Chapter 649: Baishi Chengqiang Guanka, Prosperity and Disease

Jier raised his head to gaze at the tall, seemingly boundless glowing white city wall before him.

He let out a heavy sigh.

"Is this wall allowed to be touched?"

He asked Priest Bata'er.

"Of course, as long as you don't piss on it or perform other insulting acts; otherwise, no one will bother you."

Although Priest Bata'er felt this miraculous creation was very shocking, he did not actually care much about it. Upon hearing this, Jier walked across the road and the lawn, jumped off the Tianxuecao, and attempted to touch this ancient creation with his palm.

Seen up close, the light emitted by the white stones of the wall was not strong, nor was it blinding. The surface of the white stones was slightly mottled and uneven. These were all traces left by the long passage of time.

Swish—swish—

The metal armor plates on his glove made a rustling friction sound against the not-very-hard white stone, and Jier quietly touched it carefully with his palm. Not far away, Priest Bata'er and Xueya Site both stayed outside the gate of the checkpoint at the base of the wall, quietly waiting for Jier to return.

"Jier's appearance reminds me of when I first came here. Haha, I actually tried to rely on the gaps in the wall's surface, wanting to climb straight up."

Speaking of this, Xueya Site shook his head: "If the patrolling soldiers hadn't pulled me down when I had only climbed a few meters high, I reckon I would have fallen to my death halfway up."

Priest Bata'er nodded silently, looking at the sky.

The sun in the distance was about to sink below the black horizon in the west; of course, here, it didn't matter whether it was dark or not, as it was always daytime due to the light of the White Stone City Wall.

But Humans still needed to rest.

"Are we spending the night inside the city wall tonight, or crossing the checkpoint and spending the night after reaching the Southern Province?"

Priest Bata'er asked Xueya Site.

"Priest, I can't make that decision; you have to ask Jier. Wherever he says to rest, that's where we rest."

Priest Bata'er looked Xueya Site over carefully: "I thought you were relatives, or from the same family."

Shrugging, Xueya Site smiled: "Then you saw wrong. Jier and I only met on the Shanglu a while ago. He is a Knight Attendant of the Kendall people from the north, and I am a caravan guard hired by the caravan following the army, specifically sent to guide the army's march on the grassland, just because I run the Shanglu several times a year and am very familiar with it."

"Jier trusts you very much?"

"That's because I owe him my life! Just a while ago, when the army and the caravan were passing through the Guai-feng Grassland, a large group of Harpy Monsters attacked. My horse was torn to pieces and thrown down from the sky by those beasts. If it weren't for Jier risking his life to save me..."

Shaking his head, Xueya Site sighed with emotion: "I reckon this flesh and blood of mine would have been embedded in that grassland, in the way of being thrown down from the sky by the Monster."

Priest Bata'er did not know the intelligence and news about the Guai-feng Grassland and the Harpy Monsters, so he had no real understanding of Xueya Site's words. He felt it was just an ordinary Monster crisis, not knowing how powerful the flying Harpy Monsters were, or how dangerous the situation was at the time.

"Then this time, saving the abducted civilians, can you see it through to the end? You know, this journey looks very dangerous no matter how you look at it."

Xueya Site smiled indifferently: "Human enemies, well, it's not that I look down on those defeated and routed troops who abducted the people, but compared to those damn Monsters flying in the sky, they are still far worse. Please rest assured, Priest. Before I repay the favor of Jier saving my life, wherever he goes, I follow."

"I hope so."

Priest Bata'er said in a low voice, then looked up to see that Jier had already removed his Helmet and was touching the ancient city wall with his forehead.

"Jier seems to like this ancient architecture of the Dwarfs?"

Priest Bata'er asked casually, feeling puzzled.

"Perhaps. I have only heard a little about his past, but I don't understand it. Just as we don't understand you, Jier never asks me what kind of experiences I had when I was young."

Jier carefully touched the ancient city wall with his forehead; his forehead felt ice-cold, yet it gave one an exceptionally solid sense of security and weight.

From the moment he saw this city wall earlier, an indescribable emotion surged in his heart.

He thought of the ancient city wall of his hometown in his previous life.

Equally tall and ancient, it seemed that time could not destroy it.

But separated by two lifetimes, he could never go back.

All the experiences and emotions of his previous life remained only as memories within his Spirit.

That was his most precious thing.

He would not show it to others.

After a good while, the sun in the distance set, and the night, like a quilt, flipped over and occupied the entire world.

Only then did Jier lead his horse toward the checkpoint gate, where his new companions were waiting.

"Sorry to have kept you both waiting. Seeing such a miraculous creation just now, I had some thoughts and couldn't control my emotions very well."

Jier said this with an apologetic tone.

"It's fine, everyone is actually the same."

As he spoke, Xueya Site pointed to some church believers worshipping toward the White Stone City Wall not far away; those people had spread blankets on the lawn and were kneeling one after another on the blankets toward the glowing city wall.

Jier took one look and turned his head away: "I'm not that exaggerated, really kowtowing to a pile of stones."

The three of them laughed and walked toward the checkpoint gate.

Unlike other places, the Baishi Chengqiang Guanka did not close its gates even at night, and the guarding Soldiers never needed Torches or fire basins for illumination.

The number of local Soldiers guarding the city gate was large and their equipment was considered excellent. Not only were there patrolling Soldiers walking all night on top of the tens-of-meters-high White Stone City Wall, but at the gate at the bottom, just the three gates connecting the east and west sides of the checkpoint had at least three hundred Soldiers on duty and guarding there.

And this did not count the Soldiers stationed inside the checkpoint, as well as a local military camp not far away. It is said that in that military camp, there were also thousands of Soldiers stationed year-round.

Montuoka Viscount could be considered to have firmly grasped this checkpoint, which was extremely important to him, in his own hands.

Not to mention the military and political functions, just collecting the transit tax from the two provinces every year was enough to easily maintain the Soldiers' salaries and compensation.

When approaching the city gate, the guarding Soldiers were full of respect just seeing the appearance of Jier and Priest Bata'er. Jier didn't even have to explain that he was not yet a formally enfeoffed Knight, and he easily brought the carriage into the checkpoint.

No one mentioned transit taxes or carriage inspections at all.

Priest Bata'er, on the other hand, looked normal, because ever since he entered the church, he had never been charged city entry taxes or transit taxes anywhere.

A so-called checkpoint, of course, would not be called a checkpoint if it were just a single city wall.

Even though the White Stone City Wall built by the Dwarfs a long time ago was like a real city wall, with only one side facing west, later on, that is, after the Saint Hors Kingdom was established, the Humans who migrated here still built another Human city wall facing the Southern Province to the east behind the White Stone City Wall in the last few decades.

Walking in the passage at the bottom of the White Stone City Wall, the Dwarfs had specially made small inward-recessed holes on the walls on both sides. It seemed there used to be Statues of the God of the Dwarfs inside, but now only crude human-shaped pillars remained, left behind after being hacked and damaged by axes, leaving only a rough human shape.

If it weren't for the fact that the Dwarfs were not tall, and their gods were also of the same short stature as them, Jier would not have been able to recognize that the crude, short human-shaped pillars in the recesses of the doorways were Statues of the God of the Dwarfs.

Because the entire White Stone City Wall was built with white stone, and after the Dwarfs had tinkered with it, it could glow continuously day and night, so there were no other lighting tools in the passage under the city wall, because they were simply not needed.

Passing through the thirty-meter-long glowing passage, what came into view was the interior scene of a checkpoint full of the characteristics of a Human society city.

To translate it, it is a city scene unique to human cities, messy and chaotic, completely different from the epic sense of holiness of the White Stone City Wall.

The low stone houses were clearly old buildings left behind by the Dwarves, yet on top of these stone Dwarf-style houses, human-style houses built of wood had been forcibly added. The roofs of the houses were then covered with bundles of Wheat Straw instead of more practical roof tiles. The streets had originally looked reasonably spacious, but around the Dwarf houses, a circle of street-side shops had been artificially added, encroaching upon the original street.

In the deep, narrow alleys, plum trees extended outward, stretching their crowns toward the direction of the White Stone City Wall, just like sunflowers that could not turn their heads.

Noisy sounds also came rushing toward them; Refugee crowds from the Southern Province huddled together, gathering in front of various taverns, hoping to scavenge some leftovers from the diners. Some of the more spirited refugees gathered in groups of three or five, crowding the streets, loudly presenting themselves to the Caravans that were common in the past but rare now, hoping with low hiring prices that the Caravans would take them in, so as to avoid paying the customs duty by borrowing the exemption of a large Caravan.

But the Caravans were not fools; the Stewards sat on horses or carriages, cursing while wildly cracking their whips, using a frightening but harmless appearance to drive away the young refugees who approached.

The smell of sweat and horse manure also rushed directly at Jier and his party just as they exited the city wall passage; this intense odor was almost enough to make one fall off their horse. If it weren't for the fact that the entire checkpoint was built in the only mountain pass between the northern and southern mountain ranges, where the wind was quite strong, the locals at the checkpoint probably wouldn't have been able to stand this smell.

"Hey, how can it be like this—"

Jier's dissatisfied voice dragged on, making his two companions smile bitterly: "That's just how it is; the Baishi Chengqiang Guanka only looks good from the west side. Once you enter, all the sense of holiness and the ancient atmosphere are completely gone."

Xueya Site also shrugged and raised his whip: "After sacred things get close to the smell of excrement, it makes people lose any desire to get close."

"You two! Sigh." Thus, one could hear Jier muttering in a low voice about something like Paris Syndrome, an unfamiliar term they had never heard of.

"Let's find a place to stay. It looks quite chaotic here. By the way, why do so many of these people from the Southern Province not leave this place, preferring to squeeze into this tiny area rather than go to the nearby Mengtuoka Territory and Kewen Territory to make a living?"

Jier asked this question because the three of them were riding horses and driving a carriage along the main road of the checkpoint, and a glance around showed that the entrances to the shops on both sides of the street were crowded with many destitute refugees. Although the street was extremely crowded, because of Jier's equipment, neither the passing carriages nor the crowded people on the street dared to approach.

Bata'er Jiaoshi answered Jier's question.

"Because those Soldiers under the Montuoka Viscount deliberately raised the customs fees. In the past, each person only had to pay one copper coin as a customs fee when passing through. Now, humph, it takes fifty copper coins to let a person enter the territory of Montuoka City. It went up fifty times in one go!"

"Those confused refugees we saw on the way here have already paid this overly expensive customs fee. It was already not easy to run here, and I didn't expect these guys to be so excessive, actually doing this! In normal times, this money might have been scraped together, but the refugees who fled their homes are in rags, and most of their wealth was left in their hometowns; how could they possibly come up with this money?"

(Note: Most of the wealth of ordinary people consists of land they farm themselves in the countryside and property such as furniture in their homes; fleeing their hometowns, these things certainly cannot be taken away. And ordinary people in the countryside do not have much currency that can be used at any time for transactions. Because transactions in rural areas are mostly barter, such as agricultural products produced or primary processed products: treated animal skins and hemp Rope, etc. Their only source of currency is Caravans from towns, but Caravans also mostly use metal tools and other high-value-added products from town areas to barter, using the price gap to harvest products from rural areas. Physical currency is not easy to obtain.)

As a person from the Southern Province himself, Bata'er Jiaoshi particularly disliked this, but he was only a Priest of the Agricultural God Church. The Soldiers might let him move freely out of respect for the Church, but toward other people from the Southern Province, they extended greedy hands and feet, insisting on squeezing out a sum.

Jier pursed his lips; he had a different opinion, but it was not convenient to speak clearly now, as they were still on the main street.

It would be bad if someone heard it and caused some trouble.

Inside the checkpoint, besides the various shops on both sides of the main street serving passing merchants, the most numerous buildings were those of the local garrison.

However, those tall buildings that were the property of the Noble were mostly not open because there were not many troops stationed there at the moment, let alone providing housing for refugees for free or at a low price.

Most of those people picked up firewood that could only be used for burning and rags to build shacks in remote places away from the street to live in. Most families huddled in small shacks; fortunately, spring was not very cold, so they could barely hold on by doing this.

But it was very troublesome once it rained.

Jier saw that at a street corner, some Priests of the God of Wealth were holding water bottles, distributing a small sip of blessed clean water to each refugee who came.

Perhaps because Honey, which people rarely ate, was added, the sweet clean water made everyone who received a small sip show a rare smile.

"What are they doing?"

Facing Jier's question, Bata'er Jiaoshi understood after just one look: "The clean water should have been blessed, which can make it less likely for the people who drink it to get sick. The effect is limited, but it is easy to do; just have a few Priests responsible for Prayer to release Divine Art, and a few Novice Priests holding water to come out."

"It was the same when I saw it in Montuoka City before, but the Agricultural God Church in big cities generally does not need to suppress diseases; it is more about letting the believing farmers have more energy? Or reducing fatigue and the like. As for diseases, there are so many churches in the city; whichever god you believe in, you just go to that church after you get sick. If you don't reach the level of a formal believer, you can also spend money to go to the church for treatment or buy some Ointment or medicinal water that can cure diseases."

Speaking of this, Bata'er Jiaoshi brought up other related topics: "Speaking of this, a famous Priest within the church once believed that as long as people can be full every day and eat a certain amount of fruit, meat, dairy products, and other food, humans are actually not easy to get sick. Most of the reasons for getting sick are not eating enough or not eating well. This point of view once attracted a lot of criticism."

"What happened next?"

Jier was not interested in this topic, but Xueya Site was very eager to know what happened next.

"Next, that famous Priest received the approval of the Agricultural God and specifically gathered some authoritative Priests from various churches, as well as some Nobles and scholars. They heard that they specifically found a large area in the north of the Empire to conduct experiments. In some areas, the people maintained their original production and life, while in other areas, on the original basis, Wheat Straw flour and other main agricultural products were supplied at low prices without limit."

"In other areas, a large number of knowledgeable Priests were assigned to comprehensively guide the production and life of the people, while local Nobles were ordered by the great Nobles to comprehensively reduce the scale and proportion of tax collection, with the difference made up by various churches."

Xueya Site's eyes lit up, and he asked about the situation next with great curiosity.

"In the end, the people in the areas where nothing changed rioted and captured the areas with unlimited supply of main agricultural products. They didn't ask for anything else, just forcibly moved a large amount of agricultural products back to their own homes. As for the areas with unlimited supply of basic food, the local production and life were not only looted by other areas, but they also gave up farming in the fields, directly switching to buying the basic agricultural products brought by the church at low prices, and then finding ways to resell them to other places, actually getting rich by relying on this."

Jier saw that Xueya Site's face was twisted after hearing this result, and he laughed out loud.

"And finally?" This was asked by Jier; he felt that the result of the last area must also be very unexpected.

Sure enough, Bata'er Jiaoshi did not let Jier down: "The last area did indeed prosper quickly under the guidance of a large number of Priests from various churches, and initially let the Priests see the physical fitness of the people and the incidence of disease after food was sufficient. But the sick people still liked to find Priests to use Divine Art to cure diseases. Because there were many local Priests, everyone did not know whether the Divine Power used for treatment also played a role in suppressing diseases."

"And in the very end, after the various churches could not figure out whether the experiment was successful, they withdrew from the local area, and the local Nobles regained control of the area. The prosperous and orderly area fell into decline again in the next few years because the local Nobles increased the tax rate. The locally educated people who had been educated by the church Priests for many years all found ways to flee the area, trying to find out where the Priests they knew were, and went to join them."

Xueya Site seemed to have been hit, looking a bit wilted. But Jier laughed loudly: "Bata'er Jiaoshi, where do you think the problem lies?"