Lux's Farewell

In the sudden glimpse of the dream, Lissandra came up with the idea of ​​recruiting troops from the Ironthorn Kingdom to give Ashe and Demacia a little surprise.

With this idea in mind, Lissandra cautiously jumped into the dreamland, wanting to know more about the situation in the Iron Thorn Kingdom in more detail - and after some searching, she had some subtleties about her original plan. of hesitation.

The Iron Thorn Kingdom... can they really be recruited as reinforcements?

The main reason for this idea is that the situation in the Ironthorn Kingdom is now extremely bad. Even if Lissandra can encourage the raiders of the East Freljord to rush south for reinforcements, they may not be able to resist Nok. The front line of the Sassanids.

The main reason for all this is that the local "royal family" is not qualified.

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

It all started when Noxus was disintegrated.

After the disastrous defeat of Tobitsia and the direct flight of a large number of nobles based on the Black Rose, there was an astonishing power vacuum in the center of power in Noxus, and a large number of positions that looked like they were fat at first glance were vacated.

These positions used to belong to some of the old nobles and were the product of Swain's compromise with them. At that time, in order to unite the domestic forces as much as possible, Swain and the Black Rose reached a partial reconciliation and stopped disposing of the old nobles. , and designated some simple, profitable, and irrelevant positions as bargaining chips for the old nobles.

When Tobitsia was defeated and Black Rose ran away, most of the old nobles in these positions ran away with Black Rose, and the few remaining ones were also liquidated. A large number of vacancies suddenly appeared. For these vacancies, , many people are ready to make a move.

If Swain was still here, he would have used his flexible skills to take out these positions and even the manors and territories of the old nobles, and use them as bait to lure other local forces to use them for Noxus, but it is a pity. , as his successor, although Darius has the same excellent military command level, he is unable to handle so many chores politically.

Therefore, after the defeat, Noxus gathered up the defeated troops and reorganized them, while at the same time directly and drastically abolished these originally redundant positions, and returned the noble estates to the Immortal Fortress.

This behavior naturally aroused dissatisfaction among the local powerful people in Noxus.

You must know that Noxus is a conquering empire that focuses on cultural tolerance and regardless of origin. Its own cultural identity is not strong, and the tendency of separation in conquered areas has always existed.

The reason why all regions obey the orders of the imperial center is, on the one hand, because they are unable to resist the army, and on the other hand, because the successive generals are generally better at weighing the pros and cons of each place - any general who cannot handle it will be embarrassed. to step down, and then a stronger one comes to power.

Therefore, the areas conquered by Noxus were tied to this rumbling chariot and flew forward as the chariot.

When the chariot is moving forward unstoppably, although it is a bit uncomfortable to be tied up, everyone is still willing to do it because they are also profitable.

However, as the progress of the chariot was hindered and even threatened to overturn, this method of war bundling became a bit difficult to use.

At this time, Darius still maintains a tough attitude, and places far away from the Immortal Fortress will naturally have their own little thoughts.

The car is about to overturn, why don't you get out of the car quickly?

As a result, the Noxus Empire collapsed in various places, and organizations and countries including the Black Forest Federation, the Iron Thorn Kingdom, the Second Silver Republic, the Kingdom of Lockrond, and the Watch League were established one after another. The orders of the Bird Immortal Fortress, but they do their own thing and exist in the form of kingdoms and principalities.

This event occurred in the 14th year of the new Fossbylunar calendar.

Among them, the Iron Thorn Kingdom and the Black Forest Federation were the first to stand out.

The Ironthorn Kingdom is located in the Ironthorn Mountains, with Diver Fort as its core. It was once the core territory of the Noxian Northern Army, supplying more than [-]% of Noxus's black iron, and it is also the core area of ​​the entire northern defense.

When the Ironthorn Kingdom was established, Mr. Varrokan, the former governor of Fort Diver, once again picked up the long-lost crown and restored the "glory of the ancestors."

The reason why it is said to be the glory of the ancestors is mainly because the birth of the Iron Thorn Kingdom was even earlier than the Noxus Empire. However, more than 200 years ago, the Noxians here were invaded under false pretenses to "help defend against the Ephesians." "Attack of the Raeljord barbarians" was used as an excuse to annex the kingdom.

Since then, Noxus has built a large number of permanent fortifications in the area around the Diver Hold as a first-line defense against marauders.

In addition, the black iron ore in the Iron Thorn Mountains has also become an indispensable military supply for Noxus. A large number of people from Fort Diver work in the dark and deep mines all year round, and the forging sound of Fort Diver's blacksmith shop It also works non-stop all year round, providing key armor and weapons for the rumbling tank of Noxus.

For Mr. Varrokan, restoring the country seems to be a very simple matter - the Battle of Tobitsia mobilized most of the empire's elites, and the miners and blacksmiths who worked all year round at Fort Diver also had a huge impact on the Noxians. The behavior of "just getting goods without giving money" is quite dissatisfying.

The result of hard work is that he can only fill his stomach with black bread, and he may not be full. In this case, all it takes is a little incitement, and the entire Diver Fort is on Varrokan's side.

As a result, the Dominions of Dredge Fort and Black Forest fired the first shot to split the Noxus Empire. They suddenly attacked the local garrison, won the victory after a brutal siege, took over all the fortresses and defense facilities, and then loudly The land celebrated the great victory of the remaining Iron Thorn Kingdom.

If the story ended here, it would look really good indeed.

But no one in the Iron Thorn Kingdom could have imagined that the kingdom's independence would be the beginning of a nightmare.

With the independence of the Iron Thorn Kingdom, the first problem arose - no one bought the kingdom's dark iron ore.

In the past, dark iron ore was the official military supply of Noxus. The Noxus Empire took all the dark iron ore mined from the Diver Fort. But now with the independence of the Iron Thorn Kingdom, the locals People were embarrassed to find that no one wanted their ore.

The unsaleable black iron ore directly affected the economy of the newly established Iron Thorn Kingdom. In order to find a way out for the black iron ore, Varrokan even tried to launch "his own northern trade."

They didn't know where they heard some "experience" from Demacia's northern trade, and applied it to the Ironthorn Kingdom.

Demacia's northern trade trades with the Freljords and trades with the Ionians.

Then we can do it too!
To the north are the Freljords, and to the east are Ionia across the sea. As long as the trade route is opened up, the black iron that could only be exchanged for black bread from Noxus in the past will be obtained from trade. In exchange for gold!

With this beautiful idea in mind, Varrokan started the northern trade reform in the year of independence.

However, the Freljord people in the north of the Iron Thorn Kingdom are not the Avarosa tribe, but a group of raider tribes—engaging in northern trade? Who will trade with you if you can steal it?

Fortunately, the defenses left by the Noxians were still strong. Under the threat of the raiders, the Iron Thorn Kingdom suffered little loss. After several attacks on the Diver Fort to no avail, the raiders simply transferred their troops. The front began to fight internally. In this case, they finally tried to take out some things they thought were unimportant, and wanted to exchange some black iron weapons and equipment with Fort Diver.

Varrokan, who sensed that the trade in the north was promising, offered a very favorable price and waited happily for the tribes to be beaten to a bloody head and then have to purchase more from him.

However, the development of things deviated from the direction he expected from the beginning. Due to the breath of Anivia and the abnormal concentration of elements in the Freljord, the lifespan of black iron, which is strong and reliable elsewhere, has been drastically reduced in the Freljord. Although it is still better than ordinary steel, it can last for a year and a half. There is no problem, but it still seriously affects sales.

The raiders who didn't like to do business quickly gave up on these troublesome black irons, and the trade process in the north was interrupted.

The interruption of trade in the north is not a desperate situation. For the Ironthorn Kingdom, they still have the possibility of Ionia trade - Varrokan's envoy also arrived in Ionia at this time and hopes to carry out trade.

In order to close the relationship, the envoys of the Ironthorn Kingdom tried to package themselves as a role of "bringing order to chaos". In their view, Noxus invaded Ionia, so the two sides were hostile, and the Ironthorn Kingdom had never If Texas becomes independent, it proves that we can be each other's allies.

The enemy of the enemy is the friend!

Since we are friends, there is no problem in carrying out some mutually beneficial trade with each other!

However, they completely failed to realize that this way of thinking would not work in Ionia - by the time they arrived in Ionia, Irelia had resigned and the conservatives had taken power.

Although these guys will clap their hands and watch the Noxus Empire die, they will not further intervene in the disputes or even actively participate in the process of dismembering the Noxus Empire. For them, any drastic move is It may be to provide assistance to radical civilian organizations such as Shadow Stream and the Navoli Brotherhood.

So, at this time, the main trend in Ionia was "peace, not war."

Even further "Love, don't fight."

Under this situation, the envoys of the Iron Thorn Kingdom lobbied in many ways, but most of Ionia had no intention of increasing their military armaments and regaining Weili.

In desperation, the envoy tried to contact Shadow Stream to see if this organization could buy some black iron.

Shadow Stream is still actively preparing for war, and is even ready for a civil war, but to them, the Black Iron thing... doesn't make much sense.

As we all know, the main members of Shadow Stream are a group of assassins and a group of shadow casters.

The Navoli Brotherhood is a military organization based on militia and skirmishers.

Neither Shadow Stream nor the Brotherhood of Navoli have the idea or need to form heavy infantry, and black iron is not convenient for casting light weapons. It is generally used to forge heavy armor or heavy weapons in Noxus. …

Therefore, although Shadow Stream and the Navoli Brotherhood have a good attitude and are willing to cooperate with the Iron Thorn Kingdom, it is a pity that there is no scope or room for cooperation between the two parties.

Moreover, Varrokan has never been able to get through the shipping link from Dredge Fort to Ionia - under the premise that Bilgewater has a complete monopoly on Ionia's shipping trade, even if they want to engage in trade , and can only rent Bilgewater boats.

Sarah will not give Iron Thorn Kingdom a discount!

In the end, the messenger sadly returned to Dredge Keep, announcing the failure of Ionia's trade development.

The failure of trade in the north, coupled with the failure of trade in Ionia, brought the economy of Fort Nuver to the brink of collapse. With the arrival of autumn that year, there were even problems with their food supplies - although they could get food from the black The Forest Federation imports food, but Tukgul, where the Black Forest Federation is located, is not a food-producing area. Food must also be imported from the Principality of Valoran!

The imported food was not cheap at first. After changing hands several times, when it arrived at Fort Diver, the price had reached a point where people could not afford it.

It happened that at this time, black iron ore and black iron products were unsalable, and the income of miners and blacksmiths also dropped sharply.

Under the influence of the two factors, the residents of the Iron Thorn Kingdom who could at least eat black bread found themselves in despair. Why did they not have enough to eat after the kingdom became independent?

Of course, if things stop there, then they can completely blame the Noxus Empire. After all, it was Noxus that eliminated the Iron Thorn Kingdom's ability to take care of itself and completely transformed it into a giant fortress and a large mine. A forge that never burns out.

If we can persist in independent struggle and endure hunger for a while, the Iron Thorn Kingdom may not be able to develop agriculture again.

However, the common people of the Iron Thorn Kingdom can tolerate it, but Varrokan cannot.

Now that he has become a king and restored his former glory, why can't he show off?
In this time of economic downturn, Varrocan and many members of the Varrocan family have invariably improved their living standards, and even mobilized civilians in the winter to build themselves a "palace worthy of their status" that would "be able to On par with the Immortal Fortress.”

This series of saucy operations directly brought the reputation of the Varrokan family to the bottom, triggering endless anger among the people of the Ironthorn Kingdom - in the winter of hunger and cold, they felt the shameful deception.

Although the Noxians were urging the miners and blacksmiths to work, at least they had enough black bread to eat, and the family was not in danger of freezing or starving.

But now that the Iron Thorn Kingdom is independent, we are starving, and only the Varrokan family has begun to show off...

The dissatisfaction of the people is visible to the naked eye, but the Varrokan family in Fort Diver, which holds the only regular army in the area, is not panicked - in their view, no matter how unhappy those mud-legged people are, they can't do anything.

However, at this time, the Black Forest Federation in Turkgol nearby was persuaded by the Noxians to surrender, changed the Noxian flag again, and transformed back into the Noxian Dominion...

The horned brothers surrendered, and the Iron Thorn Kingdom's only food import channel was gone. This time Varrokan finally panicked.

After becoming ill and seeking medical attention, he even began to pray to the Frost Witch of Freljord - he knew very well that there was nothing the people of Delver could do to him if they didn't have enough to eat, but if they didn't have anything to eat, then the people of Delver The fort really turned into a powder keg.

It was under this circumstance that Lissandra connected to Valrocan's dream.

After learning about the situation at Dredge Fort through her dreams, Lissandra quickly had a clear understanding of the Ironthorn Kingdom.

It's hopeless. Destroy it quickly.

I originally thought of contacting the Iron Thorn Kingdom, but now it seems that this kingdom, which is bound to die, might as well be used as a bargaining chip in the deal with the Noxians...

Although Demacia and Noxus have restored peaceful relations, if there is a chance, Noxus wouldn't mind giving Demacia a little surprise, right?
Thinking like this, a complete plan began to take shape in Lissandra's mind.

Ah, it’s the last day of November, are there still monthly passes?