Take Taobao with you to another world

"What are we too?"

"Nothing," said Lord Bosch.

The tall and strong Ackwhite came from behind them almost silently, holding a large plate of food in his hand, each piece was piled up as high as a hill, his steps were very light, but the action of putting the plate on the table was heavy , Ulitan, who was sleepy in the chair, opened his eyes and stared at him unhappily.

"Do you want to die?" Ulitan said.

Akewhite let out a "ha", "Look at your face, which concubine did you hang out with last night?"

Yulitan looked at him like a poisoned knife, and a knife with its sharp point upwards actually appeared on the chair where Ackwhite was about to sit. Ackwhite moved half of his hip horizontally out of thin air, Crashed crookedly, broke it off and threw it back on the table, Greer put away the knife and said, "Okay, you guys didn't come here to fight, did you?"

Arkwhite curled his lips, Ulitan turned his face away, Greer just regarded the matter as over, brought the smallest portion of food to Ulitan, and pushed the largest portion to Ackwhite, Baron Bosch himself Reaching for the breakfast, Yuritan grabbed the spoon with a tired face and stirred it on the plate.

Greer thought he wouldn't eat it, but after Yuritan frowned and took two small bites, he still ate it all.It seemed the food at the Union Tavern passed the test of his picky tongue.

The noisy voices of the tavern surrounded this corner, and no one cared about these passengers. Greer ate in silence. Although his face was not obvious, his mood was really... not very happy.

The people who came down with him this time were all "old friends". Back then, he was captured by the magician and his family, and it was these people who came to redeem him.They haven't met the "magician", but they have met the supreme consul of the alliance region - but it was just a chance encounter.Compared with this dispensable common experience, there was a more direct reason why the few of them reunited for a trip out of the West Continent.

The reason is to let him, who is directly responsible for oversight of the rising "Industrial Alliance" in the Western Regions, and who is not very popular on weekdays, hurry up and take the "marginal nobles" like him away, and go to do whatever he wants to show the prince Your Highness's responsibility for compensation.Of course, if he can find something during this journey that can help solve Sky City's current predicament, that can also be counted as his good fortune.

Greer admitted that for a period of time, he was indeed overwhelmed by the great trust of His Highness Rand. Not only did he take revenge on his father during the war, but he also changed his name through the war and accepted His Royal Highness's canonization with his mother's surname. Although he has won the approval of some deviant people to promote his mother's family with his strength, it has also made the other faction criticize him all the time.And because he was in charge of the ground project for a period of time after the fog closed the country, he had some conflicts with several founders of the ground council over the construction method and progress of the project. Even though he later reflected on his lack of experience and lack of thoughtfulness, This led to delays in the project, but Prince Rand not only did not leave him in the cold, but instead raised him to the sky city, allowing him to continue to be responsible for the construction work above, which made those who didn't like him hate him even more.

Although Greer believes that even if he was at fault, it was almost all unintentional mistakes. His loyalty to His Royal Highness Rand can stand any test. Those who slandered His Royal Highness and Your Excellency the Marquis have done far more stupid things than him , The damage he has caused is much greater than him, but whether on earth or in heaven, his origin is an irreparable shortcoming.His Highness's trust in him has always remained the same, but for the balance of Sky City, Prince Rand had to make a choice.

The result of the choice is that Greer "goes down to the ground" and follows in the footsteps of Lord Solaris for a trip out of the West Continent.

Compared with the intricate struggles behind Greer, the reasons for the other people accompanying this trip are simpler. Some are because they are excluded and loyal, some are because of their eccentric temperament and the environment of Sky City. It was not suitable for him to go through the adaptation period of body transformation, and some people seemed to have depression after staying in the sky for too long. Prince Rand felt that traveling might improve his mood.

Maybe there are some other reasons, because sometimes even Greer doesn't know what Prince Rand is thinking. After being baptized in the "Holy Church" at the core of Sky City, His Highness has become more and more powerful, and his character has become more and more powerful. Deep, but he is still a person who cares about old feelings, always giving the best arrangements to those loyal followers.

Just as he bestowed the ability of Blood Eye to Uritan, and isolated Akwhite from the intrigue, he also knew that even if he didn't give the order, Greer must go to the human magician's territory.

When Greer was eating and remembering, Ackwhite was already in the wind, and took the lead to finish the astonishingly large portion of food, let out a long breath of satisfaction, threw the spoon back to the plate, and went to the counter to get it He took a large pot of drink, filled it up and filled his glass, sniffed it first, then frowned, squeezed the glass, and downed it in one gulp.

"There is a limit on the purchase of wine!" He complained loudly.

Greer, who came back to his senses, also poured a glass of drink. Ake White's expression made people think it was terrible to drink, but the sweet and sour taste was not bad. The aftertaste of sweetness meant that the Leaguers might have put a lot of it. Sugar, slight wine taste may come from good fermentation.

"Isn't that wine?" he said.

"In the past, this thing was pretty good." Akewhite said, "but now, as long as you have drank their grain wine and felt the kind of energy that makes your blood boil and soar in place, how can you see it?" Those horse pisses from the past?"

Greer thought for a moment, then said, "That's true."

"Why don't they sell wine into the Mists?" asked Ackwhite. "I didn't even know the Union would make wine if it wasn't in the fields!"

"Because the ground council won't allow it," Greer said.

Akewhite pondered for a moment, he didn't ask why the ground council didn't allow it. "I'll kill them when I go back," he said.

Ulitan showed a mocking smile, and before he could speak, Greer said, "Okay."

Ulitan closed his mouth.Baron Bosch, who was looking at the spoon, looked up at them with some surprise, but finally declined to comment.

They stayed in this Union Chamber of Commerce tavern at the end of the waterway for three days before embarking on the journey with the latest returning white ship.They now have plenty of time and are not in a hurry to reach the destination, so they will stay briefly in an area deeply affected by the Union Chamber of Commerce every time they travel, and they will not continue until Greer thinks they have collected enough information next leg of the journey.

It has to be said that the existence of the Alliance Chamber of Commerce has provided them with great convenience. Before "going to the ground", even Ake White was prepared to experience a bad trip. After a long time in the world, they felt a little strange about many things Yes, but they didn’t feel any inconvenience during this trip, the reason is only because of the Union Chamber of Commerce, the hotels and taverns they opened provided travelers like them with the best board and lodging and other travel services in West Continent.Only before leaving West Continent, when they temporarily stayed in the most prestigious Wyatt City in recent years, the head of the local Union Chamber of Commerce paid them a polite and meaningful visit.

Wyatt City is already recognized as a lair of Alliance people, and the identity of the head of the Chamber of Commerce here is naturally unusual. The moment the president revealed his identity, Greer knew that they had been exposed.Looking back on this journey, he was a little surprised, because the other party really did not leave a trace, although their identities were not completely flawless.The other party came to the door with a gift and a polite attitude, but Greer didn't feel any fear or fear from the other party.

Even after the other party left... Uritan stared at the president with a secret technique until he returned to the Alliance Chamber of Commerce, but still failed to find any flaws in him and his subordinates.

They had to go through some formalities in Wyatt City to ensure that this trip would not hit a wall at the last minute.After the Misty Land established contacts with the Industrial Alliance, the special situation where Lord Solaris could lead a team of knights to move relatively freely in his land never happened again. After returning to the Sky City, Solaris was very Affirming that they were under surveillance the entire time, and beginning to wonder how far apart what they detected during their border tours was from what it really was.

The backhands she planted in that city were gradually removed by the opponent shortly afterwards, leaving only some arrangements that could only play a small role, which further showed the calmness and meticulousness of the opponent.Only after the opening of the river channel, thanks to the violent expansion of the Union Chamber of Commerce, the Misty Land was able to successfully place its own spies along the river bank. Through the personal experience of these spies and multiple verifications, they re-established the cognition of the industrial alliance.

But this is still not the correct perception.Greer thought on the road.

Because one's position determines one's thinking.The same information has different interpretations in the hands of different people. Greer in the sky city and the chief member of the ground council have completely different views on the alliance members. After landing, Greer was deeply impressed by what he saw along the way. The gap between his own imagination and reality, he knew from heaven that the Alliance Chamber of Commerce was developing rapidly and eroding the Western Continent countries deeply, but he did not expect that it would develop so fast and erode so deeply.

At the invitation of His Royal Highness Rand, the alliance members opened their chamber of commerce into the mist. In less than two years, by pouring in a large amount of goods, not only the land of mist, but also the city of the sky had a significant impact.But even though the "newspaper" and other printed matter of the Confederates had been popular in the sky, the overwhelming majority of the Earth Council and the Sky City still believed that as long as they couldn't make people grow wings, that monstrous country was nothing to fear.

They only worry about other problems now.

The more he saw on the trip, the less relaxed Greer became.

If there is any advantage to arrogance, it is that the people in Tiancheng will not be easily conquered by the power and civilization of the alliance people like those weak-willed commoners and nobles in Xizhou; but those who have been conquered have pinned their hopes on The alliance people believe that their development in West Continent can form a balance with the country of mist, and the "Nation of Steel" will compress the country of mist in remote places in West Continent by continuously expanding the alliance business.

What a weak delusion this is.

But not necessarily impossible.

The industrial alliance is the weirdest—there has never been a country or region with such an image in the world, and it is also the most deceptive—what the short-sighted and realistic Xizhou people actively promote as if they are infected with an infectious disease is their "restraining the strong" helping the weak" and "for the benefit of the greatest number".

It is very absurd but true that no matter what unbelievable things the alliance members have done, they can all use these two principles to generalize.

In a semi-official capacity, Greer and his team retook the path taken by His Excellency Solaris. This is also the only way for Xizhou people to enter the industrial alliance. The town at the mouth of the river has fallen into the control of the alliance. When the boat passed by, I saw that it had become empty. Many buildings, including the pier, had been rebuilt, and the population had obviously decreased a lot. "Most of them have moved to the opposite bank!" The fellow passengers shouted, "What a lucky fellow!"

"Just being close to the League," said others, "blessed them!"

It was hard to imagine how the lord to which this port town belonged could allow such a thing, yet it happened.As for the reason - or one of the reasons, they will soon see in the rest of the journey.

After the establishment of diplomatic relations with the country of mist, the territory of the industrial alliance further expanded outwards, and the production belt that Captain Solaris experienced at the beginning took another step forward, engulfing all the population and territories that were once adjacent.The passengers said that this kind of encroachment was not the result of the war, but the active choice of the people of the territory. They were jealous of the alliance neighbors who were very close, and were influenced by the heresy brought back by the children from the free school. Arms given to them by neighbor aid drove off the lords, then fell into the arms of the Industrial Federation in the name of self-government.

This is behavior that should be condemned in any orderly place, but it has caused huge controversy among tourists.

Some people think that these peasants and residents’ behavior of betraying their lords is treasonous. Even if they are obviously instigated by the alliance, they should also bear moral condemnation. Since they can attack and abandon their lords for a superior life, they will naturally use them for similar reasons. Become a traitor to the Alliance.Others think that everything is justifiable, because human nature is such that it may not be a better choice for tourists to change places with these farmers. What's more, not one or two travelers said that anyway, the Alliance His rule is the general trend, and life is too short. Those peasants who can recognize the facts and make a decisive decision can be called a wise choice.

"Don't you want to live in such a country?"

In the face of such doubts, many people have maintained a subtle silence.

Passing through the famous Tagore Dam, I heard from passengers that a daring and talented person "jokingly" threw a fossil spell at the dam body, not only was immediately rebounded and seriously injured, but the kingdom he was born in also incurred serious retaliation , was listed as an unpopular object by the Alliance Chamber of Commerce, and the price of goods soared instantly, and it has not been stabilized until now, and because they can no longer obtain the advanced weapons of the Alliance Chamber of Commerce, neighboring countries have also begun to move against them.

"If that spell works, what happens to the dam?" Ackwhite asked.

Uritan stared blankly at the void, that is, he was spying with the mysterious eye bestowed by Prince Rand.It wasn't until they had passed the lock that he took a step back and leaned against the railing.

"Not much." Yulitan said in an ethereal voice, "Don't mention that idiot, even if an archmage specializing in the earth system comes here, he can't do anything."

"Their protection is so powerful?" Ackwhite asked.

"Idiot." Ulitan said coldly, "It prohibits magic."

"They used the blood of the survivors to make a forbidden magic circle."

Leaving the demon-forbidden dam behind, Greer and his party did not pass through the town of Dele again—although they also saw this "town" that was larger than ordinary cities on the road, but went directly to the town with the boat. Arrived at the center of the alliance's province known as the West Third District, the famous New Mahi City.

This is a city so magnificent that even Baron Bosch was amazed. Although the resident population is only over [-] people, it is more impressive than the capitals of most countries in the world. Travelers praise it very much deserved.Greer and his party followed the passengers down the gangway, and stopped in place amidst the exclamation, looking at the seemingly endlessly expanding city behind this wide, square-like pier, even Arkwhite lowered his voice, he asked Greg Lear: "How many years ago did you meet that 'magician'?"

Greer answered him in a daze.

Ackwhite said: "What kind of monster is this?"

He should be careful, but everyone who comes to the Industrial Federation feels similarly.

A lot of time has passed since the first meeting—in terms of a person's lifespan, Greer even completely forgot about this encounter for a while, but even at the beginning, he never thought about the person who described it. The indifferent courtiers would actually create something like the "Industrial Alliance"... that shouldn't exist.

As unwelcome guests, Greer and the others received special hospitality as soon as they got off the ship. Perhaps ordinary tourists would envy them for having arrangements for basic necessities of life, food, housing and transportation, and the high standards of treatment, but Greer and others would rather Explore this huge city as an ordinary person.But they couldn't protest it—at least Greer wouldn't commit that kind of death.Although the people of other Sky City may not be...

Since Sky City and the Industrial Alliance discovered and established contact with each other, the two countries have conducted mutual testing and offense and defense many times, even though this still has not changed the mentality of many people in Sky City looking down on the ground—this often makes them misjudge As a result of the confrontation, the Alliance members were very aware of the use and defenses of the Mist Country. Being able to treat this group of people with courtesy under such circumstances showed that they were equally confident in their strength and more calm.

Do the Alliance still know nothing about Laputa?Greer has no way of verifying it. If he asks the alliance, the question itself will reveal himself.Compared with the closed country of fog, the industrial alliance is much more open, and there are even few countries that are as willing to open exchanges as it is. Even if people don't know it personally, it will always show itself through the spread and distribution of newspapers and the commercial activities of the alliance chamber of commerce. , but does that mean it's defenseless and easy to understand?

Quite the opposite.

Even if it shows everything in front of people, what people can understand is only the part that they can understand.They see that this country is strong, advanced and open, but they cannot understand why it is so strong, advanced and open.A black-haired genius endowed the Alliance with the power to turn the barren land into a paradise on earth, but Greer believes that there is no power in this world that is of the nature of making people good, "restraining the strong and helping the weak" "for the sake of the greatest number" Human interest" can easily slide to the opposite extreme, and even outside the Union, it must slide to that extreme.

As semi-official (and unflattering) visitors, the movement of Greer and the others in New Mahic City is limited, perhaps because of long-term preparations for this?In fact, Greer and the others didn't feel very uncomfortable. In fact, they might be more comfortable than at certain times in Sky City.Baron Bosch could stay in the library from morning to night, Arkwhite soon indulged in all kinds of food and sports games, Yulitan slept every day, and Greer went wherever he could.

He visited schools the most and spent the longest time in educational establishments.During this journey, Greer's deepest impression of this country is not its strength and wealth, but its unique civilization.The popularization of education is more difficult to achieve than the growth of wealth and the expansion of territory, but they did it.And even more than just making it... There's something scary brewing in those peaceful, vibrant classes.

Even if they don't understand the reason, people will naturally want to learn when they see successful examples. Most people don't have the ability to persist in themselves and master them—that kind of ability is even rarer than strength talent, so their learning is just imitation , is trying to change one's own into the other's shape.

The Alliance has no nobles.

There is no church either.

Without these two things that are considered essential, the Union man lives very, very well.

In Greer's view, the industrial alliance replaced the roles of the two with popular education and a set of large, complex and surprisingly efficient administrative systems. Construction and administration provide many well-trained talents. The administrative system maintains pervasive control over various regions with an astonishing number of civil servants. After absorbing these talents, the production system feeds back education and administration with sufficient material support.The three are interdependent, support each other, and are inseparable.

Regardless of the difficulty of replicating or transferring this system to other countries and regions, the cycle itself is almost perfect.At least for now it's invulnerable.

This is the fatal point, this cycle of stability and self-growth is so perfect, and the country ruled in this way is so powerful, but it goes against people's common sense and does not need—or to put it more directly , by excluding the nobility and the church.More than exclusion, this trinity system completely negates the meaning of the existence of the nobility and the church.

Greer couldn't help but think of the cathedral opposite the meeting hall on the city of the sky. It was built earlier than other important buildings, second only to the water supply project in the sky. He also thought of the hereditary replacements occupied by nobles in the sky parliament. seats.He also thought that he was also an aristocrat, and asked himself, if he would give up his status and fiefdoms in exchange for the rapid development of Sky City like the Industrial Alliance, he would be willing, but what about the others?

It is impossible for Her Excellency Solaris not to see the inherent conflict between Laputa in the Sky and the Industrial Alliance, but she and Prince Rand still put this greedy beast into their back garden of Xizhou.Is it because they have absolute confidence in the future of Sky City, or is there some reason that compelled them to make such a choice, or both?

With many doubts, Greer ended the journey and set foot on the road back.