Volume 10: Our Journey Chapter 318 "J"'s transcript
The Elf Port receives more than 50,000 visitors every year. The wealth brought by adventurers and merchants, and the annual revenue generated for the Elf Port and Ananas City are conservatively estimated to be tens of thousands of gold coins.
There was no reason for the forest elves not to love the golden coins, so the elven port, which was originally as simple as one street, was expanded over the years to develop four main streets and thousands of buildings. Various industries were also born to meet the needs of adventurers and merchants.
The forest elves are making a lot of money, so of course, Fire City won't just sit there and watch...
When the Yale tent and several tiger veterans followed the instructions of the small cat Baixiang and arrived at "Grassland Street", the tigers who had boarded the ship from the Knights' Territory ten days ago were all shocked: neatly arranged shops, a constant stream of people, and constant shouting, the prosperity and liveliness of the place was not any less than that of the Knights' Territory!
What surprised these tiger-headed guys even more than the first district of the Knight Territory was that none of the shop owners here were human...
The one standing in front of the glass cabinet of the "Croissant Bakery" and shouting was a Snow Wolf cub. While shouting "Snow Wolf Clan's top chef Croissant's special wheat-flavored bread", he stuffed the sample bread pieces in the dustpan in his hand to the passers-by.
The "Hill New District Armor Shop" is run by a few short, stocky gray dwarves, who are boasting to the adventurers who enter the shop about how their gray dwarves' skills are superior to those of the Dark Iron Dwarves.
At the "Hill New District Weapons Store" next door, the Gray Dwarf clerk was promoting their new alloy hammer to the Dark Iron Dwarves who were choosing weapons.
There are also the "Welfare Department Specialty Dim Sum Shop", "Fragrant Spicy Rabbit Meat Shop", "Qiuqiu Woolen Factory Direct Sales Garment Shop", "Qujiao Beef Products", "Portable Tool Shop" and so on.
It was already surprising enough that there were so many shops on a short street of less than a hundred meters. He also discovered that there were quite a few forest elves entering and exiting the shops (mainly buying food). This took Yale a while to recover from his shock.
The forest elves in Yale's memory were no easier to get along with than the dark elves. During the Royal Court era, the most unpleasant word those arrogant green-skinned, pointy-eared guys used to describe the grassland people was "dirty beasts"... Yale had heard this with his own ears.
Such forest elves could actually tolerate grassland people doing business in their territory - Yale knew that the forest elves had close contacts with the current "Grassland Fire Kingdom", but seeing it with his own eyes, he still felt incredible.
In particular, there was a long queue of forest elves in front of the "Welfare Department Specialty Snack Shop" run by the goblins. They were not picky at all about the food handed to them by the dirtier goblins with their claws... (These goblins were all old, weak, and sick. Xiao Yun would certainly not waste manpower on such an easy job as selling packaged ready-made snacks.)
This place is not as crowded as the narrow passenger passage at the pier, and the small cat Baixiang can come and go freely. This nimble young man, who is about the same height as a gray dwarf and probably weighs only half as much as a gray dwarf, jumps in front to lead the way, and soon leads the dazzled and staring tiger-headed people to Ashu Food Store at the end of "Grassland Street" near the beach.
Due to lack of manpower, Ashu's food store has not been expanded. It is still the same as a few years ago. Only the long tables and benches in front of the door have been replaced several times... There are always adventurers who can't help but start a fight, and these tables and benches closest to the adventurers can hardly last until the end of their service life.
The meal peak had just passed, and the sweaty Ah Shu had just taken off his chef's hat and sat on a bench by the beach to rest. When he saw Bai Xiang, he stood up with a smile and very skillfully... took out some snacks such as dried fruits and candies and stuffed them into her hands.
"The Grassroots Chief's guest is here." Bai Xiang took the snacks and put them in her pocket very naturally, then half turned to introduce Ah Shu, "This is Yale, the chief of the Tiger Tribe."
Ashu nodded politely to the Yale tent, then turned to Baixiang and said, "Our cargo ship will be back at 4pm. Would you like to rest in the store for a while or take the guests around?"
This woke Bai Xiang up. Although these tough guys from the South Continent were not dressed brightly and fancyly, they were not poor at all - the annual salary of the working players was over a thousand yuan, and the combat tree rubber shipped over by shipload every year was also a huge income!
"Of course I'm going to take a look around. It's a rare opportunity to come here! Right, Yale tent?" Bai Xiang turned her head, her deep black pupils flashing with brilliance.
Yale couldn't help looking at Ashu and nodded, "...Okay."
He could see that the snow werewolf named Ashu did not want them to enter this "Ashu Food Store".
This made Yale feel a little nervous. He couldn't help but wonder what the attitude of the Snow Wolf Tribe, the main race of the Prairie Kingdom, was towards the Tiger Tribe. If the Snow Wolf Tribe was not as tolerant and open-minded as they always claimed, then... what kind of life were those tribesmen who stayed behind in the royal court living now? !
Although he was worried, Yale also knew that he could not speak casually or express his attitude easily before meeting the top leaders of the Fire Country... When he called on his tribesmen to follow the small cat Baixiang, Yale even had to force himself to be curious about this street and deliberately looked around.
Ashu waved his hand to send the group of tiger-headed guys away, and then shook his head slightly after they were submerged in the crowd.
Turning around and walking into the store, Ashu found that the three cat clerks were standing behind the window on the side of the counter, all looking in the direction where the tiger people left.
Well... Although the labor force of Fire City has now exceeded 60,000 and is heading towards 70,000, the style of Fire City is that the more manpower there is, the less it is... So the three cats assigned to help Ashu are also the old, weak, sick and disabled - they are all those rescued from the slaves of the royal court.
In other words, they all have a deep historical hatred with the tiger tribe... It would be strange if Ashu dared to entertain the tiger tribe in the store! With the petty minds of the cat tribe, who knows what they will add to the tea and noodles!
After thinking for a while, Ashu smiled and said to the cat shop assistants, "Ayun once said that seeing the former enemy in a miserable state is more satisfying than eating the most delicious food. Do you feel the same way when you see the tiger tribe now?"
Upon hearing this, the three cat shop assistants looked at each other and couldn't help laughing.
The Snow Leopard who was missing three fingers on his left hand laughed particularly happily. He came to the Fire Tribe together with the Centaur and had been tortured in the eastern stronghold of the Tiger Tribe. He nodded with satisfaction and said, "So what if the Tiger Tribe once had glorious honors? Once it declines, it has to rely on the mercy of others even for a place to live."
"Isn't it?" The golden cat with one arm missing said fiercely, "They once claimed to be the only royal family on the grassland and regarded other tribes as dust. Now, it's their turn to feel what it feels like to be 'dust'."
Ashu smiled as he listened to the three cat shop assistants venting their anger. When everyone had vented their anger, he said, "Okay, let's stop talking about those unpleasant guys. Let's quickly wash the dishes from the morning and prepare the ingredients for the afternoon."
The three cat shop assistants returned to the kitchen to wash the dishes and vegetables. Ashu was not idle either. He brought back a bucket of water to clean the store... Adventurers did not pay much attention to table manners when dining. If they did not mop the floor and wipe the table frequently, the floor and the table would become greasy and dirty.
"Ashu! Do you have any more noodles?"
The elf warriors who were clearing the grassland fleet had just had their lunch break and were rushing over to look for food.
"Yes, what kind of noodles would you like?" Ashu put down the mop, wiped his hands on his apron, and warmly invited the guests who missed the meal to take a seat. His expression and behavior were very ordinary and normal, and there was no sign or feeling of the tremendous resentment and anger he once had towards the forest elves.
After Ayun returned from his first Frank Banquet as a sage of the Snow Wolf Tribe, he told Ashu the causes and consequences of Elder Gwendolyn's attack on the Snow Wolf Tribe.
Knowing that his soldier's life was destroyed by such a boring thing, Ashu felt his mind go blank and the old wound on his abdomen that had healed suddenly ached.
At that time, Ayun did not say some nice words to appease Ashu, but told him bluntly: "...I am trying to bring down Gwendolyn not only to avenge you, Ashu, but also to enable us to gain forest elf allies who are more willing to be close to us."
"We are very weak now. We cannot have too many enemies. We must have many allies. So we cannot bear grudge against an entire tribe of forest elves just because of a grudge against one person. We can only calm ourselves down and find those among them who have a close interest in us, who need us, and who can form a community of interests with us."
"Even if we become powerful in the future, we must remember to carefully distinguish between enemies and friends, rather than blindly hate a certain group and be warlike."
"The weak without the power of force are born guilty. Those who blindly worship force and believe that it can solve all problems will also pay the price... We cannot be as stupid as the tiger tribe."
All the resentment in Ashu's heart disappeared when he heard the last sentence. Although the tiger tribe had not declined and died at that time, it had become a knife in the hands of others and had no control over its own actions.
Ashu, who hated Gwendolyn, whom he had never met, and could not help but take his anger out on other forest elves, stared at the ceiling in a daze for a whole night, wiped his face, found Ayun, and asked to continue to be the owner of the port food store.
This is not about letting go of hatred, but for the sake of the tribe and other races living with the Snow Wolf Tribe, one must learn to face everything, whether willing or unwilling.
"Ah Shu, do you have any noodles with soy sauce? I'm starving!"
Hailin, who had just finished helping to unload the fish bones, ran over sweating profusely. When she saw Ashu busying around behind the counter, she started shouting.
"Yes, I'll make it for you when I'm done cooking. Would you like more sauce and less spicy food?" Ashu looked up.
"More oil residue!" Hailin yelled again, and then complained to the comrades who came earlier, "Why didn't you call me when you left?"
The elf warriors who arrived first started to make a noise: "Who knows if you will go to the MSG factory to get some free food and drinks?"
"Did you greet us when you drove someone else's machine down the street?"
"I think the leopard is really good-tempered for not biting you!"
"How can you talk like that? Fishbone and I are friends, okay!" Hailin said loudly.
As a result, there were more voices mocking him...
Behind the counter, Boss Ashu smiled and shook his head, then turned sideways and took out the oil residue can from the cabinet.
Not all forest elves are annoying. Ashu gradually realized this after forcing himself to consider the tribe and everyone.
So he did not persuade those cat shop assistants who still hated the tiger tribe to let go of their hatred. Since Huoyan City had taken in the remaining members of the tiger tribe's royal court, the cat tribe, who had a direct hatred against the tiger tribe, had only targeted them in small ways. No one had escalated the conflict to the point where the tiger tribe had to be driven away and become the enemy of Huoyan City. From this point of view, Ashu was very relieved about the ideological education of the managers...
Well, of course... being secretly targeted isn't a pleasant experience ...
Although Bai Xiang, who had been a slave in the royal court, had been taken care of by Yale, when she acted as a tour guide and salesperson, she still did not hesitate to take the tiger-headed guys to the most expensive and impractical crafts store, and also tried every means to make these tiger-headed guys pay for a lot of flashy things...
Just as the tiger tribe's tent was being cut by a soft knife, in Huoyan City, Xiao Yun was busy receiving guests who arrived earlier than the tiger tribe.
In the reception room of the Secretariat (actually it was converted from the vacant dormitory after the original resident Gai Xinjia moved out), sitting cross-legged on the cushion in front of Xiao Yun was the cheerful Alman.
From being unable to afford the ship ticket and working as a laborer on a construction site in the Knights' Territory to earning food, to relying on economic means to bribe Senator Kronin and spending money to obtain an earldom and earldom, such a radical transformation...it took Alman less than six years and a little more than five years.
Well, the members of "J" nominated Alman to be the open earl. The biggest reason was certainly not that this guy had a good temperament and was handsome, but because his appearance was unremarkable... People like von Aldoni and the handsome old man Adrian, who had obvious features, would easily be recognized as wanted criminals in many countries when they went out.
The person sitting next to Alman is naturally his senior disciple Adam... This young man helped Fire City to go to the underground world as a spy for several years to dig out the dark elves' mineral veins and was "liberated" early. This time he can leave with Alman and run towards freedom. His smile is so bright.
Aisha, who was sitting alone on the other side, was having a miserable time. His teacher Aldoni was still busy at the construction site of the Grand Canal, and he himself was still studying... plus he was taking care of the children of the grassland people, so he was still a long way from freedom.
Beside Xiao Yun, Mr. Sean, who had obvious characteristics of an undead creature, listened to Alman and Adrian's "work progress report" while nodding with a smile and praising them repeatedly: "Not bad, not bad, very good, very good... You actually recruited all the people from the Dustwallow Swamp? This is really great. It's one of the poorest places in Kronin. They are used to life in your territory and will never betray you!"
The handsome old man Adrian touched his neatly trimmed gentleman's beard sheepishly: "We used to ignore the people at the bottom too much. We didn't think that they had the power to promote social change. We went the wrong way. Fortunately, we have received guidance from Mr. Ayun and Mr. Sean. Otherwise, we don't know how long we will continue to make mistakes."
Mr. Sean and Adrian's teacher are of the same generation, so Adrian must use respectful titles when speaking to Mr. Sean...even though he looks much older than Sean.
Xiao Yun was also quite satisfied with the spellcasters of "J". To be honest, if he only paid half the attention to Laura and Isaac, the two disciples who joined later, as he did to the rest of the clan, then his attention to people like "J" would be at most only 10% of what he paid to the rest of the clan...
Anyone who can become a spellcaster through traditional means (rather than taking shortcuts like the current cat magicians) must be an outstanding person in terms of receptiveness, comprehension, and brainpower~!
"An earldom with an additional population of 100,000 in two years would certainly be very conspicuous in other places, but it is not a problem in a populous country like Kroning." Xiao Yun said with a smile, "You helped the nearby lords to accept a large number of landless peasants. These neighbors may even thank you."
Alman, Adrian, and Mr. Sean all laughed heartily at the same time.
The expressionless Vengeance Moon, who always looked like an outsider, listened to this silently and suddenly interrupted: "There are so many landless farmers in Kroning. Could it be related to agricultural machinery?"
This guy is indeed the king of the cold silence, as soon as he opened his mouth, the atmosphere in the room immediately became cold...
The corners of Alman's mouth twitched slightly, Adrian's expression was stiff, and Mr. Sean was speechless.
After all, they had been together for several years. No matter how much Xiao Yun couldn't understand Hodgson's emotions at first, he now had a better idea of his mood. He knew that this guy with a stern face was not angry, but was simply bringing up an issue that concerned him...
Sighing, Xiao Yun shook his head and said, "The agricultural machinery smelting and forging technology and drawings we published in the "Travels of the Continent" are tailor-made for the Orcs. As you all know, if I don't find ways to cause as much trouble as possible to the Beast King over the years, then the Beast King will come to cause me big trouble."
"We can make agricultural machinery that can be independently operated by female human workers, but we have not thought of publishing it in the "Travels of the Mainland". It is not because we are too proud of it, but because we consider that if we do so, it will not really benefit the agricultural practitioners of the human race." Xiao Yun sighed again, "After listening to our class, everyone knows what productivity is and the law of the contradictory movement between productivity and production relations."
"Correct production relations will promote the development of productivity and continuously expand its scale of existence. Incorrect production relations will hinder the development of productivity and continuously reduce its scale of existence until it completely disappears." After a pause, Xiao Yun's expression became a little grim. "The social structure of the human race is the same as that of the Orc Empire. There is an error in the distribution of the ownership of the means of production. People who have the conditions to make their own agricultural machinery and monopolize the means of production, when the productivity tends to belong to such a means of production monopolist... then this kind of productivity will be harmful to society."
"This theory is the reality of Kroning today. The nobles who have enough cattle and horses or manpower to pull their own farm machinery (including buying tractors produced in the grasslands, cough cough) and can use the same number of serfs and hired farmers to cultivate several times more land than before will inevitably plunder the land of ordinary freemen! Because it takes time and manpower to open up new land. Even if we grassland people have pesticides and fertilizers, it takes one to two years to turn the newly opened land into mature land. Why should the nobles who have the monopoly qualification be willing to spend such unnecessary extra costs?"
Hodgson stared at Xiao Yun. After a moment's silence, he said in a chilly tone with a hint of disbelief: "Just promoting agricultural machinery can shake the status of the Kroning royal family?"
Revenge Moon had not taken the same courses as the members of "J". He only relied on his own understanding of the development of Fire City and his observation of "J's" work results to figure out this logic in a short period of time... This guy was able to stand out from a group of talented spellcasters, and it was not in vain.
Alman and Adrian, who couldn't figure out what Hodgson's attitude was, felt their scalps tingling instantly, and couldn't help but observe his expression... Of course, they couldn't see anything.
Xiao Yun was not intimidated by Hodgson's gloomy face. He even smiled and nodded: "In theory, yes. But it depends on whether the competitors of the Kroning royal family are strong enough."
The Moon of Vengeance is silent again...
During the few seconds of silence, Alman and Adrian felt like every second counted...
Hodgson carefully compared "J"'s rule over the earldom with the rule of the Kroning royal family to see which one was more in line with his aesthetic taste. He turned his head to look at Alman and nodded his chin slightly: "I believe in you, Alman."
Alman, who also had some friendship with Hodgson, smiled awkwardly but politely and nodded... So you guys support our "J"? Why didn't we know this before? !
Xiao Yun was not surprised at Revenge Moon's attitude. This guy was actually no different from Mr. Sean in essence. Both were spellcasters who had transcended vulgar interests and had aspirations. The only difference was that Mr. Sean was keen on getting out on the field, while Hodgson was more aloof and would only quietly do what he could. Before coming to the grassland, this guy had even studied on his own how to improve orc farm machinery into human farm machinery.
At this moment, young Aisha suddenly thought of something and spoke with a strange look on his face: "If that's the case... Ah Yun, promoting agricultural machinery in the Far East seems to be more than just causing trouble for the Beast King, right? Unbalanced ownership of the means of production will cause problems. If the Beast King falls one day, won't the Far East orcs and their clan leaders, elders, generals, etc. be in opposition again?"
Everyone in the room instantly focused their attention on this overly young guy.
Mr. Sean had a look of pity on his face. Brothers Alman and Adrian didn't know what to say when they looked at their good friend Aldoni's favorite disciple.
Adam was also very young, not as steady as the others, and he gloated, "You are so smart, Aisha, you are the only one who can say such a thing (to commit such a death)."
Aisha's pupils shrank and she raised her hands to cover .
Xiao Yun looked at him with a smile, his expression was particularly kind...
"I, I...just pretend that I didn't say anything just now, okay?" Aisha said humbly.
