Chapter 402: Asking for Credit

The young citizens in the city were either standing on the city walls or hiding behind the fences, staring with wide eyes at the army in front of them.

The hot wind blew up the black short cape, and the close-fitting black wool and linen blended fabric stuck straight to the body.

Even though I can't understand the glittering golden gear accessories, they still have a special metallic texture and exotic feel.

Combined with their upright standing and walking posture, they look so majestic.

Many brave daughters of the citizen laborers began to throw flowers at the war monks, and the pink, yellow and white petals formed a dome in the air.

Under the arch, Horn, leading his warhorse Grape, slowly walked to Jeanne.

Horn's zebra Grape and Jeanne's black horse Radish are half-brothers who have the same father but different mothers. They usually don't like each other.

When they met, they turned their heads and glared at each other with unfriendly eyes.

"Brother, how am I this time? Huh? Am I awesome?"

Looking at Jeanne who was about to raise her chin to the sky, Horn smiled and rubbed her head: "Very impressive, you have done a great job."

This time, Jeanna solved the problem of the noble coalition of Kasha County in advance, buying Horn at least two days.

It is indeed a great achievement.

Jeanne smiled foolishly, then hugged Horn's back and rubbed her face against his, whispering in his ears.

This scene seemed commonplace to the war monks of the Salvation Army, but the people of Xiaochi City felt as if the sky had fallen when they saw it.

Many young people's eyes were filled with a sense of despair. Where was my Saint Jeanne, who was as cold as ice to defeat the enemy and as passionate as fire to speak up for justice?

Who is this silly-smiling village girl? Is this still the Saint Jeanne they know?

These days, the story of Ranna breaking three thousand with six hundred men and attacking seven camps in one night spread quickly, and she became known as the benefactor of Xiaochi City.

Jeanne herself is quite a tomboy.

Coupled with her generous and righteous Valkyrie character, she soon became a goddess-like figure in the eyes of many young people in Xiaochi City.

At this moment, their goddess was actually sticking to someone else's arms like a shy little girl?
And that person is actually shorter than Jeanne!
Not sure if it was an illusion, but Horn seemed to hear a series of sounds of something breaking.

"I have made a contribution, will there be any reward?"

"What reward do you want?" Horn said, patting Jeanna's back as he felt her chin resting on his shoulder.

She put her hands around Horn's neck, and made Na raise her head, close her eyes and purse her pale pink lips.

"What's wrong? Is your mouth dry?" Horn kissed her on the forehead, pretending not to know. "Drink more hot water if your mouth is dry."

After all, Pasrick was watching him closely, so even if Horn wanted to do something, he couldn't go too far.

For now, Horn can only postpone it before returning home.

Oh, Carrie and Jeanne, what a huge problem...

Maybe there will be another Shilov?
Shaking his head, Horn laughed at himself. The other person didn't show any feelings, so why did his old bad habits relapse?
Releasing Jeanne's arm, Horn hugged Jeanne amidst countless painful looks: "How is the ship being prepared?"

Although she was not happy that they didn't kiss, Jeanna was reserved after all. She didn't force love like Meliati did. She just pulled his arm and said, "Everything is ready. Come on, I'll take you to see it."

"Since we are ready, there is no need to rush." ​​Horn cast a meaningful look at the Holy Way city councilors led by Armand. "I think these city councilors have waited long enough. Why not get to know them first!"

Good opportunity! When Skeg saw the congressman next to him trying to take a step, he immediately stretched out his foot and hooked him, and the congressman fell to the ground.

After stepping on the congressman's back, he trotted to Horn's front.

"Greetings to you, His Holiness the Holy Grand Pope." Taking off his hat, Skegg prepared to salute Horn on the chest.

Horn rushed forward and shook his hand: "In the Holy Way Sect, there is no distinction between high and low. Let's just shake hands."

Horn greeted and introduced himself to seven or eight city councilors one by one with a smile on his face, not ignoring any of them.

The city councilors who had been ignored by Jeanne for several days suddenly felt like they had found their organization and were in the spring breeze.

"...You are worthy of being the heroes of Xiaochi City. Since you are locals, you can show me around Xiaochi City."

After several introductions, Horn got to know the people in front of him a little better, so he took the initiative to ask them to show him around.

"Then your paladins..." Skeg scratched his eyebrows in embarrassment.

What would happen if the army were allowed to break into the city?
However, some lords would force soldiers to enter the city, and even use this as a welfare benefit in addition to paying them wages to recruit soldiers.

"It's okay. They will camp outside the city. Just don't let those prostitutes and other people enter the barracks." Upon hearing this, Skeg breathed a sigh of relief and stretched out his hand to make a gesture of invitation: "Your Majesty, come this way."

Entering Xiaochi City, Horn found that this small town was even smaller than Jeanne d'Arc.

On both sides of the road are various breweries, grocery stores, tailor shops and other shops, but they are quite shabby.

Some of the shop owners are still operating, while others secretly open a crack in the wooden boards sealing their doors and carefully observe the Salvation Army members.

"Why is there a beaver statue or decoration in front of almost every store?" Horn asked, pointing at the beavers that were either exquisite or outrageous.

"The beaver is the mascot of Little Pond City. They are known as the builders of Little Pond City," Skegg said with a smile. "If they hadn't built a dam upstream, Little Pond City would still be a swamp."

In this era, almost every free city has a small mascot. The image of the Sphinx flashed through Horn's mind, and a bitter smile immediately appeared at the corner of his mouth.

"Tell me about the history and municipal structure of Little Pond, mainly the last ten years."

After listening to the narration of Skeg and others, Horn gradually understood.

Xiaochi City was still a town decades ago, and it was mainly thanks to the Juano bishop (then called the Enlightened) that the city was established.

The highest administrative body in the entire city is the city council, which is elected from the citizens.

Voters are required to have at least three years of stable tax payment records and assets or real estate worth 40 pounds, and citizens who pay more than 1 pound in taxes annually.

It is clear who will be chosen and who will be chosen.

The majority of the city council included wealthy businessmen, notaries, clergy, guild representatives and members of the nobility, and many second sons of noble families would seek a job as a city councilor.

These second sons are often the industrial and commercial representatives of the nobles in the city. They will live in the city for a long time, which may lead to incidents of betrayal against their master.

However, since Kochi City is the secular base of the Juano faction, the lower-class workers have not completely lost their voice.

Because of this, the mayoral position of Koike City Council has been vacant for seven or eight years, because whenever there is an election, it is easy to choose a Juanno person.

Further relaxing the right to vote at that time will not be worth the cost.

The mayor of a free city is not a fixed position. Sometimes there is no mayor, and sometimes there are multiple mayors at the same time.

Because the urban structure has not flourished for a long time, many political systems have not grown and have many loopholes.

For example, in the city of Branded, a rooster drew lots to elect the mayor, and the result was an extremely pure mayor who "had a soul as noble as a child but was trapped in an adult's body."

But ironically, the seven years he was in office were the most prosperous seven years for Brand City.

Looking at the shops lined up on both sides of the street, Horn suddenly asked, "What is your main business?"

"Main business? Do you mean the main source of income?" Skeg scratched his head. "We haven't done a specific statistics on this. It's probably river trade and brewing."

Unlike Rapid City, which is mainly engaged in finance and textile dyeing industries, Xiaochi City mainly relies on wine.

The church that was the predecessor of Xiaochi City had several famous wines. After obtaining the 99-year wine franchise issued by the church, this city centered around the winemaking industry began to flourish.

Later, due to the franchise rights of Xiaochi City, many wine-making monasteries or merchants would set up agents in Xiaochi City.

Relying on being a middleman and the convenience of freight brought by the river, wine processing and supporting industries have become the mainstay of Xiaochi City.

As for river trade, as a city located downstream of a tributary of the Nauan River, the largest river trade is the import of ore and grain to the north of Black Snake Bay.

In other words, a large part of it is actually tacit smuggling.

Xiaochi City is not large, and these two industries are enough to support a population of five to six thousand.

"The industrial structure is too single." Horn looked at the beaver statue with arms outstretched in front of the city hall. The marble beaver held a boat in its left hand and a wine jug in its right hand.

“The primary industry is all about the single crop of grapes, the secondary industry has a very small market share, and the tertiary industry, the service industry, is booming, but it all depends on so-called business concessions.

In other words, it is not competitive in the free market. If you were the only one selling it, those wine merchants would have sold it themselves long ago.”

"Yes, a big part of the reason for Xiaochi City's protest is that the church is not going to renew the franchise and will transfer it to Feiliu Castle." Skegg reached out and stroked the wine jug in Beaver's hand, and said with a sigh, "We can't support more than 6,000 residents just by river trade."

Horn stood on the doorstep and looked back. He seemed to be thinking, but also seemed to be distracted.

He looked for a while before continuing up the steps and coming to Skeg who was leading the way.

"I do have a little business to discuss with you, but it's too early now." Horn patted Skegg's shoulder, "Get the boat ready, we'll set off the day after tomorrow morning."

(End of this chapter)