vstars Chapter 143 The Price of Weakness
Chapter 143 The Price of Weakness
The news of the indigenous uprising in Midland was like a hurricane in the political arena of countries on the continent, and attracted the attention of surrounding neighboring countries.
In their view, the fact that an indigenous army was allowed to burn, kill and loot without restraint in the country showed that the Midlan army was not as strong as imagined, or that Midlan had reached a point of exhaustion after decades of fighting.
Because of this, it is inevitable that some people in power in some countries have unrealistic fantasies about the vast territory of Midland.
As a result, a trend of cooperating with Yoda to divide the territory of Midland appeared in the parliaments of various countries almost at the same time.
"The Kingdom of Midland is now like a shaky house with a huge piece of land. If someone kicks it, it will collapse in an instant!"
At a meeting in the Kingdom of Nice among the southern countries, a minister spoke generously, and his words were recognized by many of his colleagues.
As feudal states, except for island nations like Grant and Is, which were far away from the mainland, almost all other countries had territorial disputes over one or more territories.
In the early years, Midlan was powerful, and its huge army made the surrounding countries dare not even mention this matter. However, judging from the current situation, Midlan cannot drive away the invading Yoda army, nor can it wipe out the indigenous tribes in the country, so it cannot occupy such a vast territory.
"I don't think attacking the Kingdom of Midland is a good idea now."
A minister said hurriedly.
"At present, the reason why the Kingdom of Midland has not put pressure on the surrounding countries is nothing more than that all its elite troops have been deployed in the war with Yoda."
"The benefit to us is that the powerful and territorially hungry Yoda Empire cannot reach our country. If their army wants to come, they must break through the heavily armed battlefield of Mitlan. And the bordering Mitlan Kingdom is also unable to threaten our country with force, so we can have a peaceful environment to develop."
"If we attack the Kingdom of Mitlan together with Yoda, let's not talk about whether we will be stuck in a bitter war with the Kingdom of Mitlan for decades like Yoda. If we win, how much territory can a small country like us annex, and how much resources will it take to consolidate our new land?"
"Not to mention how to deal with the larger and more ambitious Yoda Empire in the future. Therefore, what we have to do now is to work hard to develop in this environment instead of thinking about expanding territory."
After listening to the minister's words, King Nice nodded and said to the ministers:
"Since its founding three hundred years ago, the Kingdom of Nice has been able to establish itself in the southern part of the world and become one of the most powerful countries in the world. The most important thing is that it has learned to judge the situation."
"Territory is important, but knowing how to use diplomacy to reach agreements with other countries is more important. When Nice was first established, it was just a country with a small city. Our ancestors used diplomacy to cooperate with surrounding countries to annex other countries' territories, and made friends with the French King's Office to obtain legal recognition."
"When the Kingdom of Nice's territory reached a certain size, our ancestors knew that if they continued to expand, they would be hostile to other countries, so they stopped expanding their territory and instead turned to making friends with other countries to reach trade agreements. They used their country's advantages as a transportation hub in the south of the continent and its unique ports to develop commerce. This is how the Kingdom of Nice became the richest country among the southern countries today."
“Some of our ancestors’ methods may not be applicable today, but some of them are fundamental to our survival.”
"The game is still undecided. The Yoda people haven't taken much of Midland's territory, and Midland hasn't surrendered. All we have to do is wait and see, and wait for the time when we really need to take action."
Kingdom of Midland, Rona
In a village with billowing smoke, Yoda's soldiers used swords to force the villagers to the center of the village. On the way to the square, the villagers saw Yoda's soldiers breaking into their own and their neighbors' homes, looting the houses, and then running into another house with their limited food and some valuables, laughing.
"Where are they taking us?"
A villager asked in a low voice.
"Maybe they will make all of us slaves to farm Yoda's land." Another villager replied. In his opinion, this was the best option. After all, he suffered from war and famine every day here. Maybe he could live a better life in a new environment.
In the center of the village, a Yoda man wearing full body armor looked at the villagers who were forced here with fear and confusion in their eyes and said loudly:
"You untouchables of Midland, by order of His Majesty the Emperor, will all be taken to the land of Yoda, away from the ravages of war. Once there, you will never have to worry about food and drink. It will become your new home."
On the side, the priest in the village originally wanted to say something, but looking at the shining swords of the Yoda soldiers next to him, he had to close his lips which were about to open.
The villagers on the opposite side became excited. Ever since their lord left the territory with his family, this place has become a war zone between Midland and Yoda. This year, Midland will collect taxes, and next year, Yoda will collect taxes. Sometimes, they have to pay taxes to both Midland and Yoda in a year, which makes the villagers here miserable.
Now the Yoda people are willing to accept them. Although anyone with a discerning eye can see that they are unreliable, these villagers who have been driven dazed by war and hunger can no longer distinguish right from wrong. When they heard this, some villagers began to kneel down to the Yoda people and expressed their gratitude to them.
Looking at these deceived villagers, the priest sighed and held the cross tightly, repeating "May God forgive us" over and over again. It was unknown who he wanted the Lord to forgive.
The Yoda officer looked at the villagers present and nodded with satisfaction, and continued to shout:
"Now follow my command and divide the villagers into two teams, one for adult men and one for the elderly, women and children. A carriage will be sent to transport you back to Yoda!"
Under the curses and scolding of Yoda's soldiers, the villagers reluctantly divided into two teams and walked towards the barn outside the village. At this time, someone had already noticed something was wrong. If someone really came to pick them up, why didn't they gather them in the village but in a remote barn outside the village?
Seeing that the surrounding environment was not right, several villagers communicated with each other. When a Yoda soldier was not paying attention, they forced him away, left the team, and ran towards the opposite hill.
"The Midlan people ran away!" the soldier who was hit shouted, and immediately several cavalrymen went to chase them. No matter how fast the two-legged ones ran, they could not outrun the four-legged ones. It didn't take long for the cavalrymen to catch up with the villagers.
"Don't kill me, I surrender..." A villager was about to surrender, but unfortunately the Yoda cavalry did not give him a chance. As the villager felt a pain in his neck, his head was chopped off. He rolled on the grass for several times and came to another villager. The large amount of blood spurting from his neck directly dyed the grass near him red.
"Ah...ah..." The frightened villager was too scared to speak. He could only run away with his mouth wide open. Another Yoda cavalryman rode over and hit the villager directly on the head with a meteor hammer. The huge force caused the villager's head to explode like a watermelon, and then the body twitched and fell to the grass.
The villagers were also awakened by seeing this tragic scene. They began to attack the Yoda team aimlessly like frightened sheep.
"Go in! Everyone, go in!" Seeing that he couldn't let them enter the barn, Yoda's soldier immediately drew his sword and stabbed a villager who was about to escape.
The blood immediately caused greater panic. They screamed and slowly retreated to the barn under the suppression of Yoda's soldiers. As the last Midlan entered, Yoda's soldiers immediately locked the barn from the outside and surrounded the two barns.
Looking through the gap at the Yoda soldiers gathered outside, the villagers of Midlan kept banging on the door, but no matter how hard they tried they could not escape from the barn.
Hearing the shouting inside the barn, Officer Yoda just said coldly: "Do it." The Yoda soldiers who had been prepared long ago carried bales of hay and threw them in through the skylight on the barn. As several torches were thrown into the barn, bursts of thick smoke floated out of the barn, and the sound inside changed from shouting to even more miserable screams.
Listening to the screams of the Midlan people, Officer Yoda felt unsatisfied and continued to order: "Set the barns on fire." Yoda's soldiers threw the torches in their hands at the barns with a grin, and soon, the two barns were engulfed in flames.
In the sea of fire, several flaming Midlan men rushed out of the barn, but were immediately hit in the head by arrows from Yoda's crossbowmen and fell to the ground.
As the flames gradually burned, the former barns turned into two black graves, with bodies burned to charcoal underneath.
Seeing that the situation was almost resolved, Officer Yoda praised the soldiers:
"This is a great idea. It saves time and can catch all the Midlanders in one fell swoop."
At this point, he patted the priest who was wiping his tears and said hypocritically:
"Don't be sad. I know that the priest who killed me will go to hell. Soon there will be many believers coming to your church to hold mass. Just be a priest in the village peacefully."