Red dragon: in charge of natural disasters

"The wings are wider than the sky; the back is taller than the earth; the tail is longer than the mountains"

"All people worship together, the great red dragon in the sky!"

"The flame is your majesty's robe, the sky is your majesty's curtain, the dark and violent storms follow your majesty's path, the earth is suspended in space, full of treasures and treasures."

"How can this favor be returned? Your majesty let the mountain springs flow down to the plains, and let the rain moisten every place"

The bard sat on a wooden bench, playing the lute skillfully. He opened his mouth gently, and the melodious music and singing echoed.

People surrounded the bard, clasped their hands, closed their eyes, and sang with a pious expression.

——They sang the "Ode to Cassius", which is very popular in the empire. It is said that it was created by a fanatical dragon bard, and the melody is particularly sacred.

And the former "Song of Burning Embers" has now become a banned song, and it is even forbidden to mention it by the imperial officials.

This is the most prosperous and lively area in Istalia - Emperor Square.

With a huge square paved with stone slabs as the center, it is surrounded by several of Istalia's most representative landmark buildings - the Great Arena, the Imperial Council Hall, and the Empire State Building.

All the buildings surrounding the square are magnificent.

Fountains, gilded cast iron gates, and various gorgeous buildings.

In the center of the square, a huge red dragon statue stands tall, with its light golden pupils deep and majestic, as if looking down and inspecting everything around.

Several gilded fountains spray clear water, making a crisp sound, blending with the melodious music.

In this Emperor Square, there is a bustling crowd everywhere, and people of all kinds gather here: there are starfallers looking for tasks everywhere, there are vendors hawking, there are bards performing on the street, and there are drunk citizens.

The choir was just a corner of the bustling square. Their singing could not even drown out the vendors' cries, nor the drunks' noise in the tavern.

"Drink the strongest wine! Be the strongest man!"

"The most delicious rye bread!"

A tall drunk man raised his glass: "The Red Scale Conquerors are the most powerful legion in the empire! After riding the flying dragon, they are invincible! I also want to go to the garrison to participate in the selection!"

"You fart!"

Another drunk was lying on the wooden table, mumbling:

"Dragon, the Dragon Contract Paladin is the strongest! Lord Anthony of the Dragon Oath Temple once defeated the Lion Knight of the Bosque family alone against three!"

"Pah!"

Another man slammed the table and stood up, looking at the two drunks with disdain, and splashed the wine on their faces.

"Stop arguing!"

"Just with your muddy appearance, you want to become His Majesty's relatives? I'm afraid you can't even pass the recruitment of new soldiers?"

This is the ethos of the empire.

Confident, advocating force, talking big, and extremely respectful to His Majesty.

Unlike the desperate hierarchical order and lifeless social atmosphere of the original Northern Kingdom, the Empire provides people with a channel to rise, which also stimulates the vitality of the people.

Almost every citizen of the Empire has some ideals of becoming a "big man".

A tall man in a gray robe sat in the corner. He put the big sword behind him to the side and took a sip of wine.

"Anzeta has become like this."

"It's incredible."

The man looked very young, only in his twenties, but his eyes showed vicissitudes that did not match his age. Even the hood could not cover his golden hair and lavender pupils.

Blond hair and purple pupils were once a manifestation of noble blood in the North, because this was the characteristic of the descendants of the "Northern Lion" Bosque family.

But now, with the passage of time, this has become a symbol of sin and meanness, and people will even report it as a remnant of the North.

Yes, he is Andre Bosco, the second son of Grand Duke Leo, the first noble who voluntarily betrayed the North.

After the Northern Unification War, Andre did not stay in the army, but chose to become an ordinary adventurer to make a living by accepting missions.

Andre turned his head and looked at the drunk who was arguing more and more fiercely.

"What did you say?"

"I said - you are worthy of being His Majesty's relatives, bah!"

"You bastard, you are worse than those northern nobles who peed their pants!"

The verbal conflict quickly escalated into physical friction, and it became more and more intense under the paralysis of alcohol - those drunks were about to fight.

"Fighting is prohibited in the city!"

But before they could do anything, the sheriff riding a flying dragon fell from the sky and happily accepted the free contribution.

The two-legged flying dragon grabbed one person with its left claw and two with its right claw, and flew to the public security management office not far away.

The snake servants in the tavern skillfully cleaned up the overturned tables, chairs and bottles, and seemed not surprised at all.

Andre was quite surprised by the efficiency of the work. If in the former Northland

A hoarse male voice came, interrupting his thoughts.

"Little Andre, long time no see."

Andre looked up and saw the familiar, wrinkled face, and immediately stood up to greet him with some surprise.

"Are you Mr. Gugs?"

The old man smoothed the collar of his tattered gown and laughed heartily: "Hahaha, little Andre, the Northland has long been dead, we don't need to be so polite."

He sat down on the wooden chair, stretched out his hand to pour the wine, and then raised the glass.

"Come, sit down and drink."

"good."

Andre clinked glasses with Gugos, and then drank the luscious wine in one gulp.

This Mr. Gugos is a famous scholar in the North. He is knowledgeable and knowledgeable. It is said that he has memorized all the history of the North for thousands of years. He is known as the "Walking Strawburg Library".

He was also born into a noble family, but after the "Great Expropriation", he became completely disappointed with the decadent rule of the Northland Kingdom and fled to North Wind Castle with his few family properties.

Andre's rebellion was also due to his persuasion.

"Little Andre, do what you think is right."

"Northland is hopeless. It is rotten from top to bottom, and the filthy pus will flow to the bones."

——These are the original words of Gugus.

"All nations worship together, the great red dragon in the sky"

The sound of minstrels playing and singing came from outside the tavern.

Andre quietly stared at the bustling Emperor's Square, and then looked at the old man with a serious expression: "Mr. Gugos, have you lived in the Ember Empire for several years?"

"What kind of country do you think this is?"

Gugos put the wine glass to his mouth again, and his beard was almost soaked.

Hearing Andre's question, he shook his head and smiled, then lowered his voice and said, "Same as its supreme ruler - a greedy beast that is never satisfied."

"But compared to the group of borers in the North, it is hundreds of thousands of years advanced. It can be called a utopia."

Guges did not forget to add.

Andre frowned slightly, seeming to be thinking about something.

He carefully studied the system of the empire. In addition to the supremacy of imperial power, terms such as "freedom and equality" appeared most frequently. This concept was implemented throughout the empire.

But he always felt like something was wrong - that this wasn't true equality.

This country seems to regard everyone as nourishment for its growth, allowing itself to proliferate and expand at an unimaginable speed.

In layman's terms - the Empire oppresses everyone equally.

"Mr. Gugos, I still don't understand why they want to"

While talking and laughing, Guges had already drank the entire bottle of wine, and a hint of drunkenness appeared on his wrinkled old face.

"Right now, it hasn't reached its limits yet."

"If one day this empire is no longer as advanced as it is now and is about to be eliminated by the tide of history, I will do my best to do it."

"Mr. Guggs"

Andre looked around warily and covered the other person's mouth.

Fortunately, the people around him just regarded this as the ravings of a drunkard and didn't pay much attention.

A smile appeared on Guges' face. He lay on the wooden table and continued:

"Little Andre, I, I have found the direction, those fallen stars! They are undiscovered treasure troves. In their minds, there is knowledge that reveals the nature of society."

"I, I've put those things into the manuscript."

The year has passed by in a hurry, and the snow in the northern wilderness has melted for several months, and then piled up again with the biting cold wind.

However, the lives of people here have undergone earth-shaking changes.

The large farmland of Matera developed on a large scale, and the imperial agricultural officers led the skeleton army to work night and day, and later even operated combine harvesters.

The organic combination of spells, equipment and labor has brought about unprecedented productivity improvements.

Therefore, after the unprecedented harvest in September, the ruthless north wind did not bring famine. People could buy food at normal prices, and even if they were in trouble, they could still eat cheap cans from food processing plants.

According to official statistics from the empire, this was the first winter in Anzetta that almost no one died of starvation in thousands of years.

Due to the development of the empire's light industry, cheap and warm cotton coats became standard equipment for people. They no longer had to sit around the stove shivering, but could put on their coats and go out to work.

This was also the first winter in Anzetta in which fewer than 500 people froze to death.

Everything looks so beautiful, but underneath the beauty, there is also a lot of blood and tears hidden.

What has changed the most is the city.

Factories rose up one after another, forming a cold steel forest, while new buildings appeared in the city, and a large number of people poured into various cities.

They have basically become diligent workers, screws in the development of urban industry, or fuel and consumables.

Although the empire's regulations have provided the most basic protection for workers, according to incomplete official statistics from the empire, tens of thousands of people still died due to unnatural causes - most of them died in factories, but this information was hidden and could not be seen by the outside world. .

The empire's management of important cities such as Isdalia and Beifong Castle is still relatively strict, but in the remote cities of the former Northland Kingdom, the management is much weaker.

What's more, the rules and regulations of the empire were not perfect at that time.

As a result, all kinds of darkness and chaos arise.

After the Empire had just conquered the North. Dragon-blood nobles and emerging businessmen followed the official call for industrial development and invested in building factories in various cities.

On the eve of the promulgation of the Imperial Labor Law, various regulations had not yet been completed.

Thanks to the widespread use of steam engines and textile machines, mill work was not only easy to learn but required very little physical effort. As a result, factory owners hired women, especially children, in large numbers.

The main reason why factory owners like children is that they are weak and docile, while adults are often unwilling to succumb easily. At the same time, the wages of child laborers are very low, less than one-third of those of adults.

In order to maximize profits, the machines run 24 hours a day, and the workers have to work continuously day and night.

They take turns to rest. In this case, industrial accidents become commonplace - fingers are cut off by belts, and limbs are crushed by gears.

But when the workers seek compensation, they don't even have the courage to file a complaint in the face of the dragon blood nobles who have both strength and power.

These cheap daily necessities are mass-produced, and most of these products are sold to the Fadland region through the Empire South Continent Company, but some are also sold to the mainland.

But just this fraction has ruthlessly crushed the original market, and the former handicraft workshops and manual factories in the north have declared bankruptcy one after another.

The craftsmen who have been passed down from generation to generation in their families have declared bankruptcy one after another, and their shops have been acquired by factory owners, and eventually they can only enter the factory and become the fuel for industrial development.

With the collapse of slavery, people were indeed free, but invisible chains gradually entangled them.

Where there is oppression, there are people who resist.

In the frenzy of industrial development, a small-scale uprising occurred in Rostin, located on the northeastern border of the empire. Workers smashed machines and fled the city.

Immediately afterwards, several sporadic resistance incidents occurred, but they were all ruthlessly suppressed.

Until this moment, the imperial officials finally realized the seriousness of the matter. As the chief minister, Trump was furious and issued a far-reaching statement "Beware of Savage Development".

He was not angry because he sympathized with the workers, but because it was detrimental to the development of the empire - more importantly, it violated the will of Cassius.

Therefore, under the day and night work of the Ministry of Justice, relevant laws and regulations such as the "Imperial Workers Law" and the "Apprentice Health and Morality Law" were promulgated one after another.

The imperial judicial inspection team also inspected various cities, sent many people to prison, and even dragged those "new nobles" who over-oppressed and caused riots to the guillotine.

This incident and the last execution of the "Imperial Company Law" were collectively referred to as the "Great Cleansing Movement", which also left a mark in people's minds that the imperial law cannot be desecrated.

Maybe it is not sacred, but the bright, blood-dripping guillotine proves that it is indeed not to be violated lightly.

However, light industries such as spinning, ceramics, and leather processing are not the fastest-growing industries in the empire. There is only one industry that can bring the greatest benefits to the empire - the military industry!

The "Three Emperors War" in the south is getting more and more intense. Millions of people have been chewed up by the cruel battlefield. The former Fadlan forces such as the descendants of gods, legendary wizards, and constructed golems are wreaking havoc on the continent.

This is undoubtedly a disaster for the local people.

But the more this is the case, the easier it is for the empire's armaments to sell, the better the business of the Empire's Southern Continent Company, and the more profits the group behind it can make.

Later, people began to look forward to war, hoping that the war would be more violent, and even took the initiative to provoke war - this can bring them more gold coins.

A terrible monster gradually thrives under the nourishment of blood and fire.

——Seeking monthly ticket——(End of this chapter)