcia knew that he couldn't tell my father about it, or my father wouldn't know how he would feel.

Garcia felt that one day, his father would be more mature and understand how the world worked. It was Garcia's mistake, he waited for my father's own groping, he thought my father would finally succumb to the times, but he was wrong.

My father used to fight desperately for glory in the carriage; once fought for faith in the wheat field to save the weak; He once fought for freedom in Mill Hill to uphold justice.

When his father found out one day that he was going to do something for the whole world, he didn't hesitate to make that later decision. The impact of that decision was so great that, many years later, the deeds of the lord on the other side of the mountain were remembered.

Some say he's a hero. But my mentor told me that there was nothing special about my father, that he was a poor man who had been left behind by the great times because of his kindness. Just as the first ray of light at dawn will be swallowed up by darkness, so too will my father's fate.

I remember, at that time, I was just four years old.

From that day on, I suddenly wondered why my father didn't come back to me once in a while.

My grandfather never told me why, and he gently tucked the quilt on me those nights.

"Dad is sick and will come back later".

Grandfather always said that.

By the time I was ten years old, I had always thought that my father had been sick for six years.

I was deeply impressed by those years--- my family was decaying at a breakneck rate.