ctnovel Chapter 16 Confederate History
Chapter 16 Confederate History
"Clam?!"
After his secret was exposed, Xiao Fan was initially startled, but instead of panicking, he suddenly realized something.
No wonder such a distinguished expert was willing to personally come and help me with this small matter; it turns out he came for Professor Xu!
That's not surprising, that's not surprising at all.
However, there is definitely no such person among the experts who frequently deal with the black market on the border of Yunqi City. I haven't heard of any new faces being introduced recently either. Where did he find out that Professor Xu is secretly operating a cross-border smuggling channel?
"An unfamiliar expert, this is a bit tricky..."
Xiao Fan grabbed the water glass on the table and took a couple of sips, giving himself some time to react and think. He quickly came to a conclusion—if he couldn't handle it, he should report it.
"Are you Professor Xu's friend?"
He quickly adjusted his demeanor and began to feign ignorance, first displaying a slightly surprised expression, then switching to a troubled look in an instant: "However, my supervisor is very busy lately and usually can't find the time. Why don't you tell me what you need to see him about, and I'll inform him for you?"
"Then you'd better hurry."
Jiang Yong didn't directly expose him, but said with a smile, "Tell him that something big has just happened in the Eastern Territory, and I should be the first person to bring the news back to Yunqi City. He won't want to miss this opportunity."
Something happened in the Eastern Territory? Xiao Fan's heart skipped a beat.
Given the usual chaos in the Eastern Territory, the only thing that could be called a "major event" would be a major earthquake that could affect the entire Confederation!
"Also, who exactly is this person? How can he be so confident that he can get information faster than the local information channels in Yunqi City? He should know how deep the waters are here..."
As its name suggests, the "Eastern Territory" is located at the easternmost part of the continent, close to the ocean. It was originally the territory of an "elite" wild race. The elves of that race were powerful and violent, often unleashing beast tides to attack human territory, and have been the greatest threat to human survival since ancient times.
Fifteen years ago, the Carlo people paid an extremely heavy price, exhausting most of their civilization's resources, before finally defeating all the wild races there, completely eliminating their greatest threat, and bringing that undeveloped and incredibly rich land into their territory.
Before this, humanity's territory had been confined to the interior. After that war, the Carolingian Confederation not only eliminated its greatest threat but also gained access to a completely new realm—the ocean. The raging beast tides vanished, and the shackles of resources were about to be broken. Everyone therefore regarded that war as the beginning of a new era, and some even optimistically estimated that it would be the last war in human history, hence the name "The Last War."
After the final battle, the Eastern Territory became the common property of the Caro Federation, and also the only outlet to the sea for the entire human civilization, as well as one of the only two channels for the stable production of "elite" level Pokémon.
The shadow of war has finally dissipated, and naturally, the issue of resource allocation has emerged.
When the Confederation took over the management of the new land, it allocated a portion of the land and resources to reward war heroes. The remainder was then sold openly to the public through surveying and partitioning, aiming to extract money from the land as quickly as possible to revitalize the civilization, which had nearly exhausted its resources. However, with the end of the war and the disbandment of the "Carlo Continental Army," which had been mobilized by various city-states, the Confederation, facing a financial crisis and lacking power, could only handle the sales and was powerless to supervise them, leaving the area virtually a legal vacuum.
Despite the Confederation's promise to establish new city-states in the eastern territories and bring about a better order, fifteen years have passed and there is still no sign of it coming to fruition, and most people have long since given up hope.
Thus, as the region with the highest development value and the weakest supervision in the entire confederation, and where no single city-state can dominate, the Eastern Territory is full of opportunities but also chaotic.
In this process, another key point of contradiction has emerged—geopolitics.
City-states directly bordering the eastern territories possessed an absolute advantage. Although they were also at the forefront of the war, suffering greater losses than the rear-area city-states, it was reasonable for them to receive more benefits. However, firstly, the history of the Caro Confederation wasn't limited to the "Final War." They had already used this pretext to acquire vast resources, becoming some of the most prosperous and wealthy city-states in the entire confederation. Secondly, due to the lack of restraint, their exploitative practices gradually became excessive—interfering with surveying, concealing resources, obstructing confederation-appointed officials, and even directly controlling transportation, imposing heavy taxes on all goods transiting through their territory, and so on…
Over time, the four city-states that bordered the eastern territories and reaped the greatest benefits from them developed a significant gap with the other city-states and became known as the "Great Cities," while the remaining eight were called "Small Cities."
Large cities monopolize resources and access, while smaller cities secretly sabotage and undermine them from the shadow of the large cities, resulting in the current situation of the Carol Confederation.
It is almost fair to say that the Eastern Territory is the root of all the disputes within the Confederation today.
As for what major event has occurred in the Eastern Territory—there hasn't been yet, but it's about time.
Jiang Yong knew Tian Du City's nature perfectly. In his previous life, when he was playing dungeons, as long as the "prematurely discovering the plan" plot was triggered, Tian Du City would definitely cause trouble in the eastern territory in order to muddy the waters, and they would always have the same reason, which was hard to forget.
"I understand. How can I contact you?"
After Jiang Yong invoked the banner of the Eastern Territory, Xiao Fan clearly took it much more seriously and took the initiative to inquire.
"No need for that trouble."
Jiang Yong smiled mysteriously and did not answer (actually, he did not want to reveal that he had no address or phone number), then stood up and walked out: "I'm going out for a walk first, and I hope to hear an answer when I come back."
He needed to use the money he had just earned to buy some clothes and take a bath. He had crawled out of a pile of corpses and had been trekking through the wilderness for several days. Although he hadn't sweated much due to his improved physique and his smell was passable, he was really not in a good state to discuss business.
……
After buying a decent set of clothes, finding a small hotel room to take a shower, and feeling refreshed as he walked toward the repair shop, Jiang Yong suddenly realized he had forgotten something.
After a moment of thought, Jiang Yong suddenly realized—he had forgotten to look at what he looked like now.
Mirrors were considered a luxury item in the Carlo civilization. The clothing store and hotel we just visited were just roadside shops, so they naturally didn't have any mirrors there.
But it doesn't matter. I'm not going to look ugly with a charm value of over 20. Besides, I'll look good anytime soon, so there's no rush.
The machinery shop had already changed its "Closed for Business" sign. Xiao Fan was sitting at the counter when he saw Jiang Yong return and immediately stood up.
"Professor Xu said he can make time this afternoon. If you'd like, you can talk to him at the Willow Lane Teahouse in the South District after 3 PM. The location is..."
This afternoon?
Jiang Yong nodded—he had scaled the city wall to enter Yunqi City that morning and had been wandering around outside for over an hour, so there was still some time before 3 PM. Professor Xu probably realized that he hadn't received any news of trouble in the Eastern Territory through his channels, and was planning to spend time gathering more information to prepare, and might also bring in a few experts to back him up.
"Okay, I'll be there on time."