Steel, gunpowder, and spellcasters

Chapter 233 Iron Hammer
Fifty years ago, at a wedding in the Piedmont [Count of Menne], several serfs from the Greenheart Monastery, in a drunken frenzy, hung a "peasant's shoe" on the top of a long pole in front of the monastery.

Farmer's shoes, as the name suggests, are shoes worn by farmers.

Unlike the long boots that represent knights and gentlemen, peasant shoes do not have boot shafts, but are instead tied to the calves with leather straps.

Hanging shoes was originally just a vulgar joke, but the abbot, Count Mene, and the nearby magistrate took it very seriously.

They arrived with their soldiers, gathered the serfs together, and declared that hanging up the peasants' shoes was an extremely serious offense.

After being warned by the masters, the serfs took their shoes off the pole.

Why are the abbot and the count so afraid of a pair of shoes?
Because they knew very well that these serfs were not serfs, but self-cultivating farmers and free tenant farmers who had lived on this land since ancient times.

For generations, the abbots of Greenheart Monastery have used extortion, coercion, and even despicable means such as forging documents and making false oaths to turn these free men into monastery serfs.

The peasants never stopped resisting—lawsuits, petitions, violence… all of which were suppressed by Count Menne, who was in cahoots with the Greenheart Monastery.

The farmers are suffering, and they are filled with anger. The officials know this, which is why they are afraid of a shoe.

The shoes in front of the monastery have been taken down, but the shoes in people's hearts cannot be removed.

The flag depicting a peasant's shoe became a symbol of peasant secret societies and resistance against tyranny, and these secret societies all called themselves "Shoe Societies".

As the burden from nobles and the church grew heavier, not only farmers but also citizens began to enthusiastically participate in shoe clubs.

Shoe associations in various regions attempted to organize uprisings several times, but all failed due to leaks.

Ten years later—that is, forty years ago, still in the Earldom of Menne, another shoe club was born in a farmhouse.

This time, the leaders of the shoe association learned from past mistakes and adopted unprecedented confidentiality measures.

Ciphers, secret codes, oaths... and the ruthless and swift execution of traitors.

With its strict methods and the slogan of "overthrowing all church and secular nobles and eliminating serfdom," Mennay's Shoe Club quickly grew in size and influence.

During this period, the piedmont region was a powder keg, with farmers filled with anger and only lacking a leader.

In just one Earldom of Menne, more than seven thousand farmers swore an oath to join the association, and the network even extended to every area of ​​the foothills.

The leader of the Mennay Shoe Society devised a complete plan for an uprising:

First, occupy the nearby city of Bruzha, because more than half of Bruzha's citizens either swore an oath to join the Society or expressed sympathy for the Shoe Society.

After seizing the church treasury, city treasury, and armory of Bruzha and arming themselves, the large force will march on the Marquisate of Denba without hesitation.

Then, we should continue to move forward without stopping for more than 24 hours in any place.

They continued their attacks and expanded their scale until the entire foothills were brought under the umbrella of the Shoe Society, "so that the Lord's justice might be realized among men."

……

At this point in the story, Bud sighed and asked Winters, "Do you understand what I mean?"

Winters and Andrei looked at each other in bewilderment.

"We've finally reunited, why are you making such a fuss?" Andrei laughed and took out something to show Winters: "Let me show you something!"

Andrei was overjoyed; he had never been as happy as he was today since returning from the wasteland.

Winters could see clearly that Andrei had a Grand Cross of the Sword in his palm, exactly the same as the one he had received.

“They gave one to each of us,” Andrei said with a sneer, a hint of smugness in his voice. “He wants to use this to win people over.”

“What I’m about to say is very important,” Bader interrupted Andrei stubbornly.

Sitting next to him, senior student Mason interjected, "What Bard means is that what you're doing right now doesn't look like you're going to rebel at all."

“Yes, even the Farmers’ Shoe Association knows that rebellion is all about momentum.” Bard’s eyes turned cold: “You have to keep pushing the tide forward, or you’ll be smashed to pieces by the giant waves, or you’ll unleash a tsunami to destroy the world. But what are you doing? What do you really want?”

Mason scratched his head in frustration and sighed, "Bard and I discussed this. If you want to rebel, you shouldn't put out the fire. Revodan is requisitioning grain? Not only can you not stop him, you should help him."

When the peasants are truly driven to the brink of starvation, they will be your capital for rebellion. The blazing fire, the better. But suppressing bandits, seizing land, reclaiming wasteland, and robbing grain convoys are not adding fuel to the fire, but pouring water on it. Do you understand?

Winters didn't answer; he wanted to hear more from Bud and Mason.

The four sat on the riverbank and fell silent for a moment.

The usually taciturn Bard has countless things to say today.

"For the farmers of the newly reclaimed land, you are not the [Shoe Association], you are not a world-changing, earth-shaking wave. What you are doing is actually patching up the old power system."

Bard grew increasingly agitated, his speech quickening: "What's the difference between peasants paying taxes to the army and the council in the past, and now paying taxes to you, Lord Montagne? You're not a peasant rebellion! You're a noble rebellion! You're [the lord of Wolftown rebelling against his lord]!"

Andrei and Mason also noticed Bud's emotional changes.

"Don't get so excited," Andrei said, trying to put his arm around Bad's shoulder.

Bard shook off Andrei, stared at Winters, and asked, word by word, "So I want to know, what exactly are you trying to do here?"

Winters gazed at the quietly flowing river and asked, "Budd, what happened to the Menai Shoe Society in your story? Did their uprising succeed?"

“No,” Bard replied expressionlessly. “One member went to confess to a priest and revealed the secret of the Menai Shoe Society. The size of the Menai Shoe Society terrified the nobles, big and small, in the foothills. They all sent troops to arrest and kill. Several shoe society leaders escaped, but those who did were publicly executed, and their bodies were hung on the castle for all the peasants to see.”

The river continued to flow quietly.

"How do you know about something that happened thirty or forty years ago?" Andrei asked, somewhat unconvinced.

“Every single one of these things is recorded in the Green Heart Monastery’s archives.” Bad stared at Andrei, his eyes bloodshot. “Every single one of these things was passed down orally by the poor peasants.”

Andrei chuckled wryly: "Have peasant rebellions ever succeeded?"

"Yes! Sovereignty war! After the Mennai Shoe Society massacre, there was a sovereignty war! The farmers also shed blood in the sovereignty war, and a lot of it. But they didn't get to taste the fruits of the war."

Andrei pressed further: "Before the Sovereignty War, had it ever been successful?"

This time it was Bader's turn to fall silent.

Winters picked up a small pebble and flung it into the water.

The pebble splashed through the water, then sank, and the river returned to calm.

After a long silence, Winters finally spoke: "The Paratians have wronged me."

“That’s obvious.” Andrei got angry as he brought up the past: “Who have we been fair to, you Japanese sheep?” “So when I first returned to Palatine, I didn’t really think too much about it.” Winters shifted to a more comfortable sitting position.

He gazed at the river: "I only want revenge. I will not let any of my enemies who abandoned me and my people on the west bank of the River Styx go. I will make them suffer a terrible death, make them wish they were dead. I will also repay those who have been good to me."

Winters sighed. "That's my opinion."

"That's all?" Bard didn't seem surprised. His eyes were calm, but there was a hint of... regret and disappointment.

“At first, I wanted to go home, I dreamed about it. But then I impulsively decided to stay. Don’t laugh, it was just a moment of impulse. I felt I could do something, I couldn’t just leave.” Winters’ voice was soft, but the others could hear him clearly: “Besides revenge and repaying a debt of gratitude, I had other ideas.”

Bud, Andre, and Mason waited for Winters to continue.

But Winters suddenly changed the subject, smiling as he asked his companions, "What do you think of Wolf Town? Is it good?"

"What do you mean, good or bad?" Andrei frowned.

"Good? Or bad?"

Andrei exclaimed, "Good! You're doing a great job managing things, aren't you?"

"Damn it!" Winters slammed his fist into the ground. "The newly reclaimed Wolftown has a total of 1,266 households. Sixty-five percent of the farmland belongs to sixteen estates. Most of the people are landless tenant farmers and laborers. The rich own vast tracts of land, while the poor have no place to stand. The taxes on farmers are shockingly high. Self-cultivating farmers can't save enough money to buy new land in their entire lives, and even if they have sons, they have to work as laborers."

His expression turned ferocious, and he pressed aggressively, "Okay? Tell me what's okay? What's good about it? Tell me!"

Andrei was so overwhelmed that he couldn't speak, and even Mason subconsciously swallowed. Only Bard remained calm.

“She’s not good, she’s very bad, but at least she’s full of life!” Winters’ nose tingled with emotion. “At least everyone has something to eat, a place to live, and can at least survive. The people here respect me and count on me. I love it here, I love the wilderness, I love the farmland, I love the sweat from working. I’d like to retire here, build a small house, and live out my life here.”

The river was swirling in the middle, and a flock of crows circled around it.

"But now? She's dead!" Winters burst out. "Thirty years! It took a full thirty years for her to transform from a wasteland into a vibrant town. Three months! The big shots only took three months to turn her into this. The people nailed up their doors and windows, fleeing with their families. The farmers who remained will have their harvests stolen by the grain requisition teams."

With a mere flick of their fingertips, the powerful figures crushed Wolf Town. And they didn't care at all! Not even a tiny bit! Not a single ounce! If they had cared, understood, or felt the suffering of the people of Wolf Town, they would never have done this!

Andrei and Mason's expressions turned serious, and Bud pursed his lips tightly.

Winters suddenly stood up, facing the water, desperately venting his anger and resentment: "Fuck your mother! Fuck your mother! Fuck you bunch of bastards!!!"

He unconsciously entered a spellcasting state, his roar like thunder, causing wild beasts in the forest to scatter and crows to flee in panic into the distance.

"It's not that Plato has wronged me, it's those important figures who have wronged me! They've wronged not only me, but many, many others! The people who decide Plato's fate, the people who decide the direction of the river, don't deserve to sit in that position!"

Winters was breathing heavily, but his eyes were shining. He looked at his companion: "Right now, all I can do is curse like a piece of trash in front of the river. But sooner or later, sooner or later, I'll drag those people down! Smash them! Stomp them into the mud!"

“This is my idea! This is what I want!” Winters never said these words to anyone, because it was tantamount to a man declaring war on a nation.

But at this moment, Winters Montagne tore open his chest, revealing himself to everyone without reservation: "I'm here to do this! Fuck the Republic of Palatine! I'm going to smash it to pieces and build a new one!"

"Fuck it! Fuck Paratu!" Andrei roared and jumped up as well.

With red eyes, he grabbed Winters's shoulder: "Do you remember on the ship from the United Provinces back to Hailan? I told you, if the sky falls, someone with a shoulder to shoulder will hold it up?"

His fingers dug deep into Winters' skin: "I was wrong! I was so wrong! It's not that the tall ones are supporting us, it's that the tall ones are using us to support them! We'll never be tools again. If we're going to be tools, we'll be the ones using others to support us!"
Those damned bastards won't let us go home! Fine! They beg us to leave, but we won't! We'll smash them! Even if we're shattered to pieces, we'll smash them until the earth shakes and the sky collapses!

Andrei pulled out the Great Cross of the Sword and threw it into the river with a loud laugh.

The medal he had once dreamed of drew an arc in the air, then fell into the water with a splash and disappeared in an instant.

Bud stared intently at Winters and asked, word by word, "Have you ever thought that if you were ever in that position, would you become the person you hate, despise, and desperately want to smash right now?"

“I don’t know.” Winters burst into laughter. “Who knows?”

“Don’t worry, it’s okay.” Bud grabbed Winters and Andre’s shoulders. “I’d rather it was you sitting there.”

The river continued to flow quietly.

The three held each other's arms tightly. From this moment on, they were not only classmates, friends, and brothers, but they also began to share the same ideal.

“We need Gervodan,” Winters said softly.

"Alright!" Andrei laughed wildly. "Go get it."

“No.” Bard shook his head: “What we need is the entire Iron Peak County.”

“No, you’re all wrong.” Richard Mason was the last to join in, his voice trembling slightly.
"Without controlling Blackwater Town and Five Hounds Town, it is not enough to shield Wolf Town; without mastering Revodan, it is not enough to control the three towns; and without occupying Maplestone City, it is not enough to master Revodan."

Winters, Bud, and Andrei all looked at their senior.

Mason's voice became firm: "What we need is the entire newly reclaimed land."

……

The crow told me,
Two young Venetians and two young provincials,

On the frontier of Plato's frontier,

He vowed to completely overthrow the country.
That's what happened that day;
The deer told me,
They didn't know what method to use.
They don't know how many difficulties they will encounter.

But they vowed to do it.

That's what happened that day.

[This chapter's content is both detached from the main plot and yet also part of the main plot's main storyline.]
[So this is an extra chapter]
[Regarding the Shoe Club, it really is called the Shoe Club. There's even a Baidu entry for it. There are many explanations for why it uses peasant shoes as its symbol; this story uses the most credible and interesting one.]
Are farmers in newly reclaimed land subject to high taxes? Of course they are.

But in reality, it's still better than the plight of peasants in feudal times. This is also where the progress of the Republic lies.

This is why a large-scale peasant uprising has not yet broken out.

The book *The Great German Peasants' War* vividly recounts the story of "How the Free Peasants of Kempten Lost Their Freedom."

In the early 15th century, the abbot of Kempten Abbey used forged documents, false oaths, lies, and bribery to gradually turn the free tenant farmers around the abbey into church serfs. Serfs not only had to bear extremely heavy military service, tribute, interest, tithes, and so on, but they didn't even have the right to marry freely.

The abbot arranged for male serfs to marry female serfs, just like livestock, because children born to free women were also free according to customary law.

Finally, the abbot, filled with fear due to the many despicable means he had used, confessed to the Pope (presumably Martin V). After hearing the two confessions, the Pope forgave the abbot's sins, but did not correct the sins the abbot had committed against the peasants.

What followed was the proliferation of shoe fairs across the country.

The German Peasants' War broke out in a spectacular fashion, ultimately ending in tragedy and defeat.


(End of this chapter)