War brings many things, including cruelty, tyranny, madness, bloodshed, but for Charlemagne this year, war means getting rich.

In Charlemagne's land, which was completely untouched by the flames of war, from the princes and nobles to the landlords and peasants, everyone's mind was filled with the idea of "getting rich quickly", and people looked forward to "the quiet spring rain and the long war" as if they were looking forward to the coming of the mother goddess. As a result of the war, large enterprises received a steady stream of orders, which not only made a lot of money for themselves, but also benefited from the small workshops and small farms in the lower downstream. In addition, due to the gradual inclination of the national economies of other countries towards the military-industrial complex, Charlemagne's competitors in civilian goods were weakened considerably, all products were sold well, money was rolling in, and the national economic growth remained at an enviable level of 5%. In this context, a climate of utilitarianism and pro-war quickly permeated the country.

The more money in the pocket, the higher people's requirements for life. Neoclassical aristocratic palaces and luxury manor residences sprung up. The Marquis de Lois, son of War Chancellor Tellier, spent 700 kilograms of silver to build his carriage, while the Elector of Lorraine ordered a set of Charlemagne's aristocratic costumes estimated at 1,500,000 égues. Expensive millennial mahogany furniture, fashions sewn with gold and silver thread and fine silk, indulgence and carefree luxury - this is the true picture of Charlemagne's aristocratic society during the war.

The life of the lower classes is not comparable to that of the old men, but it is enough to make people in other countries who live in water and fire jealous. Some wealthy villages are not so much like rural villages. In addition to growing staple crops such as wheat and potatoes, they also planted a large number of cash crops such as cotton, tobacco, grapes, and alfalfa, and imported merino sheep and Holstein cows from abroad, and sold crops, wool, and milk to the buyers of the V.E company, and turned the grapes into wine for sale.

In the face of the blazing prosperity, Charlemagne almost forgot what war really was, and everyone fanatically supported the battlefield. And I want to extend it as long as possible - "preferably for 10,000 years".

But everything will be seen from a different perspective. By extension, some people are not enthusiastic about this war, and even have a strong antipathy to it.

For example: a conscientious teenager with strong anti-imperialist tendencies and humanitarian feelings.

"Are you going too far?"

As soon as the soundproof door of the office was closed. Roland asked with a frown. He did not hide his feelings and true thoughts at all - extreme disgust and displeasure.

About the war ahead. Roland didn't know much detail, but the part that came out of the investigation alone made him feel sick.

Mines for the disabled, snipers for hunting officers and field ambulances, men competing to kill prisoners and civilians on both sides, flesh-and-gun warriors charging with blasters, child suicide bombers using magic, Overseers shooting deserters......

The anti-war pamphlets circulating on the streets contained terrible rumors about the front, but the boom-obsessed Charlemagnes dismissed them as urban legends. Laugh. But Roland, who had come into contact with wounded soldiers withdrawn from the front and witnessed the tragic scenes in the hospital, knew that the real situation was a million times bloodier than the words in the pamphlet.

Although the Royal Army kept the hospital for the wounded soldiers of the advance team tightly sealed, Roland managed to get in with his special status, and what was presented to him was a hell.

Before he even walked into the hospital, a creepy scream came first, and the kind of terrible scream was enough to make any otherwise open-minded and cheerful guy have nightmares for a week, and this was just the beginning. At least half of the people in the hospital had a complete nervous breakdown, either giggling or smiling at the walls. The rest were left with mental scars, but they were still able to communicate, but looking at their mutilated limbs, everyone would think that those crazy guys were a little happier.

In the following exchange with the wounded soldiers, Roland learned more about the real situation on the front line: the troops besieging the fortress of Riga had in fact stopped attacking, and no one could continue to attack after seeing the crazy tactics of using children as bombs, and even the most cold-blooded and ruthless general had to consider a very real question: Is it worth exchanging precious soldiers and ammunition? Even if they don't care about the lives and morale of the soldiers, the 10:1 exchange ratio is unbearable, not to mention that all the people consumed are humans, and orc mongrels don't even shed a single hair.

Before they could come up with a way to deal with this crazy tactic, the Albians decided to suspend their attack, and the Duchy was also hurrying to regroup its army and accumulate supplies, and for a time it was difficult to find guns around the fort.

The battlefield calmed down for the time being, but Roland was not happy at all. By any standard, the one that took place outside the Riga fortress had completely broken the moral taboo, and this was not a war, but an escalating vendetta, which would continue and become more brutal.

"Excessive?"

Li Lin recalled the word, and then asked rhetorically in an incredible tone:

"Roland, do you really think this is excessive?"

"Isn't it?!"

Roland's voice raised a few degrees, his adoptive father's knowingly inquiring attitude, his innocent and doubtful face undoubtedly challenged his patience, he could still endure it now, but it was impossible to endure it forever.

"Calm down, don't always look like a rebellious child. ”

Smiling slightly, Li Lin put on a pair of stern ground holes and asked again:

"So you think that the wars fought with knives and wands in the past are not excessive?"

“......”

The answer, of course, is no, and in the past there have been escalating vendettas, with both armies killing all the inhabitants and turning the enemy people into slaves after conquering the city. Even in the "peacetime" when there were no large-scale wars, the armies of the two camps never stopped their evil deeds, ranging from the "grass valleys" of the small ones to the "grass valleys" of the houses and houses, and the large ones to the looting of the bazaars. It is not uncommon to attack small castles and even burn towns, and then retaliate with even more brutal means on the other side...... It can be said that vendetta is the main theme of the two camps, and even a part of life. Compared with the past, this war is not fundamentally different, at most it is more "modern" in terms of killing efficiency and means.

Of course, Li Lin has no interest in dwelling on moral issues, nor does he have any intention of glorifying modern warfare. After all, the losses caused by the use of magic and swords to slaughter cities, rob, rob, and loot are far less than those caused by modern high-tech warfare. In the Great War before he was created, warlords with an "Earth First" mentality injected poison gas into the colonies, killing more people in one go than the world had died in decades of war. Not to mention smashing asteroids on Earth and bombing ordinary habitant satellites with no military facilities with antimatter bombs. The wars that killed hundreds of millions of people.

"Tools are just tools. Without subjective will, blaming the blame on tools will only appear hypocritical. ”

After a pause, Li Lin added.

"As for me and the company...... True, we produce and sell a large number of weapons. But that's just a purely commercial act. It's not us who ultimately decide whether or not to use those things and how to use them. ”

It's like selling a kitchen knife. If the purchaser is a chef. The kitchen knife is a harmless tool, and if it is a murderer, it becomes a dangerous murder weapon.

"You are sophistry. ”

Roland frowned. Rebuttal to:

"If the seller does not know the background of the seller and the purpose of the product, the seller can indeed be exempted from liability. But you're selling arms in large quantities knowing what they're going to do with them. ”

"Speaking of which, it seems like that's the case. ”

"Admit it?"

"If you don't admit it, you'll be called a 'dirty adult', and I think the title of 'Merchant of Death' is slightly better than this honorary title. ”

"Aren't they all the same?!"

"Grab the slot, oh, the spit skills have improved, have you made progress with which lady?"

"Don't get off the hook!"

"Alright, alright, that's the end of the joke. ”

After finishing the game, Li Lin resumed his serious posture again, and after tapping his fingers on the desk for a while, he said:

"If I sued you that because of these cruel acts, the war would be calmed down and hastened to an end, would you still object?"

How is it possible?

Roland cried in his stomach as the reaction addressed two issues at once: allowing cruelty and war to be accelerated to an end because of cruelty. The former is a matter of principle, the latter ...... Even if he looked at the current situation from the most optimistic perspective, he did not see the slightest possibility of an end to the war.

A new plan? Or is it some piece of intelligence that Roland doesn't know?

"If you follow the royal calendar, you'll notice that the Queen is going to the Opéra Garnier tonight. ”

Li Lin did not answer directly, and after admiring Roland's inexplicable expression for a while, he continued to add:

"Then, just one hour ago, 15 minutes after I got back to the corporate headquarters, I was given an invitation and a ticket to a private room. ”

It was still not a positive answer, but the information in it was enough for Roland to ponder and sketch a rough answer.

After suffering from the transportation system and the growing opposition of his allies, Dauphin Louis finally succumbed to reality and the V.E company.

Of course, out of the pride of the royal family, the prince will not bow to an upstart, and it is easier to let him do that than to let him die. The consortium knew this, and at no time did it consider that the crown prince would come to admit defeat in person, so the two sides also acquiesced to the fact that the queen and Li Lin secretly reached a compromise to resolve the current series of conflicts of interest.

It's very good, everyone's interests and face have been taken care of, although it's a little late, but everyone is happy.

"I thought they wouldn't think of compromise until the war was almost over. ”

Roland snorted, the impression the queen had left on him was so bad that he had this reaction every time he thought of the old woman.

"In the face of interests, face is only a trivial issue. ”

Pouring himself a cup of black tea, swaying the red tea juice in the cup, Li Lin smiled elegantly.

"Don't you want to see the Queen, who has been framed by us for many days of insomnia, and who is sincerely grateful to us for our contribution to Charlemagne's holy war and the entire human camp - this is an interesting situation to watch. ”

"I'm not interested. ”

"It's a shame. ”

"It depends on the angle from which you look at the problem. ”

Shaking his head, putting his adoptive father's bad taste behind him, Roland brought the conversation back on track.

"The crown prince seeks a compromise and marches north, and the principality army will suffer a heavy defeat - this kind of script is not like you would have written, and I don't see the war ending there. ”

Bringing Charlemagne into the fray would only upset the balance, tilting the balance of power between the two camps more and more in favor of the human side, and even leading the Duchy to collapse. For Alfheim, it can be described as the worst ending, but Li Lin doesn't care about guiding the situation to this point, and what else does he say that this will bring the war to an end?

The record of never making mistakes seems to have made Li Lin a little carried away, he is making a huge mistake without knowing it, and the personal experience of this historic moment did not bring Roland excitement and joy, he just said his thoughts seriously and sincerely, and then said to Li Lin:

"Stop while it's still too late. ”

Li Lin didn't say anything, just looked at him, and finally ended the topic with a "I will think about it" answer.

It's a shame --

There are no ups and downs in the high-speed thinking circuit.

Regardless of the breadth of knowledge and thinking, Roland is far ahead of his peers, and even more than politicians who claim to know how to "real power struggles", he is also better in many places.

However, he is still too young and mature enough after all, and his research on human nature is not deep enough, so that he only deduces from the current signs and mistakenly believes that "Li Lin's decision is wrong", ignoring how the coalition will continue to maintain the alliance if there is a situation where "other countries lose a lot and Charlemagne monopolizes all the benefits"?

This scenario is not far off, and the problem will really come to the surface when the army of Prince Louis storms the fortress of Riga alone, and Charlemagne's prestige is at its highest. At the moment, only Li Lin and a few people knew what kind of situation it was.

Putting away his predictions for the future, Li Lin smiled quietly and said:

"Speaking of the royal family, I have one more invitation here. ”

Staring at the boy as if he had a premonition, he began to have some unnatural expressions, and the guardian's smile became ambiguous.

"It was a lady who had not yet come out of the cabinet to her indifferent fiancé, and the content moved me to the point that I wanted to cry...... Don't you think that as a responsible man, you should do something for this lady?"

Facing Li Lin, who was calm and didn't seem to be appreciating other people's distressed expressions at all, a lot of cold sweat broke out on Roland's forehead. (To be continued......)