I touch the edge of hell with one hand. It is a dark and silent field. The black river Styx has no waves. The dark red land is like hot magma. The wind shows a ray of light, but vanishes like a flickering candle
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It''s cool.
In the hot and dry August, today is a very rare cloudy day.
In the morning, there was a continuous drizzle in Athens, which washed away the dry and sultry air. After more than a year''s construction, the official roads set up in Athens are no longer the original dust roads. Today, the roads connecting the cities and towns in Athens are paved with stone blocks and slabs, which are mixed with sand and mud to make the roads bear heavy vehicles.
As long as necessary, in the event of war, the troops in Athens can reach any part of the territory within six hours.
And the cavalry, it only takes an hour or two to fight!
Small territory also has the advantage of small territory. As long as the land is fertile enough to produce food to support the population, it can be built intensively to turn it into a highly concentrated and fertile land. In this era, the utilization rate of land is quite low, and there are large areas of barren land among the Lords'' towns. Maybe it''s because the land is not suitable for farming, or maybe there are some dangerous creatures living nearby, which make up the wilderness area of the southern plain.
These wilderness areas account for more than half of the total area of the southern plain. Otherwise, there would be no problem in feeding thousands of people with the vast area of the southern plain. In this era, there is no fertilizer, and the technology of canal irrigation is not mature, even there are not many dams to store water, so the difficulty of reclamation is quite high! Moreover, at present, the farming methods of human beings in the southern plain and even the whole world''s intelligent creatures are very primitive. They can only use some simple soil methods to maintain the soil fertility, but this level can only barely maintain the grain yield at a self-sufficient level. For example, in many places, the intelligent race has to live a half fishing and half farming life because the grain yield in the field is not enough to support themselves.
This situation is very common. At present, more than 90% of the intelligent races who have not entered the age of enlightenment are like this.
Athens, by contrast, is not one or two points ahead.
After the winter wheat harvest in June, Murphy ordered a large number of spies and intelligence personnel to go all over the southern plains. The intelligence they collect is not only limited to military intelligence, but also includes a lot of information about life. Just like a batch of crops recently introduced from Athens, which are collected and sorted out by these intelligence personnel, are of high yield and rich in nutrients needed by human beings.
These crops are being cultivated in batches under the leadership of agricultural experts, and the excellent varieties will be taken out for large-scale cultivation next year.
It is obvious that there is not enough food in a city. What is worth mentioning now is that agricultural experts have introduced a kind of plant similar to rape flower from the place near the half elves. These plants grow and develop very fast. They are planted after the winter wheat is harvested in June and can blossom around August. The flower seeds produced by this plant not only have high oil content, but also can be used as the ration for livestock, and this plant can also supplement the fertility for the field. After all, it is impossible for Athens to plant hundreds of thousands of acres of potatoes and corn after winter wheat harvest.
It''s terrible to think about it.
Besides the necessary wheat, Athens also needed a lot of vegetables and other crops.
This is also a very important part of a newly built city. After all, many people in Athens are tired of fish. If the pigs and beasts raised last year had not grown fat, I''m afraid the soldiers would not have much enthusiasm to face the salted fish. This is not only the root of human''s bad habits, but also the driving force of human progress. When there is no food to eat, to be able to eat is happiness. But when you can eat enough, thinking about having meat is happiness.
Murphy didn''t care.
Because the improvement of the living conditions of the territorial people makes them have a higher pursuit, which is also a sign of the territory''s progress.
This is just the beginning.
Due to the frequent wars and war reserves, there are still many omissions in other aspects of Athens construction. In the rare calm time now, it can be used to complete these omissions. After all, there are too many things in a city or a kingdom. These all need time to accumulate and improve bit by bit.
When the citizens of Athens gradually meet their material needs, they will begin to pursue the spirit.
At that time, the extension points of art, culture and other aspects of civilization will be born one by one. A territory, a country and a civilization not only need to face the indomitable, heroic, perseverance and sacrifice in the war, but also need many spiritual civilization in life, such as art, culture, education and other aspects of extension.
This is what Murphy likes to see!
He wanted to build Athens into a military Empire dominated by war and with unprecedented combat effectiveness. But I don''t want to turn Athens into a Spartan war machine without much sense! Because in his knowledge and understanding, only the relative balance can continue, otherwise Athens will eventually collapse at a critical point like the Spartan city-state on earth.
He doesn''t know if the world will last forever, but the relative balance can be maintained for a longer time!
………………
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In the afternoon, at a quarter past three.
Athens now has a lot of trivia to deal with. If it wasn''t for the continuous cultivation of a group of middle and lower class management talents with the education of the University of Athens, I''m afraid Murphy is really busy now, and even has no time to eat. With the cultivation of a batch of talents who have received the education of Athens University, the ruling organs of various departments in the territory began to be divided gradually. The interior department headed by general Jerry rivard and Lady Elizabeth gathered a group of talented people in the management of internal affairs, who were responsible for the trade, taxation, farming and so on in Athens. The military aircraft department, headed by general riodari, had advanced the medium rank sergeants of all the Athens legions to a higher level, and laid the foundation for the formation of the military headquarters in the future.
Although a country needs a lot of ruling departments, generally speaking, there are only two.
One is internal affairs, the other is military affairs.
Everything is for these two points. Murphy didn''t appreciate the enfeoffment system of the aristocratic lords in the world, because there were too many drawbacks of this enfeoffment system. Moreover, he would never allow the power of the territory to be divided into blocks. If there is no better way, instead of continuing the system of the world, it is better to change the name of the whole Athens ruling system according to the division of the middle land in the previous life, and divide it into the Ministry of officials, the Ministry of household, the Ministry of rites, the Ministry of war, the Ministry of punishment and the Ministry of work one by one in the form of six departments.
Too advanced system is difficult to be accepted by this primitive era, but the six part system of the former middle earth can be fully accommodated by the current Athens. When the Duchy of Athens was established, the six part system could be used as the ruling core of Athens.
………………
After handling some decision-making affairs in the general''s area, Murphy went to the port with the general''s guard.
Now the total population of Athens is about to exceed 40000, and the number of citizens has reached more than 10000. It is expected that Athens will be upgraded from a city to a big city in a short time. At that time, new planning will be carried out for the whole building of Athens. Fortunately, Murphy had planned ahead of the establishment of the city. Now Athens can be used as an inner city to expand and rebuild.
Otherwise, I''m afraid there will be a lot of trouble.
"Your Excellency!"
"Governor!"
Murphy took the general''s guard down a wide street, paved with neat stone slabs, wide enough for five carriages to run side by side. This is a very broad road in today''s era. And a lord who can plan a city only has the right to be named by people. On both sides of the road, there are many pedestrians, businessmen and Athenians. There are also many adventurers and mercenaries. Although the slave trade stopped here after the end of the Jackal war. But now Athens will sell some cast iron and carburized steel weapons, most of which were eliminated by Athenian soldiers, or re forged with weapons collected in several wars.
Although most Athenian soldiers are equipped with 16 forged steel or 24 forged steel weapons, soldiers in other places may not have such good equipment. The weapons that Athens now sells to the outside world, even if they are taken to other places, are comparable to the standard equipment used by some elite troops. A lot of adventurers and mercenaries came to Athens to buy some high-quality weapons.
There is a misunderstanding here, that is, the equipment sold by the town blacksmith shop is absolutely not as good as the equipment of the military system. In such an era, it is not polite to say that the standard equipment produced by the army can be labeled as "excellent".
As for the so-called blacksmith shop, the equipment sold in it may not even meet the standard of steel. It can only be regarded as grade I pig iron.
After all, most of the really good blacksmiths have been hired by the army, and the rest can only play kitchen knives, ordinary swords and so on. Their level is definitely not very high. It is worth mentioning that excellent blacksmiths have a relatively high status in this era, which can be said to be one of the most advanced among many professions. A good blacksmith even needs to bend over a little to show when he meets the nobles, instead of bowing. However, most of these important professionals are subject to strict restrictions and control.
In the age of cold weapons, the value of an excellent blacksmith is absolutely incalculable!
Especially in times of war!
The port of Athens has been expanded several times. If it is placed in other places in the southern plain, it can be regarded as a medium-sized city. There are nearly 10000 people living in the whole port. In addition to the previously reserved port trade points, residential areas, commercial areas, Victory Square and other areas have been built.
Murphy was walking along the road with the general guard. From time to time, some people bowed to salute, or called "governor" or "governor".
Most of the former are ordinary citizens, who call Murphy "Lord", while the latter are soldiers and lower ranking officials, who call Murphy "Lord".
They came to the door of the blacksmith''s shop, where many people were choosing their weapons.
With more and more riots, the mercenary industry has gradually grown up. Similarly, a large part of the wealth in the hands of nobles and merchants also went to these mercenaries. Now there are goblins and goutouren bandits running around. They range from dozens to hundreds, attacking past caravans or villages. It used to be OK for the caravans to take a few escorts with them, but now if they don''t hire a whole team of mercenaries, I''m afraid there will be a lot of trouble on the way.
Mercenaries have money in their hands.
In addition to improving their own lives, the rest is of course used to buy life-saving weapons and equipment.
In this way, the spoils of the orc war in Athens, the weapons and leather armour captured from the orcs, will have a sufficient market. There were not many soldiers in Athens, but the spoils of that war were quite a lot. It is fully equipped with tens of thousands of people''s leather armor and weapons, which is the inventory of the whole Orc tribe for decades, plus a large amount of materials from the orc empire.
Apart from Athens itself, Murphy has at least 20000 leather inlaid armours and tens of thousands of swords!
This is quite a fortune!
After the war consumed a large amount of money from the national treasury, Murphy waited for the materials to be returned into money for the construction of Athens after it was upgraded to a big city.
The weapons used by orcs are relatively heavy, and the natural weight is enough. One battle axe is recast and two swords are enough. After he had plenty of iron tools, Murphy also asked his officials to start the improvement of farm tools. Since forging technology has been improved, it can not be limited to war. The civilization level of Athens has completely got rid of the late Bronze Age and began to enter the standard of iron age.
Naturally, all the bronze implements used in the past will be abolished. Although the steel in the territory is still used for forging weapons, it is time for iron to be popularized in all aspects.
Iron age!
This undoubtedly means that Athens has really stood up, which means that Athens has the ability to equip a large number of soldiers with iron armour, and those armours with primitive manufacturing technology can gradually start to transition to chain armour and steel Knight plate armour! In such a magnificent era, Athens, officially stepping into the iron age, undoubtedly has its own right to speak!
………………
He glanced at the busy blacksmith shop, and then Murphy took the general guard to the back yard.
As soon as Murphy came in, a busy official immediately trotted to fetch a bill, carefully handed it to Murphy, and said, "governor, this is the bill for weapons sold in more than a month."
Murphy doesn''t like flattery. His long-term military training has sharpened his character and made his style firm and steady, decisive and direct. This greatly indirectly affected other people in Athens. In addition to general riodari, who had a very obvious Spartan style of simplicity, and the importance of Spartan soldiers during the war, Athens did not have the formalism of the previous life.
On the contrary, the Athenian way of doing things is very simple and clear, with a strong Spartan style.
What is Spartan style?
It is said that once, a king threatened the Spartan king to obey his orders, or he would raze Sparta to the ground, and the Spartan king''s answer was just one word: "please!" Spartan language is very simple and clear, and sometimes their answers are even similar to military orders. However, to Murphy''s surprise, this Spartan language, which was originally used in the officer class, soon influenced all classes in Athens. In the invisible so that all aspects of efficiency have been improved.
Murphy reached for the bill, looked at it, and nodded with satisfaction.
In a month, Athens sold 3000 pieces of inlaid leather armour and a large number of weapons. These weapons were sent to the mercenary class all over the country to arm the local forces and make them have the ability to resist the goblin and Goutou bandits. In the same way, Athens gained nearly 100000 silver coins, and the Treasury, which had been squandered in the orc war, began to be abundant again.
This is only a small part of the sale, if you add to the sale to the barbarians, as well as trade with centaurs in exchange for horses.
The weapons and equipment captured in the first World War are worth more than one million silver coins!
About a week later, the Centaur tribe will send 1000 horses for trade exchange to Athens. These horses are used as reserve resources for Athens to upgrade into a big city. Because after Athens is upgraded to a big city, Murphy will start to prepare for the recruitment and training of the heavy cavalry corps of the seleucian faction!
After reading the bill, Murphy patted on the shoulder to encourage the flattered official.
Then he took the general''s guard to the direction of the government. Because there are a large number of alien bandits on the land, the waterway trade has become more and more prosperous. As the only city in the southern plain with a large port and a large business district, the port of Athens has undoubtedly become an important transit point for waterway trade after the land was blocked.
During this period, there were so many businessmen travelling to and from Athens that Murphy had to send ten extra troops to the port''s guard and patrol.
With the rapid increase of floating population, public security problems also appear.
Those mercenaries and adventurers are guys who use their muscles more than their brains. Although there is no big problem, there are many fights in the tavern every day. Almost every day, there are unfortunate guys who are caught by the patrol and thrown into the small black house because of fighting.
Walking in the broad street, Murphy suddenly felt cold all over.
With even if it seems to be something terrible staring at the same, let him feel the heart beat suddenly!
He stopped and looked back, but he didn''t see anything. There were merchants and mercenaries coming to Athens all around. They were dressed in different clothes. Some adventurers were even wearing extremely wide cloaks. They could only see half a face and a pair of unruly eyes. These guys who dare to walk alone in the wilderness are hard to deal with. Some of them even come from gladiators!
These people have no relatives or friends, and few mercenary regiments dare to accept such dangerous people as them.
Many of them became wanderers in the wilderness after they were free, and sometimes even met assassins. They are very dangerous people. Their career as gladiators has taught them to ignore life. These people are like poisonous snakes in the dark! Cruel and deadly!
wait!
assassin?!
Murphy suddenly remembered the feeling of being watched, just like a ferocious wolf, the feeling of being on the back, just like the murderous atmosphere in some artistic novels.
It''s a pity.
Before Murphy could find out the guy who had a killing intention from the people behind him.
The earth suddenly shook violently!
Murphyton felt a shaking under his feet, as if he was spinning, almost falling to the ground. And the surrounding houses also shake violently, some simple buildings even collapsed directly, and the people inside were buried alive in the ruins before they even had time to scream!
"Earthquake!"
Murphy grabbed a flagpole in front of him and held his body steady. He was shocked!
How could an earthquake happen?
And it happened so suddenly? No warning in advance?
incorrect!
Murphy suddenly remembered that the city of Athens was now under the protection of the Olympian gods. Even if there was an earthquake, the priests of Olympus would have predicted it! In such an era, one of the work of the priests is to use the power of the gods to predict all kinds of natural disasters! Since the Olympus Gods exist, there is no reason why the temple doesn''t even have any prior warning? Moreover, the southern plain does not belong to the zone of crustal movement, and the earthquakes that have occurred here for thousands of years can be said to be very few!
The earthquake lasted about three minutes.
The violent shaking of the earth caused many buildings to collapse directly, and some people were injured by the collapsed buildings. Suddenly, there was a tragic cry all around.
And at the same time!
On the other side of the karazan mountains, about 80 kilometers away from Athens, within the territory of the white dragon.
A bare "mountain peak" nearly 100 meters high, with only a few weeds, suddenly shook violently. Then a large number of rocks fell, and the birds and animals around them fled in horror. In a few minutes, a tide of animals ran away towards Athens.
The shaking of the earth is more and more intense, and the shaking "mountain" actually stands up strangely!
The sky reverberated with the roar of the dragon. The white dragon was more than 30 meters long, and its huge body with nearly 50 meters of wings appeared in the sky. Frightened by the dragon, the animals crawled on the ground. They didn''t dare to move at all. They just fell on the ground and kept shaking.
The furious white dragon flapped its wings and flew to the mountain that stood up. Its huge body blocked the sky and covered the earth like a shadow.
Although he doesn''t have much wisdom and is naturally irritable, as a dragon with real pure blood, the white dragon also stands at the top of the pyramid! Moreover, it is an adult white dragon that breaks through the bondage of blood lineage. In fact, it has the power to fight even against the last adult green dragon!
The roar of the Dragon resounds through the earth!
The white dragon is flapping its huge wings in the sky, circling the strange mountain.
Its limited wisdom can''t understand why this mountain can stand up so strangely, but as a pure dragon, it can''t accept the provocative behavior of any creature in its own territory!
This is absolutely unforgivable!
Only let the enemy in its dragon breath into ashes, can it calm the anger between the abdomen and chest!
Ow!
The sound of dragons resounds through the earth.
A flame with the smell of lava and sulfur spewed out from the mouth of the white dragon. The dragon breath with a diameter of more than two meters covered the strange mountain peak, and immediately covered nearly half of the mountain peak. The rocks could not bear the high temperature flame, and then collapsed at a more amazing speed!
The gravel flies down!
With a loud "bump", a pair of huge arms, nearly five meters in diameter, were suddenly stretched out from the standing mountain. They were all made of gray granite. They were like fists of a heavy truck, beating the front of the whole mountain with one punch.
The sky is falling!
There was a crack on the whole mountain, followed by cobweb like cracks centered on the place where it was hit by a fist made of gray granite.
In the roar.
The body of the mountain began to collapse, countless boulders fell on the ground, suddenly flying up all over the sky of dust!
The dust fell to the ground.
After the collapse of the mountain, a giant with a height of nearly 100 meters and a body of gray granite stood in the rubble. It looked up at the roaring white dragon in the sky, and seemed to have determined that the white dragon was the one who attacked it before. Then he bent down and picked up a huge stone with a diameter of about five meters and a weight of more than ten tons, just like a small stone thrown by ordinary people, and threw it at the roaring dragon in the sky.
The huge stone was hurled out with a roar, but the white dragon flying in the sky easily escaped.
It showed a mocking smile at the corner of its mouth, flapping its huge wings and flying in the sky in an extremely flexible posture. A dragon breath spewed down, with the burning flame of sulfur smell shrouded in the giant body composed of gray granite!
The mocking smile of the white dragon didn''t last long, because it couldn''t smile any more.
In a miss, the rock giant, which is made of gray granite, has a very humanized expression of embarrassment. That kind of expression is like a previous life some expert bowling suddenly miss, even one did not hit the same. Standing in the breath of the dragon, it moved its muscles and bones against the burning flame, and then shook its wrist.
Next!
A diameter of more than three meters, weight in tons of boulders, just like a storm in general was thrown to the sky dragon!