Chapter 1556: Chapter 1556
Chapter 1556: Chapter 785: A Skillful Division
“If what the Commander says is true, not only will we help, but we won’t ask for a single grain in return. We will exhaust all efforts to assist you in sending the provisions to the front lines, as compared to us, those Fearless at the front lines need them more.” Patralem solemnly replied.
The traditions of the Laiserman Kingdom destined this nation to seldom produce cowards.
The tribe before us maintains a relatively complete structure, with a considerable number of young and strong individuals, indicating they are entrusted with a special mission.
Collecting provisions for the frontline troops is their primary task.
The Laiserman Kingdom is already at a relatively high latitude, with highlands and mountains as the main terrain, making the climate dry and cold; they can only harvest one crop of grain per year, supplemented by vegetables and livestock.
This structural model makes them relatively poor in disaster resistance.
In good years, they can barely maintain self-sufficiency.
When disasters occur, not limited to natural disasters but also situations like the current military disaster, there will be a severe shortage of provisions.
Previously, when countering the Kingdom of Ser alone, due to the shared peril, the merchants from the Cesk Kingdom would tirelessly provide aid, not only selling large amounts of grain from their kingdom but also finding ways to transport low-priced grain from other kingdoms.
But this time, with the large-scale invasion of the nomadic tribes, alarming even more than half of Felen, the Cesk Kingdom, finding itself in danger, naturally had no way to supply the Laiserman Kingdom at all costs.
In desperation, the Laiserman Kingdom could only turn their attention to the Kingdom of Imbutu, across the Great Valley and the One Gulf.
However, neither is really reliable.
Though the Great Valley is a Druid Polity, with the dominant belief also in the Earth Mother Shontia.
Unlike the Earth Sacrificers of the Golden Wheat Sheaf Monastery in Mist Valley, they belong to another branch of the Goddess of Earth faithful, believing in the primal nature of Shontia, advocating the ways of primal nature, and only deriving living necessities from nature, considering themselves the true Priests of Shontia.
Those devoted to cultivating and serving believers in towns, cities, and civilized areas are jokingly referred to as town priests by them.
Despite not being hostile to the more civilized priests, sometimes even described as cordial, the disagreements on some viewpoints are still quite significant, leading to long debates and ultimately unhappy separations when they meet.
Druids regard city followers as newly affluent, while more civilized priests believe the era of Druids has passed, although Druids still hold value in the wilderness, the rising countries require a faith controlled by more reasonable and rational clerics, more organized and professional.
This results in the Great Valley having extremely fertile land, but very sparse cultivated areas. The small settlement villages and towns maintain a relatively primitive and conservative Druid lifestyle—surviving through small-scale hunting, cultivating small open pastures, and collecting deadwood from the forest.
It is worth mentioning that this lifestyle originates from the Druids, not the Elves. Ninety-nine percent of the population in the Great Valley are Humans; not to mention Elves, even Half-Elves are very rare. Follow current ɴᴏᴠᴇʟs on 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭•𝔣𝔦𝔯𝔢•𝓷𝓮𝓽
When mentioning the forest, people first think of Elves.
This is profoundly embodied in the Valley, although most Elves from the Comanso Great Forest have joined the great retreat, there are rarely pure Elven villages and communities there.
Yet the influence of Elves there is permanent—lifestyle customs, life philosophies, numerous Half-Elves, etc., will not change with the great retreat of Elves.
Among the two forests in the Great Valley, besides discovering the sporadic stone markers left by ancient Elves deep inside, there are no other traces of Elven civilization. It is said that these two forests suffered a calamity against Elves in the Ancient Era, leading to massive Elven deaths, and the rest being forced to leave. Not until two thousand years ago, when Humans migrated en masse, did the place become lively again.
In summary, it’s feasible to relocate some people here to gain sustenance from the two forests and achieve self-sufficiency.
However, to collect a large amount of provisions from here to supply the front lines is nothing more than wishful thinking.
As for Imbutu, across the Eastern Gulf, this country is often humorously referred to as the forgotten nation, with its greatest feature being a lack of features.
Their west and north are surrounded by impassable mountains, and their south and east are enveloped by the Sea of Fallen Stars.
This makes them relatively isolated, lacking strong external enemies and severely lacking enterprise, yet their convenient maritime trade allows their trade prosperity to rival that of the Sambiyan Kingdom.
However, their system of having Holy Warriors as the ruling class makes them far less aggressive than the Sambiyan Kingdom. Since their nation’s founding, they have adhered to a tradition of non-interference, allowing neighboring countries to manage their own matters unless such non-interference policies severely impact the Imbutus themselves.
This is also the key reason the Great Valley can maintain a Druid Polity. If they had a country like the Sambiyan Kingdom as their neighbor, even if the Great Valley wasn’t destroyed, it would have to develop a stronger polity to protect itself.
This policy makes the Kingdom of Imbutu an excellent trade partner, but also the worst ally during wartime.