Ch.157War of Ideologies

Year 80 of Amurtart.

As the history of Amurtart approaches nearly 100 years, the northern countries have now divided into three factions.

One is the Neutral Alliance, consisting of countries in remote regions difficult or unnecessary to reach, who refuse to associate with either Amurtart or Fahrenheit.

The remaining countries are split between those following Fahrenheit, the traditional power, and those following Amurtart, the emerging power.

The leaders of each faction—Marcus of Fahrenheit and Tiberius of Amurtart—used magic to proclaim their ideologies across the north to strengthen their factions, creating yet another tremendous ripple effect.

“We of Fahrenheit desire peace. Do not believe the words of those wolf packs seeking prosperity through war. Gunpowder gets wet, steel corrodes, and good money is driven out by bad. Have we not lived sufficiently until now? Have we acted like beggars, like losers who halt their own progress and settle for the present? Certainly not. We simply endure for the sake of advancement that harms no one. But look at the ‘prosperous’ Amurtart. People are bound to labor with no time to spend their money, and even the monarch is constrained under a bureaucracy so stifling that freedom is nowhere to be found. All that remains is an expanding army and the bloated bellies of merchants. We all know well that the throne of the Grand Monarch who rules the north cannot be created with money or steel.”

The Fahrenheit faction generally showed little interest in technological development or social progress.

Charitably speaking, they were stable; less charitably, they were stubborn old-timers.

This wasn’t just Fahrenheit’s position alone.

Concepts like “capitalism” and “technological innovation” were difficult to follow and viewed with suspicion by monarchs and common farmers alike.

Simply put, they were consumed by the psychology of “Do we really need to go that far?”

“Look at those swine. Wallowing in muddy water-filled pits, yet claiming there’s nothing wrong with us—what shameless hypocrisy! If our path is wrong, why are our nights bright? If we have no freedom, why are our numbers growing? I can guarantee that receiving compensation for labor and living under the supervision of officials is far better than plowing fields under a lord and living under knights’ blades. Our prosperity and military might prove it. Join us! Like a ceaselessly turning waterwheel, Amurtart will polish the north into the jewel of the continent!”

In contrast, the Amurtart faction harbored a strong desire for social progress through technological development and greater power.

Charitably speaking, they were progressive; less charitably, they were empty-headed.

Those who didn’t understand that they must first pour the priming water of development and prosperity with their own blood would merely become the animal fertilizer for growth.

However, those who had tasted the sweetness of advanced civilization could never return to the past.

If one must serve as a servant anyway, wouldn’t it be better to serve in a wealthy household?

After the proclamations of the Grand Monarch and the Monarch were broadcast across the north, each faction consolidated more strongly, and various logics emerged from within to support their respective ideologies.

The logic of those following Fahrenheit was as follows:

“Amurtart’s prosperity cannot be denied. They have indeed become wealthy and powerful. However, their prosperity cannot be bestowed upon the entire north, and their ideology cannot convince everyone.”

“How could the throne of the Grand Monarch, who has the authority to rule all monarchs, allow such an oppressive person to take that seat? Justice without power may indeed be helpless, but when powerful justice becomes cruel, no one can stop it.”

“Who desires war? Aren’t those who want the Grand Monarch’s position and those who want war all stemming from Amurtart’s cravings and desires? Like their steel yards, their greed is endless. Even beyond the boundaries of the earth’s core and the protection of barriers, their greed will endlessly expand. The reason humanity has plowed fields for thousands of years is not because of ignorance or primitiveness, but because it is the right method, which will be proven through war.”

It was logic without particular flaws.

Humans instinctively fear change, especially when that change appears hostile to them.

Fahrenheit’s power was something they could emulate.

By diligently gathering resources, reinforcing castle walls, and maintaining good relationships with subjects, most countries could take care of themselves.

But Amurtart’s power was different.

They had created power that only they could possess and wield.

Power derived from money and power derived from gunpowder.

No matter how frugally farmers lived, they couldn’t possess even a speck of a wealthy person’s fortune, and no matter how much an archer trained their arms, they couldn’t shoot arrows faster than bullets.

That sense of deprivation—coming from millions of lives that had lived the same way for thousands of years now dividing into classes and pulling up ladders behind them—how could it be compensated?

When even a cousin buying land makes one’s stomach ache, as is human nature, the unbridgeable gap in capital and military power only brings about social fractures and the loss of humanity and human compassion.

If Amurtart’s justice means creating societies and nations that cannot be burned down despite resistance or defeated despite rebellion, then they will resist this “justice” to the end.

Then, what was the logic of the Amurtart faction opposing them?

“Must the forester’s son and daughter forever remain foresters? Must the knight’s son and daughter forever remain knights? If breaking free from predetermined fate and seeking freedom is evil, then those evildoers should rightfully be condemned!”

“I have seen Amurtart’s steel yards and Amurtart’s cities. If you’re still deliberating what to choose after seeing the massive furnaces and buildings that reach toward the sky, then you lack intelligence.”

“Just because something has been done for thousands of years doesn’t guarantee it’s right. If their logic is correct, wouldn’t humanity still be fleeing from monsters and beasts, eating rotting fruit in dark caves, and making stone tools? Only those who fear progress refuse to become the wheels of history.”

“Ten years ago, my son was merely a tenant farmer. But now, my son has become a middle-class citizen with his own shop. Wouldn’t this be impossible under Fahrenheit’s methods, whether in 10 years or 100? I know of no justice that prevents people from becoming wealthier than before.”

These arguments, too, had no particular logical flaws.

The countries aligned with Fahrenheit were those with already stable societies, while those aligned with Amurtart were often in frequent chaos, fallen into states of anomie, or too weak to take care of themselves.

This meant life was harsh, increasing the likelihood of falling into more extreme ideologies.

Thus, they inevitably became more fanatically immersed in the ideology Amurtart advocated, and at least Amurtart provided satisfactory compensation.

Their compensation for labor and toil was paid in money and food, so those who had never lived abundantly before rejoiced in the sweetness of this grace, and then were impressed again when they realized it wasn’t grace but compensation according to contract.

This meant that the compensation they received wasn’t just a one-time thing but could be earned perpetually as long as they fulfilled their contracts.

And so, lords opposed businessmen, serfs opposed workers, and knights opposed legions.

“The dominion of the north belongs to Fahrenheit! This land will once again find order!”

“The Grand Monarch’s throne to the great Tiberius of Amurtart! Now the north will emit the smoke of chimneys rather than the smoke of hearths!”

This was not a war for survival, nor for prosperity, nor for religion.

It was a war of northerners for the ideology they believed in, or wanted to believe in, and this war would continue until the machines of factories broke down and the fortresses of knights crumbled.