If Shioi continues to be in the control of the Empire, it is impossible to say that Rick will have to come a few more times.

After all, there is no danger, and there is a good income, just thinking about it makes Rick happy, but unfortunately this place is about to be occupied by the Holy Peace Dove Church State, and that precious salt well must be about to change hands, so it is no good to stay here, and Rick left immediately.

Before he got out of the wall, he followed a first-order professional with hidden whereabouts, it seems that the other party is very confident in his concealment skills, otherwise he would not casually follow a second-order powerhouse, but unfortunately Rick is not an ordinary second-order powerhouse, so the other party was tragically pierced in the chest by a turbo ice pick, and completely died on his self-confidence.

Seeing that Rick had an ice pick in his hand, like crushing an ant to death, killing the powerful professional, everyone immediately shrunk their necks, and they didn't dare to think anything anymore.

Even the members of the Trymsted family, who had been clamoring for revenge for their fellow clansmen just now, were completely quiet. Although their strength is good, they are actually about the first order, and many people are not even the first order, and the other party's killing the first order is as simple as slaughtering a dog, who dares to say anything?

So until Rick completely disappeared from sight, these people still didn't dare to talk too much about what happened just now, because everyone felt that the powerful second-order professional didn't go far, and it wasn't until a whole day passed that no one dared to leave, and immediately told the Trimster family what happened here.

After Rick left, he rushed to Ironstone City with the looted things, although his father was dead. But Rick went to see where his father was buried. It was a large pit where the dead were often buried. Daddy's bones had long since turned into white bones, and it was impossible to distinguish them, so Rick just stood quietly at the edge of the pit and watched for a long time before leaving melancholy.

Ironstone City is probably located in the middle of the Uss Empire, and it is a relatively prosperous city.

Of course, it is certainly slightly inferior to the vast trading city of Monte Copper, but there is no commercial copper smell here, only some more industrious and definitely dry miners.

It is just a few minutes away from the nearest mining area. So most of the professions are related to mining, and some of the rest are ancillary interests.

"Come and see, the freshest ore is absolutely authentic!!"

"Associated mines, come and buy them, associated mines, bet on luck, there will definitely be a harvest!"

"Don't miss it when you pass by, the fidelity ore is on sale!!"

Everywhere there are people dressed in business clothes, selling their own ore. They didn't buy the ores. Instead, they bought the ore from the miners at a low price and sold it in the town. If you have the strength, you can also smelt these ores into steel and supply them directly to the much-needed Uss Empire, which will definitely make a lot of money.

But only those who have really dealt with the empire know that the Empire of Uss at this time is already decaying. It's not that you don't give money to the transaction, but when to give money and how much money you want to sweep has become a big problem.

If you have a way to the sky, it's easy to say, but if you don't have anything, then it's a lot of fun.

Layers of squeezing, layers of exploitation, as long as one link is not in place, then your money will be dragged to you until you give in.

The will of the empire itself to buy steel is very simple and well-intentioned, but there are very few corresponding people in the country, except for those who have some background and ability, the rest of them dare not touch this bad business.

Although we are constantly fighting corruption and constantly tasting integrity and positive energy, human beings themselves are a collection of greed, how can they give up their own interests because of a simple order?

Unless corruption is discovered, the death penalty will be immediate, and once the number increases, this kind of unrestricted greed and corruption can be completely stopped, but the top of the state does not have this kind of courage, they can only follow the step-by-step process, like a dead dog dragging the entire empire forward.

Whether these people believe it or not, as long as someone is a little selfish, then the entire administrative system will be disturbed, not to mention that it is not one or two people who are selfish.

So after being cheated by people and officials several times, these businessmen became shrewd and no longer believed in the credibility of the domestic government, and would rather sell at a low price than do business with the government of the Usi Empire.

So these people don't look at it as just a small amount of ore, but everyone has hoarded a lot of ores and steel ingots, in order to give me a chance to turn over completely.

The top brass of the empire are not stupid, and after discovering this situation, they directly ordered the officials to take the silver taler to buy it directly, and if they could not complete the task, they would be beheaded.

This is also something that can't be helped, because half of the 500,000 troops of the Wusi Empire have been corrupted by more than a hundred years of bureaucracy, and the remaining ordinary people are also yellow-faced and skinny soldiers who are deeply hostile to the empire, and even hateful, so in order to form a new 100,000 legion, and the most powerful mechanical body control brigade, the empire needs a lot of steel, which can be regarded as ruthless.

It's a pity that they don't know that the empire's 500,000 army, which had just lost contact for a day, has been completely controlled by the Holy Dove Church of Peace.

The entire ruins of Halis have gradually been taken over by the Holy Dove of Peace, and the only advantage that the Empire has had has been completely erased by the spies and agents who have been lurking for many years.

Rick doesn't know if the Empire will be able to hold on, but he has to make some preparations for a way out after the fall of the country.

As soon as he found an inn to stay, he was discovered by a team of first-order gendarmerie.

After the other party determined that Rick was not a spy or an agent, he was directly escorted to the City Lord's Mansion.

Why didn't Rick resist? Because the captain of the escort team is a powerful third-order professional, Rick has no chance of winning at this time, and the third-order is a watershed, and it is not just witchcraft that can defeat the opponent with great power and speed.

After the old man of Rune was promoted, he had warned Rick that if he really encountered a third-order powerhouse, he must not provoke him by relying on his ability to defeat the second-order kind, he would definitely die.

Because even though he had just been promoted, he felt a world completely different from the second order. It's not at all something that a second-order professional can compete with. So Rick wisely chose silence and obedience.

When he arrived at the City Lord's Mansion, Rick found that there were already several people waiting here.

Coupled with the third-order of the escort team, there were actually two third-order powerhouses in total. Moreover, these two third-order powerhouses are both forces that belong to the city lord.

There are also two second-order professionals who are dressed differently, and there are three second-order professionals in total.

"Summoning you here, there is a very important thing to inform you that our empire's defense line has been infiltrated and broken by the Holy Peace Dove Church State" The city lord looked haggard, and the words he said were also shocking, and the other two second-order professionals immediately looked incredulous. They came here to buy a large amount of steel so that they could get rich and wealthy in a national disaster, how could the national defense line be broken all of a sudden, this is too fast, right?

"Doesn't the empire claim to be a 500,000-strong army? How could it be broken through so quickly? And what about the Hellis ruins? Hugged? A second-order professional hurriedly asked.

The city lord shook his head silently, and said dejectedly: "How to miss, the specific reason has not yet been investigated, but there is no information from the Helis ruins." ”

After a pause, the city lord tried his best to make his expression look a little calmer: "I came here because the imperial high-ranking ordered the 10,000 guards of Ironstone City to prepare for the city defense battle immediately, so that we must be a nail to block the offensive of the Holy Peace Dove Church State. ”

When everyone heard this, their hearts suddenly cooled. In this case, inviting yourself as a second-order professional doesn't seem like a good thing no matter how you look at it.

Sure enough, the next thing the city lord said was right, which made everyone's mood completely sink to the bottom.

"The purpose of gathering everyone here is to discuss the plan for defending the city."

Talking about, what's the matter with us?

Everyone said the same thing, but looking at the fierce gazes of the two third-order powerhouses, even Rick lowered his head and honestly didn't say a word.

"I know that everyone is reluctant, but at this time of national crisis, everyone must show enough patriotism to help me defend this iron and stone city."

The city lord used the two third-order professionals in his hand to collect five second-order professionals and ten first-order professionals before the Holy Peace Dove Sect came over.

Coupled with the two third-order and two second-order possessed by the City Lord's Mansion itself, as well as seven or eight first-order professionals, it was said that they had formed a force that had always been small.

All kinds of equipment and grain and grass to defend the city were frantically transported into this majestic and sturdy iron and stone city as if they didn't need money.

Speaking of which, when Ironstone City was established, it was a defensive measure to prevent the collapse of the battle line.

Because it is the location and manpower designated by the military department, the situation of cutting corners is not very strict, and there is a large amount of money allocated every year to repair the city walls and gates, so in addition to mining a large amount of ore, the entire ironstone city is also a super large battle fortress built specifically for battle.

The width of the city wall reached a thickness of three meters, and every five or six meters there was a very low arrow tower, which itself was built on a very high, enough city wall of more than ten meters, so the height itself did not need to continue to increase, but put a lot of effort into the defensive power.

This very low turret is almost less than a meter above the walls themselves, just enough to keep shooting and hiding in the way, and is a very clever design.

In addition to the arrow tower, there is also a smooth wall mirror to prevent oil stains, this mirror-like design took a lot of marble and granite to cast, but the effect is absolutely extraordinary.

As long as you pour hot oil, it's a very good defensive weapon. (To be continued......)