Chapter 546 397 Absurd History (Optional)

"If I remember correctly, your empire had an emperor 900 years ago, an emperor from Middenheim. What was his name? Oh, right, Mandred II."

Darkius did not respond directly to William III, but threw out a name first. He was not very familiar with the emperors of the empire, especially the electors from various territories. He only knew some of the more famous ones, and Mandred II happened to be in this sequence.

"Of course, my friend, Mandred II the "rat exterminator", Count Mandred von Zelter from Middenheim, was in the empire at that time. He made great contributions to fighting the Black Death and was crowned as the emperor of the empire." William III nodded confidently.

Darkius, who had already held the pipe in his mouth and was about to light it, was suddenly stunned after hearing the second half of William III's words. He raised his head and stared at William III blankly. His strange eyes made William III a little hairy and a little puzzled.

Dacus previously believed that the high-ranking officials of the Empire knew about the Skaven, and the reason for not making it public was that they should not say anything that was not conducive to unity. Even if the high-ranking officials of the Empire did not know, the dwarves knew about it. The two races lived together and traded frequently. There was no reason for the high-ranking officials of the Empire not to know about it. Did the dwarves not tell the humans? Or did the high-ranking officials of the Empire who knew about it die in some accidents after the dwarves told the humans? But now it seems that some things seem to be different from what he thought.

Maybe? The dwarves thought that humans knew about the existence of the Skaven, and reminded and warned them. However, as time passed, the Skaven were gradually forgotten by humans, but the dwarves believed that humans still knew about the existence of the Skaven, but in fact...

"Isn't that right? What you said seems to be different from what I know in some details?" After a moment, Dacus put his pipe on the coffee table and said seriously.

"That's what history records!" William III said with certainty.

"No, no, that's not right! According to the historical records of the Anil, in 1124 of the Imperial Calendar, the army led by Mandred II was allowed by the Anil to pass through Laurent Loren and go to Dietschaffen in Nordland to eliminate the Skaven ratmen entrenched there. Under the offensive of the elves and humans, he won a decisive victory in Dietschaffen! The relief recording his victory and the poem praising him are still on the lighthouse of Dietschaffen.

Not only is it recorded in history, you should know that the lifespan of elves is very long. If I want, I can find some elves who fought with Mandred II at that time to appear in front of you and tell you the details of what happened at that time!"

"This?" William III was a little confused. He was talking about a serious issue with Dacus now. He didn't think Dacus was teasing him or making fun of him, but this was recorded in the official history of the empire, and all the stories of Dacus were more like some kind of legend, a bedtime fairy tale popular in the northern part of the empire. However, the second half of Dacus's words...

"How much do you know about the Black Death? No! Tell me everything you know."

Darkius didn't know much about the emperors of the Empire, but he knew about the Black Death. He wanted to see what the difference was between what he knew and what William III said. As for the Eshin assassins coming to him in the middle of the night, he was not afraid.

The Black Death, also known as the Black Death, the Great Plague, or simply the Plague, was named for the black spots it caused on the skin of the patient. It first appeared in the southern part of the Old World in 1111 Imperial Calendar, and many people believed that it was spread by Tyrell merchants. At that time, communication was limited, and people did not really understand the true scale of the epidemic until the disease raged on the streets of Nuln and Talabheim.

The disease spreads quickly and acts quickly, and can kill within a few days or even hours after the onset of symptoms. There is no known effective treatment, and the patient's chance of survival can only be maximized by bed rest and fluid supplementation, and restraints are used to relieve the patient's severe convulsions. People believed that the disease was unstoppable and could only pray to the gods for survival. People of all classes were affected, whether they were poor or rich.

In the year 1111 of the Imperial Calendar, the Empire Boris Goldgeiser was also declared a victim of the Black Death. In fact, he was killed by the assassin of Eshin, but no matter how he died, it did not prevent the Empire from experiencing the Black Death and reducing its population to less than half of its previous size.

It is certain that the Black Death that raged in human society was related to the Skaven, and was led by the Plague Clan, aiming to weaken the human land in the Old World so that the Skaven could successfully launch an attack, thus allowing the Skaven to have a great revival. A few months after the Black Death appeared, the Skaven emerged from the tunnels and appeared on the ground, invading the surface world, which triggered a huge conflict.

A lot of things happened during this period, such as the Worm Clan was the main provider of fleas, and fleas were used as the main medium for spreading the Black Death. The various Skaven clans collude and trade secretly, reaching deals with each other on the surface, but in fact they are secretly playing all kinds of backstabbing and plate-smashing tricks, which are the specialties of the ratmen.

The success of the Black Death exceeded the expectations of the Plague Clan, but in the process of attacking, due to the characteristics of the Skaven, various things happened. In Sylvania, they encountered strong resistance from the ruler there, Baron Frederick van Hel. With the help of Vlad, the baron fought with the Skaven for control of Sylvania's warpstone. The Grey Prophet who led the Festering Clan could only rely on the plague to fight against the army of the dead. However, when the experts of the Plague Clan came to Sylvania, they found a cruel fact that the plague had no effect on the dead who had already died.

In the north of the empire, the Moss Clan was also plotting to drive the Grinning Clan out of the Thirteenth Council. In addition, the clans kept connecting and backstabbing each other, and as a result, they were severely beaten by Mandred II. These clans worked hard, but got nothing, and their strength was greatly damaged.

In this process, the Plague Clan became the most powerful clan in the underground empire, even surpassing the Grey Prophet Council politically. In order to control the underground empire, the Plague Clan whispered that each clan would occupy the surface world, but the purpose behind it was to consume the resources of these clans, and the Plague Clan would rule safely.

The various clans continued to split and reorganize in the Black Death, and hundreds of civil wars between ratmen occurred continuously, making the entire underground empire weaker and more divided, while the Plague Clan became stronger and stronger in the process, and once had the opportunity to go public and ring the bell of the Horned Rat in Naggarond...

However, the Plague Clan's bell ringing plan still fell through. The Skaven ratmen at that time were not as buggy as the End of the World, and united under the call of the Horned Rat. Mandred II, the same as the Heavenly Demon Lord, was born. For these rats hiding in the dark, Mandred II fully deserves this evaluation.

After Mandred's father was killed in the attack on Middenheim, he took over his father's banner as the Elector. He united the remaining forces of other territories in the Empire. Under his leadership and call, the Empire launched an effective counterattack against the Skaven on the surface. The Skaven, who were busy with the civil war, were unprepared for the raid launched by the human army, and the Skaven were unable to resist the charge of the human knights.

In the battle against the Skaven, Mandred's army won again and again. In the Battle of Howling Mountain, the human army won, and the warlord of the Mors clan, Furmik, died in the battle. With the death of Furmik, the vision of the Skaven conquering the surface became out of reach. Finally, he ended the Skaven War in 1124 of the Imperial Calendar, and the Black Death completely disappeared in human society at that time, with a kind of beauty of herd immunity.

After that, Manfred's deeds became widely known. Count Mandred von Zelter from Middenheim was crowned as the emperor of the empire because of his outstanding performance during the Black Death. He became Mandred II and was given the title of "rat exterminator".

While Manfred was beating the surface Skaven, the Skaven were still playing basic operations in the underground kingdom. A Grey Prophet launched a plan to overthrow the Plague Clan. He used enslaved human doctors and alchemists to start repairing the Black Death, making it more deadly to the Anti-Sick Clan and the Skaven. In addition, the Grey Prophet also preached that Manfred's victory was the divine punishment of the Horned Rat on the Skaven clans who followed the heresy of the Plague Clan, and warned these clans not to rely too much on fiefs and territories, and not to become like humans, otherwise they would no longer be pure and would no longer be a real Skaven.

Those enslaved human doctors and alchemists did not disappoint the Grey Prophet's expectations, and even exceeded his expectations. A disaster engulfed the underground empire, and the Black Death was completely out of control. The Black Death, which was originally ineffective against the Skaven, was upgraded under the transformation of human doctors and alchemists, and infected and killed the Skaven with a straight-line upward trend.

Under the destruction of the Black Death, the contradictions between the clans broke out completely, and each clan accused other clans of being the mastermind behind the plague. Although the pot was not the Plague Clan, it did not prevent the residents of the Magic City from pointing the finger at the Plague Clan. Under the instigation of the Grey Prophets, in the end, except for the clans that stood with the Plague Clan, all other clans pointed the finger at the Plague Clan.

With the escalation of the contradictions, the great rule of the Plague Clan, the heretic leader of the underground empire, finally failed. However, there was no large-scale Skaven civil war this time, because the Skaven's strength was seriously damaged in this series of processes. Despite the accusations and distrust they faced, Clan Pestilence survived the attack and retained their seat on the Council of Thirteen. However, Clan Pestilence was unwilling to be reduced to an unwelcome behind-the-scenes role and began to manipulate the situation again, forming a new alliance with the previously hostile Clan Eshin.

Seven hundred years later, Clan Pestilence launched another attack on the surface human kingdoms, this time targeting Bretonnia instead of the Empire, and the plague was no longer the Black Death, but the Red Pox. Named for the bloody marks that appeared on the victims' faces and throats, the Red Pox was not as deadly as the Black Death, greatly prolonging the victims' suffering, but was slightly easier to control.

Then, the script in the Black Death was played out again, but this time the three elements of time, place and characters changed. The Bretonnian army with the help of Athel Loren Aslay defeated the Skaven on the surface. The army hammered away and finally drove the Skaven back underground.

After this time, the Plague Clan was not as lucky as last time. After a series of operations, the second Skaven Civil War broke out... Until now, when Darkus was wandering around the Empire, the Underground Empire The civil war is still going on. (mentioned in this paragraph)

However, there is a serious conflict between Dacus's understanding and the content of William III's account. William III focused on describing the process of the Black Death. At first, the process of the Black Death outbreak was correct. In 1111 of the Imperial History In the winter of 2000, a strange and deadly disease broke out simultaneously in various important towns in the empire, killing thousands of people directly. As ragged refugees poured into every road and river to escape the effects of the plague, the plague soon spread throughout the empire. .

In response, many towns closed their doors and drove away the refugees, but it was too late as the plague had already crippled the empire. Within weeks of the plague's arrival, the villages' population plummeted, and all order in the towns was gone. Frightened residents barricaded themselves in their homes, and more and more corpses littered the streets. Among all the imperial cities, only Middenheim was spared. There were many reasons. Mandred, the ruler of Middenheim at the time, immediately issued a blockade order. In addition, it was also related to the terrain of Middenheim.

Is there some connection between the Black Death and religion during the telling of William III? Believing that the plague was sent to judge them for their sins, legions of flagellants wandered the countryside whipping themselves and praying to Sigmar for forgiveness. Heretic prophets proclaimed the impending end of the world on every street corner, and then, as winter turned to spring, the worst of the plague seemed to have abated.

Then there was nothing more, just like the story was about to reach its climax and suddenly stopped, with a snap, it was gone! The false dawn was gone, and the greater threat emerging from the depths of the earth disappeared into thin air.

Listening to William III's narration made Darkos's head hurt. William III had no need to joke with him, but William III's narration was indeed inconsistent with what he knew about the existence. It seemed that the history of the empire had forgotten or deliberately omitted the Skaven rats. Even high-ranking officials like William III did not know about the human invasion.

In William III's telling, the Skaven disappeared out of thin air and turned into a giant crawling rat, like the kind of southern mourning rat that can fight cats. He also described the birth process of this kind of mourning rats. Because too many people died from the Black Death, these rats came out of the corners to feed on the dead humans, thus reaching an astonishing number and scale. , and these rats spread the Black Death to every corner of the empire through various methods.

As for... who is Mandred II, the "Rat Exterminator"? His deeds have been softened, falsified, and almost forgotten.

In Darkus' view, Mandred II is definitely qualified to be ranked among the top five emperors of the empire. The first one must be Sigmar, the founder of the empire. There is no doubt about this. Then according to the timeline, it is Mandred II who saved the empire from collapse during the Black Death, followed by Magnus who reunified the empire and Karl Franz who was about to realize his dream of reviving the empire.

However, Mandred II, who was ranked among the top five emperors in the empire, became a comedian. The great title of Rat Exterminator changed its flavor, from the Rat Exterminator who killed the Skaven to the Rat Exterminator. A kind of exterminator who walks around the streets looking for rats with a stick. Darkus could even think of that scene. Mandred II was looking for rats with a stick on the street. When he saw the rat, he directly picked up the stick and hit the rat on the head, and then hit it with his boot. The rat stomped hard on the body, and that's how the title of rat exterminator came about.

In fact, what Darkus imagined was no different from the reality of the Empire now. Mandred II who saved the Empire became folklore and became a popular bedtime fairy tale in the northern part of the Empire. The deeds of Mandred II and the Black Death were heavily tampered with, to the point where later generations could not see anything strange at all, and even took it for granted that things were just that way.

"Although we are talking about one thing,... what we are talking about is completely inconsistent. It is ridiculous that Mandred II, who saved the empire, has become a folk legend! In my opinion, Mandred II is The hero of the Empire who saved it from being enslaved by the Skaven and now he is the stuff of bedtime fairy tales is such an incredible travesty of history!

If I remember correctly, Dieterschafen still has a statue of him, and the Aenir have seen that statue before, and they say that around the base of the statue there are reliefs depicting the battles of Mandred II. If you have a chance, you can send witch hunters to investigate and see if the relief is still there, or...has been erased? "Dakus said in an absurd and joking tone. He had rarely heard of such nonsense, but such nonsense did happen, and it was even more outrageous than what he thought and understood.

"No! My friend, I don't think it's necessary. Just now you asked me to tell you about the empire's current understanding of Mandred II. I told this matter from a relatively objective and neutral perspective. Now, Are you interested in hearing my story?"

"Of course!" (End of chapter)