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When night came, the Lord's Mansion was bustling with activity, and the passage of the inner city was once again opened, and invited merchants were allowed to pass through the inner city and enter the Lord's Mansion under the protection of the guards.

The Governor stood outside the palace gate in a well-dressed manner and welcomed the guests into the mansion on behalf of Franklin, and the Lord's Mansion rarely held balls, for the first time in nearly ten years, including the Governor's memory.

Franklin is not a person who pays attention to enjoyment, let alone a person who chases bees and butterflies, after the death of Agatha's mother, his mind is only on the city of liberty and his daughter, and there are no women who can get close to it, so in the past ten years, there has almost never been a ball in the city lord's mansion, and even banquets are rarely held, and the last banquet held to announce the Mithril standard was also the first time in the past five years.

The dance floor was divided into groups of three or two, the merchants whispered, and the dance floor, which had not been used for many years, looked a little crowded after accommodating dozens of merchants and their dance partners.

Although the head of the City Lord's Mansion did his best, I have to say that this ball still seemed a bit nondescript, after all, there was still a lot of attention to preparing for a real aristocratic ball.

Fortunately, Franklin didn't care, and he didn't blame the manager for it, because the purpose of the ball itself was not to dance, but to give a few people a chance to meet.

Of course, the same is true for the guests, the men should be dressed in formal attire and the women should have gorgeous and standard dresses, but the merchants who came to participate today are still wearing gorgeous costumes, but they will still show the details that are out of place, so that people can see that they are not really nobles, and most of them are just a group of tyrants.

After greeting the last guest, the steward came to the ballroom, looked at the guests on the dance floor, and then summoned a few clever waiters, pointed to the guests in the hall, and commanded in a low voice.

These guests are the ones that need to be focused on in the list, and the steward secretly assigns a waiter to serve them, the first of which is Count Shearmont.

At this time, the Count of Schedermon was surrounded by a large group of merchants like the stars holding the moon, and at first the merchants came to this ball just to curry favor with Franklin, but when they learned that there was a prominent figure at today's ball, the Earl from Mordor, the wind immediately changed.

In any case, an earl is worth please, and the merchants, whether they have business or not, need to be convenient in Modo.

At this time, however, the envoy of Modo was not interested in the fawning of the merchants, and he looked at the door from time to time, as if waiting for something.

At this time, the door of the ballroom opened again, and the voices of several people came in.

"Hahaha, Free City is a nice place to be, Mr. Solomon, I really like your Shadow animation. A hearty man's voice came first.

"Thank you, Sir Philip, come, please, the ball is here, and many people will be waiting for you. ”

"You told me that Miss Catherine was present at this ball, and I look forward to dancing with her. ”

Two waiters scrambled to open the door completely, and a man stepped into the dance floor hall first, but he didn't go in immediately, but watched the crowd with interest, as if looking for something.

Behind him, Wang Qinian stood quietly with a habitual smile on his face.

At the entrance, the waiter in charge of the roll call put his hands to his lips in the shape of a trumpet and shouted, "His Honourable Viscount Philip of Asturias is here." ”

The ballroom was silent for a moment, and the movements and expressions of the people froze, and they looked at the entrance in astonishment, and saw Sir Philip looking east and west, with a high-spirited face.

Different people have doubts in their hearts at this time, even if they are the more sluggish ones, but since they can become businessmen and appear at today's ball, it means that they are not really stupid.

At Franklin's ball, a count from Mordor and then a viscount from Asturias appeared.

Although the latter had a lower title than the former, this was not necessarily the case in the eyes of the merchants, as Asturias was far more powerful than Mordo.

The businessmen are aware that today's ball may not be simple, and perhaps it is specially for these two people.

A handful of merchants with more political wisdom were more sensitive, and after Liberty City began minting Mithril coins, some of them speculated that Franklin was a Mithril mine, but they didn't understand why he was such a high-profile mint.

If the arrival of Count Schedermon just now was just a signal, now the appearance of Philip on behalf of Asturias seems so certain, and both countries have taken an interest in the City of Freedom.

This is also related to the vital interests of the merchants, because the city of freedom has always been famous for its freedom, but in fact, it is in the Sanzhi area, Franklin has established his own power in the cracks.

But if the state-level powers become interested in the Free City and are ready to incorporate it into their territory, whether the Free City can still become a happy land for merchants as it used to be, is something that merchants have to be concerned about.

To be sure, the city of Liberty is now very popular with merchants, because of its remote location, Franklin has set up almost no checkpoints on the road to the two countries for additional taxes, and only has a certain turnover tax in the city, mainly concentrated in the assemblies every once in a while.

After the establishment of the exchange, this turnover tax was almost fixed, but it was still not very fair, because no matter how much money was earned, as long as there was a transaction, it was a fixed amount of tax, and I heard that the Free City was also preparing to consider changing this tax system.

In any case, the taxes in Liberty City were much lighter than elsewhere, and Franklin was not a greedy man, he originally founded the city only to give people like him a place to take refuge in the wilderness.

After decades of exhibitions, plus others, the city has developed to the point where it is now.

Franklin, arguably half of his wealth, came not from taxes, but from trade, and he was not only the manager of the city, but also one of the city's largest merchants.

There is no way around it, the Free City originated in the wilderness, and when there was no large-scale trade with the Orcs at the beginning, the tax revenue could not support the city's exhibition, and Franklin could only rely on a monopoly position to participate in the commercial competition.

The establishment of the Free City became a necessary place and distribution center for the tribes of the Western Beast Plains, and those who were willing to risk leading caravans deep into the Orc tribes to trade were happy to stay here, which promoted the prosperity of the place.

When there are more and more such people, a secondary market is automatically formed here, and further a bazaar is generated.

Later, the orc trade group came directly to the free city to trade, and the status of the city was forged.

In the process, Franklin, who had to participate in commercial trade because of poor taxes, naturally gained a large fortune in it, but his life's wealth was spent on building and defending the city, which won the respect and affection of every merchant.

And now, with the eyes of greater forces finally setting their sights on here, will this qiē beauty and freedom finally come to an end?

This made a few shrewd merchants feel a little uneasy and suspicious, but nevertheless, when they looked at Schedermon and Philip, their eyes were not affected in the slightest, still full of flattery, but their hearts were beating, and if so, which of the two countries was more likely to be thrown by the Free City?

"What about Miss Catherine?" said Philip, smiling, his eyes scanning the crowd for the person the name represents.

"She, she's here. "A woman walked to Wang Qinian and Philip's side, it was Lizibao, today she is not wearing men's clothes, but she is a rare woman dressed up, looking glamorous.

However, her expression was very embarrassed at this time, as early as when preparing for this ball, Wang Qinian planned to let the stars of the Daffodil Troupe also participate.

No matter where it is, ancient or modern, before or after the time-travel, there is always a courtesan as a role, and stars who are famous for their art are usually fixed or temporary, so there is nothing more suitable than them, especially in a place like Liberty City, which is already lacking.

But the Wood Elves will definitely not participate, even if they force them with knives, it is useless, this brainless will not tolerate the merchants with erotic eyes in the open and secret, and if they don't make it, they will turn the dance party into a brawl.

The women of the human race are the most suitable, after several years of exhibitions, the films shot by Solomon Company can be regarded as a few people who can be called movie stars, they are among the countries, in the eyes of people who watch both Shadow animation and drama, they belong to the new star, no less than the newcomers in the first-class theater troupe. If it's just about fame, maybe it's even bigger.

Of course, because the status of drama has not been completely shaken, and Shadow animation is just a new thing that makes people extremely interested, so in terms of artistic status, it is still the theater stars who are slightly better.

Because so far, the evaluation of the Shadow animation is very popular and sought after, but the depth of thought and artistic achievements, critics often use the word superficial to describe it, and even for Hanuman This kind of film is scolded while watching, thinking that it is glorifying orcs, and some people even boycott it.

There are four female stars who are slightly famous in the Solomon Company now, except for an actress who joined the Solomon Company only two years ago and came from another theater company, the original people account for three, the wood elf Ciri is accepted by everyone for playing the kind of righteous and awe-inspiring heroic woman, and the other two are of course the original female number one and female number two of Daffodil, Jenny and Catherine.

As for other people, like Rhea in the Wood Elves, she is qualified to become a female star in terms of appearance, but the almost autistic personality of the Wood Elves makes her acting progress too slow, and she can only play some relatively monotonous roles, and she can't get on the stage, and she can't come to this kind of ball.

Even if she wanted to, her boyfriend wouldn't say yes, oh yes, she and that Ellen were in love.

Jenny initially agreed to come, but later regretted it for some reason, using illness as an excuse.

This made Lizzie very dissatisfied, because between Jenny and Catherine, she had always favored Jenny.