The knight in the big world of American TV series

Chapter 2311

How brutal interstellar plundering is is something Earthlings can hardly truly grasp.

Of course, if you want to get a feel for it, you can refer to the West's plunder of the world after the Age of Exploration!
The British Empire's colonial rule in India, South Africa, and Tasmania resulted in massive death and atrocities, causing the deaths of up to 1.5 million people across Asia, Africa, and Europe. In India, imperialists plundered vast quantities of rice and grain and drastically increased harvest taxes, leading to famine in much of the country and a death toll of 2900 million. Under the empire's ruthless rule, Indians were even forced to resort to cannibalism and eating human flesh to survive. In the early 20th century, the British Empire implemented concentration camps in South Africa to suppress the Boers. These camps became horrific death traps, resulting in the deaths of 10% of the Boer population, including 22000 innocent children. However, even more brutal was the complete extermination of the Tasmanian indigenous people in the 19th century. At that time, British colonists even subjected indigenous women to extreme abuse.

Deep in the South Pacific, an island bears witness to a heartbreaking history. An ancient people almost completely vanished from the earth in just a few decades. This was not natural evolution, but a tragic microcosm of another civilization invasion. However, the true cause of this extinction remains a subject of intense debate even today, with some even attempting to erase the bloody truth. This article will peel back the layers of mystery to reveal that deliberately concealed past. The island covers approximately 6.7 square kilometers, almost twice the size of Taiwan, and boasts abundant marine resources and a pristine ecosystem.

The Tasmanians, an ancient people, have lived on this land for at least 40,000 years. They share a common ancestry with the indigenous people of the Australian continent, but due to their isolation for tens of thousands of years, their bloodline and culture are more pure.

Before Europeans arrived, their society was semi-primitive, with numerous tribes, more than twenty in number, and a total population exceeding six thousand in the early 19th century. They revered totems, the moon held a special place in their beliefs, and fairy tales were passed down through generations among the tribes. Life revolved around hunting, migration was daily, and groups of four or five families hunted together, cooperating closely. Their technological level was limited to the Paleolithic and Wood Ages. They had never mastered metal smelting, and bows and arrows and pottery were unheard of. They relied mainly on animal hides for warmth and on the most primitive method of fire-making by friction. Early European explorers also visited. In 1606, the Spanish navigator Torres reached the vicinity of Australia, and in the same year, the Dutch first landed on this continent, naming it "New Holland." More than thirty years later, on December 1, 1642, the Dutch navigator Tasman first discovered the island and named it after himself. At that time, he had not yet encountered the island's indigenous inhabitants. For the next 130 years, the Tasmanians continued their peaceful life on the island, undisturbed by the outside world. This isolated balance was finally broken in 1770. That year, the British arrived in Australia, named the land "New South Wales," and quickly declared it British territory, thus beginning the colonial era. Two years later, on March 4, 1772, French explorer Captain Fressler landed on Tasmania. He clashed with the local Aboriginal people, resulting in several Aboriginal wounds and one death. This was the first drop of blood shed by the colonists in Tasmania. In 1778, when the first group of British convicts arrived at Port Jackson under Captain Phillip, the fate of the Australian continent was changed. The British established their first colony there. Soon after, British colonial influence extended to Tasmania. In 1803, British colonists, led by Bowen, set foot on this land with a group of convicts. They established a small military outpost in Risdon, marking the formal beginning of British colonization of Tasmania. Their arrival was not one of peaceful coexistence, but rather one with a predetermined intent to plunder. Just one year later, in 1804, a tragedy ripped away the facade of peace. Three hundred Tasmanian blacks, migrating as usual, inadvertently approached the nascent colony. British officer William Monet, unaware of the situation, rashly ordered his men to open fire. This sudden attack resulted in the immediate deaths of over fifty Tasmanians. This was the first large-scale massacre committed by the colonists in Tasmania, foreshadowing a century of misfortune. The colonists viewed these natives as inferior beings, even classifying them as a transitional form between apes and humans. They did not consider them human, let alone engage in equal communication. In 1806-1807, the island suffered a severe drought, exacerbating food shortages. This further intensified the conflict between the colonists and the natives. British prisoners even formed their own "jungle cavalry," robbing for food and committing atrocities. Systemic oppression began to emerge. The colonists' plundering of the indigenous people's resources and encroachment on their living space, especially the brutal "enclosure movement," led to the large-scale encroachment on the indigenous people's traditional hunting grounds and a sharp deterioration of their living environment. They not only seized land but also subjected Tasmanian women to brutal sexual violence, which was not only physical torture but also a complete trampling on the dignity of an ethnic group. Some indigenous children were also forcibly taken from their families and sent to boarding schools, with the aim of forcing them to accept white culture and completely severing their connection with their own traditions—a form of spiritual assimilation and extermination.

In 1823, with government authorization, the colonists acquired an astonishing 175,704 hectares of land. They used this land to develop agriculture and animal husbandry, but in doing so, they completely destroyed the ecological environment upon which the Tasmanian indigenous people depended for their survival.

This predatory development made it unsustainable for the indigenous people's traditional way of life, further shrinking their living space and escalating the conflict. In April 1828, the British Arthurian government issued a shocking proclamation entitled "Separation of the Whites from the Indigenous Peoples." This proclamation essentially provided legal cover for the killing of indigenous peoples. Months later, the government went even further, enacting the infamous "Martial Law." This law openly referred to the indigenous peoples as "the King's open enemies" and allowed soldiers to shoot them at any time, which was undoubtedly a death sentence for the Tasmanians.

By 1830, the conflict had spread across the entire island, evolving into a full-blown confrontation known as the "Black War." Australian writer Melville first used this term in 1835, documenting this brutal history. The Tasmanians displayed fierce resistance in this war, fighting tooth and nail for survival; records indicate that over fifty British colonists perished in the conflict. However, the unequal strength of the conflict ultimately led to tragedy. Between October and November 1830, the colonists conducted a thorough roundup of the remaining Tasmanian natives. Approximately two hundred survivors were brutally driven to Flinders Island in the Bass Strait, an isolated and harsh penal colony. Living conditions on Flinders Island were extremely harsh; hunger and infectious diseases brought by Europeans, such as influenza and pneumonia, spread rapidly. These diseases were catastrophic for the defenseless natives. Within just ten years, the number of indigenous people exiled to the island plummeted from approximately 10 to just over 11, almost a premeditated mass death. By 1847, the total number of Tasmanian indigenous people had dwindled to 3. This figure foreshadowed the extinction of a people. In March 1869, the last pure-blooded Tasmanian man, Lanai, died of cholera. His passing further diminished the pure lineage of this ancient people. Seven years later, in 1876, the last pure-blooded Tasmanian woman, Trucanini, also reached the end of her life. Her death marked the complete extinction of pure-blooded Tasmanians. Trucanini's only wish before her death was to be cremated and have her ashes scattered at sea, returning to her homeland. However, the colonists did not even respect her final dignity; her body was preserved as a specimen and displayed in the Hobart Museum, becoming yet another irrefutable piece of evidence of colonial violence.

However, the truth of history can be arbitrarily distorted in the eyes of some. In the early 1980s, the controversy surrounding the cause of the Tasmanian aborigine extermination suddenly intensified. A scholar named Patnicia Corbin published an article in early 1982 entitled "Who Was the Perpetrator of the Massacre of the Tasmanian Aborigines?" In the article, she openly denied the white people's massacre of the aborigines, even claiming that the aborigines were already on the verge of extinction before the arrival of the colonists. Corbin portrayed the white people as "peacemakers," claiming they were unarmed and did not participate in the massacre. She even went so far as to accuse the white people of being "naive and childish," while the black people of being "insidious and cunning," implying that the white people were the victims. Corbin attributed the extermination of the Tasmanians to their own dietary habits, reproductive risks, sanitary conditions, marriage customs, and so-called "surgical" deficiencies. She attempted to shift all the blame onto the aborigines themselves, absolving the colonists of their crimes. However, this clearly racist rhetoric immediately triggered a strong backlash from the academic community. In his article "Tasmanian Aboriginals," Dr. Lindall Lane of Griffith University vehemently refuted Corbin's absurd claims. Scott Carney of the Australian National University published "Ignorant Distortion," directly pointing to Corbin's misinterpretation of history. Numerous scholars, including Jim Stockton, Gregg, Juliet Clark, and Charles Perkins, also wrote articles exposing Corbin's attempt to whitewash the colonists. They used solid timelines and historical facts to refute Corbin's claims: within just seventy-three years of European arrival in Tasmania, a people who had thrived for tens of thousands of years perished. This completely contradicts Corbin's arguments of "natural extinction" or "already on the verge of extinction." The historical truth is clear: the tragedy of the Tasmanians was a direct consequence of the British colonists' violent massacres, systematic policies, and brutal exploitation. The so-called "natural extinction" is nothing but a clumsy lie to excuse their crimes.

Aside from the Dow, other Western countries aren't much better; they're all a bunch of bastards.

Under the Belgian Empire, Leopold II's brutal rule in the Congo resulted in the deaths of 1000 million people and exacerbated subsequent ethnic tensions. His exploitation led to the deaths of approximately 1000 million Congolese, while he also established a horrific "public army" that forced local villagers to overwork for his private gain. Congolese who failed to meet resource collection quotas were brutally executed or subjected to extreme punishments such as kidnapping and amputation. This ethnic conflict later led to the massacre of 80 Tutsi people.

The oppressive policies implemented by the French Empire in places like Haiti led to mass deaths. In Haiti, a French colony under Napoleon, many slaves were brutally roasted over fires or blown to pieces for resisting the French colonists.

These slaves were forced to harvest sugar on the island due to hunger and were required to wear tin gags. Even worse, 100,000 slaves died from inhaling sulfur dioxide gas released by the Haitian volcano.

The expansion of the Portuguese Empire resulted in the deaths of 500 million people and was the originator of the transatlantic slave trade. More than 450 million slaves were exported from Africa, with far-reaching consequences. Under Portuguese rule, Hindus were burned alive on stakes, and these atrocities did not cease.

During its expansion into South America, Spain's large-scale massacres of indigenous peoples and the Inquisition's tortures resulted in the deaths of 500 million people.

Such cruel and inhumane acts were as frequent as daily activities in those colonial empires!
Interstellar plunder is essentially the same as those colonists and bandits, but it is more efficient and more inhumane.

For example, there is a forbidden drug in the universe.

Called the Elixir of Life, this thing is a combination of a drug and a health supplement. Its production method is simple: it directly extracts the life force of intelligent life using technological means. This stuff can cure diseases and make people feel euphoric, as if they were back in their mother's womb, incredibly comfortable and safe, making them unconsciously addicted. However, the side effects are obvious: once you start using it, you can't stop; if you stop, you feel immense pain and it can even accelerate aging, making it extremely addictive. More importantly, this stuff doesn't change your lifespan; you'll still die eventually.

Many interstellar civilizations strictly prohibit this kind of thing.

But that's how many things are; when they're not banned, the price stays the same. Once they're banned, the price skyrockets!
The same applies to the elixir of life.

The reason other interstellar civilizations ban this thing is simply because its side effects are too severe. Once you get hooked on it, you can't stop, but if you don't, you'll be ruined, floating around in a state of blissful ecstasy and unable to do anything.

Moreover, the raw materials for this stuff are incredibly inhumane. Even a regime as inhumane as the Kree Empire strictly prohibits it. Turning living people into medicine is an extremely wasteful thing to do. The value created by a living person as a slave is far greater than that small amount of medicine.

Therefore, this thing has become an important channel for many pirates and other illegal organizations to make profits.

Ever since the guardians of those planets were taken down, those pirates and illegal organizations have been living like it's New Year's. What else is there to say but plunder!

They're grabbing resources, grabbing people, grabbing everything!

They'll even steal your air and water!

That's right, air and water are also resources in the universe, and they can be sold for money!
Countless worlds of the Pantheon were instantly reduced to scorched earth!