Despite its strategic significance, the city is actually not very large, almost two-thirds smaller than the city of Golden Willows.

However, it far surpassed the Golden Silk Willow City in terms of armed deterrence, and it was more than two or three times more difficult to capture the city than to capture the Golden Silk Willow City.

After all, Phoenix is built between high mountains, and the streets are unusually narrow due to the topography, and the houses on both sides of the streets are made of solid gray granite, which seems to be a natural city wall.

Even if it were attacked with fire from the sky, I am afraid that it would not be able to cause any damage to the city.

The most important thing is that there are fortresses built on the top of each house, and there are shooting holes on all sides, and if a few archers are placed in them, the whole street will be easily blocked.

According to Renard, even if the enemy broke through the gates of the city, he would probably leave countless corpses in the streets and alleys.

Just like in the original Battle of Moscow, if you want to take the city, unless you use absolute force, you can only pile up human lives.

Upon entering the center of the city, everyone immediately noticed the anomaly here, and the streets were very deserted, and the entire city was depressed except for a few vendors.

Although Phoenix City is not big, it also has two or three hundred thousand people, and the bleak scene in front of him is not at all reasonable.

In order to find out what was going on, Renard reached out and stopped a few pedestrians who were hurrying by: "Sorry, excuse me, what's going on here, why is the street so deserted?"

Even though the few people who were stopped were wearing thick masks that obscured most of their faces, leaving only their eyes and ears outside, Renard noticed the dissatisfaction in their expressions.

However, for the sake of the silver coin, the other party's attitude did not look bad, of course, he just changed to a tired look.

The man in the lead looked at the huge trial team for a moment, perhaps because he was afraid of being beaten by the group, and then sighed and said, "You just arrived in Phoenix, right?"

Renard nodded and replied, "That's right. ”

The man shook his head helplessly when he heard this, and kindly reminded: "I advise you to leave quickly, otherwise your lives will be in danger." ”

Alice suddenly frowned and asked in a deep voice, "What the hell is going on here, I remember that Phoenix was not like this before." ”

Hearing this, the man sighed deeply and spat out two words in a heavy tone: "Plague." ”

"Plague?" the crowd screamed, and then hurriedly found something to cover their mouths and noses, even Renard and Alice.

The word plague is almost more terrible than any word, and in the current world of low medical conditions, it is almost synonymous with death.

The man smiled wryly: "You really shouldn't have come here, Phoenix has been turned into a city of disaster by the plague, dozens or hundreds of people die here every day, and the situation has been going on for two whole months. ”

Then the others next to him opened up the conversation: "The priests of the Twelve Temples and even the cardinals of the Temple of Light have tried their best to save only a few lives. ”

Reynard's hanging heart suddenly let go, and he immediately frowned and threw away the socks in his hand.

They told me everything they could, and they explained the ins and outs of the matter clearly.

Renard took out a few more silver coins and handed them over, then waved them away.

He and Alice looked at each other, their eyes full of understanding, and it was evident that they both sensed something unusual.

The province of Golden Silk Willow in the northwest is rampant with orcs and demons, and if Golden Silk Willow City falls, the orc army can drive straight in.

Mandala Province has many plains, which is most suitable for wolf cavalry galloping, and Langui Province and Kumquat Province have many forests, which are also conducive to orc field combat, that is, only the Xiongguan of Phoenix City is blocking the last step of the orc army.

This plague is definitely a conspiracy.

Noticing the solemnity on Alice's face, Renard suddenly chuckled: "Don't worry, this just shows that the orcs and demons don't have the confidence to eat the empire, so they used such a disgusting method." ”

"And it seems to me that this is obviously a good thing, so that the Empire can take the war in the northwest seriously, and respond quickly, at least to be prepared for war and to pacify the displaced people. ”

He took a deep breath and looked at Alice, "Although this plague has killed a lot of people, it has also saved a lot of people, hasn't it?" ”

When Alice said this, the sadness on her face gradually dissipated, and she immediately smiled bitterly and said, "Is this what the Orientals often say about whether or not it is a blessing to lose a horse?"

Having escaped the plague, the group continued their march towards the center of the city, and finally came to an elegantly furnished inn.

This is an extremely tall three-story building, and judging by its floor area, it may be able to accommodate hundreds of people at the same time.

"This inn is very famous in Phoenix, because it used to be owned by a dwarf, and the dwarves are very fond of drinking, so the drinks here used to be the best in all of Phoenix," Alice said. ”

Renard asked with some curiosity, "The former master was a dwarf, and what about now?"

Alice shrugged her shoulders when she heard this: "It was snatched by an unscrupulous nobleman and turned into his own private property. ”

Renard couldn't help but be even more curious: "Who is it?"

Alice glared at him and softly spat out three words: "Carlos." ”

The name Carlos immediately evoked many bad memories for Renard, and he wanted to burn the hotel to ashes.

When everyone came to the hotel and stopped, the shopkeeper personally led people out of it, and bowed to everyone again and again when they were far away: "Welcome, fellow travelers, welcome to the most famous Copper Hammer Hotel in Phoenix." ”

His tone was very polite, and he didn't say that my master was Carlos's domineering sense of déjà vu.

Renard looked at the other party in surprise and secretly guessed: Could it be that Carlos knew that Alice would pass by here, so he arranged someone to greet him in advance?

However, he soon noticed that the shopkeeper's eyes were always on him, apparently taking him as the leader of the entire team.

Renard understood the reason after a little thought, maybe the other party didn't know that Princess Alice would visit, and Carlos himself didn't make arrangements, it was just an unintentional move by the other party.

Perhaps this hotel is just one of Carlos's many tools for accumulating money, and it is not yet possible to use his name to deceive, and besides, as a service industry, there are no customers if you have a bad attitude.

No guests means no money, no money means no good deals, no errands mean incompetence, and incompetent people don't deserve to live in this world at all.

Therefore, when the plague broke out and the number of customers plummeted by half, the anxious shopkeepers were eager to go out on the streets and rob people.

Now that he has seen so many guests visiting, there is no reason why he should not be hospitable.

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