Chapter 1 People

The bamboo forest is quiet and the breeze is rustling. The dappled sunlight shines through the dense bamboo leaves on the winding path paved with cobblestones. The winding path leads to a quiet place, with a small building looming at the end.

This is Shuzhou, the southwest inland part of the empire.

Small buildings like this are everywhere around the city in the fifteenth year of the Chinese Era, so they are not unusual. The expansion of territory and population migration have never stopped, causing the per capita land area of ​​the empire to increase year after year. Even if every effort is made to encourage fertility, it cannot keep up with this pace.

Even around important southwest cities like Jinguan City, the per capita land area has exceeded 100 acres. Many people build their own homes like landscape gardens to enjoy themselves more, while a few use them for commercial purposes, sightseeing or eating.

This garden is a tea house opened by a common people.

Zhuxia emphasizes the unity of nature and man, and even heavyweight cities rarely have high-rise buildings. It’s not that it can’t be built, it’s that it’s not needed. People prefer the combination of landscape and artistic conception.

Deep in the bamboo forest is a garden covering an area of ​​more than ten acres. This is just a teahouse opened by an ordinary family. There were not many guests among them, but it made it more quiet and meaningful.

In the garden, there are rows of pavilions and pavilions, flowers and trees around the corridors, and meandering water for transfer of ownership. It is leisurely and elegant.

In a bamboo pavilion, two people with tall noses, deep eyes, and tall crowns were sitting opposite each other. Grape vines hang down from the four eaves of the bamboo pavilion. The breeze blows gently and the surroundings are open, making you feel comfortable.

The blond maid made tea for the two of them gracefully and calmly, folded her hands on her waist and bowed slightly before stepping back.

One of them flicked his sleeves and said with a smile: "Brother Li, have some tea."

Brother Li laughed: "No rush, let's eat some pastries first. I didn't have breakfast today, so I'm really hungry."

The two of them ate pastries or drank tea and chatted casually.

"Brother Li has been traveling around the sea all these years, and I haven't seen him all year round." The middle-aged man with brown hair, gray eyes, and a bronze crown and black robe said: "I was really happy to receive the news from Brother Li yesterday. But now is the busy season for shipping. , why did Brother Li return to Shuzhou?"

Brother Li sighed slightly when he heard the words: "Brother Wang has been inland and doesn't know much about shipping. The current season is indeed a busy time for shipping, but that was before. Since the beginning of the year, large-scale elemental airships have been opened to the public, The decline of maritime shipping is inevitable.”

Brother Wang suddenly realized: "Yes. Air transportation is much more convenient and faster than sea transportation. I heard that the cargo capacity of civilian-grade large airships is no worse than the largest seaborne components. It is fast, fresh, and the cost is not high."

"Yes." Brother Li said: "I finally saved up money to buy a medium-sized component transport ship, but I didn't expect that it would be obsolete in less than five years."

The depression was palpable in his words.

Brother Wang smiled and said, "Brother Li has made a lot of money in the past five years."

Brother Li smiled slightly: "It's not a loss."

Brother Wang laughed: "You think I don't know? According to the latest statistics, in the hottest years of shipping, which are the years when Brother Li bought ships and went to sea, it only takes one year to make back all the capital. Brother Li Shipping After nearly five years of running and four years of pure profit, aren’t you satisfied?”

Brother Li said: "It's not that I'm not satisfied. I originally planned to buy two more ships at the beginning of this year to form a fleet, but now it's gone. How can I not be depressed?"

Brother Wang smiled and said, "Brother Li must have already made some plans in his mind when he returned to Shuzhou."

Brother Li said: "I have some ideas. Sea transport is declining and air transport is rising. I want to see if there are any opportunities."

Brother Wang said: "There is definitely an opportunity, but it's probably not now. The Yuanqi ship was only gradually opened to private individuals a year after the establishment of Shibosi. I think the air transport of Yuanqi will probably not break away from this old practice."

Brother Li smiled and said: "Brother Wang can't look at new things with old eyes. At that time, shipping components could not be popularized immediately, which was closely related to the production capacity of Yuanqi Industrial Zone. Today, Yuanqi Industrial Zones are blooming all over the empire, and individuals start Component factories are springing up like mushrooms after a spring rain, and there is no worry about production capacity. In the past few days since I came back, I have been running back and forth to the Commercial Office and the Transportation Office, and I have already understood the situation."

"Oh?" Brother Wang was startled and said, "So the popularity of air transportation of components has only been recently?"

Brother Li nodded: "I have already booked a medium-sized air transport of components, and my money has been completely wiped out."

Then he said: "The world is changing too fast now, isn't Brother Wang going to do something?"

Brother Wang smiled bitterly when he heard this and said: "I am no more ambitious than you. When you came here, you couldn't sit still and tried every means to make a career. But I am content with the status quo. You have earned enough to buy an airlift ship. It’s money for a device, and I can only say it’s passable.”

He sighed: "But that's right, I want to move too."

"What are you going to do, Brother Wang?" Brother Li asked.

Brother Wang said: "I'm old at this."

"Grange? Planting or breeding? Crops or cash crops? Livestock or medicinal materials?" Brother Li asked several questions in succession.

In the ninth year of the Chinese Era, the Great Xia Empire and the European countries were at odds, and war was about to break out. This caused panic among European countries. Europa people tried every means to escape from Europa, and many people came to Daxia, hoping to naturalize and become a member of this extremely powerful country.

The two people in front of me were the Europeans who came to Daxia at that time.

One of them is called Charlie and the other is William. They are both from European minor aristocrats. They are also related and have certain knowledge. After a period of inspection, he was allowed to be naturalized and became a citizen of Daxia.

So they changed their names, Charlie changed his name to Richard, and William changed his name to Wang Lian.

After naturalization, the two people and their families were allocated corresponding land. However, Richard gave up the security of foraging in the fields, sold part of his land, and then devoted himself to sea trade. Wang Lian focused solely on the land.

Now, a few years later, Richard has become a rich man. Wang Lian can no longer keep up.

"I have a good friend in the Nongshi Yamen, and I got some news from him. I heard that the empire will carry out large-scale development of the Eastern Territory. I plan to move my family to the Eastern Territory and develop there."

Wang Lian said.

Hearing this, Richard said: "I have also heard about this. Since the Empire and Europa broke up, most of the Eastern Region, Southeastern Region, Southern Region and the Wilderness Region have been captured by the Empire. They have been clearing them out in the past few years. , appease the local indigenous people. It seems that the suppression and appeasement of the Eastern Region has been successfully completed."

It has been more than ten years since the establishment of diplomatic relations between Daxia and the European countries. With the expansion of the Daxia Empire, especially after the break-up, Daxia has shown its tyranny. In just a few years, it has conquered the colonies of the European countries. Almost captured.

Then the Daxia Empire re-divided this world - this planet. The area where the main body of the Daxia Empire is located is called Shenzhou or the Central Territory. North America in the original Europa population was renamed the Eastern Territory, South America was renamed the Southeast Territory, Australia was called the Southern Territory, and Africa was renamed the Wilderness Territory. As for Europa, it is now called the Western Region by the Daxia people.