plumnovel #706 - "Flies in the Thousand River Valleys Gather Honey"
#706 - "Flies in the Thousand River Valleys Gather Honey"
Between the azure sky and the deep blue sea, milky white cloud mountains were piled high. Seagulls circled above these cloud formations, landing on the masts and emitting their plaintive cries.
The fish-scented sea breeze swept across the jagged rocks of the coast, swirled over the barnacle-covered hulls of ships, and caused passing pedestrians to clutch their felt hats as they gazed out at the boundless sea.
Unfortunately, in the port of Waterdam City, the citizens could not see the beautiful horizon where the water meets the sky; all they could see was a dense forest of countless sails moving slowly.
This is the origin of Waterdam City's reputation as the 'City of Sails.' Situated at the mouth of the Nauan River in Windmill Land, Waterdam City boasts an exceptionally fine deep-water port, capable of accommodating over two thousand sailing ships of all sizes, with seven to eight thousand merchants and travelers passing through daily.
At this moment, at least a thousand merchant ships of various sizes were lined up waiting along the coast, stevedores in summer vests shouting in unison as they hoisted wooden crates one by one.
Vampires or blood slaves wearing full-face black robes in broad daylight, Aier people with their heads held high and wearing fake ears, dwarves drunkenly sleeping under the eaves, and even centaur gangsters entrenched at street corners could be seen.
Merchants brought grain, silk, tea, and precious metals from the western Flesh and Blood Court, and took away River Isle's woolens, Dawn Island's wines, Windmill Land's high-end furniture and crafts, Codfort's gilded wares, Flower Hill's bone china, and Whitesand Land's glass.
It is because of this characteristic that Waterdam City is now the center of overseas trade for the Leia Kingdom.
The Leia royal family is able to extract at least 200,000 gold pounds from Windmill Land each year, which is an important source of revenue for the royal family, but compared to the overall wealth of Windmill Land, this number is somewhat small.
This is because although Windmill Land nominally belongs to Leia, the Leia people can barely interfere.
After the Windmill Land War, in order to alleviate financial pressure, the late king had to entrust Windmill Land to the Imperial Council for management, in order to obtain sufficient loans from Windmill Land's banking families and oligarchs.
If the French lost face in the Windmill Land War, and the Leia people lost substance, then the Windmill Land people were double winners—they won twice as much.
The French did not regain the territory illegally occupied by the Leia people during the Hundred Years' War, and the Leia people, although they retained their only good port outlet, lost control of Windmill Land.
In the midst of a strange political game, Windmill Land inexplicably gained the autonomy that the Thousand River Valley people had shed blood and sacrificed their lives to obtain.
Within fifty or sixty years, the number of towns in Windmill Land has soared from the original one hundred to nearly three hundred, and merchants, citizens, and artisans from all over the empire are immigrating to Windmill Land.
It is because of this prosperous commercial culture that a large number of citizens have emerged, and tea restaurants, which are too expensive to operate in the inland, are everywhere in Windmill Land.
Unlike farmers and artisans, merchants and citizens earn income by exploiting information gaps, so they need a place to exchange information.
Inside a tea restaurant on the corner of Hague Street, during this time of the morning when work is needed, groups of citizens and scholars can be seen sitting in the tea restaurant chatting and debating.
This tea restaurant is not large, with a layer of red-painted wooden planks covering the brick structure, and a right-angled counter at the end against the wall.
Unlike other taverns and restaurants at this time, there were neither shrines nor animal skins and deer heads on the walls, but instead, portraits and landscapes with exquisite brushstrokes.
Sitting under a landscape painting of an island, Lufiel, who had already graduated from River Isle Royal University, was organizing the manuscripts in her hand while wearing crystal glasses.
"...A friend recently went to Thousand River Valley to buy dyes and came back to tell me that he had his eyes opened in Thousand River Valley. The flies in Thousand River Valley collect honey!..."
"...The Holy Father created flies not to make them born to chase after filth, but because of the dirty and terrible environment. The citizens of Thousand River Valley not only maintain their cleanliness, but also actively sweep the garbage and dirt on the ground..."
"...From towns to villages, from valleys to riversides, all that can be seen are bright flowers and carpet-like green grass..."
"...In such a clean environment, in order to survive, flies naturally began to change, no longer chasing after excrement, but instead, like bees, pollinating crops and flowers..."
Lufiel took off her glasses, rubbed her sore neck, and raised her head from the sea of dense text.
She picked up the iced red tea on the table, took a sip, and then slowly exhaled a breath of stale air.
After half a year of training, the editors and reporters of this Waterdam City newspaper have finally barely gotten on track and can write decent articles and reports.
Sitting in the corner of the tea restaurant, Lufiel looked around, and about half of the people in the entire tea restaurant were holding a copy of 'Art Forest' and reading it. Whenever she saw such a scene, the lazy thoughts she had before would disappear a lot.
From the time 'Art Forest' was published at the beginning of the year to today, this weekly or even semi-weekly newspaper has become popular in the large and small towns of Windmill Land.
At first, the people of Windmill Land thought that the eldest lady of the Lakin family was bored and came up with such a small booklet to play with.
In addition to publishing and reprinting some articles from 'Truth News,' the booklet also contained various news from the princes of the empire, commissioned articles from several senior scholars, and some sour poems and jokes.
Although the first few issues of 'Art Forest' were published frequently, they were always lukewarm, but those "church jokes" won it a group of loyal supporters who bought every issue.
Finally, in order to clear the inventory and make room, Lufiel had to give away these 'Art Forest' for free.
Her elder brother, Flamang, took a boat for five days to Waterdam City and said to Lufiel, "Hurry up and publish the next issue, the toilet at home is out of paper again." Then he left by boat.
Lufiel was so angry that she couldn't eat for several days, and she lost four or five pounds. She even began to doubt whether this newspaper was too stupid to run?
But this situation changed dramatically after the Black Serpent Bay War broke out.
Because the Black Serpent Bay War was related to the extremely important spice trade, the shipowners and citizens of Windmill Land were quite anxious about the progress of the war.
Among the many rumors flying around, 'Art Forest' was the most accurate and timely in reporting on the Black Serpent Bay War, which attracted a considerable number of readers.
After all, 'Art Forest' had exclusive news channels in Thousand River Valley—Lufiel's several high-ranking monk friends, including Fuchaiva, Armand, Leonardo, and others.
At the same time, from this 'Art Forest' newspaper and the Black Serpent Bay War, Horne and the Holy Alliance once again entered the public eye.
In the towns of Windmill Land, scholars began to study the 'Thousand River Valley Charter of Freedom,' knights bought up discarded holy guns and clockwork cannons at high prices, and citizens were most concerned about spice prices.
The logic chain is very simple: the war was launched by peasant rebels, so it must bring destruction, destruction will inevitably lead to reduced production, spices and sugar will be reduced, then hoarding in advance can sell for a high price.
As a result, a large number of citizens began to hoard spices and brown sugar like crazy, and some even borrowed money to hoard them, and those bankers and commercial nobles called out "spice prices will definitely rise in the autumn" to fuel the flames.
Only 'Art Forest' published an anonymous report in the newspaper, which not only accurately informed the war situation and the current situation in Black Serpent Bay, but also called on many citizens not to hoard, the Holy Alliance is not that kind of ignorant rebel army.
The final result, of course, was that spice ships sailed into the port on schedule in September, and there were not only no fewer spices on the market, but more.
Those citizens who hoarded spices lost their pants.
On the contrary, those citizens who bought 'Art Forest' were fine, and some even made a profit by shorting.
After this battle, 'Art Forest' became famous, and those booklets that were used to pad table legs once again appeared on the table and became must-reads for citizens.
Once this was read, the novel colloquial articles, interesting church jokes, exciting Thousand River Valley theological debates, advanced 'Thousand River Valley Charter' and urban construction...
In this era of rumors, gossip, and unreliable news flying around, 'Art Forest' learned from 'Truth News' advanced concepts, and immediately turned it into the most accurate and timely source of news.
The famous scholar and Grand Judge Quivalin even personally commented on this newspaper as "rational, neutral, and objective." Of course, Master Quivalin's comment on this newspaper was seen by chance, and it had nothing to do with the fact that a certain editor-in-chief was his student.
Those days 'Art Forest' sold like crazy, and it was reprinted every day, printing one batch and selling one batch. Lufiel even made up for the previous losses.
With the popularity of 'Art Forest,' scholars even discovered that publishing an article in 'Art Forest' was more effective than giving ten speeches on the street, and a single sentence from a certain art critic in the newspaper could make a new painter's works sell out.
Merchants were surprised to find that the information collected and analyzed in 'Art Forest' was more valuable than what they bought with heavy money, not to mention the benefits brought by advertisers and shipowners.
Her father, who had been urging her to marry in her hometown, even wrote a letter to Lufiel in his own hand. In short, it was "You are doing the right thing, absolutely right!"
'Art Forest' is not as simple as a newspaper, it also hides the potential of a mouthpiece for public opinion, which is what the Lakin family values.
However, she is now also facing a huge problem, which is the emergence of a large number of counterfeit newspapers.
After all, printing newspapers does not require any technical content, but it can firmly control the direction of public opinion, which is naturally targeted by a large number of citizens and commercial nobles.
These tabloids are not as good as 'Art Forest,' but they are cheaper and dare to fabricate stories.
Because 'Art Forest' has published too many "Thousand River Valley myths," they have been attacking Lufiel as a Thousand River Valley spy.
In addition to the targeting of some local urban oligarchs in Windmill Land, even Lufiel, the eldest lady of the Lakin family, is a little overwhelmed.
She had just finished organizing a special report on the Black Serpent Bay War and was about to take a break when the door of the tea restaurant was suddenly pushed open.
Just as Lufiel continued to review the manuscript, a young student in simple but hurried clothes walked in. He looked around, and after seeing Lufiel, he quickly walked over.
"Miss Lufiel..." The newspaper employee lowered his voice, "It's the new issue of 'Truth News' and an envoy sent by the Holy Alliance."
Lufiel's brow furrowed slightly. She took a deep breath and handed the manuscript in her hand to the employee: "Okay, I understand."
She adjusted her collar, walked out of the tea restaurant, and through the crowded wooden stairs, she came to the conference room on the second floor of the newspaper office across the street.
A man in dark robes stood outside the door, his wrists hidden in his cloak, his inverted triangular eyes staring around without blinking.
Lufiel nodded politely to him and pushed open the door.
"Armand?!"