Unknown Knight

The war against Iden ended successfully. Soon after Aix, the prince regent of Vigia, integrated the Vigia Kingdom, he sent troops to conquer foreign countries. He not only won the victory but also gained a large amount of territory.

The news soon spread among all classes of people in various countries, and now His Royal Highness Prince Aix's reputation is becoming more and more famous, even far higher than that of the kings of various countries.

Especially among the people, the name of Prince Aix was known to everyone, young and old. The poem "The Good Man of Suno" had long been sung by bards in taverns everywhere and became a classic piece of music.

In addition, there are many poems about Aix's heroic deeds, such as "The Warrior of the Violent City", "The Ordinary Hero", "Eliminating Evil in the Snowy Region", etc. Now Aix is ​​a living legend among the people and an epic hero.

However, in the upper aristocratic circles, our Prince's reputation is extremely bad. He is called many bad names such as the Merchant Prince, the Brainless Reckless Man, the Fool Lord, the Bloodthirsty Demon King, etc. At banquets in various places, nobles who are drinking to drown their sorrows spread these bad names about him from mouth to mouth.

The nobles now hate His Royal Highness the Prince, not only because it took Aix only a few years to rise from a merchant to a prince. This height is impossible for these nobles who claim to be superior to others to achieve even with the power of their families, several generations or even more than a dozen generations.

It was not because Aix arbitrarily ennobled a large number of civilians and even slaves as nobles. This practice not only devalued the noble titles of the original nobles and destroyed the ecology of the entire aristocratic class, but also gave the common people hope of crossing classes, making the hearts of the vast majority of common people no longer content to be exploited and oppressed by the nobles for generations.

The most important thing is that Aix has now touched their fundamental interests.

Now the territory of Aix has expanded several times. About one-fifth of the entire Kingdom of Vigia is directly under Aix, and another two-fifths are his subordinate territories, not to mention his control over the Khergit Khanate, the Nordic Kingdom and the Swadian Kingdom.

These territories produced snow salt, leather products, furniture, beer, iron, linen, iron pots, iron tools, medicines, weapons and armor, and other commodities with rich categories covering almost every aspect. Not only were they of high quality and low price, but they were also openly supplied, squeezing out the commodities produced in the nobles' workshops and leaving them with almost no market. In comparison, the quality and price of their commodities had no competitive advantage at all.

Now, after experiencing it, more and more people choose to buy various products produced in Aix, including the nobles themselves.

Moreover, since the territory made extensive use of water power, wind power, and animal power, it not only saved labor, but also greatly improved production efficiency and reduced the cost of producing goods. As a result, once the territory started manufacturing and selling a certain product, there would be almost no profit for such products produced in other places.

That’s not all, as the area directly or indirectly controlled by Aix spans a wide range, including pastoral areas, snowy areas, coastal areas, plains, forest farms, etc.

The various types of materials produced in these different regions vary greatly and are highly complementary. All the materials needed by the territory are produced within the area under its control. The domestic demand for the economy is very strong, and even if it encounters resistance and blockade by external forces, it will not greatly affect the healthy environment of the entire economy.

Once competition with external forces arises, Aix's forces only need to control the prices of goods sold both internally and externally, forming a price advantage that is beneficial to themselves, and then they can slowly drag down competitors in the price war.

Then there are the five major mercenary groups that secretly belong to Aix. In name, they are independent of each other and do not belong to Aix, so they are less likely to be suppressed by competing forces. Moreover, over the years, the five major mercenary groups have spread their business networks across the entire continent, forming comprehensive advantages and sales channels that no force on the continent can match.

The Holy Cave Mercenary Group, in particular, has now opened department stores in all the cities on the continent. Not only does it bring in huge profits every year, but the commodity price information it has can be used as a reference for territory caravans, allowing the caravans to grasp the profit code at the first moment and take the initiative in business. This alone is something that no other force on the continent can do, let alone compete with.

Moreover, Aix is ​​very diligent. He has been working hard to strengthen the construction of the territory and improve the economic level of the territory. The very low taxes, abundant material goods, and the relaxed employment environment have made the economic situation in the area under his control better and better. The living standards and happiness index of the people in the territory have been greatly improved, making it the most desirable place for the lower-class civilians in the entire continent.

This made the territory like a huge magnet, forming a strong siphon effect, constantly attracting free people from the entire continent to settle down. Even many serfs, shepherds, and slaves who could not bear the oppression of the lords tried to escape to the area controlled by Aix.

The above series of situations combined together have produced a significant qualitative change effect, making the areas controlled by Aix increasingly prosperous, while the economies of other regions are becoming increasingly desolate and poor.

Ordinary civilians and serfs in other regions were fine; their lives could not be any more difficult. However, the nobles could not bear it. Due to the competition from Aix, their business revenues were decreasing, and they were becoming increasingly poorer, so they had to lower their living standards to cope with the situation. Nobles who had made large investments were even burdened with huge debts, and some of them could not even pay the interest.

This situation was still okay in the short term, but nearly two years had passed since Aix eliminated Eden's forces. During this long period of time, the nobles on the continent had an increasingly difficult time. Some nobles were on the verge of bankruptcy, some began to mortgage their fiefdoms, and some even secretly sold their noble titles.

Under the deliberate guidance of some people, the nobles soon linked their own predicament with Aix, and their resentment towards Aix's forces grew stronger and stronger. They began to connect with each other under the guise of banquets, and gathered together to plot how to target Aix.

Finally, these nobles came to the conclusion that no matter what business means they used, it was impossible to defeat Aix in normal business activities. If they wanted to defeat Aix and save the nobles from their decline, there was only one way, which was to use force against Aix.

However, it was difficult for these nobles to unite for a while, and many poor nobles did not care about so much. They disguised their cavalry as bandits and specifically attacked and plundered the caravans of Aix.

However, the escort team of the Aix caravan had strong combat effectiveness, and mercenaries from the five major mercenary groups patrolled and protected along the main trade routes, causing these Xibe bandits to suffer a lot.

With no other options, they had to turn to robbing weak caravans and risking their lives to plunder villages and manors in neighboring countries.

For a time, the entire continent was in chaos with bandits everywhere except the area controlled by Aix.