Outside the door, a dog stuck its nose through the crack in the door, licked the door frame with its tongue, sneezed, and ran away

The sun was warm outside, and there was a muffled voice of speech, and although the city was littered with ruins, it was as if it were just an ordinary town office: lazy officials listlessly transcribing official documents, soldiers snoozing against the wall with spears, and petitioning citizens pleading to the city magistrate for help

The snow has stopped for a long time, the sky is blue, it looks like there will be no snow in the next few days, the snow will melt away, the fog is rising, the black soil will gradually be revealed on the earth, although it will not be long before the white snow will cover it all but who cares, it is enough to have such a little time to rest

The sky turned the color of a lake, then to ruby, and finally to a dull patch

The cold wind replaced the warm afternoon sun, the wall outside the house was blown by the wind, and the dead branches of a tree by the wall crackled on the corner of the room, and a soldier opened the door just as I began to fear that I might be confined to this small room for a few more days

When I saw Giovanni again, I thought he looked so strange

Count Kalinin, Old Man Leo, Daddy Lucasino, Garrison Nicholas, these people all treat me like a pawn, some people value me and take care of me more, some people think I don't care, so they send me around to fill the vacancies, maybe I shouldn't think that way at all, because they themselves are not doing anything wrong, this is their rule: they demand my allegiance, serve them, and then they give me enough rewards and send me out at critical moments

Although I feel uncomfortable in my heart, I think it's a normal thing if I'm a boy, then this kind of thing is a bit cruel, but if I'm a man, then this kind of thing should be a normal thing

I feel bad because I see them as friends and relatives

I once saw the lord's creed in it, and one of them was not to make friends with his subordinates, because one day ** may have to execute him with his own hands, because one day ** may have to send him to the battlefield of death, if friendship softens your will at a critical moment, it may cause extremely serious consequences I used to regard this creed as a legend of ancient times, but now I know that this creed is still very popular around me

Count Kalinin needs a hostage, Garrison Nikolai needs a marriage, Old Man Lucasino needs a possible friend, Giovanni needs an identity person, although I am not very useful, many times just a symbol as a hostage, I am of little use; As a marriage partner, I don't have any guarantees; As a friend, I wasn't important enough to influence the situation; As a verifier, Giovanni didn't even think of my usefulness, and I proved it by mistake, and a little reckless people could execute us, and I even thought that the Burkes should throw me and Giovanni on death row, and then send someone to inquire about it, or send someone to spread the news of Giovanni's army mutiny, wouldn't that be good?

I've heard a lot of stories, I've read a lot, but I haven't taken the principles of life to heart, but some people never read them, they don't have any knowledge, but they have been practicing all kinds of communication skills

In all kinds of games of profit, they are skilled skinners, and I am the lamb to the slaughter

Giovanni walked over, "Vidor"

"You're going to be a traitor"

"Victor?" Giovanni looked at me with some confusion

"You're going to work with the Burkes"

One of the Burke officers around had an exaggerated expression, he looked at us, motioned for us to follow, turned around with his hands behind his back, and we followed him all the way out

The officer took us into a carriage and drove us out along the avenue More than a week ago, I had seen the roadside, and now when I looked back, I felt that the ruined war had taken away the prosperity of the place, and now it was only poverty and despair, at least in my opinion

The current false peace in the Riverlands is coming to an end, and once the civil strife in Vekia begins, Lech will return to the Riverlands, and the boyars who cooperate with the Burks will definitely repeat, and the entire Riverlands will become a battlefield

The carriage creaked and led us through the alley, passing over a stone bridge, two soldiers burned a few firewood in a large iron bucket, rubbed their hands together and stood in front of the fire, and when they saw our carriage, these soldiers pulled away a horse on the bridge, and the horseman was a Vecchian, he nodded flatteringly to the Burkes, and shrank his head to flatter, and several Burkes ignored him, and only greeted the officers and soldiers who escorted us

Eventually, we were housed in a tavern by the river

This is a place where mercenaries gather, spies and spies, assassins and girls, drunkards and merchants have crowded this place since the Chanda period, this is the center of town gatherings, but at that time there were some public baths built of stone, at that time, citizens would take a bath while talking about town affairs or plotting conspiracies, slaves brought water from the elevated canal, heated it and poured it into the bathroom, and some slave girls would heat special stones, and then use small spoons to scoop water and sprinkle it on the stones, The steaming fog makes it difficult to see anything a few feet away

We went into a small room, where the officer gave Giovanni a few words and walked away, and before he left, the officer threw a noble wrench to Giovanni

The commotion came from outside, but Giovanni and I had nothing to talk about

"Victor," Giovanni said to me, spreading a woolen blanket out on the bed, "do you have nothing to tell me?" ”

Then he went to the door, looked outside, and told an old man to come and add firewood to the river, there is a lot of forest, and the firewood in the inn does not need money, but the food and wine will be more expensive, but fortunately, the Burks did not embezzle Giovanni's money, and Giovanni negotiated the price with the old man at the door, and closed the door, "Say what you have," he urged me

"You want to cooperate with the Burkes," I still can't accept this, "your lord is preparing to fight them, you have betrayed him, you are the boyar of Vekia, you are a member of the parliament, but you came to the Berks to confess you, what do you say to your family?" Also, as far as I know, there are some Vekia families who were exterminated by the Berks, and you also betrayed them and were exterminated as a nobleman, which is something that only the most brutal Emperor Chanda would do, and you cooperate with the Berks, are you not afraid of incurring such retribution in the future? ”

"Who did I betray?" Giovanni said, "My lord? Victor, I haven't met the old Kalinin loach, nor have I sworn allegiance to him, he's just my boss, but not my lord, so I can't be considered a betrayal."

Giovanni stood up, because the old man outside the door was trembling and bringing in a bag of firewood, the old man helped us to build the stove, and slurred our words told us to be careful of the felt, so as not to catch fire and harm others and ourselves The old man chattered for a long time before Giovanni beat him away

"As for the Boyar Council," Giovanni continued, "you see, it wasn't the Council that elected us, but the Council that formed it, and we swore to protect our territory, and we joined the Council to defend our land, but now, there are many people who see this creed as worthless, and if you insist on it at this time, you are really a fool, and we should do it first to protect ourselves than to let others do it to harm us."

"As for what to do with my family, you don't have to worry, Victor," he fiddled with the stove with his iron chisel

A drunken man slammed open the door with a wine glass and a woman in his arms

Giovanni glared coldly at the man, who looked around the room, and now that he had gone to the wrong door, he apologized, turned his head and kissed the girl, and withdrew

"You are an officer of the family," I said to Giovanni, "I have seen the list, Lucasino has given you a third of the soldiers of the family, and all your things have been given to you by Daddy Peter, but now you have to carry him behind his back to form an alliance with the enemy, more than a year ago, the Valans were still fighting the Burkes with swords and axes in the riverlands, I have heard that Valan is a warrior, but I have not heard that Valan is a traitor"

The two accusations I made now had no effect on Giovanni, and I had to accuse him of betraying his family

"Victor," said Giovanni, "did you know that the inheritance of the Valans is to leave everything to the eldest son, in case the family splits? ”

"I know," I said to him, "that your actions are shameful that Papa Peter has allocated you land and property, but you are still"

"No," Giovanni interrupted me with a gentle smile, "the old man did not break with tradition, everything in the house was given to Konstantin"

"This You"

"To be fair, I have nothing to complain," said Giovanni, "all the Valans are the same, and the eldest son of the Corwin family can inherit the grain trader, but the younger sons of their family have been sent to the west, and I have heard that the best one is among the four sons of the Mel family, who is able to inherit the mercenary school, and the other sons can only be coaches in it at most during the battle of the Riverlands, and the two sons of the Mel family died in front of me, and one was shot through the throat by a crossbow, One was pierced in the chest with a riding gun."

"Your barracks and manor"

"I got it on my own," Giovanni recalled, "I stole the farmer's sheep, helped the lord to raid his opponent's castle, burned down the enemy's wheat fields, and helped the Crerians besiege the rebellious tribes in the desert, where I saved a few captives, who became my men, and I think you already knew them."

I thought of Joey and the Salander or Creelian who had returned home

"Then I continued to be a mercenary, exchanging heads for gold," Giovanni's gaze became cold, "I have been to the west, and participated in the defense of Zhivadin by King Vecchia, but the Svadian soldiers drowned us like a tidal wave, and I lost almost half of my men, and King Vicchia refused to pay my salary in the end, so I had to rob the village all the way back to the snowy mountains, but near the snowy mountains, a group of Kugit robbers took most of my booty, and my soldiers fought thousands of miles, After years of suffering and almost nothing, many people took advantage of the darkness to leave, and when I returned to Varykov, there were only about twenty people left"

"There were rebels in Valan," Giovanni smiled cruelly, "a group of defecting soldiers colluded with some mercenaries to occupy the monastery and the surrounding borderless forest, I suspect that this is the work of the Ivangorod Council, but no family is willing to help put down the rebellion, at this time, I am back" Giovanni looked at me and said, "How is it?" Lad? Do you feel that my situation at that time is somewhat similar to that of someone? ”

"You"

"I know what awaits me," said Giovanni, "no one saw me with chilblains, no one saw me hungry, no one saw me sell their swords in exchange for a bite to eat, people just rejoiced in my presence and saved them a lot of trouble, the day after I came back, the wound festered and began to burn, but Konstantin gave me six horses, a pile of broken copper and iron, and a few criminals who were going to be executed to me, and asked me to go and put down the rebellion, and they estimated that the rebels numbered more than a hundred"

"I don't feel that this is enough," Giovanni stared at the flames, the light of which jumped in his pupils, "so he borrowed a blanket to wrap around himself, and asked a messenger to take me to Little East Lake City by the way, to find my young friend Ali Finally, the Creelian guild decided to lend me a sum of money and a bag of wool diamonds, and when I returned, I brought back more than twenty soldiers of my own choosing, but I am now, my people who have remained in Valankov have starved to the bones, and my family is the one you call extremely generous, Can't even give them a few barrels of bread and wine."

"I went into the forest with a team of less than fifty men," Giovanni sniffled, "I have two hundred rebels, not a hundred, they have crossbows and axes, most of them have light leather armor, and a few are armed with chain mail, I am not ordinary bandits who gather to fight against me, this is a rebel soldier who is supported by the council for sedition, so I pretend to join them"

I bit my lip

"Yes," said Giovanni, "when I was about to become friends with them, my men slit the throats of these people one night" Giovanni's voice was as cold as iron, "Victor, you know what? An inconsequential person, a person who can be used at any time, a person who has no support like me, just like you have a lot of things that others don't need to do, but for you, if you don't do it, you don't even have a chance to survive."

"I and my men disgracefully killed more than thirty people that day," Giovanni recalled, "and more than twenty were executed in the corner, and those people knelt and begged for mercy, but I had too few men to answer them," Giovanni sighed, "The next day, I took over the monastery and the rebels dispersed, but strangely enough, after some time, the council of Ivangelrod actually took my own initiative to admit me as a councilor, and recognized me as the boyarvedo of the forest, you know what that means?" ”

"Ivangorod wants you to contain Valankov," I replied

"That's right, for Ivangorod, it doesn't matter who the rebels are, just let Valankov be honest," Giovanni then asked me, "Ivangorod would do this, why wouldn't the Burkes?" ”

At this point, Giovanni stopped talking

Before going to bed, he told me, "Also, don't you care about the people of Riverlands at the last point?" I think we have more than twenty days left."

"What for?"

"Go and see the river," he said to me, "and investigate what is going on with the Lower Puning family".