Half an hour ago, the City Lord's Mansion.

In his study, Ivan examined a confidential document several times, and finally put it in an envelope and sealed it with wax.

"Knock knock."

Evelyn knocked on the door and pushed it in.

"What's the matter?" Ivan glanced at her, took the seal of the Baihat family from the drawer, and stamped it on the wax of the envelope.

Evelyn leaned against the door and said, "There's a march in the city this morning, do you want to go and see it?" ”

"Parade? I said how it felt like it was so noisy outside today. ”

Ivan's brows suddenly twisted into a Sichuan shape, "Didn't I order the city guards to step up to maintain order in the city, why would they allow this to happen?" ”

"So curious, why don't you go outside and see for yourself?" Evelyn followed the temptation, "Maybe after listening to their advice, your mind will change too!" ”

"Nonsense!"

Ivan shook his head, "I've already negotiated all the details of the military mutual assistance agreement with Shattered Star City, and when they receive this letter, they will immediately send reinforcements to us."

"Shattered Star City has a strong military force, and it is not a problem to repel the steppe people, this is the choice to solve this war with the least casualties."

Evelyn was a little unconvinced and said: "The casualties may be the smallest, but our money and materials can be given to Shattered Star City for nothing, their asking price is too high, it is simply taking advantage of the fire to rob!" ”

"No way, after all, it's a special period, and it's inevitable that it will be expensive."

Ivan was unmoved, "People are more important than money, and it is better to consume resources than to exhaust people." ”

"But people can't live without money......"

Evelyn muttered, "And Shattered Star City only said that it would send reinforcements, but it didn't guarantee that it would expel all the steppe people, I'm afraid that when the time comes, we will have to sit on the ground and raise the price, and we will be ......slaughtered."

"Bang!"

Ivan suddenly slammed the table and shouted, "I've made up my mind, don't say it again!" ”

Evelyn was taken aback, and wanted to subconsciously reply, but seeing his angry appearance, it was not good to stimulate him anymore, so she "hummed" and left.

Ivan took a breath, then called the attendants and ordered: "Tell the guards to disperse the procession, I don't want this to happen a second time." ”

"Yes!"

The attendant was about to leave, when Ivan admonished, "Wait...... Let them be gentle, and remember not to bloodshed. ”

"Yes!" The squire hurried away.

The study was quiet, and Ivan leaned back in his chair and slowly relaxed.

No choice is perfect when it comes to fighting the dead and bloodshed, and asking for help costs money.

But he hated war even more.

It's not just that he is conservative and afraid that the war will fight for the strength of Linfeng City, he also believes that this war is fundamentally meaningless.

Thanks to the inheritance of the Baihat family, he has the talent to become a knight, but he is not keen on training and fighting, but has a special love for history and literature since he was a child.

He knew that the glorious cause of the Roland Empire to unify the borders of mankind was built on countless blood and tears, and the pride of the imperial people could be a deep sorrow and shame for other nations.

The seeds of hatred were planted eighty years ago and germinated after the death of Roland I.

Now the people of La Buse want to reclaim their homeland, and the people of Linfeng, who have lived on the grasslands for decades, have long made this their home.

But the people of Linfeng are also very innocent, their ancestors were recruited by the empire to come here to open up wasteland, and they did not come voluntarily, and after leaving their hometown, they only had the family of Linfeng City left.

Both have the justice to go to war for their homeland.

The collision of two irreconcilable justices has become the source of tragedy for both sides.

When looking at this conflict from the grand perspective of history without any position, Ivan suddenly felt that everything in front of him was nothing.

War breeds hatred, and hatred breeds new wars.

When will such a tragic chain come to an end?

In the end, he finally made a choice and found his own solution:

That is, to avoid fighting with the steppe people, to avoid the intensification of contradictions between the two sides, and at the same time to actively look for ways to negotiate peace.

The La Buse grassland is actually very large, and Linfeng City has always been vast and sparsely populated, even if a part of the fertile land is distributed to the grassland people to live, it will not have much impact on Linfeng City.

He planned to drag it on until reinforcements came, until the steppe people calmed down and felt that war was not a wise choice, and then the two sides signed an armistice agreement and made peace.

Peace is more important than anything else.

But it's a pity that his plan is now being hindered by all sides:

First, the grassland people have a barbaric habit, burning, killing and looting along the way, and even committing atrocities such as cannibalism, which has caused great harm to the people of Linfeng.

Second, the steppe people were resolute, he had secretly sent an envoy to the peace talks, but in the end he still returned in vain, according to the envoy's guess, the steppe people should have been instigated by the second prince Roderick.

Roderick gave some material aid to the steppe people, acquiesced in the transfer of the entire city of Peak to the steppe people, and promised that the empire would never be held accountable after the fact.

Now that aid and promises have been received, and the opportunity to recover the entire Lebuse grassland, the steppe people are naturally reluctant to share the land with the Linfeng people.

Third, the price of military aid in Shattered Star City was even higher than he imagined, not to mention money, cattle, sheep, and horses, even the little mineral resources close to the Linfeng Mountain Range had to be taken away.

Even if the reinforcements repelled the steppe people, Linfeng City would not have five or seven years, and they would not want to easily restore their previous economic level.

These days, the bad news from all sides has left him with a lot of anxiety, and the main fighters who have nothing but honor, hatred and muscles in their heads are still chattering in his ears every day.

In the morning, he had just finished confirming the agreement on mutual military assistance between the two cities, and was about to release the eagle to send out the letterhead.

As a result, a group of marchers gathered at the gate of the city lord's mansion to gather people to protest.

He felt like he was going crazy.

Ivan rested in his chair for a while, expecting that the noise outside would subside, but unexpectedly it became louder and louder.

"What are the city guards doing? What are the guards in the house doing! ”

He stood up a little irritably and paced around the study, "Could it be that the scene is uncontrollable, and the guards have clashed with the crowd?" I'd better go out and have a look. ”

He walked out of the mansion just in time to see Evelyn standing at the gate of the City Lord's Mansion.

"Eve, what's going on now?" He asked.

"Wait...... Don't come here yet! ”

Evelyn turned her head, her pale face a little confused.

As soon as she said this, Ivan had to go and see it, he was the lord of the city, and once something happened, he could control the situation with him.

He stepped forward quickly and stood at the door of the City Lord's Mansion, but then saw a scene that he would never forget-

Right in front of the gates of the City Lord's Mansion, the corpses of dozens of marchers fell to the ground, and the blood red under their bodies spread and covered the entire street.

So many people died in front of him, at the gate of the City Lord's Mansion, Ivan only felt a "buzz" in his head, and the whole person was stunned.

"How could this happen?" He shook his lips, "Didn't I say that bloodshed is forbidden?" ”

"I—I don't know!"

Half of the captain's body was splattered with blood, and his expression collapsed, "We really didn't do anything, they are...... Suicidal! ”

The suicide operation on the street was nearing its end, and Ivan saw that there were still a few people with swords on his neck, and he no longer hesitated at the moment, and shouted:

"Stop! Stop it! ”

But he didn't get his wish, he only saw fanaticism and hatred in their eyes.

"Kill the barbarians! Revenge for blood! ”

The last group of petitioners chanted the slogan, "Glory to the Roland Empire!" ”

Under Ivan's desperate gaze, the marchers resolutely slit their throats.

A streak of blood spilled in the air, like a red flag, or like the anger of the dead.

"No......" Ivan's remaining words were stuck in his throat and could no longer be spoken.

As the last marchers fell, the crowd turned their eyes to the young lord.

The whole process witnessed the marchers dying in order to protect their families and defend the country, and the anti-war mood of the masses has been magnified to the extreme at this moment.

"Please go to war, Lord Castle!"

Someone in the crowd shouted that, and everyone shouted.

"Please go to war, Lord Castle!"

"Please go to war, Lord Castle!"

"Please go to war, Lord Castle!"

“……”

Ivan's hands and feet were cold, and at a glance, he saw that all the people who loved him in the past were now standing on the opposite side of him, and they formed an impenetrable human wall to surround him, as if he were judging a cowardly coward.

Is everyone against me?

Did I do it wrong?

Seeing that the situation was getting more and more out of control, in order to prevent accidents, Evelyn grabbed Ivan's arm and dragged him back to the house.

Ivan felt numb as he stood in the room, the frenzied expressions of the marchers still lingering in his mind.

Evelyn also had a lot of worries in her heart, but seeing his dejected appearance, it was not easy to leave it alone, and continued to comfort:

"It's already happening, so don't think about it anymore...... You go and rest first, and we'll take care of the rest. ”

She didn't open her mouth, and as soon as she opened her mouth, Ivan's emotions exploded instantly.

"Don't pretend to be a good person here!"

He roared hysterically, "I have obviously ordered the guards to maintain order in the city, but not only the guards have betrayed me, but even you have betrayed me, and you have actually described this kind of suicide march as an ordinary petition procession, do you like to see me make a fool of myself and see them bleeding all over the ground!" ”

Evelyn's face turned blue and white, and she couldn't speak for a while.

She had told the guards of the City Lord's Mansion not to drive the procession away in the morning, and she knew that the city guards would turn a blind eye to the procession.

In terms of results, it was indeed she who allowed and connived at the bloodshed, and it was indeed she who deceived Ivan and described this incident as an ordinary war march.

If the guards and guards had stopped the procession from reaching the gate of the city lord's mansion earlier, and had not given the procession time to incite the masses, it would not have caused the consequences that Ivan is now being accused of.

But the problem is that she was also deceived, she really thought that this morning was an ordinary march, a way for ordinary people to speak out.

Who would have thought that this march would end up being a feverish suicide scene?

"I've been lied to too......"

She explained with difficulty, "I thought it was ...... It's not going to be like this......"

"Hahaha, but now it's fucking like this!"

Ivan let out a broken laugh, "This kind of thing must be secretly instigated, you dare to say that you don't know?"

"Put on a sad look, you must be secretly happy in your heart, right? It's good that everyone is forcing me to go to war, and now you're finally getting your wish.

"Everyone wants war, and since you like war, then I'll give you war! You go and fight as much as you want, I don't care about anything, if you want to die, then you all die! ”

Being betrayed by those around him and watching the people commit suicide in front of his own eyes in order to rebel against him made his emotions almost out of control.

Evelyn gritted her teeth and turned to leave.

She's going to go to Nolan and ask for clarification.

……

In the tavern box, Nolan stood up.

The suicide march had already alarmed the Order, and more and more troops had gathered and began to forcibly evacuate the onlookers.

The parade is over, but its effect has been achieved.

The tragic experience of the refugees and patriotic feelings were used to inspire the masses to resist the war, and they marched and made speeches at the gate of the city lord's mansion, and made their will clear with death.

Such demonstrations are not only lobbying the city lords, but also the masses.

This kind of death was not a reactionary force suppressed by the city guards, but a collective suicide, blood splashed on the city lord's mansion, and died for the sake of Mingzhi.

Such a shocking scene has never been seen in the entire history of the Roland Empire.

After this parade, the direction of public opinion in the city will completely tilt to the side that started the war, and the city lord's mansion will be forced to go to Liangshan-

When everyone wants to fight, and even some people die in order to resist the war, the city lord's mansion that insists on not fighting will lose all the hearts of the people, and as a cowardly coward, he will be nailed to the pillar of shame in history forever.

If Ivan doesn't want to be ruined and stinking for 10,000 years, he must stand up and fight the steppe people head-on.

This was the conspiracy he had consulted with Harrison that night.

"The march was a success."

Harrison drank the red wine from his glass and stood up, "After today, the City Lord's Mansion will have to stand on the same side as us. ”

If there was anyone in Peak City who wanted the City Lord's Mansion to go to war against the Prairie people the most, Harrison was definitely one of them.

His mercenary group and its commercial assets are extremely dependent on the living space and trade routes outside the city, and once the steppe people blockade Linfeng City, his power will be hit the hardest.

He needed the forces of the Castle Lord's Mansion to join the battle and ask the army to help keep the trade routes open.

Therefore, stripped of the shell of defending the country and helping refugees on the surface, he is also a staunch main fighter with relevant interests.

Now, in order to promote the start of the war, he did not hesitate to sacrifice 100 dead soldiers in the name of righteousness, and planned this suicide parade.

Most of these dead soldiers were refugees whose families were ruined by the invasion of the steppe people, and their hearts were desperate and determined to die.

Harrison used their hatred of the steppe people to lobby them to believe that if they could kill themselves in front of the Lord's Mansion, they would be able to force the Lord's army to avenge himself.

There are also the impoverished refugees who are already struggling on the brink of survival.

Harrison promised to take care of their loved ones and promised appropriate compensation, and eventually persuaded some to die for his plan.

As Evelyn once reminded, he is indeed a businessman who is good at seditious and self-interested.

However, even if Harrison planned the suicide march for his own benefit, it did unite PeakCity and force Ivan to go to war.

Once the Castle Lord's Mansion joins the fray, it will be easier for him to help Yuna get revenge, at least they won't be alone anymore.

Although the two have different positions, they have the same purpose.

That's why he was ultimately willing to assist Harrison.

Although there will be casualties in this march, if Ivan is not forced to go to war by such radical means, more refugees will die if the time drags on.

And their deaths will be even more painful and meaningless.

Which is more important, that night, he only thought for a moment before making a decision.

If it was a sin to be involved in planning this suicide march, then he chose to accept it.

All he could do was to live up to the expectations of the deceased, help Linfeng City win this war, and let these sacrificed people be blind.

This is his determination and his enlightenment.

Leaving the tavern, getting into the carriage back, nothing to say all the way.

It wasn't until he reached the door of the Atelier that he and Yuna got out of the carriage and saw Evelyn blocking his door outside.

Evelyn would come over and ask for her guilt, but Nolan was not surprised, after all, he had deceived Evelyn into thinking of their plan as if it were an ordinary petition march.

Before she walked over and was about to go crazy, Nolan gave her a look and whispered, "Let's go in and talk." ”

Evelyn didn't want to lose her temper in front of Yuna, she followed Nolan to the room, her expression resentful: "You lied to me, you'd better give me an explanation that satisfies me, otherwise I'm not done with you today!" ”