Many people are asking: why.

As everyone knows, for them, the question itself is an insult.

What is the reason for being born as a human being, pursuing freedom, and guarding dignity.

This is the belief of the "Freikorps", their pride, and the foundation of their existence.

- Pierre Marseille, "Memoirs of the Revolution"

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"Stupid war, stupid royalty, stupid Charlemagne. ”

Closing his notebook, Ricardo lay on the table and wailed. Probably too tired and annoying, his volume was a bit high, attracting a wave of sideways glances from the surroundings, and as a result, he and Marseille had to whisper an apology to the strangers around him.

Even so, Marseille could feel a few grim gazes wandering around him.

"Do you want to kill us?"

Marseille approached his friend who had done something stupid, pinched his ears hard, lowered his voice and cursed.

"If there is any bad record left for this, I will beat you to death. ”

This is really not a joke, everyone knows that public service facilities have the eyes of the Imperial Social Order Security Bureau, and some waiters, waiters, cleaners, and lobby managers in high-end hotels directly receive a second salary from the Imperial Social Order Security Bureau. Who can guarantee that there will be no secret police informants, informants eager to get ahead, or even high-ranking detectives who wander around the library without business? If Ricardo's complaint just now succeeded in arousing the interest of such people...... Needless to say, the fate of the two of them will be very interesting.

It could be a bad record, it could be a warning, it could be a demerit...... If an overly sensitive detective is to link this reckless reckless statement to a terrorist organization that God knows where, then they have a good chance of getting a free ticket to a day trip to the Imperial Social Order Bureau, having an in-depth and thorough exchange with a senior criminal investigator, and finally being exiled to the East, or sent to Sachsenhausen to be stoned, and more likely to be sent directly to the incinerator.

History cannot be desecrated, tampered with, and questioned.

Those who dare to question history are either madmen or terrorists intent on subverting the empire. In order to defend the sanctity of the laws of the Empire and to defend the safety of the lives and property of the public, the Imperial Social Order Guarantee Bureau will never let go of these "vermins that pollute the perfect order of the Empire".

As the Empire's largest official newspaper, the People's Observer, has repeatedly emphasized, any fool who dares to challenge the authority of the Empire will be ruthlessly suppressed by the dictatorship and iron fist!

"The brain is a good thing, don't leave it unused all the time, go through the brain before you speak, think about what to say and what not to say. Otherwise, one day you will kill yourself, or even the people around you. ”

With his thumb and forefinger between the bridge of his nose for a massage, Marseille whispered advice. Covering his mouth for a while, Ricardo nodded busily to indicate that he was taught.

After a few moments, the unfriendly gaze gradually dissipated, and Ricardo let out a long breath.

Praise the Mother Goddess, you can finally breathe!

"I just want to sigh at why the old Charlemagne Kingdom did so many stupid things that made me work so hard to make up for it. ”

"People don't see it that way, they'll think you're lamenting 'If Charlemagne hadn't done those stupid things, the war would have ended in Charlemagne's victory and the empire wouldn't have existed.'" Of course, you can defend yourself and say what you really think, but which side of the argument do you think the judges of the people's tribunal will believe?"

Needless to say, it must have been the testimony of the secret police. Even if we do not consider issues such as the authority of the state, the credibility of the departments, and the mutual care of fraternal departments, and so on, based on the maintenance of correct history and even the authority of the emperor, the people's courts will try to sentence such cases in the spirit of "eliminating all evils" and "preferring to kill mistakes rather than let them go." Therefore, once a fourth-class citizen is suspected of "questioning history" and "despising the emperor" by the Imperial Social Order Security Bureau, then your life can basically be declared over.

Therefore, when we study history, on the one hand, we can not repeat the mistakes of the past, recognize the greatness of the emperor, and fully understand the superiority of the empire. On the other hand, studying history will make you fully understand that you are a mortal with a limited lifespan, and instead of focusing your time and energy on unrealistic ambitions, it is better to recognize your own weight, set a realistic life goal for yourself, and then strive to achieve this goal. ”

"Your goal in life is to be a civil servant?"

"As a fourth-class citizen, you can't ask for more. ”

“...... Shameless. ”

A sound so small that it could almost be heard passed over Marseille's ears, and a slightly sweet fragrance teased his nostrils, and he couldn't help but look back, just in time to meet a cold gaze.

For a moment, Marseille wanted to crane his neck and look away, but he couldn't complete the simple action.

From under the brim of the cap is a coldness that freezes the viewer's thoughts, and at the same time it is full of emotions as sharp as a knife blade and as fierce as fire. It is as if facing the anger and hatred of the persecutors, and it is also full of disgust and contempt for Marseille and others.

It's like hating the whole world.

"You ......"

Bearing the shock of the past, Marseille was just about to say something to ease the atmosphere, when the pressure that seemed to be pressed against the tip of a knife against his throat suddenly disappeared without warning, like a hallucination. Only the cold sweat stuck to the back and the blue eyes that remained deep in my mind proved that everything just now was not a fantasy and an illusion.

"What's going on with that guy?"

Coming back to his senses, Ricardo muttered quietly, and it was not difficult to see from his pale face that he also felt the same way.

"Who knows. ”

Swallowing his saliva, Marseille shook his head in the direction where his back had disappeared, shaking off the unpleasant memories and bringing the topic back to the established trajectory of his life.

"At the sports exchange meeting, will Wangulei Girls' High School really come?"

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- What is "set a realistic life goal for yourself, and then strive to achieve it".

- What "as a fourth-class citizen, you can't ask for more".

- Forget your dignity, forget your pride, and be content to be raised by others.

- What's the difference between this and livestock?!

Walking through the library, a fierce storm is being set off in the hearts of young people, hostility, contempt, disappointment—suppressing these emotions that are on the verge of exploding, the young man grits his teeth.

The words of the two students just now are not unreasonable, it can be said that in the Empire, and even in most parts of the world, this is the most realistic and reasonable life choice. Rather than wasting time by being ambitious and talking about ideals, it is better to say that the young man is a down-to-earth doer.

But—

It was also a declaration of surrender to fate.

Yes, it is reasonable to put goals within reach, and there is no problem in recognizing your abilities and planning your life reasonably. But in the empire, there is no such thing as a "choice of one's own". All the answers are planned by the Imperial authorities, and you can only choose from a limited number of answers. It's like mass-produced parts, where everyone is untreated ore that goes through the same process – purified, smelted, molded, shaped, processed, and finally becomes a part on the giant machine of the Empire until it is scrapped, constantly striving to keep the Empire running. The options offered are simply the opportunity to choose whether to turn into screws, nuts, bearings, or steel plates.

This is the truth about the "superiority" of the Empire, better than Albion, better than the United Principality of Rus.

There is no essential difference between the three countries, they are all foreign invaders, evil imperialism, Charlemagne is only an object of exploitation, enslavement, and oppression, a humanoid livestock that walks on two legs, understands instructions, and can work. The only difference is whether the food looks good or not, and whether the methods of slavery and exploitation are simple and crude, or hidden and deceptive.

The United Principality of Rus' tended to be simple and brutal, Albion preferred concealment, and the Empire was a comprehensive project, with both simple and brutal means and pervasive concealment, so they achieved the best results.

As the saying goes, there is no harm without contrast, and Charlemagne, who lived through the Old Kingdom, was generally war-weary and desperate to improve their lives. Whoever can give bread and work to Charlemagne's people at this time is their savior, their god. And the empire gave the Charlemagnes jobs and bread precisely at this time, and quickly raised the standard of living for all. They did it so successfully that it was like a magic trick, taking out a lot of goodies out of their hats and handing them out to everyone.

The so-called magic tricks are basically blind tricks, using people's physical and psychological blind spots to create incredible visual effects, so as to win the house. The so-called "miracles" that detach themselves from the basic theories of economics and ignore objective laws are either tricks used by fraud or have other tricks.

The essence of the "miracle of reconstruction" created by the empire was nothing more than a redistribution of Charlemagne's resources.

Charlemagne's family background is actually not bad, no matter how it is said that it was once the first power in the mainland, after experiencing the cruel war and the forced requisition operation of scraping the ground, the speculative group still has a lot of grain, cloth and other materials in their hands as proof. Moreover, before the war, the consortium had invested in Charlemagne for a long time, and it was clear whether it was Charlemagne's family background, industrial layout, resource distribution, and human resources. By eliminating the speculative syndicates, in addition to eliminating the potential threats, they also took the vast resources in the hands of the rentier class, thus making up for the shortfall in the funds for the reconstruction work to a large extent. Then, with a high rate of return, they attracted countries to buy the Empire's reconstruction bonds, and in this way amassed a large amount of money in a very short period of time. At the same time, most of the production machines that had been shipped from Charlemagne's various locations were reinstalled in place, and production operations resumed soon after the start-up capital was in place. With the continuous export or domestic sale of various industrial products, the post-war reconstruction work attracted a large amount of labor, raw materials and capital, the entire economic cycle was quickly restored, and people's living standards quickly recovered or even exceeded the pre-war ones, except for some inconveniences caused by imperial laws, people's lives can be said to have become better.

With Charlemagne's funds and materials, he hired Charlemagnes to rebuild their ruined homes, and finally collected taxes from Charlemagne, and he also got the heartfelt support of all Charlemagnes - I have to say that the empire is really a genius businessman, all the benefits have been fished away by them, and no one is dissatisfied!

But if that's all it takes, then at best it can only be said that the empire is very cunning and deceives everyone. The anger of young people should be directed at the Empire, not at their deceived compatriots.

Yet the anger in the hearts of the young man continued to burn, and this anger that was on the verge of spiraling out of control stemmed from the Empire, but also from those who considered themselves to be fourth-class citizens of the Empire.

It's just because they know very well the vicious and cruel side of the empire, everyone knows it, everyone knows it, every time someone jokes about "being sent to the east" and "going to the northern forest", every time a mother scares her child that if she doesn't behave, she will be sent "into the chimney". All Charlemagne, who prided themselves as fourth-class citizens of the Empire, knew the truth behind those words, and everyone knew it, but no one dared to face the fact that he was a captive laborer, an animal without a collar around his neck. He thought that as long as he was a obedient citizen, those terrible violent machines would not disturb him, and as long as he worked hard for the empire honestly, a stable and happy life could last forever.

What is the difference between this and an animal that concentrates on eating the feed in front of him and turns a blind eye to the butcher's sharpening of his knife?!

The Empire may not be a butcher, but it is definitely a machine, and the machine needs power and lubrication to keep running, and the Empire is a machine that needs to devour many lives to keep itself running.

It's like—

The young man suddenly stopped, and his intense thoughts suddenly stopped.

After standing still for two or three seconds, a sigh full of sadness and remorse slowly overflowed from his mouth.

The eyes slowly drooped, the magnificent buildings and laughter around them disappeared, and the feet that had been stepping on the Lüdes Municipal Library seemed to be stepping on the ground full of blood and gunpowder smoke again, and the moans and roars of death echoed around them, and the steel monsters like headless skeletons crawled around, constantly searching for heads. Burnt corpses turned into soot fluttering in the wind under the trampling of steel limbs.

- I'm sorry...... Guys, I have defiled your death because of that kind of person.

There was no anger in the eyes that reopened, only more indifference than before, and the blue eyes like a sea of ice swept through the crowd shuttling in the library, and finally froze on a man.

There was nothing special about that man, not tall, not short, not fat or thin, so ordinary that he would be immediately overwhelmed if he was thrown into the crowd, and no one could remember his ordinary appearance.

However, it was not the man's appearance that attracted the young man, but a copy of the People's Observer newspaper tucked under his armpit, which, like the magazine "Signal" under the young man's armpit, was issued yesterday.

The ordinary middle-aged man was also looking at it, looking at the "Signal", nodded slightly, and after exchanging a few hidden gestures, the two turned around and walked away, and after going around a few times to make sure that no one was following, they walked into the reading room unhurriedly and sat down at a position three tables away from Marseille.