After laughing, the three of them sat around, and Ryan continued the conversation as he asked Flanna, "I've always had a question."

"Haha, Ryan. Franner smiled and said, "You just told us not to be too polite, then you should take the lead in complying." ”

Ryan also smiled, and he asked Franna, "Franner, you have been in the Free Paradise for many years, you must be very familiar with the history here, right? I also know a lot of stories about the Free Paradise, but I have always had a question, in the long war of the hundred years of catastrophe of mankind, this place was miraculously unscathed, why did several powerful empires, those kings who can mobilize their troops for a single sentence, not send troops to occupy this place?"

"Flanna, look. Ryan pointed to the crowded streets outside the window and said, "Aren't those kings tempted by the merchants of the Free Paradise, who have amassed a great deal of wealth over the years?

"The reason why the Hundred Years' War has been going on for more than a hundred years is precisely because several empires are evenly matched, and no one can help anyone, but if any king occupies this place, he will immediately have the great wealth accumulated by the Free Heaven, and then he will have an overwhelming advantage in future wars?"

Ryan spoke all the questions in his heart in one breath, and he looked at Franna with blank eyes, hoping that he could give him an answer.

Franner picked up the wine that Ryan had poured for herself, took a slow sip, letting the flavor of the wine linger between the tip of his tongue and his throat, and the room that had just been lively suddenly became quiet, except for the faint sound of selling outside the window.

"Actually," Franner, who was silent for a moment, put down the wine glass in his hand and suddenly spoke: "In the history of the Free Paradise, there was a war. ”

"Oh?" Ryan and Alendor didn't know anything about it, and they immediately became intrigued, and their eyes looked at Franna together, quietly listening to Franna tell this history.

"Back then, in the midst of a hundred years of catastrophe, it was true that there were several powerful empires that were evenly matched, and their kings were always thinking about defeating their opponents and expanding their territory. The position of the Free Paradise is very good, it is not in the absolute sphere of influence of the suzerainty like the subjects of these empires, but between the spheres of influence of several empires, which is the fundamental reason why the Free Paradise is permanently neutral. ”

"Whatever country the Paradise of Liberty prefers, it will be drawn into that endless war, and even if the chosen power wins the final victory, a group of merchants without a strong army will not be able to compete with an empire. By declaring permanent neutrality, the merchants of the Free Paradise could justifiably do business in every empire, whether they were hostile to each other or not. The more hostile the nations, the more profitable the merchants of the free paradise could be. ”

"No country's resources can be perfect, and normal trade is needed in the first place, but the perennial war, which makes the lack of communication between two hostile countries, leads to a shortage of resources, and this situation cheapens our bold ancestors. On one side there is a lot of fighting, and on the other side there is a long queue of carriages, as long as you hire a sufficient number of mercenaries to transport those goods safely, you can get ten times and a hundred times the benefits. ”

"Those decades were the golden time for the development of the paradise of freedom, and the countless merchants who possessed untold wealth as a result naturally attracted the attention of the greedy monarchs. They didn't personally send troops to attack the Free Paradise, not because they didn't want to, but because they didn't want to cause unnecessary trouble, and if they didn't handle it well, it would not be a good thing to let the Free Heaven fall to their opponents. ”

"Finally, a king called the Plantagenet Empire, unable to resist the great temptation, decided to occupy this place by force and plunder its wealth. Of course, the king of the Plantagenet Empire was not a fool, he did not send troops directly, and for the sake of safety, he secretly instructed a principality that belonged to him to send troops. ”

"The Plantagenet Empire, with three principalities that are closely attached to it, is called the Principality of Gris, which is about three days away from the Paradise of Freedom. In the calculation of the king of the Plantagenet Empire, the Duchy of Gris will send 30,000 troops, and he expects these 30,000 people to end the battle in five days, and in just five days, even if other empires want to intervene, there is not much time to prepare.

"So, the Duke of the Duchy of Gris sent a general and three infantry regiments, totaling 30,000 men. There shouldn't be any problem with 30,000 men attacking a seemingly undefended city, right?"

Speaking of this, Franner deliberately paused, which greatly dissatisfied Ryan and Allendo, who were eager to listen to the story, and shouted in unison: "Speak quickly, speak quickly, don't stop!"

Franner smiled self-deprecatingly, and stopped abruptly at the key point, so that the anxious opponent could rush to bid for the following content, and then he could get a greater profit, which was originally a very good business method, he had been in business for many years, and these things had already been deeply rooted in the bone marrow, so he unconsciously used them.

Franner couldn't help but laugh, it seems that he used to be too involved in business: "You see, even in front of friends, I unconsciously use these methods, no wonder no one is willing to really help me when I am in trouble, this is really not to blame others." ”

These thoughts flashed through Flanna's mind, and he picked up his glass, took a sip of wine, used it to disguise the business method he had just subconsciously used, and then cleared his throat and continued: "The night after the Duchy of Gris sent its troops, the Paradise of Liberty received accurate information. ”

"The next day, so quickly?" Ryan thought it was a bit unbelievable, interjecting and asking, "How did this happen?"

Alendor patted Ryan on the shoulder and said, "Don't talk, listen to Franna." It seems that the druid, who has always been indifferent, can't help but want to hear the story.

"Yes, as a businessman, getting information faster than others is a compulsory course. "There are a lot of ways to get the message around quickly," Flanner explains. For example, using a fast horse to deliver letters, changing horses on the way without changing people, this method is mainly used in the northern steppes, after all, there are many horses there, and the terrain is also convenient for horses to run. There is also the method of training excellent birds, so that these birds are familiar with the distance between the two places, and passing letters through them, which is much faster, but the content of the letters cannot be too detailed, and it is easy to lose them on the way. The easiest and most expensive is to use magic to transmit, and as for what it looks like, I guess you know better than me. ”

"Well...... this" Ryan scratched his head, he really didn't know much about this aspect of magic, but it was easier to pass on a letter than to pass on a person, right? When you return to the imperial capital, you must ask Master Victor **, he can even make a time and space scroll to deliver people, and this little thing will naturally stop talking.

After explaining, Franner continued: "The merchants of the Free Paradise have united as never before in the face of sudden disaster. In just a few hours, a temporary business alliance was formed, which was solely responsible for responding to the crisis. Immediately afterwards, a huge amount of gold coins was pooled together and became the activity fund of this business alliance. ”

"The first order of the Business Alliance was to hire mercenaries, and after paying three times more than usual, a large number of mercenaries were hired by the Business Alliance, and as soon as the news broke, there were many more mercenaries desperately rushing to the Free Paradise. Anyway, these mercenaries usually have to take a lot of risks, and many times they are also fighting on the death line, such as hunting Warcraft, and a large number of magic cores and furs are traded every year, but there are also many mercenaries who die under the fangs and claws of Warcraft. ”

"The high amount of gold coins formed the resistance army of the Free Paradise. These mercenaries who usually live and die together have a more tacit cooperation than ordinary soldiers, they have experienced life and death, and they also have rich combat experience. It is true that these mercenaries are not able to compete with the regular army in frontal combat, but they also have their own strengths, such as harassing and obstructing the enemy army by taking advantage of the favorable terrain such as forests, rivers, and houses along the way. ”

Next, the business alliance urgently selected more than a dozen merchants who were good at hoarding materials, and these merchants took a sum of money separately and quietly infiltrated the capital of the Duchy of Gris, Blue Fire City, with their subordinates, and their task was very simple, that is, to use various means, at several times the price, to frantically buy all the strategic materials of the Duchy of Gris, such as food. ”

"The roads to Paradise of Freedom have been destroyed by mercenaries, and the water source has been poisoned. When the inhabitants withdrew, they took everything they could, and those who could not take it with them were burned. The army of the Duchy of Gris encountered fierce resistance on the way forward, the closer they got to the Paradise of Freedom, the more prosperous they became, and the houses built next to each other were even denser, and the troops of the Duchy of Gris had to hurry up to capture the Paradise of Freedom, otherwise they were likely to be interfered with by other empires, so they did not have enough time to forcibly search all the houses along the way. The mercenaries hid in those empty houses, and did everything they could to harvest the lives of the soldiers of the Gris's army. ”

"The fact that their companions, who had eaten together yesterday, might be killed the next moment by the feathered arrows that came out of the house, and this caused their morale to be devastated, so they could only raise their shields at any time and beyond, or pray to the gods to bless them. Gris's army traveled for four days before they reached the outskirts of the Free Paradise, which is about where I met you. After all, it's been a lot of years, and it's changed a lot. ”