Lord Harland

After returning from an inspection in the Nelson area, it was already November.

After four years of accumulation, the commodity fair in the Harland Territory has become a grand scene in the Grant Kingdom and enjoys a great reputation in the northern Xinjiang. Especially after the alchemy bomb was sold last year, the nobles of the entire Grant Kingdom have heard about it.

This year, too many people came, not only the northern nobles, but also the southern nobles. There were more than a hundred large and small caravans. Including the merchants in the Harland Territory, the total number of people participating in the expo exceeded Thirty thousand people.

Because too many people came, the hotel in the castle could not accommodate so many people. Coordinating accommodation and catering gave Rogge a headache. Even prices near Fort William had increased. In the end, some foreign caravans had no choice but to live in tents.

It’s already very cold in November in northern Xinjiang. It’s not easy to live in a tent in this kind of weather. Fortunately, the coal mine sent hundreds of tons of fuel, so people could barely freeze to death.

Although there was a war this year, the alchemy bombs in Harland territory were severely depleted, and there were only 8,000 bombs left in stock. Richard still used his prestige to persuade the cadres in the army to take out 4,000 bombs and prepare them for the market.

As the Harland Mage Association's manpower expanded, the production of alchemy bombs increased, reaching 8,000 this year. Due to the lack of gold coins due to the lack of gold coins due to the expansion of the army this year, Richard decided to put half of his production capacity on the market starting from this year to withdraw funds.

In the wars of recent years, Harland's alchemy bomb has become famous. Because of its superior cost performance, it has become the most famous weapon in the Grant Kingdom. The combat effectiveness of the army equipped with this weapon has been greatly improved.

The Duke of Harland, the Duke of Jonathan, and the Grant royal family have clearly separated themselves from other nobles in terms of weapons and equipment because they have mastered the technology of making alchemical bombs.

The York, Edward, Fox and other duke families sent people to talk to Richard many times, hoping to trade alchemy bomb manufacturing technology, but they could not provide suitable chips, and Richard did not agree.

Today, the Harland family's political status is the same as that of several major duke families. Although its economic strength is slightly lower, its military strength is already ranked in the upper reaches of several duke families. He is not afraid of the coercion and inducement of several dukes at all. Without appropriate transaction enhancements, Richard would never easily spread the alchemy bomb manufacturing technology and increase the foundation of several duchies.

The political system of the Grant Kingdom has reached the ducal level and is equivalent to shareholders on the board of directors.

Every shareholder is a secret competitor. Even though the Harland family is a shareholder who has just joined the board of directors and does not have a great influence on the company, it will not easily sell its own technology and increase the shares of its competitors.

Because of the massive proliferation of alchemy bombs, preventing technical leaks has become a top priority.

The alchemy bomb manufactured by Harland since last year has been surgically wrapped with a layer of iron to cover up the explosive runes. The explosives inside are also made into special igniting steel wheels. Once disassembled, the explosive runes will be triggered immediately and they will explode in advance. , increasing the difficulty of copycatting.

In addition, purchasing an alchemy bomb requires signing a special contract in advance. The contract stipulates that it cannot be resold, given to others, and cannot be disassembled for research. Losing an alchemy bomb requires not only paying a fine of two thousand gold coins to Harland. And you will lose the quota to continue purchasing alchemy bombs.

The contract was drawn up in great detail, with dozens of clauses added together, making purchasing an alchemy bomb a very serious matter.

Although the threshold is high and purchasing alchemy bombs is a bit more troublesome than last year, it still cannot reduce the enthusiasm of the northern Xinjiang nobles.

During the orc invasion war that broke out this year, the nobles found alchemy bombs very useful. After the orcs break through the defense line, they usually divide their troops into large groups. With hundreds of alchemical bombs in hand, it is easy to break the attack of a large group of orcs.

The nobles who purchased alchemy bombs from Harland Territory last year successfully fought off the orcs. They not only saved their territory but also made many military exploits. After discovering that the alchemy bomb was so easy to use, these people spent a large amount of money one after another, hoping to purchase a batch to ensure the stability of their territory.

After all, the alchemy bomb is a consumable item that needs to be replenished after the war.

Due to the restrictions of the royal power contract, the alchemy bombs made by the two noble families, Grant Royal Family and Duke Jonathan, could only be used for their own use. Now that the Harland family has a monopoly in this market, even if the contract is drafted very harshly, the nobles of Northern Xinjiang can only agree.

On November 3rd, the first day of the commodity expo, four thousand alchemy bombs were swept away by the northern Xinjiang nobles.

Because of Richard's secret control, the nobles who can buy alchemy bombs this year are basically people from Gascoigne Province.

The rebellion a few years ago caused heavy losses to the nobles of Gascoigne Province.

At that time, several powerful nobles in the Gascoigne Province were infiltrated by the Venus family and deeply involved in the rebellion. They were finally liquidated by the Grant royal family and were basically wiped out.

After losing several viscount families, the aristocratic power of Gascoigne Province has not yet recovered. Without the help of the noble coalition, every time the orcs invaded, the Mad Lion Army was left in a state of disarray.

In recent years, orcs have often invaded from Gascoigne Province, which is also an important reason.

Through the sale of arms and supplies, it can help strengthen the strength of the coalition of nobles in Gascoigne Province. The military strength of Gascoigne Province has been strengthened, and the defensive pressure in the hinterland of Haaland will be reduced.

In fact, selling alchemy bombs to the neighboring nobles of Northern Xinjiang is a win-win situation.

As soon as the four thousand alchemical bombs were sold, Pastor Sanders of Morningside Church in Haaland Territory came to the door.

After more than ten years of development, the strength of the church in the Harland territory has increased very rapidly.

Up to now, the Church of Dawn has established fifteen churches and trained nearly sixty warriors. There are more than ten official priests and magicians in total, and nearly thirty apprentices. Melee professionals are basically trained locally, and a large part of magic professionals are people transferred from the headquarters.

Sanders was also promoted from a fourth-level pastor to a sixth-level pastor, only one step away from entering the upper echelons of the church in the Grant area.

Originally, according to the specifications of the Duchy of Harland, the bishop should choose a high-level professional. However, considering that Sanders has worked hard and made great contributions to the development of the Harland diocese, and has a very close relationship with Richard, Nuo Lan's headquarters did not choose to replace him, and temporarily made him acting bishop until he broke through to the seventh level and became a full-time official.

Upon hearing that Acting Bishop Sanders had arrived, Richard immediately invited him to the living room.

"Mr. Sanders came to my place tonight, could it be about the alchemy bomb?"

Richard and Sanders have known each other for many years, and the Church of Dawn is very cooperative with Leader Harland's policies. The two have participated in several battles together, and they have some comradeship and deep friendship. So Richard didn't be polite and went straight to the point.

Sanders nodded and said, "That's true. Duke Richard is still as sharp as before."

"Mr. Sanders, is it possible that the church has encountered some trouble and needs to strengthen its combat capabilities?"

"I won't hide it from you. A war of church faith did break out in the Holy Glory Empire this winter. Although our Dawn Church stayed out of it, the Church of Truth suffered serious losses under the attacks of the Royal Church and the Glory Church. The technology for making alchemical bombs is actually being traded. To the Church of Truth.”

Although Richard has become the Duke of Grant Kingdom, the Harland family background is relatively shallow. The inside story of the upper level of the Dawn Plane is almost completely obscured. The situation of the Holy Radiance Empire is even more confusing and cannot be understood at all.

Perhaps it was because he saw Richard becoming a Duke that Sanders introduced him to some details of the Holy God's Glorious Empire.

This plane is named after the dawn, so naturally the goddess of dawn is the most powerful. However, in the battle with the ancient wizard and the undead king, the goddess of dawn was also the most seriously injured and slept for the longest time. She barely managed to survive about a thousand years ago. wake.

The God of Glory was second only to the Goddess of Dawn in power at that time. His injuries were relatively minor and he successfully woke up more than two thousand years ago.

The God of Glory awakened more than a thousand years in advance. Although he still cannot have much power to interfere with the real world, under the cultivation of the gods, the strength of the Church of Glory exceeds that of the other six gods. When the Holy Radiance Empire was established, the Church of the Radiance God contributed the most, and its influence also exceeded that of the other six gods.

More than a thousand years ago, the Church of the Seven Gods, with the support of secular nobles, quickly defeated the orcs and occupied the most fertile land in the Dawn Continent.

But after the victory, deep internal conflicts accumulated.

Less than a hundred years after driving the orcs to the north, the first religious war broke out in the Holy Radiant Empire.

The two warring parties are the Church of the God of Truth and the Church of the God of Glory.

Because the God of Truth awakened earlier, the power of the church is second only to the God of Glory, ranking second in the Church of the Seven Gods.

Due to the rapid development of magical civilization after the war, the power controlled by the Church of the God of Truth has greatly increased. In just over a hundred years, the power controlled by the Church of the God of Truth has caught up with the Church of the God of Glory.

With the support of secular believers, the two sides fought a brutal religious war. According to the description of the books handed down, this religious war is said to have killed hundreds of millions of people, almost wiping out half of the population of the Holy Glory Empire.

At the end of the war, the orcs once again invaded from the north. The elves in the eastern continent and the dwarves in the western continent were also ready to make moves. Even the giant dragons rushed out from the sub-dimensional Dragon Valley to take advantage.

At such a critical moment, the two warring churches have already had a deep hatred and are still fighting tooth and nail.

Fortunately, the other five major churches joined forces. The Church of Dawn and the Church of King Power tried their best to defeat the orcs. The Church of the God of Justice suppressed the elves, the Church of the God of Wealth defeated the dwarves, and the Church of the God of Nature fought off the dragons, allowing humans to maintain their survival. achieved dominance.

After the war, the God of Truth placed its main power in the southwest region of the Central Continent and formed an alliance with the magic nobles.

The Church of Dawn did not participate in religious wars because of its weak strength, and focused its main efforts on preaching in the northeastern region of the Central Continent. In recent years, its apparent strength has ranked third among the Church of the Seven Gods.

In the past few hundred years, as the situation has evolved, the Church of Dawn has become closer to the Church of Truth, the Royal Church and the Church of Glory have formed an alliance, and the three weakest churches, Wealth, Nature, and Fairness, have also become vaguely closer.

Because the first religious war was so brutal, the Church of the Seven Gods learned its lesson and formulated the Treaty of the Seven Gods, prohibiting secular forces from participating in religious wars. It also prohibits the power of the Church of the Seven Gods from participating in secular wars. Although everyone has taken advantage of some loopholes, the treaty has not been openly broken yet, and the balance is generally maintained.

After listening to Sanders' explanation, Richard instantly grasped the main conflict in the Dawn Plane, which was the war between gods.

In fact, behind the main power of this plane, there are gods supporting it.

There are seven gods behind mankind. Although these gods are seriously injured, they are still recovering and their strength ranks first. Human beings can become the overlord of the plane, in addition to their own struggle, the support of gods is also an important reason.

Behind the Orc Empire, there are two Orc Gods. These two Orc Gods are also outsiders, but they failed to master the core power. After the avatars came to the plane of dawn, their strength was suppressed. They were only equivalent to the fourth-level legends and were not overwhelming. The power of the Church of the Seven Gods, in the war a thousand years ago, even caused the loss of two clones, and the seven human gods swallowed their divinity.

The situation for elves, dwarves and orcs is roughly the same, but they are not as aggressive.

Although there is no god behind the dragon, there is a demigod dragon who is somewhat more powerful than the god's clone in the plane of dawn.

Even behind the bones of the undead, there is a vague figure of the undead king. The Lord of the Undead is the master of the plane, and his power is stronger than that of the gods.

The protection of the church power is also very important for the Harland family to develop to this point. After the First World War when the plane passage was blocked, the Dawn church power valued Richard very much and has been vaguely supporting the Harland leader in recent years. .

Moreover, the Harland family has been a believer in the Goddess of Dawn for generations, so of course it is impossible to support other gods. Even if Richard doesn't have deep faith in the Goddess of Dawn and plans to jump to another church, he has no upper-level connections to use.

Upon hearing Sanders' request, Richard said happily: "Based on our relationship, I will not set up obstacles to the transaction of alchemy bomb manufacturing technology.

But I have a question in my mind. The Church of the God of Truth has a great influence in the Southwest Magic Kingdom. It should be possible to obtain the alchemy bomb manufacturing technology from the Heart of Elements, right? Why should we sacrifice the near for the far? We must know that the alchemy bomb made by the Heart of Elements is twice as powerful as the alchemy bomb made in our territory. Is it possible that the religious war between the two families is very fierce and the cost needs to be reduced? "

Sanders nodded and said: "This religious conflict was indeed fierce. In just two months, the Church of Truth reportedly mobilized hundreds of thousands of soldiers and consumed tens of thousands of alchemical bombs. Even if the Church of Truth has a great cause, The pressure is also serious. We cannot let the Church of Truth fail, we must give them some support secretly. If the Church of Truth fails, pressure will fall on our heads.

The Harland Territory is deeply involved with the Church of the Morning. The Holy Radiance Empire is not only overbearing, but also very conservative and closed, and does not trust outsiders at all. If the Church of Radiance wins, the Harland family may not survive.

As for the exchange chips, the church can provide a batch of magic potion formulas, with a total of twelve types, such as morning light potion, starry sky potion, frost potion, arcane potion, and eight element affinity potions.

In addition, the Church of Dawn can provide twelve copies of each potion, and also provide you with a Holy Radiance Potion, helping you to be promoted to a seventh-ring magician one or two years in advance.

Compared to the Grant royal family and Archduke Jonathan, the church's transaction conditions are far more relaxed than theirs. "