North Town. In the northernmost part of the Central Plains, it belongs to the Burning Sun Empire.

There is only one north-south dirt road in the town, and if you go south, you will be the road to the Empire, and if you go north, you will naturally enter the North Sea Grassland.

But it is only a hundred and ten miles to the east, and it is the Jade Broken City in the Hundred Cities Alliance.

In addition to the three major empires on the Xuanlu, there is also a Hundred Cities Alliance.

As the name suggests, the Hundred Cities Alliance is really a mutual aid alliance formed by more than 100 free city-states.

These three empires are the Sun Empire, the Chu Empire, and the Night Empire.

However, this alliance of hundred cities does not belong to any empire, but no empire dares to annex these seemingly loose and independent city-state alliances.

Most of the city lords of these hundreds of city-states are Sacred Domain powerhouses or quasi-Sacred Domain masters. Even in individual powerhouses, there are several Sacred Domain powerhouses.

The Sanctuary is already the pinnacle of the powerhouses in the world today!

These peerless powerhouses unify their cities, and if a strong enemy invades the territory, each city will be each other's horns, and the whole body will be moved. All the cities gathered together to fight against the invading enemy.

Just imagine what emperor is willing to face, the wrath of hundreds of Sacred Domain powerhouses.

The three empires are often at war with each other, but they respect the Hundred Cities Alliance.

This northern town is even closer to the Jade Shatter City on the east side, even closer to the nearest county town in the Burning Sun Country. In order to show goodwill, the Lieyang Kingdom simply entrusted this northern town to the Jade Shatter City to take care of it.

Among the martial arts masters or Yuan magicians in various countries, I have heard a sentence.

One mountain and one pavilion are hidden in the secluded mansion, and three cities, one knife and four families.

These three cities, one sword, and four families are the eight strongest city-states in the Hundred Cities Alliance.

This jade shattered city is exactly one of these three cities.

On the Beihai grassland in the north, there are four major sweat tents, each of which is unified in the grassland. The grassland people have lived by grazing since ancient times, and the climate on the grassland is harsh. During the winter snowstorm, a large number of livestock freeze to death. Livestock are dying in large numbers, and the herders will not be able to make a living. So whenever winter comes, most of the steppe tribes will wander south.

And the Sun Empire is in the south of the grassland, and when the grassland people first see the prosperity and wealth of the interior, they can't help but be red-eyed.

Some tribes started to plunder, and when some tribes succeeded in plundering for the first time, they tasted the sweetness. More steppe tribes, large and small, joined the army of robbers. What's more, even the Great Horde Khan commanded his direct tribes to plunder.

The Lieyang Empire was clear and clear, and the treasury was full. The Emperor of the Imperial Dynasty at that time, Emperor Weisheng, was a generation of heroes with great ambitions. He has always worked hard and diligently, and has always aimed to unify the entire continent.

Who knew that the grassland people behind him were making a fuss.

Emperor Weisheng was furious, sent hundreds of thousands of elite armor soldiers to crusade against the steppe people, and sent domestic Yuan magicians to accompany the army.

The Imperial soldiers are strong and sharp, and they have the powerful magic of the warlocks. The Emperor also implored Xia Houlie, the city lord of Jade Shattered City, to send a master to help.

Xia Houlie entered the realm of the Holy Domain more than ten years ago, and he was the deputy leader of the Hundred Cities Alliance, and there were three masters under him who had entered the Holy Domain. So he sent a Sacred Domain powerhouse, and brought more than a dozen eighth- and nineth-level masters to participate in the battle.

Which of those masters who came out of the Jade Shatter City was not a brave and incomparable high-level martial artist? How could the Savage Grassland tribe be an opponent? It is said that even the great sacrifice of the sweat tent died at the hands of the strong men of the Jade Shatter City.

After dozens of battles, they fought all the way to the depths of the steppe, exterminating many large and small tribes. That expedition killed hundreds of thousands of steppe people. This grassland is full of corpses and rivers of blood.

According to the surviving grassland herders, the grass in the prairie grew exceptionally thick and lush the following year.

The tents of the khans of the steppe retreated into the depths of the steppe, and the khans of the tents sent several messengers to beg for surrender. May every year pay tribute and be a vassal, and the empire will withdraw the conquest army. Since then, the vitality of the grassland people has been greatly damaged, and they easily dare not offend the frontier.

Since that time, although this northern town is the territory of the Burning Sun Kingdom, there is no imperial garrison in the town, so it was given to Jade Shatter City in disguise.

Seeing that the empire was like this, Jade Shattered City did not send anyone to garrison it. It's just that at the end of the year, go to the tax collector to collect some rare things from the prairie, and forget it.

On the surface, this North Town is a borderless land, but everyone knows that if any force wants to occupy North Town, the Sun Empire and Broken Jade City behind them will not give up.

Although there are not many residents in the town, there are many hotels and inns on both sides of the dirt road.

There are more than a dozen shops in a small town, and even this scarce blacksmith shop on the mainland has two in the town.

In addition to the restaurant inn and the weapons and equipment store, there is actually a brothel in the green building.

The owner of the brothel is the biggest official in the town, the tax collector He Jiu.

Most of the people who come and go in this town are caravans who go to the grasslands to sell goods. The position of a tax collector is a big fat shortage.

The production technology in the inland of the Central Plains is advanced, and the metal utensils produced are luxurious and exquisite, and porcelain and other items are even more beautiful.

The grassland people love the fine porcelain produced in the interior, and often use all kinds of furs to barter for various daily necessities.

All kinds of furs of the grassland people, after being transported inland for processing, are the favorite clothes and accessories of the wealthy officials and eunuchs. It is very expensive in the inland and is extremely popular.

This back and forth, the oil and water profits in the middle are staggering.

Although the grassland is rough and ruthless, it is brave and ruthless. However, driven by the desire for profit, it has also attracted many large and small merchants to take risks and trade goods with the grassland people.

At first, there were also several cases of grassland people killing people and stealing goods, seeking money and killing people. But through the pressure of the empire, the grassland sweat tent killed a group of grassland people who participated in the plunder.

In the end, the khans of the grassland reached a consensus that they should no longer rob the merchants. Those who violated it were cut down together, and the trade was allowed to continue.

Although the steppe people are rough by nature, they are straightforward. Mainland merchants were cunning and treacherous, often exchanging inferior goods produced on the mainland for high-quality furs. The trading profits have increased exponentially, so there are more and more merchants from various countries on the mainland.

When there were more merchants, there were a few more horse thieves in this place. At the beginning, these horse thieves or robbers, or robbed the grassland herdsmen, and they lived well.

I don't know which unsightly horse thief robbed several grassland herdsmen's settlements in a row. These horse thieves are all evildoers and filthy people. This plunder is a rape and plunder, and all evil deeds have been done.

not only plundered, but also killed many steppe people, which angered the big tent khan of the steppe.

Is this Sun Empire? He would never dare to provoke it. But a few horse thieves still don't pay attention to it. So he sent cavalry on the steppe and suppressed several horse thieves in a row.

Where these horse thieves are the opponents of the regular steppe cavalry, they are dead and fleeing. The remaining horse thieves were frightened by the killing of the steppe people, and did not dare to rob the grassland herdsmen, but only to rob the caravans from the inland Central Plains.

The so-called wealth and wealth are sought in danger! All commercial banks will never cut off their financial routes. But horse thieves were rampant, so before entering the grassland, he hired some sorcerers and low-level warriors to protect the safety of his caravan.

Although most of these guards are low-level characters, they are still capable of dealing with horse thieves. And among these guards, it is inevitable that there are some masters who are difficult to accommodate in the Central Plains for various reasons.

Every spring and autumn, there are always a large number of merchants and goods companies come to Beizhen. One is to rest and add some supplies and equipment before entering the grassland. The second is also to recruit some more guard warriors in the town, so a large number of low-level warriors or Yuan magicians flocked to it.

This prompted Beizhen to produce a kind of abnormal prosperity.

The town is almost full of shops and hotels of all kinds. The streets were filled with swordsmen with swords and staffs, but there was not a single cultivator.

It was April, and it was late spring in the interior.

The north is cold, the solar term is a little late, and the weather on this day is just like early spring. Although the winter snow has already melted cleanly, there is still a hint of chill in this spring breeze, and it is surprisingly cold in the morning and evening.

If you stand on a high place and look out at the Beihai grassland, you can vaguely see some grass sprouts that have just emerged yellow.

There is a small square in the north town.

This small square is in the middle of the dirt road in the middle of the town, and this small square is the only way to enter the north town.

At this time, it was almost noon, and dozens of people were scattered in the small square. Some of these people were holding all kinds of blades, some were wearing navy blue low-level sorcerers' robes, and they were holding a Yuan magic staff in their hands, standing or sitting, and they were gathering in groups of three or five. These people are all samurai and meta-magicians who are waiting for someone to hire.

In the distance, a convoy slowly approached the town, carrying more than twenty mule carts, loaded with neatly stacked goods.

The car was covered with a rainproof curtain, and the convoy was stretched long. A few anxious samurai stood up and looked over at the caravan.

A tall and thin man put a canopy on his forehead and looked carefully in the direction of the caravan. After looking at it for a while, the tall and thin man exclaimed, "It looks like it should be a convoy of a trading house! The convoy is quite long, and there are a lot of goods on that car? This should be a big trading house!"

Another Yuan magician wearing a magic robe recited a spell and released a levitation technique. The body fluttered and flew up to the height of the roof, and another eagle eye was cast. After watching it for a long time, he shouted in the air: "That's right, it's the signboard of Luo's firm! The leader of the team seems to be the shopkeeper of the Luo family, Luo Sanye!" Hearing what he said, many people stood up.

To the north of the small square was a half-fan millstone with a young man in a moon-white robe lying on the mill. There was a slight stain on the cheongsam, which showed that it had not been cleaned for many days. He wore a broken straw hat on his face and was napping in the spring sun.

On the edge of the mill sat a seventeen or eighteen-year-old boy, his eyebrows were like thick ink, and his lips were slightly pursed.

There was a thin and narrow sheathed knife in front of the young man, and the young man was staring at the knife in front of him, not knowing what he was thinking.

When he heard the words of that group of people, he raised his head and glanced at the place where the caravan came, and said to the young man who was napping: "Third uncle, it's really the Luo family's caravan is here!"

Although the young man is not very handsome, he is also a little handsome, especially a pair of eyes, black and white, very bright, clear as a clear spring.

The young man who was napping turned over, clicked his mouth a few times, and said, "The Luo family's caravan is early every year, but the employment fee is too low, so let's ignore him for now." ＂

"Third uncle, our food money was gone the day before yesterday. I've had Xu Er's buns on credit several times...... The young man paused, and then said, "He said that if you don't pay back the money, you won't give us credit." Moreover, I have to go to the tax collector to sue you for not paying the debt. ＂