old dream

Chapter 125 "The Lieutenant"

A private of the former Nale garrison, named Leon, withdrew to the alliance with his brigade eight years ago.

It is not so much a withdrawal as a disbandment.Because of the loss of the Justus family of Senal, it was no longer able to support this redundant army.

Some people brought their families with them, no different from refugees.This is obviously the hometown of the ancestors, but most of the people have no relatives.

Even if they want to go back to the vast countryside, they don't have their own land.

His colleagues had made great sacrifices for the alliance, at least Leon still believed that it was a meaningful sacrifice.But the authorities did not offer them any compensation.

And because of the influx of too many refugees in recent years, the city has long been overwhelmed.

In the labor market, compared to those cheap refugees, as Anhe people, they have no competitiveness.

Immigrants are not only cheap in wages, but also in life.Factory owners dared to make new immigrants work in extremely dangerous places without protection, but who would dare to use Confederate citizens in this way?
Thanks to the sympathetic politicians in the principality, some departments will soon come to trouble such factory owners.

The irony is that it is these cares that make Leon and his colleagues step by step down to the point where they need to compete with the insect slave labor.Because only the wharf area and the insect market in the low-lying area of ​​the old town are the real three-way zone.

They had no skills other than war, and most were handicapped, either physically or mentally.Add "inconvenient status", and the discrimination of ordinary people against the defeated army.Although they have always been proud, they are in fact at the bottom of the city.

Maybe it's only a little bit better than night people and insect slave workers.

So without someone like Lieutenant Heinrich, most people wouldn't be able to survive.

Some people began to leave the alliance and went to turbulent foreign countries as mercenaries.But more people are firmly bound to this land because of their families.

Fortunately, in the first half of this year, a large number of bug-human slave workers began to die of illness in various parts of the Principality.

This created a certain amount of labor vacancies in the low-lying wharf area, so some able-bodied colleagues could find a little subsistence to make ends meet.

But because of the promulgation of the Prohibition, the slave labor in those abandoned plantations began to be trafficked into the city again. Under the pressure of their competition, these soldiers could no longer survive.

It was at this time that Leon received a letter from Lieutenant Heinrich.

According to the letter, the lieutenant had been dismissed from the lumber field outside the city, lost his original job, and did not receive any compensation. He could no longer use his meager salary to provide assistance to his colleagues.

This made Leon despair, he never received those relief remittances.But what happened to the lieutenant made him feel that something that had been supporting him suddenly collapsed.

"It's time to change."

In the letter, the lieutenant wrote in a radical style:

"The authorities never cared about our lives, we had to find our own way out. We are humble, but by no means incompetent... This is a city where you live and die, a war we are unfamiliar with!"

……

……

At the beginning of October, this was the third time Leon met with Lieutenant Heinrich.

The two also belonged to the Naele Army that had disappeared, but they didn't know each other before they came to Stade.

So Leon didn't notice at all that the real body of the "Lieutenant" had actually been changed twice.

"Heinrich" still wore a burn mask painted dark red.

Seeing the scary mask, Leon felt some inexplicable joy while feeling sympathetic.

One can imagine how uncomfortable and disgusted those people who are used to peaceful times will show when they see this mask.

Whenever he thinks about this, Leon feels as if he has let out a bad breath.

They have been suppressing their anger, and there is nowhere to express their heavy depression.But the lieutenant was never the same. He further painted the ugly mask of "compensation" by the authorities into the color of blood, expressing his mockery of this world without any concealment.

The lieutenant is about to start a war.A war they've all been waiting for.

This is an old warehouse on the outskirts of the city. Behind the lieutenant, a large pile of cargo boxes is covered with white canvas.

Reminiscent of the torn seal at the warehouse entrance, Leon had already thought of something at this time.

Heinrich was deliberately screening reliable people. During the first two meetings, he questioned everyone present one by one.The problems varied, but the Lieutenant's voice was as hoarse as ever, and his vocal cords were said to have partially lost their function due to burns.

Some people who had shown their faces in those few encounters disappeared, and at the same time some strange faces appeared.Leon kept an eye on the dozen or so people present, knowing that they had passed the screening and gained the trust of the lieutenant.

Some people with physical disabilities were also left behind, and they were originally the most desperate people.Perhaps the war was not entirely dependent on force, so the lieutenant also wanted them to have a living.

Everyone showed up on time and the discipline of the past was ingrained in their bones.Only then did the lieutenant end the greetings, and began to talk about the reason for the call:

"Whatever the means, we need to make a living. Everyone here has family to feed."

But we have been stripped of our identities, and our familiar weapons.

"We were all sworn to defend the laws of the Confederacy."

The false "Lieutenant Heinrich" addressed them like a real Confederate soldier:

"Even if they abandoned us, we did not go down. Many people left us, but those who were present have persisted to this day. Heroes, pay tribute to yourselves."

No matter how much injustice they have endured, they have always abided by their duty.

Sparse applause sounded, it was applause dedicated to himself.Looking back on the experience of these years, some men can't help but start to cry.

"But also recognize the facts."

Before the applause ended, the lieutenant continued:

"I worked hard in a lumber mill for eight years, and what did I get?"

“I worked day and night, harder than anyone else. They said I was lazy and inefficient. They never dared to say the real reason: hiring me would be better than hiring immigrants.”

"Blindly obeying the rules will only serve as fish for me. Compared with some hypocritical and absurd laws, we should obviously obey a higher standard."

Everything is for survival.

Without harming the interests of civilians, we have not done anything wrong to anyone.

Therefore, the great alliance should never allow us to live like insects.

At this moment, "Heinrich" turned around suddenly, stretched out his hand and violently tore off the white canvas behind him.What was hidden was revealed.

It was a wooden cargo box stacked like a hill.And the court seals on each box already reveal what they are.

It's all alcohol, the most lucrative contraband on the market today.

Several people suddenly took a breath.At a glance, there are hundreds of cargo boxes here, so how much wine will there be?If you can sell it, how much cash can you get in exchange?
All I know is that the bootleggers who fought bravely made a lot of money, but the former professional soldiers could only make a living as porters.

This imbalance should have been broken long ago.

The lieutenant stretched out his hands, quelling the commotion on the field at this time.Perhaps because the mask covered his face, Heinrich was always not a specific person in the eyes of these soldiers, but like a more powerful existence.

"A group of bootleggers bought the distillery, but now that they're all dead, I don't want to go into details about that."

"Heinrich" lied fluently, after all, it was Colin himself who photographed the seized winery.The total cost before and after was less than 700 Ori.

"When I saw these whiskeys, I thought of you - isn't this our once-in-a-lifetime opportunity?"

Lieutenant Heinrich has always shared everything about himself with everyone.

"If everyone sells all these wines and divides the profits equally, maybe we can maintain the life of all our families for half a year. Everyone heals the old wounds, and then what?"

Then the body can last longer, and it can carry goods for others for a few more years in this life.

"..."

When he said this, Colin could clearly see confusion in some people's eyes.

The ecstasy wears off and cruel calculations bring them back to reality, most of them can't help but feel disappointed.

Even with so much cash, the average distribution can only maintain basic living for half a year.Not even enough to be the capital of a small business.

And this half-year respite that came out of thin air may just make the days ahead seem more difficult.

"But if we don't divide the money evenly."

The Lieutenant went on to say:
"We use this money to buy weapons we are familiar with, then we will definitely be able to snatch new alcohol from those rogues in the future."

"It will be a dirty and dangerous business. I can't guarantee that there won't be new sacrifices among us, but we will definitely take our families out of this slavery."

"The choice lies with you, heroes of the Nale battlefield."

Do you want to use these contraband in exchange for a temporary struggle, or fight hard before you get old.

Most of the people present were between 40 and 50 years old, and the average life expectancy of the citizens of Stade was only [-] to [-] years old.

They looked at each other and saw the answer in each other's eyes.

"I haven't fired a gun in eight years," someone in the crowd said.

His eyesight has deteriorated, and his arms have been deformed during heavy physical labor. He is no longer the soldier of the past, but.

"I'd rather be beaten to death than die exhausted on the pier!" Leon shouted loudly.

"Go get the gun back! Let's fight again!"

"Let's sell this batch of wine together, and go clean up those scum!"

"..."

The corner of Ke Lin's mouth raised a slight arc behind the mask, knowing that he had incited a new force.

He deliberately selected people who had families and knew everything.

Compared with the ability of these people to fight head-on, what he expected more was the discipline and mobility of the regular army.

Perhaps compared to the Five Hands, this side is still far behind in terms of numbers and armed forces.

But this is not after all two armies confronting each other on a plain.

If you have a truly prohibited organization, then the loose so-called "soldiers" of the Sindhili Group will appear vulnerable.

(End of this chapter)