Chapter 113 The Last Mountain Giant (Part 2)!

I touched the edge of hell with one hand, which was a hidden and silent realm. The black Styx River had no waves, the dark red land was like scorching magma, and the strong wind showed a ray of light, but it was like a swaying candlelight...

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The cool breeze is gentle.

In the hot August, it is a very rare cloudy day today.

In the morning, there was a drizzle in Athens, which washed away the dryness and sultry heat that filled the air. After more than a year of construction, the official roads established in Athens were no longer the dusty roads they used to be. Now, there are well-connected stone paving roads between the towns in Athens. Tiles and stone slabs are neatly laid on the road. The road is mixed with sand and slurry and mud, which can make the road withstand heavy baggage trucks.

As long as it is necessary, when war occurs, the troops in Athens can reach anywhere in the territory within six hours.

And the cavalry troops only need one or two hours to be able to enter the battle!

Small territory also has the advantage of small territory. As long as the land is fertile enough to produce food to feed the population, then it can be fully constructed to turn it into a highly dense and fertile land. In this era, the utilization rate of land was quite low, and there were large areas of barren land between the towns of each lord. Perhaps because the land was not suitable for cultivation, or because some dangerous creatures lived nearby, these lands formed the wilderness area of ​​the southern plains.

These wilderness areas occupy more than half of the total area of ​​the southern plains. Otherwise, with the vastness of the southern plains, there would be absolutely no problem to support a thousand million people. There was no fertilizer in this era, and the technology of canal irrigation was not mature, and there were not even many dams for water storage, so it was very difficult to open up land! Moreover, the cultivation methods of humans in the southern plains and even smart creatures in the whole world are very primitive. They can only use some simple soil methods to maintain the fertility of the land, but at this level, they can only barely maintain the grain output at a self-sufficiency level. For example, in many places, since the grain output produced in the land is not enough to support themselves, they have to live half fishing, hunting and half farming.

This situation is very common, and this is true for more than 90% of the intelligent races that have not entered the era of civilization enlightenment.

In contrast, Athens is not a little ahead of two points.

After the winter wheat harvest in June, Murphy ordered a large number of spies and intelligence personnel to be sent to various parts of the southern plains. The intelligence they collected was not only limited to military intelligence, but also a large amount of information about life. Just like a batch of crops recently introduced in Athens, a batch of crops collected and sorted out through these intelligence personnel with relatively high yields and rich nutrients needed by humans.

These crops are being cultivated and tested in batches under the leadership of agricultural experts, and the excellent varieties will be taken out for large-scale cultivation next year.

The food of a city's light clock is obviously not enough. It is worth mentioning that agricultural experts have introduced a plant similar to rapeseed flowers from a place close to the half-elves. These plants grow and develop quickly. After the winter wheat is harvested in June, it can bloom around August. The flower seeds it produces not only have high oil content, but also serves as food for livestock, but also this plant can supplement fertility in the fields. This rapeseed flowers just fill the gap in the fields after the winter wheat is harvested. After all, Athens cannot plant hundreds of thousands of acres of potatoes and corn after the winter wheat is harvested.

It was too scary to think about it.

In addition to the necessary wheat, Athens also requires a large amount of vegetables and other crops.

This is also a very important part of a newly established city. After all, many people in Athens are already bored with fish. If the pigs and beasts raised last year were not as fat as strong, the soldiers would not have much enthusiasm to face the dried salted fish. This is the bad nature of human beings and the driving force for human beings to move forward. When there is no food to eat, being able to eat is happiness. But when it is able to eat, thinking that having meat is happiness.

Murphy didn't care about this.

Because improving the living conditions of the people in the throne gives them higher pursuits, it is also a sign of the territory's progress.

This is just the beginning.

Due to the frequent wars and war reserves before, there are still many missing places in the construction of Athens. In the rare peaceful time now, it can be used to complete these missing places. After all, a city and a kingdom contain too many things. These require time to accumulate and improve bit by bit.

When the citizens of Athenians gradually meet their material needs, they will begin to transform into a spiritual pursuit.

At that time, it is believed that the extension points of civilization in art, culture and other aspects will be born one by one. A territory, a country, and a civilization not only needs to face the unyielding, bravery, perseverance and sacrifice in war, but also needs many spiritual civilizations in life, such as art, culture, education, etc.

This is something Murphy enjoys to see!

He wanted to build Athens into a military empire dominated by war and had unprecedentedly powerful combat power. But he did not want to turn Athens into a Spartan-like war machine without much rationality! Because in his understanding and understanding, only relative balance can continue, otherwise Athens would have to collapse at a critical point like the Spartan city-state on earth.

He didn't know if this world was eternal, but the relative balance could undoubtedly be maintained for a longer time!

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At afternoon, three o'clock.

Athens now has a lot of trivial matters to deal with. If it weren’t for the education of the University of Athens, a group of middle and lower classes of management talents were cultivated in the territory, Murphy would probably be so busy that he had no time to eat. As a group of talents who had received the university of Athens were cultivated, the ruling organs of various departments in the territory began to gradually divide. The Interior Hall headed by General Jerry Rivad and Lady Elizabeth, they gathered a group of people with talent in internal management, who were responsible for trade, taxation, farming and other aspects in the Athenian territory. The Military Affairs Office, headed by General Leodallie, conducted higher-level studies on the intermediate non-commissioned officers of various Athenian legions and laid the foundation for the future establishment of the military headquarters.

Although a country needs many ruling departments, in general, there are only two points.

One is internal affairs, the other is military.

Everything was for these two points. Murphy did not appreciate the feudal system of the noble lords in this world, because there were too many disadvantages of this feudal system. Moreover, he would never allow the power of the territory to be divided into pieces. If there was no better way, instead of continuing the system of this world, it would be better to divide the entire Athens ruling system according to the division of Middle-earth in the past life, and change the name to divide the Ministry of Personnel, Ministry of Revenue, Ministry of Rites, Ministry of War, Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Works one by one in the form of six ministries.

The system that was too advanced was difficult to be accepted by this primitive era, but the six ministries in Middle-earth in the past could be fully accommodated by the current Athens. When the Principality of Athens was established, this six ministries could be used as the ruling core of the entire Athens.

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After handling some decision-making affairs in the territory, Murphy immediately took the general guard to the port for inspection.

Now the total population of Athens is about to exceed 40,000, and the number of citizens has reached more than 10,000. It is expected that in no time, Athens will be able to be upgraded from a city to a big city, and the entire Athens will have to be planned again. Fortunately, Murphy had already made pre-plans before the city was established, and the city of Athens can be expanded and rebuilt as an inner city.

Otherwise, there would probably be a lot of trouble.

"Governor!"

"Governor!"

Murphy walked on the wide street with the general guards, with neat stone slabs on the roads, and the width of the entire street was enough to allow five carriages to run in parallel. This is a very wide road in this era. A lord who could plan the city was qualified to be named by people in various wise reputations. There were many pedestrians, past merchants, and Athenian citizens, among which there were many adventurers and mercenaries. Although the slave trade here stopped after the end of the Gnoll War, Athens will now sell some cast iron carburized steel weapons to the outside world, mostly eliminated by Athenian soldiers, or re-forged by weapons confiscated by several wars.

Although most of the Athenian soldiers are equipped with sixteen forged steel or twenty-four forged steel, soldiers from other places may not have such good equipment. The weapons sold to Athens now can be comparable to the standard equipment used by some elite troops when they are taken elsewhere. There are many adventurers and mercenary teams who come to Athens specifically to buy a few high-quality weapons.

There is a misunderstanding here, that is, the equipment sold by urban blacksmith shops is definitely not as good as the military-style equipment. In such an era, we can say without hesitation that the standard equipment produced by the military can be labeled as a [exquisite].

As for the so-called blacksmith shop, the equipment sold in it is likely that even the steel standard is not met, and it can only be considered as pig iron level one.

After all, most truly excellent blacksmiths have been hired by the army, and the rest can only be used to play kitchen knives, ordinary swords, etc., and their level is definitely not very high. It is worth mentioning that excellent blacksmiths have a relatively high status in this era, and can be said to be the most advanced among many professions. An excellent blacksmith even needs to bend down to show off when he sees a noble, without bowing down. However, most of these more important professions are subject to strict restrictions and control.

In the era of cold weapons, the value of an excellent blacksmith is absolutely incalculable!

Especially during the war!

The port to Athens has now expanded several times. If it is placed in other places in the southern plains, it can be regarded as a medium-sized city. The entire port is home to nearly 10,000 people. In addition to the previously reserved port trade points, additional residential areas, commercial areas, Victory Square and other areas have been established.

Murphy walked on the road with the General Guards, and people bowed and bowed from time to time along the way, either called "Governor General" or "Governor General".

The former is mostly ordinary citizens, who call Murphy "Grandman", while the latter is some soldiers and subordinate officials, who mostly call Murphy "Your Excellency".

The group came to the door of the blacksmith shop, and many people were choosing weapons to be used.

As the riots continued in various places, the mercenary industry gradually grew. Similarly, a large part of the wealth in the hands of the nobles and merchants also flowed to these mercenaries. Now there are goblins, kobold robbers everywhere, ranging from dozens to hundreds to attack passing caravans or villages. In the past, the caravans that came and went could just bring a few guards, but now they would probably have a lot of trouble on the road if they didn't hire a whole team of mercenaries.

The mercenary has money in his hands.

In addition to improving one's life, the rest is of course to buy weapons and equipment to save one's life.

In this way, the spoils harvested in Athens in the Orcs, the weapons and leather armor seized from the Orcs, had sufficient sales. There were not many soldiers in Athens, but there were a lot of spoils seized in that battle. Tens of thousands of people were equipped with leather armor and weapons, which was the inventory of the entire Orc tribe for decades, and a large amount of supplies helped by the Orc Empire.

In addition to Athens itself, Murphy had at least more than 20,000 leather armor and tens of thousands of swords to take action!

This is a considerable wealth!

After the war consumed a large amount of money from the treasury, Murphy waited for the batch of materials to be returned to money for construction after Athens was upgraded to a big city.

The orcs used heavy weapons, and naturally they were sufficient. It was enough to recast a battle axe and recast it and shoot two swords. After the iron tools were abundant, Murphy also asked his officials to start improving farm tools. Since the forging technology has been improved, it naturally cannot be limited to war. Athens' current civilization level has completely escaped from the late Bronze Age and entered the Iron Age standards.

Naturally, all the bronze and agricultural tools used in the past will naturally be abolished. Although the steel tools in the territory are still used for weapon forging, it is time for iron tools to be popularized in all aspects.

Iron Age!

This undoubtedly means that Athens has truly stood up, which means that Athens has the ability to equip the soldiers with a large number of iron armor. Those armors with relatively primitive production craftsmanship can also gradually begin to transition to chain armor and steel knight plate armor! In such a magnificent era, Athens, which officially entered the Iron Age, undoubtedly has its own right to speak!

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His eyes glanced at the busy blacksmith shop, and then Murphy led the general guard toward the courtyard behind him.

When he saw Murphy coming in, a busy official immediately trotted and brought a bill, carefully handed it to Murphy, and said, "Sir, this is the bill of weapons sold in the past month."

Murphy did not like flattery. His long-term military training also tempered his character, making his style firm, calm and decisive and direct. This greatly indirectly affected other people in Athens. In addition, General Leodalee, a general with a very obvious Spartan style and the importance of Spartan warriors during the war, Athens did not have the formalism of the previous life.

On the contrary, Athens's way of doing things is very simple and clear, with a strong Spartan style.

What is Spartan style?

It is said that once, a king threatened Spartan to obey his orders, otherwise he would razed Sparta to the ground. The Spartan king's answer was only one word: "Please!" The Spartans' language was very concise and clear, and sometimes their answers were even similar to military orders. However, what Murphy did not expect was that this Spartan language, which was originally mostly used in the officer class, quickly affected all classes in Athens. Invisibly, it improved the efficiency of all aspects of work.

Murphy reached out to take the bill and looked at it, then nodded with satisfaction.

In one month, Athens sold 3,000 pieces of leather armor and a large number of weapons. These weapons were transported to the mercenary class everywhere, arming local forces to allow them to resist the goblins, kowtows, robbers circulating everywhere. Similarly, Athens also obtained nearly 100,000 silver coins for this reason, and the treasury that had been squandered by the Orc War began to become abundant again.

This is only a small part of the sale, if it is added to the sale to barbarian humans and the trade with the centaur tribe.

The weapons and equipment seized by the orcs in the battle are worth more than one million silver coins!

About a week later, the Centaur tribe would send a thousand horses traded to Athens. These horses were reserved for Athens after they were upgraded to a big city. Because after Athens was upgraded to a big city, Murphy would start to prepare for recruiting and training the Seleucid faction's heavy cavalry legion - [Iron Armored Cavalry]!

After reading the bill, Murphy patted his shoulder and encouraged the flattered official.

Then, he led the general guards to the direction of the ruling government. Because there were a large number of robbers roaming on the land, water trade became more and more prosperous. As the only city in the southern plain with a large port and a large commercial area, the port of Athens undoubtedly became an important transit point for water trade after being blocked by land.

During this period, there were many merchants traveling between Athens, which forced Murphy to send ten fully organized troops to the port guards and patrols.

The number of migrant population soared, and public security problems also arose.

Those mercenaries and adventurers are guys who use muscles more than brains. Although there are no major problems, there are no shortage of fighting in the tavern. Almost every day, there are unlucky guys who are caught by the patrol team and thrown into the dark room because of the fight.

Walking on the wide street, Murphy suddenly felt cold all over.

Then, as if he was being targeted by something terrible, his heart beat and he was beaten up!

He stopped and turned around, but unfortunately he saw nothing. There were merchants coming and going everywhere, as well as mercenaries coming to Athens. These people were dressed in a relatively different way. Several lonely adventurers were even wearing extremely wide cloaks, and could only see half of their faces and a pair of unruly eyes. These guys who dared to walk alone in the wilderness were not easy to deal with, and some of them were even from gladiators!

These people have no relatives or friends, and there are not many mercenary groups who dare to accept dangerous people like them.

Many of them became wanderers in the wilderness after they gained freedom, and sometimes even made guest appearances as assassins. They are all very dangerous people. The career of gladiators has taught them to ignore life. These people are like poisonous snakes in the dark! Cruel and deadly!

etc!

assassin?!

Murphy suddenly remembered the feeling of being targeted just now, like a cruel wolf, and the feeling of being shining like a light on his back was as if he was shrouded in some artistic novels.
To be continued...