November 23, 6879 in the Shurima calendar, Belgun.

This is the first day of commissioning.

From the day Myra, whom I trusted, stabbed me in the back, robbed me, and abandoned me in the desert, I learned the most important survival rule of Shurima——

Don't trust anyone.

There are no good people in Shurima.

There is only sand in this vast desert, and no soil for human nature and morality to survive.

The flower of ideals may bloom anywhere in the world, but in Shurima, it can only dry up and die.

So I don’t believe in the leaders or their high-sounding slogans.

I think they must have other agendas, just like the Piltover merchants and Noxian invaders who came to Shurima one after another in the past hundreds of years.

I made this point bluntly and hoped to expose the hypocrisy of these leaders.

But Taliyah said she could understand me.

She also said that this journey will definitely change my view of leaders.

Really? I don't believe it.

November 24, Bergün.

These leaders are really quite idle.

They finished measuring the flow of the river yesterday and surveyed the surrounding topography, and today they started looking for people to chat with throughout the city.

Beggars on the street, wandering orphans, bonded workers on the docks, slaves in manors outside the city. No matter how lowly the status of the conversation partner is, they can all have a lively conversation with each other.

I yawned while listening to it.

What's the point of these people's stories? They smell of a bitter taste of despair.

Hey, this is Shurima. What's so new about this kind of tragic story?

I'm tired of watching it.

Fortunately, we agreed that the commission would be calculated on a daily basis.

They like to chat, and I enjoy my leisure time.

November 27, Bergün.

Three days have passed, and these leaders still have no intention of leaving for other cities.

They are still chatting with all kinds of people, the content of their conversations is becoming more and more in-depth, and the information they have is becoming more and more comprehensive.

I followed Taliyah all the time, and I saw many details that I ignored.

I have to say, these leaders have indeed changed some of my ideas.

For example, my opinion on Bergune.

In my original understanding, or in the impression of most Shuriman people, the life of the Berguen people was already a "good day like heaven".

For no other reason than because there is water here and it is close to the sea.

With water, the land here can grow food, fruits and vegetables.

There is no need to be like those desert tribes who regard water as their life, fighting each other day after day like wild beasts competing for food for such a pitifully small oasis and an almost dry underground river.

Being close to the sea and facing the continent of Valoran across the sea, it is destined that there will be prosperous commerce here.

Treasures looted by desert bandits, cultural relics unearthed by ancient tomb thieves, animal skins produced by nomadic tribes in the central region, and various scarce minerals mined by hilly tribes in the south——

The good things that these people gained in exchange for their lives in the sand and wind eventually had to cross the vast desert and converge on the northern shore of Shurima.

As for north coast city-states like Bergün, they only need to ship these good things and sell them, and then lie down comfortably and count the money.

Just because it is close to the sea, has a port, and is closer to the continent of Valoran, where goods are exported.

In short, compared to other areas of Shurima, this place already has enviable natural conditions.

So I think that no matter how bad the life of the Berguen people is, it cannot be worse than the tribesmen I saw in the desert.

What's more, I have been a wandering orphan in a desert city since I was a child. No one understands this miserable world better than me.

The sufferings of the people of Bergün used to be like fly bites in my eyes, not worth mentioning at all.

But the leader's social investigation seemed to reveal another side of this prosperous city-state for me.

November 30, Bergün.

The social investigation of Bergün is gradually coming to an end.

Although I have been following Taliyah and seen many things.

But Taliyah's investigation results alone are not enough to explain anything.

I really want to know how detailed and realistic the information collected by so many investigating team members can be in the end to describe the situation in Bergün.

So, out of curiosity, I took the initiative to ask Taliyah this question for the first time.

Taliyah was glad I asked her.

She also told me the real situation in Bergün in detail.

"Be it Belgun or the other port cities on the north coast of Shurima, they are just a straw inserted by the Noxus Empire on the continent of Shurima."

"These straws are continuously pumping out the blood of the Shurima continent. The trace of Shurima blood and sweat remaining on the walls of the straws has created the superficial prosperity of Belgun."

Taliyah summed it up this way.

And that's exactly what happened.

Taliyah has mentioned before that because the water vapor here is relatively abundant, the agriculture in the Berguen area is relatively developed.

And because it is not far from Zaun and Piltover, but only a one-day and one-night flight away, it has become an important fruit and vegetable supply base for the twin cities.

Just the export of the most basic agricultural products can bring extremely huge profits to Bergun every year.

Not to mention, the gold, jade, rare minerals, and ancient cultural relics brought by desert caravans will eventually be gathered here and exported.

It can be said that Berguen is indeed very rich.

But where did all the money go? Has such a huge profit really benefited the majority of Bergüen people?

The answer is obviously no.

I can imagine this too.

As the leader of a medium-sized mercenary group, I usually get the majority of the commissions for myself and the backbone of the team, and the rest will be distributed to the lower-level mercenaries.

People in the upper class eat meat and people in the lower class drink soup. This is natural and natural.

But what I didn’t expect was that the situation in Bergün was:

"The Noxians eat meat, and the Shurima compradors eat soup. But the ordinary Belguin people are actually the meat and soup shared by the imperial emperor and comprador merchants."

Taliyah told me so.

The exported goods of Bergun are indeed valuable enough. However, all exported goods need to go through the "Shurima North Shore Trading Company" operated by the Noxus Empire in order to be successfully sold to foreign countries.

In other words, most of the profits from Bergun's foreign trade were actually taken by the Noxians.

After the city-state council of Bergun surrendered its economic sovereignty, all it received was an annual profit dividend of 10% from the Shurima North Shore Trading Company.

90% of it belongs to the Noxians, and the merchants of Bergun can only get 10%.

And this 10% is not something anyone can get. Only Shurima merchants who cooperate with the Noxus Empire and have colonial officers as shareholders are eligible to participate in this foreign trade that is completely dominated by Noxus.

.

"The export from Bergün was completely controlled by the colonists and comprador merchants."

"In terms of imports, the situation in Bergün is not much better."

"The Noxians don't even need to produce their own goods. They just need to buy boatloads of cheap industrial products in Zaun, and then they can make a lot of money by changing hands in the city-states on the north coast of Shurima such as Bergun.

Full."

"Exports cannot retain profits, and imports are being dumped in a predatory manner. No matter how close Bergün is to Zaun and Piltover, it is impossible to start the road to industrialization and move towards prosperity and progress."

This sustainable method of plundering has actually seriously damaged the interests of the Bergün merchant class.

Even if they work hard as compradors, in the end they can only drink a little bit of the soup and water left by the Noxians.

So why don't they resist?

Facing the invasion and colonization of the Noxus Empire, these coastal city-states never organized a decent resistance.

Why are the desert tribes closer to the North Shore colonies often those who resist the Noxus Empire, rather than the North Shore merchants who directly suffered colonial rule and whose interests suffered the most?

I raised this question at the time.

Taliyah's answer was:

"Because compared to the colonists of Noxus, the merchants of the coastal city-states on the north coast of Shurima are actually more afraid of their theoretical compatriots, the desert tribes in the south."

All desert tribes know that the northern shore of Shurima is a good place.
To be continued...