After leaving the Duke's Palace, the Duke of Windsor took only the butler with him, changed into a very ordinary cotton clothes, and got into a shabby-looking carriage from the back door of the Duke's Palace, and slowly drove towards the city of Canberra.

The sights you see along the way are not much different from usual, but if you look closely, you will see that the streets are a little more deserted than usual.

In the past, there were many fewer voices shouting and selling on the street, and the crowd willing to stop and watch on the street was naturally much less.

If you look at both sides of the street, the originally dense shops have also closed a lot at this time, and even a few of them seem to be in a hurry, and even the gate is not closed, you can see that it is empty, only a few homeless people are lying in it, using this place as their temporary residence.

Seeing this situation, the Duke of Windsor couldn't help frowning slightly.

"Rickon, why do you say that? Even if other places have added business opportunities because of that damn new flying chamber of commerce, it doesn't mean that our southern province has no money to make at all, why would these merchants just close their shops here and leave here?"

The middle-aged man who looks like a butler is the Ricken in the mouth of the Duke of Windsor, different from the respectfulness and even trembling when facing the Duke of Windsor, this theory is calm in front of the Duke of Windsor, although it is still respectful, but there is no look of awe.

Hearing the Duke of Windsor's question, Ricken was silent for a moment, then raised the leather whip in his hand and turned the carriage in a different direction.

The Duke of Windsor, who had grown up with Rickon, knew that he had always been of such a temperament, and did not care if he asked questions without answering.

But I saw Ricken turn around. The Duke of Windsor knew he had the answer in his heart. So there was silence. While observing the situation on both sides of the street, he drove slowly out of the city in a horse-drawn carriage.

The carriage took the Duke of Windsor and Ricken out of the west gate of Canberra, and after two or three kilometers to the west, they saw a large village with about a hundred families appearing in front of them.

At this time, it was late spring, and the southern provinces were close to the south of the mainland, and the wheat fields on both sides of the road were already scattered with golden meaning.

Originally, this was supposed to be the most important time before the harvest, and the farmers should go down to the field every day to take care of the ripening wheat fields, but the Duke of Windsor swept it away. But I just saw a few scattered farmers in the wheat field, and I didn't mean to be busy at all.

The Duke of Windsor couldn't help but frown again.

"These lazy farmers are still lazy at such a critical time! Don't they know that the spring harvest is coming soon?"

Ricken glanced at the Duke of Windsor and shook his head: "Master, it's not that they're lazy, it's that they don't have anyone in the first place." ”

The Duke of Windsor was stunned: "What do you mean?"

Ricken pointed to the field in the distance: "You see, the fields are full of old people, and there are no young people in sight. ”

The Duke of Windsor took a closer look at the surrounding fields and found that this was indeed the case. I couldn't help but be even more surprised.

"Why is that? What about the young people in the village? Are they all lazy? Or is something going on? Ricken, what do you know?"

Ricken shook his head in reply. Instead, he drove the carriage to the edge of a farmland and jumped off.

An old farmer who looked to be at least sixty years old was bending down to inspect the field, and when he heard the sound, he looked up and saw Ricken jumping out of the carriage and walking over.

"This old brother, why are you the only one here, and what about your family, what about your son and daughter-in-law? Why didn't they come?"

The old farmer glanced at Ricken, and although he saw that the other party might have a different identity from himself, his tone and demeanor were very amiable, so he let down his guard and said with a smile: "They have all gone out to work, leaving me, an old man, and my wife to take care of this little land at home." ”

"Part-time job?" said Ricken, with a surprised look on his face. "Where do you work? Don't you even plant fields?"

"They said to go to a what is it called...... What is Neil's city, say it is a new flying ......" Just after spitting out these two words, the old farmer suddenly had a trace of horror on his face, coughed hard, and swallowed back the next words.

As if he hadn't seen the old peasant's movements, Rickon blinked his eyes and continued to ask, "Are you talking about the Xinfei Chamber of Commerce? That city of Neal should be Saraniel City, right? That place is in the province of Tural, but it is a little far from here." ”

Hearing Li say the word "Xinfei Chamber of Commerce" without any scruples, which had almost become a forbidden language in the southern provinces, the old farmer's demeanor instantly relaxed, and he shook his head with a smile and said, "It's nothing to be far away, as long as you can earn money." If you go there, you can earn five gold coins a month, and even ten gold coins if you go a little more, which is not much better than farming at home. If it weren't for the fact that my wife and I were not in good health and didn't want to leave here, I was afraid that I would go to work with my two sons. ”

"Oh, you can earn ten gold coins a month? That's a lot. Ricken looked around and asked, "I see that the fields are full of old people like you, are the other people in the village like yours, and the young people have gone out to work?"

"Yes, you can earn several gold coins or even ten gold coins a month when you go out to work, and you can earn more than 100 gold coins in a year. If you stay here to farm, it would be good to fill your stomach all year round, not to mention gold coins, not even silver coins. Let you choose, how do you choose?" asked the old farmer rhetorically.

Rickon hummed and nodded, "If I change it, I'll choose it too." But is it really reliable to go so far to work......?

"Cut, what can be a surprise. The old farmer pouted. "Anyway, we are all cheap, and if we have the opportunity to earn real gold coins, of course we have to seize it. Besides, a few factories over there seem to be new flying merchants......"

Speaking of this, the old farmer still looked at it for a moment, and then lowered his voice and continued: "It seems to have something to do with the Xinfei Chamber of Commerce." You always know the Xinfei Chamber of Commerce, right? They are very rich and big chambers of commerce, so they won't lie to us people. ”

Ricken was a little strange: "You seem to know a lot about the Xinfei Chamber of Commerce, how do you know about this Chamber of Commerce?"

The old peasant's reaction was even more strange, he glanced at Ricken in surprise, and then looked left and right again, but this time he forgot to lower his voice and asked directly: "You are asking too strangely, isn't it? Why can't I know about the Xinfei Chamber of Commerce? The things of the Xinfei Chamber of Commerce are so easy to use and cheap, if I don't even know this, it would be too ignorant." ”

"Oh, where did you know that the things of the Xinfei Chamber of Commerce are easy to use and cheap?"

"Didn't the Xinfei Chamber of Commerce and other chambers of commerce come here once before, and brought a lot of good things, and before the Governor issued the ban, there were also many other merchants who brought in a lot of things, and now there are a lot of them in our village. Compared to the profiteers in Canberra, these things from the Xinfei Chamber of Commerce are particularly easy to use, no matter what. ”

Speaking of this, the old farmer suddenly seemed to remember something, hesitated for a while, and then asked: "Actually, I heard that the Xinfei Chamber of Commerce came before, and it was planned to invest in the construction of some factories in our Canberra city, right......?

"So...... You don't agree with the Doge's ban?"

"Yes, this ban doesn't do any good at all," the old farmer suddenly looked at Ricken with his eyes in ...... alert, and hurriedly waved his hand. "No, no, no, I didn't say anything, don't guess. What the Governor promulgates is his business, and it has nothing to do with us. ”

Ricken nodded, and did not continue to ask, but instead chatted with the old farmer about the upcoming spring harvest.

For the upcoming spring harvest, the old farmers are also a little worried.

In the past, every time the spring harvest was carried out, the family worked hard, but it took a month to barely harvest the dozen acres of land under their name.

Now the two sons and daughters-in-law, and even the eldest grandson, who is already half the eldest son, have left together, and he and his wife, the two old men and old ladies, I am afraid that they can only harvest two acres of grain at most.

"But it doesn't matter. Now that their sons are doing well, we two old fellows can just collect some food for ourselves, and we don't need to be so tired. ”

"What about renting grain?" Ricken asked.

"Rent grain, it's a big deal to buy some grain and pay it in. Anyway, the eldest son wrote back that the big ship from the Duchy of Stantin had brought a lot of cheap grain, and with their current salary, they could buy a few hundred catties a month, which was enough to pay the rent grain. ”

Ricken was momentarily speechless.

The old farmer sighed again and continued: "Alas, in fact, I heard from my relatives who came to our house last time that the Xinfei Chamber of Commerce doesn't have that kind of farmland magic machinery, and it is said that it is not even necessary to harvest an acre of land with that thing for half an hour. If only the Governor hadn't had this ban, and get some farmland magic machinery in, we wouldn't have to worry about what to do with the fields. ”

Ricken and the old farmer looked at the green wheat fields with a little bit of gold, and were silent for a long time, then waved goodbye to the old farmer and returned to the carriage.

The Duke of Windsor had been watching Ricken and the old farmer talk through the curtain of the carriage, and because the distance was not far, he took in all the conversations between the two.

When Ricken returned, the Duke of Windsor looked at the vast farmland in front of him for a while before lowering the curtains and falling silent.

After a long moment, the Duke of Windsor suddenly let out a faint sigh.

"Ricken, I'll give you one thing. ”

"Please grandpa. ”

"I've heard that there is a Cantona Chamber of Commerce in the Kingdom of Lampari that specialises in harvesting farmland, so you can contact them. ”

Ricken glanced at the Duke of Windsor and nodded.

The Duke of Windsor lifted the curtain and stared at the old farmer in the field for a moment, then let out a soft sigh and motioned for Ricken to start the carriage and leave. (To be continued......)

PS: (I forgot to send it yesterday...... ）