My Wife is a Counsel Chapter 16: Two powerful countries
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The lobby of the city-state's official residence is luxurious and elegant, with thick scarlet carpets spread from the entrance to the steps of the city lord's chair.
Lu Ming was sitting on the city lord's large chair at this time, receiving a group of outside adventurers.
The reputation of the "Third City-State" seems to be gradually spreading.
The first ones to come here to find out are naturally the adventurers.
The adventure team composed of six members does not have the number and strength of Jack Wheel's team at its peak, but the adventurous spirit is sufficient.
There are three types of adventurers. One is a small group that has no fixed place and can only wander around to stay warm; the other is a group of people who are sponsored by the business group and serve as bodyguards when the business group is in action. They usually travel for the business group. An armed team that shows the map; the third type is Jack Spinner, which is actually a mobile robbery group. They only start looking for the lost land after accidentally finding the treasure map.
The six-person adventurer team at the foot of the stairs undoubtedly belongs to the second type.
Because their clothing and weapons and equipment are the kind that can always be maintained in large settlements, wandering adventurers with no fixed abode are resisted by any settlement, let alone allowed to enter the settlement.
However, the "Camellia House", which allows any man to enter, may be the only exception.
Of course, this is from the extreme south. Going north, there must be similar settlements that are open to anyone to obtain various benefits among the settlements that have no rumors at all in the extreme south.
"Lord of the city-state, it is an honor to meet you!" The six-person team was led by a blond young man, who was stroking his chest slightly and bowing. He was wearing a coarse cloth robe that looked like sacks, just like a commoner in the European Middle Ages. The muddy legs were exposed under the robe, and a short dagger-like blade could be faintly seen hidden in the robe.
The six people met with the city-state lord. The more conspicuous weapons were temporarily put away by the slave guards, but the various hidden weapons such as short blades hidden under the clothes were not moved. This involves the adventurers' unique secret skills and life-saving skills. etc., allowing them to be carried also shows the strength and confidence of the third city-state.
The leader of the six adventurers calls himself Arthur. He was entrusted by the "Blackwood Forest" settlement to find out whether the trade route is blocked.
Heimusen is the largest settlement in the Far South. It is located in the northernmost part of the Far South. It is about two thousand miles away from Hedong Town. The reconnaissance airship sent by Lu Ming is operating hundreds of miles around and has not yet touched it. Touch further areas.
Heimusen is a trading settlement. Every year before winter, business groups come to the southernmost area. Once a year, they sell some supplies for the cold winter and daily necessities made by Heimusen craftsmen at high prices. The southernmost settlements all Without the ability to produce daily necessities, such as pots and jars, they need to wait for Heimusen merchants to sell them once a year. The musketeers will replenish gunpowder and iron sand, although most of them can also make earthen gunpowder and polish some iron and lead themselves. It is useful, but it is far inferior to the authentic gunpowder and bullets produced by Heimusen.
Before Heimusen comes to trade every autumn, a team of adventurers will set out in advance to check whether the trade route is blocked, whether there are any wandering ferocious beasts active on the original trade route, or whether there are ferocious beasts. The ferocious beast infestation season means that occasionally a group of ferocious beasts will mutate and give birth to a large number of cubs in certain years. This ferocious beast inundation season is a huge crisis for the settlements that live not too far from the ferocious beast's lair. It is also a huge crisis. It may block the original fixed routes of merchants.
The Arthur Six were hired as the outpost of the caravan, but they did not expect that after contacting some local settlements, they learned about the legend of "City People" and came to Hedong City.
"Has your caravan already set off?" Lu Ming asked.
"Yes, Lord of the city-state! Because of the long distance, according to convention, the caravan will be on the road half a month after we set off." There was also a trace of anxiety on Arthur's face, because this city-state seemed to All kinds of supplies are extremely abundant, and they are ready to supply surrounding settlements.
Moreover, as far as the entire continent is concerned, I have never heard of a vicious beast town being expelled or a city-state being recovered.
The Hedong city-state was the first and created a miracle.
I think these restorers have unknown secrets, so they can occupy the city-state and become the people of the city-state who are already aloof in the traditional culture of this continent. Not to mention, this is the first time since the outbreak of the Great Collapsing Burning Sun Beast Tide. The emergence of city-state people in this desperate world can be imagined to be a shock. The larger the settlement, the more complicated the emotions will be.
A more realistic problem is that the supplies brought by the caravan based on past judgments may be unsaleable in large quantities.
Moreover, the premise is that this "third city-state" allows our caravans to enter its sphere of influence and trade with each settlement.
If the people of these city-states refuse their own caravans to enter their sphere of influence, the possibility of unsalable sales will be out of the question.
Since being allowed to enter this city-state, Arthur has been observing carefully.
Soon he knew that Heimusen should not be its enemy, but if the city-state wanted to monopolize local trade, the elders of Heimusen would definitely go to war with it unless they could come with their own eyes. Look at the prosperity of this city-state, but the journey is long and dangerous, and the elders have never traveled far.
Looking at the city-state, there are probably dozens of musketeers, and this is just the tip of the iceberg.
"Well, we're on the road, and you can't contact us now. If you want to go back now, meet up with the caravan. The caravan will be halfway there by then." Lu Ming pondered slightly, "Then come, I am also looking forward to seeing all the good things made by Heimusen. I originally hoped to exchange ideas, but I can only wait until next time, or our caravan goes to Heimusen.”
Arthur secretly breathed a sigh of relief: "Yes, thank you for your magnanimity."
Lu Ming looked at him and smiled: "Is your team dedicated to serving Heimusen?"
Arthur immediately realized something, his eyes flashed, and he hurriedly said: "No, but Heimusen has issued many tasks and the living environment is not bad, so we six brothers have settled in Heimusen the year before last. Musen."
"So, have you been to the area north of Heimusen?" Lu Ming asked calmly.
Arthur nodded slightly, "I have been there before. The density of settlements in the northern part of Heimusen is larger than that in the southernmost part. There are also several settlements larger than Heimusen. But I heard that further north, There are thousands of miles of desolate areas, where ferocious beasts are rampant, completely cutting off the road to the central part of the continent, but this is just a rumor, I have not been to such a far area."
Lu Ming thought for a while, "When Heimusen's caravan arrives, your mission will be completed, right? We will talk about it then."
Arthur bowed slightly: "Okay, sir!"
At this time, Zhuge hurriedly came in from the side door and whispered a few words in Lu Ming's ear.
……
More than a dozen or twenty simple tents have been set up in the Ottoman settlement.
Among them, the Ottoman settlement leader's tent is the same style as the third city-state liaison Jack Spinner's tent. It is much larger than a simple tent, with about twenty square meters of space inside.
Lu Ming walked out of Jack Spinner's tent, followed by Sekhmet, who was bright and cold in green armor.
Sekhmet has a chivalrous heart that can defeat the strong and support the weak, so Lu Ming brought her here.
"Ah..." A small figure ran over. It was the girl who became the sacrifice. She should have been hiding near Jack's tent, waiting for those city-state people who were like gods to come back. She was very He is sensible and knows that only this Lord God can possibly drive away those terrible messengers of the believers.
I also heard the adults talking secretly and mysteriously, saying that this magical tent was the passage through which the gods came to this world.
In the tent, two teams of slave musketeers and assaulters filed out and guarded Lu Ming.
The girl did not dare to run to Lu Ming's side, and stopped a dozen steps away, timidly looking at the sudden appearance of Lord God and his guards.
In front of the Ottoman tent room, there were two people wearing strange masks and linen robes, revealing their muddy calves and dark bare feet, but they had tattered boots. Different from most settlements, for example, the Ottoman tribe, the lord Osman, has always been barefoot, and his feet are covered with calluses. He has been accustomed to being barefoot for a long time, so the calluses on his feet have formed a thick protective layer.
Lu Ming walked slowly over and figured out that these two masked men were the envoys of the Fly God Cult from the Terror Mountains.
The two envoys also quickly turned around and looked over. The first thing they noticed was the slave musketeers and assaulters surrounding Lu Ming and Sekhmet. Although they were wearing masks, they could still feel Their shock.
In this barren settlement, a dozen musketeers and a dozen warriors covered in steel armor suddenly appeared. The musketeers were all so neat from their hats to their shoes, and the muskets all looked brand new.
But soon, when the guards were neatly divided into two rows, and Lu Ming and Sekhmet came out, the greedy eyes of the two envoys were completely attracted to Sekhmet, and their throats were Trembling slightly, swallowing saliva instinctively.
It seems that in the Terror Mountains, women are probably no different from those in other settlements. The concept of "beauty" does not exist, because everyone is dirty, and the mud is part of the protective layer. Looking for a woman is just a matter of It's just a simple physiological need. For men, their function is just to vent their instinctive needs. Therefore, even Yaoyao and Nana made the men in the settlement fully realize that the opposite **** can be so insanely beautiful, let alone Sekhmet.
"Distinguished envoys, these are the adults from the third city-state!" Osman's heart beat quickly. The two most powerful and mysterious organizations in the region finally faced each other.
But he didn’t know what direction things would take next, so he didn’t dare to say anything more.
Seeing Lu Ming's slight nod, Wheelrunner Jack immediately took two steps forward and said to the two messengers of the Fly God: "You two, why don't you be polite when you see our Lord?"
The two envoys seemed to turn a deaf ear. Whether it was what Osman said to them or Jack's condescending reminder, they did not react at all and just faced Sekhmet's direction.
A hint of anger flashed across Sekhmet's pretty face.
Lu Ming made a gesture.
The slave captain standing next to Lu Ming shouted loudly: "These two are rude to the master, take them down!"
Every ten slave musketeers selected a captain and a vice-captain, and Lu Ming gave them the names "Chief Commander" and "Deputy Captain Commander".
These twenty people are receiving training on modern ordnance in the Northern Territory such as automatic rifles and grenades. However, they will not be organized into a group. Instead, they will be scattered among ten slave musketeers in a group of ten to serve as captains and deputy captains. .
Amidst the Captain Ten's shouts, several commandos in armor swarmed forward.
When the two envoys were alert, the shields hit their faces hard, leaving them with almost no chance to resist. The two of them had been subdued to the ground. At this time, they shouted in shock and anger, "Who are you? ? "What are you doing?" "You will regret it!"
Ignoring the other side, Lu Ming smiled at Sekhmet beside him and said, "It seems that I will have to take you out to meet less people in the future!"
Sekhmet curled his lips and said nothing.
Osman came over cautiously and looked at Lu Ming eagerly.
He was extremely happy, but he did not dare to show it.
The people of the city-state are still so arrogant after all. Even the messengers of the divine religion don't care at all and they arrest them as soon as they say.
Does this mean that our settlement has finally received the protection of this powerful city-state?
Lu Ming nodded: "Let me ask about the situation in the Terror Mountains first."
Osman did not dare to say more, "Yes." No matter how happy he was, he did not dare to call the city-state lord "master".
……
When the two messengers of the Cult of the Fly were being interrogated in the tent, Lu Ming sat aside, and it was Jack who conducted the interrogation and torture.
The masks of both messengers were taken off and thrown aside.
In fact, they are two middle-aged men with very ordinary faces. Their faces are also covered with dirt. Their hair genes should be golden. However, due to long-term malnutrition and lack of trace elements, their hair color is pale. , but originally the black mud was stuck together and could not be seen. Now Jack soaked his head with pepper water and the two of them coughed violently, and the original appearance gradually appeared.
At first, the two of them were very arrogant and their words were full of threats.
Jack used a set of torture instruments, and the two of them immediately cried like ghosts.
"How many followers of the Cult of the Fly are there in the Terror Mountains?" Next to Jack was a red stove, and he slowly used a soldering iron to stir the coals inside.
"I, I don't know..." Those who can still answer are those who are still conscious.
The other one was choking on the pepper water, his face was filled with snot and tears, and he just screamed and sobbed.
Jack picked up the red soldering iron and slowly walked to the more determined man.
Lu Ming coughed, stood up and walked out.
Understanding Jack's strategy, whether the stronger-willed person doesn't answer the correct answer, he will be tortured, which will make the other person's will completely collapse, and then he will answer all questions.
I have to say that Jack often followed Zhuge and learned a lot about the dark side of human nature.
If it is said that the people of this post-apocalyptic continent have actually degraded to the level of beasts in terms of morality and other aspects, the exploration of the darkest parts of human nature only exists in the civilized world.
……
In the evening, Jack came to Lu Ming's tent room.
Many tents have been erected outside the Ottoman settlement, and hot-air balloon lookout posts have risen in the sky.
Five teams of musketeers came, that is, fifty people, and fifteen teams of assaulters came.
There is an additional tank on the outermost edge, controlled by Yuan Qing and Yuan Ba.
If you capture the other party's envoy, you must of course be prepared for a war with the God of Fly Cult.
"Master, according to the coward, there are thousands of followers of the Fly God living in the Terror Mountains."
Oh? This was beyond Lu Ming's expectation, "How do you say this?" I originally thought that it was more likely that he was pretending to be a ghost.
"It is said that their ancestors were the personal guards of an extremely powerful city-state leader when the tide of ferocious beasts broke out. Before the ferocious beasts captured the town, they fled with a large amount of supplies. Finally, they had no way out and fled into the city. The Terror Mountains, which has many terrifying legends, is filled with dense swamps and miasmas. It is true that ferocious beasts once entered and died inside. Their ancestors also suffered many casualties, but in the end they found a place in a valley in the Terror Mountains. There are water sources and a paradise that can be farmed, but there are some apes living in the valley, which have begun to pick wild wheat. However, they were slaughtered by their ancestors and made into various kinds of dried meat. The wheat fields in the valley were also occupied by them. For yourself."
"Maybe because of this, they formed the tradition of cannibalism, and then went out to rob the women of the settlement and came back to reproduce for them, gradually forming the current settlement of thousands of people."
"However, the terrain of the Terror Mountain Range is special. It is shrouded in thick fog for a long time, making it difficult to enter and exit. The miasma only dissipates during a few specific days in autumn each year, so that you can walk out of the deep valleys of the mountains, which is the last few days. ”
Lu Ming nodded slightly. He felt that the ancient **** was disappointed with mankind and sent down a heavenly punishment, which was a wave of ferocious beasts. However, he still left some "Noah's Ark" for mankind to accommodate, and Some of the myths and stories from my previous life have the same purpose.
However, in the end of the world, there is no so-called "reflection" plot for human beings, but their moral level has dropped to the same level as wild beasts. If it is true, "divine punishment" has obviously failed completely.
Why do you feel that the three original gods of this planet are morally obsessive? The reason why people are human is that various desires are also the driving force for progress. If you ignore this, the failure of the experiment is inevitable.
Jack's report over there continued, "According to what the coward said, there are craftsmen in the Terror Settlement, but most of the gunpowder weapons left by the ancestors have decayed. The room is too humid all year round, and the metal products are easy to rust. Wooden products also rot quickly, but there is a kind of black tree with almost no branches and leaves. Not only is it an excellent raw material for making furniture, but after polishing, it is as sharp as steel. The main weapon of the Terror Settlement is this kind of spear. Its material is very light, and it can kill people from a long distance when thrown. Thirty years ago, the largest settlement around the mountain range wanted to resist the god's religion, but they were surrounded and massacred by spear throwers at night. "
"This year, as usual, the two hundred spear throwers in the settlement have left the mountains and are now gathering at the foothills. Once an envoy fails to return within the specified time or does not receive enough tribute, they will exterminate the envoy. The settlement that the messenger is responsible for.”
After a pause, Jack said: "About two hundred spear throwers, almost all the young men in the settlement came out in fear."
Lu Ming pondered for a moment, then raised his head and said: "Let's go talk to the Divine Cult. Human resources in this world are the most precious. A settlement of thousands of Divine Cult members is amazing. For this reason, the people of the Divine Cult also "I understand, that's why they didn't seize dozens of small settlements around the Terror Mountains to make dried meat, but treated them as free-range livestock herds." After a pause, "However, if the cannibals' habits don't change. Coming back is another story. This is already the bottom line of human morality. "
When Jack heard the mention of "cannibals", his heart skipped a beat. In fact, he had eaten human flesh, not when he was about to starve to death, but for a period of time when he was particularly greedy for meat, and he and his companions slaughtered human flesh alive. people come to eat.
Now that I think about it, I feel chills in my heart, but this is because after meeting the mysterious master, I would have more meat every now and then. This makes me feel incredible about my past behavior.
While they were talking, Sekhmet walked in. Seeing that Sekhmet seemed to have something to say to him, Lu Ming waved his hand, and Jack hurriedly bowed and left.
"Do you have any shoes and clothes for a little girl in your magic bag?" Sekhmet asked rather embarrassedly. This was the first time she asked Lu Ming what she needed.
Lu Ming nodded: "I'll give it to you later." There really isn't any of this in the storage bag. I'll just add some in the Northern Territory later.
I also knew what she was doing. Sekhmet liked the little girl who was almost a sacrifice. He took her to take a bath and now he is preparing new clothes.
However, the thinking of these settlement people in the last days is completely different from that of normal society.
I wanted to remind Sekhmet not to invest too much emotion in that child, but after thinking about it for a while, I swallowed the words that came to my lips.