Golden Dragon: Six Thousand Years of Empire.

Chapter 22 Decree
Even the dragon's nest could not block the roar and vibration coming from the foot of the mountain. When Noah stuck his head out of the dragon's nest and looked towards the source of the vibration, he saw an extremely shocking scene.

Driven by a female wizard, hundreds of earth elements transformed the terrain. They pushed down huge trees that were so big that several people could hug them, and uprooted shrubs with huge root systems. Hills were pushed down and depressions were filled.

Turning fossils into mud, and mud into stone, these two spells were instinctive for earth elemental life forms. They were used repeatedly, and the barren land was leveled into solid ground bit by bit. The outline of the trapezoidal city foundation gradually emerged.

Such a spectacular scene amazed Noah. Although he remembered that there were more magnificent wonders than this, they were nothing compared to seeing it with his own eyes.

They dug ditches, built roads, laid stone slabs, and even built solid walls with rocks. As the project progressed, a magnificent palace complex was gradually taking shape at the foot of the mountain.

Noah, who was watching the scene with great interest, suddenly realized something was wrong because he saw sculptures, fountains, and gardens.

All these facilities are concentrated in the part of the city closest to the dragon's nest, which is the narrowest area in the trapezoidal foundation. More than 90% of the earth elemental life forms are concentrated in this area.

Obviously, this was prepared by the builders for themselves, otherwise they would not have spent so much effort on it. As for the larger outer city area, there were only a small number of earth elements making the final touches to the completed underground facilities.

"Xiaolonglong, are you awake?"

Noah, who was lying at the entrance of the dragon's lair and fascinated by this huge project, soon attracted the attention of the sky wizard.

When the veiled mage stepped on magic rings and fell from mid-air, the elves who originally wanted to get close to the golden dragon were frightened and hid in the flowers. In the eyes of these elves, this female mage with elemental light all over her body was too terrifying.

"You woke me up."

Noah complained.

"Then bear with me for a little while, it will be over soon."

"Is it going to end soon? The houses in other areas of the new city..."

"It was built, naturally, by immigrants who wanted to live here, and by slaves."

Serena replied.

"That's too slow. How can it compare to the construction speed of these earth elements?"

"Don't you smell it?"

"what?"

Noah took a few steps back, looking warily at the female mage standing in the air.

"The smell of burning wealth!"

The lady of the lord sighed.
"Do you know how much I paid to summon these earth elementals you see now? Do you know what kind of agreement I reached with them in order to make them serve me?"

"Hey, did you hire these earth elementals to work for you?"

"What else? Forced slavery? I don't want to incur the wrath of an earth elemental monarch."

"You are so rich!"

Jin Long praised sincerely.

"Now that we are poor, do you want some help? Many of the palaces that have been built are reserved for you."

Behind the veil, the pair of narrow and charming eyes stared at the dragon hatchling.

"No money, not even a copper."

Noah flatly refused. "Scrooge!"

"Thanks for the compliment."

For dragons, stinginess is by no means a derogatory word.

"I'm not in a good mood right now. Let me hug you and touch your tail."

"I'm feeling sleepy again, so I'm going to catch up on my sleep."

The Augustus family paid a huge amount of wealth as a price to summon an army of earth elements. In just one day, they built the foundation of a city and its core area on the Trulia Plain.

This greatly shortened the construction period of the new city. The migrating refugees and the slaves who came in continuously could build their future homes in the already planned residential areas.

This was a long-term project. The planning and construction of the new city could not be compared with the original Uther City, which was full of sewage.

Judging from the design drawings alone, the new city will eventually be built into a large city that can accommodate a million people, which is enough to serve as the core city of the duchy.

Although the total population in the Augustus family's territory today is less than one-third of the planned population of the new city, this is now, not the future.

The development prospects of the Augustus family's territory are obvious to all and must be bright. Many businessmen in the kingdom can foresee this.

There was no other special reason, just that there was a man who was about to be promoted to a legend. The prosperity of the territory also began because of this, and commercial activities became more frequent.

"Well, after all, I was just involved in the design."

Noah looked at a newly formed small bud on the golden tree. It was a light golden bud, and the nutrient source of the bud was a hazy city shadow.

“But I can only participate in the design.”

The feedback from the golden tree made the Golden Dragon more excited. Although he didn't know when the two small flower buds on it would bear fruit, the more the better. After all, the dark fruits that caused him the most pain could temper his spirit and will, not to mention the other fruits.

“To allow slaves to earn the status of free persons through their labor.”

This was a suggestion Noah made when winter turned to spring, because at this time, due to frequent commercial and trade activities, the number of slaves in Augustus' territory reached an astonishing 30,000, and they were all high-quality young and strong people.

“Only those who have constant property can have constant heart. Slaves have no property of their own, and all the output of their labor does not belong to them.

In this case, only by using violence can some output be obtained. I think this is not very good and wastes a lot of labor.

If labor can buy freedom, then I think most slaves do not need supervisors, let alone whips, and they will work voluntarily. "

"Allowing slaves to become free men through labor is unprecedented in the history of the kingdom."

“We can set a precedent.”

It was not difficult to persuade the adoptive parents, and it could even be called easy, because the lord and his wife were quite open-minded, or indifferent, because they did not need to demonstrate their authority by oppressing and exploiting slaves.

Once Noah explained the benefits of allowing slaves to exchange for freedom, a decree was quickly passed.

The specific content is naturally not just a few words said by Noah, but has become much more complicated. It clearly stipulates how much labor slaves need to do in order to obtain the status of free men.

Not only that, but there is also what Noah considers to be a harsh censorship system, and freedom cannot be gained by simply working hard for a few months.

But even so, the construction speed of the new city is still increasing at a speed visible to the naked eye.

(End of this chapter)