Wolf King

Elliot Palace is the smallest country in the southeastern region of the Southern Continent, and it is also the only city-state.

City-state, city-state, compared to the earth, is similar to Singapore... ahem.

Being able to establish a country with an independent town, Elliott Palace naturally has its own special features. This city-state is located at the junction of the southeastern region and the central part of the southern continent. Although it does not have a coastline, it is the core of land transportation; whether it is From the central part to the southeast, or from the southeast to the south, Elliott Palace is an extremely suitable transfer point, and the premise of this kind of land transportation core hub is that the royal family of Elliott Palace is not greedy enough... …

Judging from the public policies of this city-state and the economic vitality that can be seen in the city, Elliott Palace is indeed one of the few countries in the human kingdom that is not excessively greedy and has a more enlightened overall atmosphere: no poll tax, no In addition, the city tax is collected, including marriage tax, cattle and horse tax, water tax, road use tax and other exorbitant taxes that exist in other countries more or less. Goods to the ground belong to the king (lord) or something like nonsense rules.

"Let's talk about it, Elliott Palace doesn't collect this tax, and doesn't collect that tax, so will the royal family be poor enough to be underwear?" While queuing up and waiting to leave the city, Xiao Yun analyzed it with his clansmen. Fanke obtained the Elliott Palace policy through public channels, and finally asked with a smile.

"..." Harris, the snake walker, looked back at him silently.

"Of course not." The grassroots patriarch shook his head.

"Oh, why not?" Xiao Yun looked at her encouragingly.

The grassroots patriarch pointed to the stream of people who had just entered the city on the other side of the street: "The reason is the same as Valentine, people don't charge money when entering the city, but goods have to be collected. We have passed several caravans in the time we queue here. Merchants from neighboring countries are transited here, even if only a very low commodity tax is charged, it is a very large amount.”

"Well, that's right, the grassroots patriarch is right." Xiao Yun compared his thumbs generously, "Is there anything else, is there anyone to add?"

"There is also business tax." Patriarch Ali calmly raised the local scones he just bought on the roadside, "The higher the flow of people, the more things the locals can sell, and the food and lodging of foreigners will cost more." The money, the money spent is earned by the locals, and the king only needs to collect a certain amount of commercial tax from the locals, which is much more than the sum of poll tax and city entry tax.”

"Yes." Xiao Yun clapped his hands, "Just like Anas accepts adventurers, it doesn't ask adventurers to collect city taxes. It's too stupid to keep out spending customers just for such a small amount of money. Yes. Popularity is wealth. As long as popularity is gathered, money will flow in. Whether it’s people working or passing consumers, a place can only develop if it has enough popularity.”

"Eh? What about the dungeon that collects city taxes?" Mumu blinked her eyes.

"That's because the dark elves earn monopoly money. Whether it's for adventure, travel or business, outsiders have only one choice to go to the underground world. If they refuse to go to the underground city, then there is nowhere to buy the goods they bring, and there is no place to buy them." Find a way to supply it." Xiao Yun glanced at Mumu appreciatively, working in a different place is the most training, even Mumu knows how to think.

"The location of Elliott Palace is very good, and it is very suitable as a land transportation hub, but after all, it is not that the caravans from neighboring countries have no other choice but to pass through Elliott Palace. If you are willing to take a detour You can take another route. Because the policies of Elliott Palace are better, people are more willing to choose the nearest one." Xiao Yun explained the reason very carefully, and patiently explained to everyone, "The same reason, if the underground world If there is one more dungeon, the dark elves cannot monopolize it, so in order to ensure that the flow of people is not lost, the dark elves will also consider reducing or even canceling the city entry tax, such as the transaction tax, etc. will also be appropriately lowered."

"Oh——" Everyone nodded in unison.

"It's easy to make money from a monopoly, but is a monopoly a good thing? Think about it carefully, everyone." Xiao Yun said with a smile.

"..." Harris, the snake walker, hesitated to speak.

"Hmm... I don't know." The grassroots patriarch thought about it, but couldn't figure it out.

Xiao Yun nodded, and explained in detail: "First of all, we must have a consensus that monopolizing a certain field or a certain project has costs. For example, if the dark elves monopolize the dungeon, then they must ensure that all but the dark elves No other force can gain a foothold in the underground world, and when the dwarf kingdom enters the underground world to mine mineral veins, even if the dwarf king promises that they will only mine mines and not build cities, the dark elves will absolutely not allow the dwarves to operate in the underground world."

"It's not that the dark elves are warlike, but that the dark elves know that the desire of any intelligent creature has growth potential. At the beginning, the dwarf king only wanted to mine, but what happened later? The dwarf kingdom entered the underground world for several years, ten years, Even decades later? Will the dwarf king never change his mind?" Xiao Yun spread his hands, "The dark elves will definitely not bet on whether other people's greed will grow, so in order to ensure their monopoly position, war is theirs. The only option."

"Yeah!" Everyone nodded in unison again.

"In addition to the cost of monopoly, the most important question is whether the team that loses the stimulation of competition will become rigid and degenerate." Xiao Yun raised a finger, "There is only one underground city, and the ruling team that manages the city [-]. There is only one management team. This management team has no competitors. When the management of the dungeon evolves into a complete set of inertial rule systems, then the management team only needs to perform management tasks step by step. There are no additional challenges, and there is no progress. motivation."

"..." Harris, the snake walker, silently turned his head to look at the front of the team. The caravan in front of them surrounded several people to eavesdrop. The mustache standing in front of him almost put his face on him.

"I have told you countless times that any intelligent creature is inert, and anyone's dream is to get something for nothing. When the position under their buttocks is particularly stable, no one will be stupid and conscientious. This is a rule. After a pause, Xiao Yun continued, "What about the second point, team work without competitive stimulation is just a single boring management task, and their excess energy must find a place to vent, so where should it go? No Enemies, of course, can only fight among themselves, personnel struggles, power struggles, whichever is good for you to play."

After everyone digested the content, Xiao Yun said with a smile: "Even Thrall can easily knock down the big tree in the hollow. We can imagine how much effect a team fighting among themselves can have. What's worse is that this kind of fighting among It’s hard to see from the surface, because the management team has no competitors. There is no reference to whether the team is doing well, whether they are competent or not, and the financial income level of the dungeon. The mistress above does not know whether the middle management is doing well or not. As for the civilians at the bottom, they can’t communicate with the mistress if they are dissatisfied, because no matter how infighting in the middle, they will know how to whitewash the peace. After a long time, let’s talk about it, will there be any problems?”

"Uh..." Mu Mu turned to look at Xia, Xia hesitated, and summoned up his courage, "It should... have already been released. When Mu Mu and I opened a shop in the dungeon, the tax officer in the neighborhood of Angelo alone Changed three."

"An Qiluo is the right-hand man who is valued by the mistress. Her land tax rate can be decided by herself. But even so, some people still want to reach out to An Qiluo's entrainment. Everyone can imagine the situation. "Xiao Yun nodded and said, "Using our own people as an example, for example, the dungeon food store run by Mumu and Xia, if there is no Elf Port food store run by Ah Shu for comparison, it will be difficult for us all to understand Are Mumu and Xia working hard, and whether the monthly food consumption meets the daily operating needs of the store? Then Mumu and Xia want to be lazy, open for three days and close for two days, or embezzle the daily turnover belonging to the tribe Funds, we have no idea."

"Xia and I didn't do that!" Mumu stared.

"It's just an analogy, don't get excited." Xiao Yun said with a smile, "Going back to the previous question, is monopoly good or not? We can know the answer to this question just by seeing how the dark elves have been running dungeons for thousands of years. But what? , no matter how good something is, it must have its bad side, so in order to eliminate the negative impact of monopolizing a certain industry on our own team, we can choose this way: while maintaining external monopoly, establish a competitive stimulation system internally. For example Let’s say that we don’t just open one food store. If the dark elves spare manpower to build another dungeon, the underground world is so big and there’s plenty of space anyway, right? Two dungeons belonging to the dark elves compete at the same time, one south and one north, which one There are obvious differences in whether a city can attract more adventurers, which city’s financial revenue can reach new highs every day, and the ability of the management team.”

"Yeah!" Everyone nodded again like chickens pecking at rice.

"It makes sense, Ayun, why is what you said so reasonable?" Primo's eyes lit up.He didn't like to listen to the big truths before, but when Ayun educated his people, he always explained the complicated truths in a simple, easy-to-understand and clear way, which made the most impatient practitioner listen to them.

"Then Ayun, will our tribe do the same in the future? We need two groups of people to do everything?" The grassroots patriarch not only understood, but also understood Xiao Yun's implication.

"This is inevitable. If you want a project to run well and make no mistakes, then no matter whether it can monopolize externally or not, there must be healthy competition internally." Xiao Yun nodded vigorously, "Grassroots Patriarch, you were in charge of earthworm breeding before. If our manpower was not so tight at that time, and manpower could be drawn out, then let Patriarch Ali take care of another group of earthworm breeding. With such two groups of comparisons, the grassroots patriarch, you can have a good understanding of the fruits of your labor. Do you have a more intuitive understanding? Where should we start to improve the work process and increase production, and we can also exchange ideas with the patriarch Ali, instead of thinking about it by ourselves. "

"Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!" The clansmen who came out were all managers in their own right, especially able to understand Xiao Yun's supplementary explanation, and even the unreliable Dahe couldn't help but nod in agreement.

Xiao Yun is very satisfied with everyone's reaction, and encourages everyone to discuss the pros and cons of it with each other, and take out the water bag to drink water-there are too many people, and the production structure of the tribe must be adjusted accordingly, and this adjustment is bound to not affect the "old man" emotional, and it also has the meaning of upward guidance, so education must go ahead.

The so-called good communication is half the battle. Even the soldiers in the modern army must know why they are fighting, let alone the education of the management.

Seeing that Xiao Yun finally finished speaking, Harris took a breath silently, and stared at the eavesdropper who was close to touching his cheek with the coldest eyes.

In the caravan in front of them, a few well-dressed people were looking for friendship with this group of aliens, especially the extremely smart young man of the alien race. After being stared at by the snake walkers, they smiled awkwardly. return to……

Frightening away those who wanted to strike up a conversation, Harris let out a long breath and looked back at the giggling aliens, especially the snow wolf cub who sincerely did not insult the name of the sage.

The land area of ​​Elliott Palace is small, and the only arable land can only guarantee self-sufficiency in staple food. Although the climate is suitable, it is no exaggeration to say that the ginger slices used for cooking soup have to be imported from Holmes...

Last year, Ayun, the sage of the Snow Wolf Clan, announced in his travel notes how to improve terraced fields in the mountains, divert water by waterwheels, and increase production with earthworm soil. Apart from the very courageous Dwarf King and St. Bridge, Elliott Palace is the third The country where the royal family promotes agricultural reform - the mountains around the city have been transformed into many dry lands according to the trend of the mountains, and good harvests have been achieved in autumn.

Based on the contribution of this sage to the Elliott Palace, it stands to reason that Ayun should be able to receive royal treatment after coming to the Elliott Palace—for example, the human sage Xavier has been living in the palace for a long time—it’s a pity that Ayun just came from the sage of the Snow Wolf tribe who was exiled by the Beast Emperor. Such an unworthy status made the Elliot royal family hesitate. After the association reported the news, there was no feedback. ...

Fortunately, these snow werewolves were in a hurry, otherwise the association would have really lost its claws—the bosses at the headquarters were even ashamed to visit this sage.

It would be fine if Harris belonged to another tribe, but Harris is also an orc. He was in a very complicated mood when he took over the task of serving as a guide for the Snow Wolf Clan... There was no grand welcome, no royal courtesies, and the sages of the Snow Wolf Clan came in a hurry Going away in a hurry, I can only stand on the street and give directions to the tribe while queuing out of the city.In the entire Elliott Palace, apart from him, a walker of the snake tribe, the only ones who could feel the sage's wisdom were the small caravan merchants who happened to line up in front of them.

"Fortunately, fortunately, he didn't notice anything." Harris thought with some embarrassment in his heart, "Maybe...he doesn't care about it."

"Harris?"

After being pushed on the back, Harris suddenly came back to his senses. Only then did he realize that the caravan in front had already walked more than ten meters forward. He quickly raised his heels and turned his head apologetically: "Sorry, I was distracted."

"Oh, I thought you were hungry." Xiao Yun munched on the scones bought by Patriarch Ali, nonchalantly, "Do you want to eat this? The local baked things are quite delicious."

"...No, thank you."

"This stuff is too dry...Balke, bring me a can." Xiao Yun shouted back.

"Wait, a lot of things are stuffed in, I have to look for it." Balke put his hand on the top of the space ring, concentrating on sensing the storage in the ring.

"I told you to tidy it up at any time, so how many things did you put in it?" Xiao Yun said dissatisfiedly.

"It's not very convenient to tidy up. I'm not the kind of bracelet that the forest elves bought with a whole city, and there's not much space in the ring."

"You're too stupid!"

"Hey! Even if it's just a space ring, it's worth a gold mine, okay?"

"I remember I still have half a can..." The grassroots patriarch caught between the two took out his backpack with his backhand, "Hey, why is it empty?"

"It was eaten by me." Ah Shan raised his hand honestly.

"..."

The goods carried by a group of people are all packed in Balk's ring, and the tax on the goods will not go to space props.After leaving the city without wind or waves, several main roads diverged, and the pedestrians on the road were finally not as crowded as before.

"Let's hurry up and try to stay in Homs at night." Xiao Yun stretched out his hand to undo the button, "Uncle Ah Shan, you and I will carry people first. Primo, tie up that guy tightly."

"Don't worry, my tying method won't let this guy run off the ground." Primo confidently pulled the rope. On the other end of the rope, the half-dead Viscount Corbett was tied... Considering that it would be troublesome to take it on the road, the follower threw Let Leo deal with it, and only bring out this nobleman.

Harris understood Xiao Yun's meaning of "carry", and was a little dazed.

The two snow werewolves took off their clothes and turned into huge wolf bodies...

"Plimo, take that nobleman to sit on my side, grassroots patriarch, you sit on my side." Xiao Yun arranged for everyone to divide into two groups and climb on the backs of himself and Uncle Ashan respectively, "Harris, come up too. Good guide."

Harris: "Uh..."

"Don't worry, I run more steadily." Xiao Yun said.The older grass-roots patriarch did not let Uncle Ashan sit there, so that Ashan would not forget that he was still carrying people when he ran happily.

... It's not a matter of stability!

Harris struggled for a while, seeing that no one else cared whether the person carrying the people was the sage Ayun, so he swayed and climbed up.

"It's too crowded to sit like this, I'll turn into a wolf and run away by myself." Mumu said uncomfortably.

"No!" Xiao Yun immediately turned around and scolded, "Sit down honestly, and the next batch will be rotated." How many people come and go on the road, what does it look like for the eldest girl's house to undress in the street!

How many people have been attracted by the great transformation of living wolves!

Mumu had no choice but pouted to look at Qingyan who was sitting in front of her, and suddenly stretched out her hand...he picked him up and put him across his lap: "Aha, this way it won't be too crowded!"

Qingyan: "??"

Xiao Yun: "..." Although it's still quite unsightly...at least it's better than letting her show her butt in public, bear with it.

Rosemary sitting on Ah Shan's back: "..." Turning her head to look at Dahe seriously, "If you think it's crowded, just say, I'll push forward, don't act like Mumu."

"Huh?" Dahe had a little expression of how stupid you must be, "I'm not going to do it, my hands are so tired." Then he leaned back lazily, and put his own weight on Ali on the patriarch.

Patriarch Ali looked disgusted.

Rosemary: "..." I always feel like I lost to Dahe in some way...

The two giant wolves ran away, and quickly left behind the caravan that had lined up to leave the city gate just now.

After they ran far away, the caravan who had no chance to talk to before boldly sighed:

"It's really big, and it can run so fast with several people on it. No wonder all knights want to find a snow wolf companion, even I want to have such a mount...friend!"

"Hahaha...don't even think about it, you can't buy a thousand gold coins on the black market."

"Just talking—by the way, the young man from the Snow Wolf Clan was called Ayun just now. Could it be Ayun from the Snow Wolf Clan who wrote travel notes?"

"How is it possible, Ayun from the snow wolf family must be a sage like Xavier. If he really came to Elliott Palace, he would have been invited to the palace as a guest."

"That's right... If it was Ayun from the snow wolf tribe, he wouldn't use his original form to carry people."

Harris, who was sitting stiffly at the base of Xiao Yun's neck, was a little nervous at first, but the tense nerves eased after a while. Not to mention, Ah Yun ran really steadily, even more steadily than riding a horse...

Realizing that his thoughts were not very polite, Harris quickly shook his head and sat down solemnly.

Gradually, Harris began to feel uneasy again—mainly this place is quite close to Elliott Palace, and pedestrians can be seen passing by on the main road from time to time, and the two huge white wolves running wildly are too conspicuous. Even if Ah Yun and Ah Shan were running along the side of the road and avoiding passers-by as much as possible, they could always hear yelling from behind after running...

Harris' heart trembled, and he realized that he had overlooked a very important issue - mainly because Xiao Yun's attitude of transforming into a wolf pack man was so natural that even Harris was affected by his natural attitude!

That's right, there are many orcs in the human kingdom to make a living, but no matter which race the orcs basically don't show their bodies like the snow wolves...For example, Harris, he doesn't remember the last time he How long ago did the snake appear.

"Oops...the snow wolves haven't left the cursed land for too long, how could I forget to remind them?" Harris was annoyed...

The land area of ​​Elliott Palace is extremely small, Xiao Yun and Ah Shan ran for a few hours at a stretch, bypassed several mountains, and almost ran over half of the country; Xiao Yun, who started to pant, found a place with a relatively flat road to stop. Next, replacing the vehicle, Harris saw that it was the opportunity, jumped off the back of the wolf, and persuaded: "Mr. Ayun, it will take two hours to walk to Holmes. How about walking over?"

Xiao Yun paused while putting on his clothes, and looked up at the other party's expression: "How can I say that Holmes is not very friendly to our orcs?"

"Hmm..." Harris was a little short of words, "Actually... we orcs who live in the human kingdom don't really like being seen in the shape of a beast."

"Eh? Do you mean that you never change your shape? How uncomfortable is that?" Mumu, who was about to take off her clothes, asked curiously.

"Actually... if you are used to it, there is no problem." Harris reluctantly.

Xiao Yun understood: "Harris, it's not that he doesn't like being seen in the shape of a beast. Humans will make a fuss. If they see it, they think that the orcs are really different. Is that so?"

Harris was silent, and Primo, who was carrying Corbett, sneered: "Whatever those people do, the ignorant villagers in some places will make the tauren into monsters that eat children."

Xiao Yun thought for a while, and said: "I don't think the beastman's animal form is shameful or shameful. It is precisely because the wolf form of our snow wolf tribe can cultivate land more efficiently that we can quickly expand agricultural production. But since we have come to humans On the ground of the kingdom, no matter how proud we are of our race, it is a proper etiquette to do as the Romans do, after all, we are not here to cause trouble, but to visit our friends’ homes, what do you think?”

Xiao Yun is always very reasonable, and everyone can listen to what makes sense. Mu Mu, who was about to relax, put on his clothes regretfully, and patriarch Ali also wisely took Viscount Colbert and carried it on his shoulders... ...It's not that Primo can't carry it, but Primo's stature is not too tall, so it's hard to walk while carrying someone on his back.

Before coming here, Xiao Yun also considered that there might be a need to hide his identity, so he took out the turban that he had prepared in advance—er, that’s right, it was the kind of turban that the peasant uncle used to cover his head to prevent dust from wiping sweat , the rustic is rustic, and the practicality is also very appropriate...

Wrap your hair with a turban and cover your ears and continue on the road, relying only on two legs, the speed is much slower than before... Fortunately, there are no burdens in the team, and Ah Shu, who is the weakest in health, is not a problem.At dusk, the group passed through the valley that was the border between the two countries and stepped onto the territory of the Kingdom of Homs.

Just separated by a valley, the boundary of the Kingdom of Holmes is much better than the Elliott Palace as far as the naked eye can see—out of the valley, the annoying continuous mountain ranges are interrupted, and the big plain is in front of you , Occasionally, the mountains are small hills that are far apart, and harvested farmland can be seen even so close to the border.

"The small town here has not been implicated in the territorial war, only occasionally the army of the nobles will come to supply supplies." Harris led the way, turning around and explaining to Xiao Yun, "We will spend the night in the small town, and we will start from the southeast tomorrow morning. Go along the coastline and enter St. Bridge. The coastline of Holmes is not good, there is only one port city, and most of the area is relatively safe."

"Yes, the supplies we brought are relatively sufficient, so it's okay if we don't supply them for a while." Xiao Yun nodded.

Harris stopped talking, and led everyone around the village, heading all the way to the town.

For alien races, the villages in the human kingdom are definitely not a good place to rest and replenish...Because the human kingdom generally adopts a closed policy that prohibits population movement, basically the villagers who never go out of their homes, or even the countryside where their activities are limited to surrounding towns Aristocrats regard alien races as monsters.

There may be simple folk customs, but only locals can "enjoy" them.

When there was only a sliver of sunset on the horizon, the group finally saw the buildings on the horizon.

"I'm hungry, I want to drink hot soup and a bowl of hot and sour noodles." Mumu stuck out her tongue.

"Just get to the place. This small town specializes in the business of travelers and caravans, and there are many nice small yards specially rented out to passers-by." Harris looked relaxed.

"Dahe, let's make a fragrant pot to eat at night!" Ah Shan's eyes sparkled.

"Just hearing you mention this word makes me feel annoyed..." Da He said expressionlessly.

"Ah Yun, cook it for me." Ah Shan turned his head angrily.

"It's fine, it's fine." Xiao Yun panted.

"I've wanted to say it a long time ago, Ayun, are you especially easy to talk to only when you are facing Ashan?" Dahe squinted over.

"Ah, what else?" Xiao Yun stared at him confidently.

"Grassroots Patriarch, Ali Patriarch, look at Ayun!" Dahe was angry.

"Hahaha……"

"Don't just laugh! Ah Yun is so eccentric!"

Harris was a little envious of the harmonious atmosphere of the Snow Werewolf, and couldn't help looking back. Suddenly, the snake walker's complexion changed, and he raised his hand to make a pause gesture.

Primo, who was originally behind, appeared at the front of the team at some point, and shocked Harris, who was about to speak to remind everyone.

"A lot of footsteps... very messy, erratic, not an army, but ordinary people." Primo looked at the woods in front of him and said unhurriedly.

Harris: "..." I forgot that this is the strongest practitioner.

"Nineteen... 25... 33 smells." Ah Shan sniffled, "Two people were bleeding, a lot of blood."

"..." Harris turned his head stiffly, looking at Ah Shan who ran to the front at some point.

"Could it be a bandit group or something?" Xiao Yun stepped forward strangely.

"It's unlikely that it's so close to the town." Harris shook his head.

"Here we come." Primo said.

After a while, a row of torches appeared at the other end of the woods and slowly walked out of the path.