Dragon's Origin

Chapter 609: Tearing Down the City Walls (Part 2)

Wang Sheng, as usual, didn't wait for Mei'er and Qiangwei this time; he returned alone first. After getting back, he plunged straight into the workshop and continued his carving.

Mei'er and Qiangwei didn't return together until evening, and then excitedly told Wang Sheng how much the Empress cared for them, giving them this jewelry and that tonic. Although they could buy these things at any time, and someone would probably deliver them to their door with a mere gesture, these were gifts from the Empress, and the meaning was definitely different.

Especially Qiangwei, who was repeatedly instructed by the Empress to take good care of Wang Sheng and Mei'er's lives. For this, she was also rewarded with a whole set of court tea sets, as well as a set of jewelry and headdresses. Qiangwei was as happy as if she had won the top prize in the imperial exam.

Silly girl, you're hooked after being praised a few times and given some things. Can't you see that the Empress is helping Mei'er stabilize her position? In the end, Qiangwei is only responsible for taking care of Wang Sheng and Mei'er's lives, so her status is naturally lower than Mei'er.

During dinner that night, Wang Sheng told Mei'er about what happened today.

"Mei'er, there's something related to you that you have the right to know. You can choose to pretend to be confused first and ask later, or you can know now. Choose for yourself!" Wang Sheng couldn't decide whether to tell Mei'er or not, but he felt that not telling her would be unfair. He decided to let Mei'er choose for herself.

"Then tell me!" Mei'er smiled, helped Wang Sheng put a piece of food onto the small plate in front of him, and then said, "It can't be more shocking than the news that I'm the daughter of the Emperor, right?"

"It's barely good news!" Wang Sheng ate the food that Mei'er had given him without being polite, and then slowly said, "The Empress... might be your biological mother."

"How is that possible?" Mei'er's eyes widened directly. Although she had known for a long time that the Emperor was her biological father, like Wang Sheng, she had always thought that her biological mother was dead. Now that Wang Sheng suddenly said this, Mei'er was a little excited.

Wang Sheng explained the Emperor's words today, and then asked Mei'er, "You've been in contact with the Empress for so long, have you felt anything?"

"I just feel like she's being too good to me." Mei'er looked incredulous, with a hint of surprise. She had always thought that she was an orphan who had lost both parents and was raised by others, but now she suddenly had both parents, and they were the most honorable people in the world. The great happiness made Mei'er a little unbelievable.

Qiangwei also widened her eyes. Wang Sheng had told her to be careful of the Empress before he left, saying that being so good to Mei'er must be for some other purpose. Suddenly, their relationship changed like this, and it seemed that the previous strangeness could be explained all at once.

"There's a 90% chance it's true." Wang Sheng smiled. It would be best if Mei'er had a biological mother to love her: "If you have the opportunity, you can have an in-depth chat, maybe you can find out a lot of royal secrets."

"I'm not interested in royal secrets." Although Mei'er was excited, she also knew what was good and what could not be easily inquired about. Her current state was so good, why should she actively throw herself into the bottomless pit of the royal family?

"In addition, I discussed a business deal with the Emperor." After Mei'er calmed down, Wang Sheng told her about the things he had discussed with the Emperor: "It was originally just a small business of tens of millions or hundreds of millions, but I couldn't help but say a little more, and it became a business of almost 10 billion gold coins. Fortunately, the Emperor agreed to split it 50-50 early on, otherwise you would have to fight for it."

"A business of 10 billion gold coins?" Even though Mei'er and Qiangwei were used to businesses of hundreds of millions of gold coins, they were still stunned when they heard about a business of 10 billion gold coins. Was there such a huge business in this world? Did he buy the entire imperial city?

"Not the entire imperial city, but most of the capital." Wang Sheng explained with a smile. He repeated what he had said to the Emperor, and then said a little embarrassedly, "That's it. If it really gets done, I'm afraid it can be very big."

"Oh my God!" After listening, Mei'er and Qiangwei were all in a daze. A business of 10 billion was not a joke, but real?

"Why didn't you say so earlier, Duke? We've lost a lot!" The first thing Mei'er said after she reacted was to complain to Wang Sheng: "If you had said so earlier, we could have operated it ourselves. It would be better than splitting it 50-50! Giving him such a large sum of gold coins for nothing is a huge loss!"

"Alright!" Wang Sheng smiled and said to Qiangwei, "It seems that I didn't spoil my wife for nothing. She knows how to move things from her father's house to her own."

Qiangwei chuckled, saying nothing, just watching Mei'er act strangely.

Next, Wang Sheng regretted it.

He shouldn't have told Mei'er and Qiangwei about these things during dinner. As a result, after dinner, the two money-grubbers kicked Wang Sheng aside and began to discuss how credible this matter was, how to operate it, how much start-up capital was needed to start, and so on. Because the two women were too excited to talk, they were still energized when Wang Sheng wanted to sleep, leaving Wang Sheng aside, and he could only sleep alone.

Mei'er and Qiangwei, who were used to hundreds of millions of gold coins, were like this, and the reaction of the Emperor, who had been short of money since he was a child, was obvious. Even before Mei'er and Qiangwei could discuss a result, the Emperor summoned representatives from various vassal states early the next morning and announced it in a hurry.

The first thing was protection fees. To live in the inner city, you must have a title. The transaction tax for buying and selling houses and land is 10%, and the tax for living and working in peace is 10%. If they are children of the lords of various vassal states, they are allowed to use gold coins to buy titles no higher than two levels below their father's and no lower than the lowest baron. Each country is only allowed one such quota. As for others, they must perform meritorious service to be conferred a title.

Fortunately, in order to deal with the Shan Yue Kingdom, the Emperor had already given each country a few blank imperial decrees, with the titles already filled in, but the names and fiefs were blank, allowing them to find their own patriarchs to figure out what to do.

As soon as this news came out, the unified reaction of the representatives of various parties was, did the Emperor want gold coins so badly that he went crazy? He actually came up with such a way to amass wealth?

The representatives of the various parties were about to object, but were stopped by the Emperor in advance. The matter had not been announced yet. Immediately afterwards, the Emperor announced the second thing.

The Emperor will tear down all the city walls of the inner and outer cities of the capital outside the imperial city. This is to show the Emperor's and the royal family's attitude of not participating in the struggle for hegemony in the world.

After announcing this, the Emperor asked the representatives of various parties what they meant.

What else could they mean? At this time, whoever opposed was a fool and a moron. No matter what, the Emperor was willing to abolish his martial arts, wouldn't everyone welcome it? Compared to this, isn't it just a little bit of greed for gold coins? Give it!