Two days later, near evening.

Richard rode in a carriage to the outskirts of a large city.

From a distance, you can see the outline of the big city clearly visible in front of you. Under the golden sun in the west, the tall walls shimmered like a layer of gold dust, and it was the destination of this time, the city of St. Louis.

While seeing St. Louis City, the relevant information obtained from the Society of Truth and the black-faced old man Oscar quickly flashed through Richard's mind.

St. Louis, located on the edge of the "Rowan Plains" of the Southern Free Commonwealth, close to the Soma Empire in the north, is conveniently located, and is both a military outpost and a major trading city.

The force that rules the city is the Pombo family, which has a history of more than 200 years.

Since more than 200 years ago, the Pombo family began as a second-level wizard, slowly gaining a foothold in St. Louis City, and dominated most of the transactions between the Soma Alliance and the Southern Free Federation.

As a result, the Pombo family has made unimaginable profits, and has grown in strength, and today it has become the unshakable overlord of St. Louis - without one, the rest of the big and small forces have to rely on their noses to survive.

According to the content of the intelligence, the Pombo family has the top personal power so far, and it is Aaron Pompo. The other party is the younger brother of the eighth generation head of the Pombo family, and the current head of the family is the tenth generation, which is counted as the grandchildren of the other party.

It is said that Alan Pombo became a third-level wizard at a very young age fifty years ago, and after defeating and killing many provocateurs in a row, he was recognized as the strongest in St. Louis City and its surrounding area, and successfully made people dare not fight against the Pombo family again.

However, since twenty years ago, Aaron Pombo has stopped showing up, and the news is that the other party is preparing to attack the realm of a fourth-level wizard, and it is still unknown whether it will succeed or not. But even so, everyone still maintained enough awe for the Pombo family to dare not offend.

This is because, in addition to Aaron Pompo, the Pombo family also has two other third-level wizards in charge, with nearly ten second-level wizards serving, more than twenty first-level wizards who are allegiance, and dozens of wizard apprentices who have signed contracts and are hired.

In addition, the Pombo family also has more than 200 magic knights, including 170 three-pattern magic knights, 40 five-pattern elite magic knights, and five seven-pattern grand magic knights.

In addition, the Pombo family maintained an escort army of up to 3,000 men.

The reason why the Pombo family is so "desperate" is that, on the one hand, as a military outpost, unlike Jialan City and Great Delan Town deep on the border, it must always prevent the invasion of the Soma Alliance - although the Soma Alliance has been bent on dealing with internal chaos in recent decades and has no intention of expanding externally, it is still necessary to be vigilant.

On the other hand, this is the only way to maintain the Pombo family's dominance in the Soma Alliance and the Southern Free Federation deals, and not to be overthrown by the red-eyed challengers......

With this in mind, Richard rode in a carriage to a place more than three hundred meters outside the gates of St. Louis, which was now crowded and surrounded by people preparing to enter the city—some from the rest of the Southern Free Federation, and some from the Soma League from the north.

Richard took a few looks, and decided that it would not be convenient to enter the city by carriage, so he simply returned the carriage and walked alone towards the city gate.

After walking more than 100 meters, you can see that a long queue has been lined up here, moving forward along the flow of people.

At this time, Richard found that the people entering the city were automatically divided into two rows, the left one was for people like him, and the other one on the right was for people with various goods.

Those who carried the goods, whether carried on their backs or in carriages, were inspected by the soldiers of the Pombo family at the city gates, and were allowed to enter only after paying taxes.

Obviously, this was an important source of income for the Pombo family, and in this way it ensured their dominance in the transaction.

For example, cloth, pottery, handicrafts, and other trade goods that the Pombo family did not deal in, the taxes paid into the city were relatively low, and people were encouraged to trade more. For example, grain, wood, and iron tools are traded by the Pombo family, and the taxes paid into the city are relatively high, so people are boycotted from carrying out such transactions to prevent affecting the profits of the Pombo family.

Others, such as weapons and equipment, are directly listed as prohibited goods, and once it is found that it is not a question of how much tax to pay, but directly confiscate and confiscate, and punish the relevant personnel of transportation.

On the one hand, it is because these goods belong to the core business of the Pombo family, which is completely monopolized, and no one else is allowed to get their hands on it. On the other hand, for security reasons, the number of uncontrolled and unregulated weapons is reduced, and these things in the province are used against the Pompo family.

It's a bit of a customs offence...... Richard blinked, and walked forward, because his team didn't need to be checked at all, and after a few moments following the flow of people, they were only fifty meters from the city gate.

The other procession on his right, much slower, saw a four-wheeled carriage more than twenty meters outside the city gate when it was stopped by the guards, who opened the carriage to inspect the goods.

There were five people in the carriage, and they were all driven down at this time.

One of them looked like a presiding officer, in his forties, not tall, dressed in gray. Seeing the soldiers opening boxes and inspecting them carefully, he said with a bitter face: "Lord Guard, I have normal goods here, and there is nothing to look at." I've got all the taxes ready, and here it is, so you can just let me go. I'm in a hurry, and I have to go into the city before dark to unload the goods, otherwise I will have to pay a fine for breach of contract. ”

The soldier who inspected the goods was a tall and thin man, wearing light armor painted with red paint, glanced at the man in charge, and said with a cold face: "You think that you are in a hurry, you are in a hurry? I have seen a lot of people who are more anxious than you, but when you arrive in this St. Louis city, you have to be obediently inspected, you know! You said that you must enter the city before dark, so why don't you hurry up and play with me now." Hmph, something happened, are you responsible?"

The man in charge was reprimanded, his head drooped, and he struggled to squeeze out a smile at the tall and thin soldier: "How dare I be responsible." Since you want to check it, then you can check it, I don't talk much. ”

"That's pretty much it. The tall lanky soldier glanced sideways at the man in charge, bent down into the depths of the carriage, opened more boxes and examined them.

After a full minute, the tall and thin soldier finished inspecting, jumped out of the carriage and made a final confirmation with the man in charge: "Your carriage is full of cloth to be sold in the city, as well as a small amount of cotton, right?"

"Yes, yes, yes. The man in charge nodded repeatedly.

"Then according to the regulations, you have to pay a total of five silver coins and thirty copper coins in taxes, you know?"

"Yes, yes. The man in charge stretched out his hand and handed a money bag to the soldier, "It's been prepared for a long time, my lord, take a look." ”

"That's right. The man in charge stepped forward, approached the soldier and whispered, "My lord, there is a small bag in it, containing some loose money, which is a little bit of my meaning, please accept it." ”

When the soldier heard this, his eyebrows furrowed, and he checked his money bag and found that it was indeed much heavier than expected. Silently put it away, didn't say anything, waved his hand to the soldier who was blocking the road in front of him, and said, "Let go!"

"Brush!"

The guards at the gate in front of them quickly moved the wooden barricades to allow the carriage to pass.

The gray-clad man in charge nodded to the tall and thin soldier and beckoned several of his men to hurry forward.

Two of his men were clearly dressed as grooms, one with brown eyes and the other with gray eyes. The two jumped into the carriage, picked up the snow-white whip, and hit the two horses pulling the cart left and right, and immediately made two blood marks.

The horses were in pain, neighing, and slammed into force. I heard the "creaking" sound of the carriage, which made deep rut marks on the ground and headed for the city gate.

The gray-clad man waved goodbye to the tall and thin soldier, and jumped into the carriage with two other men in blue clothes and into the carriage.