After leaving the Duke's Palace, the Duke of Windsor drove simply. He took only his housekeeper and put on a very ordinary cotton suit. He got into a shabby-looking carriage from the back door of the Duke's Palace and drove slowly to Canberra.
The scenery you see along the way is not much different from usual, but if you look closely, you will find that the streets are obviously deserted than usual.
In the past, the sounds of shouting and hawking on the street were much less frequent this time, and the number of people willing to stop and watch on the street was naturally much smaller.
If you look on both sides of the street, you can see that many of the originally densely packed shops have been closed at this time. Some of them even seem to be in a hurry, and even the doors are not closed tightly. You can see that they are empty inside, with only a few homeless people lying around. Among them, regard this as your temporary residence.
Seeing this situation, the Duke of Windsor couldn't help but frown slightly.
"Riken, why do you think this is? Even if other places have increased business opportunities because of that damn new flying chamber of commerce, it doesn't mean that our southern province has no money to make at all. Why would these merchants just close down here? The store left here?”
The middle-aged man who looks like a butler is what the Duke of Windsor calls Rickon. Unlike other people who are respectful or even trembling when facing the Duke of Windsor, this theory is calm in front of the Duke of Windsor. Although it is still respectful, it does not mean anything. A look of awe.
After hearing the Duke of Windsor's question, Ricken was silent for a moment, then raised the whip in his hand and turned the carriage in a different direction.
The Duke of Windsor grew up with Ricken and knew that his temperament had always been like this, so he didn't care about his lack of answers.
But I saw Ricken turning in another direction. The Duke of Windsor knew that he must have the answer in his heart. So he fell silent. While observing the situation on both sides of the street, he drove slowly out of the city in a carriage.
The carriage drove the Duke of Windsor and Ricken out of the west gate of Canberra City. After driving two or three kilometers west, they saw a large village with about a hundred households appearing. before.
It was late spring at this time, and the southern province was close to the south of the mainland. Scattered golden hints were already appearing in the wheat fields on both sides of the road.
Originally, this time should be the most important moment before harvest. Farmers should go to the fields every day to take more care of the wheat fields that are about to mature, but the Duke of Windsor glanced over. But I only saw a few scattered farmers in the wheat fields, and they didn't seem busy at all.
The Duke of Windsor couldn't help but frown again.
"These lazy farmers are still lazy at such a critical time! Don't they know that the spring harvest is coming soon?"
Ricken turned his head and glanced at the Duke of Windsor, shaking his head: "Master, it's not that they are lazy, it's that they don't have enough people to begin with."
The Duke of Windsor was stunned: "What do you mean?"
Ricken pointed to the field in the distance: "Look, the people in this field are all old people, and there are no young people in sight."
The Duke of Windsor calmed down, took a careful look around the surrounding fields, and found that this was indeed the case. I couldn't help but be even more surprised.
"Why is this? Where are the young people in the village? Are they all lazy? Or something happened? Ricken, what do you know?"
Ricken shook his head and didn't answer. Instead, he drove the carriage to a farmland and jumped out.
In this farmland, there was an old farmer who looked at least sixty years old and was bending down to check the situation in the field. After hearing the sound, he raised his head and saw Ricken jumping off the carriage and walking over.
"Brother, why are you the only one here? Where are your family members? Where are your son, wife and others? Why aren't you here?"
The old farmer glanced at Ricken. Although he could see that the other person's identity might be different from his own, his tone of voice and demeanor were very friendly, so he put down his guard and said with a smile: "They all went out to work, leaving me as an old man. The old lady and I take care of this little field at home."
"Part-time job?" Ricken had a surprised expression on his face. "Where are you going to work? Are you not even farming?"
"They said they were going to a city called... Neil, they said it was Xinfei..." Just after spitting out these two words, a trace of fear suddenly flashed across the old farmer's face. He coughed hard twice and said the following words. Swallowed it back.
Ricken seemed to have not seen the old farmer's movements at all. He blinked and continued to ask: "Are you talking about the New Flying Chamber of Commerce? That Neil's city, it should be Saranir City, right? Then The place is in Tular Province, which is a bit far away from here. "
Hearing Li say the word "Xinfei Chamber of Commerce" without scruples, which has almost become a taboo word in the southern provinces, the old farmer's demeanor instantly relaxed a little. He smiled and shook his head and said: "It's nothing to be far away. As long as you can make money. You can earn a minimum of five gold coins a month there, and you can even earn ten gold coins a little more. It's not much better than farming at home, if my wife and I weren't in poor health. , and I don’t want to leave here, so I just want to go work with my two sons.”
"Oh? You can earn ten gold coins a month? That's really a lot." Ricken raised his head and looked around, then asked: "I see that the people in the fields are all old people like you, right? Aren’t other families in the village like yours, with young people running away to work? "
"Yes, you can earn several gold coins or even ten gold coins when you go out to work in a month, and you will have more than a hundred gold coins in a year. If you stay here to farm, what is left after paying the rent can fill your stomach all year round. That's pretty good. Not to mention gold coins, there aren't even a few silver coins. How do you choose?" the old farmer asked.
Ricken hummed and nodded: "I would make the same choice if it were me. But is it really reliable to go to such a far place to work? What if something unexpected happens... "
"Tch, what could happen?" The old farmer curled his lips. "Anyway, we are all cheap people. If we have the opportunity to earn real gold coins, of course we should seize it. Besides, several factories over there seem to be new flying merchants... "
Having said this, the old farmer still looked blank, looked at everyone, and then lowered his voice and continued: "It seems to be related to the Xinfei Chamber of Commerce. You always know the Xinfei Chamber of Commerce, right? They are such a rich and big chamber of commerce. , He won’t lie to people like us.”
Ricken was a little surprised: "You seem to know the Xinfei Chamber of Commerce very well? How do you know this chamber of commerce?"
The old farmer's reaction was even more strange. He glanced at Ricken in surprise, then looked left and right again, but this time he forgot to lower his voice and asked directly: "Isn't your question too strange? Why should I Don’t you know about the Xinfei Chamber of Commerce? The products of the Xinfei Chamber of Commerce are so useful and cheap. If I don’t even know this, I would be too ignorant.”
"Oh? How did you know that the products from the Xinfei Chamber of Commerce are useful and cheap?"
"Didn't the Xinfei Chamber of Commerce and other chambers of commerce come here once before and brought a lot of good things? In addition, before the Governor issued the ban, there were also many other businessmen who brought a lot of things in. Now there are some in our village. Quite a lot. Compared with those sold by profiteers in Canberra, these things from the Xinfei Chamber of Commerce are particularly useful. "
Having said this, the old farmer suddenly seemed to remember something, hesitated for a while, and then asked: "Actually, when I heard that the Xinfei Chamber of Commerce was coming, they planned to invest and build some factories in our city of Canberra, right? You said If the Governor had not issued such a ban and allowed these factories to be built, then my two sons would not have to go to work in places as far away as Tular Province... "
"So... you don't agree with the Governor's ban?"
"Yeah, this ban does no good at all..." The old farmer suddenly raised his eyes, looked at Ricken alertly, and waved his hand quickly. "No, no, no, I didn't say anything. Don't make random guesses. What bans the Governor promulgates is his business and has nothing to do with us."
Ricken nodded and did not continue to ask further questions. Instead, he chatted with the old farmer about the upcoming spring harvest.
The old farmers are also a little worried about the upcoming spring harvest.
In the past, during every spring harvest, the family had to work hard for a full month to finish harvesting the more than ten acres of fields under their family name.
Now that the two sons and daughter-in-law have left together with the eldest grandson who is now half grown up, he and his wife alone can probably only harvest two acres of grain at most.
"But it doesn't matter. Now that my son and the others are living well, we two old guys can just collect some food for ourselves, and we don't need to be so tired."
"What about renting grain?" Ricken asked.
"Rent food? At worst, buy some food and hand it over. Anyway, the eldest son wrote back last time and said that the big ship from the Principality of Standing also brought a lot of cheap food. With their current salary, they can buy several hundred kilograms a month. It’s enough to pay the rent.”
Ricken was speechless for a moment.
The old farmer sighed again and continued: "Well, actually, I heard from relatives who came to our house last time that the Xinfei Chamber of Commerce has some magic farm machinery. It is said that it doesn't even take half an hour to harvest an acre of land with that thing. . It would be great if the Governor didn't have this ban and brought in some farm magic machinery, so we wouldn't have to worry about what to do in the fields."
Ricken and the old farmer looked at the green wheat fields with a little golden color together. They were silent for a while, then waved goodbye to the old farmer and returned to the carriage.
The Duke of Windsor had been watching the conversation between Rickon and the old farmer through the curtains of the carriage. Because they were not far away, he listened to all the conversations between the two.
After Ricken came back, the Duke of Windsor looked at the vast farmland in front of him for a while, then lowered the curtains and fell silent.
After a while, the Duke of Windsor suddenly let out a faint sigh.
"Riken, I have something to give you."
"Please give me your instructions."
"I heard that there is a Cantona Chamber of Commerce in the Lampali Kingdom, which is responsible for farmland harvesting. Please contact them."
Rickon glanced at the Duke of Windsor and nodded in agreement.
The Duke of Windsor opened the curtains and stared at the old farmer in the field for a while, then let out a sigh and signaled Ricken to start the carriage and leave. (To be continued...)
ps: (I forgot to post it yesterday...)