Two days later, it was near evening.
Richard rode a carriage and arrived at the outskirts of a big city.
Looking from a distance, you can see the outline of the big city clearly appearing in front. Under the golden sun shining in the west, the tall city walls shone brightly, as if they were painted with a layer of gold powder. It was the destination this time - the city of St. Louis.
While seeing the city of St. Louis, the relevant information obtained from the Truth Society and the black-faced old man Oscar quickly flashed through Richard's mind.
St. Louis City is located on the edge of the "Rowan Plain" of the Southern Free Federation, adjacent to the Soma Empire in the north. It has convenient transportation. It is both a military outpost and a large trading city.
The power that rules this city is the Pangbo family, which has a history of more than 200 years.
The Pangbo family began to prosper as a second-level wizard more than 200 years ago, and slowly established a foothold in St. Louis City, and dominated most of the transactions between the Soma Alliance and the Southern Free Federation.
As a result, the Pangbo family has gained unimaginable profits, and its strength has continued to grow. Today, it has become the unshakable overlord of St. Louis City - no one, and other forces, large and small, must rely on it to survive.
According to intelligence content, the Pangbo family has the most top personal power so far, and it is Alan Pangbo. The other party is the younger brother of the eighth generation head of the Pangbo family, and the current head of the family in power is the tenth generation, so he is the grandson of the other party.
It is said that Aaron Pangbo became a third-level wizard fifty years ago when he was very young. After continuously defeating and killing many provocateurs, he was recognized as the strongest man in St. Louis City and its surrounding areas. , success makes people dare not be enemies with the Pangbo family anymore.
However, Alan Pangbo has not shown up since twenty years ago. The news is that the other party is preparing to attack the realm of the fourth-level wizard. It is still unknown whether he has succeeded or not. But even so, everyone still maintained enough respect for the Pangbo family and did not dare to offend.
This is because, in addition to Alan Pangbo, the Pangbo family also has two other third-level wizards, nearly ten second-level wizards, more than twenty first-level wizards, and dozens of wizards. Apprentices signed a contract and were hired.
In addition, the Pangbo family also has more than 200 magic costume knights, including 170 three-stripe magic costume knights, forty five-stripe elite magic costume knights, and five seven-stripe magic costume knights.
In addition, the Pangbo family also maintains a guard army of up to 3,000 people.
The reason why the Pangbo family is so "extremely brave" is that on the one hand, as a military outpost, unlike Jialan City and Dadelan Town deep in the border, it must always prevent the invasion of the Soma Alliance - although the Soma Alliance has been in recent years. For ten years, it has focused on dealing with internal chaos and has no intention of external expansion, but it is still necessary to be vigilant.
On the other hand, only in this way can the Pangbo family's dominant position in the Soma Alliance and the Southern Free Federation transactions be maintained without being overthrown by envious challengers...
Thinking about these contents, Richard took a carriage and arrived at a place more than 300 meters outside the gate of St. Louis City. At this time, the place was already crowded, surrounded by people preparing to enter the city - some from other parts of the Southern Free Federation, and some. The other one is the Soma Alliance from the north.
Richard took a few glances and determined that riding a carriage into the city would not bring much convenience, so he simply sent the carriage back and walked toward the city gate alone.
After walking more than a hundred meters, you can see a long queue forming here, moving along the flow of people.
At this time, Richard discovered that the people entering the city were automatically divided into left and right rows. The left row was for people like him, and the right row was for people carrying various goods.
People carrying goods, whether on their backs or in carriages, must be inspected by Pangbo family soldiers at the city gate and allowed to enter after paying a tax.
Obviously, this is an important source of income for the Pangbo family, and it is also a way to ensure its dominant position in the transaction.
For example, for trade goods such as cloth, pottery, and handicrafts that the Pangbo family does not operate, the tax paid when entering the city is relatively low, encouraging people to trade more. For trade goods operated by the Pangbo family, such as grain, wood, and ironware, the taxes paid when entering the city are relatively high. People are resisted from conducting such transactions to prevent them from affecting the profits of the Pangbo family.
Some goods, such as weapons and equipment, are directly classified as prohibited items. Once discovered, it is not a question of how much tax to pay, but directly confiscated and those involved in the transportation are punished.
On the one hand, it is because these goods belong to the core business of the Pangbo family's complete monopoly, and others are not allowed to get involved at all. On the other hand, it is for security reasons to reduce the number of uncontrolled and unsupervised weapons, so that these weapons can be used to deal with the Pangbo family.
This is a bit like customs... Richard blinked and walked forward, because his team didn't need much inspection at all. Following the flow of people, they arrived only fifty meters away from the city gate.
The other team on his right was much slower. He saw a four-wheeled carriage being stopped by guard soldiers more than 20 meters outside the city gate, and the carriage was opened to inspect the goods.
There were five people in the four-wheeled carriage, and they were all driven off at this time.
One of them looked like the boss. He was in his forties, not tall, and was wearing gray clothes. Seeing the soldiers opening the boxes and inspecting them carefully, he said with a grimace: "Master Guard, these are all normal goods, there is nothing to look at. I have prepared all the taxes paid, and they are here. How about you Just let me go. I'm in a hurry. I have to go into town to unload the goods before dark, otherwise I have to pay a penalty for breach of contract."
The soldier checking the goods was a tall and thin man wearing light armor with red paint. He glanced at the man in charge and said with a cold face: "You think you are the only one who is in a hurry and the only one who is anxious? People who are more anxious than you are, I've seen too much, but when you get to St. Louis, you have to get checked obediently, you know! You said you have to enter the city before dark, so why don't you hurry up and start talking to me now. Humph, if something goes wrong, you are responsible ?”
The man in charge was reprimanded, his head drooped, and he tried his best to smile at the tall and thin soldier: "How dare I take responsibility? Since you want to check, sir, then you can check, I won't say more."
"That's about right." The tall and thin soldier glanced at the man in charge, then bent down and entered the depths of the carriage, opening more boxes to check.
After a full minute, the tall and thin soldier completed the inspection, jumped out of the carriage and made final confirmation with the man in charge: "Your carriage is filled with cloth to be sold in the city and a small amount of cotton, right?"
"Yes, yes." The man in charge nodded repeatedly.
"Then according to the regulations, you have to pay a total tax of five silver coins and thirty copper coins, you know?"
"I know, I know." The man in charge reached out and handed a money bag to the soldier, "It has been prepared for a long time. Sir, please take a look."
"That's right." The man in charge took a step forward, approached the soldier and whispered, "Sir, there is also a small bag inside, containing some loose money. It is a small thing from me. Please accept it."
The soldier raised his eyebrows after hearing what he said. He weighed the money bag and found that it was indeed much heavier than expected. He put it away silently, without saying anything else, and waved his hand to the fellow soldiers blocking the way in front of him: "Let it go!"
"brush!"
The soldiers guarding the city gate in front quickly moved away the wooden barricades to allow the carriage to pass.
The man in charge in gray clothes grinned and nodded to the tall and thin soldier, and called on his men to drive forward.
Among his men, two were obviously dressed as grooms, one with brown eyes and the other with gray eyes. The two of them jumped on the carriage, swung their snow-white riding whips, and hit the two horses pulling the carriage, one on the left and the other on the right, causing two bloody marks immediately.
The horse was in pain, neighed, and exerted force suddenly. I only heard the "squeaking" sound of the carriage, making deep ruts on the ground as it headed towards the city gate.
The man in charge in gray clothes waved goodbye to the tall and thin soldier, jumped into the carriage with two other men in green clothes, and entered the carriage.