Chapter 532 Feedback

With the heavy iron gate slowly rising under the power of the winch, the majestic Ansu King City opened its gate to the guardian of the kingdom. Under the leaden-grey cloud, it consisted of more than ten carriages and a large number of knights and guards. The team entered the city.

The wheels of the carriage were rolling on the ancient stone road with a history of hundreds of years. The slightly loose stone slabs trembled slightly, and the small stones kept creaking between the wheels and the stone slabs, but this creaking sound did not For a long time, it was covered up by the flute and drum sounds suddenly played by the musicians in the team.

Victoria slightly opened the cover on the side of the carriage, and through the narrow gap, she saw an empty street outside - a heavy snow had just visited Saint-Sunil not long ago, and the snow covered the entire city. On a cold day, even the residents of the capital would not go out and walk around, not to mention that it was a common alley close to the outer city: all the Duchess could see were the white streets and the snow-covered streets. On the roof, the snow has been shoveled in some areas, but the snow has just stopped in many places.

There is a collapsed house in the corner of the line of sight. It seems to be crushed by snow. Naturally, there are no residents in the ruins of the house, and I don’t know where the people who once lived here have moved to—or died where. .

The flutes and drums were still whistling, echoing in solitude in this empty street, as if a group of clowns were trying their best to tell jokes on a stage without any audience, funny and weird, but the musicians didn't care about that: they The sound of the music played is not to attract nearby residents to come out to welcome the nobles, but to allow the soldiers at the back of the team to quickly form their formation after entering the city, and also to remind passers-by (if any) ahead, Let the opponent give way quickly.

So it doesn't matter if anyone responds.

The cover of the carriage was closed.

The motorcade passed through the slums of Nancheng, passed through the middle city where the citizens lived, and continued to drive towards Silver Castle. Voices came from all directions.

The convoy entered the inner city where upper-class citizens and minor nobles lived—after crossing the avenue, it finally showed a hint of prosperity as the capital of the kingdom.

On the wide streets, the snow had been swept away, and the wealthy citizens and minor nobles in colorful and thick winter clothes had already heard the voices from the middle city, and they ran out of their homes to join the road to welcome the motorcade that entered the city. Neither the cold north wind nor the snowflakes lifted by the wind could dampen the enthusiasm of these people. They stretched their necks by the roadside, watching the car with the Wilder family emblem, the royal family emblem, and the Holy Light Church emblem driving on the road. Passed by, and then cheered and admired, the winter flowers and colorful silk strips catalyzed by magic were thrown into the air, and fell like a rain of colorful flowers, and those who threw flowers and silk were all looking forward to it. The carriage in front of the team can open the window,

People sitting in the car can show up and say hello to them - in the old days, the duchess and princesses of the north lived in castles and cathedrals, and ordinary wealthy citizens and petty nobles had no chance to see them with their own eyes. Looks, and at the moment the team passes through the wealthy area, this is a rare good opportunity.

However, today's situation is obviously different from the past. In the anticipation of the crowd, not a single carriage opened the cover. The entire team just continued to maintain the speed, passed through the crowd without stopping, and passed through the entire line outside the Silver Fort. The block, drove into the distant castle...

Duchess Victoria in a white dress took her maids and attendants all the way through the atrium and the main castle corridor of Silver Castle, and came to the study room on the upper floor of the castle. The Grand Duke of the West, Baldwin Franklin, was wearing a warm and comfortable silk suit. Robe, sitting on the lounge chair by the fireplace, looking at a tome attentively, seeing the sudden appearance of the Duchess, the Grand Duke of the West was slightly startled, then quickly got up to greet: "Ah, Duchess Wilder— —Excuse me for not going to the long hall to meet you, this book is really attractive to me."

Victoria's eyes swept across the cover of the book in Duke Baldwin's hand, and saw a large series of words in gold foil: "The History of Currency Evolution in the Northern Continent and Changes in Trade Lines".

The Franklin family is known as "Ansu's purse". Due to the multi-ethnic and developed Ogre Tribal State, all the Dukes of the Westland are proficient in business, and Berdwin Franklin is the best among them. The reader, his favorite book, is naturally also in this field.

But at this moment, Victoria couldn't help sighing after reading the book: "Perhaps this trip to the South should let you go."

"Oh?" Bodwin Franklin couldn't help raising his eyebrows: "It seems that this trip is not going well? Our founding hero made things difficult for you?"

"No, everything is going well, Archduke Gawain Cecil is kind and friendly, and we've also done a big business - that's why I say you should go."

The Duchess's tone seemed to be flat as usual, but Baldwin, who had known her for a long time, saw an imperceptible trace of irritability in the eyes of the "Snow Queen". He put the book in his hand aside, and his expression became serious: "What did you see in the southern border?"

"...a better place than St. Sunil," Victoria considered the words and took a long time to say this, then she shook her head, "I will tell you about the situation in the South in detail later. Yes. Now let’s talk about the results of this trip.”

Baldwin Franklin listened attentively to what Victoria said, his brows frowned and stretched, his fingers unconsciously rubbing a ruby ​​ring on his left hand, even though the Duchess only briefly described the negotiation of the trip to the South The result, but from the other party's choice of words and sentences, he could still understand how much the "Queen of the North" was touched by the mysterious southern land.

This surprised and surprised him - it turns out that there is still something in the world that can shake this frozen lady into such a state.

"In that case, Duke Cecil at least tacitly acquiesced in the coronation of His Royal Highness Wales, and would not publicly support the Eastern Territory... and he also stated that he would not use the emergency inheritance that was seven hundred years ago," Waiting for Victoria's story to come to an end, Duke Baldwin said unhurriedly, "This is better than we expected."

"Indeed," Victoria nodded, "In addition, he also agreed to provide paid armament assistance to the Royal Army - if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I'm afraid I would never believe that extraordinary weapons can really be mass-produced. "

Bai Dewen became very interested: "What kind of equipment is that? Is there a sample for me to see?"

"He gave me a sword, and several sets of armor and weapons as samples," Victoria said, turning to the squire standing at the door, "carry things in."

A heavy box was brought into the room, and as samples were presented to Lord Baldwin the fel armor, fusion sword, crystal grenade, and searing ray launcher.

"...It's really an exquisite weapon." Baldwin Franklin looked at the weapons and equipment made by machines with a hint of admiration, and picked up a fusion cutting sword and looked at it carefully. He followed Victoria's instructions. The magic mechanism of the sword was activated, and with a low humming sound, the blade with a thin layer of purple steel plating was immediately covered with a scorching magic field.

"Oh, incredible..." Duke Baldwin opened his eyes slightly, but quickly frowned, "Its internal magic is flawed."

Victoria nodded: "Indeed, as I said, its magic mechanism is very fragile-according to Duke Cecil, this is to save costs."

Duke Wilder turned off the magic mechanism. As the blade gradually cooled, his mind also cooled from the curiosity to see new things. After a brief thought, he looked at the Duchess: "You said just now that every It takes a gold coin to replace a magic organ?"

"That's right."

"...In addition to this weapon called the melting sword, the magic core of other equipment basically needs to be replaced frequently?"

"Indeed," Victoria nodded and said before Baldwin could speak, "don't you need to remind me - I know it's going to cost a lot, and while a separate mana core is cheap, it's going to be expensive. ."

Baldwin glanced at Victoria quietly, then slowly shook his head: "No, Duchess Wilder, you don't know - you underestimated the 'expensive' level, in fact, the replacement of the magic core The cost is the real price of the deal, and the price of these swords and armor is nothing compared to it."

"So serious?" There was finally a hint of surprise in Victoria's eyes.

"Don't question my business savvy," said Berdwin Franklin, with a deep sigh, "but don't be discouraged by what I'm saying - we're dealing with a conspiracy, We have no other choice, and Duke Cecil has made these assumptions because of this—even though I was there, I had to accept it. And even at such a high price, these weapons... still Value for money."

"Is it worth the money..." Victoria looked at Duke Baldwin's helpless expression, and her expression calmed down again, "In short, first gather the mages and scholars, and start trying to imitate these weapons and dismantle their magical mechanisms, Figure out how these things work."

"Of course, we have to figure out these things," Bai Dewen said in a deep voice, with emotion in his tone, "It's really... a lesson, so business can still do this?"

"I'm afraid we will have more classes this time," Victoria glanced at the Duke of the West, who was in a sigh, with a bit of complexity in her tone, "After seeing the way of life of the Cecil people, I realized that a Fact: In these seven hundred years of peace, Ansu probably did not progress at all - compared with our ancestors, we are far behind."

"Oh?" Bai Dewen's tone rose, showing a curious look, "Tell me about it in detail..."

Victoria pondered for a while and organized the language: "Then let's start with their government office..."

...

"The commerce of the Cecil people is very advanced, and what we see in the Cod Trading Company is only a small part of their commercial wisdom," Berk Laurent stood in the long hall of Solimburg, facing his own Father and Prince Edmund talked about the situation they had investigated in the southern border, "I tried to find a way to contact a large number of businessmen there, and also contacted their 'government office' as a businessman, and contacted a lot of their approval and management processes. , I found that they have very tight business surveillance - shocking level of rigor, which is very different from the first impression we had when we heard about the various business opening new deals in the Principality of Cecil."

Silas Lauren listened to his son's return, and at the same time, his eyes occasionally fell on Prince Edmund, who was sitting above him. This young prince had already lost all his immaturity. The wolf-skin cloak was draped over his shoulders, his face was less green and more frosty. He sat on the main seat of the castle, listening to Belk's report with concentration and thinking from time to time.

Down the steps of the seats, Belk Laurent continues: "Their business is indeed open, but a precisely controlled open, which explains why their chambers of commerce and the new 'companies' To be able to operate at such a high level of efficiency with few mistakes...

"Under the operation of the 'factory', Cecil's material output is astonishingly high, and there is a large amount of things that can be sold as commodities, which has spawned many merchants specializing in wholesale and transportation of bulk goods. Ship to a distant place...

"Duke Cecil has built a lot of roads, which connect all the major cities and raw material sources, and cooperate with canals. They have a new magical device called a magic car, which is a self-running mechanical vehicle...

"In order to manage such a large and complex system, their government affairs office is divided into multiple departments, each of which has clear responsibilities and corresponding supervision measures. Everyone is under supervision, and everyone is responsible for supervising others. All have clear work and assessment standards - although there are still loopholes that cannot be ruled out, their councils have reached an unbelievable level of efficiency and management ability, I have copied their department list and can see All the rules and regulations..."

"It seems that the five-year mining rights of the White Sand Hills have not been wasted," Prince Edmund said suddenly in the main seat, "We finally saw something useful."

"Your Highness," Silas Lauren stood up and said, "your previous ideas of the New Deal seem to be correct—Duke Cecil has just gone a step further in this direction. The experience he has brought out means a lot to us. major."

"That's right," Prince Edmund nodded, his expression very serious, "These experiences will make us stronger, and we must become stronger as soon as possible. Our time... is not much."

Yeah, time is running out.

In the main hall of the castle, everyone understood the deep meaning of Prince Edmund's words.

That Typhon Empire, which is coveted by tigers... There is not much time left for the Ansu people.

(Ask for a monthly ticket!!)