Chapter 035 Black Gold Chamber of Commerce
This world is a bit like the stand-alone World of Warcraft game in the previous life, with treasure hunting, killing monsters, mining, and exploring ruins... Before all the mysteries are explored, no one knows what secrets this continent contains and how vast it is.
The fog is full of endless unknowns.
Humans call the barren black land beneath their feet the Ice Ridge Wasteland.
The Ice Ridge Wasteland is huge, and the area that has been explored is larger than the total land area of the Earth in the previous life.
Countless steam-powered mechanical cities are moving across the Ice Ridge Wasteland, exploring, plundering, searching for treasures, competing for resources... and the map is being updated anytime and anywhere.
Humanity is divided into two empires, the Omar Empire in the north and the Theed Empire in the south.
There were often some local frictions between the two empires due to competition for large mineral deposits, but large-scale wars rarely occurred.
After all, the wasteland is huge, and the area that can be explored is endless...Humanity’s greatest enemy is the wasteland monsters in the fog, not the civil war.
The Omar Empire was divided into a total of seventy-two administrative provinces. The lord of each province was a high-ranking noble who was a hereditary duke. He owned a Behemoth Lord-level main mechanical city and countless secondary mechanical cities.
The system of hereditary aristocracy has resulted in most resources being concentrated in the hands of the old nobility. The classes have become solidified, and the seventy-two grand ducal families have not changed much over the past few hundred years.
The nobles have lost their spirit of adventure, and they can live very comfortably by guarding the inheritance passed down from their ancestors.
The path for the common people to enter the upper class has been almost blocked, and the descendants of the common people are destined to be exploited and oppressed from the moment they are born.
The only hope is to become a hunter and work hard to find treasure in the wilderness. Like Baron Morin, if you can find a world-shaking treasure, you can exchange some meat scraps from the mouths of high nobles in exchange for a small low-level noble title.
Social contradictions are getting bigger and bigger, and the progress of the Omar Empire in exploring the unknown fog area is getting slower and slower. These old nobles have lost the enterprising spirit of their ancestors and have gradually become a stumbling block to the progress of civilization.
And Spurgeon XV is the current Emperor Omar.
This ambitious emperor planned to carry out a "reform and change".
For example, he planned to lower the price of magic potions that were monopolized by the old nobles, so that everyone could advance to the extraordinary level; he also planned to open the Royal Academy to civilians and establish more basic academies, so that all civilians in the empire could learn basic knowledge for free...
The price of magic potions has been reduced, more civilians can advance to higher-level extraordinary levels, and they can explore more and more dangerous fog areas. Human civilization will make great strides forward...
If all people learn knowledge, a large number of civilian geniuses will be discovered. There will be more and more potion masters, scientists, and polymaths. The bottleneck restricting human progress will be broken, and the empire will become more and more powerful...
But the resistance is imaginable.
Genetic potions are the most valuable business in this world and are a "necessity" for humans to survive in this world. Without advancement to the extraordinary, humans will even find it difficult to survive in this harsh climate.
However, 99% of the magic potion sales industry on the market is monopolized by the upper nobles, which is also the best way for people at the top of the pyramid to exploit people at the bottom for hundreds of years.
Killing this goose that lays golden eggs is equivalent to cutting off the "milk" of most of the old aristocrats.
What does the strength of the empire have to do with me, and what does the progress of human civilization have to do with me?
Why are nobles noble?
If there were not hundreds of thousands of untouchables who could not afford to eat stepping on them in the noble territories, what right did they have to be superior to others?
Allowing every commoner to advance to the extraordinary level and enter the academy to learn knowledge, isn't this an infringement of the rights that only the nobles have?
In the long run, what is the difference between nobles and common people?
A competition of talent and hard work?
Haha... you are born a noble and can become rich and powerful by inheriting the family business. Why should you compete on the same starting line with a bunch of untouchables?
Therefore, after the reform, the upper class of the Omar Empire was divided into two factions: the minority of "reformists" who supported the emperor's reforms, and the majority of "conservatives" who secretly obstructed and wanted to maintain the status quo.
The eldest princess Ymir is the royal family member who is the most hardline in supporting her brother Spurgeon XV's reform plan!
The emperor's health is deteriorating now, and he probably won't live for many more years.
The eldest princess Ymir is known as the most talented royal family member of the Spurgeln family in hundreds of years. Her prestige in the country is even higher than that of all the princes!
If nothing unexpected happens, there is a high probability that Spurgeon XV will pass the throne to his sister Ymir instead of those mediocre princes!
The assassination of Ymir this time was actually a clash between the "conservatives" and "reformists" who represented the interests of the old aristocracy represented by the Queen.
Even the premature physical decline of King Spurgren XV was due to the conspiracy of those guys.
…
The steam train ran smoothly across the wasteland.
Shortly after Ryan and Ymir used the communication radio.
Tap, tap, tap!
There was a knock on the door.
"President."
"Enter."
In a carriage at the front of the train, a man who looked like a butler knocked on the door and walked in.
This section of the carriage was unusually warm, and the exquisite crystal chandelier illuminated the huge room.
The decoration in the room is very luxurious, with classical wooden furniture, exquisite Niel handmade cashmere carpets, and oil painting ornaments that are obviously the work of a master. Even the wine vessels on the table are made of pure silver. The room is full of luxury.
It was as if this was not a carriage, but a palace.
There was only one person in the room.
This is a beautiful woman wearing a high-slit lace cheongsam.
At this moment, she was lazily lying on a chair, flipping through a thick stack of account books, with her legs crossed on the edge of the table, and her cheongsam slit to the crotch allowed her long, beautiful legs to be seen clearly.
"President Canossa, someone just used the communication radio in the car to send ten encrypted messages."
Even though he could see the boundless spring scenery by looking up, the butler kept his head down the whole time after entering the room, as if there was a fear from the bottom of his heart that made him dare not look directly at it.
If there were any business people here, they would definitely recognize this charming woman as the legendary vice president of the [Black Gold Chamber of Commerce], Canossa J. Klofeller.
This is the name of a formidable and vast empire of money.
Almost all the business of the high-ranking nobles in the two empires has dealings with this "Black Gold Chamber of Commerce".
The "Thorn Birds Chamber of Commerce" to which this train belongs is one of the largest chambers of commerce in several southern provinces of Oma, and is just an inconspicuous small chamber of commerce under the "Black Gold Chamber of Commerce".
Hearing this,
The beautiful woman in cheongsam didn't raise her eyebrows, and asked calmly: "Did you crack it?"
The butler shook his head and said, "It's impossible in a short time. Judging from the skilled encryption method she used, she seems to be an informant of the Omar Royal Intelligence Group's 'Blackwater Station'."
"oh."
The beautiful woman in cheongsam said: "Then don't worry about it. There is a big turmoil in the Omar royal family right now, and the political situation is very sensitive... No matter which side the person who summoned the message is from, we will not get involved."
"Yes, President."
The butler nodded and continued, "President, you said that the secret message from the headquarters wanted to confirm whether the news that Her Royal Highness the Princess was assassinated was accurate so that a follow-up plan could be made..."
When the beautiful woman in cheongsam heard the news, her charming face showed some emotion.
"Just treat her as if she were dead."
She added: "Whether it is true or not, it doesn't matter. Now that Baron Askopa has been accused of treason, the biggest support of the 'reformists' is gone. Without military power, there is no right to speak. No matter who comes, it will be impossible to turn the tide."
The Black Gold Chamber of Commerce's information channels are spread all over the world, which allows her to know more about the inside story.
After a pause, she continued, "Queen Omar made a decisive move by forcing General Baron to rebel. Even if the princess hadn't died, her situation would not have been any better when she returned to the imperial capital."
A businessman revealed the current situation of the entire upper echelons of the Omar royal family in just a few words, and it was extremely thorough.
If someone who understands politics were here, they would be shocked.
"That……"
The butler continued, "Master, General Baron has taken away some of the most elite mechanic corps of the empire this time. What should we do with the supply agreement we signed with them before... "
The beautiful woman in cheongsam looked disapproving and said, "Business remains the same, according to the contract. Anyway, both sides have investments, so no matter who sits on the throne, it will not have much impact on our Chamber of Commerce."
After a pause, she seemed to have lost interest in the matter and asked, "By the way, what's the situation in the Ash Forest?"
The housekeeper said solemnly: " The mineral deposits on the outskirts of that place have been preliminarily explored. It is a top-grade rich mine. The reserves of 'high-burning coal' in the shallow layer alone are huge. However, the savage tribe over there is very troublesome, and there is no good way to solve it yet..."
The beautiful woman in cheongsam asked again: "Where is the temple?"
Steward: "It has been confirmed that there is a temple deep in the forest that should be the temple of one of the 72 Divine Knights of the Black Emperor. However, there are wild priests stationed there. Unless a large force is forcibly wiped out, it is impossible to get close."
The beautiful woman in the cheongsam had a gleam in her eyes. She said, "Then spread the news and attract more wasteland hunters to open up the wasteland. Our Chamber of Commerce must get the inheritance of the ruins!"
"Got it, President. I'll do it right away..."
The butler bowed lower and lower, then turned and walked out.
