Lux's Farewell

Compared with the constant disputes in the past few years, in the fifth year of Fossbarrow's calendar, the entire Runeterra has been peaceful for a very rare year.

The end of the Battle of Tobyssia, like the previous Battle of Presidium, changed the international situation of Runeterra to a great extent.

The most direct point is that after the failure of the Battle of Tobyssia, the warlike Noxus finally became completely honest.

For a whole year, the Noxians have been shrinking their forces and licking their wounds. Although it is said that there have been several small-scale coups inside the Immortal Fortress, in the end Darius miraculously gained a firm foothold ——It's hard to imagine that this big bastard from Besilico could one day become the true commander of Noxus.

However, Noxus' initiative to shrink its forces relieved the duchies and city-states of the Valoran continent. They quickly turned to Demacia and began to adapt to the new order of Valoran proposed by Jarvan IV.

However, unlike the generosity of the previous bipolar hegemony, Jarvan IV, who was tense due to military expansion, reduced subsidies to his allies. Although they could still buy food from Demacia, the price of bulk food increased significantly.

If the Noxians are still strong, many people on the fence will have different thoughts at this time, but when the Battle of Tobyssia is over and the Noxians themselves cross the river like a bodhisattva, and they are unable to protect themselves, even Germany Marcia's export grain prices have risen, and these principalities and city-states can only hold their noses and say "good rise", and then welcome the rise in grain prices with tears in the corners of their eyes.

In addition, due to the overall contraction of the Noxus, the city-states that once raised the Noxus flag on the northern shore of Shurima have all been brought out of order now—even Belguin and Belgian, who were most influenced by Noxus, Telishni, both declared themselves Shurima Zhengshuo again.

The reason why they pulled down the Noxus flag was that, apart from the Tobyssian Battle which exposed the weakness of the empire, there was also the fact that the Shurima claim seemed to be more profitable than the Noxus claim. .

In fact, in the past few years after Lux arrived in Fossbarrow, it seemed that because of Prince Lingyu's stimulation, the Shurima continent, which had been silent before, miraculously revived a bit of vitality.

It is also interesting to say that before Vazuan rebuilt and took out the prince's feathers, the banner of "Shurima orthodoxy" seemed to have long lost its appeal to the Shurima people. The city-states on the north bank took refuge in Noxus, The city-states on the south bank stand on their own, and the banks of the Shurima River are full of kings. The entire Shurima seems to have been completely divided and shattered into a piece of dregs.

However, when Vazuan took out Prince Lingyu, in the name of Shurima orthodoxy, quickly opened up the trade barriers of various city-states, and completely spread his own trade business, people discovered that even if the empire had collapsed, Thousands of years have passed, but in the hearts of the Shurima people, they still miss that ancient and glorious country.

Even though Vazuan's hextech fair was a bit deviant, pilgrims from all over Shurima still filled the city's hotels.

Even if it is normal for city-states to build high trade barriers, wherever the envoy with the feather goes, the local businessmen are willing to sit down and talk.

The Shurima Empire has collapsed, and this collapse comes from external pressure and from irreconcilable contradictions at the top.

But this ancient empire still has a desire for unity and glory engraved in the bones of the Shurima people.

The fairy tales and novels once written by the prince, even if the carrier and text have been changed, will still appear on the children's bedside in the form of bedtime stories.

The animals and plants that were once cultivated by the empire, even without the state-run farms and breeding farms, are still the livestock and crops that countless Shurima people need to make a living.

There are many pasts of the Shurima Empire, which the Shurima people cannot understand now. They cannot understand the greatness of Shurima University, the strength of the Ascended, and how proud the Shurima people were back then.

But at least they will occasionally think of that empire when they add fodder to the pan sheep, milk the ban sheep, trim the hooves of the Skarash, plan the sand potatoes from the sand, and weave oil silk and ramie in front of the loom , and think about "how wonderful it would be if I could live in that time".

Unfortunately, reality is always cruel.

The collapse of the empire brought great suffering to the people of Shurima. After the Rune Wars, with the rapid rise of Demacia and Noxus, ancient Shurima seems to be completely behind the times.

The Shurimans seem to have lost all of their former glory, even seeking refuge under the banner of Noxus.

However, when the prince's feathers reappeared and Vazuan declared that he had expelled the influence of the Noxians and rushed to the glory of Shurima again, this ancient country seemed to have hope once again. flames.

And the power of hope, like a germinated seed, looks extremely fragile, but in fact it is enough to crack a monument!
From this point of view, Tariq's feeling is correct, this ancient land indeed contains powerful power beyond imagination!
........................

When Shurima gradually woke up and began to show this powerful power little by little, Tariq, who made this judgment, finally landed from Kalamanda with a professional "investigation team". Arrived in Shurima, and started a critical preliminary investigation for possible future Shurima trade in Demacia.

In order to collect as much information about Shurima as possible, Jarvan IV arranged for Taric to have a lot of professional assistants. In this investigation team, in addition to the fearless pioneers who served as guards, there were also professionals who were proficient in accounts. Stewards, outstanding representatives of the Artists Association, experienced military officers, bishops of the Illuminati...

Although Jarvan IV was not yet able to come up with the advanced idea of ​​"globalization of Runeterra", but after going through the journey to the summit, his vision has broadened a lot.

Now that the Noxians have been dealt with, as long as the Shurima people are opened up and the royal family's treasury is expanded through Shurima trade, the resistance to reform within Demacia will be minimized—from the father In his experience, Jarvan IV has deeply realized that the more he asks for, the more compromises he needs, and compromises are an important reason why he cannot centralize power.

When the internal suppression of the nobles is close to the limit, if he wants to take the next step, he must look for forces that can be used from the outside. Shurima seems to have great potential.

In this way, Tarik came to Kalamanda when the water network in the north was connected.

Taric, who is determined to find out the "source of power in Shurima", specially prepared a notebook, intending to record in detail what he saw and heard in Shurima in the form of a diary, and sort it out, so as to find the key points ——Actually, he had already started writing his diary when he sailed to Kalamanda.

Life at sea is boring and boring, but this does not prevent Tarik from finding things worth recording from this boring and boring experience. For example, he left two useful records about pirates. : Either Demacia forms a navy to maintain the waterway, or Demacia and Bilgewater have a good relationship. This once notorious pirate city seems to be seeking transformation recently.

As the first stop of the trip to Shurima, Kalamanda is the focus of Tariq's records. The background of the lord, the division of power, and the military power all need to be recorded and summarized by Tariq for subsequent analysis.

In order to understand this, Tariq simply took a day off and walked into the market in Kalamanda with a notebook, talking with people and recording what he had learned.

Then, on the first day of the inspection, Tariq clearly sensed that something was wrong.

Tariq himself—or the Demacians—was not very popular with the Kalamanda.

Although the merchants here are always polite and enthusiastic when facing him, Tariq is still keenly aware of the unspeakable gap between the two parties.

This kind of barrier that ordinary people can't perceive, but Tariq can't ignore, seems to remind him all the time that he and these Kalamanda people are not the same kind of people.

There is no doubt that this is a very strange thing.

Especially when Tariq saw a previous merchant who was polite to him turn around and talk happily with another Vazuan, this feeling was even more clear.

What's happening here?
Obviously that Vazuan's Shurima language is not as good as his own!
Why do I feel that I can't talk to those Shurima people, but they can chat so happily?
Such a subtle situation made Tariq slowly realize that something was wrong. After a few more days of experimentation and confirming that this was not an illusion, Tariq finally confirmed that even though he had learned Shurima, he still Much, much worse than a Shuriman.

After having this idea, Tariq began to talk less and listen more, trying to find the key.

Then, just when Tariq seemed to have vaguely discovered something, but he couldn't sum it up for the time being, as the butler of the team's "economic expert", after figuring out Kalamanda's trading model, he gave a conclusion that made him It dawned on Tarek at last.

The way of thinking of the Kalamanda people is completely different from that of the Demacians!

In Demacia, a merchant is a merchant. As long as the merchant's transaction is taxed, no matter what he buys or sells, it is the merchant's own business. Only a very small number of special products (such as the magic stone) need to be controlled by the government, and there are almost no taboos.

Here in Kalamanda, however, the market arbitrator is very prominent.

Every transaction contract needs to be stamped and stamped by the arbitrator, and a stamp tax is paid. Unlike Demacia's transaction tax, the Kalamanda market arbitrator will also review the contract itself in addition to stamping ——They have to look over everything from the transaction item to the amount to the terms of the breach.

Once the contract is signed, the defaulter will be punished directly by the arbitrator. In addition to paying compensation according to the contract, individuals who breach the contract will also be required to be fined. If they do not pay, they will be prohibited from entering Kalamanda. Pay a deposit, and those who do not pay a deposit are not allowed to trade commodities in Kalamanda.

This also directly led to a large number of arbitrators in the Kalamanda market. According to the professional butler, the number of arbitrators in the Kalamanda market is simply more than the tax officials in a small Demacia city!

Hearing this, Tariq thought for a while, tried to put himself in the perspective of a commoner or a small businessman, and soon realized the biggest difference between Kalamanda and Demacia.

So, in his diary that day, he wrote down the following paragraphs.

"Kalamanda is a strange city. Here, the number of official personnel is far beyond imagination."

"The lord of Kalamanda seems to take care of everything - not just tax collection, recruiting soldiers and other things that a normal lord should take care of, but some trivial matters, even the size of the boots must be according to his requirements .”

"I don't know whether this kind of meticulous management is out of amazing control or purely voluntary, but I don't understand why the Kalamanda people can tolerate their annoying behavior. Lord, even when talking about her, there is obvious reverence in his tone."

"That's right, it's [her], the lord of Kalamanda (the local name should be Korazane, the direct translation is...the Harbor Governor?) is a woman, and it seems that Shurima is very important to women. There is a special trust in the political field, and many people even regard her as [the mother of the whole city]."

"On this issue, the Kalamanda people always take it for granted, as if the lord should be like a mother, or control the entire city in more detail than a mother. I really can't imagine these Karamandans. What do the masters think—but at least I have a clear understanding of the fact that I can't talk to them."

"Kalamanda is different from Demacia. The lord here has a lot of influence on everyone. It's hard for me to say whether this is a good thing or a bad thing, but what is certain is that if every Shurima city is like this , if you want to conduct trade in Shurima, then getting the relationship with the local lord is more important than ever..."

Perhaps because of that experience as a protoss, Tarik's observation skills are surprisingly good.

After spending less than half a month in Kalamanda, he was keenly aware of the astonishing color difference between Shurima and Demacia, at the level of civilization background.

Unlike Demacia, which is an alliance-style kingdom made up of refugees, Shurima, which has grown from a small tribe little by little, has amazing control over the grassroots—even if Shurima is divided, even if Shurima is over However, this power did not dissipate, but was firmly held in the hands of the lords everywhere.

In Demacia, if the lord wants to manage the fief, he can only rely on his relatives, or a few close housekeepers. The new nobles who do not have such connections often have to find tax-paying merchants to manage the fief.

But in Shurima, although Kalya's hard-working university has been submerged in the yellow sand, the examination he first proposed and standardized has been passed down from generation to generation as an important talent selection channel.

Kalya's Little Classroom Shurima Exam:

In Shurima, examinations have become a common method of selecting talents-even in some religious orders, if you want to become a missionary, you need to pass the examination.

It is not an exaggeration to say that although Kalya is a bastard with a vicious tongue, narrow eyes, and full of evil tastes, over the years, Kalya has received the most scolding because of the invention of the "examination" system.

Of course, gratitude is also more or less because of the system.