Three Philosophical Questions for Travelers

But in any case, the farce is over.

Blood spilled all over the palace, and the countess fell to the ground and cried until she lost her voice.At this moment, Hewen couldn't help but sympathize with her—yes, she may be ugly and stupid, but she is today's bride.She has witnessed the betrayal of a loved one, which is too cruel for a bride.

"Smiley Cat, order our people and report the casualties; Hollander, gather the wounded and do some emergency treatment." After Haiwen made arrangements, he said to the people in Xiawan, "Call all your doctors here, The Countess is bleeding profusely and needs first aid."

Yawen is also arranging various things in an orderly manner. Compared with her useless sister, Yawen is much better.She first ordered six people to carry her sister out for medical treatment, and then ordered people to clean up the battlefield and take care of the other wounded. In the middle, she also asked the chief guard to put martial law in the city.

Haiwen came to her side and said to her: "Miss Yawen, I will not get involved in the affairs here. I have a bad feeling, I have to go back to Xiongshan immediately."

"Wait." Yawen stopped him, "My lord, I thank you for your help, but I have one thing to ask you. If you ask clearly, it's not too late to leave."

"you say?"

She pointed with her finger and asked, "Where do you soldiers come from? Why did you bring these people to my sister's wedding?"

Haven knew she had to ask that.

"Miss Yawen, since you asked, let me just say it straight. I brought people here today to catch Calvin Sarris. You heard me when I threatened Sarris before. The Sarris family is a cancer of Bear Mountain. , I must get rid of them."

"So you can break into my sister's wedding with private soldiers? If Sarris doesn't rebel today, shouldn't it be your turn?" She sneered and said, "Let me think, you will send someone Kill Saris first, then take one of our sisters hostage and take him to Bear Mountain?"

This woman is really powerful, Hai Wen thought to himself. "I didn't want to go to this level." Haven said to her, "I just want to get rid of Sarris, and I don't care about the Shrimp Bay."

"Before this, he was the justifiable guardian of Shrimp Bay! Ambside, I thank you for your help today, but I can't ignore your presumptuousness." Yawen strode towards him aggressively, "You offended Shrimp Bay The dignity of the Bay has trampled on the years of friendship between Xiongshan and Xiawan.”

Haiwen couldn't help becoming annoyed, and asked, "Then what do you want? I saved you, but why do you want to detain me?"

The eldest lady smiled and said: "I am a person who can distinguish between right and wrong. I am very grateful for your saving our sisters, and I will send a thank you gift someday; but we have to have an explanation for your ignoring the laws and regulations of Xiawan. .Ambside, according to the law here, you either go to jail or lose money-but you are the Lord of Bear Mountain, these punishments of course do not apply to you.In fact, I don't want to ruin the friendship between Shrimp Bay and Bear Mountain, in the future I am afraid there will be many places where we cooperate..."

Haiwen got a little impatient when she went around in circles so long-winded, and he asked, "What exactly do you want?"

"I have a strategy of two powers." She suddenly smiled, which made Hai Wen inexplicably afraid. "Master Ambside, you haven't married yet, have you? If you can marry my sister, let Xiongshan and Xiawan get married, then—"

"Farewell!" Haiwen turned around and ran away.

**********

The death knell of Sands Castle rang.

With this sound, the atmosphere in the castle became more and more depressing.The tyranny of the little trident is well known, but no one thought it would reach this level.

As dusk approached, Laya gazed at the sunset from the scholar's tower.The Maester's Tower once housed the bayland's greatest scholars, but today only a few book boys and a few old servants remain.The academia in the Gulf has not had a master for many years, and ordinary scholars are not qualified to live here.

In order to free up enough rooms for the guests, Little Trident ordered people to empty the scholar's tower and change it into guest rooms.So those old and ancient bookshelves were moved out and replaced with beds and long tables.When Laya and others stayed here, the furniture hadn't been moved yet, and all kinds of books were scattered all over the place.Many ancient books are old, the parchment is rotten, as fragile as if it has been burned, and there are pages and torn books scattered on the ground.The ignorant servant stepped on it, which made Laya feel distressed.

Our new king has no respect for knowledge, not at all, Laya thought.

"The new king is pretty damn good!" Harris said behind her.Laya turned her head and asked, "What's so great?"

The orc sharpened his ax with a whetstone, and sneered as he rubbed it: "He is very courageous and powerful. My father said that if you have courage and strength, you will be invincible in this world."

Laya shook her head and said, "But he's not a warrior, he's a country—" Laya almost said the word "king", "he's a duke. As a grand duke, he should have wisdom, kindness, and all kinds of nobility character, a brutal butcher cannot be the leader of the Gulf."

The orc was not good at words, and was dumbfounded by what she said. "My lord, don't be angry. I'm not saying how good he is, but he's very powerful." He put down the ax and said in a low voice.

At this time Aaron said: "My lord, what Harris said is right, the little trident is not a simple character. You read a lot of books, but after all, you are younger than me, and you have seen fewer people than me, so I am here He's better than you at knowing people, isn't he?"

Aaron is well-informed and calm-headed, and Laya trusts him the most, "You're right." Laya nodded.

Aaron continued: "I have been a mercenary for 20 years, and I have seen all kinds of people. Good and bad, heroes, heroes, cowards, villains... I have seen them all. But I have never seen or heard There was such a character as Little Trident. Such a person sat on a chair in Bayland..." The old soldier narrowed his eyes, and the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes were sunken.

"I don't tell you what will happen."

red and white farce, thirteen

red and white farce, thirteen

Little Trident will be enthroned in six days.

Six days is enough for the royal family in the north to respond. Jinsha Castle is very close to Eagle Head City. After leaving the Tianfu Pass, you will find the Great Plains. The King’s Road is flat enough for a horse-drawn carriage to gallop. The messengers from the north can arrive in three days. here.According to the rules, the king of the north should be notified with a carrier pigeon immediately after the Grand Duke's death. Now the carrier pigeon must have arrived, and it depends on when the northerners arrive.

What would they do if the northern messengers came and saw the little trident openly enthroned as the king of the Gulflands?

The four principalities can only have one king, and war is inevitable.

The last thing I want to see is about to happen, Laya thought to herself, the severe drought in the north this year is already a disaster year, if there is another war, it will make things worse.In this way, the civilians would have no way out. If the noble raised his arms, there might be a riot, followed by a coup d'état.After the chaos, southerners and westerners may also get involved, and then it will turn into a world war.War inevitably brings death, followed by great plague and famine.

Monks and wizards always talk about the fifth mass extinction, the fifth mass extinction. People have always regarded this as a sensation, but now Raya really has this premonition.

The prophecy is getting closer and closer to me, she thought.At this moment, the annual ring words of the tree elves appeared in her mind:

When the red star shines, catastrophe will come;

The devil will come out and take what you have most.

Flesh decays, real name is immortal.

I can't let this happen, absolutely not, Raya thought. 500 years ago, the holy monk Limu set himself on fire to dissuade the king of the Western Regions from a truce; 300 years ago, the great scholar Minas went to the southern border seven times to quell the flames of war, and died of overwork; A stupid expedition; ten years ago, his mentor was assassinated in order to stop the civil war in the Reach, and his body was lost.

I can't let the peace bought by our ancestors be tarnished!

While she was meditating, Eros' voice came from the door. "We put all our clothes here!" She walked in with a stack of clothes, her steps brisk as if she was going to a bonfire party. With a "bang", the clothes were dropped on the table, and the surrounding dust was kicked up.The orc was choked and coughed, and scolded: "Little bitch, why are you so happy to catch a wild man again?" Eloise wiped the sweat from her face and said, "I caught your ancestor in the pigsty. Orc!" Then she threw off her shoes and sat down on the bunk, saying, "It's not bad, it's soft." It was Laya's bed, but she didn't mind Eros lying down for a while.

Raya picked up her high heels and set them up for her, then asked her, "Did something good happen? Eros."

Eros sat up from the bed, her face was full of smiles, like a young girl. "It's nothing, I haven't lived in a castle before, it's just new—ah, why are you all so sad?"

The orc snorted coldly, and continued to sharpen the weapon; the veteran said to her: "We were discussing the little trident before, and we felt..." He pondered for a while, and Laya continued: "I think the situation is very bad. Wonderful, after six days, the little trident will become king, and it will be equivalent to tearing the face off with the northerners. Then there will be a big battle..."

"Just hit it, it's none of our business?" Eros took Laya's hand and let her sit on the bed, "War is the business of emperors, we just need to eat and drink well..."

"How can you think like this—" before Laya finished speaking, Eros interrupted: "Master Laya, to tell you the truth, I met a super handsome man just now. Really, I met There have been so many men, but none are as handsome as him! He must be some prince, and he greeted me, and his voice is super nice, Lord Laya, I really want you to see it too!"

The orc laughed strangely, but Eros ignored him.Laya said with a wry smile: "Eros, it doesn't matter to me how handsome a man is, I swear that for the rest of my life..." When she said this, an unusually handsome face suddenly flashed in her mind.She grabbed Eros by the shoulder and asked her, "What does that man look like? How tall? What shape? What kind of hair do you have?"

Eros was taken aback by her, and immediately she restrained her smile, and replied: "A typical face of a northern nobleman, with clean skin and soft lines; about as tall as you, thin and thin like a woman, with blond hair and a single ponytail...My lord , do you know him?"

"Awen? Nemendus." Laya will not forget this person, why is he here?

Her entourage was silent, and Laya was thinking about this matter: Grand Duke Trident passed away just the day before yesterday, and these people seemed to know that he was going to die, and they all came one after another—Monk Putin, Awen, and maybe others , Could it be that the Grand Duke didn't die naturally, but something else happened?

Very likely.

The more she thought about it, the more frightened she became, as if a huge conspiracy was surfacing.She looked out the window and saw many homing pigeons hovering in the migratory bird tower.The setting sun is like blood, and the doves are like clouds. If this picture is regarded as the end of the empire, it can be described as extremely freehand.

"My lord, are these pigeons raised in the castle?" Eros asked.

"Yes."

Eros looked at it for a while, and suddenly asked: "The heads and feathers of these pigeons are all dyed, why is that?"

Laya explained to her: "These signs represent the identity of the carrier pigeon. Dyed in color can tell ordinary people that this is a carrier pigeon, not a wild bird brought for you to eat, so as to ensure their safe delivery; on the other hand, different colors Matches represent different numbers, and each number corresponds to a territory. I remember that the Xiongshan number is a brown three-stripe, and then..."

"That's true," said Eloise. "Look, the four outside are all red, with two stripes on their wings—Coo, come here!" She called to the pigeon, but the pigeon refused to answer. .

Two red stripes, this is a pigeon from Xiawan, Laya thought to herself, there are only four pigeons in each fiefdom, if these four are all from Xiawan, it means that Jinshanbao didn't tell Xiawan at all, Grand Duke He died, didn't the little trident inform Xiawan?

Strange, logically speaking, as the eldest son, he should write a letter to inform all the nobles, why didn't he tell Xiawan?

Laya fell into deep thought: Little Trident would not deliberately target the Earl of Shrimp Bay. Although he is cruel, he would not do such illogical things. There must be some reason for this.

What is the first thing the new king will do when he ascends the throne?Laya thought to herself, generally speaking, it is to strengthen her own throne, right?So how will a guy like the little trident strengthen the throne?

The more she thought about it, the more something went wrong. "Eros, you stay here first, I'm going out to do something!" Laya said and rushed out the door. She was going to the pigeon loft to investigate something.

Red and White Farce, XIV

Red and White Farce, XIV

Shrimp Bay, it's getting late——

Haiwen's wounded were packed up, the seriously injured stayed in Xiawan for treatment, and the slightly injured planned to go back to Xiongshan with him tomorrow morning.

Although Xiawan has become a mess, Miss Yawen still fulfilled her responsibility as a landlord by preparing sumptuous meals and a comfortable residence for them.

Haiwen was also injured in the fight, but his men brought wound medicine with him, so he could take care of it himself.He wanted to leave immediately, but it was too late, and there were wounded to be arranged, so he had to stay overnight.Seeing that it was getting dark, he was a little worried about what happened to Xiongshan, and he didn't know what was going on with Ramon.

While he was thinking, the door suddenly opened.Miss Yawen entered quietly, and closed the door behind her.Haiwen looked at her in surprise, and said, "Miss Yawen, do you have anything to say here?"

Yawen casually pulled a chair and sat down, and said, "My lord, you should think about what I said before. My sister... Although she is not beautiful on the outside, she is kind-hearted. As a wife , can also be regarded as virtuous..."

Do you believe what you say?A half-ton good wife and mother?I can't afford such a heavy offering to the Buddha!However, it would be impolite to say this directly, Haiwen could only say: "Miss Yawen, I'm already married."

Yawen said: "As far as I know, you are engaged and have not officially married yet."

Haiwen explained: "There is no difference. My real wife is currently studying in the south. When she comes back in a few days, I will immediately make up for this ceremony; besides, I have a concubine who is now In Xiongshan, the three of us have a harmonious relationship and are very affectionate."

The woman shook her head and said, "My lord, I heard that your first wife is just a commoner's daughter. As for your concubine..." She pondered for a while, "There are rumors that she is a bed slave—sorry, I didn't mean to offend."

Hewen was not angry, he said: "Hyacinth was born as a slave, but now she is a free man and my legal wife; although Islet is the daughter of a commoner, she is the most important person to me , I don’t value origin, I only care about our relationship.”

"This is not something that a nobleman should say, Lord Haven."

"I never considered myself a nobleman, Miss Yawen."

There was silence between them for a while, and then Yawen said: "Master Haiwen, if your first wife is gone, would you consider marrying Xiawan?"

Haiwen frowned, and asked coldly, "What do you mean by that? Please explain clearly."

"Don't get me wrong, my lord." Yawen said quickly, "I'm just asking. I heard you said that Mrs. Zun went out to study. Since it's a long trip, there will inevitably be accidents. My lord, have you considered it?"

I didn't think about it, Haiwen thought to himself, I knew from the beginning that Isrit would come back, she would definitely come back!

But what if you can't come back?

To be honest, Haven never thought about this terrible thing once.In his subconscious mind, he still imagines traveling far away as a simple matter—take a plane or train, stay in a hotel when he arrives at a place, and go home after finishing his errands.You can call the police if you are in trouble.But the fact is not like this, Yisrit took a big risk to study in the south this time.Human trafficking is prevalent in the south, and a beautiful woman like her is very likely to be targeted by slave traders.

Yawen seemed to have caught the worry on his face, and said in a timely manner: "My lord, we are about to go to war."

"what?"

"I said there is going to be a war." Yawen repeated, "That bastard on the table said today that Grand Duke Trident is dead. I don't know how he knows, but if Grand Duke Trident is dead, then little Trident Bumblebee Kahn will take the throne—do you know what kind of a bumblebee is?"

Haven only passed a letter with that person, so he didn't know anything about it. "I heard that he is cruel and domineering." Hai Wen said.

"Cruel and domineering, these are just two powerless words. If you really knew what he did, you would never comment on him like this. My lord, let me tell you, Little Trident is not only cruel and domineering, but also Narrow-minded, vengeful. Xiawan has paid a bloody lesson, so we will never obey this new king. I can tell you clearly that most of today's incidents are caused by the little trident behind. My lord, are you willing to treat this swear allegiance to the king?"

Her words became more and more wrong, Haiwen said to her: "I don't understand what you are talking about, Miss Yawen, I advise you not to do stupid things."

"My lord, we are all smart people, I think you don't need me to say it, you will know my intention." She leaned closer to Haiwen and said, "Xiawan and Xiongshan must unite to fight against the little trident." ability."

"I can't fight even if I unite, let alone I never thought about going to war with him."

"Either be a dog or be killed. Bone will not give us a third way to survive. To tell you the truth, the nobles in the Reach have already reached an initial alliance. Forks in Two and Four Roads, Forest Bay, Valley, and Pirate Bay, This is the richest land in the Bayland, and their combined strength is not even comparable to Sands Castle. If you count us, Sands Castle will have no advantage. In addition, the Marquis of Fenglei Castle is also against the little trident Halberd is very dissatisfied. If they can be drawn into the alliance, Jinsha Castle will be flanked by the southeast sides. If the little Trident dares to become king, then the king of the north will definitely send troops to suppress it. Joining forces with the northerners, we can easily break the Golden Sand Castle. In this way, everyone can continue to live a happy life, and no one will die with the little trident."

Haiwen sneered, and asked, "You mean, partner with the northerners to fight the king of the Gulf? Do you think other nobles in the Gulf will agree?"

"There is no king in the Gulf!" Yawen glared. "The last king died for 300 years, and his name was Chauvin. Now there are only the king's vassals, that is, the Duke of the Gulf."

Hai Wen said: "Even though Little Trident is stupid and brutal, your behavior is not justice. Miss Yawen, please forgive me that no one in Xiongshan has no money, and I cannot follow you to accomplish great things."

Hearing this, Yawen shouted loudly: "Ambside! You are a fool, you are married to Xiawan, and the whole Xiawan is yours! Only our two daughters are left in the Deen family, and Xiawan has no heirs. Yes! You just look down on my sister, don't you?"

Haven didn't answer, "I don't want to repeat what I said a second time." He said.

"Okay, okay! If you don't like my sister, what about me?" She rushed up and grabbed Haiwen's hand, and put his hand on her chest, "Yarvin Dern, 22 Years old, the most beautiful daughter among the nobles in Xiawan, she has never met a man before. As long as you are willing to form an alliance, then I am willing to marry you."

Haven pulled his hand back and said, "Yarvin Dern, listen to what I'm saying: Isrit is the only legal wife, and she must be the first person to walk into the auditorium with me; Hyacinth is Second, my wife and I both like her; the relationship between the three of us will never change again. I can sacrifice myself for politics, but I can never wrong them. Do you understand? If you understand , please leave quickly, I am going to sleep, thank you!"

red and white farce, fifteen

red and white farce, fifteen

"My lord, you can't go in here." An old woman stopped Laya.The nun turned her head and smiled at her, and said, "I have a letter from my family to send to the south, please borrow the pigeons here."

The old woman's voice was hoarse, and her body smelled like bird droppings. "No, my lord. The pigeons here are all from Jinsha Castle in name. In order to avoid someone writing a letter in the name of the Duke, the pigeons here are not loaned."

Laya sighed, took out a few gold coins, and said, "Please accommodate me."

The woman shook her head and said, "It's really not good. Our new king has strict discipline. If there is something wrong with the pigeon, I will be beheaded."

Laya had no choice but to go to Little Trident first to ask for the right to use the carrier pigeon.When she was about to leave, someone behind her suddenly said, "Isn't this Miss Laya? Why are you here?"

It's Manager Nader.Laya looked at the old butler. Although Manager Nader had resigned, he still had a quill pen stuck in his chest.This is obviously already a habit of his.The old man seems to be in good spirits today.Maybe after resigning, she has no burden, Laya thought to herself.

Laya bowed and said, "Master Nader, I want to send a letter with a carrier pigeon, but I don't seem to have the right to do so."