Isaac organized his thoughts. "Let's start with history. It's more basic and easier to understand."
Li Jiehao adopted a posture of listening attentively.
Scholars divide human history into four eras. The earliest era, the Pre-Human Era, is the early stage of civilization development. Few written records remain, only some general summaries. Various city-states and tribes governed themselves independently, and archaeological discoveries are also fragmented.
"With the birth of the kingdom as a political system, the continent entered an era in which many kingdoms coexisted, known as the Chronicle of Kings. The kingdoms of that era were not large in scale, centered around a core city-state, radiating to the surrounding villages and territories. Wars were constantly fought between the countries, and the borders changed frequently. A family could rise from an unknown nobody to a regional overlord in a few decades, or it could be completely wiped out after a single battle."
The end of the Age of Kings and the beginning of the Age of Empires are marked by the appearance of one man— Kaolose, later known as the "Overlord."
"His origins are unknown, but over several decades, he conquered most of the continent with astonishing military talent; wherever he went, crowns fell and people trembled."
"Holy crap, Qin Shi Huang? Alexander? Genghis Khan?" Li Jiehao exclaimed.
"Who?"
"Ahem, I suddenly thought of some famous people from my hometown, just a quick thought. This 'Overlord' sounds pretty impressive. Let's continue."
"Yes. Kaolose's territory is unprecedentedly vast, but his rule is extremely brutal. He seems to have been born to conquer, and he extracts all the resources from the conquered lands to fund the next conquest."
"He was invincible during his lifetime, but after his death, the vast power he had built quickly fragmented, the oppressed people rose up in rebellion, and his sons and generals fought for the right of succession, an event known in history as the " Great Rebellion."
" The Great Rebellion lasted for thirty years until Kaolose's grandson, Alexius, won popular support and defeated his rivals through several Wars of the Successors."
Alexius is known as the "Holy King" largely because he not only knew how to seize victory, but also how to maintain it. Although "Overlord" Kaolose was posthumously honored as the first emperor of the empire, the overall framework of the empire was established during Alexius's time.
" Alexius did three crucial things. First, he divided the vast territory into multiple provinces, appointed governors to govern them, and while each region retained a degree of autonomy, military and financial power were centralized in the capital."
"Secondly, he renamed his family after his grandfather, establishing the legitimacy of the Kaolose Dynasty, and decreed that no one other than Kaolose Family could be king."
Alexius believed that the emperor was the supreme ruler of the empire, and that upon the emperor's death or abdication, he would be relegated to the ranks of kings, no longer vying for the emperor's authority with the new emperor. This gave rise to the title "King X," initially used to define the life of the reigning emperor after his death. Kaolose himself was called "The Overlord," Alexius was called "The Holy King."
"Emperor is a title, and 'King' is an official rank?" Li Jiehao pondered. "And this 'King of a Certain Rank' sounds a bit like a posthumous title..."
"Posthumous title?"
"It's a tradition in my hometown. After an emperor dies, his descendants give him an evaluative title based on his merits and demerits throughout his life," Li Jiehao explained.
"Hmm, it sounds somewhat similar to the early days of the empire, but later, while the emperor was still alive, people would develop titles based on his words and deeds. For example, Emperor Mikhail, the title 'Wise King' was already circulating during his lifetime."
"Oh, so that means living emperors also have posthumous titles? Uh, I guess they can't really be called posthumous titles anymore..."
Isaac continued, "The third thing is that Alexius adopted a policy of appeasement towards the several major border powers that had risen to power in the regions that the capital could not directly govern. He allowed them to submit to the Empire while retaining a great deal of autonomy, and appointed them as 'Grand Dukes of the Borders.' There were initially four Grand Dukes of the Borders: those for the Eastern Territory, Western Territory, Southern Territory, and Northern Territory."
"The Four Heavenly Kings, huh?"
Although Isaac did not understand what the "Four Heavenly Kings" specifically referred to, he inferred from the context that they should refer to four powerful vassal states. "However, at the end of Alexius's reign, a rebellion broke out in the Northern Territory. After it was suppressed, the title of Grand Duke of the Northern Territory was abolished, and that land was directly brought under the direct control of the Empire."
The Kaolose Dynasty lasted for nine generations from the "Overlord" until the " Great Sunset " occurred shortly after the "Mad King" Julian ascended the throne.
"Oh, the sun is gone?"
"Uh, that's a symbolic technique. During the imperial era, people liked to use the sun to symbolize the imperial order..."
"Oh, I see, it's the kind of gratitude I feel."
"... After the Great Sunset, the capital and surrounding areas were sealed off by a fog. No one came out from inside, and none of the investigation teams sent in returned. The academic community still does not know what happened."
"The empire fell into chaos and disintegrated. At that time, the three border dukes were the most powerful. They tried to stabilize the order and held the first Grand Dukes' Council to discuss that the provinces and towns around the capital would be temporarily under the jurisdiction of the three dukes before the blockade of the capital was lifted."
"At first, people thought this was the beginning of an era of division, but the reality was even worse. Soon after, a ' War of the Churches between churches' broke out."
Li Jiehao was somewhat bewildered. How did a church suddenly appear? And it seemed to be quite troublesome, even starting a war.
" The War of the Churches began as a war between supporters of different churches, but as the war progressed, some churches, after falling behind, began to summon demigods. The war between the demigods completely destroyed the existing order and severely damaged the environment. Even after the War of the Churches ended, the connections between different places have not been fully restored to this day."
"In short, because the empire's order had collapsed, yet it lingered on, the era following the ' Great Sunset ' was called the 'Lingering Day Era.'"
Li Jiehao took a moment to process this history. "So we're currently in this Remnant Day Period?"
"Right."
"And what about the current emperor?"
"The empire still exists in name, but it can almost be considered dead. The royal bloodline was sealed in the capital, and no one outside has been able to confirm any news of any direct descendants of Kaolose."
"The three grand dukes can only govern under the name of 'temporary administration,' because the imperial throne theoretically still belongs to the Kaolose Family, and none of them want to break the current balance first."
"Currently, the actual rulers are three border dukes, but their control over their respective territories is limited, and their real influence is confined to the area surrounding their capital. Our location, Vista, is the capital of the Western Territory Dukes."
Li Jiehao scratched his head. "It feels pretty complicated..."
"You'll get to know them gradually," Isaac said. "Is there anything else you'd like to ask?"