Chapter 2810 The Day the City Breaks

Bannister Winthrop's troops, including some of the blacks in the uniform of the Fizen Dragoons, were freed slaves.

One of them, Joan, looked very familiar, and he remembered after a while. This person was once a black slave in Mount Vernon.

Many years ago, when Joan was studying in Port Layton, he would visit Mount Vernon on weekends. He vaguely remembered that on a hot afternoon in late summer and early autumn, he rode by the field and saw many shirtless black slaves harvesting corn in the field. , his dark skin was tanned by the sun, and on his bony back, there were large gray and white mottled salt stains—the traces left by sweat after drying up under the scorching sun.

Similar scenes can be seen everywhere in the vast and fertile plantations in Alfheim, and it was once a subject that southern landscape painters were keen to describe. Joann saw it more often, so he didn't take it to heart at the time.

The reason why these trivial old events resurfaced in my mind was because the familiar black soldier under Winthrop Jr. was the many black slaves who inadvertently caught a glimpse of Joan breaking corn when he was riding by the side of the field. one of the.

At that time, besides the white sweat stains on his back, there were also bloody scars left by the whip whip, which attracted the white teenagers who passed by on horseback to take a second look, leaving a slightly deeper impression on him than other black slaves. .

Back then, Joan might have been touched by the scene he saw passing by. He felt pity for the black slave with the whip marks for a few seconds, and then forgot about it after a while.

That's all.

Now that black slave appeared in front of Joan again, the scars on his back were covered by the fiery red and bright Feizhen military uniform. The tragic image of working under the scorching sun formed a strong contrast, which deeply touched the heart of the young mage.

At this moment, Joan suddenly remembered the words that Mrs. Martha, Rebecca and General Vasa often said:

"Sow a good cause, and there will be a good reward; plant a bad cause, and you will get a bad result."

Joan does not agree with this rigid dogma of karma, but in this situation, he would rather believe that good and evil really have retribution in the end.

The Phi people who invaded Alfheim were also the liberators of the black slaves.

Among the Yalfheimers who defended their homeland, there were also slave owners.

Alfheim is the home of some and the prison of others.

If the former has a reason to defend their homeland, the latter also has a good reason to smash the shackles, break out of the prison, and fight for freedom.

We are all biological beings, why are some people forcibly deprived of their qualifications to be human when it comes to "all men are born free and equal"?

In this so-called war for "independence and freedom", who is more just than the other?

If he shot and killed Bannister Winthrop and the freed black slaves under his command now, would he be included in the justice side in the future history books, or would he be included in the unjust judgment seat?

Joan couldn't give a clear answer to these questions.

Because of this, he didn't want to get too involved in this war.

...

Thanks to Joan's protection, Mount Vernon survived under the iron heel of the invaders. However, on the evening of the same day, Port Layton ushered in the "darkest moment" since the city was founded.

Long before Feizhen's army approached the city, most of the residents in the city had been evacuated to remote villages for refuge.

Also under the threat of war, Leiden College announced the suspension of classes two weeks ago. The school advised teachers and students to leave the city as soon as possible to avoid the limelight. After the situation stabilizes, they will try to inform everyone when classes will resume.

The vast majority of students, faculty and staff at the school, out of consideration for their own safety, responded to the school's appeal and followed the flow of refugees to flee to other places to avoid the flames of war.

But there are still a small number of students and teachers who, for different reasons, stayed at the school until the end.

The ideas of these left-behinds can be roughly divided into three categories.

The first category, represented by Edward Gates, Thomas Chap and Allen Davis, the three student leaders of the Austrian Law School, were either born in military officer families, or heirs of large plantation owners, or believed in the republic Revolutionary youths who believe in communism feel that they have an obligation to stay in their hometown and defend their homeland and alma mater.

The second category, represented by Robert Rawls, the mentor of Edward, Thomas, and Allen, belongs to the traditional scholars who "keep their ears off the window" and neither get involved in social movements nor have any clear political opinions. It doesn't matter who is ruling the city of Leiden, independent or royalist, as long as it doesn't interfere with their studies.

Although Master Rawls and his bookish colleagues are quite old, they have lived in the small circle of the campus for most of their lives.

They feel that they have never been involved in political activities, and they have done their duty to teach and learn, and they have never offended anyone on weekdays. Even if Master Fei captured the city of Leiden, they would not take these honest and poor teachers for no reason. Therefore, there is no need to flee from home to save trouble.

The last group of people, to put it bluntly, is the "royal party". The national flag of Feizhen has been embroidered, and they are waiting to welcome Master Wang into the city.

Of course, this kind of people don't consider fleeing, but privately plan to actively serve the master Wang and win glory and wealth!

This is not wishful thinking, there are precedents to follow.

When the city of Midgard fell, fifty royalist gentlemen in the city jointly formed a "Committee of Supporting the King's Division". Ravage, because of his meritorious mediation, was honored as "Fifty Righteous People".

The Royalist Party in Leiden plans to follow the prescription and form a southern version of the "Committee for Supporting the Royalist". Several professors at Leiden College who are inclined to the Royalist Party are the initiators of the committee. Wouldn't it be wonderful to be entrusted with a heavy responsibility by Master Wang, to be able to meet the source on the day of the city's destruction, mediate in the middle, and make a good story about a "righteous man"!

However, the evolution of the situation quickly exceeded the expectations of the above three factions, which greatly surprised them.

The young republican fighters never imagined that their resistance would be so weak. Counting from the time when the enemy attacked the city, it took less than half a day for them to declare their fall. There is no way to recover from the torrent of defeated troops.

Nice gentlemen of the centrists who think that by shutting themselves out of politics they won't get in trouble.

Little do they know that politics has never talked about "wude". You may not care about politics, but politics cannot "care" about you.