"In the past three months, the gold coin federation has purchased several kinds of materials needed for the war, and there has been a sudden and substantial increase. Rakanihue Lightning, the goblin in charge of the Void City's bulk market, frowned and handed a compiled report to the Minister of Commerce, Osman bin Raunegu.

Minister Raunegu also frowned, took the report, and studied it carefully.

After a while, he asked, "The nobles have bought a lot of fiery glue and glitter dust...... What are they going to do here? Do these things cost a lot in war?"

"As far as I know, Blazing Glue can be used for fire attacks, and Glitter Dust can temporarily blind enemies, and if used well, it can break invisibility—these are all low-grade alchemy products, just equivalent to the effects of low-level spells. "The old goblin Lakanihu was once the chief of a tribe who had been fighting with adventurers for many years, and was very familiar with these low-level alchemy items.

One cold winter more than twenty years ago, he watched his people fall into famine due to the plundering of their food reserves by powerful monsters, and finally decided to surrender to the nearby town of Dragonroar, becoming a group of alien residents. Because of their ability to master a small amount of lightning magic, he and his people called themselves the "Lightning Clan", and "Lightning" later became their surname. Among the goblins of the Northwest Republic, they are considered to be the first group to be "civilized".

Now he is an old businessman, in charge of the Void City's bulk market. It's actually quite a quiet job, because the market side is only responsible for providing the venue and security, and the business dealings are not a question at all - but there is one clause that the parties to the transaction need to pay a deposit with the transaction briefing after the negotiation is completed. If there is no objection to the business within three months, then the deposit can be withdrawn 90%, and the remaining 10% is naturally the venue rental fee and the guarantee fee. If within three months, both parties have an objection to the business, they can go to the Void City Commercial Litigation Court to negotiate or even litigate. Depending on the situation, Void City could even use legendary mages at most to ensure the reliability of business.

The old chieftain Lacanihu is also old, and he can't do too hard work, and he doesn't have the energy to do too complex calculations, but he can still rely on his old experience to study and sift through the data compiled from the trading briefings, and find valuable information from them.

This time, for example, he found something odd.

The current tension in the Gold Coin Federation can be seen by anyone as long as they are not blind. In general, in such cases, both sides will try to stock up on war materials, mainly arrows, armor, metal ingots, standard weapons, as well as food and medical supplies.

The price of these things is not low, and it is nothing if the adventurers buy it in small amounts, but if the military buys it in large quantities, it will be a considerable number. Therefore, the first thing to fight a war is the national strength, and if there is no money...... It's better not to think about the war, it's more reliable to admit defeat or run away.

At least this principle has always been followed by Chief Lakanixiu, or the former chief of the goblin tribe "Lightning", Mr. Lakanixiu.

Is this principle good or bad? It's hard to say, but at least for the Lightning Tribe, it did get a good result. In desperation, Lacanihu gambled for his life, and finally allowed his people to live the stable and prosperous life they had always dreamed of.

In addition to the need for family planning.

This is one of several basic national policies of the Northwest Republic, where those races that are particularly fertile must limit their fertility, while those who are subfertile are encouraged to have children.

The former is represented by goblins and rabbit people, and the latter is naturally represented by black and white bear people and elemental creatures.

However, it is easy to restrict childbearing, but it is much harder to encourage childbearing. The Black and White Bears have the urge to reproduce for only half a month a year, and most of the time they are more interested in wine than in the opposite sex, and the elemental creatures have almost no idea what "reproduction" is, and it is hopeless to expect them to be able to spread out and reproduce the population.

Fortunately, Sui Xiong is not the kind of Baizuo Holy Mother whose head has entered the water, and he will not specially invite a group of uncles from outside the mountains and rivers to come back in order to expand the population of ethnic minorities in China. Is it difficult for the race to reproduce? Then it is difficult, they don't want to give birth themselves, is it possible that Sui Xiong still forced them to give birth?

This kind of thing is not suitable for coercion.

“...... Director Lacanixiu, what do you think would be the effect of using a large number of alchemical items such as fiery gel and glitter dust?" Minister Osman pondered for a moment, and asked with some uncertainty, "I don't think these things seem to be suitable for large-scale use on the battlefield, the cost is too high and the benefit is too low. ”

"You're right, as long as a group of protective spells can resist the damage of Blazing Glue, as for Glitter Dust or something, it's pretty much the same. When I took the little ones in the tribe to fight with the adventurers, I was never afraid of this method, let alone the powerful armies that formed into formations. The old goblin chief shook his head, "I really don't see how useful they are, and honestly, I think they're wasting money." ”

"But the aristocracy is not a fool. ”

"I really don't understand, maybe someone from the military department can figure it out. "Lacanihu was very irresponsible.

The Minister of Commerce pondered for a while, and felt that this was the same reason, so he sent two copies of this document to the Minister of Defense, Renard, and the other to the Minister of Security, East.

As for what these two professionals will think? He's still busy!

About half an hour later, Renard and East took the time to meet and discuss the matter.

"It's not normal. Reynard said, "It's just blazing glue, glitter dust is definitely not something that can be used in large quantities in war, it is meaningless!"

Esther nodded, according to his impression, glitter dust is generally used by adventurers, among which thieves use it a lot, mainly in sudden battles can be used to flash the eyes of enemies, and then take the opportunity to escape.

To say that this is used in a full-fledged war...... He thought about it, but he couldn't figure out how to use it.

Could it be ...... Throw a handful when the cavalry hedges?

But the merchants sent the new army without cavalry at all, they directly used heavy crossbows, strong bows and spears against the cavalry. The formation is like a mountain, and there is a kind of coming. As for shooting or something, riding a bow can't shoot far and accurately, it's just turning death into a slow death.

In a world where magic is widely used, there is no such thing as a cavalryman's mobility. Let alone...... It's really not easy to rely on ordinary good horses to outrun mid-level martial artists on a small battlefield!

The cavalry of this world, in addition to the heralds, are heavily armed knights who are like cans, and against them, the well-trained army only needs to use spears on the ground to form the so-called "dragon spear formation".

In fact, heavily armed knights generally don't rush into enemy formations, and even if they do, they must first cover their bodies with multiple layers of protective magic - so the war becomes a confrontation between protective magic and disarming magic......

Esther frowned, deep in thought. Coming from a country of mages, he still has a knack for understanding the use of spells, and he feels that he should be able to guess how the noble faction will use those fiery glues and glitter dust.

But before he could guess, Sui Xiong had already gotten the answer through his own channels.

The aristocratic faction intended to form a harassing and fast mobile force to fight exclusively against the rear of the merchant faction. These blazing glues, glitter dust, and the like are for them.