The Last Frontier of Fire and Sword

Of course someone will follow.

The next scene that made Cheor Chen's surprise appeared. This man’s words are like a spark falling into the dry wood fire: the winemaker drank their last sip; the plowing and shepherd breaking their wooden ploughs and sheep whips; the iron and barrel hoop The iron bar is on his back...

For a time, everyone turned into a militant Cossack.

At this time, Chechen seemed to understand that the Cossacks led by Bogdan Khmelnitsky had fought against the Republic with winged cavalry for nearly ten years, and they were able to win many times, even if they failed. Make a comeback.

Not long after, dozens of people gathered. They packed up their simple luggage and yelled to leave with the little leader.

Cheerchen looked at Blair. He thought Blair would stop all of this. After all, these young people will embark on a road of no return, but Blair smiled at all of this, not only did not mean to stop, but his eyes were full of Praise and hope for victory.

At exactly this time, Henrik Potocki, under the protection of two Zaporozhe Cossack cavalry, was preparing to purchase supplies passing by, and he also saw this scene. The noble son said contemptuously: "Without kings and nobles, here is a land without laws and lawlessness."

"What are you talking about!" Blair glared at Henrik Potocki.

Henrik snorted and walked away without answering.

But Chechen agreed with Henrik Potocki for the first time.

Yes, lawlessness, no law.

This sentiment made Cheor Chen a little instinctively disgusted. This is not only because of his knight family background, but also because of Tetsuchen's strict rules and discipline instincts as the head of the mercenary group. Without organization and discipline, it can only be a mob.

The trace of goodwill that Cheerchen had just developed was so disillusioned.

Due to the encouragement of the little Cossack leader, the streets were soon empty, and the lively market was replaced by deserted.

Blair also left the meeting. Because he happened to see an old acquaintance of his own. The two hooked their shoulders together and prepared to go for a few drinks. Originally Blair had also invited Cheerchen to go with him, but Cheerchen declined.

After Blair left, Cheerchen stood alone in the street. He jumped off his horse and walked to the left of the town. At this time, an eleven or twelve-year-old girl came out from the thatched hut on one side. She was naked, she was barefoot, and only wrapped a piece of rag around her body. The rag was still full of holes, revealing the delicate skin of the little girl. The girl walked very slowly. Every step she took, she would squat down to pick up something, and then take another step and then squat down again and again.

After the girl picked up Cheerchen's side, Cheerchen could see that the girl was picking up the wheat ears that had fallen from the ground. And she has picked up a small hand full of it.

"Is this her food?" Cheerchen thought sadly. In Poland, Cheerchen had seen such hungry people during the Polish campaign. In order to strengthen the wall and clear the country, Arvid Widenberg destroyed all the villages on the outskirts of Warsaw, where the agricultural trade was developed, and all the food was taken away by the Swedes. The residents who escaped the massacre died in large numbers from famine and plague, if it weren’t for Jan. King Kazimierz will distribute food to the hungry, and the death will be even worse. But even so, after the liberation of Warsaw, the population of the devastated Warsaw city was reduced by 90%, and the ruins on the streets were full of dead people, and many famous families disappeared. In Ukraine, especially in a place so close to Kiev, Cheerchen did not expect to see the same scene again.

Cheerchen squatted down with compassion, and then took out a taller from his body.

"Here." Cheerchen said. He thought, with this taller, the girl can buy a lot of food.

The girl looked at Taylor in Cheerchen's hand blankly, as if she didn't understand what the little brother in front of her had done for her. Immediately, the girl moved her gaze to Cheerchen's mount, and could not leave for a long time.

Cheerchen looked at the girl's eyes. It turned out that the girl was looking at a piece of beef beside the saddle—that was leftover from Cheerchen's food last night.

"Do you want that?" Cheerchen pointed at the beef.

The girl nodded vigorously.

Cheorchen stood up and was about to take off the beef, when suddenly a naked woman ran out of the thatched hut.

The woman looked at the girl's mother who was supposed to be her age, and the woman ran to Cheerchen's side and quickly grabbed Tale in Cheerchen's hands.

"Thank you, dear master. Amousha has never seen Taler, and I don't know how precious it is." The woman said gratefully.

Although he had had relationships with Fatima and Natalie, seeing a woman's body in such broad daylight still had a great impact on Cheer Chen. He hurriedly covered his eyes, then fumbled for a cloak to cover the woman's naked body.

"You put on this." Cheerchen said.

The woman put the cloak on her body, but her two naked girls who hung on her chest like rags because of malnutrition were still exposed. She continued to express her gratitude to Cheerchen again and again.

"Is this your daughter?" Cheerchen asked.

The woman held the girl in her arms.

"Yes, yes. She is my daughter Amousha." The woman hugged her daughter tighter, and she pressed her face to her.

"How can you live so poor? What about your husband?"

"Master, my husband was taken away by the Tatars not long after Amusa was born. My husband thought that living under the rule of Chief Khmelnitsky would be safe, but the Tatars are still He was taken away. There are many peasants working hard at home who have suffered the same fate. Our life is very difficult, and people starve to death and freeze to death every day. Please don’t get me wrong, I am not the same Slutty woman, it's really because there is not even a piece of clothing at home..." The woman clutched the cloak tightly, as if worried Cheerchen would take it back.

Cheerchen was shocked by what the woman said. Because he just saw the scene of the Cossacks trading with each other, it is obvious that the Cossacks in this town are not short of materials and food.

"Master, that's the Cossack masters, they defend us, of course we should enjoy the best." The woman only said this carefully.

"I am not a Cossack." Cheerchen said.

The woman seemed relieved. She secretly told Chechen that in their small town, except for one-seventh of the land belongs to the church and two-seventh to the farmers, the remaining land, mills and breweries all belong to the Cossack group of hundreds of people. These lands and mills originally belonged to the Polish nobles. After the Cossacks drove away the Polish nobles, the Cossack master above rewarded them with land and other things to the meritorious Cossacks, and the residents still lived on the previous land. But even so, if there is no war, the residents of the small town can still live on a hungry meal, because the land of Ukraine is fertile. But the war made everyone's life very difficult, and only the Cossacks still had enough food and clothing.

Cheerchen understood. He looked around, but saw more heads sticking out of the thatched huts on both sides. Most of them are old, weak, sick and disabled.

Cheerchen left a bag of Thaler and all the beef. Before leaving, the woman wanted to give her daughter to Cheerchen and told Cheerchen that her daughter was still a virgin, and she would do whatever the master ordered.

Cheerchen refused naturally. He told the poor woman that peace in Ukraine would come soon, and Amusha would have a better life.

After that, under the influence of the tragic mother and daughter, Cheerchen was so indifferent to everything, he even deliberately avoided Blair. He was silent about everything Blair said to him.

And every time Cheerchen passed by a Ukrainian town, he would find an excuse not to go in again. He even reminded Blair that he should hurry up as soon as possible, otherwise he would rather eat and sleep outside the city.

Of course, Cheerchen's abnormal behavior attracted Blair's attention. Finally, once, Blair directly asked Cheerchen why.

Cheerchen didn't answer directly. He patted his waistcoat with his hands, looked at the distant horizon and said, "Blair, why do you still fight the Republic? The Cossacks can obviously live well by craftsmanship, and the Ukrainian people are already exhausted."

"Why are you asking?" Blair asked rhetorically.

Chechen nodded and said, "Yes, Blair. You saw it in the last town. Everyone can support their families and live a good life with their own craftsmanship. But one person raised his arms and said People follow him like crazy. What are they going to do? Not to pray, not to attend a banquet, but to fight. Of course, I am not saying that it is wrong to destroy the heretics for the glory of God. But now the Cossacks and the Emirate No war broke out between Ottoman Turkey. Their blind actions, this kind of do-it-yourself phenomenon prevailed, how much harm would they bring to their country and themselves, don’t they know? And, after you left, I met a The resident of the household is a poor woman. She and her daughter didn’t even have a piece of clothing to go out. She said that after the Polish nobles were driven away, the land left by the nobles went to the Cossacks who made the war. I didn't get it."

When Blair heard Cheechen say this, he rarely showed a sad expression.

"Chechen, I didn't expect you to say that, and I didn't expect the people of Ukraine to think so." Blair said disappointedly.

"Is this wrong?" Cheerchen asked in confusion.

"Of course not." Blair's hand tightened his saber, and he seemed to be plunged into deep memories. After a while, he said: "You only see the Ukrainian people's unsatisfactory life now, but you know what the people here are living with before Bogdan Khmelnitsky leads us to drive us away from the Poles. Such a day? Let me give you an example: Polish soldiers would hold Ukrainian girls upside down in the street for no reason, just because they think the girls’ colorful dresses are like tulips."

Cheerchen was silent.

In fact, it is no wonder that Cheerchen cannot understand the status quo of Cossacks and Ukraine. Because the lawless character of the Cossacks was a special character that came into being in the only semi-nomadic and semi-agricultural region in Europe during the difficult sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

At that time, after experiencing the Western Expedition in Mongolia, the great Kievan Rus became scorched earth. The vast area of ​​Ukraine was abandoned by their former princes, and was abandoned by the invasion of Mongolian predators. When the homeland was reduced to rubble and the king and nobles were unable to protect their subjects, the people here became brave and no longer knew what fear was.

When Lithuania merged with Poland to form a republic, the Polish nobles began to expand toward Ukraine. They occupied a large amount of land as their own private fief, and they tricked Ukrainians into farming with a preferential period of 20 to 30 years, etc. When the deadline is reached, the peasants will be serfsized.

Of course, when the farmers protested, the nobles would show them the law and tell them that this was an appointment made at the beginning.

Ukrainians began to flee in large numbers, and they no longer believed in the law.

Since the law cannot protect their interests from the beginning, lawlessness has become the only option.

What's more, the powerful Crimean Khanate came to Ukraine from time to time to harvest the "grass of the steppe peoples~ www.readwn.com~ The local Polish garrison either fled to the wind or shrank in a strong castle and threw the people to the Tatars. To be slaves, and the only ones who resist are the Cossacks. Over time, the colonists, colonists, fugitives, escaped serfs, and adventurers who were once despised by the Ukrainians, were made up of the Poles, Rus and other ethnic groups. He gradually became a hero and became a hero, attracting more and more Ukrainians to join this group.

This was the situation where Cheerchen saw that the distillers, blacksmiths, carmakers, and farmers were all Cossacks. Because everyone must be able to fight and protect their wives, children and land.

And in the face of violence and captivity that may occur at any time, the best way to retaliate is to return a tooth for a tooth and blood for blood. When the Poles oppressed the Cossacks, the Cossacks beat the Poles; the Turks oppressed the Cossacks, and the Cossacks beat the heretics.

The poor people Chechen saw were not all the fault of Bogdan Khmelnitsky or the Cossacks. Bogdan Khmelnitsky has introduced some policies to improve people's lives, but after years of war, these policies have absolutely no conditions for implementation.

Moreover, for freedom, Ukrainian mothers sacrificed too many children-at the Battle of Berestečko, the bodies of 30,000 Cossack fighters fell near the narrow retreating pontoon; Battle of the Fortress of Suceava, 12,000 Cossacks The army was annihilated, and the eldest son of Khmelnitsky died in battle... Ukraine has no chance to recuperate. She can only support the Cossack fighters with all her strength.

Seeing Cheerchen not speaking, Blair asked Cheerchen, "Cheerchen, do you still think that the Cossacks should surrender to the Poles and let the Ukrainians be ruled by the Poles again?"