Chapter 426 Taliyah Work Diary

November 30, Bergen.

The known Shurima region can be roughly divided into three areas: the northern coastal plains, the central desert, and the southern semi-desert hills.

The different geographical features of different regions have also roughly created three different social forms: coastal commercial city-state civilization, oasis agricultural tribal civilization, and hilly nomadic tribal civilization.

In order to have a clear and comprehensive understanding of the different social backgrounds in various regions of Shurima, the investigation must not be limited to a single time or place.

Today, our group has successfully completed the social investigation work in Bergen.

According to the plan, our group will go south from Beljuin, go deep into the desert through Keneser, investigate the desert city-states and tribes, then go straight to the southern hilly area, and after reaching the northern part of Ekathia, head west all the way, then turn north along the Targon Mountains, and circle the desert back to the north bank.

(A little selfish thought is that I can also go back to my hometown in the south to look for my fellow tribesmen. It has been more than a year since I left the tribe. I hope they are all well.)

It will be a long journey.

The Shurima leaders, myself included, all hope that the spring breeze of the goddess Janna can moisten this dead land as soon as possible.

But the organization did not respond positively to our expectations.

Before leaving, President Levi said to me at a farewell meeting for the investigation team that the cadre strength of the Leaders has reached its limit and the conditions for the struggle in Shurima are not yet mature. He hoped that we could be more careful and cautious in our work, slow down our pace, and not let the enthusiasm for change overwhelm our rationality.

I understand President Levi's concerns.

But on the plantation at Beljung, I saw with my own eyes my fellow slaves and the appalling suffering they were going through.

I saw a father staring in dismay at his five-year-old daughter's severed hands and feet, which were just "small punishment" for failing to meet the rubber quota set by the slave owner.

The rubber produced here is eventually exported to Zaun, where the demand for rubber is the greatest, via the ships of Noxian colonists.

Every tire produced by Zaun's emerging automobile industry is stained with the blood of Shuriman slaves.

No wonder President Levi said in the article that the so-called New Zaun is actually just a modified version of Piltover.

So, how can I stay in Zuan with peace of mind?

How could I sit on that blood-stained wheel, enjoying the comfortable warm air from the car's air conditioner, and forget the fierce sandstorm in Shurima?

I... really don't want to endure it for even a second.

I really want to cause an earthquake right now and destroy everything in this old world.

I will hang those hateful slave owners and colonizers now so that my compatriots can break free from their shackles and stand up like human beings.

Does this kind of thinking count as what President Levi calls “the frenzy of change”?

Am I...wrong?!

(Heavy pause)

The organizational discipline of the leader prevents me from doing more.

I just hope that the social survey I conducted this time can change the Supreme Council's attitude towards Shurima as soon as possible.

…

December 1, Bergen.

I don't want to leave Bergen. I can't forget those numb and desperate eyes and the suffering I saw here.

But I had to leave as soon as possible.

I will complete the social investigation of Shurima as soon as possible. I hope that after seeing the report I send back to Zaun, the organization can change its attitude towards the Shurima region.

So, we packed our bags today and prepared to head south into the desert as planned tomorrow.

Miss Sivir and her mercenary group can finally be put to use.

In the stable situation of Bergen, their "protection" was completely unnecessary.

To be honest, I shouldn't have hired the mercenary group so early, and charged them by the day.

I did not consider saving organizational funds, which was my dereliction of duty as the leader of the investigation team.

Fortunately, although Miss Shiver appears to be mercenary and cruel, there are even rumors that she stabbed her employer in the back to seize the unearthed treasures - her weapon, Charikar, the "big wheel", is said to have come from that.

But after spending these days together, I discovered that she is actually a good person with a sense of justice at heart.

Leaders do not make simple moral criticisms of anyone. There is little point in doing so.

We value class more than humanity.

Just like you can't accuse a starving person of stealing bread. Different classes have different philosophies.

So, I can understand Miss Sivir.

Her materialism and ruthlessness may just be the rules of survival she has to learn in this cruel environment.

It was Shurima that created Sivir, the "Goddess of War", not that she was born to be such a person.

As long as we use the light of ideals to illuminate the darkness before her eyes and give her a new direction and environment, perhaps she will show the brilliance of humanity and even the brilliance of faith.

Such people have the potential to become leaders.

Next, I will focus on developing Miss Sivir and guiding her onto the right path.

I hope she can become our comrade.

(This can also save a commission and save organizational expenses)

…

December 2, Bergen.

We were planning to leave today, but something unexpected happened.

A group of Noxian soldiers found us and discovered our identity as the Wind Leader.

I was a little surprised.

We have also been careful enough in conducting social investigations and our identities should not be discovered.

But those Noxians pointed to the few comrades from Piltover in the investigation team and told me that there were no such white tribesmen in Shurima.

Even if there were, most of them were wealthy people who came to Shurima for tourism and adventure. They would not condescend to run into the fields and chat with the slaves in the plantation areas.

This was indeed an oversight on our part.

Those Piltover comrades later made a private confession to me. They grew up in Piltover and were used to applying sunscreen for skin care.

This is not a good habit in Shurima, because the alchemical sunscreen produced in Zaun is more expensive than gold here.

No one rubs gold on their face.

So later, these comrades in Piltover gave up applying sunscreen.

After a few days, the scorching sun and yellow sand of Shurima made them and the rest of the people "black as one."

…

December 3, Bergen.

The accident that happened yesterday has greatly disrupted our group's investigation plan.

We thought we would face a fierce battle with the Noxian colonial army, but we were faced with a wave of uprising and surrender.

These Shuriman slaves, who seemed like demons, acted like victims to us.

What makes people feel even more complicated is that, to some extent, they are really victims.

Because the Shurima colony is the front line in the four directions of east, west, south and north of the Noxian Empire with the least strategic pressure, the lowest offensive demand, and the least need to maintain strong combat power.

So unlike other Noxian warbands that were mainly composed of professional soldiers, this colonial garrison was almost entirely filled with able-bodied men forcibly conscripted by the Noxian authorities.

They didn't come here voluntarily.

After the news spread that the Leader had defeated the Empire in Ionia and recruited General Dukekao to surrender, the governors of the colonies on the north coast of Shurima abandoned them without hesitation, leaving only these middle and lower-level cannon fodders with no background to guard the territory.

Therefore, these Noxian soldiers have long wanted to surrender.

When they learned that we were the leaders, their attitude was: "You're finally here. If you hadn't come, we would have kidnapped the officers ourselves and taken a boat to Zaun to surrender."

This is the attitude of all Noxians.

The Belgian compradors and slave owners who depended on them were even more frightened by the title of Leader.

They either fled in panic or came to us and expressed their willingness to be reformed.

In just two days the government of Bergün was entirely in our hands.

We liberated Beljung... accidentally.

This was a mistake for me, but also a surprise and an opportunity.

The organization does not support our premature intervention in the Shurima situation, but now... everything is unexpected.

To be honest, I and other Shuriman comrades have always had some opinions about the organization. Why did Zaun take the first step to export its struggle to Bilgewater and Ionia instead of Shurima, which is so close?

Do the Shurimans deserve to suffer one or two more years than the people of the Teutoburgs, Pitons, and Ionia?

(Looking back, I feel like this is a bit like narrow-minded nationalism. I reflect on this.)

In short, I accepted this accident with mixed feelings.

I decided to leave some members of the investigation team behind to take over Bergun.

At the same time, I will stay here for a few more days to "pack my luggage".

Okay... I admit it. I wanted to put aside the investigation for the time being and deal with the matter of Berghun.

I also reported the situation here to Zaun in a timely manner using "Blue Bird Radio", hoping that the organization can understand us.

…

December 4, Bergen.

Shit, I think I screwed up.

Perhaps I thought too simply of my fellow countrymen.

In my investigation report, they are weak, powerless, and battered slaves, the absolute weaklings.

Although this is indeed the case, I forgot how terrifying the force that would be released when a spring that has been compressed to its limit is suddenly released would be.

What's more, most of the slaves in these Beljum plantations were prisoners who were defeated in tribal conflicts and captured as spoils of war by desert bandits.

That is to say, many of them were tribal people who survived in that cruel desert in the past.

And in the words of Miss Sivir:

There are no good people in the desert of Shurima.

Their previous way of life was to engage in production, business and looting in the form of a tribe. When producing, they were simple oasis farmers, when doing business, they were cunning and sly businessmen, and when looting, they were the most brutal desert bandits.

The hands of each of them may have been stained with the blood of innocent people - it may be for the ownership of an oasis, or just for a small silver coin, or even a bag of wheat, or a sip of water.

The fact that these people were defeated in tribal conflicts and became slaves does not mean that they have lost the wildness that is ingrained in their bones.

Because this is how the tribesmen in the Shurima desert survive.

I can’t blame them for that.

It's my fault.

No wonder President Levi always emphasizes that the work experience of leaders in the Twin Cities must not be copied blindly.

After all, according to the leader's previous experience, these half-civilian, half-bandit desert tribesmen, or even those who prefer banditry to labor production, can almost be classified as "rogues without shovels".

Janna on top!

I liberated tens of thousands of "rogue shovelless people" in one go. And I only brought less than 20 people.

I hope the situation will stabilize and there won't be any more trouble.

…

December 5, Bergen.

In just two days, the situation got completely out of control.

Yesterday, after being liberated, a small number of restless plantation slaves began to spontaneously use extremely violent means to retaliate against the slave owners and their lackeys who oppressed them.

The situation today is even more serious.

I don’t know who spread the rumor or whether it was a misunderstanding made by these desert tribesmen based on their inherent cognition.

In short, in their eyes, the image of the Leader is like a traditional desert tribal alliance leader, who comes here to save them - and then take them to rob others.

I try hard to correct this misunderstanding.

But how can this investigation team of less than 20 people restrain 10,000 Shurima slaves who have suffered so much pain and suffering and have a lot of hatred to vent?

They lack leadership and guidance because we simply do not have the manpower to lead them and bring them organization and discipline.

As a result, the situation got out of control.

The revenge against the slave owners quickly turned into disorderly riots and even indiscriminate looting of the entire city of Beljum.

The slaves, or mobs, who participated in the looting would even spontaneously form groups and attack each other during the looting process.

We didn't give them organization and order, so they formed violent groups on their own.

It's just like the bandit tribes in the desert that kill and plunder each other.

This is not what I want to see.

Finally, I had to use the Bluebird Radio to make an emergency call, asking Zaun to send people across the sea for support.

I was also forced to use deadly, earth-shaking magic to stun those I had freed.

I even had to take Miss Sivir's advice and re-arm the Noxian soldiers who had laid down their arms, and at the same time identify and re-employ some of the old bureaucrats in the colony to help us maintain order.

The leader mobilized the old army of the empire's colonies to stop the riots started by the slaves...

This is such a huge joke.

This joke was made by us .

…

December 6, Bergen.

Fortunately, Beljung is not far from Zaun.

After receiving the message for help, Zaun’s comrades immediately organized a support team composed of extraordinary people, crossed the sea and airdropped to Beljum that afternoon.

With the assistance of these Zaun officials and the reactivated Noxian colonial army, we were able to stabilize the situation before the riots completely engulfed the city-state.

Later on, Zaun will transfer more grassroots cadres to help Beljum complete its true liberation and transformation.

The story has a happy ending.

But the organization severely criticized our mistakes.

Only because this was indeed an accident caused by identity leakage, our superiors did not take further disciplinary measures against us on the basis of criticism.

We will no longer be responsible for the affairs of Beljung.

The task of conducting a comprehensive social survey of Shurima continues.

It was just that Director Mel, who was in charge of handling this emergency, sternly warned us on Bluebird Radio:

In the future, you must be careful and cautious when doing your work, do not reveal your identity easily, and do not try to change the local situation in Shurima without the organization's permission.

The leader really can no longer mobilize more grassroots cadres to take over the next Beljum.

I am ashamed.

President Levi warned me about something similar before we set out, and now Director Meier said it again.

I finally realized my mistake, but the price I paid was the blood of innocent people.

Although President Levi said that struggle is not a dinner party, we cannot hesitate and stop moving forward because of fear of bloodshed.

But I know that this is not an excuse for me. President Levi's words were meant for conservatives, but my problem is radical.

I used to think this was a good thing, and it was the best proof that I was a determined leader. But, it turned out that...

A determined leader is not necessarily a good cadre.

I should be alert and spend the rest of my life atonement for this lesson.

…

December 7, Bergen.

We are finally setting off again.

The good news is that the situation in Bergjun has completely stabilized.

The bad news is that the impact of the Bergjun incident may disrupt the organization's strategic planning for the Shurima region.

Although the Guild of Leaders had no intention of intervening in Shurima, all of this was due to our mistakes.

However, the news that the Leader had occupied Beljum and officially extended his influence to the Shurima region spread quickly through the mouths of desert merchants.

It is conceivable that it won’t be long before the entire northern coast of Shurima, and even the many oasis city-states and desert tribes in the Shurima Desert, will know the news of the Leader’s “invasion” of Shurima.

What impact will this have on the future of Shurima?

Will our group's subsequent investigation journey in Shurima also encounter twists and turns because of this?

Hard to say.

Hope all goes well.

Also, I just discovered today that Miss Shiver, who appears to be rough on the outside, actually has the elegant habit of writing a diary in private.

This is such a surprise.

For us leaders, a diary is a tool that can help us record our work gains and losses, summarize our experiences and lessons, consolidate our theoretical learning, and strengthen our faith and will.

I don’t know if it has such an effect on Miss Sivir.

By the way, I have given her the book "A Brief Account of Janna's Thought" a week ago.

This week, I have been so busy with a series of events in Beljuin that I have neglected to pay attention to Miss Shiver's ideological condition and progress in theoretical learning.

I don't know whether she has read the book seriously in the past week.

If she keeps a diary seriously every day, then she should have gained some learning experience by now, right?

If possible, I would really like to read her diary and see what she thinks about our leader's theory.

…

The following is an excerpt from Sivir's Diary:

December 3, read a book. Didn’t understand it.

December 4, read a book. Didn't understand it. What kind of nonsense is it?

December 5th, look... look at shit! Go chop people up!

These ungrateful slaves were rescued but were not grateful. They even ran out to smash, loot and burn to cause trouble for me. They are no longer ordinary slaves. I must give them a heavy beating!

The leader's book is indeed unreliable.

They say they want to trust the masses, but do these guys look like they can be trusted?

There are bad people among the crowd!

It's ridiculous that I used to feel sympathy for them.

They are pitiful when they are weak, but they will kill you when they are strong. This is the desert people of Shurima. Haven't I suffered enough from such losses before ?

The book of the leader is simply a fairy tale. This is not reality.

They are just a bunch of naive lunatics. Um...powerful lunatics.

That’s right…

Suppressing riots does not seem to be included in the mercenary contract.

You have to talk to Taliyah. This will cost extra.

December 6th.

Zaun's leader is here.

Flying over from the sea.

I now know that wind leaders can fly. Each of them is a wind mage, but their spellcasting abilities vary.

It turns out that as long as you understand this booklet, Goddess Janna will give you the power of wind for free.

Think about it, if I could enchant the wind blade on Charikar, then...

Tsk tsk, it seems I really need to take a serious look at this book.