As the heavy iron gate slowly rose under the power of the winch, the towering Ansu Royal City opened its doors to the guardians of this kingdom. Under the shade of lead-gray clouds, a team of more than ten carriages and a large number of knights and guards entered the city.

The wheels of the carriage crushed the ancient stone slab road that had been around for hundreds of years. The slightly loose stone trembled slightly. The small stones kept creaking between the wheels and the stone slabs, but the creaking sound did not last long, and were covered up by the sound of flutes and drums suddenly played by the musicians in the team.

Victoria slightly opened the cover on one side of the carriage, and through the narrow gap, she saw that there was an empty street outside - a heavy snow had just visited San Sunil not long ago, and the snow covered the entire city. On this cold and cold day, even the residents of the royal capital would not come out to walk around casually, not to mention that this place is close to the civilian alleys in the outer city: the Duke's sight can only see the white streets and snow-covered roofs. Some areas have been shoveled off, but more places still maintain the appearance of the snow just stopping.

There was a collapsed house in the corner of sight, which seemed to be crushed by snow. Naturally, there were no residents in the ruins of the houses. I don’t know where the people who once lived here moved to - or died.

The sound of flutes and drums were still blowing and playing, echoing alone in this empty street, as if a group of clowns were talking jokes hard on a stage without any audience, funny and weird, but the musicians did not care about these: the music they played was not to attract nearby residents to welcome the nobles, but to allow the soldiers behind the team to quickly form the formation after entering the city, and also to remind passers-by in front (if any) and to make way for the other party to quickly make way.

So it's no big deal to respond if anyone responds.

The cover of the carriage was closed.

The convoy passed through the slums of the South City, through the midtown where citizens lived, and continued to drive towards the Silver Fort. After crossing Iron Cross Street, the monotonous and boring drum sounds from outside finally stopped, and more and more voices came from all directions.

The convoy entered the inner city where the upper class citizens and the little nobles lived. After crossing that street, it finally showed a trace of prosperity as the capital of the kingdom.

The snow on the wide streets had been cleaned up. The wealthy citizens and little nobles in colorful winter clothes had already heard the sound from the city and ran out of their homes to welcome the convoy into the city. The cold north wind and the snowflakes raised in the wind could not extinguish the enthusiasm of these people. They stretched their necks by the roadside and watched the carriages with the Wilder family emblems, royal emblems, and church emblems of the Holy Light were driven by the road, and then cheered and praised, and the winter day catalyzed with magic.

Flowers and colorful silk strips were thrown into the air, falling like colorful flowers and rain. Those who threw flowers and silk all looked forward to the carriage in front of the team to open the windows, and those sitting in the carriage could show up and say hello to them. In the past, the northern duchess and saint princesses lived in castles and cathedrals, and ordinary surplus citizens and little nobles did not have the opportunity to see their faces with their own eyes. At this moment, the convoy passed by the rich area, which was a rare opportunity.

However, today's situation is obviously different. As the crowd was looking forward to it, no carriage opened the cover. The entire team just continued to maintain speed, passing through the crowd without stopping, passing through the entire block outside the Silver Fort, and driving into the castle in the distance...

The Duke of Victoria, wearing a white dress, took her maids and servants through the atrium of the Silver Fort and the corridor of the main fort, and came to the study on the upper floor of the castle. The Grand Duke of Western Front, Bedwin Franklin, was wearing a warm and comfortable silk robe, sitting on the recliner beside the fireplace, and focused on a large book. Seeing the Duke's sudden appearance, the Grand Duke of Western Front was slightly stunned, and then quickly stood up to greet him: "Ah, Duke of Wild - please forgive me for not going to the long hall to greet you. This book is so attractive to me."

Victoria's eyes swept across the cover of the book in Duke Bedwin's hand and saw a bunch of gilded words on it: "The History of the Evolution of Currencies in the Northern Mainland and the Changes of Trade Lines".

The Franklin family is known as "Ansu's wallet". Because it is adjacent to the Ogure tribe state, which has developed trade, all the Western Dukes are proficient in business, and Berdevin Franklin is one of the best. His favorite books are naturally in this field.

But at this moment, after seeing this book, Victoria couldn't help but sigh: "Maybe this trip to the South should be for you to go."

"Oh?" Bedwin Franklin couldn't help but raise his eyebrows: "It seems that this trip is not going well? Our founding hero has made things difficult for you?"

"No, everything goes well, Grand Duke Gowen Cecil is friendly and we have also done a big business-so I said I should let you go."

The duchess' tone seemed as plain as usual, but Bodewen, who had known him for a long time, saw a difficult irritability in the eyes of the "Snow Queen". He put the book in his hand aside and looked serious: "What did you see in the southern border?"

"...a better place than Saint Sunil," Victoria thought about the words and took a long time to say this. Then she shook her head, "I will talk to you in detail about the situation in the southern border. Now let's talk about the results of this trip first."

Berdevin Franklin listened carefully to Victoria's narrative. His brows were sometimes frowned and sometimes stretched, and his fingers unconsciously rubbed a ruby ​​ring on his left hand. Although the Duchess only briefly described the negotiation results of this trip to the south, from the words and phrases between the other party, he could still understand how much the "Queen of the North" in front of him was touched on the mysterious southern land.

This surprised and surprised him - it turned out that there would be something in the world that could shake this frozen lady into this.

"So, Duke Cecil at least acknowledged the crowning of His Highness Wales, nor would he publicly support the Eastern Front... and he also said that he would not use the urgent inheritance rights from seven hundred years ago," Duke Berdevin said slowly until Victoria's story came to an end, "This is better than we expected."

"It's true," Victoria nodded, "in addition, he also agreed to provide paid military assistance to the Kingdom Army-if it was not seen with his own eyes, I would never have believed that the extraordinary armed forces could be mass-produced."

Bodevin developed a strong interest: "What kind of equipment is that? Can there be samples for me to see?"

"He gave me a sword, and several sets of armor and weapons as samples," said Victoria, turning to the attendant standing at the door, "to move the stuff in."

A heavy box was moved into the room, and as a sample of magic armor, melt-cut sword, crystallized grenade and scorching ray emitter were presented before Duke Bedwin's eyes.

"...It is indeed an exquisite weapon." Berdevin Franklin looked at the weapons and equipment made with a hint of admiration, and picked up a melt-cut sword and looked at it carefully in front of him. He activated the magic mechanism of the sword according to Victoria's instructions. With a low buzzing sound, the blade with a thin layer of purple steel coating immediately covered with a scorching magic power field.

"Oh, incredible..." Duke Bedevin opened his eyes slightly, but soon frowned, "its internal magic operation is flawed."

Victoria nodded: "It is true, as I said, its magical mechanism is fragile - according to Duke Cecil, it is to save costs."

Duke Wilder closed the magic mechanism, and as the blade gradually cooled down, his mind also cooled down from the curiosity of seeing new things. After a brief thought, he looked at the Dukewoman: "You just said that every magic mechanism needs a gold coin?"

"That's right."

"...In addition to this weapon called the melt-cut sword, the magic cores of other equipment basically need to be replaced frequently?"

"It's true," Victoria nodded, and said before Berdevin spoke, "No need to remind you - I know it will cost a lot, and although the individual magic core is cheap, it will consume a lot."

Bodevan looked at Victoria quietly, then slowly shook his head: "No, Duke Wilder, you don't know - you underestimated the degree of this 'cost'. In fact, the cost of replacing the Magic Core is the real price of this transaction. Compared with it, the price of these swords and armor is not worth mentioning at all."

"So serious?" Victoria finally had a slight surprise in her eyes.

"Don't question my business mind," said Berdevin Franklin, sighing deeply, "but don't be upset by what I have said - we are facing a conspiracy, we have no choice, and the Duke of Cecil made these conditions only after he calculated this - even if I was there, I had to accept it. And even at such a high price, these weapons and equipment... are worth the money."

"Is it worth the money..." Victoria looked at Duke Bedwin's helpless expression and calmed down again. "In short, first call the mages and scholars, start trying to imitate these weapons, dismantle their magical mechanisms, and figure out how these things work."

"Of course, we must understand these things," said Bedevin in a deep voice, with a feeling in his tone, "It's really... I've taught a lesson. It turns out that business can still be done like this?"

"We're probably going to have more classes this time," Victoria glanced at the Duke of Westward, who was in a state of emotion, with a hint of complexity in her tone. "After seeing the way the Cecils survived, I realized one thing: Ansu probably hasn't made any progress at all in these seven hundred years of peacetime days - we are too far behind compared to our ancestors."

"Oh?" Bodewen's tone rose, showing a curious look, "Tell me in detail..."

Victoria pondered for a moment and organized the language: "Then we must start with their Government Affairs Office..."

...

"The Cecils' business is very advanced. What we see at the Cod Trading Company is only a small part of their business wisdom," Belk Loren stood in the long hall of Solinburg, saying to his father and Prince Edmund, who had investigated in the southern border. "I found a way to contact a large number of merchants there, and also contacted their 'government office' as merchants, and their large number of approvals and management processes. I found that they had very strict business monitoring - the level of rigor was shocking, which was completely different from the impression we had when we first heard the various new business opening policies of the Principal of Cecil."

Silas Loren listened to his son's reward, and his eyes occasionally fell on Prince Edmund, who was sitting on the top of the head. The young prince had already lost all his tenderness. He was wearing a black steel light armor and a wolf-skin cloak on his shoulders. His face was less youthful and more wind and frost. He sat upright in the main seat of the castle, and seemed attentive when listening to Belk's report, and he looked thoughtful from time to time.

Below the steps of the seat, Belk Loren is still talking: "Their business is indeed open, but it is an openness under precise control, which explains why their chambers of commerce and emerging ‘companies’ can operate at such high efficiency, and there are few mistakes...

"With the operation of the 'factory', Cecil's material output was amazingly high, and there were a large number of things to be sold as goods, which gave birth to many merchants specializing in the wholesale and transportation of bulk goods, and these merchants transported goods in large quantities to distant places...

"The Duke of Cecil built a large number of roads that connect all the major cities and raw materials and cooperate with the canals. They have a new magical device called the Magic Vehicle, which is an automatic mechanical vehicle...

"In order to manage such a huge and complex system, their government affairs department is divided into multiple departments, each department has clear responsibilities and corresponding regulatory measures, everyone is under supervision, everyone is responsible for supervising others, everyone has clear work and assessment standards - although there are still loopholes that cannot be ruled out, their government affairs department has reached an incredible level in efficiency and management capabilities. I copied their department list and all the rules and regulations that can be seen..."

"It seems that the five-year mining rights of the White Sand Hills are not wasted," Prince Edmund suddenly said on the main seat, "We finally saw something useful."

"Your Highness," said Silas Loren, "Your ideas on the previous new policies are not wrong - Duke Cecil is just one step further in this direction. The experience he has developed is of great significance to us."

"That's right," Prince Edmund nodded, his expression extremely serious, "this experience will make us stronger, and we must become stronger as soon as possible. Our time... is not much."

Yes, there is not much time left.

In the main hall of the castle, everyone understood the profound meaning of Prince Edmund's words.

The Tifeng Empire, which was eyeing the covetous people... has less time left for the Ansu people.
Chapter completed!