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

“All nations worship together the great red dragon in the sky!”

"The flames are your majesty's robe, the sky is your majesty's veil, the darkness and the storm follow your majesty's path, the earth is suspended in space, full of treasures and treasures."

"How can I repay this kindness? Your Majesty, please let the springs from the mountains flow down to the plains, and let the rains moisten every place."

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

People gathered around the bard, clasped their hands together, closed their eyes, and chanted with a pious expression.

——They were singing the "Hymn of Cassius", which was very popular in the empire. It was said to be composed by a fanatical dragon-born bard, and the melody was particularly sacred.

The song "Song of Burning Ashes" has now become a banned song, and is even forbidden to be mentioned by the imperial authorities.

This is the most prosperous and lively area of ​​Istalia - Emperor's Square.

With a huge stone-paved square as the center, it is surrounded by several of Istalia's most representative landmarks - the Colosseum, the Imperial Council Hall, and the Empire State Building.
All the buildings surrounding the square are magnificent.

Fountains, gilded cast iron gates and various magnificent buildings.

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

Several gilded fountains gushed out clear water, making a crisp sound that blended with the melodious music.

The Emperor's Square was bustling with people of all kinds: Fallen Stars looking for missions, hawkers, bards performing on the street, and drunk citizens.

The choir was just a corner of this bustling square, and their singing could not even drown out the shouting of the vendors - nor was it louder than the noise of the drunks in the tavern.

"Drink the strongest liquor! Be the strongest man!"

“Best rye bread ever!”

A tall drunk man raised his glass and said, "The Red Scale Conquerors are the most powerful army in the empire! After they ride on their flying dragons, no one can defeat them! I want to go to the garrison to participate in the selection, too!"

"You fart!"

Another drunk was sprawled on the wooden table, mumbling:

"Dragon, the Dragon Contract Paladin is the strongest! Lord Anthony of the Dragon Oath Temple once fought one against three and defeated the Lion Knight of the Bosk family!"

"Snapped!"

Another man slammed the table, looked at the two drunks with disdain, and splashed the wine in their faces.

"Stop arguing!"

"With your miserable appearance, you think you can become His Majesty's relatives? I'm afraid you can't even pass the recruitment of new soldiers, right?"

Such is the spirit of the empire.

He is confident, advocates the use of force, talks big, and has great respect for His Majesty.

Different from the desperate hierarchical order and lifeless social atmosphere of the original Northern Kingdom, the Empire provided people with channels for upward mobility, thus stimulating the vitality of the people.

Almost every citizen of the empire has some ideal of becoming a "big man".

A tall man in a gray robe sat in the corner. He put the big sword behind him aside 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 revealed a vicissitude that was inconsistent with his age. Even the hood could not hide his golden hair and lavender pupils.

Blond hair and purple eyes were a reflection of noble bloodline in the former North, as they were the characteristics of the descendants of the "Lion of the North" Bosk family.

But now, times have changed, and this has become a symbol of sin and meanness, and people will even report it as the remnants of the North.

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

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

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

"What did you say?"

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

"You bastard, you're worse than those pants-wetting northern nobles!"

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

"No fighting allowed in the city!"

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

The pterosaur grabbed one person in its left claw and two in its right claw, and flew to the public security management office not far away.

The snake-men waiters in the tavern skillfully picked up the overturned tables, chairs and wine bottles, seemingly not surprised at all.

Andre was quite surprised at the efficiency.
A hoarse male voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Little Andre, long time no see."

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

"You are--Mr. Goggs?"

The old man smoothed the collar of his tattered gown and laughed heartily: "Hahaha, little Andre, the Northland has been destroyed a long time ago, there is no need for us to be so polite."

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

"Come, sit down, and have a drink."

"it is good."

Andre clinked glasses with Gouges and then drank the delicious wine in one gulp.

Mr. Guggs is a famous scholar in the North. He is knowledgeable and is said to have memorized all the history of the North for thousands of years. He is known as the "Walking Stratford Library".

He was also born into a noble family, but after the "Great Levy", he became completely disappointed with the corrupt rule of the Northern Kingdom and fled to Northwind Castle with his meager property.

And Andre's rebellion was also due to his persuasion.

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

"The North is beyond saving. It is rotten from head to toe, and the filthy pus is flowing into its bones."

——These are the original words of Gugs.

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

The sound of a bard singing came from outside the tavern.

Andrei quietly watched the bustling Emperor Square, then looked at the old man seriously: "Mr. Gugs, you have lived in the Burning Empire for a few years, right?"

"What kind of country do you think this is?" Gugs put the wine glass to his lips again, his big beard was almost soaked.

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

"But compared to those borers in the north, it is hundreds or thousands of years more advanced. It can be called an ideal country."

Guges did not forget to add.

Andre frowned slightly, as if he was thinking about something.

He studied the empire's system carefully. Apart from the supreme imperial power, the most frequently mentioned terms were "freedom, equality" and so on. This concept was implemented throughout the empire.

But he always felt that something was wrong - this was not true equality.

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

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

"Mr. Gugs, there's one thing I don't understand. Why do they want to..."

While chatting and laughing, Gugs had already drunk the entire bottle of wine, and a hint of drunkenness appeared on his wrinkled old face.

“Right now, it hasn’t grown to its limits.”

"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 save it."

"Mr. Googles"

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

Fortunately, the people around just regarded it as the ramblings of a drunkard and didn't pay any attention to it.

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

"Little Andre, I, I have found the direction, those starfallers! They are an undiscovered treasure trove. In their brains, there is knowledge that reveals the essence of society."

“I, I’ve already put that stuff into the manuscript.”

A year passed quickly. The snow in the northern wilderness melted for several months, and then piled up again accompanied by the biting cold wind.

However, the lives of people here have undergone tremendous changes.

The large farmlands of Matra developed on a large scale, and the imperial agricultural officers led the Skeleton Legion to work every night, and later even drove combine harvesters.

The organic combination of magic, equipment and labor has brought unprecedented progress in productivity.

So, after the unprecedented harvest in September, the merciless north wind did not bring famine. People could buy food at normal prices, or at worst eat cheap canned food from food processing factories.

According to official imperial statistics, this was the first winter in thousands of years in Anzeta in which almost no one starved to death.

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

This was also the first winter in Anzeta where fewer than 500 people froze to death.

Everything seems so beautiful, but beneath the beauty, there are also a lot of blood and tears hidden.

The biggest changes are in cities.

Factories sprang 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 industries, 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 of unnatural causes - most of them died in factories, but the information was hidden and could not be seen by the outside world.

The Empire's management of important cities such as Istalia and North Wind Castle is still relatively strict, but in the remote cities of the former Northern Kingdom, the management is much weaker.

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

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

After the Empire conquered the North, the Dragonblood nobles and emerging businessmen followed the official call to develop industry 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 perfected.

Due to the widespread use of steam engines and textile machines, cotton mill work was not only easy to learn but also required little physical strength. As a result, factory owners hired a large number of women, especially children.

The main reason factory owners like children is that they are weak and docile, while adults are often unwilling to give in 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, machines run 24 hours a day and workers work continuously day and night.

They took turns to rest. In this situation, work-related accidents became commonplace - fingers were cut off by belts, limbs were crushed by gears, and so on.

But when the workers sought compensation, they did not even have the courage to file a complaint against the powerful and influential Dragonblood nobles.

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

But just this small amount of money ruthlessly crushed the original market, and the former handicraft workshops and factories in the north declared bankruptcy one after another.

Craftsmen passed down from generation to generation in their families declared bankruptcy one after another, their shops were bought out by factory owners, and eventually they had no choice but to enter the factories and become the fuel for industrial development.

With the disintegration of slavery, people were indeed free, but invisible chains gradually wrapped around them.

Where there is oppression, there is resistance.

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

Several sporadic incidents of resistance followed, but were all ruthlessly suppressed.

It was not until this moment that the imperial officials finally realized the seriousness of the matter. As the chief minister, Trump was furious and issued a far-reaching statement entitled "Beware of Barbaric Development."

He was not outraged because he sympathized with the workers but because it was detrimental to the development of the empire - and more importantly, it went against the will of Cassius.

As a result, with 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 Morals Law" were promulgated one after another.

The Imperial Judicial Inspection Team also patrolled various cities, sending many people to prison, and even sending those "upstarts" who over-oppressed and caused riots to the guillotine.

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

Maybe it is not sacred, but the gleaming, blood-dripping guillotine proves that it is indeed not to be taken 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 "War of the Three Emperors" in the south is intensifying, with millions of people being crushed on the brutal battlefield. The descendants of gods, legendary wizards, constructed golems and other former Fadlan forces are wreaking havoc on the continent.

This is undoubtedly a disaster for the local people.

But the more this happens, the easier it is to sell the Empire's armaments, the better the business of the Empire's Southern Continent Company will be, and the more profits the group behind it will make.

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

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

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