The power system of these cranes was the same as the power system of the giant magic ship. Both came from magic. The difference was that the power system of the magic ship converted magic energy into water, while the power system of the cranes converted magic energy into force energy.
Under the combined effect of the magic spell and the force energy conversion mechanism, these cranes could lift tons of cargo tirelessly.
In fact, this was not the first time Feng Chou had seen this kind of magic crane. For example, the port of Adonis had one, but in other cities, this kind of crane was not used in a centralized manner. There were only four or five of them in a port, scattered on different docks. It was far from being comparable to the busy docks of the industrial world.
However, in the port of Casablanca, dozens of magic cranes were densely erected on more than ten adjacent large trestles, just like the busy industrial docks on Earth.
On the docks, Shire horses with a height of more than two and a half meters were pulling heavy trackless carriages with a load of nearly ten tons between the trestles and the yard. They quickly evacuated the cargo unloaded by the cranes into the yard, and then sent the smaller trackless carriages to various parts of the city.
The Shire horse was a kind of horse that came from the halfling's hometown, the Shire Hills. This kind of horse had a gentle temperament and was huge in size. It weighed more than a ton and a half and was very strong. Even in the hilly areas, it could pull tons of cargo up the hill.
It was funny that this kind of giant horse was cultivated by a halfling who was less than a meter tall.
Feng Chou got off the ship and left the dock area through the dedicated pedestrian passage. He called a rental carriage that was waiting at the exit and went straight to the city's largest mercenary union.
Like Adonis, the mercenary union in Casablanca was located in the western part of the city near the port.
When he saw the mercenary union, Feng Chou was shocked by its size. It actually occupied an entire street.
The Central Union of Mercenaries looked like a city within a city. The city walls were four buildings that faced the street. The four buildings were connected together to form a square castle that surrounded the entire street.
The main door of the Mercenary Union was on the west side. After entering through the main door, there was an extremely spacious office hall. Inside the hall, there was a fence with over a hundred display windows. Behind the display windows, over a hundred clerks were busy working non-stop. In front of each display window, there were mercenaries queuing up to complete missions.
In front of the other three walls of the hall, there were many mission boards. The boards were densely packed with posted missions.
More and more mercenaries gathered in front of the board, looking for missions that were suitable for them.
At a glance, the entire hall was packed with people. Qiankun Pagoda told Feng Chou that there were thousands of mercenaries in the hall.
Feng Chou walked around the hall and left the mercenary hall. It seemed like he had done nothing, but in reality, Qiankun Pagoda's scanning function had doubled and recorded all the missions in the hall.
By the time Feng Chou walked out of the hall, Qiankun Pagoda had already finished analyzing thousands of missions.
A mission had been recommended to him by Qiankun Pagoda.
Mission Type: Territory Development Mission
Mission Initiator: Benedict Family
Development Location: East of Casablanca, upstream of the Modima River, located in the eastern mountains in a large mountain plain similar to Antalya County.
Development Method: Benedict Family, Church of the God of Nobles and Knights, and Church of the Goddess of Agriculture. The three parties cooperate and adopt the "Merit Coin System" for development.
…
Feng Chou listened to Qiankun Pagoda's report while walking around the streets of the Mercenary Union.
This was a large-scale mission. Under the basic information of the mission, there was a lengthy description of the mission.
The first was the Benedict Family.
The Benedict Family was a merchant family that rose in Tailun City. The family had an earldom in the south of the empire. This time, they planned to develop a new territory to raise the family's title to Marquis.
The second was the development location.
In the east of Casablanca, there was a dukedom called the Modima Dukedom. The Modima River was the main river of the Modima Dukedom. It originated from the eastern mountains. After the river gushed out of the eastern mountains, it first flowed on the plains for hundreds of kilometers before pouring into a large lake of tens of thousands of square kilometers. This large lake was the Modima Lake. The fertile land along the shore was the core land of the Modima Dukedom.
After passing through the buffer of the Modima Lake, the Modima River left the western part of the lake and continued flowing west. Finally, it merged into the Orvindale River in the south of Casablanca.
Going upstream from the mouth of the Modima River, one would soon enter a mountainous area made up of broken hills and fragmented mountain plains. After passing through this mountainous area, one would arrive at the land that the Benedict Family had named the Benedict Plains to be developed.
Generally speaking, the development of territories could not be done without the participation of churches. Among the human gods, the God of Nobles and Knights and the Goddess of Agriculture were the most supportive of the development of new territories. They often cooperated with new powers to develop new territories in exchange for exclusive rights to preach in new areas.
The powers that developed the territories would also involve these two churches. On one hand, it would increase their power. On the other hand, when the territory was successfully developed, the churches would be indispensable in the territory.
The so-called merit silver coin system meant that the developer would first make an overall assessment of the territory to be developed and calculate the area of the territory that could be developed. Then, a portion of the land that could be developed would be taken out as compensation for the development. According to the total area of the territory, a corresponding amount of merit silver coins would be produced.
The merit silver coins were made of special materials and had divine power as an imprint. They could not be counterfeited.
The developer would use the merit silver coins as compensation to recruit mercenaries and external powers to develop the territory together. In the end, the participating developers could use the merit silver coins to exchange for the right to develop the land.
During this process, the mercenaries and other external powers that participated in the development would not receive other rewards. They would need to provide their own weapons and supplies and participate in the development of the territory. Until the new territory was successfully developed, they could use the merit silver coins to exchange for the right to develop a high-quality territory as compensation.
Most mercenaries would sell the merit silver coins in exchange for real silver coins, because the funds needed for the subsequent development of the territory were not something that mercenaries could afford.
This way of development could greatly reduce the economic pressure of the development of the territory. Not only could the merit silver coins be exchanged for a large number of free helpers, but it could also attract a large amount of funds to participate in the development of the territory.
Of course, this was not the reason why Qiankun Pagoda recommended this task to Feng Chou.
The reason why Qiankun Pagoda recommended this task to Feng Chou was that on the Benedict Plains, there was an arcane tower left behind from the Arcane Empire.
There were many ruins left behind during the Arcane Empire.
"Some lucky person made a fortune in the ruins of the Arcane Empire" used to be an enduring part of mercenary stories.
Feng Chou would go to the Mercenary Union every time he went to a city, hoping to find some missions to explore the ruins of the Arcane Empire. If he could not enter the Mage Academy, then these arcane ruins would probably be the only place where he could get magic information.
However, it was no longer a thousand years ago when the Arcane Empire had just fallen. After a thousand years, the ruins left behind by the Arcane Empire had been trampled to the ground by countless mercenaries and adventurers.
The arcane tower on the Benedict Plains had been left behind because it was a dilapidated tower.