Chapter 18 Round Table
With the release of the royal development order, several royal family members including the third prince have already arrived here with their knights.

In addition, the descendants of great nobles from all over the kingdom also seized the opportunity, formed troops with the support of their families, and arrived in the territory of the principality.

For a while, a large number of external forces were stationed inside and outside the Duanlong Fortress.

For the top nobles who understood the situation in the kingdom, they knew very well why the king issued the development order.

In addition to calling on all knights to go to the north and prepare for a new round of northern war.

What is probably more important is to take precautions against the Principality of North Frost.

In the name of the development order, Grand Duke Beishuang was unable to refuse the major forces from entering the Broken Dragon Fortress.

At the same time, a large number of soldiers were stationed outside to establish an independent territory that was not controlled by the Grand Duke of Beishuang, constantly weakening his control over the Broken Dragon Fortress.

Faced with such a blatant threat, the Grand Duke did not hesitate and directly doubled the tax rate of the fortress.

In the bad land of the North, the knights who were pioneering outside needed a constant supply of materials from within the kingdom, including large amounts of food, ironware, clothing and other necessities.

This attracted merchant groups from all over the kingdom, who wanted to make a fortune.

As a result, when passing through the Broken Dragon Fortress, he never expected that he would be the first to be drained.

The conflicts that had accumulated over the years between the nobles on both sides became increasingly acute, but were only masked by the Grand Duke's powerful fortress army.

Rhodes knew that his identity here was awkward and he couldn't please either side.

But before, it was more or less biased towards the kingdom's nobles.

But now that he has been treated so kindly by the city gate, those nobles of the kingdom must be quite dissatisfied with him.

The identity issue was not something he could resolve right now, and Rhodes could not figure out the Grand Duke's attitude towards him for the time being.

After asking his subordinates to deliver a visiting letter to the other party, he did not interfere any further.

He led his troops to an open space outside the fortress and set up camp.

According to convention, half of the soldiers, knights' squires and knights were given half a day off to relax in the city, while the other half managed the camp.

After half a day, the returning soldiers took turns to rest.

Rhode himself walked on the street with Lily and two knight attendants.

He needs to determine the next material channels here and sign agreements with the corresponding chambers of commerce to ensure that future development can proceed smoothly.

The personnel composition of the Northern Frost Principality is very complex, mainly consisting of three parts: the surrendered barbarian tribes, the former soldiers who settled here in large numbers, and the pioneering immigrants who migrated here.

This makes the urban atmosphere of the Principality very different from other places in the kingdom, which is particularly prominent in the Dragon Breaker Fortress.

Young women with tanned skin can be seen everywhere on the streets.

They wore plush clothes made of animal skins, and many were bold enough to wear vests and shorts, revealing the skin of their arms and thighs.

Besides their wildly attractive figures and skin, Rod noticed the streamlined muscles in their limbs.

The women here are generally strong and therefore have equal status to men.

Was it the magic? Rhode guessed that as he continued to move north, the concentration of magic was gradually increasing.

Although still sparse, the Broken Dragon Fortress is twice as large as the heart of the kingdom.

Rhodes picked up a fruit from a roadside fruit stall. It was as big as a washbasin. The huge fruit was bright red and very tempting.

Although it is difficult to grow crops in the North, there are many rare and exotic plants and fruit trees, and they are cheap.

This rare large fruit could be sold to nobles within the kingdom for at least 1 silver coin.

Lily beside her asked the merchant the price, but he only wanted 2 copper coins.

Seeing Lily handing the money to the merchant, Rhodes held the fruit and took a bite out of curiosity.

Tsk, it has no nutrition at all and is extremely sour. No wonder it is so cheap. The merchant even kept praising its deliciousness. We are being ripped off as tourists.

Rhode's expression remained unchanged. Seeing Lily staring at the fruit with curiosity, he handed it to her.

"Do you want to try it?" "Well, can I?" Lily took it happily and took a bite.

As a result, the little face wrinkled instantly, and it seemed that she was very jealous.

Are you possessed by white bread?

Rhodes looked at her speechlessly. He didn't expect her to take such a big bite.

He got a cup of honey water from the shop next door, and after she swallowed it with great pain, he put it near her mouth.

Looking at the cup handed to her, Lily blinked, then hugged the big fruit tightly with both hands and put her lips close to the cup.

Seeing that Rhodes was really willing to feed him, his face turned red and he began to drink it in small sips.

The large fruits were dumped into the garbage dump with disgust, and several people crossed the street.

After learning about the various specialties of the North, Rhodes came to the outside of a tall three-story stone building.

Thanks to Jianling's location at the throat of shipping, Duke Bert has influence in major cities across the kingdom.

The transport guild in front of us, built in Broken Dragon Fortress, is one of them.

Although Rhodes had no authority to command them, it was not a problem for him to obtain their cooperation under favorable conditions.

There was a large notice board on the first floor of the Chamber of Commerce, and many people gathered in front of the board and exclaimed.

'Five days ago, the Griffin Knights led by the Third Prince defeated the Tiger Chieftain Tribe at the front of the Agate River and killed more than a dozen barbarian warriors.'

'The Round Table Council has added another non-member knight. The second son of Count Milo of the Faro River, Knight Walter, arrived at the Broken Dragon Fortress yesterday.'

'The third seat at the round table, Knight Jonah of the Golden Wheat Ear Family of the Southern Great Plains, has issued a call for any knight who is interested in joining his knight order to contact him at any time. The remuneration is generous.'

'.'

"It's so lively." Behind the crowd, Rhodes exclaimed as he looked at the information on the sign.

He looked at the words "Round Table Council" written on it. It was a large alliance formed by the knights who came to explore the world and united with each other.

Help each other and share resources.

Only recognized and powerful leaders of knights are eligible to be invited to become a member of the Round Table Council.

Well, Rod is not in there. No one has paid attention to him so far, and it is estimated that no one will come.

Not paying attention to this, after seeing the person in charge here arrive, Rhodes discussed with him the next order he needed.

It takes two months to harvest high-quality barley. During this period, he needs to rely on the Chamber of Commerce to ensure logistical food supplies, in addition to tools for land reclamation and construction.

"12 copper coins a pound of black bread." Rhodes looked at the price with some confusion.

Compared to the Golden Sword Territory's 4 copper coins per pound, it is three times more expensive, but food in the Northern Frost Principality is expensive, generally at 10 copper coins per pound.

This price is actually low considering the tax added to Broken Dragon Fortress.

It is cheaper to buy wheat flour directly. Are these businessmen doing business at a loss?
"This is the price of the grain shipped from the southern Great Plains. The Grand Duke did not impose any taxes on the grain cargo of the nobles there."

The person in charge lowered his voice and explained, "The same is true for the sugar and spices in Donghai Port and the wood, bricks and stones in Jinjian Territory."

Rhodes suddenly realized that the tax increase at Broken Dragon Fortress was an artificial creation of industry monopoly.

This large group of pioneering knights were engaged in material trade. If they wanted food, they could only buy it from the nobles of the southern plains. Other noble merchants would only lose money if they participated. The same was true for other commodities.

It seems that behind the seemingly harmonious relationship among the kingdom's nobles, there are many holes and they are wary of each other.

If they were united, there would be no need to reach such an agreement with Grand Duke Beishuang to gain the benefits of an alliance.

He also thought of the grain smuggling route that ran from south to north within the kingdom, connecting with the barbarians in the north.

Rhodes couldn't help but shake his head. The powerful kingdom that once dominated the north was now decaying beneath its prosperous surface.

(End of this chapter)