Section 5: Impurities (Part I)
Section 5: Tempering Impurities (Part I
After everything was done, the sky was already white, and Bennay finally hummed xiǎo to tune back.
"One and a half!" his drunken eyes were bloodshot, staggering, staggering but overjoyed, and he held out a finger at Townsend, "I robbed them...... Half of a business!"
"I knew you could do it, well done!"
Townsend smiled and nodded in satisfaction, then slapped Benneid, staggering: "Dare to stretch out my middle finger!?"
Ada almost died of laughter by hitting her head against the wall behind Mén before he had someone throw the sleeping Bennay on Chuáng.
When he came to Wakale, Townsend took three horses with him, and when he left Wakale, he still took only three horses, and he was very thorough. It's not that Townsend can't bring people with him, the question is whether that is useful? The people who participated in the Jing auction were all wealthy businessmen, and Townsend was in a state where he certainly couldn't compare with others.
Instead of taking three or two xiǎo cats to eat deflated everywhere, it is better to come alone with grace. People who dare to swim alone on the West Coast, people who can enter the club alone, and those who are idle really don't dare to look at it - not to mention anything else, this kind of person must have the ability to keep his head, and no matter how powerful he is, he must also have the ability to pick other people's heads!
Townsend set out in the earnest farewell of his men, his black sè leather armor covered with a gray sè trench coat, carrying all kinds of things on horseback, and carrying a thick stack of cash redemption tickets in his arms—clothing, food, housing, transportation, and shopping, all of which were well prepared.
Goal, the club's annual Jing Auction venue!
"Should it be southeast?"
Outside the town of Wakale, at a fork in the road more than fifty miles away, Townsend had just opened the map and let out a curse: "Damn, you hun eggs are too good at catching nongs!
You really can't blame Towngend, in fact, after leading Thorn Rose, he has changed some xiǎomáo diseases, such as casually scolding people, but this map in his hand is too infuriating.
The map is drawn on a scroll, which is quite high-end in appearance, the scroll is a round wood with a white face and a quiet fragrance, and it feels quite heavy in the hand; the fabric of the map should be a kind of paper, but it has a satin-like luster and delicacy; the penmanship is also very good, the ink is constant, the movement is smooth, and the key landmarks are clearly understandable......
No matter how you look at it, you won't think that there is a quality problem inside.
The problem lies in the map itself, around the auction hall marked with bright red sè, there are more than 20 blue sè ink blots radiating out, which should be the route of travel in all directions, because the ends are all connected to the trade route.
There is also one on the town of Wakale, and it should be the one at the foot of Townsend, which connects to the town of Wakale, then turns deep in the forest, at the foot of the Queensmassa Mountains, and then follows the direction of the mountains all the way south......
But this blue sè line is not continuous, there is a fault in the middle, and there is more than one place!
According to the scale of the accompanying figure, the breakpoint of the short point is 300 miles, and the breakpoint of the longer point is nearly 1,000 miles. And there is not even a minimum text mark at the break.
Isn't this a cheat, what is it? How do you let people find it? Scolding you is light!
Townsend didn't think that Sister Wen Li Xiǎo would joke with him, nor did he think that the annual Jing Auction was just a prank, and the reason why he was so confused was probably because he was not familiar with the West Coast?
So Townsend sulked for a while, and then regained his energy. As the saying goes, there must be a road before the car reaches the mountain, and the boat is naturally straight to the bridge.
He followed the instructions on the map and began to move forward. The route is flat, it seems that there are still people maintaining, and there are not even a few weeds.
The great leader of the Thorn Rose embarked on a journey to an unknown place, three horses and one person, although the journey was a little lonely, but there was an indescribable lightness and comfort. Aside from the coins and maps, this is Townsend's first impression of the Pan West Coast Club. Needless to say, his evaluation of the strength of this organization in his heart secretly improved by a few points.
There are more than one or two roads, and if you maintain them, it will cost a lot of money!
By the end of the first night, Townsend had walked nearly a hundred miles, but he still felt light. First, the road conditions are good, and secondly, he has not encountered other caravans or pedestrians, and he is not in a hurry or in a hurry along the way, and he can go as he wants.
There are few pedestrians, probably because the Huakale side is relatively remote, and few merchant groups can get the qualification to participate in the Jing auction. If there were other caravans, they would have passed long ago - this can be seen in the rutted marks on the road.
Sister Wen Li Xiǎo not only gave Townsend a map, but also prepared a lot of other things. So Townsend no longer had to carry his bow and arrows to shè rabbits or chew rou dry, after deciding to camp, he first took out the campfire stand to light the fire, and then slowly set up the tent, and it didn't take long for the water on the campfire to boil, the freshly brewed fragrant tea, the fragrant snacks, as comfortable as camping.
The most rare thing is that Sister Wen Li Xiǎo also gave him some information about the Pan West Coast Club.
From Townsend's point of view, this information is not in-depth, but fortunately, the people who organize the intelligence have a broad enough vision to give people a general outline of the target: the intelligence points out that the Pan West Coast Club was founded hundreds of years ago, and the detailed time is no longer verifiable, because it was very large-scale for a period of time, and it was secretly mastered by several chambers of commerce, and it only did some things to raise prices and reduce prices, and bully the weak.
But more than 100 years ago, Xiǎoxiǎo's club suddenly took a super flashy turn, and they first won widespread support by supporting the war effort. In the form of official authorization, it has monopolized the right to export bulk materials throughout the West Coast.
Although the club is also in the SI business, it is no different from the formal trade when the number is large. It is amazing that they have been doing the export franchise for more than 30 years without being destroyed...... During this period of time, all the forces that opposed it ended up miserable, and the remaining Xiǎo shrimps either avoided its edge or simply joined its command.
After the Pan West Coast Club had accumulated enough money and popularity, it took out this piece of jiāo and switched to controlling the price and quantity of goods...... That's how they dominated the West Coast, with clear routes, simple processes, and extremely effective.
He said that if a commodity in the interior was rare, its price would immediately rise wildly on the west coast, and if he wanted to say that the West Coast had a poor harvest this year, there would not be much grain to be transported inland.
"Damn, we're starting to set industry standards. Townsend couldn't help but be wary: "It's enough for business to do this." ”
It is necessary to be wary of such groups, because their power has surpassed that of ordinary commercial alliances, and it can even influence the political and military situation in a certain region by controlling the flow of goods. For example, a force like the Silver Sè Coast, because of its vast territory, can still compete with the club to some extent, but it can't fight it all-out.
Given the merchant's peculiarity, Townsend was sure that it was not just on the West Coast.
The Thorn Rose is still in its favor and will not be favored by it for the time being, but as its strength increases, it will one day pose a threat to this organization...... It's true for the club, it's true for Thorn Rose, and it's hard to say what will happen then.
"What are you thinking about? That's too far, isn't it?" Townsend studied for a while, and couldn't help but laugh at his own overly rich sense of crisis, he was also thinking too far.
"Well, instead of worrying about the ethereal future, it's better to think about something practical. ”
+ Passion
Townsend had sadly discovered that he had rarely had time to relax since escaping Harvey. I'm always driven forward by one goal after another, and I'm a little tired physically and mentally - as a leader, it's certain to be busy, but you can't keep doing this, you have to have some fun!
However, what is even more tragic is that he thought about it for a while, and remembered that he didn't find any fun to find. There are too few things that can attract his attention.
"Since when have I become a person who is dedicated to the public and has no, and what is the difference between going on like this and those lonely people? I will be rotten!" Townsend was shocked, this state was very bad: "No, I have to think of a way immediately!"
Barren mountains and mountains, naturally there is no way to think about it. In desperation, he took aim at his ability textbook.
"Well, the tallest of the short, it's you. Townsend picked up this book and swore that "I will never become a person who loves to learn, now I am just bored and take you as a xiǎ, don't get me wrong......"
Townsend adjusted his sitting posture and flipped through it casually, opening the chapter of "Advanced Theory of Metal-based Abilities". Anyway, it's all a pastime, and everything he watches is watching, so he doesn't pay attention to the gradual progress, and starts by lighting the lamp.
Townsend did this to relieve his boredom, but he didn't consider that his ability attainments were much higher than those of his peers, and because of his talent, he looked at abilities from a very different perspective than others.
As soon as the eye pouch turned, it was trapped
Several descriptions in the book conflict with Townsend's views, and Townsend undoubtedly believes in himself, so this suspicion is like a tiger blocking the road, and he must solve it to be reassuring. So Townsend stood up and went with a two-handed greatsword to do the experiment.
He first softened and remelted the entire two-handed sword with his ability according to the description in the book, and then observed the results, and sure enough, the final result proved that his own opinion was correct - this is very natural, and other people's eyes can't see the power of the ability, so he can only take a lot of detours when doing research.
For the sake of secrecy, Townsend didn't include this conclusion in his ability notes.
After proving his prowess once more, Townsend was satisfied, and was ready to pack his things for bed—the astrolabe turned slightly, and the piece of metal in his hand was softened, remelted, shaped, and restored to the form of a two-handed sword. Cool down the two-handed sword with another elemental xiǎo ability, and then chā in the middle of the li.
"Huh?" it didn't matter, Townsend found that the sword was a little shorter than his brothers, not much, two centimeters.
"Could it be that your ability is wrong?" Townsend frowned, "No, the proportions of the shape are correct...... Could it be that some impurities have been removed from the metal?"
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