It must be admitted that Henderson's wishful thinking played well, and more importantly, his ideas were logical.

He raised his goblet again: "Dear son, for the glory of the future, a toast." ”

……

North, Roaring City.

By the time Duke Abbas arrived with a delegation of envoys, spring had come to an end and the heat of the year had begun.

Tianhao's understanding of the "capital" is rather special. He has always believed that as the supreme leader of the country, he must shoulder great responsibilities, especially in foreign wars. In the Ming generation, "the Son of Heaven guards the country". Now, after completing the merger of the three clans, Tianhao has shifted the focus of his rule from the north to the south, with the former lion capital Roaring City as the core, forming a new radiation area.

Rock City is positioned as a multi-functional integrated city, focusing on manufacturing and supply, and is a war base in the true sense.

Liandu is positioned as a port city, and with more systematic management of overseas territories, it will become the busiest important port for maritime transportation, and its status is equivalent to that of Shanghai in the era of civilization.

Tianjing used to be the country in Tianhao's plan, and neither Thunder Point City nor Black Point City could compare to Tianjing in terms of overall planning and scale. All affairs there are currently managed by Tianfeng. In fact, Tianhao has never given up on the functional positioning of Tianjing, but the environment needs to change according to the situation. Judging from the current situation, Tianjing is more suitable to become the future companion capital of the entire dragon clan.

Thunderhorn City is too small and relatively remote, and it can only be an important city for the dragons.

The same goes for Pointe-Noire, which Tianhao has positioned as the "third capital". After all, the Niu people have a special affection for Black Horn City, and this feeling cannot be subsided in a short period of time, and can only gradually weaken over time when generation after generation of young people grow up.

The legation of the Kingdom of God was equipped with the highest diplomatic standards to date: the leader of the delegation, Duke Abbas, was the concubine of the previous king, and he had a dispute with the crown prince because of the succession to the throne. In order to avoid civil strife, the old king made an exception and gave Abbas fiefdoms and dukes. Abbas was a soldier at heart and had a strong sense of family, so he went to his fiefdom away from the royal capital and no longer participated in the struggle for the throne. Unexpectedly, the plague broke out in the royal capital the following year, and many members of the royal family, including the king and the crown prince, died in the plague. At that time, many ministers thought that Abbas would take advantage of the chaos to return and seize power, but he did not care about this, saying that he no longer had the right to inherit from the time he was granted the title of duke...... Thus, the crown fell to the nephew of the Duke of Abbas.

No one knew what he had in mind, but at least on the surface, the duke had no rebellious intentions, and he had a good relationship with the king, not so much a monarch as a mutual equal.

The palace that originally belonged to Shi Rui has been comprehensively repaired and looks more tidy than in the past. Duke Abbas led several important members of the delegation to the steps of the palace and entered the majestic hall, where he saw the legendary and mighty young giant king sitting on the throne.

Kneeling down on one knee with mixed and urgent feelings, Abbas felt that the overall atmosphere was somewhat oppressive, and he believed that it was a negative effect of the tall buildings and the larger-than-normal physique of giants. Despite some slander, the Duke maintained the necessary patience and carefully completed the whole set of rites of the audience.

Tianhao stared at the group of people in white robes, and when the Duke stood up from the ground, a smile appeared on his face: "Welcome to Roaring City." ”

The Duke of Abbas was surprised by the pronunciation and clarity of his English in very pure English, and this is the reaction of many white people who heard the giant speak English for the first time.

"You are a great king. I have to admit that many parts of your country are completely unexpected. The Duke said half-complimentingly, half-heartedly.

Strictly speaking, there is almost no compliment in it.

Traveling north, the envoys were not allowed to enter when they were at Kamui Fortress. This was due to military secrecy, but as the commander of the fortress, Liao Qiu took shelter from the storm outside the city and set aside a rest area for the envoys and provided them with water and food.

As many as tens of thousands of people are building roads on the Gobi Desert, and this is the first time Abbas has seen such a thing. The overseer's basic equipment is also a whip and club, but they are all white. This alone shows that the giants were highly skilled in the use and control of prisoner slaves.

The Lockdragon Pass is a dilapidated pass, very different from the impression Abbas had of fighting in his youth. Broken masonry was piled up on the side of the road, and the giants apparently had no intention of rebuilding the wall, and thousands of white slaves widened the gap in the wall, turning it into a road more than a hundred meters wide.

Curious about asphalt, Duke Abbas did not understand the use of this black substance, which emitted a strong, pungent smell when heated, until he walked on a hardened pavement paved with asphalt mixed with gravel. In his heart, he gave birth to admiration for the giant king who had not yet met.

From the fortress of Kamui to the Roaring City, Duke Abbas saw at least a hundred thousand white slaves. These people worked very hard, building temporary barracks on the basis of their construction sites, leaving early and returning late every day, repeating the monotonous work of road construction.

Daily meals: dumplings made from corn, sorghum, potatoes, wheat noodles, fat or fatty meat, pickles and vegetable soup.

The food is simple and ordinary, but by no means unpalatable. On the way here, the Duke spent money on a slave's lunch, and the mixed dough was large, enough for two to eat. The cured fat, which is about two fingers thick and the standard of an adult white man, looks greasy, but it has a smooth feeling in the mouth, and it goes well with the coarse heterozygous dough.

Giant cooks are probably the worst of the kind, but they are not mad abusers, and they have no intention of using these slaves to death. At least in the eyes of Duke Abbas, this level of food was good for slaves.

Walking into Roaring City, he saw more things that subverted logic.

The tall city walls are so majestic, and the whole city is well planned, and it can be seen that many places in the city are newly built, with drainage pipes on both sides of the streets, special garbage collection points set up between the blocks, and special personnel are arranged to be responsible for cleaning and transportation. Newly planted trees on both sides of the street, although they are all very small, but if they continue to grow like this, it will not take a few years for the trees to grow into a special landscape that is neat and orderly.

The northern giant's use of animal power was so wonderful that Duke Abbas was on his way to the palace when he saw two special metal parallel lines in the middle of the road. The Marquis of Savitin, who accompanied him, explained that it was called a "track", and that it was really used for...... The Duke then saw two horses approaching from a distance with a huge carriage. The heavy rectangular compartment is equipped with metal pulleys at the bottom, and the groove in the middle fits the metal track on the ground, making it look like a child's favorite trailer toy.

The carriages are large and flanked by rows of windows. The carriage was driven by a professional coachman to stop at a fixed stop, and many giants lined up to get on the carriage...... Duke Abbas was puzzled by this, but he was inexplicably afraid. Fortunately, the Marquis of Savidin knew the giant who had come to receive him, and in a few words he figured out that it was a "public carriage", one of the "national welfare programs" implemented in all the cities of the dragon clan according to the order of the young regent, and as long as he paid a small fee, he could ride it, and he could go directly to any part of the city without leg strength.

The duke kept a firm note of the neologism of the "public carriage". He swore that the future kingdom of the Lord would have such things, and that it would do better than the giants of the north.

There is no garbage or leaves on the clean streets, and it is said that a special person has been arranged to clean up the streets, and a sanitation department has been set up.

The meeting with the regent was scheduled for the next morning, and the envoys had a full night's rest in Roaring City. The Duke was intrigued by all that was going on here, and at his insistence, the Giant received officials with a delegation of envoys to visit the Roaring City Night Market.

This is the commercial center that was built a few months ago. Large-scale production of ready-to-wear garments is already taking shape, and although there are few clothing stores and drab styles hanging from wooden shelves, they are popular with the citizens of roaring cities. Because of the comparison of fabrics and costs, it is much cheaper to buy the entire outfit directly.

The restaurant is doing a good job, with fumes coming out of the open windows, releasing a strong aroma of stir-fried food. As long as they are willing to spend money, anyone can buy oil from the special government office. At Tianhao's behest, the task force and civil affairs officials have set up a number of study classes, mainly for women and the elderly in their jurisdictions, especially those who are unable to participate in heavy physical labor. Cooking, making tofu and drinks, sewing leather hot water bottles, making shoes and gloves...... Many new industries are emerging on the northern continent, and people who were once considered useless are participating in the labor force and creating more social value.

Originally, all the recipes came from Tianhao. In fact, his ability to cook by himself is not very good. Shredded pork, mapo tofu, crispy pork ribs, stir-fried beans, braised chicken, stewed beef brisket with tomatoes, stewed ham with daylily...... Not only Roaring City, but all dragon towns and villages have opened similar skill training courses, but the proportion of cooking is larger, and as a result, many new dishes have been improved on the basis of existing recipes, and the taste and methods have changed.

The advent of tofu has changed the lives of giants to a great extent. Regardless of the tribe, most of the beans were cultivated to meet the needs of horses. As the number of oil mills and tofu mills increased in various places, so did the barbarians' understanding of soybeans. In their opinion, tofu is the real delicacy, especially according to the practice taught by Her Royal Highness the Queen, and things like vegetarian chicken can be eaten with meat, which is really delicious.

The proportion of soybean oil and vegetable oil is increasing, and it has surpassed the meat oil consumed by barbarians since ancient times. More importantly is soybean meal, as soybean and rape acreage increases, the scale of tusk-toothed pig breeding is also expanding. According to the data at the beginning of this year, the number of qualified pigs in the dragon territory, excluding the lion and tiger clans, increased by 80% last year compared with the previous year, and this year it is possible to triple this number.

From the clothing of civilians, the comprehensive strength of a country or ethnic group can be seen.

The number of inhabitants of Roaring City was about six hundred thousand, a figure that Duke Abbas learned from the reception officials. Before the war, there were not so many people in the city, and after the war, many refugees poured into the city, arranged according to the orders of His Royal Highness the Regent. Most of their clothes are coarse, but they have complex colors and patterns. There is a beautiful blue flower cloth called "tie-dye", and there is a grid pattern spun simply in black and red.

The Giant's clothing styles are so novel. Their understanding and feeling of the hot climate is all reflected in the way they dress. Many men wore shorts and sleeveless tops, revealing strong physiques and explosive muscles. Women wore short skirts, or shorter trousers than men. It is said that this is called "hot pants" and was invented by His Royal Highness the Regent.

All the members of the legation, including the Duke of Abbas, could not understand the lingerie worn by the giant women. It was a strange combination of two pieces of fabric and a few thin straps. The Duke felt something was wrong when he saw it for the first time, so he asked his entourage to buy a few and put them on when he returned to his residence to feel them. The size of the giant's female swelling chest far exceeded that of the duke, and with his extraordinary imagination, the duke soon discovered that the special use of this underwear could be transformed into metal armor according to this style, and the addition of a protective layer in the middle should be very useful on the battlefield.

The belly pocket and something called the Ding Harmony trouser stunned the Duke, and he remained silent, no longer thinking about the concept of combat and protection. There is a commonality in the human mind, and Abbas began to understand the true meaning of these garments, and then thought more about it.

Dried fruits, ham, wine, sweets, pastries...... Surprisingly new stuff is plentiful, especially pastries. It has always been customary in the kingdom of the Lord to eat honey cakes during festivals. But that kind of dessert seemed vulgar to the Duke of Abbas now, especially when compared to the fine pastries made by the giants of the north.

Southern honey cakes are purely literal "honey cakes". The recipe is nothing more than adding honey to the dough, making it into a cake shape, and sending it to the oven to dry. This honey cake is dry and hard, can be stored for a long time, and the only advantage is that it is very sweet, and it is a rare delicacy for ordinary people.

The first time he tasted the honey cake, Duke Abbas burst into tears. The fluffy texture melts almost on the tongue, mixed with a rich egg aroma, and the slightly sticky cake crust explains what "happiness" is.

The sesame glutinous rice sticks chewed so elastically that the Duke couldn't imagine how the black bean paste and sesame paste could be stuffed into the middle of the white glutinous rice sticks to produce such a wonderful taste. It's not too sweet, but the more you eat it, the more you want to eat it, and you can't stop it.