At the same time that Levi "got up" after forty-six years, on the Sebring River, which had not changed much, a sailboat that was obviously suitable for seafaring was sailing upstream from the city of Gishui, heading towards the emerging Northland.

Crown—Minas Tirith.

On the deck, an old man who has reached his twilight years is lying quietly on his back on a 'wheelchair' made of metal and wooden structures. Only the slight rise and fall of his chest shows that he is still breathing very weakly.

People are very worried whether he will sleep peacefully like this.

The old man opened his eyes with some difficulty, and said confusedly: "Isn't it here yet? Alyssa."

This must be the fifth time he has asked this question on the road.

But the young businesswoman behind him, wearing a long skirt and holding a wheelchair, always took the trouble to whisper in his ear:

"We're almost at the dock in Baicheng, grandpa."

If any other young people see her gentle and attentive scene at this moment, they will definitely sigh that the "Queen of Sword Coast" Alyssa, who is famous in the Northland and even the entire Sword Coast business community, actually has such a soft side.

But Alyssa must be extremely disdainful of these people's ideas.

Because if it weren't for the old man in the wheelchair, she might have drowned in the sea.

The old man has a very common and popular name:

John.

A businessman who was quite famous throughout the Northland in the past.

And she was picked up by Old John on a ship that was about to sink after being robbed by pirates.

On the same day, John Sr.'s own son passed away forever.

So this old man who lost his family regarded her as his granddaughter and trained her as his successor.

This is extremely rare in the entire Northland.

Fortunately, Alyssa is very smart, loves to learn, and has met a good teacher.

So since she was a child, her daily life has been following Old John on the cargo ship, traveling between Jishui City and Baicheng, accumulating initial funds bit by bit.

While in Jishui City, I learned valuable knowledge from the teacher.

Finally, on her eighteenth birthday, Old John carefully handed her a faded "deed" and his life savings, asking her to take over the business of his own firm.

She still remembers the shocked and slightly envious look in the eyes of the city hall clerk who went through the inheritance procedures for her.

She only realized belatedly that almost all the shops and property rights in the entire White City were owned by Zelandia.

All shops and houses can be bought, sold and rented, but each purchase and sale only has a one-hundred-year property right.

Yes, the land still does not belong to you, it belongs to the city-state, no, it belongs to the white dragon lord.

Even in these decades, almost no one has seen him.

There were only a handful of people like her grandfather John, who directly obtained all the property rights of the entire shop, including the land, by relying on a certain type of contract called the "Intention Application Form" issued by the lord when he started his business.

This has undoubtedly become the thing that Old John is most proud of in his life, and he often tells it to her as a story.

It was said that many of their colleagues formed a debt collection group and went to the new city, which was still a wasteland, to collect debts from the giant dragon named Levis.

The great silver dragon received them solemnly and gave them a choice:

Use the application form to convert the goods into equivalent value, or believe in him, the lord, and believe that this wasteland in front of you will become the largest and most prosperous pearl of the North after Jishui City in the next few decades.

But at that time, no one except him, John, believed in that Lord Silver Dragon.

So ten years later, after the magnificent white city was built at a terrifying speed that shocked everyone, he took the application form as a matter of course, found the silver dragon lord, and cashed in everything he deserved.

It is also the most valuable property of the entire John family today—

A shop in the most prosperous area of ​​the main Gryphon district of Minas Tirith, White City!

It is precisely because of the reputation of this shop among Northland merchants and its increasingly terrifying ability to attract money as time goes by that Old John, who was originally unable to inherit the knighthood created by his ancestors, suddenly became a prominent figure in the entire Northland business circle.

A model of counterattack, an upstart among the new aristocracy.

However, as far as Alyssa knew, there were actually many businessmen at that time who kept some such application forms out of luck and speculation.

However, as soon as they arrived at Jishui City with a ship full of goods, the person in charge of the Xialan Chamber of Commerce came to them and offered a price for the application forms in their hands that made them unable to move.

At this point, almost all of Canliu's applications on the market have been taken over by the man behind the Xialan Chamber of Commerce.

Soon the merchants who thought they had made a fortune discovered that apart from the original leather and ores, the other finished products had already been sold to the entire Jishui City market through a 'Hogg Alchemy Supermarket' store.

saturated

After finally waiting for the fleets from the Gem Coast and the land caravans from the Northland to gradually gather in Jishui City, the person in charge of the Hogg Alchemy Supermarket announced that all the products would be sold at reduced prices.

The discount is huge, even lower than their purchase price!

This 'dimensionality reduction' blow stunned almost all the merchants and nobles in the North.

After learning about the relationship between this shop and the emerging territory of Northland, the merchants had no choice but to sell it off in despair, causing the price of the goods to continue to plummet.

At that time, some businessmen even spread the idea that this was the punishment of the Silver Dragon Lord.

It's just that more people sneered. The nature of the dragons meant that they would never do anything that would make them lose money.

Within a few years, these businessmen confirmed their ideas.

They discovered that almost the entire leather workshops and blacksmith shops in Kishui City had been integrated by the Hogg Group and a 'factory' was opened.

Since the establishment of factories, those goods have been continuously manufactured and shipped in batches, and they are of high quality and low price.

From that day on, businessmen, including her grandfather John Sr., finally understood that the seller's market in the Northland was gone forever.

The pricing power of most semi-finished products in Northland is basically controlled by Hogg Group, Xialan Chamber of Commerce and Black Stick Chamber of Commerce.

Later history books called this incident—

The first industrial revolution in Corell Continent!

At first, rumors were spread that everyone would go bankrupt and lose their jobs, trying to shake up this established situation.

This is what many people think will indeed happen.

Because this kind of large-volume assembly line production is bound to have a huge impact on the traditional handicraft economy.

But when the impact really came, most people suddenly discovered that the impact seemed to be bigger than they imagined.

Be gentler.

The promoters behind this change seem to have long anticipated the series of reactions that will occur under this change.

Therefore, those workshop owners who are on the verge of bankruptcy will often take out the property acquisition agreement that has been delivered to them long ago from their drawer.

The factories run by the Hogg Group are willing to take over the tanners and blacksmiths from their workshops for free. If there is exclusive technology that they think is valuable enough, the factory is also willing to buy it at a high price, or let the technology become a stock.

As for the bewildered people who had suddenly lost their jobs, before they had time to tell their families the cruel news, they saw "recruitment" messages from some factories plastered all over the streets.

After working for a period of time with a trying mentality, I found that although the eight hours of non-stop work every day was indeed hard, the salary was more than what I had received in the workshop before.

The various commodities on the market are becoming more and more abundant and cheaper with each passing day.

This made them, who were originally at the bottom of society, suddenly find that while meeting their family's survival needs, they could actually start to save some savings, and give themselves and their families some cheap gifts during holidays to reward their hard work.

Then, due to the decline in commodity prices throughout the Northland, more and more fleets and caravans began to purchase goods from Kaishui City and Baicheng.

The huge flow of people also greatly stimulated the original catering and service industries.

And businessmen like Old John realized that in the Northland, they were simply sitting on a golden mountain begging for food.

Taking advantage of the strong productivity and cheap goods of Jishui City and the gradually rising White City, they can earn high profits even if they just purchase these goods and transport them to other places in the Corel Continent.

Because for the entire Corel Continent, these commodities are just a little ripple, not even a wave, but they can make them all rich!

As a result, the Age of Discovery belonging to the Northland began in advance.

And Old John is one of them.

With the dividends of the times, the Chamber of Commerce belonging to Old John sold the cheap goods of the Hog Merchant Group to Amn, Tethyr, Kashanlin, and even the distant interior of Cormyr and Cormanthor.

Then he brought half the world's rare handicrafts, luxury goods, antiques and even magic items back to the shop in White City.

And because of the relationship between Kevin and Anna Jones, the entire middle class of White City and most of the mages were happy to go to Old John's shop to buy something.

In addition, mages often found good things from his tattered antiques, so Old John simply waved his hand.

Renamed John’s Grocery Store to Taobao Store

As time goes by, it has gradually become one of the popular shops that some magic apprentices and practitioners must visit when traveling to Baicheng.

Unfortunately, just when Old John was over fifty and was about to retire early and leave everything in the family to his son, Little John, he encountered bad news.

According to the tradition of merchants in the North, as a qualified heir to a family, one must be familiar with all the family's properties.

And personally completing an ocean-going transaction as the second mate is regarded as a symbol of qualification and a necessary experience for the successor.

In Old John's memories, his son was undoubtedly a more qualified successor than he was. He was calm, decisive and courageous.

In the hands of Little John, our business name will surely flourish even more.

Worried about accidents during Little John's voyage, he hired a magician and took another ship far behind the caravan. This way, even if there were some accidents, he would be observed by the "surveillance guards" on the ship.

It is also possible to carry out rescue operations in advance.
To be continued...