Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 1148 has nothing to do with God?

Assyrian holy war.

Ian, the leader of the rebel army who claimed to be guided by fairies, was determined to fight for justice and righteousness in the world. It was a challenge launched by the Goddess of Creation and the Paradise Assyria, which had returned to the historical stage after years of disappearance, to the conservative religion and corrupt empire of the Eastern Continent. They grew rapidly from the bottom up, like wildfire, and the momentum even spread from the province of Attolica where the uprising took place, to the entire empire, and even alarmed the entire Eastern Empire, making all those visible, secret, watching, and malicious eyes gather on this ancient land.

It is said that among the rebels at that time, there were the most powerful extraordinary people, who held the holy relics passed down by the saints. Although they were not gods, they dared to confront the true gods with spears; it is said that the fairies, who never liked fighting, also joined the war, and their fairy magic helped the rebels to be invincible and unstoppable; it is said that several races that were friendly with Assyria in Paradise Township also became believers of the goddess of creation and extended a helping hand to the rebels. Weapons from dwarves and silver elves, siege equipment from giants, and even the blood clan and werewolves who were enemies put aside their prejudices and fought side by side. Some people even claimed to have witnessed the scene of the ancient mysterious giant beast blowing the horn in the rebels' position. It is the race with the longest heritage on Mirror Star except for the fairies. It is said that it has a deep connection with the extraterrestrial disaster beasts in the distant universe...

This is a war that has the advantage of time, place and people.

At that time, natural disasters frequently occurred in the empire, including floods, droughts, earthquakes and even volcanic eruptions. It seemed that the countless disasters accumulated in the past century had finally reached the point of eruption. The high frequency of natural disasters displaced people, but the royal family and the nobles were indifferent, and even increased taxes for various absurd reasons, which finally aroused public anger. In fact, long before the outbreak of the Assyrian Holy War, countless large and small uprisings had broken out in other provinces within the empire. Although they were eventually suppressed, they also greatly dispersed the imperial army's strength, allowing the Assyrian rebels to survive the most difficult period in the early stage.

The province of Atorica was originally located in the most remote territory of the empire and had never been taken seriously. The royal court even wanted to give up this land because it had to invest a lot of military funds every year to suppress these border barbarians. Although it was not implemented in the end, the news that it had spread had already caused the two sides to become alienated. The independence sentiment of the Atorica people was high, and several resistance movements broke out every year. This limited the effective control of the empire to a few key cities, and the control over the people was basically zero, providing soil for the uprising army to grow.

Finally, we have to mention the harmony among people. As mentioned before, the composition of the rebel army is quite complex. There are local poor people who do not want to be oppressed by the empire, and citizens who are swept up in the wave of independence; it is mainly composed of believers of the Goddess of Creation, but there are also many believers of other religions; there are friendly races such as fairies and giant beasts with a long history and mutual alliance, but there are also hostile races such as werewolves and vampires whose hatred can be traced back to the source of blood... But this complex rebel army was able to cooperate sincerely and unite in the end, all because of the call of one person.

"That's the leader of the Rebellion, Ian."

Carson Borg recalled something interesting when he said this, and a smile appeared on his face. "Someone once described his character and temperament to me, praising him as a natural leader and a great warrior. But to be honest, I have always found it difficult to imagine what kind of person could make people of different classes, beliefs and races trust him, admire him, and be willing to follow him on such a road with no retreat. Ah, this is also a matter of course, after all, I am not an imperial, not a member of the rebels, and not even a person of that era. How can I understand the feelings of people at that time?"

"But now I suddenly understand a little bit." He looked at Ling Ge deeply: "After all, there is a person who is similar to him standing in front of me."

"You flatter me too much." Ling Ge shook his head, not admitting that he had such charisma: "I don't have the ability to lead an uprising army, nor can I convince others with my ideals and beliefs."

In fact, he was already exhausted from leading this group of troubled girls on Yunjingkong Island. With such a large rebel army with such a complex composition, the young man felt that it might be beyond his ability.

"You are too modest, Mr. Ringer."

Carson Borg smiled slightly: "Haven't you already convinced Mitch and Kadora? Although they are just children, they are also real warriors at the same time."

The young man was silent for a moment after hearing this. When he spoke again, he changed the subject: "So, what was the final outcome of this uprising?"

In fact, when he asked this, he knew very well in his heart that it was probably a failure, or it did not achieve the original purpose. After all, the Third United Empire of Yalas is still a giant in the East Continent to this day, and it is also the core of the Holy Alliance. As for the so-called Assyrian uprising army, at least, when Ling Ge was in college, all the historical documents about the East Continent that he read did not mention the deeds of this team, as if it had never existed.

But more important than the result is the process: what impact did it have? Why did it fail? What legacy did it leave? The young man instinctively thought of these factors, as if the truth that the gray-bearded history teacher told in class many years ago was still flowing in his memory: history itself is a discontinuous process, because people want to know too much, but often know too little. Sometimes you see the result, but you can't deduce the process; sometimes you see the process, but you can't get the same result.

When he was still a student, he often lamented the various intrigues and twists and turns hidden in the mist of history, as well as the mysteries that were difficult for mortals to understand. It was just like... fate.

So why did fate make this uprising full of ideals and beliefs fail? Was it destined or accidental?

"It's a choice."

Carson Borg glanced at Ling and said meaningfully: "Ian had the opportunity to succeed, but he chose to fail."

You had the chance to succeed, but chose to fail?
"It's a very interesting statement," said Ling. "It sounds like another story of a man who persisted in his ideals, refused to compromise with reality, and ended up in disgrace."

"How can you be sure?"

"Because the records in history books are most abundant with stories like this."

Katzenberg looked at the young man deeply, as if trying to tell whether he was the kind of person he described as "sticking to his ideals but ending up in disgrace", or the kind of person he described as "staying out of the situation and therefore being able to look at it rationally". However, this question was destined to remain unanswered now, as they could only discuss what had happened in the past, and could not predict what would happen in the future.

"The answer is hidden in the mystery."

The Grayhill Eagle explained in a steady tone: "If Ian's goal was only to resist the corrupt rule of the empire and establish a pure new order, then he would have a great chance of success. Because the empire at that time was already terminally ill, like a giant tree that was about to wither, unable to resist the ants gnawing at its roots. The Assyrian rebels were the strongest in the ant colony, but the torrent that emerged after it was the real force that was enough to overthrow the giant tree. However, who could have predicted that this torrent of resistance would eventually surge into the darkness, only to find that they were facing a forest? Just like the Eternal Night Woods, a bottomless black forest." He raised his head and looked into the distance. Under the layers of dark treetops, there were countless rotting corpses, homeless wandering souls, and bizarre secrets.

Ling Ge got a glimpse of something from this sentence: "You mean, there are external forces intervening in this war?"

"You are wrong, Mr. Ling." Carson Borg shook his head calmly. "It is not a force, a country or a religion, but a symbolic force, an irresistible storm, coming from the most deeply rooted thing on this continent."

He turned around and said to the young man, "At the most critical moment, the Yalas Empire received support from almost all religious forces in the East Continent, including the Spiritual Prayer Society. They stood on the same front as the imperial army, forcefully and ruthlessly suppressing all the rebellious people, regardless of whether they had reasonable demands or whether there was any mercy for the weak and guidance for believers in their doctrines. Their attitude was so firm and almost cruel that there was no room for maneuver. They only put forward a condition to Ian, the leader of the rebels. If it were you, Mr. Ling, if it were you, you should know what the condition is, right?"

Linger does know.

He didn't even need to think about it. The answer was right in front of him, waiting for him to say it: "... abandon your own beliefs, cut ties with the Creation Goddess Church, and even help them eradicate the remnants of the Creation Goddess Church?"

"exactly."

A hint of irony appeared on Carson Borg's face, but it soon disappeared, and his expression became calm again: "One thing I don't want to admit but have to admit is that faith is so barbaric on this land, or in other words, when it becomes a tool for the strong to rule the weak, it is destined to grow in the direction of barbarism. Barbarism is not terrible, and humans have also come from the era of eating raw meat and drinking blood, but when barbarism forms a kind of order, so that anyone who wants to guide it in the direction of gentleness and kindness will immediately become the target of public criticism, and they will be the thorns in the eyes and flesh of those gods who use this set of tools to rule mortals and want to get rid of them as soon as possible, and they are even more hateful than pagans and heretics. Unfortunately, the Goddess of Creation is in this position."

Grayhill Eagle said calmly: "Their teachings are too great, so great that people are ashamed of themselves and are willing to destroy them."

To put it in simple terms, the Creation Goddess religion believes in the original gods, while other religions believe in later gods.

The original gods created all things and shaped life with emotion and reason, but the gods that came later did not need their emotion and reason, but only their fanatical pursuit and blind praise; the original gods loved the world, so the world should also love themselves, but the gods that came later did not need believers to love themselves. Everyone only loved themselves. To them, that was small love, selfish love. Only when believers dedicate their love to gods, and gods then love the world, is that great love, selfless love; the original gods believed that life is colorful and encouraged every soul to grow into what they expected, but the gods that came later hoped that the souls of believers should be like those produced on the assembly line of a steam factory. They only needed to be injected with factors such as piety, fanaticism, following, and sacrifice to become a perfect template.

If the original gods were light, love, and hope, and the symbol of all that was good, then the later gods were poisonous snakes, rotten mosses, and mosquitoes that proliferated freely on a pool of stagnant water. They allowed thorns to grow, poisonous fog to spread, and every inch of land to be stained with the blood and suffering of believers. But mortals have no choice. For thousands of years, they have long been accustomed to a world ruled by gods, and have long been accustomed to finding their place in this set of tools. They say that there are thorns on the road, fog in front of them, and the bones of the dead and the wailing of wandering souls under their feet. These are God's tests and the road of pilgrimage. How can one sharpen the heart of a saint without going through hardships and obstacles?

Until one moment, a person who claimed to be a follower of the goddess told them that they should not listen to the false gods' nonsense, which was nothing but deception and deception. If it was a test, why did they take away your shoes and force you to walk barefoot on thorns? If it was a test, why did they take away your eyes and make you walk blindly in the fog? Of course, you will bleed if you step on thorns barefoot, and you will get lost if you walk blindly in the fog. Everything is natural, but they say you are not pious enough. It is so hypocritical and ironic.

You just need to love yourself.

If you still have energy left, love others.

Treat others with sincerity, do not criticize, speculate, lie or cheat.

Share your happiness with others, and someone will share your sadness with you.

Do what you want to do immediately, and be honest about what you can't do.

Then, don't hurt others, and don't hurt yourself.

As long as you do these, you are already a true saint.

However, when people who have heard these truths ask in astonishment, “These things sound easy, but they have nothing to do with God,” the followers of the Goddess of Creation, the true believers of the Goddess, and the famous yet approachable leader of the rebels, Ian, will tell you with a smile—

"Yes, it doesn't matter."

When Lingge heard this, he sighed silently: "Faith has always been a matter for people from the beginning."

"Of course it has nothing to do with God."

Give me some meow