A sneeze destroys a magical civilization

The Crawling City, a massive city made entirely of obsidian and volcanic ash.

It is the residence and palace of General Jiao Yan, the nominal master of all yugoloth demons, and it is also the ultimate war fortress.

There are not only powerful war magic siege towers, but also an academy dedicated to teaching strategy and tactical skills.

Those Yugoloth demon officers who have won the most victories in bloody battles and have the most experience in command will here teach the young juniors how to deal with demons and how to defeat their powerful legions to win.

Although in the eyes of many people, the presence of the Yugoloth demon in the bloody battle has never been very obvious.

But in fact, they are the third largest participant in the longest, largest, and most tragic war in the universe.

Although the size of its army is far less than the endless numbers of demons, and it also lacks the unity, discipline, and efficiency of the demon army, it can always create some jaw-dropping achievements.

Basically, as long as the yugoloth demon falls to one side, the other side will inevitably suffer terrible casualties and failure.

Fortunately, these guys strictly adhere to the neutral camp and basically help whoever offers the most benefits.

Once the overall balance of power is broken, they will immediately jump back and suppress the winning side.

After all, only by keeping the demons and demons at about the same strength can the yugoloth mercenaries continue to earn generous commissions.

In addition, there are a large number of factories in the crawling city, which are producing the latest military equipment day and night. Some are used to arm themselves, and the rest are sold to both sides in the bloody battle at high prices.

The most important thing is, just by hearing the name "Crawling City", you know that it is not fixed in a certain place, but can move around like a floating city.

It's just that it's not flying, but crawling.

Under the entire huge city are thousands of extremely thick crab legs that look like demonic limbs.

Even if you encounter the steepest cliff or a wide lava river, you can still cross it quickly as if it were flat ground.

As for the direction of movement, according to the Yggoloth Demon, it should all come from the will of General Jiao Yan.

No one knows what the strength of General Jiao Yan is. To be precise, no one has seen him, not even the Yggoloth himself.

But some people speculate that he is as powerful as the plane lords of hell, while others think that he can be on par with the most powerful demigods.

But what is certain is that this person is undoubtedly a quasi-divine power.

It is said that the moment the Crawling City joins the bloody battle is when the outcome of the war is finally decided.

Of course, as a big devil, Zuo Si has strong suspicion and contempt for this kind of self-proclaimed behavior of the Yugoloth demon.

Want to end the bloody war with just a demigod's god-like power?

What a joke!

Asmodeus, the Lord of Hell, does not dare to end the bloody war easily, but must maintain it as much as possible, otherwise the current order of the universe will quickly collapse and trigger a series of chaos and turmoil.

In fact, after arriving in the Burning Hell, Zuo Si's first stop was also the Crawling City, and he made a deal with the high-level Yugroth demon here, exchanging some junk things that he could not use in exchange for the approximate location of Baal's kingdom.

You must know that the outer plane is infinite, so it is quite difficult to find the kingdom of a god in such a place.

Unless the god opens his country to the outside world and allows visitors from other places to enter and exit freely, if he deliberately hides it, even if he searches for a hundred or two hundred years, there may not be any results.

But now I am visiting this city again to retrieve the crystal pendant with the love demon around me.

I have to say that it is indeed a pretty good idea to think of keeping things in the crawling city.

Because this is a place where very few power dragons dare not mess around in the entire Burning Hell Plane.

The reason is very simple.

The Crawling City itself is actually equivalent to the territory of General Jiao Yan. The latter can not only obtain power from the massive yugoloth demons, but also receive the blessing of home field advantage.

Even if the incarnation of a god comes, it is difficult to get any advantage, let alone a legendary dragon that does not even have divine power.

In order not to attract too many people's attention, Zuo Si had transformed into a horned devil at this moment, instead of taking on the human form or the big devil form, which was exactly the same as when he came not long ago.

In the Creeping City, horned demons, spiked demons and bone demons are the most common types of demons.

Some of them serve as liaisons and spend money on behalf of a certain lord to hire the yugoloth demon army to join the bloody battle, while others make "extra money" here as free mercenaries.

However, it is unknown how many of the devils who are mercenaries are real mercenaries, and how many are spies from Baator Hell.

According to the rules of hell, every devil must have a master and an object of allegiance from the moment he is born. Zuo Si feels that these guys are all spies and spies without exception.

Devils are not uncommon on the streets of the city anyway, and so are demons.

There are even occasional sightings of celestial beings and visitors from other material planes and outer planes.

After all, one of the biggest characteristics of a yugoloth is its profit-seeking nature.

As long as you give them enough benefits, it doesn't matter even if you let them go against their evil nature and do good deeds.

Therefore, although the yugoloth demon claims to be neutral to the outside world, it is actually closer to a lawful demon than a chaotic demon, and never refuses any profitable transaction.

This can be seen from the prosperous markets and large and small shops in the crawling city.

There is no doubt that with Zuo Si's current status, it is obviously impossible to maintain a relatively relaxed state in another home stadium of another divine power.

The potential spiritual detection that is everywhere around us makes people feel nervous all the time.

Even though he clearly knew that this kind of detection could not see through his disguise and protection.

So he didn't say a word the whole time, just silently following the demon of love, acting like a hired bodyguard.

As for Louise, the demon of love and lust, because she had already seen Zuo Si's dragon form and the terrifying power it exuded, she didn't dare to think anything wrong at the moment.

She knew very well that if she dared to violate the signed contract, no one, not even General Jiao Yan, could save her, so she was very cooperative from beginning to end.

About twenty minutes after entering the city, the two of them had already obtained the dark blue crystal pendant.

Looking at the somewhat worn and turbid prismatic crystal in his hand, as well as the images and ancient characters projected inside the crystal under the light, Zuo Si asked with interest: "Where did you find this thing?"

The Demon of Love shook his head slightly: "Sorry, I'm not sure either.

All I know is that the power dragon spent a lot of money to buy it from a plane merchant.

And through a series of derivation verifications from several ancient books and notes, it was confirmed that this is where the Heart of Darkness gem is buried.

However, because the map was too vague and abstract, he ultimately failed to find the marked location.

When I took a huge risk to steal, I just wanted to sell it for a good price. "

"So it's all just an unconfirmed conjecture about a certain dragon?"

Zuo Si raised his eyebrows with an expression of disbelief.

After spending a long time on the relationship, what I got in the end was most likely a "fake".

"Absolutely. But no matter what, this pendant is quite old, and it is very likely that a huge treasure or artifact is buried."

The demon of love spread his hands in an innocent manner.

Now, no matter what secrets are hidden in the crystal pendant, it has nothing to do with her.

“Well, I know better than to get my hopes up.

How could a clue to a powerful artifact like the Heart of Darkness Gem be obtained by a power dragon for no reason?

No, that's not right.

To be precise, if the Heart of Darkness Gem can drive away the forces of chaos and order as rumored, it is 100% impossible to have it faked by General Jiao Yan.

Because judging from the power possessed by Crawling City, his power level is obviously far from reaching this level.

In other words, at least powerful divine power is needed to create an item of this level. "

Zuo Si's mouth twitched and he complained a few words, then he put away the crystal pendant and prepared to take it back and take some time to study it.

He didn't know much about the history of the Burning Hell and the birth of the Yugroth demon. He was going to find an opportunity to check the information in the library of Ogma, the God of Knowledge, or ask the Lord of Hell, As. Mortiers.

Anyway, there are not many records of this in the memory of Abyss Will.

Of course, if this thing really records the burial location of the Heart of Darkness gem, it would be a standard pie in the sky.

Instead of feeling lucky and happy, Zuo Si needs to be more vigilant about whether there are any enemies secretly plotting against him, or whether the matter itself is a huge trap.

Because he has accepted all kinds of scams, tricks and promotions in modern society, he never believed that the so-called "lucky jackpot" would befall him.

Normally, if something good happens suddenly, the sensitive nerves in the brain will be immediately triggered into a state of alert.

"The contract I signed ends here, right?" The Love Demon cautiously probed.

"Yes, you have completed the contract and now we are clear."

After saying that, Zuo Si showed a friendly smile, then activated the teleportation magic and disappeared without a trace.

Seeing this, the Love Demon breathed a sigh of relief. He sat down on the ground exhausted, wiping the sweat from his forehead and cheeks with the back of his hand. There was unconcealable fear in his eyes.

Just when her tense nerves were completely relaxed and she was about to get up and find a tavern or hotel to celebrate the rest of her life, a strange and inexplicable distortion suddenly flashed through the air behind her.

The next second...

A devil over three meters tall and extremely thin suddenly appeared out of thin air. At lightning speed, he instantly grabbed the slender and sexy neck of the love demon with his sharp claws.

"woo woo woo woo……"

The pain and strong sense of suffocation caused by the huge external force on the tibia immediately caused Louise to start struggling desperately, trying to fight back with the same sharp claws.

But unfortunately, before her sharp claws could touch the opponent's body, they were immediately blocked by an invisible force field.

What is even more unbelievable is that the Demon of Love has unleashed several innate spell-like abilities, but each one was forcibly countered just halfway through its release.

The most terrible thing is that when the opponent counterattacked, he neither chanted a spell nor made any spell-casting movements. He just stared at himself with those creepy eyes.

"Ah! What a beautiful face! My dear, I want to use your soul to make a new mask. What do you think?"

The devil raised his head to reveal a human face that was extremely inconsistent with his body, and the corners of his mouth were raised crazily, giving people a sense of hysterical madness.

But it was obvious that the Demon of Love, whose neck was stuck tightly, could not speak at all. He could only try his best to shake the claw that looked very thin, but was actually as powerful as an iron pincer and could not move at all.

Immediately afterwards, under the action of a terrifying brute force, her neck began to bend downward uncontrollably, and made a crisp sound that could only be heard when bones were broken.

Click!

The entire spine was broken into two sections on the spot.

The severe pain caused the demon of love to groan and growl in pain from his nostrils and throat.

Although for mortals, a violently broken neck like this can be classified as a fatal injury.

If you cannot get timely treatment, you will definitely die.

But for evil spirits, as long as their heads are not ripped off completely, they will not die easily.

The weird devil grabbed the head that had been completely severed and was at the mercy of others like a rag doll. He pulled it down hard and made a nod. He raised his voice and said to himself in imitation of the voice of the demon of love: "Okay. ! I would be very happy to be made into a mask by you."

moment!

The demon of love felt unprecedented fear.

This fear does not come from the fight against death, but from the pathology and distortion shown by the other party.

It's a pity that she can neither make a sound nor speak now. She can only watch the devil use his sharp nails to make vivid bloody marks on her beautiful face, and then suddenly remove the bloody face at an extremely fast speed. Tear it off, hold it in your hand and caress it gently, as if it were some diluted treasure.

After a while, the guy reluctantly put down his bloody face, turned around and stared at the demon of love who could no longer see the slightest bit of beauty and allure, and asked with a half-smile: "I think you must be very beautiful." You want to know why you are being hunted before you die, right?"

"..."

The demon of love lay motionless, unable to even blink.

Because even the eyelids were completely peeled off, leaving only two protruding eyeballs that could barely rotate.

“The answer is actually quite simple.

My master did not want anyone to know that he had obtained the crystal pendant.

If you want to keep secrets in this universe filled with powerful magic and divine power, you must clean up everything from body to soul at once.

I happened to have this ability, so I was sent here.

Remember, the next time you make a contract with the devil, especially a big devil like your master, it's best to read every clause carefully and hire an expert who can read the truth.

Otherwise you wouldn't be able to spot the intentional loopholes.

Oh, I almost forgot, you have no next chance. "

As the last word blurted out, the devil released some kind of black-red mist, covering the demon of love from head to toe.

During this process, the latter's body and even soul began to dissolve at an extremely fast speed, and eventually all turned into invisible energy and was sucked into the bloody mask.

In the blink of an eye, the entire mask became as smooth as new, and no trace of blood or dirt could be seen anymore.

Not only that, but a flash of azure light would flash through the empty eye sockets from time to time.

"Haha, what a beautiful mask. From now on, your memory, life and everything belong to me."

After saying that, the devil quickly activated the teleportation magic and disappeared.

Just a second later, he appeared in front of Zuo Si, bowed gracefully, performed a standard elf salute, and presented the mask he had just made with both hands.

"Master, according to your request, I have dealt with the last hidden danger. No one knows that you hold the crystal pendant."

"Well done, Irenicus."

Zuo Si nodded with satisfaction.

As a cautious person, how could he leave such a huge hidden danger? It is simply a common thing to silence him.

Only when the demon of love disappears completely can he truly feel at ease.

"This is my honor. If there are similar opportunities in the future, please leave them to me. Because I am eager to make and collect more masks to seize other people's memories and lives."

Irenekas, who had long since been transformed into a great devil, smiled with excitement and anticipation.

Of course, strictly speaking, his current name is no longer this, but has the real name of a devil.

However, considering that the real names of alien creatures such as demons and demons often have powerful magical effects, no fool will let outsiders know his real name, and will always choose a fake name that he uses on daily basis.

In order to make the name smoother, Zuo Si directly used the other person's mortal name.

But in fact, the Irenicas in front of him is completely different from the previous Irenicas.

Especially the ability to make and use masks, he is like a monster from a horror story.

Because as long as the mask is successfully made and given to him for use, then this guy will be able to fully integrate into the role played by the new mask.

Regardless of race, gender, thinking, values, worldview and fighting style, they will be exactly the same as the unlucky guy who was made into a mask. Even the closest people will not be able to detect the slightest difference.

Moreover, the replacement of this mask can be completed in an instant, and can be superimposed on the current mask of his own.

"No problem, I will select suitable targets for you to collect and plunder as much as you like."

As Zuo Si said this, he took the mask and then handed it back with his backhand.

Because only after he hands it back can the other party use the mask, otherwise even if it is completed, it will only be used as a decoration.

"Thank you so much!"

Irenikas, who was "given" a mask, didn't even wait for a second, and immediately put the new toy on his face eagerly.

In an instant, he transformed from a tall and thin devil into a beautiful and charming demon of love, even posing in very seductive movements and poses.

Obviously, this is the power he gained from becoming the Great Devil.

If it were in Baator Hell, ordinary devils would at least address him as "Count", which is an extremely rare noble.

Zuo Si even considered using Shimmering Oil to complete Irenicas, and then make him a blue magic judge to control an affiliated plane and become a lord.

But eventually the idea was abandoned.

The reason is simple. If he wants to become a demon judge with blue mana on the ninth level of hell, his strength and development potential are far from qualified.

As his strength continued to grow, Zuo Si's vision inevitably began to become more and more critical.

Just when he was about to continue searching for the location of Baal's kingdom, an interdimensional portal suddenly opened out of thin air, and Gramir, the pleasure demon as his exclusive secretary, came over from the other side.

She knelt down on one knee and kissed the back of the loyal lord's hand affectionately, and then reported with a smile: "Sir, your plan was successful.

The cunning high yugoloth in Sigil has agreed to meet with us.

However, the place she chose is a little troublesome. It is the Sea of ​​Chaos that is overwhelmingly unfavorable to us.

I even suspect that this guy may have connections with some slaadi lords.

That's why you want to use the other party's power to ensure your personal safety. "

"Choose the Sea of ​​Chaos? Let Lord Slaadi protect your personal safety? Are you sure this is not a joke?"

Even though Zuo Si had seen many big scenes, he was still shocked by Shemisaka's sexy moves.

He couldn't believe that the other party was so "brave".

Especially as the Chaos Sea, the ultimate chaotic plane in the universe, it is said that anything can happen.

Not to mention the powerful slaadi lords who possess quasi-divine powers, whose actions are completely illogical and illogical, who may immediately regret what they agreed to do one second ago, and the super lords who are so big that they can swallow a giant dragon in one bite. Giant Toad, the extremely harsh environment alone is enough to scare away the gods.

Evil and chaotic gods basically either stay in the bottomless abyss to build their kingdoms, or they choose the wasteland of destruction and despair, or the noisy empty tunnels filled with hysterical madness.

Chaotic and good gods often choose Elysium and the Wilderness.

As for chaotic neutrality...

Basically, they either build their own kingdom alone, or they also live in the hustle and bustle tunnel plane.

Anyway, there are not many people who really dare to go to the Sea of ​​Chaos.

Because this broken place has a characteristic that other planes do not have, that is, it cannot be permanently shaped by divine power.

Even if it is temporarily controlled and shaped, a lot of time, energy and divine power must be spent to maintain it.

Otherwise, the established kingdom will collapse and disintegrate in a very short period of time.

In addition, all magical power in the Sea of ​​Chaos will produce fluctuations similar to those of a frantic mage, and cause completely uncontrollable and unknown effects.

This is also the reason why Zuo Si has never been to the Sea of ​​Chaos so far.

Moreover, as a god-like power of the lawful camp, he will be suppressed by the power of the entire plane. Not only will his basic attributes be greatly weakened, but the big devil's god-like power will also lose more than 70%.

If he were unlucky enough to meet Lord Slaad again, a fierce battle would definitely be inevitable.

In short, Zuo Si couldn't figure out why Shemishaka chose to be in the Sea of ​​Chaos.

Gramir sighed helplessly and responded: "I also hope this is a joke. But unfortunately, it is the truth. I suggest you make more preparations and have at least four elite legions on standby. status."

But Zuo Si shook his head slightly: "No, don't bother, I alone am equivalent to the ten most elite demon legions. No matter what tricks Shemisaka is playing, she will not be able to escape this time."

"You want to take action yourself?"

Gramiel probed with wide eyes.

"That's right.

Only if I take action myself can I hold this cunning high-level yugoloth in the palm of my hand.

I already have a comprehensive plan for Sigil.

What's more, those guys from the Society of Gods and Not Gods still owe me a debt that they haven't repaid. "

When he said these words, a cold light flashed in Zuo Si's eyes.

He would never forget the crazy plan of that group of non-god members to blow up the entire Temple of Askatra.

That amazingly powerful magic device has not been found in the sewers yet.

When it is found, Zuo Si will arrange for manpower to return it to the organization as soon as possible, and directly blow up the headquarters as revenge.

"Okay, I'll make arrangements right away."

Although Gramir felt that it was a bit risky for his lord to do this, he still chose to obey.

After all, obeying the orders issued by superiors is deeply engraved in the bones of every devil.

No matter how angry, dissatisfied and resentful they are towards the order, they must do their best to complete it.

Otherwise, you may face a humiliating downgrade.

As soon as the Pleasure Demon left, Zuo Si got in touch with his ace spy, Farrow, who had fifteen completely different personalities, and learned about Shemisaka's recent movements.

However, Farrow was unable to know all the cards this Yugoloth demon had.

But the good news is that he will follow the team to the Sea of ​​Chaos in another identity.

In this way, a trap targeting Shemisaka finally came to an end.

In two days at most, Zuo Si will be able to communicate face-to-face with the underworld queen of Sigil City.

Until then, his goal remains to find Baal's kingdom and destroy it completely.

…

At the same time, the two islands of Araul Province, far to the east of Faerûn and across the sea from Ser, finally regained their former vitality after a period of money, management and the liberation of a large number of slaves.

The population has slowly grown from only a few thousand people to about 60,000.

In particular, a large number of the most in-demand goods from the West Coast Empire were continuously shipped over, and then wholesaled to local merchants at low prices, allowing them to take them back to their own countries or city-states for dumping, which brought astonishing tax revenue to the port cities.

Iron Princess Yalusel even summoned craftsmen to reuse the abandoned dry dock and began to take orders for building and repairing ships, so that merchants could expand their fleets and purchase and ship more ships at one time. goods.

The smaller ones are fishing boats used to take off the nets, mainly meeting the needs of port city residents for meat and protein.

The few places on the island suitable for farming have been leased to civilians for agriculture, animal husbandry and breeding.

If I had to describe it in one sentence, it would be a prosperous scene with hundreds of industries waiting to flourish.

If they hadn't seen with their own eyes the tragic situation after it was looted by pirates, I'm afraid no one would believe that it recovered in a short period of time after being destroyed.

Thousands of freed slaves can be said to have a strong sense of loyalty and belonging to the island that the West Coast Empire seized from the red-robed mage.

Even pirates regard this place as their lair and home port.

After each successful robbery, he would go to the market to sell, and then find a tavern to eat and drink as a celebration.

Nowadays, the entire Alambo Inland Sea and its surrounding coasts have basically been destroyed.

The Mulhorand Empire even had to issue an emergency order to move all coastal villages and towns inland.

The slave owners in Unser were also frightened so much that they peed their pants and began to flee with their families, not daring to live within 50 kilometers of the sea or river.

Because once caught, for the slaves it means that they will become serfs and sing, but for these slave owners who are accustomed to being aloof, it means that they will become slaves.

Yes, you are not mistaken.

That is to demote all slave owners, their families, and relatives into slaves, and then sell them to Serge as high-quality slaves.

Then he would use the money he earned to buy cheap ordinary slaves and bring them back.

This in and out can not only make a lot of money, but also at least increase the amount of labor obtained several times.

After all, the price of slaves is often determined by many factors.

Among them, appearance, health, education, etc. will all become bonus points when trading.

The wealthy slave owners and their families knew that they were all high-end goods without asking.

The price at which they were sold could often buy back ten or more ordinary slaves.

These ordinary slaves would be purchased by the Governor-General and then given their status as freedmen again.

In this way, all freed slaves would be grateful to the West Coast Empire.

In contrast, the slave owners and their families who were sold to Sayre were miserable.

What awaits them will be a long period of torture and suffering.

After all, these people must be resentful of the West Coast Empire, which is a huge hidden danger and time bomb.

Instead of staying and waiting for them to cause trouble, or coming out to destroy and clean up after regaining freedom, it is better to pack it and throw it to Serge for peace of mind.

The most important thing is that in this series of illegal slave trade, it was all done by pirates.

The Governor's Office was not involved from the beginning to the end, but only stepped in to win people's hearts at the end.

At this moment, Yalusel was standing on the balcony of the recently built gorgeous mansion, looking down at the bustling and busy scene of the city below, and asked without looking back: "So far, our first phase of the reconstruction plan has been How much has been accomplished?”

"Almost 90 percent. The only two things left to do now are restoring food reserves and achieving balance of payments."

As the finance minister, Vera sat at the table leisurely sipping hot tea and gave an accurate answer.

You don't need to ask to know that the current prosperity of these two islands has something to do with her.

To be precise, she was teaching the Iron Princess, who originally only knew how to fight, how to govern a territory or even an entire country.

After all, if you want to make a country rich, prosperous and stable, it is nothing more than mastering the military, political and economic troika.

Through tireless study and practice, Vera has understood the organizational structure and operating principles of modern countries.

Even being the leader of a small country on Earth is more than enough.

“Our food consumption has been increasing, and we don’t know how long it will take to reach the reserve target at this rate.

I don't understand why South insists on spending huge sums of money to build public schools in all towns?

Wouldn't it be better to save this money and use it elsewhere?

What's more, what's the use of letting civilians and slaves learn to read and write?

They don't have enough talent or breadth of knowledge, so it's a complete waste of time and money. "

You can tell from his tone that Yalusel has strong opinions on opening public schools to teach civilians to read and write.

In other words, the entire old aristocratic class was full of resistance to this measure.

Because before that, the knowledge on the west coast of Faerûn was monopolized by nobles and wealthy merchants, that is, the wealthy class.

Civilians want to learn to read, write and basic arithmetic?

Sorry, please pay fifty gold coins to go to the academy or find a private tutor to teach for a few months.

Fifty gold coins is an astronomical figure that ordinary people cannot afford.

There are some lucky families who have never suffered any natural or man-made disasters in their entire lives, but they don’t know if they can even scrape together so much money.

But now?

As long as you are willing to learn, whether you are a child or an adult, you can go to public colleges to study for free.

Although the level of teachers and the quality of lectures vary, at least there is a way to learn.

After all, only by learning to read and write common language can a person understand the knowledge in books and gain the ability to learn by himself.

This directly broke the upper class's monopoly on knowledge.

The reason why there was no strong backlash was that on the one hand, vested interest groups were afraid of Zuo Si, a powerful tyrant, and on the other hand, the nobles of Tethyr, Kalinshield, and Baldur's Gate had already been purged, and the nobles of Amn had also been purged long ago. I was so tortured by the favor order that I didn't dare to jump out and cause trouble for fear of being blacklisted.

"What do you think public education is? Some kind of whimsical charity? Or do you think you're smarter than His Majesty the Emperor?"

Vera put down the tea cup in her hand and showed a joking expression.

Yalusel turned around and stared into the other person's eyes, and asked in an uncertain tone: "What do you mean..."

Vera explained meaningfully: "His Majesty Soth once said that public education is a tool of rule.

Its function is to domesticate free people into the labor force and population resources needed by society.

At the same time, a strong sense of group identity and values ​​are established.

Only when a consensus is established and all subjects identify themselves as part of the empire will the West Coast Empire become a country in the true sense.

Before that, it was just a symbol and flag that were forcibly pinched together.

Look at the people in the port city who are so grateful to the Empire that they voluntarily work more than five hours of overtime every day.

Do you think they are really free?

The answer is obviously no.

They simply transformed from a rougher state of servitude into a more subtle state of servitude.

Moreover, this hidden state of slavery has greatly increased labor enthusiasm.

No one noticed that after gaining freedom, the wealth created by these former slaves not only did not decrease, but actually increased at least three times.

What we paid was a negligible remuneration, less than one-tenth of the wealth they created.

But instead of complaining, angry, resentful and passive about this kind of high-intensity labor, they showed happy and satisfied smiles.

Do you know why? "

"Why? Because we were paid?"

The Iron Princess fell into confusion for a moment.

Vera stretched out a finger and shook it gently: "No, no, no, many places also pay wages, but why are the workers there still lazy?

This has nothing to do with payment.

Because they have been tamed by the officials we put in charge of management and some subtle brainwashing.

No one realizes how high the value they create through labor is.

I just mistakenly believe that I was a slave before and was not even paid, but now I can make money to support my family through labor and live a normal life. This is already very happy.

By comparing with the miserable days in the past, they feel that their current life is good enough, which leads to a sense of happiness and satisfaction.

The feeling of being able to work in exchange for reward makes anyone who has ever been a slave addicted.

In the same way, His Majesty Soth actually had the same purpose in establishing public education.

It's just that he didn't focus on these petty profits, but instead set his sights on higher places.

He wants to build a true thousand-year empire and a ten-thousand-year empire that can be reborn from the ashes like a phoenix again and again even if it collapses and is destroyed. "

"That's it! I seem to understand a little bit..."

There was a strange light in Yalusel's eyes, and he was extremely shocked and unbelievable at Zuo Si's grand vision and ambition.

At this moment, she realized how vastly different the West Coast Empire was from other traditional countries on Faerûn.

In addition, the turmoil in her heart that had finally calmed down once again began to make the Iron Princess miss the tense and exciting feeling when she was with someone, and she subconsciously tightened her legs.