July 15, 620, the Imperial Calendar of the Britannian Empire.
Britannian Empire, the Ligasus Mountains, somewhere at the foot of the mountain.
It's a hot summer.
The air is filled with the smell of dust and heat, and the cicadas' chirping seems to be far away, or just beside people, vague and clear.
Under the clear sky, a carriage was walking slowly and slowly.
It comes from the imperial capital Pandragon, heading north and heading straight towards the Ligasos Mountains.
The driver was a 16-7-year-old young man with his face still retaining the unique childishness of a teenager.
Although he is very young, his driving technique is very sophisticated and he knows the way to control a horse. His hands holding the reins are always steady without any trembling.
“It’s so hot…”
The young man whispered to the hot ghost weather while wiping the sweat from his forehead.
In the scorching sun, in such weather, looking around, the scenery within your eyes is covered with a filter of heat waves, and the world seems to be melting into a viscous liquid.
At this moment, the young man's eyes lit up: Not far from him, there was a clear stream flowing.
Seeing such a clear stream flowing by, the young man immediately drove the carriage to the side, unloaded his horse from the carriage, and led the horse to the next to the stream.
While letting his horse drink water, the young man also scooped up handfuls of water, drank it in big mouthfuls, and filled his almost empty kettle with water.
"Young man, are you here for a trip?" An old voice suddenly came from behind the young man.
The young man immediately turned around and saw an old man in ordinary clothes standing behind him with a smile.
The young man saluted the old man and replied very politely:
"I am a student of the National Royal Academy. I came here specially, so it can be considered a trip."
"A student of the National Royal Academy?" the old man raised his eyebrows, "It seems that you are still a top student."
"I am far from being a top student or something." The young man was modest.
"Hahaha." The old man laughed and stroked his short beard. "Although I am just a country bumpkin, I still know what level of school the National Royal Academy is."
"People often say: Only monsters can be admitted to the National Royal Academy. Only the small group of young people in the Empire have the opportunity to be admitted to the National Royal Academy. I didn't expect that a countryside like me would be able to welcome the pride of our empire. I really didn't expect it."
"But--you just said you came here for travel, so I can only say that you came to the wrong place. This is just a boring place without any specialties or scenic spots, and it is not suitable for travel."
"I didn't come here to see the scenery and buy specialties." The young man smiled at the old man, "I came here to see a cemetery."
The old man raised his eyebrows: "Graveyard?"
"Well, yes." The young man nodded, "I came here to see the cemetery of the 200 soldiers who fought to the end with the Britannians in the battle of Sharomanda more than 300 years ago, and to worship them."
"In the previous history class, the history teacher told us about this battle more than 300 years ago."
"I am very interested in this history and the soldiers who chose to fight to the end with the Britannians, so I took advantage of the holiday now and planned to come here to see the cemetery of these 200 soldiers."
After hearing the young man's words, the old man paused.
Then, a faint smile appeared:
"Young man, then you really got it right when you met me. Have you heard of Lu Ge?"
"Of course I've heard of it." The young man replied without thinking, "Mr. Lu Ge's name always appears in the history textbooks and the teacher's mouth."
"After Deng Jiaer fell to the Lake people, Mr. Luge has been committed to the development of Lake people and the integration of the Britannians and Lake people, and has made outstanding contributions to this."
The old man smiled and nodded: "No. The reason why I said you met me just now was because - I am the descendant of Lu Ge."
"Really?" the young man looked surprised and happy.
"Well, really." The old man nodded with a smile, "I am indeed a descendant of Lu Ge. Our family has lived here for generations and guarded the cemetery where the soldiers who fought to the last moment for generations. If you are interested in that cemetery, I can take you over and see it now."
"Really? I dare to ask the sir to lead the way!"
When the old man led the young man, the old man kept introducing to the young man:
"As my grandfather, almost no one came to worship the people buried in that cemetery."
"When the two tribes have long been integrated and do not distinguish between each other, the imperial government is embarrassed to mention the deeds of these warriors who resisted to the end, so they do not mention much history, so fewer and fewer people remember them, and fewer and fewer people come to worship them."
Speaking of this, some sadness gradually appeared in the old man's tone.
The young man following the old man smiled bitterly:
"I understand. My history textbooks and history teachers do not comment on these soldiers very well. Although they praise their bravery, they are also called reckless men who are incompetent and defiant of the historical fusion of the Britannians and Lakes."
"But I don't think so."
The young man said seriously.
"More than 300 years ago, the Britannians and the Lakers were two completely different races, so I think - these people who choose to resist to the end in the face of invasion of alien races are real warriors! They are a group of warriors worthy of respect!"
"Hahaha." The old man stroked the short beard on his chin, "What a coincidence, I think so too. They are all real warriors! Look, we are here, this is the cemetery of those warriors."
In front of the two was a large cemetery filled with tombstones.
The young man looked around and then made a "Huh" sound full of doubt.
"Sir, why do I feel that there are more than 200 tombstones here?"
"Yes, there are indeed more than 200. After the Saromanda battle, the surviving Lakers spontaneously searched for the bodies of other soldiers who died in battle, such as the bodies of the soldiers of the Koran tribe, and were buried in this cemetery."
"And the imperial government at that time also acquiesced to this approach."
"After recovering the bodies of the dead of the battle, the number of tombstones in the cemetery turned into 386, but there are still some soldiers' bodies that cannot be retrieved. If all the corpses can be recalled, there should be 5,600 tombstones here."
"That's how..." the young man whispered, "It's such a pity... there are so many bodies of people who can't be found, and there is not even a tomb..."
"Hahahaha, there is nothing to regret." The old man smiled lightly and looked at the Ligasus Mountains in front of them. "Why have to build a tomb? They fought to guard the tribe they were loyal to, and they were still glorious even though they were defeated. Where can these green mountains and clear waters be buried? "
After listening to the old man's words, the young man was a little stunned.
Then he smiled: "Well, that's right."
The young man unbuttoned the cloth bag he had been carrying behind him.
The cloth bag was filled with white flowers that he had prepared long ago.
The old man accompanied the young man and placed the white flowers in front of each tombstone.
"Sir, these tombstones seem to have words written on them. Is this the words of Lakers?"
"Yeah, yes."
Speaking of this, the old man smiled bitterly and then continued:
"Now there are fewer and fewer people who can speak Lake language and recognize our Lake language. Everyone can only speak the more convenient Britannian language. I really don't know if our Lake language will be lost in the future."
"Sir, the words on the tombstone look newly engraved. Did you carve it?"
"Well, that's right. After all, if you write again from time to time, the words on the tombstone will disappear."
The old man suddenly stopped for a moment, then thrust at a tombstone that happened to be in front of the young man.
"The owner of this tombstone in front of you is amazing."
"The owner of this tombstone, named Merkha, was my ancestor, Luge's best friend at that time. He was also the youngest of the warriors who chose to resist to the end, and was only 16 years old at that time."
"Although I'm young, I have a good bow technique and a remarkable record."
"And you see the tombstone next to Merkha?"
"The owner of this tombstone is a woman named Luy."
"It is said that after Merkha's body was buried here, Luy would come here every day to present flowers to Merkha in front of Merkha's tombstone until she died of illness."
"Everyone was moved by Luyi's feelings for Merkha, so after Luyi died of illness, she buried her next to Merkha."
"It's a pity. Luyi has always liked Merkha very much, but until Merkha died in battle, Luyi was unable to reveal her feelings to Merkha."
"It is said that Merkha also has a high preference for Lui, but he doesn't know whether it is true or false."
"If this is true, it would be a pity." The young man continued with a wry smile, "A pair of people who like each other, but until the end, they could not express each other's feelings to each other..."
...
...
After the young man presented flowers to each tombstone and worshiped them one by one, the old man said to the young man:
"Young man, if you are interested in these soldiers and the story of the Sharomanda battle 300 years ago, you might as well stay here for a few more days and stay at my house. The village where I am is located is not far from here."
"The villagers in the village are descendants of the Lake people who moved from the mountain more than 300 years ago. Everyone knows the battle 300 years ago and the deeds of these soldiers more clearly than history books."
"Since that's the case, I'll bother you!" the young man agreed with joy.
"Okay, then I'll take you to my house now. But before that, you'd better tell me your name first. It's not good to keep calling you a young man."
Chapter completed!