Realm of Power

Under the morning sun, people were coming and going on the main road of the Imperial Capital Ocean City, which was big enough for twenty carriages to walk side by side. The bustling scene of traffic was very lively. Looking to the left and right, one could see the layers of densely packed shops. This was called the first place in the empire. The street adds rich layers of shades, like a colorful picture, melting everything in it with colorful colors.

Located in the center of First Street is a large-scale commercial plaza with 1,500 shops. Rows of luxuriously decorated shops, and gorgeous colorful flags make this commercial center colorful. The huge signboards hanging high above the store and the colorful girls standing in front of the store add to the bright atmosphere of spring. This is the most eye-catching commercial center in Dijing. The number of stores that can be found here is from To some extent, it has been regarded as the status of the major chambers of commerce in the empire. During the empire’s annual meeting, it entered a blowout period.

The massive sales of the empire's products, which have been brewing for more than two months, have made merchants throughout the empire busy. Businessmen across the continent are circling around the empire. In the name of paying attention to the empire's annual meeting, all the countries in the mainland have gathered in the imperial capital. City, these special envoys from various countries will naturally not come alone. That one is not followed by a large number of nobles from various countries. Naturally, these nobles came to the empire to buy goods, and most of them were women. According to statistics from the Empire's Ministry of Internal Affairs, in just the eight days of the Imperial Annual Meeting, this commercial plaza, which represents the prosperity of the empire's commerce, was sold out. More than four million yuan worth of goods were shipped, 80% of which were taken care of by these special envoys and nobles from various countries.

And this obviously hasn’t reached the peak yet

Because the Nanou Barrow area with the most purchasing power only arrived yesterday. It is too far from Nanou Barrow to Teijing Ocean City. Even if we take the sea route, it will take nearly a month. In other words, the Nanou Barrow area that arrived yesterday Among the Barrow countries, the three countries of Harvey, Ikar, and Martin Tooth are almost I had just had a shopping spree with the Empire in the Holy City. I didn’t even have time to wipe the wound. I immediately put on gauze and shamelessly took advantage of it. This is the current influence of the Empire on the Oparo region. Although the Empire’s The army has not yet completed the great task of conquering the south, but the imperial goods have already conquered the south in advance.

"The special envoys from the three countries brought only three to four hundred followers, but they hired a combined fleet of fifty-seven large merchant ships. They had a posture of never leaving until they were full. It shows that even war cannot Blocking the thirst for imperial goods in these landlocked countries of central and southern Europe.” The fat man put down the carriage curtain in his hand with a wry smile, and shrugged his shoulders to Princess Mingyue and Li Yuehua who were sitting opposite, "The road is blocked again. If we still want to move forward, then I'm afraid we can only walk on foot. Look. You can tell by looking at the situation outside that even the emperor's carriage , If the Guards are not allowed to clear the way, I am afraid that they will not be able to pass through such a crowded flow of people." "It is an honor for me to be invited by His Majesty. Speaking of which, the most lingering thing about the Imperial Capital is the building in front of me. You can never get enough of the Empire Commerce Plaza. Just passing by, I'm afraid it will be difficult for His Majesty to appreciate the beauty of this place..." Li Yuehua's charming face showed a look of hesitation. "I can afford less than 300,000 yuan per person. Any more, and I have no money. It's up to you!" the fat man said with an angry and funny expression.

Of course he knew what Li Yuehua wanted to do. Back then, because of the embarrassment of the Li family, Li Yuehua himself was transferred back to the Imperial Capital to assist the Intelligence Department for more than half a year. This is the focus of the area where the most information is gathered. Just looking at the products here is equivalent to having a clear view of the information from all over the empire and using it blatantly. The Imperial Intelligence Department spent more than 300,000 yuan on a huge purchase, and finally a report from the Imperial Intelligence Department was sent to Fatty. Fatty also laughed it off and did not pursue any further investigation. He just asked the Imperial Intelligence Department to give Li Yuehua three dollars. The allocation quota of 100,000 yuan has been reduced to 150,000 yuan. A woman in a foreign land who is worried and uneasy will go crazy if you don't let her find some channel to vent her frustration! "Your Majesty, do you really mean what you say?"

Li Yuehua's bright eyes were so happy that they were crescent-shaped. She almost didn't wait for the emperor to finish speaking. She had already rolled up the hem of the platinum palace dress with her arms, showing an eager expression, although she knew that she was in love with Princess Mingyue. The light, because the emperor did not agree to Princess Mingyue's request, so it can be regarded as a disguised supplement. However, the opportunity to kill the emperor was rare. She almost directly pulled Princess Mingyue next to her out of the carriage. She could be said to be familiar with the roads here. After getting off the car, she walked directly into the carriage next to the road. A gorgeously decorated shop, "Your Majesty is so generous, just 600,000 yuan"

Princess Mingyue murmured to herself, watching Li Yuehua's figure disappear at the door of the store, a cold look appeared at the corner of her mouth, and her fingers clenched tightly at the skirt belt. She could experience the prosperity outside the car with her favorite man, naturally. It's a very pleasant mood, but for me, it's a luxury

"Your Majesty, do you know that if you directly hand over these 600,000 imperial gold to me, I can at least prevent 300,000 Central and Asian refugees from dying of cold and starvation!" Princess Mingyue looked at the fat man next to her who looked indifferent and said, Taking a deep breath, "To be honest, the bustling scene here reminds me of the Baili Long Court in Beijing, China, but The gap is also so obvious. They are both big cities with a population of one million, but Baili Changting brings a kind of luxury that has been peaceful for too long. The places along the road and the street are either taverns and teahouses, or blue and red buildings surrounded by greenery. In this place, the chambers of commerce that actually do business only account for one or two percent, but here, they are all real businessmen."

Princess Mingyue paused and looked at the fat man. "Although I don't know how much business taxes the empire gets from merchants every year, I know that the large square that used to accommodate 200,000 people is still difficult to move due to the congested carriages. It must be a sum I can't imagine With the number of elephants, only with these businessmen can we have the invincible military front of the empire, and the financial resources of the empire that defy the world. And the person who perfectly combines the power of merchants with the empire is you, so I believe that if someone can save Zhongbi Ya, that person must be you! "

A look of unnaturalness flashed across the fat man's face, but when he saw Princess Mingyue's eyes full of sadness, the fat man couldn't help but feel moved. "It is said that from what I know, businessmen are regarded as a lowly industry in Zhongbia. There is even a proverb in the Asian proverbs, which almost completely nailed the profession of merchants to the pillar of shame. As long as a merchant is a merchant, he is a profiteer. Even the recruitment of scholars in the court clearly stipulates that those who are merchants within three generations don't want, This is how Central Asians perceive businessmen. Therefore, the profession of profiteers will always be a lowly position that cannot be promoted to the public. However, in the empire, businessmen are like an aristocratic class of the empire. Businessmen in the empire can hold their heads high and proud anywhere. , The empire supports the development of merchants and also gives them space for development, and merchants are another powerful driving force for the continuous change and expansion of the empire,” but you know, this is impossible! "

The fat man's voice paused, and a pair of tiger eyes shot out a sharp divine light. Yuanting stood proudly and said calmly, "China and Belgium have been focusing on agriculture and neglecting commerce for thousands of years. What if the wealthy businessmen with millions of dollars are stained all over their bodies?" Bronze smell, any scholar can scold you bloody. As long as the court is short of money, the first thing that comes to mind is to attack businessmen. To replenish the national treasury! Over time, when merchants have money, they can buy more fields, but they will not use the money to support the development of the country. Two completely different policies have created two different empires. If At the beginning, the Zhongbia Empire could treat businessmen as fairly as the Falcon Empire, or the situation in Zhongbia will not be like this now."

Of course the fat man knows that this is basically a fallacy. Zhongbia has been focusing on agriculture and neglecting commerce for thousands of years. How can it be possible to give businessmen a reasonable status? The reason why he said this is just to divert the attention of Princess Mingyue. Speaking of which, he still has some I feel sorry for this eldest princess of China and Belgium,

Not only did he know about the situation in Zhongbia, but he even suddenly left Zhongbia and returned to Obalo last winter, part of which was to avoid Princess Mingyue, because the fat man had already foreseen that last winter would be bad for Zhongbia. He said it would definitely be a catastrophe, so he arranged a game in advance.

The Zhongbia court has been besieged by the Aden army and is unable to take care of the refugees everywhere. The Song people in the south closed the road south early and dispatched the mountain army to drive the settled refugees north again in order to force them. Those areas that originally belonged to the imperial court bowed their heads to the Song people. The Southwest Long family only followed the usual practice of only absorbing the young and strong among the refugees, and did not accept the old, weak, women and children.

The result is that all parties compete overtly and covertly for their own interests. Naturally, the most miserable ones are the refugees in China and Libya.

In the cold winter that just passed, due to war, especially the expansion war of the Aden people, it was a disaster for the areas controlled by the Zhongbia Chaotang. The Zhongbia Chaotang area was completely caught in the flames of war. In order to reduce the pressure on the transportation lines, the Aden army launched a new Jingdi The region launched a cruel and comprehensive grain requisition, which eventually led to countless Central and African people dying of starvation and freezing every day. It also caused an even greater wave of refugees to collapse in the cold wind and snow. Driven by the Song people from the south, they marched northward The collision of crowds is really a garbled word. Almost every city is occupied by refugees. The refugees are like locusts, eating up all the food in a place. If there is really no food everywhere, I am afraid there will be a big disaster. Large-scale mass riots It is conservatively estimated that in just one winter last year, more than 5 million Central and African people died of cold and starvation. Starvation and death were everywhere along the roads. Phenomenons such as exchanging children for food and eating dead people were almost everywhere. And this The miserable situation continues to expand and spread

This is like a whirlpool-like endless cycle. The refugees eat up the food in the area, and the areas that have eaten up the food become new sources of refugees. It is getting bigger and bigger like a snowball. The fierce refugee flow of millions of people, this kind of Who dares to take on a catastrophe that could turn into a catastrophe at any time? If the Long family in the southwest opens the pass to accept the refugees, the Long family will be destroyed within a month. If the Song people in the south accept the refugees, the mountain people in the south will directly overthrow the rule of the Song people. Even the important town of Dijing West Road, Li Yuehua, who sympathized with the refugees in Central Asia, also ordered the Imperial Capital West Road to be closed to the south. The empire's 100,000 armored troops were on standby and blocked all front lines of the river.

Everyone can see it, but no one dares to pick it up. This is what happened last winter. And according to Li Yuehua’s report, someone still jumped out last winter, and that was Princess Mingyue. This woman took the risk to go to the southwest. The Long family, the Long family had sent someone to assassinate her at first. As a result, three days later, Princess Mingyue looked at a hundred-year-long traffic jam outside the southwest pass. Then Princess Mingyue went to the Song tribe in the south. A Central-Bian eldest princess entered the southern mountainous area and asked the Song tribe to rob the refugees. She immediately caused the entire southern mountainous area to explode. Before reaching the Song clan, there were already dangers along the way. Some people issued death threats, some shot hidden arrows, and some even intercepted them on the road.

Finally, relying on the empire's sign, Princess Mingyue arrived at the mountain city of the Song clan. However, the result was that Song Que, the leader of the Song clan, did not even see him and was directly turned away for fifteen days.

As a last resort, Princess Mingyue had no choice but to break her oath and go to the Zhongbia court. What she got was only a promise to save people if they were in trouble. If not, Princess Mingyue would not come to the Imperial Capital in person, even if she knew that she would be Even though people reviled him, he shamelessly asked the empire to send troops.

It is embarrassing to say it, and this is where Fatty secretly feels guilty. A group of tycoons in troubled times are pretending to turn a blind eye to the tragedy, but a woman is responsible for it alone. Therefore, although Fatty is angry in his heart, Princess Mingyue betrayed her previous oath and did not marry Zhongbia. The court completely drew a clear line, but still decided to see Princess Mingyue. Since all the forces in China and Bia are so ruthless, why should the empire take the entire blame? There are millions of refugees, and there are signs of change and riots at any time. Even the empire cannot handle them. The only thing that can be done now is to wait for the millions of refugees to settle down on their own.

In fact, the people who hold this idea are not just the Empire.

The Southwest Long Family purchased a large amount of grain at a high price from the South European Barrow region last winter. What did they do? The Song people in the south also placed a huge food order from imperial merchants, just to feed the mountain people. There was no need for so much food. Obviously, everyone was waiting for the Zhongbia imperial court to arrive on the 20th of Aden. The moment when the tens of thousands of troops collapsed, the moment when millions of refugees were unable to struggle due to hunger and hunger, finally turned from millions to one million, to hundreds of thousands.

At that time, the Long family in the southwest will go out to Guang Linchuan with strong troops and horses, and use the food in their hands to make all places obey the management of the Long family. The Song people in the south will also break their previous vow never to leave the mountains and use the food in their hands to control the most fertile rivers. All regions will be included, and then the southern mountain army will be driven out to fight for this royal authority.

But the fat man will definitely not say anything about this, because the one behind it is the empire! The Empire is waiting too! Waiting for the moment to wind up!