It was now June. The northern wasteland was lush and full of life. Northern Town had become even more prosperous. Since the beginning of the month, there had been more caravans coming to Northern Town. Apart from the caravans, there were also many nobles from different countries.
"This is the twentieth noble, right?" a peddler on the street whispered.
"The twenty-first!" a shoemaker who was mending a pair of boots added.
"So many nobles are here to celebrate our lord's founding," the peddler said excitedly. The itinerant man said excitedly, "I really hope more Nobles will come. Then I can earn more money."
"Hey, Jack, you've made about three silver Nars this month, right? Don't be too greedy," the shoemaker said.
"You're talking like you've made less money, Harry," Jack glanced at him and said.
"Hehe!"
"I really want to earn five Gold Nars as soon as possible so that I can have my own piece of land here!" Jack said with a sigh.
"Yes, thanks to our kind lord. Otherwise, we wouldn't be able to save enough money to buy a piece of land," Harry said with a smile. Harry smiled and said, "This month, our Lord is going to officially establish a duchy. May the gods protect our Lord and our country!"
When night fell, Jack walked briskly to the market. Every day, when the market was about to close, he would come here to buy some cheap food. Northern Town had a lot of seafood, so the price was not expensive. Now that the market was about to close, the price was even lower.
A two-pound fish only cost eight copper Nars. When the market was about to close, the price was even lower. If it was a dead fish, it would only cost four copper Nars. Although it was a dead fish, it had been dead for less than a day. His son was lucky. Now, he could eat fish soup every now and then. When he was young, he couldn't even eat enough potatoes, let alone meat soup. It was really a good time.
Jack's house was on the west side of the outer town. It was a small house with two bedrooms and one living room. He lived here with his wife and three children. The house was small and shared a yard with several other families. Outside, there was a drainage ditch. There were three faucets in the yard. There were some empty spaces in the yard for drying clothes. There were also a few chicken cages next to the yard. There were a few hens in the cages. The eggs that the hens laid would be accumulated and sold at the market when there were enough eggs.
As a commoner who had lived here for almost a year, Jack had his own plans. He wasn't like some people who enjoyed a good life and lived a careful life. He planned to work hard to earn money and buy a few acres of land when the price of land in Northern Town was low. Then, when his two sons grew up, his elder son would continue to be a peddler, his younger son would work as a farmer, and his daughter would find a good husband and give them a dowry. This way, their family would be able to take root in Northern Town.
At the thought of this, Jack's heart was burning with passion. He could be considered worthy of his three children. When their grandfather and his father died, not to mention the land, even the house was in ruins. The inheritance that he left for them was already much better than his father's.
When Jack returned home, he found that Hansen's family, who used to live in the same yard, had moved away. Hansen's son, Bernie, had successfully joined the army of Northern Town. His family had also left the commoners' class.
The soldiers in North Town City were paid handsomely, and their families were allowed to have their own houses. It wasn't like the forty-square-meter house he was currently living in, where five or six families were squeezed together. It was a real house with a courtyard.
As long as they became soldiers, they would be treated very well. The army provided food and shelter, and they could eat meat every day. This was something that countless commoners envied. After becoming soldiers, Northern Town would also distribute land. It could be said that as long as they became soldiers, their family wouldn't have to worry about food anymore.
However, it wasn't easy to become a soldier. Every day, they had to undergo cruel training. If they were eliminated during training, they could only become a militia. The treatment of a militia was far worse than that of a soldier.
Jack once wanted to join the army, but he gave up after trying. People died in war. His son wanted to join the army, but Jack didn't agree. Now, he just wanted to live a stable life and make his family better little by little.
Northern Town was under construction every day. Although many places were completed, there were still a lot of empty spaces in the city. These empty spaces would naturally be used for construction in the future. The most important thing in Northern Town now was to prepare for the Lord's founding celebration. The entire Northern Town was busy preparing for this.
For the celebration, every street in the city had to be cleaned. Trees and flowers were planted on both sides of the road. The city was decorated with beautiful flowers.
Perhaps Northern Town wasn't as prosperous as the cities in the Southern Alliance, nor was it as populous as the capital of Florence. However, anyone who came here first felt that everything was solemn and neat. Everything was in order.
The refugees from various countries quickly got used to the order of the city. They accepted their new life and quickly integrated into it. In just over two years, such a magnificent city had appeared in the Northern Wasteland.
The sea breeze from the Eastern Sea brought enough rain to the Northern Wasteland. Many caravans from the Kingdom of Florence came to Northern Town along the road to the Northern Wasteland. Carts of goods were transported to the warehouse by laborers. These were the goods and daily necessities that Northern Town had purchased from various countries.
For example, cloth, oil, slaves, spices, salt, preserved fruits, and enchanted materials. The number of slaves purchased by the Northern Town City had never decreased. The slave trade used to be the Northern Town City's biggest business. The Northern Town City would purchase around two thousand slaves every month, so the population of the Northern Town City had been growing rapidly.
Northern Town also produced salt, but the output was average. The salt produced here was rock salt. It had a high content of impurities, so it needed to be filtered. Salt production also required a lot of people. It couldn't compare to the big salt lakes in other places. Therefore, the salt mines didn't expand their production.
Dark clouds came from the southeast. It could be foreseen that a heavy rain was about to hit. Many merchants were busy packing up. The carriages were stored in special garages. The horses were also driven into the stables. The coolies and porters were shouting to speed up the transportation of goods.
The weather in June was unpredictable. They knew that a storm would come and go as it wished. The merchants moved their goods to their shops. However, the tavern two streets away was still very lively. Because of the prosperous trade in the Northern Wasteland, many mercenaries came here with caravans every year. At the same time, many adventurers used the tavern as a base to explore the Northern Wasteland.
Many adventurers and mercenaries liked to squander the money they earned in a short period of time. Taverns were built one after another in Northern Town. At the same time, some seafood merchants with a keen sense of smell came here to sell abalone.
Although the drinks and food in Northern Town were good, the ratio of men to women in the city was a bit imbalanced. The ratio of men to women in the city was about six to four. This was mainly because Suhlen didn't buy female slaves when he first bought slaves. Although he later plundered a lot of people in the Northern Wasteland and his territory became more populated and alleviated the problem of the ratio of men to women to a certain extent, the number of seafood merchants in the taverns decreased.
Mercenaries and adventurers were willing to spend money. This phenomenon lasted for a month or two. Many seafood merchants heard the news and came to Northern Town. Suhlen didn't stop this situation. After all, these seafood merchants maintained the stability of the society to a certain extent. Otherwise, those mercenaries and adventurers who were bored out of their minds might not take the risk.
There were many civilians in Northern Town. Some of these civilians were craftsmen. After hearing that Northern Town was rich, they came to live here. These civilians rarely left after coming here. This was because they only needed to spend a little money to obtain land here. Moreover, life in Northern Town was stable. There weren't many exorbitant taxes, so they didn't have to worry about the nobles seizing their property.
Compared to other cities, this place was like heaven.
A caravan slowly approached the city gate. The tax officer who was already at the gate walked over quickly with two soldiers.
"Where are you from? What kind of goods are you selling? You have to pay 10% tax to trade here! Also, all goods are not allowed to be traded outside. You have to go to the trading market in the city! "The tax officer walked up and said.
Soon, a man dressed like a manager of the caravan came to negotiate with the tax officer. The tax officer recorded the information while checking the goods for contraband.
After a while, the tax officer finished checking and took out a special piece of paper to record the goods. After confirming the goods, the tax officer asked the merchant to sign. After completing the transaction, the tax officer would give the merchant a token. This was the certificate of permission to trade. Only those who had the token could trade in Northern Town.
Soon, the tax officer finished recording and left. It was going to rain soon. Although he was a tax officer, he didn't collect taxes. He was only responsible for recording the goods of the caravan. He would only collect taxes when the caravan entered the market.
The caravan moved forward again. At this time, a few cloaked figures left the caravan. They nodded at the manager of the caravan and gently knocked on the belly of their horses. They left the caravan and entered the city.
"So this is Northern Town? It's so prosperous in the North! "
"Do you see that tall tower? There are actually wizards building wizard towers in this place. "
"Do you feel it? The concentration of elemental energy here is very high. "
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
