Mammoth City lay on the east coast of Mammoth Province, less than six hundred kilometers in a straight line from Silver Moon Bay. Golden Gallon Port, however, was three times that distance from Silver Moon Bay.
Though the Tasang River ran swift and its basin was not as vast as the Eternal Flow River's, it could still sustain two or three provinces and cover a population of twenty to thirty million.
With such unique geographical advantages, and so close to a group of "cat slaves" skilled at doing business, it was quite baffling that this settlement had never developed.
Mammoth Province had no fewer than ten million people, yet Mammoth City, its only settlement, had only around eight hundred thousand residents.
Golden Gallon Port had been poor because of the Empire, but the poverty here seemingly could not be blamed on the Empire.
After all, the Empire's control over the region had always been vague. Though it was nominally imperial territory, inhabited by imperial nobles and subjects, there were no road networks or river transport links. Even Heaven Capital itself often forgot it still possessed this land.
In other words, the area had always enjoyed a high degree of autonomy. Only on very rare occasions did Wutuo remember to manage it.
Regarding this phenomenon, Ms. Han Mingyue, a social science researcher from The Alliance's expedition team, conducted an investigation. Her preliminary conclusion was that serfdom had confined part of the population within noble estates, obstructing Mammoth City's "urbanization" process.
Another reason was Mammoth Province's terrible "infrastructure access." The crops it produced could not be shipped out, and goods from outside could not be brought in. Small farmers only needed to grow enough food for themselves, with no need to exchange goods with others, so naturally there was no need to