Chapter 216 Alchemy Barons
The next day, Zaun.
There are still six days left until the deadline given by the leader.
Because of the invitation for cooperation from the Ferros family, the alchemy barons who ruled various districts of Zaun gathered together for a rare occasion in the Fulgrim Tavern in the underground alley.
Finn, Voss, Wolverine, Patrol, Winchester Spendlaw...
Some of them are Piltover cooperation factions, some are Zaun independence factions, some are against Hilco, some support Hilco, some are strategic allies, and some are competitors.
But no matter what their positions or relationships were, they all showed rare and unprecedented unity at this time.
"Everyone, we can't sit still and wait for death any longer."
"It's only been a few months, and the Wind Leaders have already infiltrated every corner of Zaun. If we don't take action, we will be the next Takeda Saito."
These words resonated deeply with the alchemist barons present.
They had had enough.
Although Leader currently only occupies the territory of the former Takeda Group, its influence has spread to the entire Zaun in an unstoppable manner in the past six months .
Relying on the protection of the Noxian Empire, Camille dared to blatantly ban the faith of Janna across the canal.
However, these "poor" alchemy barons were trapped on this side of the canal by a piece of "Zu-Nor Non-Aggression Treaty", and were locked up with tigers who made no secret of their desire to eat them.
The lessons of Takeda and Saito are not far away, and as the leader of Zaun, Hilko has always been ambiguous and unmoved.
The alchemy barons are already a group of scattered sand. Who dares to take the lead to stop the infiltration of the leader's ideas?
then……
Janna's faith ignited the entire Zaun like a flame, causing the poor and weak who had originally had to survive in darkness to suddenly emit light and heat.
When the fire started, the alchemist barons were naturally roasted on the fire.
"I don't even dare to do slave labor now."
Countess Voss, who loved to kill people, sighed deeply.
In the "future", she could even drive Urgot crazy, but now she dares not offend even ordinary slaves. Because...
"The leader's propagandists, relying on Levi's support, are blatantly infiltrating my mine..."
"They've only been here a few days, and now even these coal miners can control the airflow like mages."
"It seems that Goddess Janna is really on their side." Voss's face looked extremely ugly.
"Alas." Petrok, who runs the alchemy factory, also sighed: "Vos, at this time, you still dare to use slave labor?"
"I was forced into a corner by those leaders a long time ago, and I burned the slave laborers' indentures."
"Stop talking." Baron Wenche was even more distressed: "I was forced to arrange a ten-hour workday and double the workers' wages."
The other alchemist barons were not much better.
With the emergence and growth of the leaders, they suddenly "found their conscience" and began to actively burn slave contracts, liberate slaves, and even increase wages and benefits for workers.
Suddenly, Zaun seemed like Piltover. Everyone had learned how to win people's hearts.
"Actually, this is a good idea..." an alchemist baron muttered softly.
Because he found that when his peers were forced to increase their labor costs and product prices, the company's recent sales and profits did not decline as he had expected.
Because even if the price of Zaun's products increases, people in Piltover will still them.
After all, economic globalization is still just a future vision in Runeterra. Apart from Zaun, there is almost no other heavy industrial city of this scale in the world.
Many products can only be provided by Zaun, and the people of Piltover cannot find alternatives for the time being.
If they want to transfer the industrial chain to a place where human life is less valuable and labor is cheaper, they will have to invest huge amounts of financial and material resources to support the establishment of a "Zuan" of the same size in other places.
But how could this be so easy?
Apart from other things, due to the backward shipping technology in today's world, the high transportation costs of bulk commodities alone have meant that it is difficult for Piltover to get rid of Zaun, which is so close, and to support a second "Zuan" as a substitute elsewhere in a short period of time.
So, although the alchemy barons raised the wages of their workers, they also made more profits from the Piltover people.
It seems like a good idea to let the people of Piltover pay more money and pay Zaun workers more wages.
"What good is that!" Countess Voss retorted, "Those poor bastards dare to ask us for salary and benefits now, who knows what else they will ask us for in the future!"
"Besides, can't you see that the Leader doesn't want us to continue to exist!"
"Do you think they will let you go if you just give them a raise? Ridiculous!"
Her words resonated with the alchemy barons.
If an entrepreneur in Piltover has relatively clean hands, and turns to the light early and actively cooperates with the reform, he can still escape liquidation.
However, people like Elvin, Mel, and Caitlyn, who invested in Janna early, made great contributions and accomplished great deeds, and who have truly undergone a change of mind and have devout faith, will not only not be liquidated, but will even be able to hold high positions in the Leaders Association.
But they are different.
As Zaun's chem-barons, their hands were stained with blood. They were afraid that they would be dragged out by the Leader for trial and reckoning like Takeda Saito, and hung on street lamps to bask in the sun.
As a result, even the last bit of compromise quickly disappeared from the mouths of the alchemist barons.
They all agreed: "The Leaders Association and we are doomed to fight to the death."
"Now that the Wind Leader Association is aggressively provoking Noxus, this is our last chance - we should accept the cooperation invitation from the Ferros family and fight alongside Piltover and Noxus."
The alchemy barons quickly reached a consensus.
Then, everyone looked tentatively at the two people sitting in the main seats——
These two are none other than the two most powerful alchemy barons in Zaun today, Renata and Hilco.
"Hilco, Renata, what do you think?" The alchemy barons all hoped that they would be the leader.
"I agree." Renata spoke sparingly.
She said coldly, then closed her eyes and began to recuperate.
It was as if the war that was almost certain to take place six days later and would determine their life and death had nothing to do with her.
Because Renata knew that these alchemy barons were actually dead.
She volunteered to come here to act for the Leader simply because she couldn't stand the "mental treatment" of being forced to accept Janna's ideological education every day in the labor camp.
It seemed as if the Leader really wanted to try to change her mind.
But for someone like her, it's impossible to change.
When Renata heard those positive stories , she felt sick from the bottom of her heart. In the end, she had no desire to live anymore, so she asked Levi to promise her that as long as she cooperated with the performance, he would give her a quick death. That's why she came to act with the intention of wanting to die.
And the protagonist of this play is not her, but Hilco.
After she finished her lines, it was Hilco's turn to appear.
"Everyone." Hilco slowly stood up from his seat .
The godfather of the Zaun people, the leader of the chem-barons, asked in his calm but dignified tone: "Have you all decided to join the war?"
"Yes." The alchemy barons have made up their minds.
But Hilco did not agree directly.
It was unlike him to agree so readily.
Hilco just looked at the alchemy barons.
His eyes were slightly disturbed and he sighed slightly, but he didn't look like he was acting.
Because among these alchemy barons, although many are his enemies, there are also many who are his friends.
Many of them were close comrades who had fought together with him and Vandall against the cruel rule of Piltover.
Finally, Hilco looked at these former comrades, the warriors who once fought for Zaun:
"In order to deal with the Wind Leader, you can even cooperate with the Ferros family that killed countless of our brothers, and willingly become a vassal of Piltover—"
"Everyone, can I understand it this way?"
