While I was traveling in the closed East Wiki, the pioneers approached Jill.

The former needs a strong supporter, and the latter needs the trade routes that the former has already opened, and the two are a perfect fit.

The Pioneers were a young and reckless group of minor nobles, merchants, and scholars who were dissatisfied with the status quo. This fills the pioneers with romance and pathos with them. When Emperor Frederick befriended the Pioneers, none of the nobles of Eastern Svadia would have said that the Pioneers' views were astonishing, and they praised the Pioneers as a group of clever men who could conjure gold out of thin air, fill a city with goods, and more importantly, cure some of the little problems that men could not talk about. This made the pioneers very popular in Eastern Swadia. No matter how debauched the private life of the pioneers was, the nobles would only praise it with gusto, but when it came to some terrible political opinions, it was unforgivable for the nobles.

The pioneers showed an infinite zeal for the revival of the council of the ancient Chanda, and they constantly persuaded Frederick that once the power was devolved to the hierarchy, they would be able to obtain the sworn allegiance of the nobles, and even the commoners, even if they had nothing to do with them, would shed tears and feel noble. The lobbyists broke through the threshold of the aristocracy at all levels, let them free the serfs, set up some cities under their direct control as free cities, and handed them over to the merchants who knew how to govern, and the reasons of the pioneers were clear: the nobles knew how to fight, and the merchants knew how to make money, and each took what he wanted, and there was nothing wrong with it.

The question is, why did the aristocracy do this?

If there's nothing wrong with his life now, why would he be a brother to a bunch of nouveau riche? If not every farmer sharpened his scythe, he would cut off the head of the noble. Why did the nobles make sure they didn't go hungry? If the current land income can cope with a decent or even luxurious life, why work for the people. Drive the peasants away and leave the land to the nouveau riche to raise sheep? Wool is indeed getting more expensive every year. I can't say why, but in general, the world is still running perfectly under the rule of the aristocracy. The great nobles looked down on the reckless little nobles; The petty nobles and the merchants are inseparable; Pioneers always felt that businessmen were stupid and did not understand their true value. In short, those who are willing to form an alliance with the pioneers are not very much regarded by the pioneers, and the pioneers who want to exert influence do not like the pioneers very much.

Of course, another reason for the misfortune of the pioneers was the wealth of the pioneers. The pioneers bought almost one-third of the land around the Frost Castle. Although not all of them came forward, the monasteries and petty nobles who suddenly became rich looked like pioneers were behind their backs. Emperor Frederick sent a special person to investigate the land issue, and when Frederick came to the Frost Castle, he cleared almost all the indigenous people and distributed the land to the Swadian soldiers, farmers, and immigrants. Within a few years, however, these people went bankrupt, and almost less than half of them continued to hold land, and many went bankrupt and became tenant farmers. Some entered the cities as artisans, some joined the army, and many more became aristocratic patrons like serfs. In times of war, tools, animal power, seeds, forced conscription, military service, and destruction of enemy troops. Any one thing can make a farmer nothing.

Emperor Frederick soon encountered the double difficulties of supply of troops and food, and in the slow process of the bankruptcy of the peasants, the pioneers certainly contributed to the trouble. Naturally, the nobles also contributed a lot. In any case, if one of the parties is a nobleman. If one side is a farmer, then they cannot be equal. This includes not only the disparity in status, but also the superiority in strength. The aristocracy was always reborn in one predicament, and the farmer fell into hell when his misfortune befell him. The farms of the aristocracy needed land, food, and even the farmers themselves. In order to obtain these things, the clever minds of the nobles were brought to the extreme. The city officials or earl's chamberlains, who were in charge of collecting grain and administering the land, never came into direct conflict with the nobility, and they never had to think about whether the peasants would starve to death, but whether the decency and interests of the various nobles could be best maintained. Whenever a war began, or a new tax was enacted, they would hide and whisper, and when they had agreed on it, they would summon the officials of the city, or send their attendants, to announce to the peasants the date of their deaths--- or to put it another way--- when the tax would be paid.

All agreements within the secret room will inevitably harm those outside the secret room.

When Frederick was alerted to the fact that the nobles were shaking his foundations as emperor, just as King Nord and King Vecchia could do nothing to Gil, he could do nothing: two-thirds of the soldiers on the front line came from these nobles, and all the lands except the Free Cities needed them to maintain law and order, fight heresy, and prevent Haraursze from infiltrating. In addition to these nobles, Frederick had only a dozen or so trusted attendants in the court and a few mayors, mayors, magistrates, and abbesses who were far away. All Frederick could do was turn a blind eye and let the nobles dig their roots deep into every corner of the earth, like trees in the sky. So, although Frederick himself had a good opinion of the pioneers--- they offered an alternative to the nobility--- when the nobles collectively began to complain, all Frederick could do was expel them.

Raiding did not require much preparation, and the Emperor's edict was set off: the nobles plundered the pioneers' strongholds and warehouses, while the Emperor took notoriety and enjoyed the spoils of war that the nobles had picked up.

After the incident, the pioneers put up a fierce but futile resistance. Many nobles were assassinated, and very few were successfully assassinated, but this really angered Frederick, who had a lot of grievances with the nobles, but this did not mean that he was not on the side of the nobles in his bones. He intensified his manhunt and publicly hanged many of the pioneers' members and even leaders--- some of whom were former high-ranking generals of the Eastern Army.

This upheaval frightened some of the scholars who had taken refuge in the area, and disappointed some of those who had illusions about Frederick, and some of the hostages fled abroad. Even fled to Sisvadia.

Naturally, the young Frederick did not know what kind of loss these people would bring to him by fleeing--- he had lost a reasonable excuse to meddle in the affairs of other countries. The threat and influence on foreign countries is greatly reduced. Fortunately, his opponent was not necessarily very clever. Nor did Harlaus take advantage of adventurers or regents from other countries. Instead, they were once again surrendered to someone else.

The pioneers, who had repeatedly suffered the losses of the old aristocracy, naturally turned their attention to the free city-states that were more similar to them.

Gil was a very keen strategist, he didn't know how to besiege a city and bring it to its knees, he didn't know how to get thousands of soldiers to fight for him loyally, but he knew what a city meant and how much it was worth investing in, and he knew what support an army needed if it was to fight for a long time--- specifically in terms of food, weapons, transportation, and pay. Gil promoted many civilian generals and encouraged them to promote their own kind. In order to prevent the nobles from interfering in his decision-making, he constantly arranged for the city council to be in danger of one day threatening the security of the city-state. Jill's alliance city-states have exceeded seven, and there are countless noble lords who have colluded with him in private, which has greatly boosted Jill's power, and at the same time, he has quickly hit the ceiling.

The North Sea leaves Gil with a very small coastline, a few islands, and a few cities at the mouth of the sea. These places are no longer sufficient for Jill and his ambitious citizens of Chanda. These people's ideas became increasingly aggressive, and some even wanted Gil to marry the daughter of King Nord's brother in order to be directly involved in Nord's internal affairs. These people are short-sighted, but it is true that they feel the pressure of trade becoming more and more difficult. Jill is clear. In the beginning, there was a huge profit to be made by transshipment of grain, but by the time countries began to prop up their own free cities and build up their navies. This kind of business is difficult. At the same time, if you don't count the plague attacks. The rate at which the wasteland has been cleared over the years has been satisfactory, with the exception of Salander. Almost all countries have achieved basic food self-sufficiency.

Salander attracted everyone's attention at this time, she lived in the sands of the sea, her population was rich and skilled, she could produce large quantities of carpets, dates, olives, and the Salanders could drive Creelians and slaves to dig mines to obtain large quantities of silver and iron ore in order to maintain their trading position. However, these will only make others envious, but the eastern trade of the Salander people has made everyone's eyes red to the point of dripping blood. Spices alone, a hundred ships for a year's round-trip, the profit is worth the entire income of a duke in the West. The lavish life of the Sultan, the harem of the first place, the dazzling legend of the merchant, and the legend of the king who killed a wife after listening to the story every day touched the hearts of everyone in the western world. Especially the matter of replacing a wife, it is simply the eternal desire of all men's hearts, of course, there must be a wife first.

Both Chanda and the pioneers calculated that a Creelian city-state with a population of less than a thousand people would have a higher tax rate than a western city of 3,000 people because of its trading location. This is what the merchants dream of, this is what the adventurers pursue all their lives, and this is what the soldiers covet.

When the pioneers informed Gil that they had a legitimate opportunity to enter the Salander and Creel regions, Gil immediately began to mobilize.

The pioneers, just as they looked down on the old aristocracy, looked down on Jill.

It took them more than two years to gather a force of less than 1,000 people from Rhodok, Nord, Vecchia and other places, and at the same time, with the support of Garcia's volunteer army of several hundred people, they were stationed at the junction of Rhodoc and Salander, and played their cards with great fanfare to seek the support of the Salander nobles. This attracted them the support of hundreds of impoverished bankrupt Salander peasants, as well as the defection of dozens of elderly Salander officers. While they were still arguing, Gil had already selected a large number of sailors and officers from the merchant fleet, and had recruited a large number of poor soldiers in the free cities, and when the fleet set out, the pioneers in the far south thought that their comrades in the north were lying, and when the fleet sailed to the coast of Rhodoc, causing food prices to soar and the law and order to be unstable along the way, the pioneers were shocked.

Jill's soldiers sailed along the coastline, and the ships were so dense that they almost suffocated the fish; The dazzle of the white sails almost made the white clouds lose their luster; The morale of the soldiers was so high and so well equipped that the warriors almost did not dare to raise their eyes to look at Jill's face and call Jill by name.

The pioneers only wanted Jill to be one of them, but they didn't expect to provoke a behemoth they couldn't afford to mess with.

Gil made it clear that he had no interest in the sand and dust of Salander, and that he did not want to go far inland, he only needed the trading cities along the coast of Creel. Naturally, this did not satisfy the pioneers, who hoped that Gil would be able to storm the capital of Salander regardless of casualties, and then maintain a little influence over the city of Creel under the recognition of the new Sultan of Salander. Gil's messenger negotiated with the Pioneer for only one day, and then left the Pioneer camp with disdain, and informed the latter of the exact date and place of Gil's attack, "Come with me if you wish; If you're scared, stay here. ”

After a few days of rest, the Nord fleet moved on, and began to ravage Creel's tender coastline like hounds.

Although the two sides still maintained the alliance, a rift had already emerged: Gil wanted only to get the trading city in the name of the Sultan's restoration, while the pioneers wanted Gil to be at their disposal and command, and to bear the main casualties in the battle. For me, the two sides are just taking what they need, and the pioneers do seem to be too small, which is naturally inseparable from their strength. But what is even more fatal is that they do not recognize the weakness of their own strength, and always think that others will take common sense for granted: arrogance is always the sharpest dagger, and the pioneers are always cut by it, and they have no memory of it.

As I got into the carriage, Cesar told me that in the great mosque in the desert, the Copernicus was convincing the pioneers of someone who he hoped would change Gil's attitude.

"Who is it?"

"I don't know," said Cesar, "it is rumored that when you are young, you are as beautiful as the crescent moon." (To be continued.) )