A caravan traveled north along the narrow Anzeta Corridor to the city of Romulo, the southernmost tip of the empire.

The leader was Joseph Salazar, a famous businessman in the Kingdom of Thrace, one of the principals of the Pilsen Chamber of Commerce, and the general manager of the Chamber of Commerce's trade with the Empire.

It is said that he has one sixteenth elven blood, so he looks quite handsome and younger than ordinary people. Although he is over fifty years old, he still looks like he is in his thirties.

At this time, Joseph looked at the narrow valley that seemed to have no end, and tapped the ground with his cane impatiently: "How long will it take us to get there?"

"Sir, once you walk out of the Anzeta Corridor, you will reach the homeland of the Burning Empire."

The guard replied.

“This is basic common sense!”

Joseph was a little annoyed.

"It's been a long time since this trade route was opened, and you're not even familiar with the surrounding environment!"

"Master Joseph, this is our first time too."

The guard smiled and apologized repeatedly, and Joseph's anger subsided a little.

In fact, there is a teleportation array in the city of Tahan in the Katepa area that leads directly to Istalia, but Joseph refused the other party's help on the grounds of "looking for business opportunities."

This was of course just an excuse. In addition to being the head of the Chamber of Commerce, Joseph had another identity - the eldest son of King Wilham and the "white glove" of Prince Bowles.

He used his relationship with the prince to obtain inside information for profit, to seize wealth for the prince, and to handle matters that he could not handle in person.

Although their trade with the Burning Empire has been quite frequent in recent years, the Thracian Kingdom is busy with the war, and most of those transactions are handled by the Empire's Southern Continent Company. They only need to wait in the south to receive the goods.

In addition, the Burning Empire has strict defenses and a complete intelligence system, so the high-level officials of the Thracian Kingdom actually know very little about the situation in the Burning Empire.

This time, Joseph went to the Burning Empire with the mission of collecting intelligence about the empire: including but not limited to drawing maps, exploring the deployment of troops, investigating the status of the army, and stealing military blueprints.
Of course, in order to better understand the situation, they also hired a guide from the empire named Heya Gati in the city of Tahan.

The guide was beautiful, but Joseph always felt that her pupils were somewhat similar to those of reptiles, which gave him an inexplicable sense of danger.
"Don't worry, Mr. Joseph. We can reach Istalia before dark, and we don't need to walk out of the Anzeta Corridor."

Heya came from behind and spoke softly.

Joseph was a little suspicious and asked, "Why?"

Heya smiled, stretched out her hand and pointed forward: "Anzeta Corridor Station is ahead. We can take the steam locomotive to Istalia."

"Steam locomotive."

He had heard of this term. It was a unique mode of transportation in the empire and was said to be quite convenient.

Joseph looked in the direction of the finger and saw a clearing in front of him. Metal tracks were laid on the ground and extended to the end of the valley.

The steel surfaces were smooth and flat, with uniform color, and no hammer marks, dents or cracks, obviously good quality steel.

"Such good steel, laid out on the ground like this?"

Joseph was a little stunned. Even the former Fadlan Empire would not be so luxurious.

Heya smiled and explained, “Mr. Joseph, the empire’s steel production should be far beyond your imagination. They will use those huge furnaces to gather all the scrap steel and pig iron together.

Moreover, these are all your Majesty’s assets, and no one in the empire would dare to steal them.”

Joseph quickly adjusted his expression and said in a pretentious manner, “I originally thought that Anzeta was just a remote and poor place, but now it seems that it is indeed richer than I thought.

However, compared with the holy Fadran of the past, this is nothing."

"Woo——"

With the roar of the whistle, the steel behemoth came with billowing steam and stopped in front of the caravan.

Suddenly, everyone present, except Heya, opened their mouths wide, even Joseph was no exception.

Some guards even thought that enemies were coming and nervously raised their shields to block the way.

"Don't be nervous, everyone. That's the Empire's steam locomotive."

Heya smiled and made a "please" gesture, then said: "Get in the car, Mr. Joseph.

Don’t be ashamed of it, everyone who sees it for the first time has the same reaction as you.”

Joseph quickly closed his mouth, smiled stiffly, and retorted: “Compared to Fadlan’s iron guard, this is also not worth mentioning.

I am just a little curious, is this steam locomotive open to ordinary citizens, or does it only serve the rich and powerful? Also, what should we do with our goods? "Heya answered patiently: "The steam locomotive is a favor given by His Majesty to all citizens. It only costs a little insignificant money and anyone can use it. It is very convenient.

A poet once said, "Your Majesty has used steel to connect mountains and plateaus, bringing people closer together."

She chuckled and continued, "As for the cargo? You don't have to worry about it. This steam locomotive can carry a maximum of 300 tons of cargo.

These steel behemoths roar between north and south, carrying tens of thousands of tons of cargo every month, selling the Empire's goods throughout Feanso."

Joseph took out his handkerchief and wiped the sweat from his forehead, whispering, "It's really convenient."

At this moment, what he thought of was the military mobilization capabilities of the Burning Empire.

You have to know that not every place has a constant teleportation array, and that kind of thing is extremely expensive to manufacture and maintain.

These steam locomotives could carry hundreds of tons of cargo, let alone soldiers.

In other words, as long as the emperor gave the order, the army of the entire empire would quickly gather in the south - this would definitely be a disaster for the Kingdom of Thracian.

Moreover, these things that are obviously magical creations can actually be provided to civilians! Even the once holy Fadlan would not do such a stupid thing.

Joseph thought so.

After paying a freight of twenty-one kinnars, all members of the caravan of nearly a hundred people boarded the train, and their goods were moved into the freight cars.

"Woo——"

The whistle sounded, accompanied by billowing gray smoke, and the steam locomotive started moving again, speeding on the track towards the north.

Its speed was not slow, and it soon passed through the Anzeta Corridor and truly entered the vast Anzeta Wasteland.

Joseph looked at the scenery outside the window and secretly recorded it with the photo stone disguised as a medal on his chest. However, the train was speeding and the scene outside the window passed by quickly, so he could only record a very limited part of it.

Suddenly, he narrowed his eyes.

"Is that farmland?"

In the distance are vast and flat fields that stretch to the end of the horizon, with neat rows of furrows in the fertile soil.

"Compared to the farmland in the Central Great Plains, this is just

Suddenly, his eyes widened and the words in his mouth froze.

All I saw were giant steel beasts with huge wheels moving in the farmlands, using their wide "mouths" to plow the land and sow seeds.

There was also thick smoke rising from behind the giant beasts, a scene that seemed particularly absurd to Joseph.

magic.

It is definitely a magical creation.

These Anzeta people who live in the magical wilderness actually use precious magical creations to do the lowest and most humble farming work?

What's wrong with this world?
That's what you do with magical creations?
Even in the once holy Fadlan, spellcasters were beings of noble status and would never engage in such menial jobs.

As if seeing the shock in Joseph’s eyes, Heya took the initiative to say: “That is a joint seed drill, which is also a favor given to us by His Majesty.

She looked at the farmland in the distance and sighed: "Anzeta used to be shrouded in hunger and cold, but now we have gotten rid of the plight of insufficient food and clothing.

This Lier farmland is actually nothing. The most spectacular one is the large Matera farmland in the north, which was once a desolate land.

Several years ago, His Majesty Cassius personally exerted his supreme power to cause the earth to rise, forming tall mountains that blocked the cold wind from the north, making it warm and allowing endless fertile black soil to emerge from the snow.

Today, 70% of the empire's food is supplied by the large farmland of Matera."

Having said this, Heya's tone has become somewhat pious, and her beautiful eyes are full of reverence and fanaticism.

Upon hearing this, Joseph's eyes became extremely shocked, and even revealed a hint of disbelief.

Changing terrain?

Even creating mountains?
If what she said was true, then even a legendary wizard would find it difficult to do this. It was probably an effect that could only be achieved by spells above the Nine Layers of Magic Net.

Before arriving at the legendary imperial capital of Istalia, Joseph was so shocked by what he experienced along the way that he even felt a little panicked.

Such an empire, full of ambition, would it really be satisfied with Anzeta and Caterpa, two not-so-fertile lands? (End of this chapter)