Chapter 542 [Barbaric, Backward and Advanced]

As a military town, the Northwest Fortress is a magnificent city gate, and of course there is no one place missing in it: the prison cell.

There is a dungeon just behind the original Commander's Mansion in the Northwest Fortress.

It wasn't the first time Chen Daolin had come to this place, but when he came again, he still felt a little uncomfortable.

The dungeon was dug very deep, there were two floors down, the bottom layer was dark and damp, especially in winter, the bottom was full of moisture, and there were even some traces of water on the ground.

The damp and cold sensation filled the air, with a stench that is difficult to describe in words, as if it would penetrate through the thick clothing and into the skin.

That necromancer, McQueen, said that there was a smell of "death" in the air here.

Well, Chen Daolin thinks this statement is correct. Prison cell, where has no one died?

Walk into the innermost room of the dungeon and push open the thick iron door, and you can smell the thick smell of rust in the air.

It's bloody gas!

Chen Daolin frowned and looked at the mottled torture instruments on the wall, the crooked iron hooks - although he didn't know what these things were used for, but from the blood rust left on them, it must not be a beautiful thing.

On the walls of the cell, three prisoners were hung.

Three orcs, to be exact.

The orcs of the Three Hoofs are, from the point of view of appearance, as if they are cattle people.

Chen Daolin's side, Dixon held a torch and looked at the torture instruments on the surrounding walls with a somewhat terrifying expression.

Chen Daolin seemed to smile...... These orcs of the cattle clan, looking at this dark place, under the light of torches, really look a little like the head of a cow...... Well, it's a pity that there is no horse face. It seems that there are no centaurs among the orcs caught this time?

In that battle, Montoya did not take too many prisoners.

Basically most orcs on the battlefield. Whoever could be killed was killed by Montoya.

This is also the meaning of Chen Daolin's confession...... We don't have that much food to feed these guys.

The captured orcs, after a brief interrogation, were identified, and soon the able-bodied ones were thrown elsewhere for the Chamber of Commerce to choose—of course, for a fee.

As for these three people, they are the last ones to pick out from them with identity.

It is said that the one hanging in the center of the wall at this moment, with both hands nailed directly to the wooden bar, is a high-ranking guy in the invading orc army. Looks like a commander-level figure.

These orcs are ferocious. But no matter how ferocious the orcs are, after encountering several rounds of pilgrimage by those crooked iron hooks and torture instruments on the walls, there will still be times when flaws are exposed.

Yes, it was a flaw, not a succumb!

To be precise, it was the interrogated personnel who uttered some words.

Chen Daolin got some news he needed.

One of the most valuable pieces of news was that he was sure that the orc invasion was indeed the work of a single tribe.

This is a large tribe with very good strength, after getting the news that the Northwest Fortress is empty. I wanted to take the opportunity to pick up the cheap, and after a few temptations, I mobilized the warriors in the tribe and sent them out.

The result was naturally a head hit and blood flowed.

But Chen Daolin was more concerned about the news they had received about the emptiness of the Northwest Fortress. How far has the transmission been?

Or is it...... Did they keep the message on the way?

Does the upper echelons of the orc kingdom know?

Do other tribes know?

The two jailers splashed the orcs with water, and the cell began to howl with rage and pain.

Chen Daolin's face did not change at all, and he motioned for Dixon to move the torch and approached the orc officer in the middle.

"You help me ask it a question. Do you want to die or want to live. Chen Daolin tilted his head.

Dixon held a torch in one hand and a nose in the other, holding back the stench. The urn said an orc's word angrily.

The orc on the wall raised his head with difficulty, stared at Chen Daolin with a pair of fierce eyes, spat out a mouthful of bloody spit, and said something.

“...... Teacher, it'......" Dixon looked a little embarrassed.

"Well, it's scolding me, right?"

"Yes, and the scolding is terrible. Dixon wept and mourned.

"You tell it, I can let it go back, back to the orcs. ”

"Huh?"

"So it goes!"

Dixon blinked his eyelids and translated the sentence to the orc.

The orc on the wall fell silent, its eyes widening as it looked at Chen Daolin, gasping for breath.

It can be seen that it is very painful, and the injuries on the body and the traces of torture are obvious, especially the blood stains on the hair, which sticks the hair into a blame.

It was a long time before the orc spoke in a hoarse voice.

"It asks you what you want it to do, and it won't give in to us. ”

Chen Daolin smiled: "I don't need it to give in, and I don't need it to tell me any important information and intelligence. I just want to have a casual chat with it, and I'll ask some questions, all of which are unimportant questions. Well, just to satisfy my curiosity, it can choose to answer or not to answer. If it satisfies me, I'll let it go back to the orcs. ”

After listening to Dixon's words, the orc seemed to be silent for a while, but its eyes were noticeably relaxed.

Chen Daolin had a number in his heart, so he directly began to ask.

He began to ask question after question and then asked Dixon to translate it.

Dixon was surprised that almost none of Chen Daolin's problems seemed to be related to the battle of the orc invasion.

Seem...... It's all about inconsequential topics.

He asked how old the orc was, and if it had any children.

He even asked how old the orc's father was.

Then Chen Daolin asked some about the daily situation in the other tribe. For example, how old are their warriors and adults, how do they live on weekdays, what sources do they rely on for food, how much they rely on farming, and how much do they rely on hunting.

He even seemed to be interested in asking some questions about how the female orcs in the orc tribe raised their children, what was their family division of labor, and whether they were like humans. Men work, women run the house, and so on......

These seemingly trivial questions gradually dispelled the vigilance in the orc's heart, and it hesitated for a moment and began to answer.

Once you start, it's much easier.

Chen Daolin asked more and more, and finally even some slightly sensitive questions, this orc thought about it and answered.

For example, the southern part of the Orc Empire, and the Roland Empire. Especially in the areas bordering here in the northwest, there are some big tribes around, what tribes are they, whether they are cattle, horses, or tigers, whether they live together, how many people live together, and so on......

These questions. The orc refused to answer at first, and Chen Daolin did not force it, but chose to ask some trivial questions, waiting until the other party relaxed. When I asked again, most of the orcs answered.

Although the tone is still tough, the eyes are full of hostility.

Chen Daolin seemed to be very satisfied.

In the end, he didn't even dislike the bloody gas on the other party's body at all. He also reached out and patted the orc, and his tone was very gentle: "Dixon, sue it." I'm happy with its answer, and I'll keep my promise and send it back to the orcs. ”

Dixon translated the sentence in confusion.

The orc on the wall suddenly let out a light in his eyes, but soon, this orc roared loudly at Chen Daolin.

"Teacher...... It, it says...... Even if you let it go, it won't forget its hatred, it says it will definitely come back for revenge, and it will bring the warriors of the tribe over and kill us all. ”

"Very well, I just like such an upright temperament. Chen Daolin grinned.

The orcs on the wall shouted loudly, and soon, the other two orcs hanging on either side also shouted together.

"What are they shouting?"

Dixon covered his nose: "Shout slogans...... Probably means long live the orcs or something. ”

"Long live the orcs?" Chen Daolin blinked: "Shouldn't it be shouting 'for the tribe'?"

......

............

As he left his cell, Dixon stepped outside and took a few deep breaths. Only then did he look at Chen Daolin with tears in his eyes: "Teacher...... What the hell do you think? Asked it all sorts of questions, these questions...... Is it all military intelligence?"

"Maybe count. ”

Chen Daolin's eyes were only a little stricter at this time.

"Perhaps?" Dixon's eyes widened.

Chen Daolin looked up at the sky.

The winter weather is still gloomy - there has been no sunny day since the New Year.

"What a savage and nasty race. Chen Daolin sighed sincerely: "I'm even a little shaken now...... What Du Weiwei did was crazy, but it was not unreasonable. ”

"What?"

"It is indeed quite annoying and dangerous for such a nasty and savage race to live by our side as neighbors all the time. And...... They should look like the unconquerable kind. ”

"Unconquerable ......"

"Well, can't conquer. Since it is impossible to conquer...... Then destroy it. ”

Chen Daolin has always agreed with a sentence called knowing oneself and knowing one's opponent in a hundred battles.

If you have to make up your mind to deal with the orcs, you must seriously understand this race.

In fact, the Roland Empire already knows a lot about orcs, but it has always been ...... Floats on the surface. There is no serious and systematic study of this race.

At least in Chen Daolin's opinion, at present, the intelligence of the Roland Empire on the orcs only stays at the level of "intelligence", such as exploring the distribution of the orc army, how many orc troops are in their royal city, how many local tribes are strong and weak, and how many tiger elites are directly loyal to the orc king......

These remain only at the level of military intelligence.

But for the orc race, from a social point of view, the analysis is very scarce.

It's not that Chen Daolin hasn't seen orcs, but it's just a very one-sided perception when he came out of the frozen forest.

And at this moment, when he was about to deal with the orcs, there were no similar experts around him, so he had to come to investigate by himself.

"In general, it's a pathetic race. Orcs don't have a long lifespan, much shorter than humans, ordinary orcs. For example, the hoof tribe, which accounts for more than seventy percent of the population of the orc kingdom, cattle, horses, sheep and other tribes, their lifespan is generally only fifty years old. That's already considered longevity. In terms of average lifespan, I guess it's only over 40. The warriors of the orcs reach adulthood at the age of thirteen and can find the opposite sex to reproduce. Well, but it's not surprising that primates have the longest lifespan among animals of the same weight, and humans live longer than orcs. So it's not surprising. Orcs mature early, develop early, and the reproduction period arrives earlier.

But their civilization is still very barbaric and backward.

They are still tribal, which is at least two thousand years behind the human civilization of our Roland Empire.

They have no high-level civilization and culture, no literature, no entertainment, and no artistic civilization development. Whether it's architecture, art. metallurgical technology, etc...... It lags behind human civilization in almost all directions.

To put it mildly, to say that they are 'barbarians' is to exalt them.

The illiteracy rate among orcs is almost 99 percent, and there are very few orcs who can write and calculate. They are even traded in a barter manner for the vast majority of the time.

Well. This is probably the reason why the merchants of the Roland Empire like to go to the orc kingdom to do smuggling business. A bunch of profiteers ran to do business with orcs who couldn't even do single-digit addition and subtraction, and didn't kill those stupid orcs?

Because of the backwardness of civilization and the lack of materials, the orcs could not even make ends meet. Not even food and clothing. Naturally, don't want to give birth to any advanced culture. They don't have any real culture, let alone entertainment.

Male orcs are considered adults at the age of thirteen, and they have to take up arms to fight. To go hunting, life is difficult, and female orcs can start giving birth even more than ten years old. And this is not an isolated phenomenon.

All in all, this neighbor of ours is a group of backward and barbaric backward races who live in extreme hardship. ”

Chen Daolin said this, glancing at Dixon, he saw the confusion on Dixon's face. Chen Daolin smiled and continued:

"But this does not mean that orcs are ridiculous, on the contrary, this kind of orcs are terrifying! It is not that advanced civilizations will necessarily defeat backward civilizations. In many cases, the annihilation of advanced civilizations by barbaric and backward civilizations is a frequent occurrence. ”

Chen Daolin thought about it, and couldn't help but jump out of several names in his mind.

Xiongnu, Turkic, Xianbei, Jurchen, Mongol......

"Because of barbarism, they have an extremely deformed purity, which directly transforms the pressure of survival into combat effectiveness. Because I have been fighting under the pressure of survival since birth, I ...... Fighting has almost become an orc instinct. It can be said that this is a real fighting race.

Think about it, when they were thirteen years old, they began to carry knives against people, and they had seen blood, and they had seen death...... What about us Rolands, what were you doing when you were thirteen?

In the same way, it is precisely because of barbarism that this people will be more pure, and they will put all their energy into fighting and surviving. And not otherwise.

Humans are indeed smarter and more civilized than them. But human beings will spend their energy in other places, building, building better houses, shining art, culture, gorgeous clothes...... Oh, and of course, there is intrigue.

The orcs don't have much internal friction, and some of them all stay at a very shallow level, at most they fight between the two tribes, and the winners merge the losers. But what about humans...... Restraining each other, restraining each other, obviously having a hundred points of strength, may only be able to use twenty points in the end?

Most of the orcs have tendon brains, and these guys don't think about things that are too complicated, because they can't think and can't figure it out, so they ...... When they focus all their energy on fighting, this is when they are most terrifying!

Savage!"

Chen Daolin sighed: "I have had this neighbor by my side for more than a hundred years...... It's a terrible thing indeed. The Roland people are lucky. In the past 100 years, there has been no civil strife in the empire, and nothing has gone wrong with itself, and this more than 100 years can be regarded as a period when the national fortunes of the Roland Empire are still on the rise.

But if ......

If we don't do anything. Let this seemingly backward, savage neighbor continue to stay around. Maintain this peaceful situation...... We can still hold down the orcs and beat them now.

So in the future, if one day, we have problems with ourselves, and the state of the empire is backward, then ...... At that time, we will be horrified to find that these backward and barbaric races that we look down on can in turn destroy our ......"

This is not Chen Daolin's casual nonsense.

If it weren't for the Three Kingdoms period, the Han people fought each other for almost a hundred years. The population of the Han people was beaten from 56 million at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty to 16 million at the end of the Three Kingdoms......

Can Wuhu mess with China??

An orc is just a beast that you can suppress when you are strong. There's no guarantee that you won't get sick or anything in the future, and when you're weak, the beast will eat you!

So......

"The best way is to beat this beast to death while you are still strong!"

Chen Daolin touched his chin: "I want to ...... Du Weiwei, probably thinking so too, that's why this woman would do such a crazy thing. ”

After all, no one can guarantee that the Roland Empire will always be strong, and a feudal and civilized dynasty will often welcome the trough after a period of strength.

Even if the Tulip family is the pillar of the empire, you can't guarantee that every generation of this family will produce geniuses, right?

If there were a generation or two of mediocre Tulip Dukes, could they still be counted on to protect the Empire?

While you are still strong, kill this powerful neighbor first, and don't leave a legacy of harm to future generations.

And...... In fact, the national strength of the Roland Empire has begun to decline over the years.

"Du Wei didn't directly destroy the orcs back then, maybe because of his lack of strength, after all, the Roland Empire has also fought for so long and needs to recuperate. And later...... Perhaps Du Wei had an idea that the country would perish without external troubles. Leaving a not-so-formidable backward and savage enemy outside can retain their aggressiveness. Today, however, the situation is different. The national fortunes of the Roland Empire have reached its peak, and there will be no room for upward movement, and the next ten years or fifty years and one hundred years may be the weakening period of the Roland Empire.

At this time, while everyone still has strength, this generation of human talents is still outstanding...... It's not a bad idea to kill the orcs as a neighbor. ”

Along the way, Chen Daolin may have said it to Dixon, or he may have talked to himself.

In short, Dixon may not have understood a lot of what he said, but he secretly remembered it in his heart.

The two returned to the commander's mansion, and before they walked into the hall, a person outside rushed in as if his butt was on fire!

It's Ade!

Ade, dressed in a leather armor with a dusty look on his face, his hair was disheveled and covered with sweat, and he came in panting and shouting loudly before he could stand still.

"Big news!Big news!!Great victory in the Lorton Valley!!Panin ambushed and defeated the steppe cavalry, beheading tens of thousands!!"

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[This chapter is 5,500 words.]

Recently, I have been thinking about the later plot of this book, and there are hundreds of thousands of words in the follow-up, and now I have to start thinking about the ending layout in advance. I made several ideas and choices, and some of them couldn't make up their minds.

The ending certainly won't be tragic. But maybe there will be some blackening...... Well, still hesitating. 】

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(To be continued......)