There are no fireworks in the other world, but they have their own way of celebrating.
Today is the eve of the Chinese New Year. Except for the Qingfeng City Legion who are still far away in the underground city and have not yet returned, everyone else will get 3-7 days of rest after finishing their last day of work.
Of course, it is not possible to give all important positions a holiday.
For example, the security team, at times like this, they cannot rest.
Not only can't we rest, but we have to send more manpower to avoid any accidents during the celebrations.
Jimmy is not celebrating the New Year at home this year. He has led the new legion and has successfully captured the base camp city guarded by only a few soldiers.
They were destined to celebrate the New Year in the new city. As the successor of the Martell family, Jilong had to rush back to Martell City.
It would be good for him to go back, because Jimmy focused on Castle Conaston, his own Martell City, but failed to connect with Qingfeng City.
After rushing home, Jilong needs to open up the trade route from Martell City to Qingfeng City.
This job is not too difficult. There are already more than ten inns within a hundred miles of Qingfeng City. All Jilong has to do is to find a way to connect to one inn.
There is no need to build roads for the time being. We only need to clean up the weeds that are as tall as a person or half a person, and clean up the wild buildings and resource points near the trade road.
Make sure that at the beginning of each month, there are no buildings near the trade road that naturally gather wild monsters.
Then we will follow the example of Qingfeng City and build one or two outposts or inns along the dozens of miles to provide some food, drinking water and directions to the caravans and pedestrians along the way.
By the way, if you have enough manpower, you can also drive away wild creatures and monsters around you to ensure the smooth flow of trade routes.
If conditions permit, or if you have enough time, you can also build a gravel or stone road.
Firstly, there is a clear road, secondly, it can keep the ground dry even in rainy and snowy days, and thirdly, it can speed up the journey.
As the saying goes, if you want to get rich, build roads first. Caravans inevitably have to carry a large number of transport vehicles.
It’s not that you can’t walk on the grass, but you can only walk on it when the weather is good. Otherwise, a slightly heavier vehicle will easily get stuck in the mud, causing great inconvenience.
Giron is responsible for the city of Martell, while Jimmy needs to continue to raid the cities and territories of other viscounts and barons after the year.
Xu Lai asked him not to touch the other two large castle-level cities for the time being.
Both cities belong to Count Aini.
Although his army suffered heavy losses in the wild, due to the rapid replenishment during this period, there are still many remaining troops in these two cities.
Even if the troops left behind are not of high level, they are supported by the hero Aini.
Although Jimmy also recruited some heroes from heaven to join the army, firstly, they are not army commanders, and secondly, there is a huge gap between them and Aini in terms of level and specialization.
Therefore, if we want to launch an attack on the two castles of Aini, Xu Lai or Reina must take action.
And the two of them had to wait until January and a half later to finish the first auction before they had the time and energy to take action.
So, for the time being, let Aini jump around for another half month. Anyway, he has only accumulated two months of troops at full strength, and it is impossible to replenish them faster than Xu Lai.
This is Xu Lai’s first New Year in another world. Although it is not the Spring Festival, it still has commemorative significance.
It’s just that as a lord now, he can’t lock himself in the castle and enjoy this rare pleasure with his wives.
Many celebrations require Xu Lai's personal appearance before they can begin, such as New Year's speeches and distribution of New Year's gifts.
In other cities, giving out New Year gifts is basically a ritual-like program.
The lord or the lord's wife, the lady of the lord's family, etc., symbolically distribute a little bread and pastries.
Those who are lucky and come early may be able to get a little bit, but most people have no such hope.
To put it bluntly, most of the so-called New Year activities are just a show to show off their noble status as noble lords.
Xu Lai is a more pragmatic person. He doesn't like to be in the limelight and doesn't like the feeling of being surrounded by others.
The New Year gift segment is still available, and is scheduled to start at 2 pm on New Year’s Eve and end at 5 pm.
However, it is not issued by Xu, but by various levels of city halls, interior departments, council halls, village offices and other institutions.
All families who settled there had firewood, meat, oil, salt, rice, noodles, sauce, vinegar, tea, and even precious raw silk, brocade cloth, sugar, etc. transported from the Southern Empire. .
Of course, the latter is not for ordinary people, but for city officials, brothers Abokar, Aaron and others.
A world where everyone is equal cannot exist, and Xu Lai has no intention of creating such a world.
The celebrations start on the eve of the New Year and last until the third day after the New Year.
In previous years, there would be various large-scale activities, performances and banquets in these days.
This year, there is obviously not much of a New Year and festival atmosphere. In addition to the lights and colorful decorations in every house, there are only a few more people in the tavern than usual.
In the past, archery, horse racing, wrestling and other activities in the grassland, but not many people were interested in participating this year.
Hancock, the newly appointed president of the Mercenary Guild in Qingfeng City, originally wanted to take advantage of this good day to make something famous, but everyone was not enthusiastic.
There is no way, after the second half of this year, the grassland will have a few peaceful days.
Especially in emerging cities like Qingfeng City, the people who can come here are either unable to bear the exploitation, or their families were destroyed when the orcs invaded.
The closer it is to the New Year, the more sadness pours into my heart.
Relatively speaking, Qingfeng City is relatively good. At least there are officials taking the lead in organizing various activities, and residents who are not very interested will come to support them.
People like Hancock, who are newly appointed, are not given much respect, but Xu Lai is represented in the officially organized activities.
The residents of Qingfeng City are quite grateful to Xu Lai, so they are more supportive of Xu Lai.
In other cities, let alone celebrations, there are not many people walking on the streets.
But even so, compared with other places, the grassland area is already considered to be very good.
In many places in the Northern Empire, because they were so severely massacred by demons from hell, almost every family is living alone, and there is no time left to celebrate the New Year.
The Northern Empire does not say that there are ten houses and nine empty houses, but at least half of the land in the Northern Empire has been slaughtered by hell demons. The population of these lands is almost non-existent.
This is true for the Northern Empire, not to mention the Western Empire.
The Western Empire is completely enemy-occupied territory. The temple was still there before, and the noble coalition has not been dispersed. There is still some chance of escape.
Today, there are only sporadic resistance forces left in the entire Western Empire, and the main ones are still heroes.
The coalition of nobles had long been beaten to pieces. If the power of the temple had not been for the Pope's intervention, I am afraid that even a complete structure would not have been left, let alone a complete retreat.
The entire land of the Western Empire is filled with mourners, and it is impossible for anyone to be willing to celebrate or even remember this New Year. Even the once most prosperous imperial capital, the temple that used to hold grand celebrations every time, has completely stopped moving this year.
The priests only prayed for the upcoming New Year in the middle of the night, for the Pope who was still seriously ill in bed, and for the God of War.
At the beginning of the new year, Xu Lai didn’t know if there was a custom of keeping the year old in this world.
But that night, Xu came to invite all the heroes he could find whose names he knew and felt somewhat familiar with.
There were also some subordinates who were relatively close to each other, such as Aaron, Urdora, the village chief Lacy, and Elena, who all called into the castle and attended the dinner together.
They exchanged glasses of wine, exchanged cups, and chatted happily over wine.
Xu Lai did not force the others to watch the New Year together, but everyone present had no intention of leaving.
First of all, here in Xu, it is rare for everyone to see so many of our own people.
Secondly, I haven’t seen Xu Lai for a long time. Although he said at the beginning that he could leave on his own after three rounds of drinking.
However, Xu Lai may not know who comes first. After all, he is the last to enter.
But whoever leaves first must do so in full view of everyone.
So, Xu Lai didn’t leave, and even if the rest of the family’s house collapsed, no one would be willing to leave.
Xu Lai also rarely indulges himself. He doesn't usually drink, and his drinking capacity is extremely average.
But in this life, my physique is really too high. Even if I have an average amount of alcohol, I can sober up very quickly.
As a dignified lord, there is no way to drink less wine.
Besides, all these guests present were invited by him.
It should be the most basic thing for him to drink once and for others to drink again.
Of course, as the person with the highest status present, if Xu Lai doesn't want to drink, he means it, or even just holds the glass, which is enough to give him face.
But he is not a person who likes to show off. After all, it is only once a year. Anyway, no matter how late he drinks or how drunk he is, he will have nothing else to do tomorrow.
After all, he accepted everyone who came and had a drink with everyone.
It was approaching midnight, except that Elena took a few priests and Anna who were familiar with Xu to borrow a room in the castle to pray.
The rest of the people were basically drunk and staggering around, especially heroes like Wei Yihong who were at a lower level and had poor attributes.
As soon as 12 o'clock arrives, all recruitment quotas in all recruitment buildings inside and outside the city are refreshed.
At the same time, the oracle of the first month of the new year also arrived as scheduled.
“At the beginning of the new year, you will receive a double magic moon effect bonus this month.
During the Moon of Sorrow, all empire, barrier, and tower creatures will have their morale reduced by 10 points and their luck reduced by 2 points.
In the Moon of Hope, all empires, fortresses, and towers recruit buildings, and the base growth rate is doubled. ”
As soon as the oracle fell, Xu Lai felt an unspeakable sadness in his chest, and he felt that he was not interested in anything.
It wasn’t just him, the oracle After it fell, the cheerful atmosphere in the banquet hall dimmed in the blink of an eye.
Those who were still changing glasses before now just silently picked up their glasses and looked at each other in silence. , no one wants to speak again.
The Moon of Sorrow affects not only the morale of the recruited soldiers, but also the entire Alliance of Light.
Xu Lai's side has a record of winning many battles, powerful Seraphs and Holy Light Knights, the only 9th level knight, as well as leadership skills and the blessing of the God of War statue.
Even so, morale declined by 10 points, and the side effects were so obvious.
A 2-point weakening of the luck attribute is equivalent to the fact that every person in the light camp has been weakened by at least one high-level treasure.
Xu Laidu is like this. Other troops in the Light Alliance, especially the major empires, basically suffer more losses than wins. Anyone who can maintain their morale at 70 points is considered an elite.
With this reduction, if there is a slight disadvantage on the battlefield, it will be immediately dispersed.
If it weren’t for the heroes of the empire, they would basically have the leadership skill as standard. Heroes with a slightly higher level would have a higher level of leadership skill, which could effectively avoid the loss of high-level creatures.
This alone was a fatal blow to the Alliance of Light, which was already on the verge of collapse, not to mention the lucky collateral damage.
But fortunately, after the attack, it gave the Alliance of Light a glimmer of hope. The reward of doubling the basic growth rate is not a small reward.
Especially for a city like Qingfeng City, if the basic growth rate is doubled, 16 angels can be brought out in Yunzhong City alone.
Moreover, the growth rate of Yunzhong City in the wild is also doubled. The underground city can provide two, and the Imperial Capital Lion Heart City plus the wild can provide 12.
With the bonus of this special month, only top-level creatures can recruit 30 in one go, and soldiers of other levels have to start at least several hundred.
Before Xu Lai could finish the calculation in his mind, the statue of the God of War erected outside the castle gate suddenly flashed with golden light.
Not long after the oracle came down, the prayers of the priests had also ended.
The God of War cannot change the rules and cannot weaken or erase the effects of the Moon of Sorrow, but the Statue of the God of War has the function of boosting morale.
Under the flickering golden light, the morale boosted by the God of War statue just offset the sorrowful moon.
Other than the fact that everyone in Qingfeng City will have worse luck this month, the impact is actually not that big.
And with the Swan Lake at your back, everyone can still maintain good luck by drinking a glass of Swan Lake water until the next battle comes.
Xu Lai and others' morale is already at full level even if they don't rely on the bonus from the God of War Statue.
The golden light of the God of War statue just dispelled the sad effect brought by the Moon of Sorrow.
"It's getting late, everyone, please go back and have a good rest.
Tomorrow's celebrations and duty duties will continue as usual.
I only hope that today next year, I can still be here I see you all in this banquet hall."
After that, Xu Lai stood up and was the first to leave.
Only Xu Lai left first, and the others dared to leave.
Harris, the steward of the castle, personally carried a magic lamp to greet the guests present on behalf of Xu Lai.
Everyone filed away, and after walking out of the castle, they all bowed to the statue of the God of War.
Even those heroes who descended from heaven, the former atheists, did not dare to show the slightest disrespect when approaching the statue of the God of War. (End of this chapter)