Alien Knights

After the shock, Huggins gestured to the guards around him, signaling them to rush to call more troops.

Todd reached out his hand to stop him, beckoned to Brunhilde and said, "Come inside."

Hanging the spear on the back again, the tall Valkyrie stepped over the knight on the ground and walked towards the gate of the meeting hall.

Huggins took a step diagonally, stopped in front of her, fixed his eyes on the spear, gritted his teeth and said, "Before entering, you must unarm yourself!"

Looking at the king who disappeared into the depths of the hall, Brunhilde inserted the spear deeply into the soil indifferently.

Todd, who returned to the throne, ordered the attendants to bring some simple snacks, and found the Valkyrie standing out of the crowd.

Some hunchbacked monk Joe, looking at Brunhilde's tall 175 cm figure beside him, subconsciously moved aside.

Todd looked at the audience and said, "Has the Muxi Kingdom neglected you?"

Brunhild shook his head.

"That means you miss your hometown and want to say goodbye?"

The Valkyrie, who was ignorant of the world, spoke directly from her heart: "We left in the first place to seek the glory of the gods, so how could we go back and continue guarding the tomb?"

Todd smiled, and asked, "Then what is your purpose?"

"Fight!" Brunhilde waved his arms vigorously: "We are the war maids of the gods, the Valkyries who charge into battle! We can prove with our strength that the battlefield is the ultimate destination!"

Todd didn't speak, and didn't show a positive or negative expression.

Huggins, who was always paying attention to the king's expression, discussed with Cumberland beside him for a while, and said to Brunhilde: "Are the Valkyries hoping to become mercenaries of the kingdom?"

"Mercenary? The kind of scum that fights for money?! No, my sisters and I, by the way, also have Bei Dao warriors, hoping to join the Muxi Knights!"

After hearing this, Huggins stayed for a while, then exchanged an incredulous look with Alfonso, and then hesitantly said to the woman: "Are you... planning to convert to Heavenly Father?"

Brunhilde showed a look of disgust on his face: "Of course it's impossible! We are believers of the gods of the North Island, and the Hall of Valor is the eternal destination!"

Huggins angrily took out the cross on his chest, and said loudly: "The Muxi Knights are the sword and shield of the heavenly father, how could they agree to accept heretics..."

Cumberland slapped Hudgens on the thigh with the back of his hand under the table, stopping the latter from speaking.

The old knight turned his face to Todd, and asked slowly, "Your Majesty, what do you think?"

Todd looked around at the people in the hall. Rachel and Jemro believed in the three gods of ancient Tyro; the Valkyrie Brunhilde served Odin, the king of the gods of the North Island; the southern scholar Kendi believed in Allah; the rest were believers of the Heavenly Father.

The belief system of the Muxi Kingdom can now be said to be a mixed bag. With the expansion of the territory and the growth of the army, the religious beliefs in the future will become more complex.

Although Todd himself gave a speech on the founding day of the kingdom, emphasizing that the Muxi Kingdom is a country with loose religion, and heretics will not be judged or expelled, but the crushing and discrimination between religions have always existed, overtly or covertly, not to mention such an important field as the army.

"Brünnhilde, I'm sorry. The Muxi Knights are the army of the Heavenly Father, and I cannot agree to let you join."

The king's decision disappointed the Valkyrie, while Huggins and Alfonso let out a long sigh.

Todd paused for a moment, and then said: "Although the Muxi Knights cannot accept you, the Muxi Kingdom can."

The people in the hall held their breath, baffled by the king's sudden words.

Todd continued with a smile: "The Muxi Kingdom has always been an open and inclusive world. It provides shelter for all those who have suffered injustice and deep persecution. There will be no favoritism and exclusion because of your beliefs, origins, or even race."

Brunhild cast a grateful look at Todd, while the other pagans in the hall all showed reverent expressions.

"I plan to establish the second army of the Muxi Kingdom, all composed of Valkyries and Beidao people. You will gain the power to gallop across the battlefield, for the glory and for the kingdom." Todd looked into Brunhilde's eyes: "You will be the commander of the army, and the equipment and supplies will be borne by the kingdom."

Looking at everything in front of him, unlike Huggins and Alfonso who were stunned, Cumberland, the head of the Muxi Knights, looked at Todd with a little approval and relief in his eyes, and only he could hear the words he said.

"It really looks more and more like a qualified king..."

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The Valkyries and North Island warriors declared their allegiance to King Todd, and established the kingdom's second army, the "North Island Knights", which marked the beginning of Muxi Kingdom's military power to develop in a diversified direction.

But compared to this incident, for a long time to come, the residents of Muxi City are more concerned about the way to get rich in the kingdom.

First of all, the progress of shipbuilding and navigation technology in Muxi City, coupled with the prosperity of Shanghai trade, has contributed to a large number of fleets running on the sea in pursuit of wealth.

Secondly, the "patent law" that protects inventions, the continuous growth of the team of scholars, and the strong support of the wealthy people have led to the emergence of a variety of emerging commodities in the kingdom.

In the end, the ever-expanding population of the Muxi Kingdom and the ever-increasing demand for commodities created a virtuous circle of wealth and rapid growth of commerce.

The above three points, the increase in maritime trade, product technology, and domestic demand have created a force driven by the economy-capitalists, and gradually stepped onto the stage of history.

This force included scholars with patents, merchants who accumulated wealth, and fleets of maritime trade. They have created a complete business chain from product research, starting a farm, building a workshop, setting up a store, and finally to ocean trade.

This power, prospered by commerce, has gradually penetrated into every corner of Muxi Kingdom. began to affect this emerging kingdom in many ways.

The first point is to help Muxi Kingdom deal with refugees. Whether it is product research and development or production and processing, free labor is an indispensable factor. Due to the particularity of Muxi Kingdom, there are almost no serfs attached to nobles and landlords, and the labor cost of Muxi residents is too high. Therefore, in order to obtain qualified labor, the capitalists set their sights on the cheap refugees in the outer city.

They give refugees education to ensure that they have basic job skills; they also give refugees board and lodging to ensure that these people will be tied up forever with a contract. Although the starting point of these actions is profit, they also speed up the urbanization process and the education popularization rate from the side.

The second point is the emergence of the enclosure movement. The production and processing of products requires a lot of land. Take the popular commodity in Muxi City - "Essence of Evening Primrose Essential Oil" as an example. The "raw material processing plant" of the product alone requires 200 acres of land. If drying, purification, bottling and other places are added, the perfume industry alone can develop the scale of a small town.

However, the land in and around Muxi City has basically been planned in detail and cannot be occupied. What should we do? The capitalists set their sights on the "noble fiefdom" that the Muxi Knights once plundered but gave up occupying. These lands were originally owned by the silver ring nobles, but the outbreak of the war made them all become "public wasteland". Originally, people were worried that King Todd would prohibit the development, but after looking around, it was discovered that the king not only did not object, but rather supported the reuse of "public wasteland". The capitalists can obtain the right to use the land from the royal family for 20 to 40 years as long as they pay a pitiful rent.

The third point is the development of agricultural productivity. Different from the small peasant economy in the Middle Ages, the rise of capital forces promoted the development of agriculture and rural productivity. Due to the long-term cheap lease of land, most capitalists are more willing to invest in new crops, add good fertilizers, use better tools, reform drainage systems, adopt advanced farming methods, and increase production.