Old days in the box

Chapter 314 The meaning of war

The roar of dragons finally stopped in the sky, and the morning light dimly reflected the city of Vital where the bombing had ended.

The smoke and fire gradually dissipated. After a night of fire and meteor showers, almost half of this remote town was destroyed. The half near the city gate was completely razed to the ground, leaving only the bare scorched land.

Although the bachelors of the Steel Fire Department have tried their best to adjust the landing point of the meteor fire through the calibration of the machine bird, ensuring that the target of the meteor fire attack is the slum rebels who attack the city.

But at a distance of thousands of miles, the bolide itself is a siege weapon, so it is almost inevitable that it will cause collateral damage.

The jade beacon that vibrated from Chi Hua finally stopped operating, retracted the light barrier surrounding Yuan Wuyou, restored it to its original appearance and inserted it into the ground.

Under the protection of the barrier, Yuan Wuyou and Vidal were the only survivors in the city who were still safe.

The two of them slowly walked out of the barrier, looking at half of the town that had been reduced to ruins, and looked at each other speechlessly.

The power of the fire meteor is like a siege cannon. Under its cluster bombing, almost no buildings in the town can withstand it. Under these piles of collapsed ruins, it is unknown how many civilians and rebels from both sides are buried. military.

"What an amazing firepower. Is this the power of your Jade Realm?" After a while, Vidal finally spoke first and broke the silence.

"It turns out that I have always had their jade beacon on my sword, tracking my location... They must have thought that I was in danger, so they sent down bolide meteors to hit this area."

Yuan Wuyou's voice was as low as a mosquito, his face was as red as fire, and he lowered his head and said.

She already understood what was going on the moment the falling fire fell. Yes, she was the messenger representing the Jade Realm, and she was also the princess of the royal family. How could the emperor and Xian Ning really leave her alone? Just go out and wander around like this?

But such tough protection methods caused the complete collapse of a small town overnight.

In her eyes, these people were divided into civilians, rebels, and enemies, but in the eyes of the Steel Fire Division thousands of miles away, they did not.

In their eyes, the people here are all just Byzantines, and there is no difference. Once anyone poses a substantial threat to their Jade Princess, they will immediately launch an indiscriminate attack to wipe out these bold villains.

"They were right. You were indeed in danger."

"I can handle it myself, there's no need to go to this level!" Yuan Wuyou raised his red face and said angrily.

"Are you confused?" Vidal asked calmly.

"I'm very confused. I don't understand why the Jade World doesn't trust me and why they don't tell me about the jade beacon. I don't understand why the other rebels want to attack us. They are obviously revolting but they want to kill each other."

"It's not us they want to attack, it's you they want to attack."

Yuan Wuyou buried her face in the shadows and was depressed, but Vidal shattered her anger with just one sentence, causing her to look up in shock again.

"Me?" Yuan Wuyou was confused.

"Didn't you notice? After the fire started, they rushed into the city with heavy weapons and quickly found us. Those rebels had obviously done identification training in advance and had already written down your appearance. This will help you identify your location in the chaos."

Vidal did not forget what the tattooed man said. At first, he suspected that the other person was coming for him, but when he heard the man say, "The Princess of the East easily takes the bait," he completely understood this. what's going on.

"But...why?"

"Since the fall of Constantinople, the news that you, the Eastern Princess, left with our army has been spread. I am afraid they decided to turn back and launch a surprise attack on you after hearing this news." Vidal guessed.

"But what is this for? Just because I am also a noble?" Yuan Wuyou shook his head like a child who didn't know what mistake he had made.

"Don't you understand? In the eyes of the outside world, you are a married princess from the East. Your identity represents the entire Jade Realm Kingdom. What will happen if you are killed in the Byzantine Empire?"

"The Jade World will be furious. My brother will march his army straight down to Zixiao Pass and invade the Byzantine Empire... Do they want to anger the Jade World?" Yuan Wuyou woke up from the shock.

"Yes, so I said that the person who protected you did not make a mistake in his judgment. You were indeed in danger. Now this is not the worst outcome." Vidal nodded.

"...But what benefits can they gain by doing this? Drawing the anger of the Jade World to themselves and wanting to self-destruct?"

Yuan Wuyou looked up at Vidal eagerly, but he just sneered almost at himself and breathed a long sigh of relief at the ruins in front of him.

"Don't you really think that when the army of Jade Realm pounced on the Byzantine Empire, they would really carefully find out the cause and effect of the incident, punish just that rebel army, and then return to Jade Realm Right?" The thundering truth quietly rang in Yuan Wuyou's ears, making her head buzz.

"When war is unleashed, and when your army rushes towards this country with fury, no one will distinguish between the Byzantine army and the rebels. They will flatten everything here and officially join the Byzantine army. in the war.”

"So they want to introduce foreign enemies here so that the Byzantine Empire will have to face more enemies?"

"Yes, this is a very smart move. Now the Byzantine Empire has to face the Three Emperors Alliance in the west and the Half-Orc Alliance in the north. If the Jade Realm attacks from the east, no matter how big the empire is, it will not be able to do so at the same time. Dealing with attacks from so many external forces.”

Vidal looked at Yuan Wuyou who was at a loss, and suddenly felt some pity for her.

"And you, little princess, you are the fuse that can be used to ignite the East."

Infinite fear suddenly arose in Yuan Wuyou's heart, as if he was facing wolves on all sides on the ice field.

She had always regarded herself as a brave and capable warrior, but she never thought that in the eyes of the Byzantines, she was actually a moving lead that could be sacrificed at any time to summon the Jade World's attack.

Other rebels could think of this method, and Vidal's army could do the same. The fact that he could react so quickly to the opponent's intentions showed that he had not thought of this possibility.

But when she met his gaze, she felt the gentle trust in his eyes, which made her involuntarily give up the idea of ​​retreating.

"So this is the answer? That they can attack civilians and other rebels for this reason, even if they are not the Byzantine army doing evil? All so that they can kill me and draw Jade World into this war? "

Yuan Wuyou looked confused from beginning to end. The baptism of war had such an impact on her that she didn't know how to deal with these facts.

"Yes, this is war. In order to achieve victory, you can do whatever it takes. Don't treat the other party as a human being, nor treat yourself as a human being. Only in this way can you carry out those cruel killings and kill the enemies of a city or even several cities. Kill them all."

"Once any dispute evolves into a war stage, all previous arguments will be meaningless. After the war is released from the bottle, it will no longer be controlled by anyone. In this way, even if the country is reorganized, it will be very deformed, and those who have paid for it will be very deformed. The costs may take generations to heal."

"Since you know everything so well, why did you lead them to start this war in the first place?" Yuan Wuyou was stunned and asked subconsciously.

"Because I have no choice. Byzantium is already too sick. Wrong teachings and unfair privileges are deeply rooted in this empire. The people are strangled and can hardly breathe. It is like a completely necrotic leg. There is no chance of any improvement, and the only way to survive is to cut it off in its entirety.”

Vidal's eyes became cold again, and in an instant he seemed to have returned to the image of the young iron-blooded soldier.

"I know exactly what I want, so I make these decisions. I know that this process may not be easy, but this is the price that must be paid for its rebirth. I want to save my country, and this is The only way."

Vidal suddenly turned around, pulled out the Chi Hua inserted into the ground, and handed it back to Yuan Wuyou's hands.

"But the question is, what about you? Do you know what you want? From the first day you have said that you want to fight for the Jade World and start a war. Now you finally see what the war really looks like. You really Do you want to bring the war to your country?"

Yuan Wuyou took the Chi Hua from her and stared blankly at the jade beacon with residual light on the hilt.

She is truly a person who never knows what she wants.

She began to learn swordsmanship when she was young. When she grew up, she wanted to compete for the position of emperor. She was later sent to Byzantium to serve as an outpost for investigation. In the short first half of her life, she seemed to have pursued many goals, but in the end they were all burned down.

Nowadays, even this ideal of pursuing fame and fighting on the battlefield seems to have become less attractive, and has even made her resistant.

But just as a person's growth is accompanied by choices, experiencing these superficial pursuits made her gradually become sober and understand where her beliefs should be directed.

At least this time, she knew what she wanted.

"I'm leaving." She suddenly said, her eyes no longer confused, "I'm going to the east, the spine of the world."

She wants to return to the Jade Realm to stop the emperor's intention to send troops - before it's too late.

This meant that it was time for them to say goodbye.

"I'll send a team to escort you there." Vidal nodded and said to her.

(End of this chapter)