Chapter 2558 Drawing a Line
Duran has two trump cards, one is Allen's biological father, and the other is Allen's biological mother. They are not dead, but even Grisha doesn't know that his wife is not dead. He believed Allen's words and thought she had been eaten.
In fact, no, memory is not completely trustworthy. It's like ordinary people always beautify memories, or one-sided memories, only remembering the good side or only remembering the bad side.
In fact, Allen did not see his mother being eaten with his own eyes, but because he saw many scenes of giants eating people afterwards, his brain suggested that his mother was eaten. In addition, no bones were found in the ruins, so the memory was strengthened.
In fact, she is not dead. How could such a kind mother, such a great mother, let her die? During this period, Duran sent her to Denise to study and learn how to discipline children.
If necessary, Duran will play a trump card.
At present, Grisha's two sons, the eldest son is ready to give up the sterilization plan of Allendia, but Allen still wants to launch the rumbling.
All the things he saw and heard in Marley made Allen feel more stressed, making him determined that there were enemies on this side of the sea. Moreover, the fragments of the future he saw through the Attack on Titan also made him more certain that there was only one way forward in the future. If he wanted to protect his friends, he could only launch the Rumbling.
Allen didn't know that new weapons had been developed on the island, and that Mikasa and Armin had become pilots. He also didn't know that the Marley captives were working hard to learn and accept transformation, letting them know that the Eldian civilians were also victims. The evil rule and unlimited expansion of the royal family did not benefit the civilians. Now the people of Eldia are awakening and firmly drawing a line with the old nobles and the old ruling class of Eldia, clearing them out, and then implementing a friendly foreign policy.
Treating captives well, publicizing the mistakes of the invasion war, and educating the captives... After a series of actions were implemented, the Marley captives gradually changed.
Then he took the captives to see the truth inside the high walls, letting them know that the Eldians were really drawing a line. There were slogans and slogans everywhere, such as "Down with the royal family, build a new country", "Crack down on pornography and gangs, build harmony together", "Serve the people of the world", etc. They also visited the prison, saw the old nobles who were imprisoned, and counted their crimes.
Why do ordinary Marleyans need a way to vent their anger? Why do they oppress the honorary Marleyans? Isn't it because they are oppressed by the upper class, but they can't resist, so they can only transfer their anger to the honorary Marleyans. This is feudal class oppression, one level oppressing another level.
But if they are asked to resist the nobles and fight back against the nobles, they will definitely be willing to do it. After all, how can oppressing the honorary Marleyans be as fun as pulling the nobles down?
The sense of accomplishment and satisfaction of oppressing a thousand honorary Marleyans is not as good as pulling down a noble.
Seeing all the new things on the island, the Marleyans realized that they felt that the islanders were right. From the perspective of civilians, they are exactly the same as the Eldians in being oppressed, and Marley and Eldia are also exactly the same. Full of backward feudal ideas.
Both countries are constantly expanding, but ignoring people's livelihood, they will only destroy but not build. Marley did not learn from Eldia's mistakes, but kept repeating them. The reason is that they did not draw a clear line with the old nobles. These old nobles did not know how to change the world, so they should learn the advanced changes on the island to avoid mistakes.
After learning, many Marley captives were willing to join the militia. Duran also organized a ceremony to join the group, and then let them return to Marley to continue to develop underground work.
As for the stubborn Marley people, after being educated, they still believed that the Eldians were demons. Duran did not make things difficult for them, but let them go back and gave them travel expenses. He just told them to live a good life at home after returning and not to join the reactionary army again. If they were captured for the second time, they would be punished.
As for whether they would retire after returning, Duran did not care. Anyway, he was 100% confident that he could defeat the Marley army.
These people did not expect that they would be free like this, and even really got a sum of money, but they were confused. Are the Taoists really not demons, or are the demons too good at disguise? Many people decided to go home and farm, and only a few people wanted to return to the army.
The transformation of the Marleyan captives also made the Eldians full of confidence.
"It seems that even if they think we are demons, we can change them through hard work." Hanji breathed a sigh of relief. Since she knew the unfriendliness of the whole world, she has been worried that one day the island will be flattened by the world.
Irvin couldn't help but nod: "Duran is really a strange man, and he grasped the key. We did make a mistake a hundred years ago. We must accept the mistake. The important thing is that we must correct it, and we must draw a clear line with the past. We must show our determination not to repeat the same mistakes, so that the outside world can believe us. In addition, Marley is actually suffering from the same mistakes as us. Both sides can actually empathize with each other. We should not fight, but should work together to draw a clear line and work for peace!"
Irvin now admires Duran. Duran has realized the fundamental problem of Eldia several years ago. At that time, he didn't even know the truth about Marley, but he had seen through the essence of the two countries.
Erwin and Hanji are now wholeheartedly trying to distance themselves from the past, actively promoting the true history, and correcting their mistakes. The people of Eldia also went through a struggle from resistance at the beginning to acceptance, and then to active participation.
"Now Eldia is like a country." In the past, Eldia was not a country at all in Duran's opinion. Although it was surrounded by high walls, each city and each high wall had its own gentry and landlords. If they were happy, they could completely prevent the king from leaving the capital. The so-called ruling class is actually a group composed of interest representatives from all over the country. They value their own interests more than national interests.
But now the order can be implemented to every individual, and the imperial examination method has broken the monopoly of talents from all over the country, so that talents from all over the country no longer only seek benefits for the local area, but consider the whole country, which has brought the Eldians together into a country.
Of course, it is not only Eldia that is a group composed of local interest representatives, but also Marley and other countries. These countries are called countries, but in fact, each place plays its own game. The country is just a platform for interest representatives to discuss problems, so they are all small governments. Even if the country is gone, the local area will still be the same, so these interest representatives will never allow the country to become bigger, and they are always on guard against the country.
So they need nationalism, because each place is independent, and if there is no nationalism, it is difficult for them to convince themselves to consider others. After all, the power of these interest representatives comes from the local area, so they must give priority to their hometown.
But after the imperial examination, the power of talents comes from the country and is the result of national recognition, so talents must consider the country first when doing things. Regardless of the ethnicity of each place or whether it is their hometown, talents must first respect the will of the country.
It can be said that Duran's promotion of the imperial examination fundamentally broke the situation of Eldia's independent governance, twisted the islanders into a rope, and allowed them to go to the world with a new look.