Before writing a reply to the King of Anju, Lind had one more thing he needed to temporarily seek help with.
“Is there really value in developing the ruins of the Old Empire?”
Although Lucanus constantly promoted himself as a descendant of the Old Empire, to be honest, Lind didn’t have much of a sense of reality regarding that Old Empire. His understanding of it was limited to the fact that after the great collapse, the surviving people had built two new kingdoms on the foundation of the Old Empire.
It was hard to imagine that Anju and Cape were once brother kingdoms.
Lind had indeed brushed up on his knowledge about the Old Empire, but frankly, the records of humans about the Old Empire were not as detailed as the accounts provided by the Elves.
However, the Elven records often focused more on the strength and cultural aspects of the Old Empire; in terms of technology, there were not many accounts. Or rather, if there were any records, the technologies of the Old Empire had been passed down.
But as soon as the question of value arose, Lucanus seemed to have triggered some sort of switch, starting to recite poetry praising the might of the Old Empire, even pulling out a harp from somewhere to provide musical accompaniment.
However, in Lucanus’s description, the Old Empire he spoke of seemed somewhat different from what was recorded in history. According to human historical records, the Old Empire appeared to be very strong from the very beginning, and the strength of the Old Empire seemed to be a matter of course.
Moreover, the Old Empire was quite friendly and harmonious, maintaining good relations with the surrounding small kingdoms, which willingly offered gifts to the Old Empire, resembling a tributary system.
One could say that in human accounts, the Old Empire represented peace, its development having been interrupted only by a love for peace that led to it being attacked, after which it retaliated, eventually forced to eradicate an entire race.
As for why it targeted non-human races, historical records state: “I don’t know!”
But in Lucanus’s description, the Old Empire had committed acts including, but not limited to, directly storming into the palaces of other races, killing their kings, or insulting them to their faces, even kidnapping their kings’ relatives, then the next day reading nonexistent edicts of subjugation within their palaces.
It is well known that imperial envoys and the central authorities of the Empire had a specialized form of information dissemination magic. Perhaps the Empire also mastered some form of teleportation technology; after all, as soon as the envoy announced the edict of subjugation, the Empire’s army appeared at the gates of the disloyal nation.
The speed was so quick that it gave the impression that the edict of subjugation was not nonexistent but merely allowed the envoy to act freely while the army had actually been prepared long before.
It was evident that the Old Empire was indeed very powerful at that time. Those races that were neither human nor resembled humans were truly not regarded as humans by the Old Empire, leaving no qualifications even to be enslaved. They were completely wiped out, indicating that the people of the Old Empire were not only arrogant but also not lacking in labor; they exhibited strong exclusivity towards non-human races.
Faced with those non-human races, the Old Empire could have sent armies directly but instead sent envoys to find a reason. He truly, I could cry.
If the Old Empire had not directly initiated a cleansing against non-human races on the continent, it is likely that there would still be chaos across the continent today.
Lucanus even envied the envoys of the Old Empire for expressing longing on his face more than once.
Unfortunately, when it came to the collapse of the Empire, Lucanus unusually became emotional and started to choke up, even skipping over the collapse of the Empire itself. It was apparent that these bards did not enjoy recounting this part of history.
After all, the most favored son of the Emperor, who held military power, initiating a rebellion would, in the bards’ words, certainly undermine the Emperor’s authority.
But this also indicated that simple natural disasters could hardly bring down the Old Empire; in the end, it was internal strife among humans that ignited the conflict, and it was the combination of natural and man-made disasters that brought the rule of the Old Empire to an end.
Even so, humans remain one of the strongest forces on this continent.
Finally, Lucanus stopped plucking the strings, and the entire epic was essentially a review of the history of the Old Empire for Lind. Overall, what Lucanus narrated was generally consistent with the records of the Elves, although in the Elven accounts, the Old Empire was not portrayed as so brutal, indicating that the Elves even concealed some things for the humans of the Old Empire.
Perhaps at that time, the relations between Elves and humans were genuinely quite good, as various sources indicate that humans were generally friendly towards the so-called demi-humans who bore a resemblance to them, especially the Elves.
However, despite Lucanus saying so much, he still did not address the key point: Do the ruins of the Old Empire really have value for exploitation?
The Old Empire may have possessed some advanced communication magic, after all, the bards responsible for intelligence dissemination had deep connections with the Old Empire; however, the technology for teleporting armies certainly did not exist, otherwise, it would not have caused a collapse due to rebellion.
Lucanus quickly adjusted his emotions and respectfully said to Lind: “My king, the technologies of the Old Empire are undoubtedly extremely valuable to the various kingdoms on this continent, and even for you, this is not my personal interest.”
“However, I also have my concerns; compared to the technologies you are currently developing, the technologies of the Old Empire actually align more closely with the developmental path of the Anju Kingdom.”
Lind crossed one leg over the other and stroked his chin, pondering; in other words, was the Old Empire also focused on rapidly cultivating professions and developing specialized professions?
Lind looked up at Lucanus with some doubt, suspecting that bards like Lucanus were indeed cultivated under this system, and even the bards under Lucanus might be using this same training framework.
To be honest, this route was not incompatible with what Lind was currently attempting, and technical exchanges with the Anju Kingdom were indeed very meaningful. Lind decided to temporarily hold off on the development of the Old Empire’s ruins.
“Are there ruins of the Old Empire in Cape?”
“Of course there are.”
Lucanus bowed and said: “Cape and Anju are both kingdoms built upon the remains of the Old Empire, and the number of ruins within Cape is not less than that of Anju. It’s just that most of the ruins are in the hands of nobles below or hidden by them, so the number of visible ruins appears significantly less than that of Anju.”
After speaking, Lucanus also remarked: “Originally, Cape also had hope to integrate the entire kingdom like Anju.”
Lind nodded and continued from Lucanus’s words: “It’s just a pity that Augustine III died halfway through.”
Besides handling state affairs, Lind had also tried to catch up on the situation of this world and some recent history.
Consolidating power takes several generations of effort; even if Anju has gone through several wise rulers, in the end, Alberto still had to carry out a violent reform, spilling enough blood to complete the transfer of power.
Cape originally also had opportunities; at least in the early stages, Augustine III performed quite well, even keeping several powerful dukes within the royal capital, and as the successor Klan’s brief tenure in power showed, he was not a foolish king.
In other words, if things had gone smoothly, Cape might even have completed the transfer of royal power with less bloodshed. Unfortunately, Augustine III, in his later years, became as crazed against the Northern Border as he did against those with wisdom, and before he could clean up, he died suddenly. Klan had a short life; he didn’t even have time to address the mess left by his father before he passed away, leaving the widow Lilith to barely hold the situation together.
“Don’t send out the letter to that Queen just yet; I need to make some modifications. We can initially cooperate with the royal capital to excavate the ruins of the Old Empire.”
Anju is too far away; if they develop the ruins of the Old Empire together, Alberto has countless ways to deceive Lind. Having the ruins within Cape would be different; at least if Lind later chooses to cooperate with Alberto, he can have a reference.
As for what the King of Anju mentioned at the end of the letter about wanting to marry the widow queen of Cape, Lind was not too concerned this time. The previous warning was merely to prevent the other party from leveraging this to encroach on the Northern Border; that problem no longer existed.
Although this tactic was indeed a little unethical, Cape knew it was a form of provocation but had no choice but to respond.
What concern is that to Lind? At most, he would comfort her during negotiations with Her Majesty the Queen; after all, provocation didn’t strike close to home.
