Compared to the vigorous north, the only dock in the empire's territory on the southern continent is like a sleeping city.

In the past few months, several cargo ships have come and gone on the lonely sea, and a few hurried passengers have stepped down from them, and they have looked at the city with frowns, and then they have walked a few times along the great river, and finally hurried back to the sea, and returned to the place where they had come on the next cargo ship.

The rumored bustling Sailon Wharf is nothing more than a village-like settlement. There are only a dozen houses in the settlement, and there is only a well in the middle of the houses.

Even so, the settlement here seems to have a bit of a taste of people's tea. When he first arrived, Orlando was shocked, thinking that the dock had been attacked, only to learn later that there were no long-term residents here.

According to the only old man in the village who was responsible for maintaining order here, a few adventurers landed at the docks, used the expansion of the Empire's outpost as their base of operations, and finally explored the past along the river, finding a lot of gold and silver, which seems to have made a fortune. But as the situation went by, more and more explorers came and went, and fewer and fewer people might bring back gold from the end of the river, and eventually, the lonely city collapsed before it was built, and everything became what Orlando saw as a broken half-finished product.

Through Rao's guidance, Orlando found a half-built pier a few miles from the bay where he had first landed, and judging by the piles of timber, there might have been a big plan. But now, there is only a pile of wooden shelves eroded by the wind and sand, standing alone on the seashore, with no ships to dock there, no pedestrians walking nearby, only a few seabirds, sometimes stopping somewhere, as if enjoying the sea breeze on a mountain cliff.

Orlando sat on the endless beach for a long time, looking inland from the seaside, except for a wide river stretching into the distance, all the land on the surface seemed to be connected with the beach, alone, there was neither the farmland of Abbasquia, nor the mountains and rivers, but only the rolling yellow sand with no end in sight.

"Alain, what do you think of this place?"

The young sailor, who was not very well in the world, could not guess Orlando's thoughts, but he still had the kind of young Rao Zhenhua who could allow him to express his opinion directly before he could read Berao's thoughts.

"Do you need to ask, sir, we have been deceived, there is only sand here, no gold. As soon as the next ship docks, we should leave here immediately. ”

After hearing the complaints of the sailors who had followed him all the way to the south, Orlando did not follow him and was full of resentment against the place, nor did he make a big fuss at the sailors, but patted the sand on his body, and stood up from the beach, and said something mysterious.

"yes, even you noticed. If there is sand everywhere, where will the large pieces of wood come from in this port? It must not have been bought from Abbascia by adventurers who found gold and silver in return to the land. Alain, excuse me, help me get a plank. ”

The sailor was a little confused, but he complied anyway. In the twilight sea breeze, it is a sea breeze that is not impatient, but it is very rhythmic, just like Alain's footsteps, dexterous and swift. In a short time, he brought back a large piece of neat and hard wood.

"My lord, these woods...... You know what's going on, these pieces of wood are used to make the decks of big ships, and you see, there are even traces of gluing on this piece of wood. ”

He ran all the way, all the way in a rough airway.

Orlando was obviously stunned by the plank in front of him, but instead of shouting like Alain, he took the piece of wood and studied it carefully.

"This is indeed cold willow, the material we use to make big boats. ”

Orlando gradually came to a conclusion in his mind, but the stakes were so high that for a while, he was a little unable to talk about it.

Alain obviously didn't have so many scruples, he just held the plank and walked back and forth on the beach. "What a waste this is, the wood used to sit on the big boat, it is used to make this kind of plank, used to build the dock, if you want to dry this kind of wood, you can't do it without three or five years of hard work. Such a sturdy wood...... I really don't know what those crazy people think. ”

"Eleven great ships went out to sea, but only one returned to ...... Alain, are you familiar with the route from Abbasquiya to this side?"

Alain blinked, and replied in a big voice: "My father eats here, and his old man has been living from the sea for ten years, and I have heard a lot about him, if you have any doubts, just ask." ”

"What about the waves from Abbasquia to Saiwan Pier?"

"Except for a few dangerous ups and downs between March and April, the rest of the time is safe. ”

"Those fools, looking at such a large treasure and not knowing pity, knew to go along the river and go inside, thinking that it was the golden sand. ”

Orlando sneered coldly, but there seemed to be a fire in his chest and throat.

Alan also said with some indignation: "With so much wood, if someone is asked to process it, maybe a lot of new "Will" can be built, and it is really a treasure that guards a big treasure and does not know how to use it." ”

Orlando was a little dumbfounded, if it weren't for his identity, he would almost laugh out loud, but after the words came to his mouth, he still left two sentences, after all, all this in front of him was just his conjecture, if he directly told this fisherman-turned-sailor, maybe this real son would be stunned because of such a significant fortune, it is better to start investigating the matter first, and wait for the visible benefits, and tell him slowly.

Thinking of this, he deliberately pretended to be a little angry in his heart, and asked in a triumphant tone: "Alain, then tell me now, we can't leave?"

At this time, Alain was completely fascinated by the timber on the docks, and his mind kept coming up with the image of sailing on his own big ship, he could have his own sailors, his own guests, take a few goods on his own ship, and bargain with the nobles who were above the top. Exclude, of course, their own masters, the Knights of Orlando.

After hearing Orlando's question, he almost jumped on the beach like a frightened seagull.

"My lord, now that I, Alain, live on this beach, I will not obey the order of His Majesty the Emperor to return to my hometown until your new ship can sail away. ”

Orlando scrutinized the young man's face, who was only sixteen or seventeen years old as he was, and whose thoughts were simple and pure, like a blank sheet of paper that had never been thick and colorful. He was a little undecided, and after a few months of contact, Orlando admitted that he might be a good squire, but it was still a little longer to know whether he would be trusted.

Therefore, in the end, he still did not reveal the possible truth of the matter, but showed a warm smile on his face, and said half-truthfully: "Yes, we won't leave first, there will be one, we have made a fortune, and we will go back when the time comes, that is called Jinyi returning home." ”

Alain nodded hurriedly and smiled innocently, his eyes full of satisfaction.

Eleven ships went out to sea, but only one returned.

This is a story that all the great nobles of the Abbasquia kingdom have heard, but unlike other nobles, Orlando's father is one of the protagonists of this story, so he pays more attention to this seemingly simple poem than the other lords, or the citizens who witnessed this time.

The warriors who returned from the ship that Statin was on were the elite of a hundred battles, and the wealth carried on the ship was priceless. Just a boatload of jewels completely filled the gap left by the Red Lion Emperor's more than ten years of southern and northern wars, and His Majesty Nordting used this money to build an empire.

But judging from his father's inadvertent sentence, the wealth looted from the southern continent was far more than what was obtained by that boat, but everyone was already tired of gold and silver, so they finally chose some symbolic jewels and brought them back to the kingdom, which was more or less an explanation of the expedition.

If it was just this information, it really didn't matter, but now, the shipwreck of the Imperial Expedition was in front of him, which made him not make a bold assumption.

The army collected a lot of wealth in the course of the expedition, but for some reason, they did not choose to bring back as much money as possible, but artificially destroyed the ship, and a lot of wealth is still stored somewhere in this southern continent, and the previous "gold diggers" themselves are the best proof.

Everything seemed to be clear, but there was one thing he hadn't figured out.

If it was really those knight brothers who were selfish and saved their wealth, then why had they never heard of rumors that a large amount of wealth had been excavated after so many years, and his father, who was respected as one of the grand masters of the two regiments, had no reason not to know about this matter, but he had been very secretive, and even his trip to the southern continent had to be blocked.

But Orlando is by no means a man who gives up easily, he may not be a good lord, but he is a good adventurer. For him, even without that wealth, the search for the story itself is of great value.

It was precisely because of this desire for the unknown that he and Alain stayed in this snailly village of Zheng

Similar to the joy and peace of the South, even in the Northland, which is at the center of the conflict, there is also a city that stands quietly on the edge of the battlefield like a paradise.

Valuno, the only remnant of the city that has signed a contract with the Wegenrao tribe

Except for the trouble of the steppe people in the Northland, there has been no major war in the Northland. Mayor Hams paid a silver coin for each of the Civic Guards who had volunteered to organize, which was not a great sum for a successful merchant, but the townspeople were still happy, and they only walked around the city, except for the two unlucky ones who had stepped on the tree nest and stumbled, it was almost like an autumn outing.

Therefore, when the soldiers returned to the city, they even had a smile on their faces, and they did not feel any frustration because of this war at all, but in the recent period, the soldiers and civilians of the city of Valuno have become a "warlike army", even if the mercenaries have suffered considerable losses, they have not complained, but have silently strengthened their training level.

Later generations of scholars have taken out the development trajectory of the city of Valono as a case study, and they believe that the fundamental reason for the prosperity of the city of Valuno is the prosperous economy of the city of Valuno, which is the fundamental source of confidence of the citizens, and its prosperous commodity economy and special "commercial diplomacy" model have finally had some positive effects on the end of the Northland War.

Although businessmen are often the main force in the transmission of information, they have the exact opposite trait in the face of some major intelligence seasons. In fact, with the exception of a very small number of visionaries, most merchants in the empire still operate in the traditional "beggar-thy-neighbor" tactics, and if they believe that there is a business opportunity in the intelligence, they will often send people to verify the authenticity of the information in the first place, and on the other side they are silent on the matter.

The network of relationships established between the nobles was much more reliable in comparison. In addition to the fact that the aristocracy was in fact higher than the merchants, and they had a greater sense of security in their quality of life, practical interests were also an important criterion for their consideration, not to mention the fact that they had worked hard to build what could be called "extremely complicated" in-laws, and they were usually keen to share Pets's information in order to give their faction an advantage in the ensuing struggle.

And that's why, the Duchess of Connaughton, at the first moment of the war, approached the knight of Jose.

"Knight, you can still hold a sword, right?"

"What if I can't hold it, what if I can hold it? I have already sworn that I will protect the subjects of the empire until the sword in my hand is broken in half, until the armor is broken to pieces, until the war horse under my crotch can no longer run, until my life comes to an end......"

"I think I've never been cowardly, but three of the four things I've sworn have been fulfilled...... And my son, he's a talented young man, and I think he's perfectly up to the task of my career. ”

Everyone