The spacious city wall is covered with thick ice. The old city has been repeatedly renovated and heightened over the years. Towers, ballista holes, winches, ballistas, and catapults are all signs of construction. Perhaps it should be said that it smells like war.
.△,
With the joint efforts of craftsmen and casters, the entire city wall area has been reinforced for at least thirty meters. When you stand on the ground and look at the city wall that is more than 100 meters long, it is like stepping into the sky. Just looking at the appearance, this is probably the north.
The first fortified city in the world.
Nowadays, the city is not under the threat of war. The doors are open. Even before entering the city, the crowds coming and going are very eye-catching.
The orcs were hawking fur goods and prey on the streets while buying tobacco, spirits, cotton-padded clothes and other "Northland luxuries". The undead in black cloaks were careful to stay away from these hot-blooded guys in the small shops deep in the alleys.
Buy the shady and legal "merchandise".
Facing the street in the sewer alley, the black fireworks of the furnace rose in the dwarves' shop. The dwarf weapons were always a bestseller. Outside the shop, the barbarians from the North were showing off their martial arts skills in the street, hoping to find
The employer, on the other hand, was drooling over the strong liquor and sophisticated weapons and equipment in the shop.
When I first arrived in Diefende, I thought I was in the wrong place. After all, compared to the city of war that was always burning in my memory, this commercial city full of hawkers and shops felt a little wrong.
.
"Compared with eight years ago, the annual transaction volume and commercial taxes have increased 337 times. It is not wrong to say that it is a hundred times more prosperous."
Renee's words were full of pride. I can understand this emotion. The growth is so outrageous. In addition to the miserable base in the past, it is more about the hard work and efforts of the Difende people. What else can be better than watching
My hometown is moving towards prosperity step by step, which makes people even more happy and proud.
After looking at the map, I found that the market area, which is just a trading place, is already larger than the original Old Town of Diefende.
I took a look at the signs on the map. Most of the shops are opened by local residents and goblins. Most of the foreigners are tourists and traders who come here. It seems that, as the nameless capital of the Lan Alliance, the political
The improvement of its status has also greatly improved its economic status and military status.
As a fortress city, Diefende is qualified. From the very beginning, the site selection based on the geographical terrain and the accumulation of construction in the past generations of the Lan Kingdom have made this city a solid fortress facing the north. As long as this place is blocked, the north will
Neither the orcs nor the demonic abyss of the northeast wind can overcome the obstacle.
And as the entire Northland entered a period of peace and imaginary enemies turned into allies, the role of the original strategic points dropped sharply. But this does not mean that it has withdrawn from the stage of history. On the contrary, due to the status of the Lan Kingdom in the new Lan Alliance
As it grows heavier, the city of Diefende becomes more and more important.
Today, Diefende is no longer an isolated city. There are seven satellite cities within hundreds of kilometers around it. Some of them are engineering bases for ore processing and smelting, some are storage warehouses for raw materials and grain, and there are also the largest arms and military rations in the North.
The Ordnance Exchange, and half of it, is the training base for knights and warriors of the Lan Kingdom, Diefende and its affiliated satellite cities, and is also the largest military camp in the North.
Every day, merchants and diplomatic envoys from all over the world come here with various missions. Young knights and brave men come here with their longing for the future. Various ethnic groups from the Lan Alliance come here for various reasons.
Here, the flow of people has brought prosperity, and the intersection of multi-racial and multi-ethnic groups has brought about economic and cultural take-off.
The political, cultural, economic, and military center of the North. The greater the weight of the Lan Kingdom, the greater the role of Defender. Compared with the past, the central city has expanded at least four times. If it is considered a satellite city, it will be expanded by dozens.
That's right. Multiple expansions in a short period of time have made the city's streets seem a bit crowded and chaotic. But from another perspective, countless languages and residents mix here, but it also represents endless vitality.
Compared with other commercial cities, this place has an advantage that other city-states cannot match, and this is the basis for its prosperity.
The holy silver light formed a faint sky. Invisible eyes seemed to be watching this city of miracles. But patrolling the streets were not only the guards of the Lan Kingdom, but also the legal priests with the emblem of the scales.
and the Knight of Justice are still the guardians of this city.
The transactions here are very special and very fast. Even to outsiders, they may seem a bit unbelievable and not magical.
"I made a promise to the law and the God of Hades. My promises in the contract are true. I will fulfill all the requirements and regulations of the agreement on time and deliver the goods to the other party within three months."
"I promise to the law and the god of Hades that we will pay for the pelts within one month of receipt."
The barbarian and the goblin swore an oath to the God of Law at the same time and signed their names on the contract. The contract intermediary as a witness silently prayed. After a brief silver light, the contract had been signed by the owner of the contract without sleep.
If you keep an eye on it, no mortal will break the contract.
Eight years ago, when I returned to the North with my legion, the Sleepless Ones blessed this city, and the divine curse turned it into the Sleepless One's sanctuary. This is a sinless city without crime.
, all criminals and cheaters will be marked with a red light representing fraud, and the judge, the Knight of Justice, will appear within five minutes.
With the improvement and promotion of the clergy of the God of Contract by the Sleepless Man, the guarantee of contracts has officially become within the scope of his responsibilities. What does it mean to be a city where there is no crime, no fraud, and the transaction contract will definitely be fulfilled?
I'm afraid every serious businessman will go crazy.
Not to mention that the large-scale transactions of the countries in the North take the initiative to be carried out here, even the transactions between the kingdoms within the continent will also choose to be carried out here, and the contract commission received by the legal priests who supervise the contract alone is already
The numbers are astronomical.
Many people even suggested expanding the scope of this contract supervision, praying that the Sleepless Ones would not only supervise commercial contracts, but also more important diplomatic and military contracts. If this step is really done, I am afraid that the reputation of the Sleepless Ones will reach its peak again.
But when I think about it carefully, I realize that this is a trap.
"Supervising the covenant between countries" sounds great. But countries are not personal beings. They only have pure interests. As long as there is need, betraying the covenant is commonplace. And once supervision is really carried out, it is impossible to have the entire country violated due to breach of contract.
When the country carries out divine punishment, those who should betray will still betray.
Even if divine punishment is imposed on the signer, the contract will still be broken. In the long run, the gains will naturally outweigh the losses. One failure, two failures, more and more contracts will be broken, and the priesthood of the God of Contract will be desecrated, which will cause
negative impact.
I digressed, but back to the topic, at least half of the surge in commercial taxes that Renee mentioned was the commission from transaction contract taxes, and the establishment of financial exchanges for remote trading of bulk commodity orders and futures made Diefende a
In the financial center of Northland, the revenue of the treasury has skyrocketed by geometric figures every year. This is under the premise that massive funds are spent on military construction.
From the fur trade of hunters and orcs to the large trade of arms and materials between super empires, tax commissions range from 6% to 30%. Just thinking about it is an astronomical amount of income.
It only took less than ten years to go from a bitter cold land to extremely rich. It seems incredible, but in the world of Ashe where the true god exists, it is the norm in this world.
The rise of a new god brings about the rise of a country and a nation. It is too normal. As the first country to adopt the sleepless god of law as the state religion, the Lan tribe is reaping the dividends of the Hades pantheon and the rise of the sleepless man.
, at least until the gods fall, prosperity is simply inevitable.
The gaze of the gods also brings about another factor necessary for prosperity, security.
No matter how profitable a business is, it is impossible to make money without spending it. No one is a fool these days. Who is behind Beidi Lanmeng is an open secret. The long-term stability of investment and transaction is not only conventional security and stability.
It also includes the “security and stability” of domestic political power and policies.
In this regard, the newly born gods of Hades are all old gods, the goddess of wealth, the god of fate, the moon god, and the god of death. At least they are a group of neutral gods with good reputations. The laws and fairness represented by the Sleepless Ones
, is what businessmen desire most.
As for the most important trade routes and road safety, Northland's aerostats have opened several regular routes to and from mainland cities, including the capital of Bayer, Difende, and the capital of Oran, Difende. Although the transportation fees are indeed expensive
A little bit, but compared to the dangers of bandits, monsters, and wars that may be encountered by taking the land route, this expected additional cost is really nothing. At the worst, it is much better to pass the cost on to the goods than to lose both the people and the goods.
.
Safe, fast, stable, and incredibly fair in contracts, under the guidance of many factors, Difende has a vague tendency to become the commercial capital of the mainland, while the remote Northland city has embarked on the commercial route, and is still
It has the potential to become a super commercial city, but people really don’t know how to evaluate it.
And prosperity has also brought wealth to the people of the Lan Kingdom and even all the people in the North. The North does not really have nothing. The complete fur of a North Winter Wolf is only worth fifty gold coins in the North, but it can be sold in the center of the continent.
Thousands of gold coins. It’s not that no one wanted to take advantage of these northern specialties in the past. It’s just that the high transportation costs and the dangers of the journey made most hunters prefer to take the safe fifty gold coins.
Arms, various alien race crafts, Warcraft materials, alchemy products, and engineering products are the most common trading items here, and they are also the best-selling items.
As for me, even though I was deeply moved, I still had to wear a heavy white cloak. I didn't dare to take it off even when I was drinking water or eating.
After all, even if I have always been shameless, seeing statues of myself everywhere, and people constantly mumbling to the statues, expressing gratitude and praying, is really unbearable, especially...
"For blessings for promotion and wealth, forget it. For blessings for a happy marriage, don't worship me and worship Cavins. I can tolerate this blatant discrimination. For blessings for mother and child to be safe, it doesn't matter if you worship me for having many children and grandchildren. If you want to worship me, you must worship Beefeng."
Like it."
"Don't mention it, there are people who worship it, but it's just a cult banned by the mainland. They call themselves the 'Brothers of Truth with Boundless Love'..."
"...I don't want to know at all."
While I blocked Heloise's mouth, I thought of the man who was still in the abyss. Some time ago, he gave me a letter, saying that it would take some time to deal with the arrogant birdman, and asked me to calm down...
...I wanted to ask him at that time, "Who asked you to kill that Birdman? All I want is epic material, just material. Please don't make big news. A positive image is very important these days..."
But I feel that no matter what I say, it’s useless. If you don’t trust people and don’t trust them, let him do whatever he wants. Well, I definitely don’t intend to draw a line with that bastard after I get the materials, and then throw them out in exchange for a bounty. I
Are you such a ruthless and ruthless person who would burn bridges when crossing rivers?
"You still have the nerve to say, Amyra, I...you were really kind and righteous back then. Do you still remember how many bridges you have demolished? But for the sake of world peace, it is better to demolish 'that bridge' as soon as possible.
The whole world will thank you."
While I was still chatting and drinking tea in a boring way, something big happened on Renee's side.
"The Principality of Thorne and the Kingdom of Philtias applied to join the Lan Alliance? When did it happen? What are they for?" (To be continued.)
