Ulrick City.

The city of Ulric, like almost all other cities that the Salanders have ever owned, is divided into two parts, the new city and the old city.

The old city is a fortress left by the ancient Chan people, generally built on the rocky hills, the old city is generally relatively small, only one-third or even one-fifth of the new city, but the defense of the old city is indeed incomparable to the new city. When the Chan people built the old city, they often poured the strength of the entire province into it, bringing thousands of square stones from afar, and with the cooperation of soldiers and craftsmen, they built high walls, equipped with stone canals for water supply, and had a staggering number of warehouses, and placed enough blacksmiths, carpenters, and stonemasons around it. Each old city is a fortress for the Chanda people, and when needed, the Chanda people can abandon half of the province and defend these fortresses that cannot be captured at all, waiting for the arrival of imperial reinforcements. Such tactics made it impossible for the enemy to achieve any results at all--- except for looting thousands of sacks of grain and livestock, and then returning to the desert or other places of interest to other empires.

After the Salandians conquered the old provinces of the empire, the population became more and more populous as the pressure on the frontier disappeared and high-yielding crops were planted. The inhabitants settled around the old city, forming settlements one after another, which gradually merged into towns, and many towns became one of the best cities thanks to the wealth brought by the trade routes. Such a city could not be surrounded by walls, and the people of Salander simply did not care about the development of the city after planning a few main roads. Let the city spread over the plain. Standing on the top of the hill, you can see a large number of houses spread out outside the small old city wall. Spectacular. In addition, another characteristic of the new city is that the city will be centered on the temple and expand to the surrounding area, and in the center of each area where the residents live, there must be a splendid temple for countless people to worship. These temples were designed by engineers invited by wealthy or Salander governors at great expense, and the dome is full of gold and splendor. Citizens wearing turbans live in the city. Everyone has their own home, the markets are filled with spices and exotic animals brought in from overseas, cloth merchants fight over rented sunny courtyards, and lawyers who transcribe pleadings search the streets wide-eyed for disputes. Pilgrims board boats from here. Travel to the Holy Land of the South.

Cities often have populations of more than 30,000 or even 50,000. This makes it very difficult to govern cities, and water supply is often a major problem. The city's waterworks became the lifeblood of the city, and this kind of property was often a gift from the Sultan to the governor, so the governor was always rich in the brains of the property. The citizens used to organize the restoration of the canals of the Zen people in order to obtain a cheap and abundant water supply. But thirty years ago and ten years ago, the two governors began to remove the icons from the aqueducts under the pretext that they were 'pagan relics'. The second governor did more. He ordered his soldiers to remove the stone bricks from the aqueduct and use them to strengthen the walls of the old city. The hinterland of Salander has not experienced war for more than a hundred years. Such an excuse is obviously not satisfactory to the citizens. With the support of many scholars, citizens began to organize themselves and go to repair the canals. The Governor was always adept at grasping the differences among the citizens, and he supplied clear and cheap water free of charge to those among the citizens who did not participate in the repair of the canals, and tripled the price of the muddy drinking water and sold it to those who dared to repair the canals. This was quite effective, and within a month or two, the vigorous civic movement collapsed, the bricks on the construction site were discarded, the wood and the mud that bound the stone was dried and cracked by the sun, the construction site was lifeless, it was difficult to start work, and the wealthy who had invested huge sums of money went bankrupt and fled the country. When no one was able to reorganize the canal project, the price of water naturally returned to the original level, and even more excessively--- the governor would not give away a drop of water in vain, and of course he would have to recover the losses later.

The Governor was unconcerned about the condemnations of the scholars and Uma. He knew that it was difficult to please the inhabitants, so he simply ignored them, but it was easier and more humane to please the Sultan--- every Sultan had weaknesses, and even if the Sultan did not have weaknesses, then those close to him would have, and sometimes a horse, a singer, a sword, and a collection of hadiths that had not been seen before could bring the Sultan's friendship to the Governor and the Sultan's acquiescence to the Governor's wealth.

In repeated exchanges, the citizens become wiser and wiser, and of course, the governor will become wiser, and such exchanges will probably continue until the end of the world if not for the arrival of the plague.

The city of Yurik is now no longer in its former glory, and its population has been reduced by two-thirds, including direct deaths and flights from the plague. It is always believed that somewhere overseas on a small island or a temple deep in the desert has not been hit by the plague, which has caused waves of residents to flee. The Doge was most concerned with taxes and water prices, and when the population was declining, he did not fail to make any efforts, but all his efforts came to naught: the messengers he sent out fled in small boats with his wife and even the Doge's wife, leaving only a dwindling shadow on the sea. The Governor had nothing to do about it but curse.

Death causes all established life to spiral out of control.

The small number of Ulric now rendered the tax money meaningless, and the small number of people made it enough to provide enough drinking water for a few wells and ponds in the city, and the governorship could no longer bring any oil and water. It is said that the Sultan was also exhausted by the plague, and the rebellion of the Creelians and the continuous slave revolts in various places gave the governor more freedom than before--- such an environment could easily inspire ambition, and if he could become an emir, who would be willing to be a governor?

With such a change in psychology, the Governor's attitude suddenly began to draw closer to the demands of the scholars and the Uma: he began to distribute food for the relief of the victims, and to provide free drinking water that the people no longer needed. Began to finance the burial of the bodies of the dead, and even built several hospitals for the Great Temple, in addition. For scholars of repute, he would send envoys to invite them. Ulric City became an oasis within the plague, and after the plague, Ulric City was one of the few cities where the bakery was still functioning. Every Wednesday, the Governor distributed free bread in the Old City, which was received by the poor as long as they could recite two verses or shout 'Thank you for the grace of the Emir.' He distributed to the poor in varying amounts to the merchants. Each merchant who fled here had to feed a dozen poor people – not much better, just not starving. The poor wander the streets and alleys, trying to reduce their activities. Lying on the ground and dying, just to live until the next time the bread was distributed. Women get food and shelter by selling everything they can. At the request of scholars, the Governor forbade women from this kind of degrading behavior, but this resulted in the death of many women whose lives were on the line. Or stealthily sell yourself to sneaky men through lower prices. In desperation. The governor had no choice but to end his ban, but he told the soldiers to write down the names of the women, lest he choose unclean women for his future wifery.

More than a year ago, entering the city of Yurik had to pass countless farmers and goats carrying grain on their backs, and it took most of the day to enter the city gates, covered with wool and covered with sheep droppings. The current Yurik gate is 'as loose as a proprietress and can come and go freely'. This is what Paul's Wikibian companion has to say. I don't know why this Wikibian is so obsessed with the hostess, presumably a certain lady once left him with deep joy. Of course, it's more likely to be a scar.

The Yurik Gate looks spectacular, but it is not flanked by walls at all, but by some houses with tall walls. There were three Creelian soldiers at the gate, and they stood guard for them with their spears on either side of the gate, while they themselves sat under a straw hut and gambled. As we entered the city, a soldier came to talk to us with a wilt in his armpit, and after collecting a gold coin for each of us, he raised his hand and let us into the city.

It's the best city I've seen since the plague, with no dead people on the ground, no running sewage, not even a dog pooping on the ground. Of course, it is possible that the dogs have all been eaten. In the past, when it came to eating dogs, many kind-hearted ladies and men would squeeze out a lot of tears, which hurt their hearts and made people feel guilty about eating dog meat. Now, most of these kind men and women have also died of the plague, there are fewer accusations, and the pressure to eat meat is much less. Our guide told us that the people of Salander even began to eat pork, because such animals are easy to raise, and they can grow round bellies if they eat anything, but scholars say that in times of crisis, in order to save their lives, they can actually eat any kind of food. Of course, meat people should not be included.

We arrived at a square.

The square is a semi-elliptical open space. In ancient times, the Zen people built an oval-shaped racecourse with five steps around it to serve as seats--- which is quite shabby in the town fortress of the Zen people. The market of the Salanders could not even run out of such open space, so half of the open space was used to build a library, and the remaining half was used as a market. The Salanders are indeed a society of citizens, and they can put together two things, a library and a market.

There are only two kinds of goods in the market, fish and antiques.

The supply of fish was abundant because several fishing villages outside Yurik had not suffered much from the plague and fishing resumed quickly. As for the antiques, because the plague in the city of Yurik was too severe for the people to recover, the antique gadgets they left behind were also in sufficient supply.

Citizens queuing up to buy fish and meat did not use gold and silver coins, but physical goods: either a piece of silk, a beautiful birdcage, the child they liked the most, or a child who looked like a neighbor, and the trade became a complete barter anyway. I doubt what our gold can buy.

At this time, the sound of several men shouting for worship sounded in the city of Ulric, and the people in the square and around began to prostrate on the ground and worship in a certain direction.

We hid to the side and waited for the service to end. (To be continued.) )