Chapter 509 Who is the real rich man?

They have left Tethyr and gone deep into the Kingdom of Amn. They are less than a hundred kilometers away from Retavon, the largest city here. At the current speed, they can reach it in two days.

Previously, when they were in Darauma, they just gathered a large migratory army, which already made the entire city of Saradas unable to sit still.

Not to mention, they came straight towards Ritawen, killing heads along the way and wiping out all the monster races along the way.

After nearly 100 kilometers, Ruitawen sent troops to contact them. I don't know whether to say that they were confident or slow to react.

At first, Gavin thought it was the former, until a loud and long dragon roar came from the air, and a huge figure appeared directly above the Ritavin light cavalry. The Erd and harpy kobolds all hid far away, their bodies Trembling involuntarily - a giant dragon, an adult white dragon.

An adult white dragon is not scary to Gavin. Its strength is almost the same as that of a young red dragon.

There is a ranking among the giant dragon species. Take the five most famous colorful dragons, which are generally arranged in the order of red dragon, blue dragon, green dragon, black dragon and white dragon.

The rankings of blue dragons, green dragons and black dragons are somewhat controversial. After all, their living environments and abilities are very different. In particular, green dragons are good at intrigues, while black dragons like to engage in secret ambushes and don't like direct conflicts.

But there is no dispute that the red dragon is ranked No. 1 and the white dragon is at the bottom. This is clearly shown in their body shape.

The red dragon will be medium-sized (the size of a cheetah) when it hatches, while the white dragon will be small (the size of a puppy). In the same age group, the red dragon will definitely crush the white dragon.

What really makes the distance between the two is IQ.

The intelligence of white dragons is not only that of chromatic dragons, it can be said to be the lowest among all true dragon species. The intelligence of a newborn white dragon is similar to that of a wild beast, even lower than that of a kobold. It only has innate hunting ability and talent. As the age group continues to increase, it improves. By adulthood, it is only the same as that of ordinary kobolds, and has not yet reached the level of normal people.

Although there is an example, this is the case for most white dragons.

This also resulted in the white dragon being the dragon species that had the most conflicts with humans and was killed the most, but their number was still the largest.

Because of their low intelligence, white dragons will follow the breeding instinct of beasts. As long as they reach the teenage stage, they will mate and lay eggs, and they will leave them alone after they are born. The extreme environment (cold) where their dragon eggs are located makes it difficult for them to survive. They are not easily disturbed or destroyed, and their innate talents often make them the most powerful hunters around. The white dragon is only weak compared to the giant dragon. No matter how weak it is, it is still a giant dragon, and it also has Dragon Breath, at least among beasts, is invincible.

When their strength is limited and they are unable to cause harm to intelligent beings, they are still relatively safe.

Once they think they are strong enough and are driven by the dragon's greedy desire to attack intelligent life and prepare to collect wealth, they are often slaughtered.

Before the Auling Soul Tower was opened, Gavin could kill a young red dragon and an adult white dragon, but he really didn't pay much attention to them.

But if there is a person sitting on its back, that would be a bit unusual, especially if that person has a huge size, it would be even more unusual.

It was a frost giant.

Before Gavin could take a closer look at the frost giant dragon knight, a man and a horse were already galloping from the array of Ritavin light cavalry. Gavin naturally couldn't neglect it and hurriedly drove his horse to meet him. He was currently riding a An ordinary war horse, not a half-moon colt. With the development and use of her unique abilities, many times, she was unable to follow Gavin and perform her duties as a mount.

White horse, white robe, pointed wizard hat, holding a snow-white staff, snow-white hair and beard, the wrinkles on his face not only did not weaken his charm, but gave him a color of wisdom.

After seeing the other party, Gavin almost blurted out, "Why don't you call him Gandalf?"

Of course, this man is not named Gandalf, but Raymond, the ruler of Retavan City and a quasi-legendary mage.

"Lord City Lord, please forgive us for coming uninvited." Gavin's attitude was sincere and friendly, "Please believe us, we are just passing by, and we have absolutely no malice. If you are worried, we can immediately change the route from a distance away Shwetawen is at least a hundred kilometers away, but the city lord should have seen our current situation. We came all the way from Darauma to repair the road. If we can build it directly to Shwetawen, the commercial value of it will be The Lord of the City shouldn’t know.”

His favorable impression of Ritavin City did not come out of thin air.

It is true that this city now belongs to Amn, but ten years later, without a war, they voluntarily broke away from Amn and joined the Kingdom of Tethyr.

There must be many reasons, including the struggle for power within Amn, the re-emergence of Tethyr, which has brought tremendous pressure to it, and so on.

If there is a chance, Gavin still wants to facilitate this matter in advance.

This is a large city with a population of more than 100,000. Cities with such a large population are rare in the interior and most appear in coastal ports.

The main reason is that it is an important trade transit city. A trade line called the Weihong Road passes through this place. This line starts from Mulan, the second largest port city in Amn, in the west and traverses the entire commercial empire of Amn. The core hinterland, after the final repairs in Reitawen, passes through the Snowflake Mountains, enters the coast of the Weihong Sea, traverses the entire Tumis, and finally reaches the Sea of ​​Fallen Stars.

The 250-kilometer mountain road across the Snowflake Mountains is the most dangerous section of this trade route. Whether they are preparing to go eastward through the Snowflake Mountains or caravan travelers who have just crossed over from the Snowflake Mountains to the west, the big Most of them will choose to stay in Ritawen for a few days to repair and supply supplies. The former is to prepare for the upcoming frequent battles and wait for more caravans to move together, and the latter is to replenish the consumption in the Snowflake Mountains.

A kind smile appeared on Raymond's face, "I think Baron Gavin misunderstood. We are not here to drive you away, but to escort you. I have wanted to build a road to Darauma a long time ago. Trade road, but most of this trade road is not in our territory, and there is no one in Tessel to cooperate. We have been thinking about it for many years, but you guys actually completed it in less than ten days. You are afraid that It set a record for the fastest road construction in history and pioneered an unprecedented way of building roads.”

"I underestimated the generosity of the City Lord." Gavin said sincerely, "With the generosity of the City Lord alone, no matter what, we will build this trade road for you to the foot of Ruitawen City. Unexpectedly, this trade road will reach the Giant Plains along the Silminster Forest and cross here to reach Ivanso."

Since many things could no longer be hidden, Gavin simply revealed his plans to win more favor for himself.

"Okay, okay, okay." Raymond praised him profusely, "The Baron is an extraordinary person who does extraordinary things. If you really succeed in doing this, not only will Ritavin take advantage of it, but also the entire inner circle." The surrounding areas will be revitalized, and countless villages and towns will be built as a result.”

"Your Majesty, the City Lord, is too generous. I just hope that you will not waste the fruits of our labor and send people to further repair this commercial road. The drainage ditches on both sides are indispensable."

"Even if the Baron doesn't say it, we will do it."

Raymond is not the kind of academic mage who is rigid and doesn't know how to adapt.

His IQ and EQ are both online. When a quasi-legendary mage is also a seasoned politician, it is definitely a bit extraordinary.

It can not only make you feel like a spring breeze, but also allow you to achieve your goals silently, and at the same time have enough self-confidence.

Raymond made Gavin see what it means to be truly wealthy.

It is true that he only brought three thousand Ritavin light cavalry, but all of their equipment were standard magic equipment, with at least +1 magic level.

Among them, elf-style fish scale armor, beautiful riding bows, and unique swords are their standard equipment. All war horses are equipped with at least intermediate-level accelerating horseshoes.

Not to mention the professional level, if you are lower than level five, you will be embarrassed to join such an army, at least half of them are half-elves.

Gavin pieced together the improvised Nott Guards Corps and Sidecar Corps. Compared with them, they were almost like a Beggar Corps.

Even the first heavy cavalry regiment of the Saradas family is a group of younger brothers in front of them.

Gavin had reason to believe that the Saradas family's heavy cavalry would be completely defeated in a head-on confrontation.

Not to mention the kiting tactics that these light cavalry are best at, the heavy cavalry has no solution. Even in a head-on confrontation, as long as they avoid the most brutal frontal attack of the heavy cavalry, they will not be afraid of the rest of the melee because of the defensive capabilities of their armor. Not much worse than those of heavy cavalry.

The heavy cavalry equipment of the Saladas family only reached the limit of mundane things. There is also magic on it, which will change the nature of many things.

The defensive power of magic heavy armor is definitely higher than that of magic light armor, while non-magic heavy armor is slightly inferior, or comparable to magic light armor.

Not to mention, there is a frost giant white dragon knight hovering above the head of this light cavalry.

One of his dives can cause the heavy cavalry's charge to collapse.

The momentum of the adult dragon is so powerful that it is possible to miss when dealing with those professionals. It is absolutely impossible to deal with those war horses. Every time it passes, they will all enter a state of trembling or panic, and they will move around uncontrollably. flee.

Then add another ice dragon's breath, which will definitely tear their formation apart instantly. At that time, it is the time for the Ritavin Rangers to attack.

Whoever tries to use group attack spells or tries to gather the army again will become the key target of the frost giant white dragon knights.

In addition, there is a quasi-legendary mage peeking at the side.

After observing their configuration, anyone with a little war experience can imagine this set of tactics, let alone the organizers of this army.

This is the path the extraordinary army will take in the future.

With such an army in hand, let alone a civilian army of less than 20,000, they would have nothing to fear even if 20,000 truly elite troops came to the city.

This is why Raymond allowed Gavin and the others to march straight in.

Because this migration road built by the migrating army is indeed of great significance to Ritawen.

In fact, Shwetawen's situation is very similar to Zalanda's. They rely too heavily on the road to Weihong.

Once there is any problem on this road, the impact on them will be fatal.

The six-member council of Amn has been passing through the neck of this trade road, Karitawen, and asked them to pay astronomical business taxes every year.

Ten years later, Retaven took the initiative to throw himself into the arms of Tethyr. There was another fatal inducement, that is, Mulan, the terminal of the Vihon Road in Amn, was captured by a monster army led by an ogre wizard, and the six-member council, which was caught in internal power struggles, could not take the city back for a while.

In this case, Retaven could only find another way out. Tethyr, which had just completed unification and was thriving, was undoubtedly the best choice.

Gavin and Zalanda dared to build roads all the way here without communicating with Retaven in advance, and they saw this point.

Unexpectedly, Retaven had such a terrifying military strength, which made things easier.

Raymond said that he came to greet Gavin and his men, but in fact, he came to show off his muscles.

After showing off his muscles, except for a thousand Retaven light cavalry hovering around, the remaining two thousand Retaven light cavalry and the frost giant white dragon knights left.

From the beginning to the end, the Frost Giant White Dragon Knight was hundreds of meters in the sky, acting as a background board, which could be seen by people, but did not show his true face in front of everyone.

This visible but intangible situation is more likely to make people feel awe.

After arriving in Retaven City, Gavin once again experienced Raymond's wealth.

He just moved his mouth, and all the goods in Retaven were discounted by 30% for Gavin and his team, and the discounted part was subsidized by the municipal finance.

Isn't this giving money to himself for nothing?

Gavin was not polite at all. Not only did he purchase a large amount of migration materials along the way, but he also sent people to the Dragon Bay overnight to collect scarce materials in major cities such as Avanso, Pros, Tesir and Ximen.

As long as Retaven had it and the price was right, he would buy it on a large scale, directly turning the migrating army into a huge caravan.

"Lord City Lord, he bought out all the non-magical weapons and equipment in all the weapon shops. This is the list sent by the merchants."

"Lord City Lord, he bought out all the stocks of all the car dealers..."

"Lord City Lord, he ate up all the low-priced grains..."

"Lord City Lord, he ate up all the low-priced mules and horses..."

"Lord City Lord, there is a caravan station that was directly acquired by him..."

"Lord City Lord, he auctioned off ten ghost cloaks at a public auction on the spot, and recovered a total of 280,000 gold coins."

"Lord City Lord..."

"Lord City Lord..."

"Lord City Lord..."

Faced with the bills that came in like snowflakes, Raymond would ask with interest at first, what did the baron buy? How much did he spend?

As the data became more and more, he no longer cared about these. He only cared about the final total amount and how much his municipal financial subsidies went out.

He originally thought that Gavin could take out 200,000 or 300,000 in cash, plus the goods he brought with him, and collect 200,000 or 300,000 gold coins, which would be quite amazing.

As for the municipal subsidies, it was nothing more than a transfer from one hand to the other.

After all, after the transaction was successful here, those merchants had to pay business taxes, and this business tax was exactly 30%.

But watching the money that was supposed to fall into your pocket flow out, it was also heartbreaking.

Seeing a municipal finance staff member running in.

Raymond waved his hand a little impatiently and said, "Don't talk about the goods, just talk about the total transaction amount. How much is his current total purchase amount?"

"It's still 1.58 million." The municipal finance staff member answered without thinking.

"No increase?" Raymond reacted, "Then what are you doing here?"

"The chief financial officer sent me to tell the city lord that some merchants are collecting supplies and preparing to follow the migration team to the north. Should we intervene?" The municipal finance staff member replied.

Only when trading in Retaven will commercial taxes be generated.

Once a large number of goods are transported away, it will be a potential loss for Retaven.

"Go back and tell Carson not to be so short-sighted. In the short term, our tax revenue may be affected, but once this trade route is opened, more merchants will flock from the Dragon Bay, which will naturally bring us more tax revenue."

Although he was scratching his liver and lungs, Raymond looked calm and didn't care at all.

In fact, he knew that this was the pain brought about by the emergence of the new trade route. The huge profits had to wait until merchants from another direction heard the news and came in continuously.

"Wait." Raymond stopped the municipal finance staff who was about to leave and said, "You let Carson come to see me directly."

"No, no, I'll come by myself." A round figure ran in with short legs swinging. It was Carson, the chief financial officer of Retaven City.

While sending the municipal finance staff away, he kept complaining: "Lord City Lord, when you make financial commitments in the future, please consult with me and don't speak rashly. Do you know how much commercial tax we lost by speaking? 500,000, a full 500,000.

This is the direct loss, not to mention the indirect losses. In addition, if these merchants take the goods away, we will lose at least 500,000 in commercial taxes..."

"Okay, okay, okay, don't calculate this chicken-and-egg account, the egg-and-chicken account is endless. At the beginning, you calculated the total value of his purchase to be 500,000 for me.

And if there is no 30% discount, do you think he will let go and buy here recklessly?

If I remember correctly, many of the goods are old stocks that have been accumulated for many years. Don't think I don't know that many of the goods are from our municipal business team.

If it is really such a loss, will you let them sell it? If you don't agree, can they sell it?

More than 1.5 million, of which 1 million is real cash, helping us to revitalize how much, you are the chief financial officer, you should know better than me. "

At first, Raymond just wanted to comfort his chief financial officer, but when he calculated the accounts, his heart was not as distressed as at the beginning.