Lux's Farewell

Chapter 932 Epilogue·New Era

For Demacia in the 22nd year of Forsby's calendar, the Northern Expedition and the Freljord should be considered the hot words of the year.

Although the unification war not long ago lasted for two years, after the Battle of Badaopo, it was basically a battle to chase the North and clear out the local nobles. These achievements were not enough to improve the military rank.

For the new generation of Demacian soldiers and law-enforcers who are eager to make achievements, this trip to the north is the best way for them to realize their self-worth.

Not everyone understands why Lux chose to go to the north, but this does not prevent the entire Demacia from fully participating in this war in various forms.

However, although the Demacians seem to be focusing all their attention on the north, if you look at it from the perspective of Runeterra as a whole, the impact of this emerging country is more concentrated in the economic field.

In the past, Demacia mostly acted as a consumer in the international trade of Runeterra. Although they would also import some novelties that were not available locally, overall, this country was very important to the international trade of Runeterra. The dependence on trade is very low. The fertile land is visible to the naked eye. The powerful nobles prefer to collect stable rents and taxes from farmers. Trade and other things mostly just maintain the flow of basic materials.

At that time, the most successful businessmen in the entire Demacia were not the ones who made the most money, but the ones with the most connections. The ultimate form of businessmen was not to operate as a monopoly, but to become a well-rounded broker and manage themselves into the ranks of the nobility. .

However, with the rise of the North and the establishment of New Demacia, the image of Demacia as a country is changing visibly.

At the beginning, the trade in the north was a small circle trade with limited participants, an exchange between Forsbarrow and Avarosa.

However, with the recognition of the Ionian monks, and as Forsbarrow built New Fortune Port and became part of the Ionian trade, the scale and objects of the northern trade began to grow rapidly.

Suddenly, many international traders chose to come to Forsbarrow to try their luck and see if they could make a fortune.

Compared with other port cities, Forsbarrow has undoubtedly done a very good job in supporting trade. In the entire Rune Land, there are probably only a few ports such as Vazuan that can have the same loading and unloading capacity and business operations as Xinfu Port. The environment, coupled with the canal here connecting Xinfu City and northern trade, instantly made Forsbarrow a place that the big businessmen of Rune Land would never miss to make a fortune.

Merchants coming and going from here transported a large amount of grain, furs, gems, and spices, and brought a lot of Forsbarrow's rare materials and resources. They also brought over the latest shipbuilding technology. With the support of "premeditated plan", Fosbairo was not satisfied with just lying around and making money. Instead, he used trade to gather a large number of people, develop his own shipbuilding industry, and then radiate to other industries.

At the same time, the Northern Territory Integration Strategy was also formally proposed. The broader market and richer immigration resources allowed Forsbarrow Running to complete its transformation. In addition, as the school’s graduates graduated one after another, many legal practitioners directly invested in During production, a brand new magic industry began to quietly brew in the North.

Except for Kalya and the three giants in the north who are at the helm, few people can clearly realize this.

For the merchants who come and go, every time they transport goods to other cities and return to Forsbarrow, the city will change a lot.

Either there were a few more high-quality and low-priced goods, or there were a few more popular specialty products. As a result, a proverb called "If you don't know where to make a fortune, then go to Forsbarrow" began to spread. spread at sea.

Then, the Demacia Unification War began. Due to the overwhelming superiority of the navy, even the war did not interfere with the excitement of Xinfu Port in the slightest. Many businessmen had expectations for Demacia's future.

They expected Demacia to come up with more unique and best-selling products to connect them with one golden channel after another.

Then things developed completely beyond their expectations.

After Demacia was unified, Forsbarrow's huge military production capacity quickly expanded to the civilian track under the pressure of transformation. Taking the textile industry as the first shot, these products completely changed the world at a jaw-dropping speed. The entire pattern of international trade in Runeland.

Due to the extremely high production efficiency of magic, even after being transported by sea, the price of textiles produced in Demacia is still lower than that of local products in many coastal cities. This has had a huge impact on the handicraft production in many cities. .

Some cities were able to survive by further reducing labor costs and raising import taxes, but many more cities directly chose to de-industrialize after struggling to no avail.

With this ability to spin cloth, there is nothing wrong with doing anything!

Of course, due to the price of land transportation, this situation is only concentrated in coastal cities and industries such as handicrafts. In addition to allowing many craftsmen to go to sea to do business after losing their jobs, it further enriches the trade exchanges in Rune Land. In addition, it does not seem to have a more profound impact.

However, with the Northern Expedition in the 22nd year of Fossby's calendar, in order to maintain the logistics supply line, Lux personally signed a series of trade agreements and material transportation treaties with various principalities and city-states in the Valoran continent.

These treaties seemed to be for military service, but in addition to providing supplies for the Northern Expedition, many local Demacia businessmen also took notice. Starting from Yiming City, many Demacia businessmen "opened up" along the army's path. On the way out, a trade journey to the East began.

Different from maritime trade, even if some areas can have auxiliary transportation by the Yiming River, the transportation cost of eastward trade is still more than one or two points higher than that of maritime trade. In this case, it seems that the price advantage of textiles is not very obvious.

Moreover, taking into account political factors, it is impossible for Demacian merchants to directly destroy the handicraft markets of these allies through large-scale dumping, not through international trade merchants but in person.

Therefore, after a few unlucky guys who couldn't turn around and insisted on path dependence successfully went bankrupt, when the Northern Expeditionary Army began to besiege Fort Diver, the first batch of merchants finally found the most suitable type of goods for Eastern trade.

Luxury.

Or, finished products.

Although most of the economies along the eastern trade route are not as developed as Demacia's, and the civilians in many places even have a lot of food. It was not until they took over the material transportation tasks outsourced by some Demacians that their lives became much easier. However, the local people The rulers have no sympathy for the people.

Although this situation seems a bit strange, considering that these principalities and city-states have always been pawns in the struggle between Demacia and Noxus, it all makes sense.

Working hard?

There is no point in working hard. If you develop well, you can get rid of your identity as a chess piece and compete with Demacia and Noxus?

Stop making trouble, how is this possible!

Instead of working hard to govern, it is better to lie down early, have a chessboard consciousness, position yourself correctly, and maybe get some benefits from the game between the two big powers.

Following this line of thinking, the city-states and principalities in the central part of Valoran have always insisted on being drunk now. They jumped repeatedly without any psychological pressure, and they did not care about the suffering of the people when they enjoyed themselves. Even if it causes internal turmoil, as long as the boss behind the family is taken care of, isn't it easy to settle it?

Since the Demacia side clearly had an overwhelming advantage in the Battle of the Black Forest, these principalities and regions naturally took advantage of the wind and turned to Demacia again. Therefore, riding on this wind, many Demacia Businessmen in West Asia have found that Demacia's luxury goods and specialty products seem to be particularly easy to sell here.

It seems that in the eyes of the nobles in these places, everything in Demacia is good and excellent.

This discovery greatly promoted the development of Eastern trade. After opening up the aristocratic market, many Demacian merchants later realized that those daily necessities that were not too expensive and not too large could be purchased here. Sales are also good.

If it only ends here, then Eastern trade will only rely on a single trade under a special political environment.

What really brought about drastic changes in eastern trade was the cooperation between Demacia and Noxus.

When the two sides reached a cooperation on the "special threat of Runeterra" and the confrontation completely eased, Eastern trade finally had a truly vast untapped market.

The inland areas of Noxus are large, and due to the arid climate and scarce rivers, most of these places are dominated by savannas and desert plains.

This special natural environment has created the warlike and aggressive side of Noxus people, and is the main source of troops for Noxus.

In the past, the only way out for Noxians in these places was to grow up and fight for Noxus, become fuel for the empire, get everything they wanted on the battlefield, or die happily.

But now, with several consecutive defeats, this road seems to have been blocked - when the result of going to the battlefield is very likely to be death for nothing, even the most fanatical person will have to worry about whether to join the army. The student hesitated.

At this time, merchants from Demacia arrived, bringing many goods that Noxus had never had before, and also bringing a way out that Noxus had never had in the past.

Don't join the army, just follow the caravan to transport goods.

Since the distance of eastern trade is quite long, most merchants have chosen a staged transportation strategy, that is, based on the transportation system left by the Northern Expeditionary Army, they hand over goods every time they go, and while buying and selling, they exchange A group of carriers is not only more flexible, but also reduces costs. Although it is not as safe as hiring people locally, considering that the Northern Expedition has just passed, not many people dare to take action against Demacia merchants at this time. .

Originally, it was difficult for Noxians to accept such a task. Being hired by Demacians to carry goods was simply un-Noxian - but unfortunately, Noxus has long since This is no longer the Noxus it once was.

Although the backbone of the Noxians was not completely broken, they still lost their original unruliness.

Coupled with the financial offensive of Demacia businessmen, a deal that no one could have imagined twenty years ago was born.

The local Noxian people were responsible for the transportation at the end, which not only reduced the burden on the merchants, but also allowed Demacian goods to flow smoothly into Noxus. Under this situation, many Demacian people were surprised to find that Noxus The vastness of the Texas market seems to be completely beyond my imagination.

As long as you have the goods, all kinds of daily necessities will be sold in Noxus!

Information about land trade soon fed back to maritime trade. Previously, because the two sides were still in a confrontational posture, and Noxus imposed heavy taxes on foreign textiles in order to protect its own handicraft industry, Demacia's textiles were not available even in Nok. There are almost no sales in the coastal cities of Sars.

But now... things are different!

At the national level, the confrontation is over.

At the market level, Demacia businessmen with open minds have set their sights on areas that will not impact Noxus' local industries.

(As for why it won’t impact Noxus’ local industries... of course it’s because Noxus, which used to be a militaristic empire, has almost nothing in the field of people’s livelihood except basic textiles, food, metallurgy and other projects. .)

Like Ionian trade, Noxian trade seems to be becoming a new possibility.

Riel, who was still sorting out the mess in the Immortal Fortress and trying to recruit and surrender the rebellious slaves, could never have imagined that the merchant ships setting off from Xinfu Port, loaded with Demacia goods, would see them from an angle that she had never imagined before. , revolutionizing Noxus.

Maybe the direction is what she hopes for, but the process may be somewhat difficult for her to accept.

As for Noxus, other countries and regions in Runeterra, as long as they are still within the scope of international trade, will inevitably be affected by the rise of Demacia. Compared with the rise and prosperity of empires in the past, , Demacia's rise was so modest, but its impact was no less than that of those empires that flourished for a while.

The oppression and threat of a powerful military empire will change the attitudes of surrounding regimes, triggering arms races and regional conflicts. When they go off in person, they can often destroy forces that are not on their side.

However, a peaceful empire with a production level that far exceeds that of other countries can still bring about fundamental impacts and changes in the silent foreign trade.

Some of these changes can be seen at a glance, while others take time to ferment slowly.

In a sense, the Crusade's military operations have attracted a lot of attention. Maybe after the war in Freljord is over, other countries in Runeterra will realize this, and by that time, Demacia The goods, Demacia's rules, and Demacia's order will completely become part of their own country's commodity economy.

It will be a new era for everyone.

　Happy New Year!

　　This volume dragged on for a long time, with many twists and turns. The author always hoped to show a different look of Demacia, but to be honest, the effect did not satisfy me.

　　On the one hand, this is because writing this way is not in line with the style of online writing, and the author is not very skilled; on the other hand, it is because of the author’s personal reasons, family affairs, and physical problems.

　　Pretty bad volume.

　　But now this volume has finally ended successfully, and the next volume will be the end of the whole book. Kalya's journey will eventually end, and Lux's path will continue. The prepared foreshadowing has been laid early, and everything will eventually be Entering the final chapter.

　　Next volume·Back to the Future, so stay tuned!

　　

　

(End of this chapter)