Realm of Power

On Dijing West Road, the last afterglow of the August setting sun before it sets on the horizon shines on the petals falling on both sides of the road. Different from the sudden drop in temperature that can be clearly felt in the northern grasslands, the Dijing West Road area, located in the hinterland of Central and Bibia, The hot weather in August still produces beautiful scenery like a riot of flowers , one of the ten scenic spots in the Imperial Capital that is as famous as the misty rain in March in the Imperial Capital. One of them is the Yanghua Mandao on the West Road, which refers to the poplar flowers on both sides of the Imperial Capital West Road during the first month of the month. Large tracts of pink color will The entire land is dotted into huge pink flower beds, and it is gradually entering its best time.

It was already dark, and a large number of merchant ships had gathered near the pier. It was very lively, with the noise of boatmen and sailors, and the coming and going of boatmen. Sometimes the cabins of the boats touched each other, causing a burst of chaos and abuse. The bells from the Nirvana Zen Temple could be heard far away. When we arrived, the ancient city behind had already been lit up with huge fires. There were lights as dense as stars. It had been more than half a year since the empire took over the Imperial Capital West Road. A large number of Central and African people from the Imperial Capital and the river side had poured in. The population of the Imperial Capital West Road had almost expanded to six. More than one million, which is quite close to the eight million population at its peak.

The empire adopted an almost development-oriented business policy on Dijing West Road, using a large number of commercial activities from south to north to drive the vitality of the entire region. In terms of stability, it supported the original religious leader Nirvana Zen Temple. Compared with the war in the south, In the violent Luzhou, hundreds of thousands of Aden troops landed and wreaked havoc, while Dijing West Road was calm and peaceful. Politically speaking, the empire completely abolished the clan system pursued by the original Zhongbia, allowing the poor families in Zhongbia, which had been suppressed for a long time, to burst out with huge power in a short period of time. Many literati from poor families in Zhongbia eagerly became members of the empire. The appointment of regional officials gradually caused the hearts of Central Asians in the Dijing West Road area to return to the imperial side.

What caused the sudden explosion of Dijing West Road the most was the huge investment of funds from the Liuchenggang area in the south. More than tens of millions of funds were poured into Dijing West Road at once. It was difficult not to think about it.

As the largest trading port group in southern China, Liucheng Port is the source of nearly half of the tax revenue of the Central and African courts. An unknown amount of the tax revenue fell into the hands of these aristocratic families, and before the final evacuation, tens of millions of people were taken away. Funds, what makes these rich and nobles who have a large amount of their own money in their hands is not ordinary, there are originally Some are worried that they will be suppressed by the empire. After all, in the propaganda of the Zhongbia court, the Imperial Capital West Road controlled by the empire is in ruins, bandits are rampant, and the imperial ruler chops off the heads of several Zhongbia nobles every now and then. During the demonstration, I came to Dijing West Road with a trembling heart, but what I saw was completely different.

Compared with the south, which is in decay and overflowing with refugees, Dijing West Road shows a staggering scene of prosperity.

The temperature of autumn has not yet completely dropped, the rice in the fields has already been harvested, and the trees are shedding their last leaves. It is in such a calm and intoxicating scenery, but there are carriages passing through the roads and rivers. Above, the merchant fleet is like a carp crossing the river, a magnificent coat of autumn, The big river is roaring, and the roads and villages along the river are full of smoke. Inside the city, there are crowds of people and shops. If it weren't for the imperial eagle flag flying on top of the city and the tall imperial soldiers standing at the city gate, the scene in front of us would have been amazing. It is simply the scene of the Central Asian Empire at its peak.

The Liuchenggang family, who came with a large amount of money, found out after being frightened for a while that this was the real paradise. The water on the river was clear and clear, and the boat was still the same. The wind picked up the fallen leaves nearby, and then they swirled and fell on the water, floating into the distance with the waves.

Pedestrians, carriages and horses, and wooden bridges cross the city roads across the slightly narrow river. Where the water flow is slightly slower, you can still see women washing clothes on the stone steps, chatting and laughing. In the distance, teahouses are drinking. The banquet, the aroma of the wine shop, there is no trace of chaos at all here Xiang, not to mention seeing bandits wreaking havoc along the way, there are also squares used to store goods at regular intervals along the business road. A large number of goods are piled open there, with only two or three people guarding them. There is no fear of these goods being robbed. , "No, there is definitely something wrong."

A leader of a family couldn't bear it anymore and went to a guard to ask. The guard looked at the country bumpkin. He looked at the leader for a moment and then said with a smile, "You guys are from the south, that is, you guys from the south." Only people would ask such silly questions , this is an area controlled by the empire, where the imperial army is stationed. Even the grassland people near the imperial capital dare not come and act recklessly, let alone the garrison to assist in defense. As long as there is looting of goods, the garrison will be like a tiger out of the cage. Come out, any bandit dares to come here to seek death!"

Shame on you! This is so embarrassing! The leader of the family who asked looked embarrassed. How could he have forgotten that the empire was a country more powerful than the grassland people? There were 100,000 troops stationed on the Imperial Capital West Road, and they were all extremely elite first-line elites. The bandits on the Imperial Capital West Road were looking for death! And I heard that the empire's policy is complete equality. Except for soldiers who have certain privileges, everyone, whether they are from aristocratic families or from high-ranking families, is the same as civilians. People with large amounts of funds are the real invisible privileged class here. These There is no other family, they just have money. Here, they can They can book the best restaurants, eat the best food, buy all kinds of luxuries from the entire continent, and meet beauties of all kinds. If they are in China and Bia, they still need to take care of themselves. Family status, here, who cares about this, the rich one is the uncle.

The local tycoons in Liucheng Port are stupid because of their money, but the merchants on Dijing West Road are very happy. These guys can't do anything else. They definitely buy things in a grand manner. They don't ask about the price of anything they like. They just say, buy! purchase! purchase! So much so that when I say on Dijing West Road that I am a Hong Kong native from Six Cities, I can immediately feel the envious eyes of others.

"Sir, the An family is here to invite someone again." A servant of the Lu family walked in with a name card.

"Put it there!"

Lu Yangyu put down a document in his hand and said casually to the servant, with a flash of anger in his eyes. These guys are becoming more and more unscrupulous. These businessmen are becoming more and more unscrupulous. They really think that with the support of the business alliance, they can If Princess Mingyue hadn't wanted to offend the Business Alliance, she would have let these guys know that the Business Alliance was nothing in front of the Imperial Bank!

"Where's the An family?" the servant asked cautiously

"If you don't go, just say I'm sick!"

Lu Yangyu's face was cold and he snorted with a heavy nose. The banquet hosted by the An family was the Hongmen Banquet. The An family was a very powerful businessman in Liucheng Port. Although he was wealthy, he was not on the same level as the Lu family. If it were before, the An family would definitely He didn't dare to come directly to send invitations to the Lu family, but since entering Dijing West Road, these big businessmen from Six Cities Port have joined the business alliance one after another, getting rid of the restrictions of their status. With the support of the entire behemoth of the Business Alliance, they suddenly became domineering. These businessmen took a fancy to the shortcomings of the Shiclan, which had a large amount of financial resources but was not good at business, and one after another proposed joint operations with the Shiclan. In fact, the Shiclan had played with these ideas before. Most of the transparent merchants invested their financial resources and were wiped out in a few twists and turns. Several families have been trapped in it, and even lost their lives. Lu Yangyu became angry and asked the families not to jointly operate with the merchants.

Unexpectedly, these businessmen openly provoked the Lu family and pushed An Jia to compete with the Lu family.

Lu Yangyu knew that the reason why these former Liucheng Port merchants dared to be so arrogant was because behind these merchants stood the behemoth of the Imperial Business Alliance. It was the national policy of the empire to force the former nobles to transform into merchants in the occupied areas, not to mention that in China and Belgium In the sub-region, the Imperial Bank, which was only established for half a year, is far from able to suppress the business alliance that has been developing for several years. In just one month, the world has been turned upside down. It is no longer possible to control it.

The business alliance used various tactics, both soft and hard, as well as secret and covert methods. When the families who came to escape from the disaster in Liucheng Port woke up, most of them were trapped in one fell swoop. Not to mention other people, even his Lu family also had many The children stand on the side of these businessmen, clamoring for a new era that requires change, change, and cannot just sit back and have nothing, the Lu family wants to continue , the only way is to change from a noble family to a businessman. The situation is out of control, and Lu Yangyu can only endure it. He knows that the emperor of the empire is interested in the influence of the noble Lu family, and the Lu family has its current status. If the Lu family becomes Without the merchants, the Lu family is really finished. If the Lu family has no value, what qualifications do they have to be in the eyes of the emperor? That is the future of the Lu family!

It had only been more than a month since he left Dijing West Road. Fatty already felt that something was wrong with the Dijing West Road in front of him. He looked at the crowds of people outside through the curtain of the carriage and looked at the brothels and restaurants lined with streets along the way. The noisy sounds reached his ears. , the eyebrows couldn't help but frown together. Logically speaking, prosperous business is a good thing, but what happened to the carriages of the Business Alliance that collided at will? What happened to the large crowd of merchants who came out in front of the brothel? Even in front of some merchants' carriages, there were mercenaries with weapons to drive away the crowd, while the city guards in charge of patrol only took a look at it. If a businessman dared to do this in Oparo, the city guards would arrest him without mercy, but that is not the case here. "The situation is indeed out of control!" The fat man put down the car curtain in his hand. "Your Majesty, dragon My family is still in Luzhou, but I'm afraid I won't be able to hold on for long." An imperial intelligence officer in civilian clothes sat opposite and said cautiously, "Don't worry, I will use 10,000 sets of infantry armor to delay the Long family for five days. According to Long Po's nature "We will definitely do it. Five days is enough for us." The fat man took a deep breath and pressed his hands heavily on the account book on the table. The smell of blood in his tone made the imperial intelligence officer opposite feel on pins and needles.

Moving the noble families and businessmen of Liucheng Port to Imperial Capital West Road was a move by the emperor. Originally, it was to use the financial resources of Liucheng Port to establish the prestige of the Imperial Bank. With an investment of tens of millions of dollars, under normal circumstances, the Imperial Bank In order to take the lead, tens of millions of funds from Liucheng Port were introduced into Imperial Bank West Road, thereby impacting the almost out-of-control merchant power on Imperial Capital West Road and forcing these merchant forces, which had been nourished by years of war, to return to the management of the Imperial Bank.

As a result, the situation in front of him was not like this. The emperor had just seen the Imperial Bank's account books for the past month. Tens of millions of funds had almost just flowed out of the Imperial Bank's accounts, and were quickly withdrawn for various reasons. It doesn't take much effort to find the final destination of these funds, which points directly to the business alliance controlled by local wealthy businessmen.

Reports from the Ministry of Supervision also indicate that the situation on Imperial Bank West Road is getting out of control. Some Chinese and Libyan businessmen with large financial resources, who control the market, are getting together to explicitly resist the control of Imperial Bank, and even appear blatantly in some black markets. The empire prohibited the sale of things, weapons, slaves, and even the locations of some administrative officials in the Imperial Capital West Road area

If it were in the Obaro region, the Business Alliance would never dare to do this. The emperor's butcher knife had already bent the backbones of the wealthy businessmen, but this is Central Asia. Years of war have cultivated vampire monsters. The Business Alliance The power in Central and Bibia is beyond the imagination of ordinary people.

Years of chaos in Central and South-Bia have cultivated merchant forces that are completely out of control. Those wealthy businessmen who do business with the grassland tribes, and even the grassland tribes with heavy troops, have been forced to fly into chaos, and can even become The main reason for the internal division of the Yelu family, you can imagine the extent of its powerful influence. Even the Yelu family on the grassland is powerless in the face of these wealthy businessmen. Yelu Qiyeguang has stated many times that the empire should control these businessmen.

In Obaro, the person in charge of the Imperial Bank is the ruthless Black Rose, and the business alliance dare not raise its head. And here, the military chief Li Yuehua may march northward at any time because of the Aden people's war in Luzhou. , has already suppressed the imperial army on the main line of the river, and is completely unable to take into account the business on the Imperial Capital West Road. Princess Mingyue, who is in charge of the Imperial Bank in Central Asia, is a newbie in business. Not to mention her lack of experience, she still cannot see the dangers of this business alliance war. Although she no longer grew up in the palace, A famous flower, but when it comes to being ruthless and ruthless, using thunderous means to frighten disobedience, there is still a long way to go.

This is a mistake on my part. I underestimated these businessmen in Central and Bibia.

The fat man was a little annoyed, but he never expected that such a big trap would appear on Dijing West Road in just one month. This was one of the reasons why the imperial army immediately returned to Yanzhou North after the Battle of Dongshan. Dijing West Road was the imperial In the most important region of Central and South Africa, we must not allow any force to cause trouble, let alone If the Aden Army storms Luzhou, they may choose the moment when the army marches north after capturing Luzhou at any time. Ten thousand sets of infantry armor are thrown to the Long family, hoping to delay their coming out for five days. Li Yuehua's troops cannot move. , the merchants on Dijing West Road will be alert, so the one who can move is the Emperor of Yanzhou North!