The spacious city wall is covered with a thick layer of ice. The old city has been remodeled and heightened repeatedly over the years. The towers, ballista holes, winches, ballistas, and catapults are all traces of construction. Perhaps it should be said that the smell of war .
With the joint efforts of craftsmen and spellcasters, the entire city wall area has been reinforced for at least 30 meters. When the city wall exceeds 100 meters from the ground, it is like stepping into the sky. The first fortified city.
Now the city is not threatened by war, the doors are open, and before entering the city, the people coming and going are very eye-catching.
The orcs hawked furs and prey on the street, while buying tobacco, spirits, cotton-padded clothes and other "northern luxury goods", the undead in black cloaks carefully kept away from these hot-blooded guys, in the small shops deep in the alleys. Buy those shady and legitimate "goods".
On the street in the sewer alley, the black fireworks of the furnace rose from the dwarves' shop. No matter when the dwarves' weapons were the best-sellers, the northern barbarians outside the shop were showing off their martial arts on the street, hoping to find them. The employer, while drooling over the spirits and sophisticated weapons and equipment in the shop.
When I first arrived in Defende, I thought I had gone to the wrong place. After all, compared to the city of war, which is always burning in memory, this commercial city is full of hawkers and shops, making people feel that the style of painting is a bit wrong. .
"Compared with eight years ago, the annual transaction volume and business tax have increased by 337 times. It is not wrong at all to say that it is a hundred times more prosperous."
Renee's words are full of pride, but I can understand this emotion, the growth is so outrageous, except that the past base is really miserable, more is the hard work and hard work of the Difende people, what is better than watching The hometown is prospering step by step, which is even more gratifying and proud.
Looking at the map, I found that the market area, which is only used as a trading place, is already larger than the original Defende old town.
I looked at the signs on the map, and most of the shops were opened by local residents and goblins, and most of the foreigners were tourists and businessmen who came here. The improvement of its status has also greatly improved its economic and military status.
As a fortress city, Defende is qualified. From the beginning, the site selection based on the geographical terrain and the accumulation of the construction of the Lan Kingdom over the past dynasties have made this city a solid fortress facing the north. Neither the orcs nor the demonic abyss of the northeast wind could cross the obstacle.
As the entire Northland entered a period of peace, the imaginary enemy turned into an ally, and the role of the original strategic point dropped sharply, but it did not mean that it had withdrawn from the stage of history. Heavier and heavier, the city of Deefend became more and more important.
Today's Defende is no longer an isolated city. There are seven satellite cities within hundreds of kilometers around it, some of which are engineering bases for ore processing and smelting, some are storage warehouses for raw materials and grains, and the largest arms, military rations, The Ordnance Exchange, half of which is the training base for knights and warriors of the Lan Kingdom, Defende and its affiliated satellite cities, and the largest barracks in the North.
Every day, businessmen and diplomatic envoys from all over the world come here with various missions, and young knights and brave men come here with their longing for the future. 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 heavier the weight of Lan State, the greater the role of Defende. Compared with the previous year, the central city area has expanded by at least four times. If it is regarded as a satellite city, it is said to have expanded by dozens of It’s true that the city’s streets are a bit crowded and chaotic, but the city’s streets are a bit crowded and chaotic, but the innumerable languages and residents living here together represent infinite vitality.
Compared with other commercial cities, there is an advantage here, but it is unmatched by other city-states, and this is the foundation of its prosperity.
The holy silver light formed a vague sky, and the invisible eyes seemed to be watching this city of miracles, and the people patrolling the streets were not only the guardians of the Lan Kingdom, but also the priests of the law with the emblem of the balance. And the Knight of Justice, is still the guardian of the city.
The transactions here are very special and fast, and even to outsiders, it is a little weird and unmagical.
"I made a promise to the law and the god of the underworld. 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 make a promise to the gods of the law and the underworld that we will deliver the payment within one month of receiving the fur."
The barbarian and the goblin swore an oath to the God of Law at the same time, signed their names on the contract, and silently prayed as the witness's contract intermediary. watch, no mortal will breach the contract.
Eight years ago, when I returned to the North with my Legion, the Sleepless blessed the city, and the Forbidden Spell turned it into the Sanctuary of the Sleepless, a city of innocence without crime , all criminals and cheaters will be marked with a red light representing fraud, and judges and justice knights will appear within five minutes.
And with the improvement and improvement of the clergy of the God of the Sleepless Contract, the guarantee of the contract has officially become its responsibility. What does it mean to be a city without crime, without fraud, and the transaction contract will definitely be fulfilled? I'm afraid every serious businessman will be crazy.
Not to mention that the major transactions of the countries in the Northland are actively selected here, even the transactions between the kingdoms within the continent, will also choose to be conducted here, and the contract commissions received by the law priests who supervise the contracts are already Astronomical numbers.
Even many people suggested to expand the scope of contract supervision, praying that the sleepless person not only supervises commercial contracts, but also more important diplomatic and military contracts. If this step is really achieved, I am afraid that the reputation of the sleepless person will reach a peak again.
But when I thought about it, I knew it was a pit.
"Supervising the covenant between countries" sounds great, but the state is not a personal existence. There are only pure interests between them. As long as there is a need, it is common to betray the covenant, and once the real supervision is carried out, it is impossible to breach the contract. The country carries out divine punishment, and those who should betray will still betray.
Even if the signatory is punished by God, the contract is still broken. In the long run, it will naturally outweigh the gain. One failure, two failures, more and more contracts are broken, and the priesthood of the God of the contract is also desecrated. Negative impact.
Let’s get to the point, let’s get down to business, at least half of what Renee said about the surge in business taxes is the tax on transaction contracts, and the establishment of a financial exchange for remote trading of bulk commodity orders and futures has made Defende even more. In the financial center of Northland, the revenue of the national treasury skyrocketed exponentially every year, which was under the premise that massive capital expenditures were used for military construction.
From the fur trade of hunters and orcs, to the trade of arms and supplies between super empires, the tax deduction ranges 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 place of bitter cold to being rich and oily. It seems incredible, but in this world of Ashe, where the true God exists, it is the normal state of this world.
The rise of a new god, it is normal for a country and a nation to rise. As the first country to adopt the God of the Law of the Sleepless as the state religion, the Lan people are eating the dividends of the gods of the underworld and the rise of the Sleepless. , at least until the gods fall, prosperity is almost inevitable.
And the gaze of the gods also brought another factor necessary for prosperity - a sense of security.
No matter how lucrative a business is, it’s not enough to make money and spend it without life. No one is a fool these days. It is an open secret who is behind the Northern Lantern League. The long-term stability of investment and transactions is not only regular security and stability. It also includes the "security and stability" of domestic regimes and policies.
In this regard, the newly-born gods of the underworld are all old-fashioned gods, the goddess of wealth, the god of fate, the moon god, the god of death, at least a group of neutral gods with good reputation, and the law and justice represented by the sleepless. , is what businessmen desire most.
As for the most important trade routes and road safety, the floating airships in the Northland have opened up several regular routes to and from mainland cities, including the capital of Baier - Defende, and the capital of Oran - Defende, although the transportation costs It is indeed a bit more expensive, but compared to the dangers of robbers, monsters, and wars that may be encountered by land, the extra cost that can be expected is really nothing. The big deal is to pass the cost on to the goods, which is better than not even bringing the goods. much more.
Safe, fast, stable, and unbelievable contract justice. Under the guidance of many factors, Defende has a tendency to become the commercial capital of the mainland, but the remote northern city has embarked on a commercial route. It has the potential to become a super commercial city, and it really makes people wonder how to evaluate it.
And prosperity has also brought wealth to the people of Lan and all the Northlanders. The Northland is not really nothing. The complete fur of a Northland winter wolf is only worth fifty gold coins in the Northland, but it can be sold in the center of the mainland. Thousands of gold coins. In the past, it was not that no one had the idea of making these Northland specialties. It was just the expensive transportation cost and the difficult and dangerous journey that made most hunters prefer the safe fifty gold coins.
Arms, various alien crafts, monster materials, alchemy products, engineering products, these are the most common trade items here, and they are also best-sellers.
And I myself, even if I sigh, must always wear a heavy white cloak, even if I drink water and eat, I dare not take it off.
After all, even if I have always been thick-skinned and saw my own statues everywhere, I can’t help but someone nagging at the statues, some grateful and some praying, I can’t stand it, especially…
"It's okay to bless you to get promoted and get rich. Bless you that you don't want to worship me when you get married. I will endure this obvious discrimination. Blessing mother and child is safe, and there are many children and grandchildren, but worship me. If you want to worship, you must worship the sad wind. Like."
"Don't mention it, there are really worshippers, but they are cults banned by the mainland. They call themselves the 'Big Love Without Borders Brotherhood of Truth'..."
"...I don't want to know at all."
While blocking Heloise's mouth, I remembered the man who was still in the abyss. He sent me a letter some time ago, saying that it would take a little time to deal with that arrogant birdman, so let me be calm... I wanted to ask him at the time, "Who wants you to deal with that birdman, all I want is epic materials, just materials, please don't make big news, a positive image is very important these days..."
But I don't think it's useless no matter what I say. I don't need to be suspicious. I'll just let him be. Well, it's definitely not that I intend to get the material to draw a line with that bastard, and then throw it out for a bounty, I Is it such a ruthless person who crosses rivers and demolishes bridges
"You still have the face to say, Amyra, I... You were really kind and righteous back then. Do you remember how many bridges you have demolished, but for world peace, 'that bridge' should be demolished earlier. The world will thank you."
While I'm still chatting and drinking tea, there's something big happening on Renee's side.
"The Duchy of Thorne and the Kingdom of Philtias applied to join the Lan Alliance? When did it happen? What did they do?"