Volume 6: Helping the World Chapter 168 The Sage Who Was Ignored
Elliot Palace is the smallest country and the only city-state in the southeastern region of the Southern Continent.
City-state, a city-state, if compared to the one on Earth, it is similar to Singapore... ahem.
Being able to establish a country with an independent town, Elliot Palace is naturally special. This city-state is located at the junction of the southeastern and central regions of the southern continent. Although it does not have a coastline, it is the core of land transportation. Whether it is from the central region to the southeast, or from the southeast to the south, Elliot Palace is an extremely suitable transit station. The premise for creating such a grand hub of land transportation is that the royal family of Elliot Palace is not greedy enough...
Judging from the open policies of this city-state and the economic vitality that can be seen in the city, Elliot Palace is indeed one of the few countries in the human kingdom that is not overly greedy and has a relatively open-minded atmosphere: there is no head tax and no city income tax. In addition, there are no miscellaneous taxes that exist in other countries, including marriage tax, cattle and horse tax, water tax, road use tax, etc. There are no absurd rules such as no ownerless aliens can take it by themselves, and goods that fall on the ground belong to the king (lord).
"Everyone, tell me, if Elliot Palace doesn't collect this tax or that tax, will the royal family be so poor that they have to live on their underwear?" While waiting in line to leave the city, Xiao Yun analyzed the policies of Elliot Palace that could be obtained through public channels with his clansmen, and asked the question with a smile at the end.
“…” Harris, the snake walker, looked back at him silently.
"Of course not." The grassroots chief shook his head.
"Oh, why not?" Xiao Yun looked at her encouragingly.
The Grassroots Chief pointed to the crowd of people who had just entered the city on the other side of the street and said, "It's the same principle as Valentine's. People don't have to pay to enter the city, but goods do. While we were queuing here, several caravans passed by. Merchants from neighboring countries all transited through here. Even if they only collected a very low tax on goods, it would still be a very large amount."
"Yes, that's right, the Grassroots Chief is right." Xiao Yun generously gave a thumbs up, "Anything else, does anyone want to add?"
"There is also commercial tax." Chief Ali calmly raised the local pancake he had just bought on the roadside. "The higher the flow of people, the more things the locals can sell. Outsiders have to spend money on food and accommodation, and the money they spend is earned by the locals. The king only needs to collect a certain amount of commercial tax from the locals, which is much more than the head tax and the city entry tax combined."
"Yes." Xiao Yun clapped his hands. "Just like Ananas accepts adventurers, it doesn't ask them to pay city taxes. It's really stupid to keep away customers who spend money just for such a small amount of money. Popularity is wealth. As long as you can gather popularity, money will also roll in. Whether it's the people working or the consumers passing by, a place can only develop if there is enough popularity."
"Eh? The underground city is going to collect city taxes?" Mumu said with blinking eyes.
"That's because the dark elves make money from monopoly. Whether going to the underground world for adventure, travel or business, outsiders only have one choice, the dungeon. If you refuse to go to the dungeon, then you have no place to buy the goods you bring, and you can't get supplies." Xiao Yun looked at Mumu with appreciation. Working in a different place is the most challenging. Even Mumu knows how to think about problems.
"Elliot Palace has a good geographical location and is very suitable as a land transportation hub. But after all, the caravans from neighboring countries do not have no choice but to go through Elliot Palace. If they are willing to take a detour, they can take other routes. Because the policies of Elliot Palace are better, people are more willing to choose the nearby one." Xiao Yun explained the reasoning in detail and patiently to everyone, "By the same token, if there is another underground city in the underground world and the dark elves cannot monopolize it, then in order to ensure that the flow of people does not leave, the dark elves will also consider reducing or even canceling the city entry tax, and the transaction tax will also be appropriately adjusted."
"Oh oh——" Everyone nodded.
"It's easy to make money from monopoly, but is monopoly really a good thing? Let's think about this question seriously." Xiao Yun said with a smile.
"..." Harris, the snake walker, hesitated to speak.
"Hmm... I don't know." The grassroots chief thought about it and couldn't figure it out.
Xiao Yun nodded and explained in detail: "First, we must reach a consensus that monopolizing a certain field or project will have costs. For example, if the dark elves monopolize the underground city, then they must ensure that no other forces can gain a foothold in the underground world. When the dwarf kingdom enters the underground world and tries to mine mineral veins, even if the dwarf king guarantees that they will only mine and not build cities, the dark elves will never allow the dwarves to operate in the underground world."
"It's not that the dark elves are warlike, but they know that the desires of any intelligent creature are always growing. At the beginning, the Dwarf King only wanted to mine, but what about later? What happens after the Dwarf Kingdom has entered the underground world for a few years, a dozen years, or even decades? Will the Dwarf King's ideas never change?" Xiao Yun spread his hands, "The dark elves will definitely not gamble on whether others' greed will grow. In order to ensure their monopoly, war is their only choice."
"Yeah, yeah!" Everyone nodded again.
"In addition to the cost of monopoly, the most important issue is whether the team will become rigid and degenerate after losing the stimulation of competition." Xiao Yun raised a finger. "There is only one underground city, and there is only one ruling team and management team to manage the city. This management team has no competitors. When the management of the underground city evolves into a set of inertial rules, the management team only needs to perform management tasks step by step. Without additional challenges, there is no motivation for progress."
"..." Harris, a snake walker, silently turned his head to look at the front of the team. Several people from the caravan in front of them came over to eavesdrop, and the man with a mustache standing in front of him almost put his face close to him.
"I've told you countless times that any intelligent creature is lazy, and everyone's dream is to get something for nothing. When one's position is particularly stable, no one will be stupid enough to work diligently. This is one thing." After a pause, Xiao Yun continued, "The second thing is that team work without competitive stimulation is just repetitive and monotonous management tasks. They must find a place to vent their excess energy. So where should they vent it? Without enemies, of course they can only fight among themselves, personnel struggles, power struggles, whichever one is good for them."
After everyone digested the content, Xiao Yun smiled and said, "Even Thrall can easily push down a hollow tree. We can all imagine how much effect a team with internal strife can have. What's worse is that this kind of internal strife is difficult to see from the surface, because this management team has no competitors. There is no reference for whether the team is doing a good job, whether they are competent or not, and the financial income level of the dungeon. The mistress at the top doesn't know whether the middle level is doing a good job, and the civilians at the bottom have no way to communicate with the mistress if they are dissatisfied, because the middle level will know how to whitewash the situation even if they are fighting internally. After a long time, everyone, tell me, will there be problems?"
"Uh..." Mumu turned to look at Xia. Xia hesitated, then mustered up his courage and said, "It should... have been paid. During the time when Mumu and I opened a shop in the dungeon, we changed three tax collectors in the Anqiluo neighborhood alone."
"Anqiluo is the mistress's right-hand man, and she can decide the tax rate on her territory. But even so, there are still people who want to get their hands on Anqiluo's money. Everyone can imagine what the situation is like." Xiao Yun nodded, "Take our own people as an example. For example, if there is no Elf Harbor Food Store run by Ashu for comparison, it will be difficult for us to figure out whether Mumu and Xia are working hard and whether the monthly consumption of ingredients meets the daily operating needs of the store. If Mumu and Xia want to be lazy, open for three days and close for two days, or embezzle the daily cash flow of the tribe, we have no idea."
"Xia and I never did that!" Mu Mu glared.
"It's just an analogy, don't get excited." Xiao Yun said with a smile, "Let's go back to the previous question. Is monopoly good or not? Just look at the dark elves operating the dungeon for thousands of years and we will know the answer to this question. However, no matter how good something is, it must have its bad side. So in order to eliminate the negative impact of monopolizing a certain industry on our own team, we can choose this way: while maintaining external monopoly, establish an internal competitive incentive system. For example, we don't just open one food store. If the dark elves spare some manpower to build another dungeon, there is plenty of space in the underground world anyway, right? Two dungeons belonging to the dark elves, one in the south and one in the north, compete at the same time. Which city can attract more adventurers, which city's fiscal revenue can reach new highs, and how capable the management team is, the difference is obvious."
"Yeah, yeah!" Everyone nodded again like chicks pecking at rice.
"That makes sense, Ayun, how come what you said makes so much sense?" Primo's eyes lit up. He used to dislike listening to big truths, but when Ayun educated the tribesmen, he always made complicated truths easy to understand and clear, so that even this traveler who was most impatient with struggles listened to him.
"Then Ayun, is our tribe going to do this in the future? Have two groups of people do all the work?" The grassroots chief not only understood, but also understood the implication of Xiao Yun's words.
"This is inevitable. If you want a project to run well and without mistakes, then no matter whether you can monopolize it externally or not, there must be healthy competition stimulation internally." Xiao Yun nodded vigorously. "Chief Caogen, you were in charge of earthworm farming before. If we were not so short of manpower at that time and could spare some manpower, then let Chief A Li also take charge of the earthworm farming of another group. With these two groups of comparisons, wouldn't you have a more intuitive understanding of the results of your labor? You can also communicate with Chief A Li to learn from each other about where to start to improve the work process and increase production, instead of racking your brains on your own."
"Yes, yes, yes!" The tribesmen who followed out were all independent managers, and they could especially understand Xiao Yun's additional explanation. Even Dahe, who was unreliable, couldn't help but nod in agreement.
Xiao Yun was very satisfied with everyone's reaction. He encouraged everyone to discuss the pros and cons with each other and took out their water bags to drink water. With more people, the production structure of the tribe must be adjusted accordingly, and this adjustment must not affect the emotions of the "elderly" and must also have the significance of guiding the people upward, so education work must be put in the forefront.
It is said that good communication is half of success. In the modern army, even soldiers need to know why they are fighting. Education of management cannot be neglected.
Seeing that Xiao Yun had finally finished speaking, Harris took a breath silently and stared at the eavesdropper who was almost face to face with him with the coldest eyes.
In the caravan ahead of them, several well-dressed people were trying to make friends with this group of foreigners, especially the extremely smart young man. However, after being stared at by the snake walker, they smiled awkwardly and retreated...
After scaring away those who wanted to strike up a conversation, Harris let out a long breath and looked back with great distress at the giggling aliens, especially the snow wolf cub who really didn't insult the name of the sage at all.
Elliot Palace has a small land area, and the only arable land can only guarantee self-sufficiency in staple food. Although the climate is suitable, it is no exaggeration to say that the ginger slices used for cooking soup have to be imported from Holmes...
Last year, Ayun, a sage of the Snow Wolf tribe, published in his travel notes methods of improving mountain terraces, using water wheels to divert water, and using earthworm soil to increase production. In addition to the extremely courageous Dwarf King and Saint Bridger, Elliot Palace was the third country where the royal family promoted agricultural reforms - the mountains around the city were transformed into many dry lands according to the direction of the mountains, and a good harvest was obtained in the autumn.
Given the contribution of this sage to the Elliot Palace, it stands to reason that Ayun should have received royal treatment after arriving at the Elliot Palace. For example, the human sage Xavier has been living in the palace for a long time. Unfortunately, Ayun was just a sage from the Snow Wolf tribe who was exiled by the Beast King. This unpresentable identity made the Elliot royal family hesitant. After the association reported the news, there was no response at all...
Fortunately, these snow wolves were in a hurry to get on their way, otherwise the association would be in a real dilemma - the big guys at the headquarters were even ashamed to visit this sage.
If Harris was from another tribe, it would be fine, but Harris was also an orc. He was extremely emotional at the moment when he accepted the task of serving as a guide for the Snow Wolf Tribe... There was no grand welcome, no royal courtesy, the Snow Wolf Tribe sage came and went in a hurry, and could only stand on the street to guide the tribe members in the gaps between the queues to leave the city. In the entire Elliot Palace, the only people who could feel the wisdom of this sage were him, a walker from the Snake Tribe, and the small caravan merchants who happened to be in line in front of them.
"Fortunately, fortunately he didn't notice anything." Harris thought with some embarrassment in his heart, "Or maybe... he doesn't care about these."
"Harris?"
Harris suddenly came to his senses after being pushed on the back. He then realized that the caravan in front of him had already moved forward more than ten meters. He quickly raised his feet to catch up and looked back apologetically: "Sorry, I was distracted."
"Oh, I thought you were hungry." Xiao Yun chewed the baked cake bought by Chief A Li and said nonchalantly, "Do you want to eat this? The things baked by the locals are quite flavorful."
"…No, thank you."
"This stuff is too dry... Balk, get me a can." Xiao Yun shouted behind him.
"Wait, there are so many things stuffed in there. I need to look for them." Balk put his hand on the space ring and concentrated on sensing the storage in the ring.
"I told you to keep it tidy at all times, but you only stuffed so much stuff in there and yet this is it." Xiao Yun said dissatisfiedly.
"It won't be much easier to organize it. This isn't a bracelet like the forest elves that spent all their efforts to buy, and there's not much space in the ring."
"You are such a lousy person!"
"Hey! Even if it's just a space ring, it's worth a gold mine!"
"I remember I still had half a can..." The grassroots chief sandwiched between the two people reached into his backpack, "Hey, why is it empty?"
" I ate it." Ashan raised his hand honestly.
“…”
The goods that the group carried were all placed in Balk's ring, and the goods tax could not be taxed on the space props. They left the city without any trouble, and the roads were divided into several major roads, and the pedestrians on the road were finally not as crowded as before.
"Let's hurry up and try to get into Holmes to spend the night." Xiao Yun reached out to unbutton his clothes. "Uncle Ashan, you and I will carry the people first. Primo, tie that guy up tighter."
"Don't worry, the way I tie him up, this guy can't escape." Primo pulled the rope confidently. At the other end of the rope, tied up was the half-dead Viscount Colbert... Considering that it would be troublesome to take him on the road, he left the henchmen to Leo and only brought this noble out.
Harris understood what Xiao Yun meant by "载" and was a little stunned.
Then the two werewolves took off their clothes and transformed into giant wolves...
"Primo, you take that nobleman to sit on my side. Grassroots chief, you come sit on my side." Xiao Yun arranged for everyone to split into two groups and climb onto his and Uncle Ashan's backs respectively. "Harris, you also come up so you can show the way."
Harris: “Uh…”
"Don't worry, I'm more stable when I run." Xiao Yun said. The older grassroots chiefs didn't let them sit with Uncle Ashan, lest Ashan forget that he was carrying someone when he was running happily.
It’s not a question of stability or not!
Harris hesitated for a while, but when he saw that no one else cared whether the person carrying the load was the sage Ayun, he climbed up reluctantly.
"It's too crowded to sit like this. I might as well turn into a wolf and run away by myself." Mumu said uncomfortably.
"No!" Xiao Yun immediately turned around and shouted, "Sit still and wait for the next batch to take your turn." There were so many people coming and going on the road, how could it look like for a grown woman to take off her clothes in the street!
How many people stopped to watch the transformation of the living wolf!
Mumu had no choice but to pout and look at Qingyan who was sitting in front of her. She suddenly reached out and… picked him up and placed him horizontally on her thighs: “Aha, it won’t be too crowded this way!”
Qingyan: “???”
Xiao Yun: “…” Although it’s still quite unsightly… at least it’s better than letting her expose her butt in public, so she’ll just have to endure it.
Rosemary, who was sitting on Ashan’s back: “…” She turned around and looked at Dahe seriously, “If you feel it’s too crowded, just tell me and I’ll squeeze forward. Don’t do what Mumu did.”
"Huh?" Dahe had an expression that said how stupid you must be. "I won't do it. My hands will be so tired." As he said that, he leaned back lazily and put his weight on Chief Ali without any hesitation.
Chief Ali looked disgusted.
Rosemary: “…” I feel like I’ve lost to Taiga in some way…
The two giant wolves started running and soon left behind the caravan that had just lined up to leave the city gate.
After they ran away, the caravan that had not had a chance to talk to them before finally sighed boldly:
"It's really big. It can carry several people and run so fast. No wonder every knight wants to find a Snow Wolf companion. Even I want to have such a mount... a friend!"
"Hahaha... forget it. You can't even buy one on the black market for a thousand gold coins."
"Just talking - by the way, the young man from the Snow Wolf tribe was called Ayun. Could he be the Ayun from the Snow Wolf tribe who wrote the travelogue?"
"How is that possible? Ayun from the Snow Wolf Clan must be a sage like Xavier. If he really came to Elliot Palace, he would have been invited to the palace as a guest long ago."
"That's true... If it was Ayun from the Snow Wolf Clan, he wouldn't have used his original form to carry people."
Harris, who was sitting stiffly at the base of Xiao Yun's neck , was a little nervous at first, but soon his tense nerves relaxed. It's no wonder that Ayun ran really steadily, even more steadily than riding a horse...
Realizing that his thoughts were impolite, Harris quickly shook his head and sat down seriously.
Gradually, Harris began to feel uneasy again - mainly because this place was quite close to Elliot Palace, and pedestrians could be seen from time to time on the road. The two huge white wolves running by were too conspicuous. Even though Ayun and Ashan ran along the side of the road and tried to avoid passers-by, they could always hear loud shouting from behind after they ran by...
Harris' heart trembled, he realized that he had overlooked a very important issue - mainly because Xiao Yun's attitude of becoming a wolf-carrier was too natural, even Harris was affected by his self-righteous attitude!
That's right, there are many orcs making a living in the human kingdom, but no matter which race they are, they basically won't show their true form like the Snow Wolves... For example, Harris, he couldn't remember how long it had been since he last showed his snake form.
"Oh no... The Snow Wolf Tribe hasn't left the cursed land for too long. How could I forget to remind them?" Harris was annoyed...
Elliot Palace was a very small country. Xiao Yun and Ashan ran for several hours and bypassed several mountain ranges, and they had almost covered most of the country. Xiao Yun, who was beginning to pant, found a place with a relatively flat road to stop and change people to be the vehicle. Harris saw that it was an opportunity, jumped off the wolf and urged: "Mr. Ayun, we can reach Holmes in another two hours . What do you think, should we just walk there?"
Xiao Yun paused while putting on his clothes, raised his head and observed the other party's expression: "Why is it that Holmes is not very friendly to us orcs?"
"Well..." Harris was a little at a loss for words, "Actually... we beastmen who make a living in the human kingdom don't really like being seen in beast form."
"Eh? Do you mean you never transform? That would be so uncomfortable?" Mumu, who was about to take off his clothes, asked curiously.
"Actually... there's no problem if you get used to it." Harris said reluctantly.
Xiao Yun understood: "Harris, it's not that you don't like being seen in beast form, it's that humans will make a fuss, and think that the beastmen are indeed aliens when they see them, is that right?"
Harris remained silent. He sneered while holding Primo, who was carrying Corbett, and said, "Why bother with that? Some ignorant villagers in some places would even make up the minotaur into a monster that eats children."
Xiao Yun thought for a moment and said, "I don't think the beast forms of the orcs are shameful or embarrassing. We, the Snow Wolf Clan, can rapidly expand agricultural production precisely because we can cultivate land more efficiently in wolf form. But now that we have come to the land of the human kingdom, no matter how proud we are of our own race, it is proper etiquette to follow the local customs. After all, we are not here to cause trouble, but to visit our friends' homes. What do you think?"
Xiao Yun was always very reasonable, and everyone could listen to his reasonable words. Mumu, who was about to relax, put on his clothes regretfully. Chief Ali also cleverly took Viscount Colbert and carried him on his shoulders... It was not that Primo couldn't carry him, but Primo was not very tall and it was not easy for him to walk with him on his shoulders.
Before coming here, Xiao Yun also considered that there might be a need to hide his identity, so he took out the headscarf he had prepared in advance - uh, yes, it was the kind of headscarf that farmers used to cover their heads to protect them from dust and sweat. Although it looked rustic, it was also very practical...
He wrapped his hair and ears with a headscarf and continued on his way. He only relied on his two legs, and his speed was much slower than before. Fortunately, there was no burden in the team, and even Shu, who was in the worst condition, could travel quickly. At dusk, the group passed through the valley that served as the border between the two countries and stepped onto the territory of the Kingdom of Holmes.
Only separated by a valley, the territory of the Kingdom of Holmes is visibly much better than that of Elliot Palace - after leaving the valley, the annoying continuous mountain range is interrupted, and all that is in front of you is a vast plain. The occasional mountains are small hills that are far apart. Even so close to the border, you can see harvested farmland.
"The town here has not been involved in the territorial war. Only occasionally will the nobles' army come to resupply." Harris led the way and turned back to explain to Xiao Yun as he walked, "We will spend the night in the town. Tomorrow morning we will go southeast and follow the coastline to St. Bridges. The coastline of Holmes has a poor terrain and there is only one port city. Most areas are relatively safe."
"Sure, we have enough supplies, so it's okay if we don't have supplies for a while." Xiao Yun nodded.
Harris stopped talking and led everyone around the village and headed towards the town.
For the alien races, the villages of the human kingdom are definitely not a good place to rest and replenish supplies... Because the human kingdom generally adopts a closed policy that prohibits population movement, the villagers who basically never leave their homes in their entire lives, and even the country nobles whose activities are limited to the surrounding towns, all regard the alien races as monsters.
The people may be simple and honest, but only locals can "enjoy" it.
When only a trace of sunset light remained in the sky, the group finally saw the buildings on the other side of the horizon.
"I'm hungry. I want to drink hot soup and eat a bowl of hot and sour noodles." Mumu said, sticking out his tongue.
"We'll be fine once we get there. This town specializes in business with travelers and caravans, and there are many nice little courtyards that can be rented out to passers-by." Harris looked relaxed.
"Dahe, make hotpot for dinner tonight!" Ashan's eyes were bright.
"Just hearing you mention this word makes me feel annoyed..." Dahe said expressionlessly.
"Ayun, cook it for me." Ashan turned his head angrily.
"Okay, okay. All is fine." Xiao Yun said, panting.
"I've wanted to say this for a long time. Ayun, are you only nice to me when you're talking to Ashan?" Daha glanced at me.
"Ah, what else?" Xiao Yun glared at him righteously.
"Grassroots chief, chief Ali, look at Ayun!" Daha was angry.
"Hahaha……"
"Don't just laugh! Ayun is so biased!"
Harris was somewhat envious of the harmonious atmosphere among the Snow Werewolves and kept looking back. Suddenly, the expression of this snake walker changed and he raised his hand to make a pause gesture.
Primo, who was originally lagging behind, appeared in the front of the team at some point, startling Harris who was about to open his mouth to remind everyone.
"There are a lot of footsteps... very messy, and the footsteps are erratic. They are not the army, but ordinary people." Primo looked at the woods ahead and said slowly.
Harris: “…” I forgot that this person is the strongest walker.
"Nineteen... twenty-five... thirty-three smells." Ah Shan sniffed, "Two people were bleeding, a lot of blood."
"..." Harris turned his head stiffly and looked at Ashan who had run to the front at some point.
"Could it be a bandit gang or something?" Xiao Yun walked forward curiously.
"It's unlikely so close to town." Harris shook his head.
"Here it comes." Primo said.
After a while, a row of torches appeared at the other end of the woods and slowly walked out of the path.
