With the heavy iron gates slowly rising under the power of the winch, the majestic Ansu Royal City opened its doors to the guardians of this kingdom, and under the lead-gray cloud, a team of more than a dozen carriages and a large number of knights and guards entered the city.

The wheels of the carriage crushed the centuries-old stone pavement, the slightly loose stone slabs trembled slightly, and the small stones creaked between the wheels and the stone slabs, but the creaking sound did not last long, and was muffled by the sudden flutes and drums played by the musicians in the procession.

Victoria opened the cover on one side of the carriage slightly, and through the narrow gap, she saw that there was an empty street outside—a heavy snowfall had just visited Saint-Sunil not long ago, and the snow covered the entire city, and even the inhabitants of the royal capital would not come out and walk around on this cold day, not to mention that it was still a civilian alley close to the outer city: all the Duchess could see was the white streets and snow-covered roofs, and the snow had been shoveled away in some areas, But in many more places, the snow still looks like it has just stopped.

In the corner of the eye was a collapsed house, seemingly crushed by snow, and naturally there were no more occupants in the ruins, and it was unknown where the people who once lived here had moved - or died.

The sound of flutes and drums still blowing, echoing alone through the empty streets, as if a group of clowns were telling jokes on a stage without any audience, comical and grotesque, but the musicians did not care: they did not play the music to lure the inhabitants of the neighborhood to come out and welcome the noble chariots, but to allow the soldiers at the back of the line to quickly form themselves after entering the city, and also to remind passers-by (if any) in front of them to give way quickly.

So it's not a big deal if there's no response.

The lid of the carriage was closed.

The convoy passed through the slums of the southern city, through the middle city where the citizens lived, and continued towards the Silver Fort, and after crossing the Iron Cross Street, the monotonous and boring drumbeat from outside finally stopped, and more and more voices came from all directions.

The convoy entered the inner city, where the upper burghers and minor nobles lived—and after crossing the street, it finally showed a hint of its prosperity as the capital of the kingdom.

The wide streets had been cleared of snow, and the wealthy citizens and small aristocrats, dressed in colorful and heavy winter coats, had already heard the sound from Midtown, and ran out of their homes to welcome the convoy into the city. The cold north wind and the snowflakes that blew it could not quench the enthusiasm of these men, and they craned their necks on the side of the road, watching the car with the coat of arms of the Wild, the royal family, and the church of the Holy Light driving down the road, and then cheered and admired, and the winter flowers and ribbons of colored silk catalyzed by magic were thrown into the air like a rain of colorful flowers, and those who threw flowers and silk were all waiting for the carriage in front of the procession to open its window, The people in the car can show up to say hello to them - in the old days, the duchesses and princesses of the north lived in castles and cathedrals, and ordinary and wealthy citizens and petty nobles did not have the opportunity to see their faces with their own eyes, but now that the convoy passed through the rich area, it was a rare opportunity.

However, the situation was clearly different today, and in the anticipation of the crowd, not a single carriage opened the cover, and the whole procession simply continued to maintain its speed, passing through the crowd without stopping, through the entire block outside the Silver Castle, and into the castle in the distance......

Duchess Victoria, dressed in a white dress, led her maids and attendants all the way through the atrium of the Silver Fort and the corridor of the main castle, and came to the study on the upper floor of the castle. Franklin was sitting on a chaise longue by the fireplace, dressed in a warm and comfortable silk robe, and was looking intently at a large tome of books, when he saw the Duchess suddenly appear, the Grand Duke of the West was slightly startled, and then quickly got up to greet him: "Ah, Duchess of Wilde - I beg your pardon for not going to the Great Hall to meet you, this book is too attractive to me. ”

Victoria's eyes swept over the cover of the book in Duke Bedwin's hand and saw a large string of gilded words on it: "The History of the Evolution of Currency and the Evolution of Trade Routes in the North of the Continent."

The Franklin family is known as the "money bag of Ansu", because of the multi-racial mixed and well-developed Oguray tribal state, successive Dukes of the West have been good at business. Franklin is one of the best, and his favorite books are naturally in this field.

But at this moment, Victoria couldn't help but sigh after reading the book: "Maybe this trip to the South should be more for you." ”

"Oh?" Bodewen? Franklin couldn't help but raise his eyebrows: "It looks like this trip didn't go well?" Our founding hero has made things difficult for you? ”

"No, all the best, Gawain? Archduke Cecil is kind and friendly, and we have a big business - that's why I said I should let you go. ”

The Duchess's tone seemed to be flat as usual, but Bai Dewen, who had known him for a long time, saw a subtle trace of irritability in the eyes of the "Ice Queen", he put the book in his hand aside, and his expression became serious: "What did you see in the south?" ”

“…… A better place than St. Sunil," Victoria pondered her words, taking a long time to say them, then she shook her head, "I'll tell you more about the Southlands later." Now let's talk about the results of this trip. ”

Bodewen? Franklin listened attentively to Victoria's story, his brow furrowed and sometimes stretched, his fingers unconsciously rubbing a ruby ring on his left hand, although the duchess only briefly described the results of the negotiations on the trip to the south, but from the words and phrases of the other party, he could still understand how much the "Queen of the North" in front of him had been touched in that mysterious southern land.

This surprised and surprised him to the fact that there would be something in the world that could shake this frozen lady like this.

"That being said, the Duke of Cecil at least acquiesced in the coronation of His Royal Highness Wales, and would not openly support the Eastern...... And he said he would not use the emergency inheritance of seven hundred years ago," and when Victoria's account was over, the Duke of Bardwin said unhurriedly, "It's better than we expected." ”

"That's true," Victoria nodded, "and on top of that, he's agreed to provide paid arms aid to the Kingdom Army—I'm afraid I'd never have believed that the Extraordinary Armament could really be mass-produced if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes." ”

Bodwin was intrigued: "What kind of equipment is that?" Do you have 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 in the doorway, "Bring things in." ”

A heavy chest was moved into the room, and samples of the Magic Armor, Molten Sword, Crystallized Grenade, and Scorching Ray Emitter were presented to Duke Bardwin.

“…… A beautiful weapon indeed. "Bodwen? Franklin looked at the machine-made weapons with a hint of admiration, and picked up a molten sword to examine it carefully, he followed Victoria's instructions to activate the sword's magic mechanism, and with a low hum, the blade with a thin layer of purple steel plating was immediately covered with a scorching magical field.

"Oh, incredible...... Duke Bardwin's eyes widened slightly, but he quickly frowned, "its internal magic is flawed. ”

Victoria nodded, "Indeed, as I said, its magic mechanism is fragile - according to Duke Cecil, it's for cost savings. ”

Duke Wilde turned off the magic mechanism, and as the blade gradually cooled, his mind also cooled from the curiosity of seeing new things, and after a short thought, he looked at the Duchess: "You just said that you need a gold coin for every magic mechanism replaced?" ”

"That's right."

“…… In addition to this weapon called the Melting Sword, the mana cores of other equipment basically need to be replaced frequently? ”

"That's true," Victoria nodded, and said before Badwin could speak, "I don't need to be reminded - I know it's going to cost a lot of money, and while the mana core alone is cheap, it will be expensive. ”

He glanced at Victoria quietly, then shook his head slowly: "No, Duchess Wild, you don't know - you underestimated the extent of this 'cost', in fact, the cost of replacing the magic core is the real price of this deal, compared to it, the price of these swords and armor is not worth it at all. ”

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

"Don't question my business acumen," said Barvin? Franklin said, sighing deeply, "but don't be discouraged by what I'm saying—we're faced with a conspiracy, and we have no choice, and Duke Cecil calculated that he made these conditions—and even though I'm present, I'm compelled to accept it." And even at such a high price, these weapons and equipment ...... Still good value for money. ”

"Is it worth the money...... Victoria's expression calmed down again as she looked at Duke Bedwin's helpless expression, "Anyway, let's gather the mages and scholars first, and start trying to imitate these weapons, dismantling their magical mechanisms, and figuring out how these things work." ”

"Of course, we have to figure out these things," said Bardwin in a deep voice, with emotion in his tone, "really...... Taught a lesson, it turns out that the business can still do this? ”

"I'm afraid we have more lessons to take this time," Victoria glanced at the Duke of the West, who was in a state of emotion, and her tone was quite complicated, "After seeing the way the Cecil people lived, I realized one thing: in these seven hundred years of peaceful life, Ansu may not have made any progress at all—compared to our ancestors, we are too far behind." ”

"Oh?" Bai Dewen's tone rose, revealing a curious look, "Tell me more about it......"

Victoria groaned for a moment and organized the language: "Then we have to start with their government office......"

……

"Cecil's business is very advanced, and what we see at the Cod Trading Company is only a fraction of their business acumen," said Belk? Standing in the long hall of Solinburg, Loren spoke to his father and Prince Edmund about what he had investigated in the south, "I managed to get in touch with a large number of merchants there, and I also came into contact with their 'government offices' as merchants, and I came into contact with a large number of their approvals and management processes, and I found that they had very strict commercial surveillance—a shocking degree of strictness, which was very different from the impression we had when we first heard about the various new commercial opening policies of the Duchy of Cecil. ”

Silas? Loren listened to his son's return, and at the same time his eyes occasionally fell on Prince Edmund, who sat at the top—the young prince had long since faded from all his immaturity, he was dressed in light armor of black steel, a wolfskin cloak draped over his shoulders, and his face was less green and more weathered, and he sat upright on the lord of the castle, listening to Belk's report with a look of concentration and thought.

Below the steps of the seat, Belk? "Their business is indeed open, but it's an open one under precise control, which explains why their chambers of commerce and their new 'companies' are able to operate so efficiently and with few mistakes......

"Cecil's 'factory' gave rise to an astonishingly high material output and a large quantity of goods to be sold as commodities, which gave rise to many merchants who specialized in the wholesale and transportation of large quantities of goods, who shipped them in large quantities to distant lands......

"The Duke of Cecil built a large number of roads, which connected all the major cities and raw material sources, and coordinated with the canals. They have a new magic device called the Magic Car, which is a mechanical vehicle that operates autonomously......

"In order to manage such a large and complex system, their government department is divided into multiple departments, each department has clear responsibilities and corresponding regulatory measures, everyone is being supervised, everyone is responsible for supervising others, and everyone has clear work and evaluation standards - although it cannot be ruled out that there are still loopholes, their government department has reached an unbelievable level of efficiency and management ability, I have copied a list of their departments and all the rules and regulations that can be seen......"

"It seems that the five-year right to mine in the White Sand Hills has not been wasted," Prince Edmund suddenly said from the main seat, "and we have finally seen something useful." ”

"Your Highness," Silas? Loren stood up and said, "It seems that your previous ideas for the New Deal are not wrong—the Duke of Cecil has only taken a step forward in this direction, and the experience he has brought out is of great significance to us. ”

"That's right," Prince Edmund nodded, his expression unusually serious, "these experiences will make us stronger, and we must also become strong as soon as possible, our time is ...... Not much. ”

yes, time is running out.

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

The Typhon Empire on the Lookout...... Time is running out for the Ansu people.

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