Chapter 297

"The prairie is flat and vast, magnificent and boundless. There are no hills, few woods and no roads. It is easy to see the trace of the holy city. It is just an endless grassland. The monsoon blows and the grass leaves swing like endless waves. Therefore, the prairie is also called Wharton grassland or Wharton grass sea."

Lilia blinked and asked curiously, "why is it called Wharton grassland?"

"Because of the Wharton river." Lord Abel smiled and explained, "madam, the Wharton river is a shallow river across the prairie. She is the life river of the prairie. The twelve holy cities are distributed on both sides of the Wharton river. The prairie people call her the kalisan River, which means the mother river."

"No one knows how big the Wharton grassland is, and no one is sure where the source of the Wharton river is. Grassland people say that the Wharton river originates from the ghost forest in the west of the grassland. Behind the forest, there is a towering mountain range. Scholars believe that the mountain range is part of the Warren mountains in the northwest corner of the Dodo kingdom. The name of the Wharton River comes from this." Lord Abel took a sip of coffee and continued: "The Wharton river is wide and shallow. The narrowest channel is more than ten meters, and the deepest place is less than one meter. It winds and rugged, has many branches, and forms a large area of meadow and wetland. There are abundant water and grass, inhabiting countless antelopes, wild horses, wild donkeys, grassland rhinoceros, and short horned bison. Of course, there are fierce animals such as brown bears, wolves and moon blade leopards. It is said that some people have seen them Terrible Saber Toothed beast. I personally think the rumor is true... There are too many animals in the prairie. There will be no less than ten million bison alone. "

"I was lucky to see a migration of wild cattle... I really don't know what words to use to describe that spectacular scene. I don't think even knights can survive under the feet of millions of running cattle." Lord Abel shook his head and continued: "However, the biggest threat to human beings is the jackals and ogres in the grassland. Especially those jackals, who are vigorous and sensitive, domesticate the grassland gray wolf as a helper, and can smell the smell of human beings from a long distance. If the caravan is targeted by these animals, you should be careful. If necessary, you have to release red eyed crows and ask for help from the holy city."

"Ask the holy city for help?" Victor grasped the key point and asked excitedly, "Mr. Abel, please introduce the situation of the holy city in detail. How do they ensure the safety of the caravan? What forces are there in the city? And how does it work?"

Lord Abel respectfully said, "Sir, the 12 holy cities on the Wharton grassland control an area of nearly 500000 square kilometers. Human beings mainly move in this area. In addition, they are all wilderness." He paused and said, "Sir, our bucks chamber of Commerce has only been to the holy helmet City, holy feather city and holy armor city. I don't know much about other holy cities, but they are similar. Let me introduce you to the largest holy armor city."

Victor stirred the silver spoon in the coffee cup and said, "let's talk about the city of armor."

"The holy armor city is located on the South Bank of Wharton. It is only 17 days' drive from the white water fortress of Dodo kingdom. It covers an area of about 22 square kilometers. There is no castle, no moat, only trenches and a 24 meter high stone wall. The lower part of the wall is smooth limestone, and the upper part is built with gravel and mortar. At present, this grassland city belongs to the Sasan empire The Duke of Bern owns the town. The town affairs are under the jurisdiction of the female priest dura of the church. She has 1000 paladins and 23 priests under her command. The pushley Grand Knight of Bernier family leads 800 Sassanian cavalry stationed in the city. They are only responsible for defending the city and territory and do not participate in specific management. "

Victor frowned and asked, "how can such a small force and such a low wall stop the raids of the dodos? The Church never intervenes in the war between the Lords. Are the grassland people helping the sarsan army against the dodos?"

Abel shook his head and said, "like the church, the prairie people don't intervene in the war of outsiders. As for why dodo didn't attack the city of armor, I don't know. There may be other reasons. As a neutral caravan, we don't care or inquire about these things."

Victor nodded, raised his hand and motioned Abel to continue his introduction.

"At ordinary times, paladins and sassanne cavalry carry 10 days' dry food to go out patrols to eliminate the monsters around the helmets city. Grassland herdsmen generally don't live in the city. They drive their animals to live by water and grass. In the water season, herdsmen return to the holy city, set up tents outside the city, slaughter cattle and sheep, sell animal skins, horns, horses and animals, and buy food and armaments. When they get through the rain and snow, they will herd The people will leave the holy city again. "

"Caravans can buy grain and linen of the Sassanian Empire, cattle and sheep meat of herdsmen, high-quality leather, wool fabrics, various herbs, and horses and livestock in the holy armor city. Most small caravans often stop in the holy armor City, and our unimpeded large caravans will continue to move north for more than 20 days to enter the Sassanian empire. However, we have to pay to the holy city The priest of the holy city will also give us three red eyed crows to ask for help from the holy city in case of accidents. " At this point, Abel said with a bitter smile, "the bridge crossing fee paid by our bucks business group is as little as 700 or 800, as much as thousands, because we have to hire hundreds of mercenaries to protect us."

Victor asked, "why hire so many people? Are jackals rampant on the grassland?"

"Jackals are only one aspect, mainly to guard against grassland herdsmen."

Lilia said in surprise, "how is this possible? Old ham is a grassland herdsman. He said that the son of the grassland is tough and brave, hospitable, and the daughter of the grassland is beautiful and affectionate. The grassland people are devout believers of the Lord of glory. They will not hurt tourists, but help the victims." She turned to victor and said, "old ham never lies!"

"Beautiful madam, your men really didn't lie. Grassland people, both men and women, have excellent riding skills, divine arrow skills, and are strong and brave. They can shoot grassland marmots 200 meters away with a reverse bow on horseback. They dare to fight hand to hand with machetes and brown bears. Small groups of jackals and bandits don't dare to fight grassland soldiers." Abel looked strange and said, "the herdsmen don't hurt the tourists, but their enthusiasm is unbearable..."

"When herdsmen meet small caravans or tourists, they will warmly entertain them. They will never stop until they get drunk, and then... They let their beautiful and affectionate wives or daughters accompany the guests."

Lilia blushed, and Victor asked playfully, "what happens when the guest wakes up?" Abel shook his head and laughed. "Then don't go. Be a herdsman at ease! If you want to go by force..." Victor put down the silver spoon and said, "drink the wine, eat the meat, and the women sleep. If you want to go again, it will be an insult to the grassland people, but also in the wild... Ha ha, even people and goods."

"Aren't the warriors in the herdsman tribe knights? How can they be so... So arrogant as nobles?" Lilia blushed and said angrily.

Abel said with a contemptuous smile, "warriors can also be regarded as nobles? They have long lost their family name and the glory of knights. Their blood is mixed. The strongest warriors can only be promoted to trainee Knights by relying on the training potion provided by the sassanne empire. The behavior of shepherd warriors is no different from that of ordinary herdsmen, and some warriors are not even shepherd leaders."

The church and Lord Sasan jointly rule the holy armor city. It is a shelter, supply station, trade port and military stronghold in the grassland. It is also a church set up by the church for grassland believers. Although the clergy had great influence on the grassland herdsmen, the herdsmen still belonged to the semi wild people. Grassland people live as nomads and have no fixed place to live. Although they have faith, they can't often pray in the church and don't need to worship the Lord. The Lord can only obtain cattle, sheep and horses in the hands of herdsmen through trade. Therefore, the three did not build a stable relationship of protection, redemption and dedication. Grassland herders are similar to mountain people, but they are stronger and more united. They even form their own culture and tradition, which can be called Whartons.

In order to curb the spread of ORC power, those in power must tolerate the semi independence of the Whartons. For nomads, population and resources are extremely important. The hospitable spirit of mutual assistance is the root of their unity and prosperity. This is exactly the same as the mountain people's habit of accepting the victims.

Imagine that a small herdsman tribe was attacked by jackals, and the members of the tribe fled for their lives. They lost their cattle and sheep for a living. They either starved to death or were eaten by wild animals on the vast grassland. If other herdsman tribes do not lend a helping hand, the overall strength of the Whartons will continue to weaken and will inevitably die in the cruel survival competition. Any Wharton herdsman doesn't want to end up in the same miserable end. When everyone needs it, the custom of being warm and forthright and keeping his wife and guests has become a natural tradition.

Then again, without the threat of the Jackal clan, the Whartons will become like the Huns on earth, relying on war to plunder population and wealth.

In fact, Lilia doesn't care whether the grassland people are enthusiastic or arrogant. This custom has become an obstacle for the free civil and commercial team to go north, so it won't work! Lord Abel also had a sneer on his face. It seemed that the large business group would trade with the enthusiastic Whartons even if they would not be swallowed up. That's how 20% of the crude sugar was sold to the herdsmen. As for the herdsmen's protection of the peace of the business road, he would never consider it.

The ass decides the head, but so on. Victor felt funny, but he had to admit that small-scale smugglers could not cross the Wharton prairie.

Abel took up his cup, drank a mouthful of sweet and bitter coffee, and continued: "the caravan took a rest in horseshoe town on the border of the Sassanian Empire, and then walked north for four days to the bronze halberd City, the main city of the dekrian family, which is also the end of the caravan. We delivered the goods there, filled the carriage with green wheat and linen, and then returned along the road."

Lilia asked curiously, "is the city of Sasan like a village of wild people?"

"Er... Madam, although the savage reputation of the Sassanians has been circulating in the Three Kingdoms, I assure you that this is not true." Alberton paused and said, "Tongji city is the most prosperous city I've ever seen. It has a dense population, developed trade, orderly and clean streets... Of course, its environment and order can't be compared with Jinshui city of York family, let alone Pinghu Town, but its scale is four times that of Jinshui City, with a population of nearly 300000..." Victor asked: "How many people are there in the Sassanian Empire? How many troops are there? What specialties are there? Which commodities are in short supply? What are the internal forces of the Empire?"

Abel said awkwardly: "Sir, I don't know much about the Sassanian empire... Our stag business group has only been to the bronze halberd city. The Wimbledon family of the Sassanian Empire has a chamber of Commerce in the bronze halberd city. We just need to deal with them. Unless we go to the barbarian people's Fair held by the Principality of Teuton, we don't need to run too far. Moreover, that's the task of the saber toothed tiger business group. They are Lord Sophia My confidant... "

"Talk about what you know." Victor waved disapprovingly.