Chapter 736: Chapter 50 The Way Forward_3 Chapter 736: Chapter 50 The Way Forward_3 “So your territory keeps expanding…”
“So, I started to consider the root of the problem,” Winters said, lowering his head and fiddling with the small pebble in his hand. “The problem isn’t with the common folk, nor with the soldiers who follow orders, not even with people like Major Ronald who give the orders directly.
People hate the soldiers who conscript labor and grain, and by extension, they hate the masters in the city of Revodan, because those are the ones they come into direct contact with.
But the real issue lies with the higher-level decision-makers, who are hidden behind their agents, so there’s always this illusion—the duke is good, his servants are evil.”
“So, you’re going after General Adams?” Colonel Bod narrowed his eyes. “After the war begins, the only important thing is how to end the war. Even if you really manage to defeat General Adams, have you thought about how you’re going to settle it all?”
Winters didn’t respond directly but said with a smile, “Not to hide anything from you—don’t laugh at me. I truly started off with a bit of a ‘savior’ complex when I took over Revodan and Iron Peak County.
“Savior?” A muffled snort came from the depths of Bod’s nostrils. “What about now?” Read complete version only at novęlfire.net
Winters appeared somewhat dispirited, “Now I realize: it was my salvation that led to the people of Iron Peak County no longer needing to be saved.”
Winters simply faced the Colonel, looking him straight in the eyes, “If not for me, if Iron Peak County were still under the control of the New Reclamation Legion, what do you think it would be like now?”
Colonel Bod turned his head to look at the river, not making eye contact with Winters, and didn’t speak.
“Then let me spell it out for you. The conscription of grain and labor would continue! The conscription of men would continue! Farmers would flee! The fields would become barren! Sooner or later the grain reserves from last year and this year would run out, and then come famine, bandits, and rebellion, followed by an even greater famine!”
Colonel Bod couldn’t help but sigh.
“Am I telling any lies?” With each word he spoke, Winters’s voice rose higher, “You say I want to kill thousands? Yes, you’re correct! The people General Adams personally killed probably aren’t even a fraction of the number I’ve killed!”
Winters pointed towards Revodan Square in the distance, his demeanor suddenly intensifying, “Right there, I beheaded dozens, hung dozens more. Even further north—north of Hammer Fort! Colonel Zibeer, many of my seniors, they all died because of me!”
He glared, questioning Colonel Bod, “Taking life with a sword is murder, but taking life with famine and war is not? General Adams’s hands are clean, and mine are bloody, so he’s more noble than me? Yeah, if General Adams wants to be a hypocrite, there would still be people singing his praises for his compassion for the world!
Damn! What kind of reasoning is that under the sun? Let me tell you, General Adams is the biggest executioner! The masters who rule over the Republic Valley of Paratu are the biggest executioners! I stain my hands with blood, but they smear blood on others!”
“I’ve used this statement in my answer before, and I’ll use it again now,” Winters stood in front of Colonel Bod, looking him in the eyes and declared, word for word, “Yes! Many will die. But if my men are willing to die for me, my enemies will know it. If my men are unwilling to die for me, my enemies will also know it. I would like to see how many are willing to die for my enemy?”
Colonel Bod subconsciously wanted to defend himself, struggling to speak, “How could the New Reclamation Legion just watch the farmers starve to death? As far as I know, isn’t General Adams also recruiting refugees to cultivate the land?”
“But did he succeed? He didn’t!” Winters patted his chest, “Sorry, but I did.
What Adams cannot do, I do; what he dares not do, I dare; what he’s unwilling to do, I’m willing. If it weren’t for that monkey-faced guy causing trouble, by next May or June, you’d be able to see barren lands turn into golden wheat fields.”
Colonel Bod’s morale was completely suppressed.
After a long silence, he acknowledged generously, “You’ve indeed done well. At most, General Adams would recruit the fit men among the refugees to become soldiers and let the remaining refugees reclaim the land.
As for confiscating the land, houses, and draft animals of the manor lords and redistributing them to the refugees. General Adams can’t, doesn’t dare, and is unwilling to do that—he and his subordinates are themselves large manor lords.”
But Winters did not have the joy of victory, he quietly sat back on the rock, shooting the pebbles one after another into the river.
“Violent delights have violent ends,” Winters’s voice carried deep disappointment, defeat, and confusion, “but I don’t know what else I can bring to the people.”
The Major listened silently.
“Now I’ve only managed to restore Iron Peak County to what it was before, which essentially means nothing has changed. That’s why North Eight Towns are cool towards me, lukewarm and distant.” Winters propped his forehead, “I not only understand them, but I also think they are completely justified.
To them, my replacing the New Reclamation Legion just means changing who collects the taxes. That’s what North Eight Towns believes now, and sooner or later, South Eight Town will think the same way.”
The Colonel patted Winters’s shoulder, his words fraught with double meaning, “To live is a gift itself.”
“Assuming one can take a life at any time,” Winters’s voice was clear in the quiet night, “Before confronting death, people don’t consider survival a gift but an entitlement. It’s not arrogance; it’s simply their nature.”