Volume 3: Artifacts Chapter 99: The Departing Train
Luke couldn't help but smile after learning from the visiting Acting Dean of Makatina that King Sanye wanted to board the Kirov steam airship.
In the Emerald King's Court, King Sanye was the host, and the Golden Shield King's Court was the guest. In terms of status, King Sanye was the ruler of the Emerald Forest, while he was only the Prime Minister of a country, so there was a big difference in status. According to etiquette, he should go to the Emerald Lakeside Palace to visit.
It would be very disrespectful for King Sanye to take the initiative to propose a visit to the Prime Minister of the Golden Shield Empire who had come from afar, so Makatina brought the message this time.
So Luke publicly sent an invitation letter to Emerald Lake: King Clover was sincerely invited to visit the Kirov steam airship.
King Sanye gained face, and the Golden Shield Empire also gained face.
Soon King Sanye led a delegation of elders aboard the Kirov steam airship to start formal negotiations between the Emerald Forest and the Golden Shield Empire.
Mrs. Michelle has almost reached an agreement with Emerald Forest on cooperation in business trade and alchemy technology. After both parties agree on the terms, they only need Luke and King Sanye to sign for it to take effect.
Joining the "Free Trade Body" is the core of the negotiations between the two sides.
Among them, currency interoperability and weakening the role of the World Bank's gold certificates in trade are the core purposes of the Golden Shield Empire's establishment of a "free trade body".
Emerald Forest's joining the "Free Trade Body" has already touched the sensitive nerves of the World Bank. It does not want to continue to stimulate the Golden People by weakening the gold vouchers, so the negotiation of details has become very difficult.
The alliance just signed with the Dragon Kingdom is the basis of King Sanye's confidence. He tries to gain more benefits for the Emerald Forest by joining the "Free Trade Body".
During the first negotiation, the two sides argued for more than ten hours, but by late night they had not reached a result that was acceptable to both sides.
Luke had expected this situation, and he had no intention of getting the deal done in a short period of time.
The purpose of the Golden Shield Empire's support for the Emerald Forest is to buy horse bones with a lot of money. Now the momentum has been built up all over the world. If it ends too quickly, it will give people the feeling that the Golden Shield Empire is bullying the weak and taking advantage of others.
Anyway, the piece of meat from Emerald Forest is already in my mouth, so there is no rush to swallow it.
So when the two sides agreed to continue the talks tomorrow, Luke said to King Sanye: "Your Majesty, I will return to the empire tomorrow. I will entrust the next negotiations to Madam Michel."
King Sanye was surprised that the meteorite suddenly returned: "Is it because we made you feel neglected?"
"No, no... The enthusiasm of the forest elves makes me feel as relaxed as if I were at home." Luke said with a smile, "It's mainly because I've been away for too long this time. There are still many things waiting for me to deal with in the Imperial Court and Raging Wave City. Especially the ascension of the new emperor, there can't be any accidents."
Hearing that Meteorite was not leaving because of neglect, King Sanye breathed a sigh of relief: "Yes, for the Golden Shield Empire, nothing is more important than the new emperor's enthronement. I have received an invitation to the ceremony, and I will definitely go to Saint Lun City to congratulate him."
"On behalf of the Empire, I extend my sincerest welcome to your Majesty King Sanye. The signing ceremony for Emerald Forest's entry into the 'Free Trade Community' will be held during the ceremony."
King Sanye stood up and held out his hand to Luke: "It will be signed during the ceremony. I wish you a safe journey."
Luke shook hands with the Three-Leaf King and said, "Thank you! I also wish you will lead the Emerald Forest to a path of prosperity. The Kirov steam airship will stay here. I have given orders to allow Your Majesty to visit at will."
King Sanye could not hide his joy when he heard that he could visit the Kirov airship freely.
After entering the airship cabin, the forest elves felt a stronger shock than from the outside, as if they had traveled to another world. A large amount of magic technology was used here, and many things were things the forest elves had never heard of. There was also a high concentration of magic energy, making the mages feel as if they were immersed in a sea of magic energy.
Just now, King Sanye was still thinking about how to learn some magic techniques from the Kirov steam airship, but he didn't expect that the Prime Minister of Meteorite would allow visitors to visit. He believed that with the ability of the forest elf alchemist, it would be no problem for him to learn some magic techniques.
King Sanye held Luke's hands with both of his own: "Thank you, Prime Minister of Meteorite. You and the Golden Shield Empire will definitely be rewarded for your help to the Emerald Forest!"
Luke also held the Three-Leaf King with both hands: "I believe in the character of the forest elves. I will wait for you, Your Majesty, in Saint Lun City."
"good!"
King Clover led the Emerald Forest delegation away from the Kirov steam airship. After Luke explained the bottom line of the Golden Shield Empire to Mrs. Michelle, he rode the Black Dragon Bare back to the empire overnight.
He had indeed wasted too much time in the Emerald Forest. As Queen Christina's coronation ceremony was approaching, he, as the Prime Minister of the Empire, had to return to the imperial capital as soon as possible to take charge of the situation and prevent any accidents from happening.
Night fell over the sea, and a black dragon roared across the starry sky.
The brightly lit Emerald Court became increasingly distant, until only the moon above his head accompanied Luke on this long journey.
After a while, the black dragon Barie said, "King Taotie!"
Luke corrected him: "The Taotie King is just one of my unknown identities. Now I am Meteorite, the Prime Minister of the Golden Shield Empire."
"I'm sorry, Prime Minister of Meteorite." The black dragon Barle now showed great respect to Luke: "Are you willing to take a detour to the Dragon Kingdom? You have allowed the dragons to return to the Emerald Forest after a thousand years. The dragon kings all want to see you. They also know that the Taotie King is the descendant of the deceased Dragon King."
Luke considered the option of taking a detour to Dragon Country, but finally said with regret: "If I go to Dragon Country at this time, I don't know what will delay my time. Besides, there will be no substantial effect except getting to know the Dragon Kings.
When we return to the imperial capital, you will visit the Dragon Kings of Dragon Country on my behalf. Bring the invitation from the Golden Shield Empire, hoping that Dragon Country will send a delegation to attend the coronation ceremony of Queen Christina. The scale does not need to be too large, four or five Dragon Kings will be enough. "
The black dragon Barie replied: "I will obey your will! I think the Dragon Kingdom will be able to welcome our new king soon!"
Luke laughed and patted the black dragon Bale on the head: "I am a human, and Taotie is just a young dragon who knows nothing. How can those unruly dragon kings surrender to him?"
“I give in!”
Luke laughed even louder and looked up at the sky. The moon was round like a disk, and a figure was flying in the middle of the moonlight.
…
With the help of magic, the black dragon Bale flew very fast and arrived at the City of Raging Waves across the ocean the next afternoon.
Luke had just landed at his governor when he received a message.
The newly formed Restoration Society of Rio won the general election, formed the National Assembly, and officially came to power. The Restoration Society was founded on the exiled government of the former Rio Republic. After absorbing a group of nobles and local tyrants from the old kingdom, it became the largest political group in Rio. It won the election by overwhelmingly defeating other competitors .
The new ruling parliament did not restore the Republic of Rio, but instead honored Yin, who was far away in the Golden Valley, as the Queen of Rio and established the Kingdom of Rio as a constitutional monarchy.
The envoys from the Kingdom of Rio have arrived in Nutao City, hoping to gain recognition from the Golden Shield Empire and re-establish diplomatic relations between the two countries. Because the Prime Minister of the Empire was away, Queen Christina had not approved the envoys to go to Saint Lun City, so they stayed in Nutao City, waiting for the Prime Minister of Meteorite to return home.
Luke returned to his office and quickly checked the information he had collected about the Kingdom of Rio. Outside the window, the black dragon Barle flew away. He had to go to the Dragon Kingdom as soon as possible so that the Dragon Kingdom delegation could attend the Queen's coronation ceremony in time.
From the existing data, it can be seen that the evolution of Rio's political situation has been under the surveillance of the Imperial Secret Service. The Kingdom of Rio has been infiltrated by the Secret Service like a sieve, and politicians are willing to sell anything to gain the support of the Empire.
The Leo Kingdom delegation came ostensibly to establish diplomatic relations, but in fact, each of them held a cooperation plan representing their respective factions.
The war of restoration and the chaos caused by Pan's death destroyed Rio's original interest system. In addition, the naval blockade of the Golden Shield Empire led to the closure of factories, a large number of people were unemployed, and production resources were sold at a low price but could not be sold everywhere.
At this time, whoever has the capital to enter Rio first can enjoy this feast to his heart's content.
The only countries in the world that have this power are the World Bank and the Golden Shield Empire.
The people of Rio knew that they were too close to the Golden Shield Empire. Whoever dared to bring the World Bank in would not see the sun the next day. Therefore, all parties in Rio were trying their best to get their people into the delegation, just waiting to sell themselves for a good price and get a share of the profits from the capital of Nutao City.
Queen Christina also saw that the Leo delegation was too complicated, so she didn't let them go to Saint Lun City. Another meaning is that she knew that Leo was a dish that Meteorite had been planning for a long time, and keeping it until Meteorite came back was to express that she had no interest in this dish.
Attached to the information about the New Leo Kingdom is a report on the current status of Leo's various industries.
Rio's economic system collapsed, inflation made the country's currency like waste paper, and all hard assets were sold at rock-bottom prices.
It is the best time to buy at the bottom.
In order to buy out Leo, the capitalists in Nutao City are already sharpening their knives, waiting for the Prime Minister of Meteorite to return to the country and issue orders.
Ibel, who was already the empire's finance minister, even came all the way from Saint Lun City to Nutao City for this purpose. He got his knife and fork in the city government hall and waited for the meal to start.
Now that the food was on the table, Luke didn't hesitate.
Summon the Leo Kingdom delegation.
The next day, the Governor's Office of Nutao City announced that the Nutao City Bank would provide the Kingdom of Leo with a loan worth 5 billion Imperial Marks for the Kingdom of Leo's infrastructure construction.
The City of Nutao fully funded the renovation of the Rio Palace, and the renovated Rio Palace was opened to the public as a museum.
The Prime Minister of the Empire, Meteor, expressed his willingness to facilitate the restoration of diplomatic relations between the Empire and the Kingdom of Rio, and invited the Speaker of the Rio National Assembly to come to Saint Lun City to participate in the Empire celebration.
The Raging Waves Merchants Group established the Rio Kingdom Economic and Trade Investment Committee, with the Prime Minister of Meteoric Star as the chairman and Minister Ibul as the vice chairman. The Rio Kingdom Economic and Trade Investment Committee is responsible for coordinating the investment of Raging Waves merchants in Rio, avoiding vicious competition, and helping Rio's industries get out of trouble and resume production as soon as possible.
Before the Kingdom of Rio issues a new national currency, the Imperial Mark and the old Rio currency can be circulated in Rio at the same time. The City of Raging Waves encourages merchants going to the Kingdom of Rio to use the Imperial Mark for transactions, which helps the Kingdom of Rio quickly accumulate Imperial Marks for importing necessities from the Empire.
The Prime Minister of Meteorite proposed to make Samuel Port in the Kingdom of Leo a free port, allowing imperial warships to dock freely for supplies.
The Prime Minister of Meteorite suggested that the Kingdom of Leo apply to the Empire for garrison to make up for the lack of national defense.
Prime Minister Meteorite proposed to help the Kingdom of Rio form a national defense army, abolish local warlords and illegal armed forces, and concentrate the command of the army under the leadership of Congress.
Prime Minister Meteorite proposed that the Kingdom of Rio join the "Free Trade Body".
Prime Minister Meteorite proposed that the Kingdom of Leo revise its textbooks to downplay the historical conflicts between the two countries and increase the intimacy between the two countries.
The Prime Minister of Meteorite proposed...
…
As if hearing the starting gun, ships and airships swarmed out of Raging Waves City and headed eastward. The Rio Kingdom ahead lowered all its defenses and waited for the thugs to come.
According to calculations by the Prime Minister's staff, after this great harvest, more than half of the economy of the Rio Kingdom will be controlled by the capital of the City of Raging Tides. Among them, heavy industries and high-precision industries such as steel, machinery, and alchemy will be directly or indirectly controlled by the Yanyang Group.
It can be said that the economic lifeline of the entire Leo Kingdom is in Luke's hands. A comprador class will be born within the Leo Kingdom to become the white glove of the capital of the City of Fury and be used to manipulate the Leo economy.
As for the upper ruling structure of the Rio Kingdom, they will be trapped in the election infighting designed by Luke. The capital of Fury City finances puppets through white gloves, and the obedient ones will be promoted and the disobedient ones will be demoted.
What the lower-class civilians can see are the members of parliament and the speaker whom they elected with their own votes. If they have any complaints, just replace them with a new group.
In this way, the upper and lower parts are connected, and the reins are hidden on one side. As long as the Golden Shield Empire does not fall, the Kingdom of Rio will not be able to escape from this siege.
So far, Leo, who had been on the side of the bed and made the emperors of the Golden Shield Empire restless, has been completely solved. Once Samuel Port is acquired, it will be like two gates stuck on both sides of this waterway with the City of Raging Waves. Most maritime countries want to follow the World Bank in sanctioning the Golden Shield Empire. First of all, they have to consider how much loss this route can bring to them.
I wonder if Yin is doing well in Golden Valley?
After sending Leo's delegation away, Luke couldn't help standing by the window and looking at the ocean outside. A strong wind blew, bringing with it surging waves. Some ships sailed out of the port against the waves, and some airships fought against the strong winds. Their belief in a better future made them dare to face the strong winds and waves.
The empire was ready at this time. It was like a train with its turbine running. After all faults were eliminated, it was rushing towards the dawn.
"Master Prime Minister!" Ye Guo pushed the door open and walked in, his specially made boots clacking on the marble tiles. "The airship to the imperial capital is ready. Now there's a sudden strong wind outside, should we postpone the departure time?"
Luke turned and walked out the door: "No ! This kind of wind is nothing, we're leaving now!"
