"You held out for a week"

These were the first words Giovanni said to me when he saw me, and at that time I had filled my stomach, but I felt ashamed that I had kept my secret for a week, I thought I was a man who could keep it for others to death, but now it seems that simple hunger can get everything out of my mouth

After I had eaten my fill, the priest and the officer asked Giovanni in detail about his origins, and I told them that Giovanni was a lord of Varankov, and that his father had given him a domain, and that his property consisted of a forest, an abandoned monastery converted barracks, several farms, and that he had the right to take three percent of Varankov's taxes

What puzzled me a little was that they had a thorough understanding of my name, but after I told the truth, they didn't dig into my background, I told them that I was from Valankov's lord's family, and I was sent to Lucasino's house as a hostage, and after hearing the news, several Berks who interrogated me muttered for a while, and actually stopped asking about my lord's information, as if they knew that Valankov's lords were just some puppets

This time, they were wrong, Count Kalinin was not a puppet lord, and if the Burks wanted to attack Little East Lake City, Count Kalinin would definitely be one of the people they would meet

"I'm sorry" I barely dared to face Giovanni

"No," said Giovanni, "you have nothing to be sorry for Vido, we are all waiting for you to let go, in fact, you can tell these people at the beginning: I am Giovanni, and you are Victor, and you should even tell them directly that my identity is from the lord of Valankov, I asked you to change your identity, just to make this journey less troublesome now, we don't need a name"

I was confused, "What do you mean?" ”

"Well," said Giovanni, "that's right, after I identified myself, the Burkes heard a completely different answer from you, and as a result the time when the head of the Order received me was repeatedly postponed, and to this day I did not expect you to insist that you are Jack, and have been insisting for a week"

"I thought if I told you who you were, you'd be in for a big disaster."

"If I don't want the Burks to know who I am, my best bet is to avoid the Burkes, and if I really need to deceive the Burkes, how could I bring you with me, I'm sorry, Victor, I'm not saying you can't be trusted, I mean, it's easier for me to come alone" He patted me on the shoulder, "I didn't expect you to take what I said casually so seriously"

"This," my mind raced, and I didn't even understand if I was dragging Giovanni down, or if Giovanni was hurting me, "why don't you tell me about it?" I was so hungry that I almost ate rats for a week."

"If you were Burke, would you let me see you? Come to think of it, you're smart enough to understand this, but it's okay that you've made the Burkes believe me."

A few Burkes listened carefully to Giovanni's conversation with me, and one of them shook his head when he heard this

"Wikibians, we didn't say that"

"First, I'm not from Wiki, I'm from Valan, second," Giovanni pointed at me and said to them, "Now I think you should understand that I am not lying, in fact, precisely because my squire has been trying to mislead you, and now you should take my word for it"

"You're a little character," said the other Burke coldly, "so don't take yourself too seriously, and your squire doesn't say the same thing as you say, you're in danger right now, and if you dare to play any tricks, we'll give you Lech's Gift."

Lech's bounty, cutting off his head and sticking it in a stake is something that scares both the Wikibians and the Burkes

"Of course," Giovanni nodded, "I don't have to involve myself if I want to deceive you."

A few Burks glanced at each other and began to discuss again, their conversation became more and more intense, and even began to argue, I did not understand a word of Burke, but there were a few words that were very clear and easy to understand, and many words were copied from Swadia and Chanda, especially Chanda

After a while, the priest motioned for silence and announced something to them

After the priest finished speaking, several Burkes muttered for a while, and then stopped arguing

The priest cleared his throat and clenched his withered fingers together, "The Commander of the Order will see you in the afternoon, you had better clean your head of all the lies from now on in the afternoon, once the Commander is not at all wrong, our soldiers will send you to the gallows, and it is no loss to lose a boyar who came to defect, and it is no problem to hang a Vyars who are full of lies."

"I understand, Your Excellency," said Giovanni, "except that I want to emphasize one more thing, I am a Valan, not a Vycchian, and the Duchy of Berke was founded by Emperor Chanda, and you should understand the difference between Valans and Vecchians."

"It seems to us," said one officer, "that there is no difference between the enemy

"A friend who sits down in front of you, a friend who is willing to cooperate with you, a friend who may be hanged at any time but still comes to negotiate with you, if you call this an enemy, then the Valans are Wikibians"

"It's useless to talk too much," the priest stood up, hiding his hand in his sleeve, "I'll say that the head of the regiment will summon you two in the afternoon."

The men began to walk out one after another, and I began to regret that if I hadn't insisted that I was Jack, the Burkes would have started negotiating with Giovanni a week ago, and that I might have been back in Valankov by now

A question arose in my mind, why did the Burkes use the slowest method to get the secret out of my mouth? I have heard that the Burkes are very knowledgeable about torture, and I shudder with rejoicing: if the Berks whipped me, I guess in half a day what the Berks were thinking, I can't guess

The two soldiers stayed behind and walked outside with Giovanni and me, and we were to be separated for a while before Giovanni met Grand Master

"What the hell are you going to talk to the Burkes?" I asked Giovanni, "If I am asked again, how will I answer?" ”

"I don't think you need to answer anything, I'll do the rest," Giovanni said, but one of the soldiers pushed him aside, "I don't need you to say anything," he finally instructed

Yes, I don't need to answer because of me, so it was delayed for so long

In the afternoon, instead of being taken back to the small room, I was taken to a small warehouse, where an old soldier was cleaning the room, and when I sat on the side and had nothing to do, the old soldier asked me to help, he took out a few walnuts, broke them with a large wooden board, and handed them to me, after eating the walnuts, I was embarrassed to refuse his request for help, my stomach was still swollen, but I always felt very hungry, although I felt that I had eaten enough, but I always wanted to eat something more, Alexey told me, There are often sailors who, after not eating for a long time, eat food and eat so much that they swell themselves to death, so although I want to eat, I dare not eat too much

I helped him pack the wood dregs in a cloth bag, wedged the chair with loose legs, and packed some leather into the box

After we had been busy for more than an hour, the veteran sat down on a leather cushion, bit the plug of a wine bag, and asked me if I was drinking

"Thank you," I said to him, "I don't drink and I've eaten enough to dare eat any more."

"Don't dare?" The veteran asked me suspiciously

"Well, I've been hungry for a long time, I've eaten a lot, I'm afraid I'll be swollen to death if I eat again"

"Hey," the veteran smiled contemptuously, "you don't look like you're hungry except you're a little pale, I think you're healthy, you should go to the desert where the food is not harvested and see the children there, then you'll know what it's like to be hungry for a long time."

Nodding, "I haven't been hungry for this long before" I was a little embarrassed, and I didn't want to tell the veteran why I was starving

"It's not easy to starve, throw you into a food shortage, find you out in a few months, and you'll be almost there" said the veteran, "Your stomach hasn't been exercised yet, a good stomach needs to be able to digest everything: bark and grass roots, a little flour soup, everything, everything, everything can be digested, and then it becomes strength, haha"

"I'm in a cell," I said angrily, "not to mention flour soup, not even bark and grass roots"

"Aren't there rats?"

"I don't eat mice"

"Hehe," the veteran smiled slyly again, "Sure enough, you're not hungry, you're still alive and kicking, I feel like you're not starved, you should be so hungry that you can't walk, you can't even drink thin cereal."

"Then you might as well just beat me up."

A cold glint flashed in the veteran's eyes, "Do you know why you weren't beaten?" ”

"Because I am a servant of the lord, I have immunity" I couldn't help but crack another walnut and pick up the kernels from it to eat

The veteran's expression changed from grim to smiling, "Immunity? I don't think anyone on the warring sides would think of such a thing."

"Why is that?"

The veteran squinted at me, but in the end he didn't say anything, "Okay, let's not talk about this, your lord, he's an ambitious guy."

"I don't know anything"

"Hehe, how could you not know that you ran hundreds of miles with him and ran into the enemy pile, is this kind of guy a guy who keeps to himself?"

"It's your business, I don't know anything"

"Oh," the veteran stroked his beard, "then I won't ask you, but for yourself, what do you think of your lord's outing?" Kindness? You can't come here for an outing, it's winter."

"I'm here to negotiate with you," I said to him, "for the sake of peace."

The veteran looked at me in surprise, then burst out laughing

"Peace?" The veteran's face turned red, and a soldier outside glanced curiously inside, and immediately bowed his head and left, the veteran looked out quietly, and then continued to say to me, "The Berks have hundreds of soldiers in the Riverlands, and the Vicchians maintain more than a dozen stone towers, fortresses, and fortresses along the East Lake, and all the winter, all the blacksmith shops are making armor, shields, arrows, and swords, and then you tell me, a young man who smells of vultures all over his body is here to seek peace, haha"

"Who are you?" I asked him, "What are you asking me for?"

"Let's talk casually, it's fun to listen to children say stupid things"

"I'm fourteen years old, not a child"

"But you're not as knowledgeable as a nine-year-old girl, at least my nine-year-old daughter is much smarter than you, and you're certainly not fourteen," the veteran rolled his eyelids

I knew that it was useless for me to speak beautifully, and it was probably no secret that I could see the situation clearly, so I simply said what was in my heart

"Well," I said to him, "you Burks want to encourage the people of Little East Lake City to rebel, and my lord has come to negotiate with you."

The veteran's brows furrowed, and he immediately showed a serious expression, "Well, it's a little interesting, go on?" ”

"Then," I pondered whether I should continue, "and then what my lord wants to negotiate with you is something that has something to do with Little East Lake City."

Count Kalinin said that the opportunity is in the small East Lake City, and the few words I have learned from all over the place tell me that the break between the small East Lake City and the cities of Vecchia is inevitable, and that there will be a battle on the shores of the East Lake, and the Varankovs now want to benefit from it

"Well," said the old man, he found a little Maza, and sat down peacefully, and I was suddenly shocked, this man sat down with such an imposing appearance, like old man Peter, "how can you benefit?" ”

"Destroy the city of Little East Lake, and let your wishes be frustrated," I told him, "so that you will not find a place to stay, and you will stay honestly in the riverlands, and then this victory will encourage the rebels here, and you will fall into a continuous uprising"

"Oh," replied the old man, "if that's the case, why did the lord of your house come to me?" Wouldn't it be good for him to stay in the barracks and train his soldiers, and then attack before we have time to help Xiaodonghu City? ”

Momentary aphasia

"Silly boy," said the veteran, "even if you destroy Little East Lake City, the Burkes' westward march will only be a little more troublesome, and as for encouraging the rebels, there is no way to talk about it, this is just a counterinsurgency by the Wikibians, and the people of Riverlands will probably be demoralized because of the Wikibians' roommates, who will regard the counterinsurgency victory as a real victory?" If the Valans destroy the Little East Lake City, then it is really a fool The Valans destroyed the Little East Lake City, and their own vitality was greatly damaged, and then the entire East Lake coast was panicked and the defense was empty, even if the Burks did not come, I am afraid that the council of Ivangelod would take the opportunity to disintegrate these powerful autonomous cities, and what interests would there be"

"So what? Let the people of Xiaodonghu City defect to you, and then be powerful in the Donghu area? "I was so forced to say nothing

"Nor is that," said the veteran, "why can't the Valans work with the Burkes instead of the people of Little East Lake?" ”

"This," I didn't think that if this was really the case, Giovanni was assigned by Count Kalinin? No, Count Kalinin would have sent Alexei or Yuri, could Giovanni have been sent by Lucasino's father?

"Would you agree?"

"Of course not," said the veteran, "the people of Little East Lake City talk about rules, it is a commercial city that can be negotiated, and doing business with this kind of city, stupid national enthusiasm will not hinder cooperation, but Valankov is different, the people there are quite like bears, and they are very proud, and it is not easy to get along, if they can, everyone will choose Little East Lake City."

"Then what are you going to talk about with my lord, wouldn't it be good to drive us back?"

"Having said that," the veteran pouted, "but if Valankov really defeats Little East Lake City, then we can only choose Valankov To be honest, the Burkes actually can't intervene in the matter of the other side of East Lake, if the Valans really defeat the people of Little East Lake City and look for an opportunity to cooperate with us, I'm afraid we can only accept it"

""

"Really?" The veteran had an unfathomable expression, "What's so bad about letting the Wikibians deal with the Wikibians?" And sooner or later, Little East Lake City will rebel, but sooner or later, according to the long-term exhibition, let Valankov be the agent, maybe it will be more worry-free."

"Is Giovanni and I actually here to apply to be traitors?" At least Little East Lake City is your ally? ”

"Not yet," the veteran stood up, "it doesn't matter who you support, you have proven your strength first, and then the city-states that cooperate with us will definitely benefit greatly if there is a conflict in the future, then we will say that what we need now is to let the Wikibians mess up first, as for how you mess up, it's your own business"

"We will not betray the interests of our fellow citizens"

"Don't be stupid," the veteran knocked another walnut for me, followed by a second one, "You can see some things quite clearly, although a little stupid, but not stupid yet"

"If Valankov captures the city of Little East Lake, will you recognize the lord of Valankov? Or the Lucasinosinos? ”

"Who is the lord of Valankov? I don't even know him and the Lucasino family? Who can speak on their behalf? I still don't know."

"And who do you recognize?"

My chest suddenly tightened, and Giovanni's slightly sly smile came to my mind

The veteran looked at me with interest and said, "Child, your expression is too straightforward, this is a boy's expression but this world is not a boy's, this world belongs to men, you should kill all the boys in your heart as soon as possible, leaving all the space to become a man"

He suddenly stood up and touched his beard: "Amazing, it's really a young man, and a team of a hundred people wants to be the lord of the famous city" I knew he was talking about Giovanni

"Giovanni couldn't have made it," I said to the veteran, feeling as if I had been deceived by Giovanni

"You don't count that," said the veteran, "I'll have to talk to him myself and see if he can make it."

The veteran gave me one last look, pushed the door open and walked out

The soldiers outside bowed their heads and saluted him, and as he walked by, the soldiers all respectfully said, "Commander".