Chapter 333: Mara City (1)

2,000 meters away from the pre-set bridge, a new "West Malaysia Market" was built. 【】

Its location was the result of compromise, not as far as Liao Yi and others requested, nor as close as Yu Weichao and others requested. Of course, the items sold and the prices are absolutely commendable.

The "West Malaysia Market" is a common wholesale market model, with a two-storey building and a one-storey prefabricated house forming a shop. Each shop has an area of more than 300 square meters, with the lower floor being operated, the second floor being used as a store or a place to work or rest, and the prefabricated house being the nearest warehouse. In this way, the two side-by-side streets form the first phase of the market, which houses a total of 20 merchants.

Although the number is small, the variety of items sold in 20 shops is more than hundreds of merchants in Malay City. Chen Yi once sent sportswear, liberation shoes, rubber shoes and metal pots to the Western Continent, and sharp knives are just ordinary goods in the "West Malaysia Market", and more professional and refined civilian products have become the mainstream in the market. Leather gloves are comfortable for riders, textile gloves are suitable for infantry blunt instruments, and thick cotton gloves are good for extremely hot pots...... Comfortable silk or cotton underwear, waterproof shoes, plastic sports and knitted shoes continue to be popular with villagers in the city-state of Mara...... Cheap mosquito nets and laundry detergent are the focus of the rush of traders, and it is unknown where they are delivered...... The soft metal wrench was well received by archers, but most of the people who could afford it were the sons of the city's nobles......

As a remote city-state, Mara City is not a commercial city, and for thousands of years, the same handmade products can be said to be mature and durable, which greatly reduces the residents' desire to buy new goods...... so different from the "West Malaysia Market", where merchants sell new gadgets that not only reduce the burden of labor, but most importantly increase family income.

Although the Senate of Malla City issued a decree forbidding the city's residents to visit the West Malaysia Market, and the temple rituals were hyped up in the city, the merchants who believed in money did not care about the Senate.

In fact, when Huang Wei, who had worked as a street vendor among the trainees, became the direct person in charge of the "West Malaysia Market", his first policy was to turn the "West Malaysia Market" into a wholesale and retail market in Mara City - a wish he had when he was a hawker in Jiangbei, and now it has not only been realized, but also quite in line with the current situation.

Wholesale and retail formed a huge price difference, the merchants had to earn a profit of about 50 costs, and the merchants had to earn a profit of about 30 costs, and finally when they arrived in the store, the price increased by 100 ...... Regardless of what people in other city-states think about this, for consumers in Mara City, they can get a lot of good things for half the price by going 3 kilometers and ferrying to the West Malaysia market. If you bring a few more pieces to sell in the market, it is equivalent to picking up for nothing......

In just two weeks, the vitality of the West Malaysia market was sparked.

Ever since Chen Yi appeared near Yuncun, merchants from all over the country have sold Jiangning goods to Mara City and even more distant city-states. It is only because Chen Yi himself is too lazy to buy different types of goods that it seems that "Jiangning goods" are mainly clothes, shoes and hats and metal. Even so, they have also been unanimously praised by the whole city of Mara, just like when Western goods entered China, and have a reputation for being exquisite and easy to use. Of course, as a subsidiary value of reputation, its price is too high for ordinary people to afford......

Nowadays, everything is different.

At the behest of Chen Yi, Yu Weichao allowed soldiers and clerks below the three poles in the Xijiang Walled City to go to Mara City for consumption, ostensibly for the purpose of weakening the hostility of Mara City and enhancing exchanges and cooperation. But in reality, only by increasing the income of Mara City residents can the purchasing power of the other party be increased. At the same time, it also increases the satisfaction of the soldiers - the money that can be used to spend is the real money, and it will make their high salaries real.

Seeing that the residents of Mara City earn less money every month than they earn in a few days, the Xijiang Walled City naturally gained the attachment of the natives.

From a security point of view, in fact, soldiers used to occasionally go to Mara City, but at that time there were no roads, transportation was difficult and the income was low. Now the permission has actually become a restriction, and the three-pole soldiers, that is, the level of squad leaders, or non-commissioned officers, do not know much information, and ordinary soldiers are almost nothing.

In fact, Xijiang Water Village can do far more in Mara City than Mara City can do in Water Village.

On the fifth day after allowing the soldiers to go to Mara City, Da Yang boarded the ferry with several Kimura people, who were now in his old profession, the spy chiefs of the Western Continent. Of course, apart from himself, there are no full-time intelligence analysts in the entire intelligence service - the other intelligence personnel who provide intelligence can only be called informants, not spies.

Dayang is already satisfied with the current situation. For him, it doesn't matter whether he is in China, the United States, Japan, Taiwan, Afghanistan...... Of course, not being on Earth is a bit of a deviation from his expectations, but so what.

The small fishing boat with a capacity of only 30 people made a thin paddling sound, and Da Yang secretly kept this point in his mind: replacing the larger and faster ferry boat would attract more passengers.

The villagers of Mucun were elated, they were all second-level workers in Shuizhai, mainly doing some carpentry work in the city, and belonged to the village attached to Xijiang Shuizhai, and Dayang's cover identity was a boiler worker in Xiashi Village, and he was in a dormitory with them.

Turning a corner, Mara City comes into view.

Da Yang exclaimed in disappointment or admiration, and jumped off the boat.

The legendary Mara City, more than 20 meters high, is hard huā granite, wide enough to run horses, I don't know how much effort it took back then. In order to save materials and safety considerations, the main part of the city is sandwiched between two steep modified mountain beams, and the forward protrusion becomes a defensive body similar to a horse's face, and the mountains hundreds of meters high on both sides, as long as a few hundred people are sent to guard, there is no risk of falling, and the maximum saving of troops. In terms of appearance, the city of Mara is more than twice as tall as the existing ancient city wall of Xi'an, and thousands of years of repair and accumulation are not trivial. The elephant beast cavalry and dragon head cavalry, which seemed difficult to deal with by the main battle faction of Xijiang Water Village, did not seem to be a cause for concern under such a city wall.

Although from the perspective of a modern city, such a city with a circumference of no more than 20 kilometers is too small, and it can be said that it is a sacrifice for safety.

In contrast, the walls of Xijiang Water Village are as petite as children's toys.

Da Yang secretly thought: The defense of the city wall with a stone structure is better than the steel hún concrete structure, and the students of the martial arts hall are all kung fu guys, and they actually want to build a steel hún mud city wall, 20 kilometers long and 20 meters high, even if it is only 7 meters wide, it will require 2.8 million cubic meters of steel hún concrete, according to the most common standard, 2.5 tons per cubic meter, and 7 million tons of material supply.

Dayang is considered a middle and high-level person in Shuizhai, and knows that the current supply is mainly completed by Chen Yi, about two to three times a month, with a total of about 400,000 tons. Among them, there are arms, daily necessities, spiritual food to maintain morale, as well as commodities for sale, newly replenished vehicles and fuel, various machinery and even simple factory equipment, although building materials are one of the bulk commodities, and mainly steel bars, but it is difficult to exceed 200,000 tons and 7 million tons per month...... Hum...... It is better to send 200,000 tons of explosives to ruin the city of Mara.

"The city gate is inspected, and the poll tax is paid"

The high-pitched shouting voice of the Western Continent interrupted Da Yang's train of thought, and he hurriedly took out a thin coin and prepared to hand it over.

Mara City used to not collect gate tax, but later the Xijiang Walled City used the certificate of good citizenship as a voucher to collect the poll tax when the villagers entered and exited the city gate, but it was quickly learned by the nobles of Mara City.

A villager from Mucun stopped Da Yang, who wanted to pay money, only to see another person in front of him, skillfully threw two thin coins, and sent another thin money to the soldiers in front of the door, Da Yang and the remaining two people were exempted from the fee and went directly into the city.

**

Da Yang wrote down two words in his head again. A ** regime is easy to crush, but it also shows that it is a rich regime.

Perhaps the frequent wars on the western continent made the city of Mara more like a military fortress, with few pure civilians in the city, and cavalry or infantry with weapons could be seen walking by from time to time. Thinking that several heavy cavalry units and heavy infantry units were stationed outside the city, Dayang's idea of occupying Mara City by force weakened a little.

Still, he tried to observe the defenses as far as his eye could see—the possibility of armed occupation had never disappeared, and if it weren't for Chen Yi's constant consideration of the temple's reaction, it would have been an army that had entered the city now. The main goal of Dayang was to investigate the possibility of occupation.

As he walked, he looked at the same as the villagers who had entered the city for the first time.

From time to time, there is a "chirping" sound under your feet, which is stepping on sewage or feces. Residents of Mara City, which has no underground sewerage system, are accustomed to this, and even children play barefoot in the streets.

The dignitaries and dignitaries mainly rode on horseback. Dayang had to adapt as the Kimura people gradually got used to it, and put up with their boring jokes about excrement.

"Wooden houses, wooden barracks, leather instruments...... If you have 20 cannons or rockets, you can burn Mara City to a magma city...... It's so simple. ”

However, the senate nobility will certainly not give in to this.

The only thing that can bring them to their knees is the collapsed walls.

Da Yang thought as he listened to the sound of "chirp" under his feet, and forcibly refused to see what was happening.

"Let's go eat." A Kimura native suddenly said in simple language.

"Okay, go to the biggest one." The other two Kimura people cheered. They have all been to Mara City more than once. Although they used to be reluctant to eat even a thin penny of soup cakes, now, the treatment of one copper coin a week is enough for them to try it at the best restaurant in the city.

Da Yang followed indifferently, and as soon as he sat down by the window in the hall, he saw a familiar face

Chen ...... Boss. ”

"It's called Lord Chen." Yun Thirteen, who was following him, corrected him.