Ashen Dragon-Chapter 487 - 406 Empire Age (Part 2)_2
Chapter 487 -406 Empire Age (Part 2)_2
Chapter 487 -406 Empire Age (Part 2)_2
He sat down on the wooden chair, reached out to pour some wine, then lifted his glass.
“Come, sit, have a drink.”
“Alright.”
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Andrei clinked glasses with Guges and then drank the sweet wine in one gulp.
This Mr. Guges was a well-known scholar in the North, well-versed and knowledgeable. It was said that he remembered all the history of the North for a thousand years, earning him the title “The Walking Stratholme Fortress Library.”
He was also of noble origin, but after the “Great Expropriation,” he became completely disillusioned with the corrupt rule of the Northern Kingdom and fled to Northwind Castle with his few possessions.
Andrei’s rebellion was also influenced by his persuasion.
“Little Andrei, go do what you think is right.”
“The North is beyond saving, rotting from top to bottom, with filthy pus seeping down to the bones.”
— This was Guges’ exact words.
“The people together worship, the great Red Dragon in the sky…”
The Bard’s singing came from outside the tavern.
Andrei quietly gazed at the bustling Emperor’s Square, then looked solemnly at the old man: “Mr. Guges, you have lived in the Ashen Empire for several years now?”
“What do you think… of this country?”
Guges brought the glass to his lips again, his thick beard almost touching the liquid.
Hearing Andrei’s question, he shook his head and smiled, then lowered his voice and said: “Just like its supreme ruler, a greedy, ever-unsatisfied giant beast.”
“But compared to the bugs of the North, it was hundreds, even thousands of years ahead, virtually a utopia.”
Guges didn’t forget to add.
Andrei furrowed his brows slightly, as if in deep thought.
He had studied the empire’s system carefully. Aside from the supreme imperial power, the most frequent terms were “freedom, equality” and such, ideals that were embraced throughout the empire.
But he always felt something was off—this was not true equality.
This country seemed to treat everyone as nutrient for its growth, allowing itself to proliferate and expand at an unimaginable speed.
In simple terms—the empire oppressed everyone equally.
“Mr. Guges, there’s something I still don’t understand, why do they…”
As they chatted, Guges had finished off an entire bottle of wine, and a slight tipsiness appeared on his wrinkled face.
“Now, it hasn’t reached its own limits yet.”
“If one day, this empire is no longer as advanced as it is now, about to be eliminated by the tide of history, I would spare no effort to…”
“Mr. Guges…”
Andrei cautiously looked around and covered Guges’ mouth.
Fortunately, the people around them only took it as a drunken babble and paid no attention.
A smile appeared on Guges’ face. He lay down on the wooden table and continued:
“Little Andrei, I, I’ve found a direction, those Starfallens! They are undiscovered treasures, their brains hold knowledge that reveals the essence of society…”
“I, I’ve put those things in the manuscript…”
…
A year swiftly passed, the snow on the northern plains melted for a few months, and then reaccumulated with the biting cold wind.
However, the lives of the people here had undergone an earth-shaking change.
The Matra Great Farmland had developed at scale, and imperial agricultural officers led the Skeleton Legion to work through the nights, eventually even bringing in combine harvesters.
The organic combination of spells, equipment, and labor brought unprecedented productivity advances.
And so, after an unprecedented harvest in September, the merciless north wind didn’t bring famine. People were able to buy food at normal prices, and at the very least, they could eat cheap canned food from the processing factories.
According to imperial statistics, this was the first winter in a thousand years in Anzeta where almost no one starved to death.
Due to the development of light industry in the empire, cheap and warm cotton clothes became standard for the people. They no longer had to huddle shivering around stoves; instead, they could put on coats and go to work.
This was also the first winter in Anzeta where the number of people who froze to death was fewer than five hundred.
Everything seemed so wonderful, but beneath the surface of this beauty, there was also much blood and tears.
The most significant change was in the cities.
One factory after another sprang up, forming cold, steel forests, and new buildings appeared within the cities, with large populations flowing into each city.
They mostly became diligent workers, becoming cogs in the machine of urban industrial development, or rather—fuel and consumables.
Although the empire’s regulations provided the most basic protections for workers, according to incomplete official statistics, there were still tens of thousands who died unnatural deaths—they mostly died in factories, but this information was hidden and couldn’t be seen by the outside world.
The empire’s management of important cities like Isdalia and Northwind Castle was relatively strict, but in the remote cities of the former Northern Kingdom, the management was much weaker.
What’s more, the empire’s regulations were not yet perfect at the time.
Thus, various dark and chaotic phenomena festered and grew.
After the empire had just conquered the North, Dragonblood Nobility and emerging merchants followed the official call to develop industry, investing in and building factories in various cities.
And on the eve of the “Imperial Labor Law” enactment, the various regulations were still incomplete.
Due to the widespread use of steam engines and textile machines, work in the cotton mills was not only easy to learn but also required little physical strength. Thus, factory owners massively employed women, especially children.
The main reason factory owners liked children was because of their weakness and docility, while adults often were not easily subdued. At the same time, child labor wages were very low, only one-third of an adult’s.
In order to maximize profit, machines ran non-stop for 24 hours, and workers had to work continuously day and night.
They worked in shifts. In such conditions, industrial accidents became commonplace—fingers being crushed by belts or limbs being smashed by gears happened regularly.
But when workers sought compensation, facing the powerful and influential Dragonblood Nobility, they didn’t even have the courage to file a complaint.
These cheap consumer goods were produced in large quantities, most of which were sold to the Fadlan Region through the Imperial Southern Continent Company, but some were also sold domestically.
But even just the small fraction was enough to crush the original market, causing the former handcraft workshops and handcraft factories in the North to declare bankruptcy one after another.
Artisans with skills passed down through generations declared bankruptcy, their shops were bought up by factory owners, and they ultimately had to enter the factories themselves, becoming fuel for industrial development.
With the dissolution of slavery, people were indeed free, but invisible chains gradually bound them.
Where there was oppression, there was resistance.
Amid the frenzy of industrial development, a small-scale uprising occurred in Rosstin City on the empire’s northeastern border, where workers smashed machines and escaped outside the city.
Soon after, several scattered acts of resistance followed, but they were all ruthlessly suppressed.
At this point, the imperial officials finally realized the gravity of the situation. Prime Minister Ramp became furious, issuing a profound statement, “Beware of Barbaric Development.”
He wasn’t angry out of sympathy for the workers, but because it was detrimental to the empire’s development—more importantly, it violated Cassius’ will.
Thus, due to the tireless work of the Ministry of Justice, the “Imperial Worker Law,” the “Apprentice Health and Morality Law,” and other relevant laws and regulations were enacted one after another.
The imperial judicial inspection teams patrolled various cities, sending many to prison, and even dragging to the guillotine those “newly rich” whose excessive oppression led to riots.
This incident, along with the previous enforcement of the “Imperial Corporation Law,” was collectively referred to by the people as the “Great Purge Movement,” etching in their hearts that the imperial laws were not to be desecrated.
Perhaps it wasn’t sacred, but the bright, blood-dripping guillotine proved it was not to be taken lightly.
However, industries like spinning, ceramics, and leather processing were not the fastest-growing sectors in the empire. The industry that brought the greatest profit to the empire was only one—military industry!
The “Three Emperors’ War” in the South became increasingly intense, with millions being crushed by the brutal battlefield. Divine Descendants, Legendary Mages, Constructed Golems, and other once-mighty Fadlan forces wreaked havoc across the continent.
This was undoubtedly a disaster for the local populace.
But the more chaotic it became, the better the empire’s arms sold. The Imperial Southern Continent Company’s business boomed, and the group behind it gained more profit.
Eventually, people began to anticipate wars, hoping they would become more violent, even actively stirring up conflicts—this was what brought them more gold coins.
A terrifying monster slowly grew strong on the nourishment of blood and fire.
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