During this period of time, Caesar always looked like he could not wake up. His condition was very bad, but it did not affect his control over the Empire. With the end of the surrounding wars, the Emperor of the Black Dragon tried to loosen the control over the territories under his rule. He removed the blockade on the borders of the former Rhine Region and no longer restricted the entry and exit of people. In other words, the people living in this region could now freely enter and exit the Empire's territory.
A country could not maintain a high pressure forever, and it was even more so for a new Empire. From a general point of view, the policies would definitely be loosened gradually. Caesar needed this country to maintain its vitality and not be like a pool of stagnant water. After nearly ten years of integration and nurturing, the Black Dragon Emperor felt that the time had come to loosen the control.
Only loosening the control of the Rhine Region was in fact a test. Caesar needed to receive feedback and observe the reactions of the people under his rule before considering the implementation of the next strategy.
If a large number of Northland residents were to escape, it would mean that the Black Dragon Emperor had made a mistake in his assessment, and he would immediately choose to stop. If the results were ideal, Caesar would continue to consider loosening his control over the various regions.
The northern countries should now be called the Blackwing Empire … Here, the old nobles were suppressed to the greatest extent. The new Blackwing nobles also had to be strictly supervised by the Royal Court. At the same time, the Black Dragon Code also had a bill to protect basic human rights. The oppression of the ordinary people and the taxes were reduced by more than one level. It could be said that this new country did not have the bad habits that the other city-states in Airadia were used to. At least, that was the case for now.
The various guarantees and advantages were the fundamental reason why the Royal Court was confident that there would not be a population exodus even if they were to loosen their control. What happened in the following period of time also confirmed the Black Dragon ruler's guess. Apart from a small number of people who went out for adventures and trade, the scene of people escaping the Black Dragon's claws on a large scale did not happen.
Soon, as the Blackwing Empire was fully on the right track, the country that was full of vitality could not wait to extend its tentacles. With Caesar's permission, Hogg began to send troops to the Tuhala Desert, bringing the desert that had been cleared out into the Empire's territory. At the same time, for the sake of development, he opened up more than one trade route in the desert and built relay stations along the way.
Since then, this mixed Empire that was like an alien had opened a new chapter of trade with the other countries and cities in Airadia.
Meanwhile, in the west, the wyverns and the Shadow Manticore had chased away the aboriginals of the Narrow Sea Islands. Ships with black sails had appeared on the Narrow Sea Islands. In order to solve the shortage of minerals and precious metals in the Northern Lands, the mercenaries hired by the Empire had begun a new adventure. They attempted to sail westward in an attempt to open up more and more islands.
But on the other hand, the Empire that had just been established did not have the ability to carry out ocean voyages. Therefore, Caesar did not pay much attention to this at the moment. He only set up his forces along the coast. If he really wanted to start the era of great voyages, he would still need a certain amount of technological reserves.
What he did not expect was that after the expulsion of the natives, the Empire's territorial waters soon welcomed new visitors. Worshippers of the Goddess of Wojin appeared on the surface of the sea, trying to do business with the Blackwing Empire. These merchants who smelled the scent of the Goddess of Wojin knew that this was a country ruled by a Black Dragon — their God had already told them. However, even if they were afraid, the power of money and wealth was not far away. For money, these people even dared to make deals with the demons and devils of the bottomless abyss and the hell of Baator. In this way, a mere Black Dragon was really nothing.
After Caesar, who had been lying lazily, learned of this matter, he finally became interested and let Hogg warmly receive these foreign visitors. After doing enough homework on hundreds of famous True Gods, the Goddess of Wealth, Wojin, became one of the few Gods that Kay was willing to deal with. She was not an original God like the Nine-Faced Dragon God or the Black-Blooded Beast, but a God that was born with the emergence of civilization.
Wo Jin was a god of absolute neutrality. Her priesthood was trade and money. Such a god would not pose a substantial threat to Caesar regardless of her likes or dislikes. Moreover, it was a good choice to have a good relationship with Wo Jin and her followers for the development of the north at this stage. Although this goddess was often ridiculed as a "whore who could be slept with with money".
This time, the caravan of Wojin's followers did not bring many things. Basically, they were some alchemy potions and catalysts, as well as various books and magical items. For some poor and remote places, these things were always very popular. The position of the new Blackwing Empire in the eyes of the people on the continent was self-evident.
After that, the Royal Court chose to eat a small loss and happily accepted the goods. They did not let the merchants who came from afar return disappointed. Then, the Royal Court began to negotiate with Wojin's followers about cooperation and trade.
These merchants were indeed useful. Not only did they need to import, but the Empire also needed to carry out export trade.
The assembly line factory, which covered an extremely large area, was the second set of giant buildings built in the north under the rule of the Black Dragon, after the Royal Court. Now, all of them had been completed and put into production. The Royal Court excavated and imported iron ore, and transferred it to the goblin workshop for smelting. Then, the assembly line factory carried out batch production.
Under the leadership of the newly established Ministry of Commerce, the Northlands used the mass-produced military goods to do business with the other cities in Aladia. The Empire exported swords, weapons, armor, crossbows and arrows, as well as some highly processed enchanted products.
To tell the truth, when Wojin saw tens of thousands of military goods, she had already fallen in love with this Black Dragon. No matter which material plane in the astral world, war was the eternal theme, and in a material plane with low productivity like Airadia, there was absolutely no need to worry about selling these military consumables.
Although she did not know what kind of water went into the head of Caesar Tangerine as the ruler, to sell these precious goods, there was no doubt that this would bring her excessive trade volume and profits. She had no reason not to love this big Black Dragon.
In terms of imports, in addition to the previously mentioned minerals, the Royal Court relied on caravans to import a large number of alfalfa seeds from the Western Marshland Kingdom, and began to plant them on a large scale. The alfalfa was very famous in Airadia. In the Dwarf Kingdom, it was used to raise cattle, sheep, pigs, and some birds. In the North, it had become a substitute for the giant creatures, such as the Horse Gate Lizard, Steel Ox, and Dragon Horned Goat.
It was worth mentioning that the policy of the Black Dragon Emperor regarding logistics was now beginning to bear fruit. The banks of the Rapids River and the newly opened Rhine River were green wheat fields. Now, the North not only produced a large amount of wheat and flour, but also potatoes, oats, and barley.
Due to the uniqueness of the lack of resources in the North, at this stage, most of the food output was used for self-sufficiency. Most of it was digested by the North. Wheat, flour, and especially meat were very scarce in the North. Although there was a great improvement now, the situation was still not optimistic. Moreover, the North still had to raise a terrifying monster — the King of the Black Wings, Caesar Tangerine.
The Black Dragon's appetite was very terrifying. This guy had not reached the point where he could survive just by absorbing the supernatural elements in this world (the Ancient Dragons were probably like this). It was estimated that it was not possible for him to reach this step with his attribute of being blind to the law from the beginning to the end. With a huge body that was 35 meters long, the daily consumption was not a small amount.
Therefore, looking at the situation, in terms of logistics, the Black Wing Royal Court had to further expand their production. If they wanted to have the ability to export, they would have to wait for a long time.
The minor details came one after another. Caesar dealt with them patiently for a while, but soon he could not take it anymore. He pushed all the matters to the decision-makers of the royal court, such as Hogg and Gall, while he returned to the Hot Spring Lake Sanatorium, preparing for a deeper level of recuperation.
The reason for his decision was that the surface temperature of the Black Dragon's body was completely chaotic. It was at least ten degrees Celsius higher than usual. It looked like he had a fever and was sick. However, dragons seemed to be naturally immune to diseases, and Airadia did not have the concept of disease.
Apart from that, there were other abnormalities in his body. Caesar's appetite was much larger than usual. He now had to eat at least twelve specially provided Bass Malt Horn Cattle every day to barely not feel hungry. The bigger problem was that he had begun to devour metal again.
After the energy core absorbed Malar's divine fragment and was upgraded to a fission furnace, Caesar had already abandoned his need for metal minerals and no longer needed to rely on them to replenish his energy. However, during this period, the painful hunger had resurfaced, and it was more intense than before.