Chapter 1430: Chapter 16: Pacifying the Furious Spirit (Conclusion)
After leaving the tent, Winters led Pierre straight to the stables, prepared two inconspicuous horses, and temporarily swapped clothes with the stable manager.
Then, he took Pierre and quietly left through the back gate of the wooden fortress of the Wenduo Tribe’s old camp.
Once out of sight of his subordinates, Winters’ actions beca bold. He openly traversed between the felt tents surrounding the old camp, listened to music from various places, and admired the dances by the fireside.
The felt tent clusters resembled a maze, with people occasionally erging from blind spots, so Winters carefully controlled the horse, allowing it to walk slowly.
Pierre followed closely behind Winters, only half a horse length apart.
“Is it getting a bit annoying?” Winters, walking in front, asked without turning his head.
“What, Sir?” It was too noisy around to hear clearly, Pierre responded.
Winters simply pulled the reins, stopping the horse, and positioned himself alongside Pierre.
“Is it getting a bit annoying, during the banquet earlier, while receiving the clans?” Winters asked with a smile.
“A little bit,” Pierre admitted honestly, “it’s all trivial matters, rely wasting your ti. You could appoint soone to handle them.”
“That’s indeed true,” Winters laughed heartily, “so from now on, these matters will all be handed over to you.”
He shifted the subject: “But let correct you on one thing, in the Great Wilderness, there are no trivial matters. Whether it’s a horse or a dispute over an arrowhead, it concerns life and death.”
“Please enlighten .” Pierre humbly bowed his head to continue the conversation.
Just then, Winters was in high spirits. While riding the horse, he pointed around at the felt tents with his whip and explained to Pierre:
“Many Paratu people inherently regard the Hurders as ‘Barbarians,’ and find it absurd to discuss laws with a group constantly killing each other.”
“However, in reality, the opposite is true. ‘Barbarians’ need justice even more than ‘civilized people.’ Without a higher authority to resolve their disputes, they can only settle them themselves. This self-resolving leads to more disputes.”
Pierre nodded repeatedly out of habit.
“Take that dispute over the colt, for example,” Winters noticed Pierre hadn’t fully grasped it, so he patiently explained by example, “if no one adjudicates their conflict, what do you think will happen?”
Pierre didn’t need to think: “There will be bloodshed.”
Winters nodded gently: “Exactly, bloodshed. If the dispute is between two families or tribes already at odds, it can even lead to rivers of blood.
“Whether in the ‘Barbarian world’ or the ‘civilized nation,’ if people have nowhere to turn for justice, they’ll resort to other ans. In the Great Wilderness, those ‘other ans’ are the bow and arrow, or bloodshed.”
“Just as no animal likes to be injured, no one likes to bleed,” at this point, Winters emphasized his tone, “even those whom so people consider Barbarians.”
Pierre understood the Blood Wolf’s reminder. This ti, instead of nodding out of habit, he slowly nodded.
Winters disliked repetitive instructions to others and despised nagging. Seeing Pierre had taken it in, he didn’t drag on and ntioned another incident both of them had witnessed.
“The White Lion provided the Red River Tribe with a law engraved on a golden tablet, it’s a remarkable advancent. From then on, that law represented the White Lion’s authority. He just needs—as you said—to appoint an arrow official to judge according to his law, satisfying the Red River Tribe’s need for justice.”
Winters laughed at himself: “Unlike , who still needs to step in personally, otherwise the Hurders won’t be convinced of our authority.”
Pierre attempted to offer a suggestion: “You could also give Wenduo Tribe a set of laws, and I will uphold its authority in the Newly Reclaid Outlands.”
“No, we can’t give Newly Reclaid Outlands a set of laws, we can’t.” Winters’ mouth curled into a smile mixed with helplessness and mockery: “Can you guess why?”
This ti, Pierre was genuinely stumped by the question, though Winters hadn’t intended to quiz Pierre either.
He answered his own question: “Because we already have a set of laws!”
“Is it the law of the Newly Reclaid Land or Paratu’s laws…” Pierre tested cautiously.
“No, the laws of the Newly Reclaid Land or Paratu are rely the parts of the structure above ground. What I’m talking about is the ramd earth, the stone foundation, it’s…” Winters paused briefly, “the Alliance Charter.”
“What’s wrong with the ‘Alliance Charter’?”
“Nothing’s wrong with the ‘Alliance Charter,’ it’s excellent,” Winters sighed, “so excellent that we can’t possibly implent it in the current Newly Reclaid Outlands.”
Pierre frowned slightly.
The two had already walked out of the clusters of tents, but Winters didn’t rush the horse into a run. He continued walking slowly to explain to Pierre:
“Before, Paratu people could unabashedly capture Hurders and sell them into slavery because the Hurders were neither Alliance citizens nor followers of the official religion.
“But if we formally include the Newly Reclaid Outlands as a part of Paratu, then enslavent would be an unacceptable cri.
“Moreover, the small chiefs who have submitted to us, their keeping of slaves also violates the Charter.”
Winters whistled: “Imagine if I returned to the royal tent now and publicly declared all slaves of the Wenduo Tribe to imdiately gain the identity of free people, what would happen?”
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