What opened the stubborn door of the Holy Dragon Principality
Gao Wen was really curious about this.
The Principality of Shenglong is located in the extreme north of the mainland. Half of the country is covered with ice-covered mountains. There is not much fertile land. The living environment is even worse for ordinary humans. The country with a harsh living environment made Ansu even fearful in its most prosperous period. Even half of the establishment of the Northern Mountain Corps was to guard against the principality in the frozen mountains. Naturally, there was a reason for this.
The citizens of the Holy Dragon Principality claim to be descendants of dragons, and the higher the nobles, the more they claim to have pure dragon blood—outsiders do not fully believe this statement, because the Holy Dragon Principality hardly deals with other countries, and no one I have seen the appearance of "Dragonborn" showing the power of a dragon, but at least one thing everyone can be sure of is that the people of the Holy Dragon Principality are by no means ordinary humans. Although they look similar to humans in appearance, their children can In the mountains of the extreme north at tens of degrees below zero, shirtless and chasing monsters running all over the mountains, this doesn't look like the average physical fitness of human beings...
And now Gao Wen even got evidence from Maggie: the so-called "Dragonborn" identity of the Holy Dragon Principality is true, at least their upper-class citizens are indeed dragons, but they are genetically defective and weaker than ordinary dragons Just a dragon.
The kingdom established by the dragonborn, even if it is small in size, will be particularly capable of fighting.
In addition to the powerful combat power, the mountains of the Holy Dragon Principality also hide the highest-quality magical metal veins in the northern part of the mainland, and the small amount of metal ingots flowing from the Holy Dragon Principality to the outside world are sought-after goods in the northern countries.
Such a country that can fight itself, has valuable strategic resources, and is still in a neutral state will naturally attract the attention of neighboring countries. As early as the Ansu era, the northern aristocratic forces represented by Victoria Wilde had been trying to compete with The Holy Dragon Principality has established a relatively clear and stable connection, but it still has no effect.
Those dragon descendants seem to be very uninterested in the "outside world". Apart from maintaining the most basic material circulation with the outside world, they have not established diplomatic relations with any country, and there is no precedent for sending envoys.
"Perhaps our magical creations have aroused their interest, or it may be that the changes in the empire's situation have reached the ears of the Dragonblood Grand Duke." Facing Gawain's words, Victoria could only speak of her own speculation, " It is even possible that the Cecil businessman who has been active in the north for more than half a year has changed the view of those 'Dragonborn' towards us... "
"How do you say this?"
"Those 'Dragonborn' have always respected warriors who can challenge the mountains and are not afraid of the cold winter. As long as this standard is met, even ordinary human traders will be treated with courtesy - in the past, there were very few such 'warriors' Not much, and since the wholesale price of the frost resistance potion was reduced to one and a half pounds, all the Cecil merchants operating in the northern region are 'warriors'..."
Gao Wen couldn't help laughing: "Is this also counted?"
Victoria's tone was indifferent: "The people of the Holy Dragon Principality don't care whether the newcomers challenge the cold winter and the mountains by relying on equipment and potions - in their view, foreign objects are also part of their strength, as long as they walk into the mountains against the cold wind , they are all their friends."
"... It seems that I have time to ask Maggie to learn more about the Holy Dragon Principality." Gao Wen said with a smile.
Of course, he didn't believe that relying on a large group of businessmen drinking potions and singing songs, they knocked on the door of the Holy Dragon Principality. Victoria also took it as a joke when talking about it. But no matter what, that closed country that is inextricably linked with the dragon opened its door to Cecil, which itself is worth celebrating—
The exiled "Dragonborn", even if they surpass humans in all aspects, should have a hard time living in the icy and snowy mountains, and the various creations of the magic industry can undoubtedly improve their quality of life, presumably the Duke of Dragon Blood Will not refuse the magic net and the machine - if you don't, it will be easy to handle.
The Cecils are going to help the Allies build the railway again...
While feeling happy and relaxed, Gao Wen's thoughts turned to the north, and he remembered the things he had been planning recently.
"In the previous communication, I told you about the plan to build the northern coast, set up a port, and explore the ocean." He looked at Victoria, "What do you think about this?"
Victoria's light-colored eyes were as quiet as ice and snow, and he said while thinking: "Some northern nobles are worried about this, mainly because they worry about huge investment, little return, and dangerous seas, but they no longer have real power, so don't worry too much about this.
"I understand your idea of setting up a port. From the perspective of building the 'Cecil Settlement Area', the current land transportation is very limited. The terrain in the Ogure tribal country is complicated, and the road construction period is long. And the western and southern parts of the mainland Blocked by mountains and forests, there are not many continuous rivers, and only relying on the trade gateway bordering the moss forest and the west, the scale of trade that can be accommodated is very limited. If a port can be set up on the north coast and the northern circumcontinent route can be restarted, it will undoubtedly be greatly solved. This aspect of the problem.
"The one-time investment will indeed be huge, but the subsequent benefits are also unimaginable.
"During the Ansu period, the nobles of various places were enfeoffed. It was impossible for the lords near the northern ridgeline to complete this kind of project, but now the empire has the ability to concentrate the power of the whole country. It is possible to build the northern coast, set up ports, and even restart the northern circumcontinental route. of."
Victoria Wilde, who has always been not very talkative, did not hesitate to speak when talking about these matters, and listening to the duchess's orderly narration, Gawain gradually showed a look of satisfaction.
Just as he judged before, Victoria has vision.
She can easily understand the difference between a feudal kingdom and a centralized empire, and the significance of opening a port.
But her limitations are also obvious: she only noticed the economic benefits of restarting the northern circumnavigation route, but never thought that Gawain's vision of "exploring the ocean" was actually broader.
But it’s not her fault. It’s caused by the limitations of the times and the social environment—after seven hundred years of human beings away from the ocean, how many people can realize how cramped this seemingly vast continent is
"In addition to the northern circumcontinent route, what I really care about... is the entire ocean," Gawain said unhurriedly, "Victoria, I mean the high seas."
Sure enough, after hearing this sentence, Victoria, who had always been expressionless, frowned slightly.
"The far sea...there is full of storms and magical turbulence. Your Majesty, the Church of the Storm is no longer there," she couldn't help but said, "Exploring the far sea is completely different from restarting the near sea route."
"I know, but after all, we can't stay on this narrow continent forever," Gao Wen said, "There is a wider world in the depths of the ocean—sea monsters, dragons, you all know these powerful races, they came from Those who come from across the ocean can freely come and go between their country and this continent, but we humans can’t step out, this situation is not very reassuring.”
Is this continent... very narrow
Victoria felt a little puzzled for a while, but she quite agreed with the second half of Gao Wen's words.
Those ancient and powerful races can come and go freely in the human world, but human beings can't take a step in front of the ocean. They know that there may be a vaster world on the other side of the ocean, but they can only hide on the land and guess what is there. This situation... is indeed a bit aggrieved.
Of course, an empire, especially an empire that still needs to develop, cannot launch ocean-going operations regardless of cost just for the sake of "not being aggrieved", without sufficient interests to promote it, no matter how high the prestige of the emperor and the Supreme Government Office are, to forcefully promote it A career that does not see the future will also shake the foundation of the empire, but if it is only a certain degree of exploration and a certain degree of technological accumulation... then it is still no problem.
She knew that Gao Wen's meaning should be the same.
On this basis, she seriously considered how to explore the far seas with the current strength of the Cecil Empire.
While thinking, she slowly said: "Your Majesty, if you want to explore the far sea, the northern coastline is probably not a good 'starting point'..."
Gao Wen frowned: "Why do you say that?"
"According to many records, starting from the northern coastline, after crossing the sea channel formed by the Violet Kingdom and the Holy Dragon Principality, there is an exceptionally large permanent storm circle on the sea surface. This storm circle does not seem to weaken or shift throughout the year, and there is no For any safe route, man-made ships should not be able to break through its blockade at all... "
Gawain opened his eyes wide in surprise, "Is there such a storm circle?"
Across the extreme north of the mainland, beyond the Violet Kingdom and the "Sea Peninsula" of the Holy Dragon Principality, there is a blind spot for his satellite camera monitoring!
"Yes," Victoria nodded, "In fact, there are not only ancient records, but when the weather is clear and the magic environment on the sea is relatively stable, when looking towards the ocean from the high mountains in the north, you can sometimes see The hazy 'wall of clouds' surging on the sea is an indirect proof of the existence of the storm circle."
"A cloud wall that can be seen with the naked eye in the northern border?!" Gao Wen was really shocked this time, "How big is that thing?"
"If the records in the ancient books are correct, and if the observations and calculations of the Wilder family for hundreds of years are correct, its effective range is larger than the entire northern border, even larger than the entire Violet Kingdom, enough to cover half of the Cecil Empire. !"
Gao Wen: "..."
After a moment of astonishment, he couldn't help talking to himself: "How did this thing form..."
"No one knows, the existing magic theory and meteorological theory can't explain it, but there are many legends and stories about the eternal storm on the ocean among the folks in the northern border, but they are either contradictory and absurd, or they are randomly attributed to the gods. Power, no reference value."
"Is this storm circle permanent?" Gao Wen couldn't help but confirm it again.
"Yes, for at least seven hundred years, the Wilder family has not observed the slightest fading of it."
"Can you go around?"
"It is impossible to go around from the north - it completely blocks the northern route. If the northern circumcontinental route is successfully launched, it is possible to start from the west of the strait, bypass the western coast of the Violet Kingdom, and officially enter the ocean - but it is very difficult .”
"Yeah, it's quite difficult," Gawain couldn't help sighing, "Not to mention adding a long voyage out of thin air, it's unknown whether the Violet Kingdom will be willing to let our exploration ships make a big circle around their offshore waters... "
While talking, another question came to his mind:
The northern part of the continent... There is a large-scale, non-stop storm structure in the northern part of the continent, so what else is in that direction
The dragon seems to be coming from that direction...
Could that huge storm have something to do with the dragon? Or... Was that storm created by the dragon to guard their portal
If that's the case, exploring the ocean from the north is really the next best thing to do.
At this moment, Victoria suddenly spoke again: "Your Majesty, if the northern route is not an option, we still have another option..."
Gao Wen raised his eyebrows: "Is there another choice?"
Victoria nodded slightly: "We don't only have an outlet on the north coast. In the northeast corner of the east border, near the border with the Holy Dragon Principality, at the end of the cliffs and highlands, there is a small outlet..."
"Ice Duke" spoke slowly, and the satellite map in Gawain's mind was also slowly adjusted.
He saw the outlet to the sea, which he subconsciously ignored because it was near the border of the Principality of Shenglong and there were no clear landmarks around it.
Suddenly, he felt the picture in his mind tremble.
Some scattered fragments of memory emerged from the depths of his mind!
That is the memory of Gawain Cecil!