October 1, 161 AD, Calradia, Korau.

In the large square in front of the castle, Xie Feng stood on a high platform, facing thousands of people below. They were all anti-war elements in Virginia. They wore bright red headscarves, symbolizing war.

They have to pay the price in blood. They chattered endlessly, pointing at the militant in front of them. The originally huge square was squeezed by the crowd, and as far as the eye could see, it was bright red.

Suddenly, Xie Feng raised his left hand high, and the crowd gradually became quiet. Obviously, although everyone was dissatisfied that Xie Feng would start a war as soon as he came back, Xie Feng was still somewhat majestic in everyone's minds.

After the crowd calmed down completely, Xie Feng shouted: "You elect a representative and tell us the most direct reason for your anti-war!"

After a long time, a middle-aged man standing in the front row raised his hand and shouted: "I am the mayor of Kulau. I want to ask the marshal: When there are countless people dying of hunger in this country and even on the continent,

Why do we still spend so much money and manpower to wage war? You know, the same money could have been used to save people, but you chose to kill people, and kill more people!"

After Mayor Kulau finished speaking, Xie Feng shouted to the crowd: "Does his question represent your thoughts? Do you have any opinions?"

The crowd remained silent, with some people occasionally whispering.

Xie Feng nodded and shouted: "Okay, I think this is a common question for you - since I was born, I can hear different questions raised by different people every day, from why the sky is blue

, whether human nature is inherently good or inherently evil, everything is possible. Your question is just one of them, but your in-depth exploration of thoughts and compassion are what moved me the most. I will try to answer your questions to the best of my ability.

Question. First of all, I want to pay tribute to all of you, because you are trying hard to let everyone live a better life, and trying to help our compatriots in suffering." After saying that, Xie Feng bowed deeply to the crowd.

Bow to show respect to everyone.

When everyone had no idea how to respond, Xie Feng continued to shout: "You ask me, when countless people are dying of hunger in this country and even on the mainland, why do we still spend so much money and manpower?

Start a war. I know you probably want me to answer this: 'Oh! I really didn't know so many people were dying of hunger and disease. Well, from now on I will do my best to stop all wars until

Humanity solves this problem.' In fact, before I made up my mind to fight against Swadia, I already knew that the world was full of famine. However, my companions and I still believed in uniting the entire continent to fight against Swadia.

We must start action immediately, and I even believe that this war will do more to solve the problems we face on this continent in the long run than any war I have ever participated in."

"Before I describe in detail why the plan I advocate for countering Swadia would be helpful in resolving the continental problem, I will tell a true story that may help our differences: About four years ago, when I was

When I was in the Kingdom of Nord, in the village of Vayezegi, for some reason, I was responsible for helping the entire village of Vayezegi rebuild their homes. Because at that time, Vayezegi had just ended the baptism of a cruel war.

Therefore, the villagers lived in poverty, and even the abandoned farmland could not be repaired. With my persuasion, they temporarily put down their farm tools, picked up nails and hammers, and built an arsenal. At that time, they believed that as long as

If the war machines produced can be sold for money, then their lives can be improved."

"In fact, I lived up to expectations. Fire Dragon 1 and Fire Dragon 2 were successfully developed and sold at a good price on the mainland. The villagers thought at the time that I would distribute the newly earned money to them without hesitation.

Let them build new houses and buy new furniture. I can even help some young people hold a few decent weddings, or at least hold a few banquets and invite the whole village to eat and drink. However, I did not do this.

Most of the money earned from this was given to Ali, my chief engineer at the time, to invest in research and development of gunpowder."

"When the villagers knew that I continued to 'waste' money on the research and development of war tools that could only bring destruction, many of them were angry.' Many of us are still suffering from poverty! However, Xie Feng

Still paying for his war passion!’ they said, but I still insisted.”

"Later, gunpowder was invented. Have you ever counted how big a role it played? When the gunpowder was ignited, the mountains were blown open, and the dazzling mineral resources inside could be mined by everyone without any effort.

He used a pickaxe to break open the hard rock piece by piece; he lit the gunpowder and threw it into the water. With a pop, all the nearby fish floated to the surface. Just grab it and you would have a lunch without spending too much money.

If you take the time to learn fishing skills, you will be able to harvest more fish. Even in the severe winter when the water is frozen, you can easily fry rich fish meat."

"In addition, it is precisely because of the existence of the Fire Dragon series of war machines that no country has dared to declare war with us in the three years since the founding of the Kingdom of New Virginia. Therefore, we can say that we have no worries in the past three years.

Developing the internal affairs and economy in a worry-free manner has made Virginia one of the two most prosperous countries in the continent."

"Just imagine, if I had invested all the money I had in the reconstruction of Vayezegi from the beginning, including house repairs and wasteland reclamation, I would have used every dinar in what they considered to be the 'right place.'

Go. So, can you still have such a comfortable life as you do now? I think at most, we can develop Wayezeji back to the pre-war level!"

After Xie Feng finished telling this story, the crowd began to talk quietly. Obviously, most of them still didn't know that the gunpowder they had always been proud of was actually subject to severe damage when it was being developed.

Opposition - It is unimaginable that if Xie Feng really listened to the objections and stopped the research and development of gunpowder, would Virginia still be so prosperous now?

After the crowd below returned to silence, Xie Feng continued to shout: "The problems we are facing today are similar to this story in some aspects. The taxes that are planned to be used to participate in the war against Swadia are the so-called '

War taxes account for about 30% to 40% of all tax expenditures. I have calculated Virginia's tax situation over the years. After conversion, the average Virginian has to pay for what we are going to do every week.

Each person pays one dinar for starting a war. If the war lasts for a year, each person will have to pay fifty-two dinars."

"You may ask: 'Why don't you stop this war and use these fifty-two dinars to help the hungry and poor people?' In order to answer this question, I must first ask you a question - if I were to use it out of thin air

I give each of you fifty-two dinars, what do you plan to do with them?"

"The answer is obvious, you will use it to buy some delicious food, mellow wine, and enjoy it. Then, you will notice that the broom at home is broken and needs to be replaced; the water tank for storing water If there are cracks, we need to find craftsmen to repair them... If we give money to those who are hungry, they may have the same idea. Simply giving money cannot solve poverty and hunger. At most, it can alleviate the poverty of the poor. is an urgent need. The only way to fundamentally solve poverty is to allow the state to implement unified regulation and carry out organized and planned assistance activities to poverty-stricken areas - first build the roads so that outsiders can travel smoothly, and then target the areas. According to the characteristics of the region, develop special industries suitable for the region and attract traveling caravans. As long as there is a flow of people, the region will have business circulation and development. Only in this way can a region be fundamentally wealthy. stand up."

"Then, I want to ask you, do you support the country in carrying out such aid activities? I think of course, yes, in fact, I can even believe that you don't mind paying more taxes every year, as long as it can help our hungry compatriots, no matter where they are. Where in the world."

"My companions and I have the same idea. However, we cannot stop our plan to fight against Swadia. On the contrary, I even believe that through our war, we can contribute to alleviating the serious problems of poverty and hunger in the world. More. For example, the high precision and high reliability required by war are unprecedented in engineering and smelting technology, because any wrong calculation and any rough iron smelting furnace are likely to cause a failure. The failure of a war, or even the demise of a country. In order to meet these strict requirements, we must constantly look for new materials, new methods, invent new technical systems, improve processing procedures, increase the service life of equipment, and even discover new laws of nature. All these new technologies can also be applied in non-war situations. In addition to the gunpowder I mentioned before, there have been countless new technologies developed due to wars throughout the ages that have been applied in real life, bringing better quality hunting. Tools and agricultural tools, sturdier buildings and equipment, sturdier carriages and ships, more effective medical methods, and more accurate geographical information. War does not directly create value, but it will derive various valuable new Technology.”

"You will definitely ask: Although war can indeed bring these new technologies, why do we have to use war to exchange for these new technologies? Indeed, the pain caused by war is long-lasting and deep. Even if Without war, I believe that with the development of human society, these new technologies will surely appear one after another. But... everyone, do you know? We have no choice. It is not that we chose war, but war chose us. About I won’t go into detail about Charlotte’s ambitions and the current development trend of the war in mainland China. I believe you have heard a lot from the officials this week. Maybe these official statements are too far away for you, and you cannot understand them deeply. To experience and understand, but also because this powerful relationship does not affect you, you are not interested and have no worries, just like the Nords and Rhodoks complaining to the Salanders that it is too troublesome to pick fish."

"I won't convince you with truths that are too far away from you. I will try to use the simplest words to explain the necessity of our war. Let me ask you a question first: If we don't fight out now, what will happen to Swadi in the future?

Ada is here, what should we do?"

"I think there are only two strategies - either fight or surrender."

"If it were a war, wouldn't we also have to spend a lot of war taxes? And I believe that compared to a planned and organized proactive attack, a passive and hasty defensive war would consume more war taxes. At that time, we

Isn't it ironic that every Virginian has to pay two, three or more dinars a week to keep the country from being annexed? Besides - we don't think we will be able to hold on until then.

live."

"Of course, for everyone, the most welcome result may be to reduce the risk of surrender. In this way, all wars can be avoided, and the problem of poverty and hunger can be solved. Well, assuming that the national government of Virginia really

If you don’t mind giving up your country and you really look forward to unification, I will analyze it for you based on your logic.”

"First of all, our Kingdom of Vigia is very rich - at least compared to the Kingdom of Nord, the Kingdom of Rhodok, the Sultanate of Salander and the Kugit Khanate, we are very rich, there is no doubt about it, right? Then

, these four kingdoms will not surrender easily when faced with the invasion of Swadia. The result of not surrendering will most likely be that they will be beaten to pieces and then occupied. And our Kingdom of Vagiya chose

Surrendering, thus avoiding the baptism of war. However, after unifying Calradia, Swadia will definitely not rule this land full of ruins unchanged. After the war, it will inevitably be accompanied by reconstruction, which is unacceptable.

Doubtful. Then, the question is: where do you think this reconstruction money comes from? Is it from Swadia’s own pocket? Is it from the people of the four countries who are already impoverished due to defeat? Or is it from us?

The people of Vigia who are obviously richer? In addition, which ethnic group do you think Swadia would take more care of at that time? You should consider this question yourself, and I won’t go into details.”

"Secondly, do you think reunification is really good? I once met a farmer who fled due to the war in Salander. Seeing the hardship and reluctance he was busy with relocation, my companion at the time sighed and said that maybe only

When the mainland is unified, there will be no more wars, and there won't be so many tragedies. What do you think the farmer said? I still remember what he said: 'If we talk about unification, I would rather let

Calradia continues to be divided. If the king of Salander does not treat us well, we can still escape to Rhodok or Kugit. If the continent is unified and the king does not treat us well, where else can we escape?

?Precisely because the continent is divided and heroes rise together, each leader can be vigilant about his own behavior, make the country prosperous, and aim to surpass other countries. If there is only one country left, do you think those who are kings will still work so hard?

Are you serious? Why have we, Virginia, worked so hard to develop in recent years? It’s because our great King Wilson has been wary of the nearby Kingdom of Swadia and has been eyeing all the countries on the mainland. If you fall behind, you will be beaten. This has been the case for eternity.

This is the same truth, which is why Swadia has not dared to go to war with Vadia so far. If there is any country on this continent whose national strength can keep pace with Swadia, I think it is the only one.

We belong to Vaegia. But this is not enough! Because in addition to us Vaegia and Swadia, there are four other countries on this continent. If we do not unite with them to fight against Swadia today,

There is no guarantee that they will be united by Swadia to attack us in the future! At that time, they will try to solve poverty and famine? Haha..."

"My speech ends here, dismissal!"
Chapter completed!