The sailboat's experience on the sea was definitely not comfortable. Moreover, there were no big waves or storms. If there were any random waves, who knew how dizzy a certain someone would be. Speaking of which, the four horses on the boat were more adaptable than a certain someone.
Fortunately, the journey wasn't long. In just a little over a day, the boat saw the estuary of the Po River and smoothly sailed in. According to the captain, there were many pirates in the Po River in the early days of his voyage. Most of them were soldiers from the Merfolk Kingdom.
Ever since a King-level marine magical beast appeared nearby, it wasn't a white whale. It could fly and knew magic. When it bit into the merfolk, it was crispy and fragrant. Only then did the merfolk stop. Without the merfolk as the main force, the human pirates couldn't fish in troubled waters and quickly declined. This was when a new golden era came.
On the other hand, the Weida military nation wanted to extend their territory here and built a city. Unfortunately, before the city could be built, it was destroyed by the white whale. After a few rounds, the military nation gave up on the idea of building a city here and guarding the estuary. The military that could build an empire on land was helpless against the overlords of the sea.
The reason why a certain someone chose the sea route instead of the land route was because the military nation had a very old-fashioned concept of territory. Foreigners without a household register were directly equated to criminals. However, the Po River was one of the most important economic lifelines of the military nation. The cities along the river all prospered because of trade, so they were more tolerant of foreigners.
On one hand, it was because there were very few cities along the river that had a single ruler. Most of the nearby nobles and lords jointly invested in the construction of river port cities for the convenience of trade. Under this kind of system, the nobles didn't dare to go overboard. Naturally, they could only use conciliatory methods to win more supporters for themselves.
However, the reason why they didn't dare to go overboard was because the military nation of the Jun Nation had always considered the simplest and most violent method to deal with the situation. The reason was that the central government's control over the various regions was extremely important.
Simply put, if there wasn't a reason to convince the central government, even if you beat up your neighbors until their mothers couldn't recognize you, you could take over all the territory and benefits. There was a saying in the central government, "Return it. You have to spit out everything you have eaten. Otherwise, it will be your mother's turn to not recognize you." It was the most basic duty of a military aristocrat to protect their vassal's fief.
It was precisely this attitude that allowed Weida to maintain a semblance of peace and harmony within the country. In private, of course, he would use all kinds of methods to beat people's brains to a pulp. Even if he suffered a great loss, he could only grit his teeth and stand at attention.
This was even more true in the port cities along the Po River. The nobles and lords who were in charge of the joint management kept to their original share of power. This was something that had been registered with the central government of the empire. It wasn't something that could be bought and sold just because one wanted to. If he wanted to expand his influence, it was only possible to win the support of more people.
It was precisely this rule that was established a hundred years ago that caused some conservative traditional forces within the Jun Nation to mock that the country should be renamed from the 'Jun Nation' to the 'Shang Nation'. If they didn't rely on their fists to determine victory or defeat, and only relied on their mouths, what kind of people were they?
In fact, for a certain someone, after reading the history of his hometown and a bunch of discussions, he could roughly understand the helplessness of the Weida Emperor. Since one or two hundred years ago, the large-scale wars in various parts of the mysterious land had gradually subsided. Other than the northeastern continent, there were only small-scale conflicts at the borders.
Without external pressure, if internal disputes were allowed to be resolved by force, it would sooner or later develop into a large-scale civil war. The casualties of civil war were secondary to the ruler of the empire. The most important thing was that if the weakening of the country caused external covetous eyes, it might evolve into a long and time-consuming battle of life and death.
The conflict between the lords near the Golden Water Route and the inland could even be felt by an outsider like him, who only knew about it from the forum. In a certain someone's view, Weida was like a pressure cooker with a lid covered, walking on the critical point of change. Either it exploded and blew everyone to the sky, or it smoothly changed and everyone was happy.
And this situation affected the evaluation of the current emperor: 'the most incompetent emperor in history', 'a coward who doesn't know how to fight', 'a coward who wears the imperial crown'. All kinds of undisguised vicious criticism were thrown at the emperor's face, showing how fierce the nobles of this country were, and how soft the old emperor's body was.
He could cover the lid, dared to cover the lid, and was not afraid that the moment the lid was opened, he would be in a situation where his body would be smashed to pieces. He would not choose to stand on a certain side and have a hearty war. This kind of person was not considered smart, and Lin didn't know what kind of person could be considered smart.
But after being scolded so badly, the emperor still had to grit his teeth and sit down. This kind of helplessness, it was no wonder that a certain someone kept a respectful distance from power.
In the first river port city on the Bo River, the Golden Water Route, everyone prepared to change boats. For everyone, a sailboat was not very comfortable to sit on, and on the other hand, sailboats were not very popular on the inland river.
Shallow draft, small cargo capacity, and the need for more manpower were the shortcomings of the business. Although sailboats were flexible, they took up a lot of space on the river, which was a practical disadvantage. And because sailboats were flexible and had enough manpower, people who used these boats mostly did some unspeakable things, such as pirates, smugglers, and so on, so they were not popular.
With all that said, even the stupidest person would understand some things. So Lin generously paid the boat fare and waited in this river port city.
Uzov and his companions also stayed behind. It seemed that this group of people was determined to stay. But they were not like the four dwarves, who ate and took for free. They just 'happened' to be on the same road, 'happened' to be living together, and 'happened' to be at the same table. With so many 'coincidences', a certain someone was speechless.
But with this group of people, traveling was a lot more convenient. Almost all of them were citizens of the Kingdom of Weida, and a few of them were even descendants of nobles. With this kind of status, in the cities along the Golden Water Route, they would more or less be treated with courtesy. As for who to find in each city and what to do, they also had connections.
At least they knew that on the Golden Water Route, there were specialized passenger ships that traveled back and forth, and there were different degrees of comfort. To buy a first-class ticket on a large ship, and at the same time have a lot of belongings with you, without any connections and with the right connections, there was nowhere to spend money even if you wanted to, so you could only squeeze into a large cabin with the average person. Fortunately, there were people who helped take care of these troubles.
Because there were not many luxurious ships, the sailing time was limited, and the nearest ship had to wait for a few days. But a certain someone was not in a hurry, so he stayed in the first river port city he encountered on the Golden Water Route, to see how prosperous the real bustling area of the maze world was.
The river port city closest to the estuary on the Po River was the most special of all the cities on the Golden Water Route. Unlike the other cities built by the nobles of the Kingdom of Weida, this was a river port city built around a Magic Tower.
This was once the frontline of the human resistance against the Merfolk Kingdom. The three-story tower was not the highest level in the Magic Tower sequence, but this tower seemed to have put all its skill points into water-related magic, all kinds of control, attack, and temperature changes. For hundreds of years, the Merfolk were unable to take a step forward.
The terrified Merfolk called this place "Jasfan," which in the Merfolk language meant "Lord of Water." This name also replaced the original name of the Magic Tower and became well known to everyone. When the people gathered here and received protection, they built a town and a port, and "Jasfan" also became the name of the town, which was still used to this day.
Because the Magic Tower could not be inherited as private property, the Jasfan Tower became the most important Magic Tower in the Society of Sorcerers in the Portland district, second only to the headquarters of the district branch. Because it managed a river port city, the tower master did not have to do anything, and just collected taxes to make his magic research not scarce.
However, because this place was quite special, although the successor of the Magic Tower was appointed by the Society of Magic, the city council of Jasfan had the right to veto. If a certain Mage was rejected by the city council, the Society could only choose another suitable person. However, the city council only had this right to the successor after the death of the original tower master, and they did not have the right to expel the tower master.
… In reality, they did not dare to. Within the attack range of the Magic Tower, provoking the tower master was definitely a sign of a death wish. When a Mage went crazy, he would not care about how many people he killed, not to mention that the Magic Tower was a fortress weapon specially used to carry out mass killings.
The right of the district to approve the successor of the Magic Tower was not unique in Jasfan. As long as a Magic Tower was built in the capital of a country, whether the king or the emperor, of course, would not allow a Mage from a hostile or unfriendly force to enter. This was no different from exposing one's weakness to the enemy.
Therefore, generally speaking, to be able to inherit the Magic Tower in the city, the successor would more or less have some relationship with the local Mage, or even be a direct Mage cultivated by some country. The advantage of this was that the city could continue its original vitality, and a good situation would not be ruined because of a Mage who did not know anything and became the tower master.
It was also because of this succession requirement that a large number of Mages, who wanted to kill the current tower master and then enter the Jasfan Tower, gathered here. Whether it was living or being employed by a local powerful organization, they built their own reputation and credibility. Such a special atmosphere had become a unique scenery of this type of city.
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