Mirabar is one of the towns on the entire west coast of Faerûn that is closest to the Spine of the World mountains, and is even further north than Luskan in terms of longitude and latitude.
Judging from the map, it is almost on the same line as Mithril Hall, Felbarburg and Adeba Castle. It is a truly extremely cold place, with more than half of the year being below zero. The freezing period.
The most important transportation route to Luskan, the Miral River, which can be reached directly from your doorstep, is impassable most of the time.
Therefore, foreign trade is mainly concentrated in the short summer.
After all, the cost of river transportation is much cheaper than land transportation.
Especially in order to feed the urban population of tens of thousands, a large amount of imported grain is needed every year.
Because due to the climate, except for cold-resistant rye and potatoes with a short growth cycle, other crops cannot survive here.
In addition, it is close to the mountains of the Spine of the World, and there are so many monsters, beasts, dragons, and giants. Miraba can only guarantee the safety of a small area around it, so there are only fishing industries along the river and those that do not require much manpower. Animal husbandry is pretty decent.
The rye grown is either used for fermentation and brewing, or is used to feed horses and other livestock. Potatoes are the only vegetable that most residents can eat for more than half a year.
However, compared to the harsh living environment, Miraba has something that other towns in the North cannot compare with.
That is, it is built on a huge mineral vein.
This vein is large enough to provide sufficient steel, copper, gemstones, mithril, fine gold, silver and gold for the entire Northland.
Among them, the shield dwarves firmly occupy the underground mines and are responsible for digging ores and smelting them into metal ingots. They also occasionally create some high-quality weapons and armors.
Human beings are responsible for commercial activities with other towns on the ground, selling these outputs at a good price, and then purchasing daily necessities and transporting them back to meet the needs of town survival and development.
Although Mirabar is ostensibly a hereditary marquis, the actual power is in the hands of a committee called the "Shining Stone".
Dwarves and humans each account for about half of it. They determine the target output for the year through negotiation, and occasionally threaten customers with production cuts to make them pay high enough prices to purchase metal products.
To a certain extent, this is a typical resource monopoly vested interest group.
Even Luskan was restricted by Mirabar for a long time, and the prices of steel and many metal products on the market remained high.
However, this happy cooperation between dwarves and humans began to become more subtle with the emergence of Zuo Si and the deepening conflict between Miraba and Mithril Hall.
The emergence of the former has led to a large number of undead workers being put into mines that were previously difficult to mine, continuously producing high-quality metals and minerals.
Not only can it meet its own needs, but it can also be exported to other surrounding towns, completely breaking Miraba's monopoly in minerals and metal smelting.
Since there is no monopoly, there is no such crucial thing as pricing power.
Dare to threaten customers to cut production?
Believe it or not, you will be blacklisted and banned from all trading activities?
What's more, the emergence of airships has also drastically reduced transportation costs, and the reduction in freight means the expansion of the scope of commodity circulation.
Things that could only be purchased nearby at a high price in the past can now be shipped from hundreds or even thousands of kilometers away, and the price is much cheaper than before.
This directly caused the mining and metal smelting industries that Miraba was proud of to be severely damaged. It could no longer maintain its original high profits and was forced to continuously lower prices and costs, joining the general trend of collective involution.
But the good thing is that since they joined the trade alliance, their customers have also increased, and they no longer have to focus on competing for the market in this three-acre area of ​​Northland.
In addition, some precious woods, herbs, furs produced in the mountains of the Spine of the World, as well as delicious and plump fish in the cold water river, have also become very hot and popular goods.
Therefore, although Miraba's political and economic status continues to decline in the North, his income has not decreased.
On the contrary, the price of food and cloth has increased due to the diversification of trade and the reduction of transportation costs.
In contrast, the problems caused by the identical industrial structures between Mirabar and Mithril Hall are even more serious.
To be precise, this incident sparked conflicts between shield dwarves and humans.
You must know that dwarves are a very united race, which is completely different from humans.
If there are two dwarf clans in an area, then if a foreign enemy attacks one of them, the other will definitely choose to rescue it at all costs, even if a war breaks out between them over the chassis.
When Drizzt's friend Bruno regained Mithril Hall, he received the support of eight thousand dwarf legions from Adba Castle.
Adeba Castle is separated from Mithril Hall by the entire Silver Moon Alliance, and has to cross forests, rivers and mountains before finally reaching the hidden entrance of Mithril Hall.
No payment was required for such a huge support, and even the food and wine consumed during the march were brought by oneself.
This shows how united the dwarf race is.
So it can be foreseen how the shield dwarves of Mirabar will react when the humans in charge of the business field begin to suppress the Mithril Hall of the same race.
There were several times when I almost fell out in meetings.
The dwarves even threatened to terminate cooperation, close the mines, and drive humans out of their own territory.
Fortunately, the human representatives of the "Shining Stone" Committee were more sensible at that time and decisively chose to compromise to calm the anger of the dwarves.
At the moment, humans are carefully maintaining their relationship with their dwarf allies.
But the problem is that cracks have appeared, and recovery is basically impossible.
Especially in Miraba, profits in the mining and metal smelting industries are declining, while profits in other industries are increasing.
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One day this interdependent relationship will be broken.
By then, the relationship between humans and dwarves will deteriorate sharply, and a bloody conflict or even a war will break out to determine who is the real master of this land.
However, nowadays, Miraba is still in the process of rapid economic development, so many sharp contradictions have been covered up.
Adventurers wearing armor and holding weapons can be seen everywhere on the streets, taverns, and hotels in the city.
The reason why they gather here is because the business boom has led to a sharp increase in various needs.
Among them, precious furs and rare animal cubs that can be kept as pets can often be sold for hundreds or even thousands of gold coins each.
Some nobles and wealthy businessmen are even willing to offer a reward of 3,000 to 5,000 gold coins for a newborn winter wolf or warg.
This is definitely a considerable income for adventurers, so many hunters with similar experience will try their luck.
Where adventurers and mercenaries gather, it often means that the security situation will deteriorate rapidly. Fights, brawls, and blood splattering on the spot are not uncommon.
Similarly, all forces will try their best to use these profit-seeking guys to achieve some unknown purposes.
Therefore, Miraba is now somewhat of a "spy city" in the North.
Whether it's the Harper Alliance, the Verdant Garden, the Dragon Cult, the Zhentarim, the red-robed wizards all have strongholds here.
Among them, the Green Garden, with druids as the main body, is mainly to monitor the damage that these greedy adventurers may cause to the natural balance, and to stop them when necessary.
As one of the many hidden forces, Hared III is undoubtedly the leader among them.
Because standing behind him is Zuo Si, who has huge resources and can pile gold, silver and other precious metals like iron blocks into the entire warehouse.
With the support of unlimited financial resources, this man with a deep hatred for Elminster easily attracted dozens of adventure teams, mercenary groups, and even formed an adventurers guild of his own.
By accepting entrustments and issuing tasks, he successfully controlled almost two-thirds of Miraba's groups that wielded the most powerful destructive power.
Although adventurers and mercenaries are not loyal at all.
But as long as they are paid enough, they never mind doing anything, even killing all the rulers of Miraba and subverting the regime here.
At this moment, Hared III was sitting in the office on the fourth floor of the newly built guild headquarters, handing over all the information he had to Ximanmeng and Kuuremos.
About seven or eight minutes later, "Bringing a Dutiful Son" Kurremos was the first to read the information on hand, raised his head and asked with interest: "Where did you get this precious information?"
"Don't forget, I have been a scribe for Elminster for many years. I have even witnessed more than one senior Harper meeting at close range. I can say that I know their internal situation very well."
Hared III pursed his lips and revealed a cold and cruel smile.
Because during this period of time, he had used his knowledge of the Harper Alliance to successfully kill at least thirty spies who tried to sneak in to gather information. He also successfully captured several of them and tortured them inhumanely.<
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Finally, through evil and cruel necromancy magic, he transforms into a killer who obeys his orders.
"I see... No wonder you can always seize the opponent's weaknesses and launch an attack first, and you can even figure out the intentions of their senior leaders."
Kurremos nodded pretendingly, but in fact, he was already happy in his heart.
In his opinion, having a fool like Hared III in front of him to attract the attention of the Harper Alliance is simply the perfect umbrella for him to plan a bigger conspiracy behind his back.
In contrast, Ximanmeng proposed directly and unabashedly: "Since you know so much about Elminster and the Harper Alliance, why don't you plan a big operation?
You must know that the reason why they have such a huge power in the North lies in an effective intelligence network.
If we can destroy this hidden and efficient intelligence network like a spider web, then the Harper will become completely deaf and blind.
By then, as long as those responsible for external communication and information delivery are eliminated, they will be completely paralyzed and become meat on the chopping board."
To be continued...