Mystery: The arrival of the new Black Emperor

Hobert came to Audrey today to talk to her about the precautions for diplomatic work.

He picked up the tea cup and took a sip of tea, and continued to say to Audrey: "Don't be fooled by the international relations in the newspapers. The real cooperation model and benefit transactions will not be published in the newspapers, and very few people even know about it.

"For example, this negotiation with the Eternal Sun Church seems to be an 'ice-breaking' negotiation, but in fact it is a 'routine negotiation' that will be standardized later.

"After the conflict between the two parties in the future, it will no longer affect the cooperation in the Northern Continent, but there must be a practice of exchanging extraordinary characteristics to prevent the extraordinary characteristics of both parties from leaking out."

Audrey's exposure to the aristocratic family since childhood made her understand immediately: "If both parties want to get back their own extraordinary characteristics, they can exchange them 1:1.

"But like this war, the Principality of South Balam won and captured many extraordinary properties of the Eternal Sun Church. If the Eternal Sun Church is defeated, they need to exchange for double the extraordinary properties."

Hobert smiled and nodded: "That's probably the truth."

"But..." Audrey still has some questions: "But I still find it difficult to accept the mode of fighting and cooperating at the same time. Wouldn't it... wouldn't it feel very fragmented?"

“All relationships between organizations are, to put it bluntly, a relationship of competition and distribution of interests.” Hobert further explained: “Negotiations, wars, confrontations, and cooperation are all means of competing for or dividing interests. "

“Just like in the Republic of Intis, the Church of the Eternal Blazing Sun and the ‘Light of the Earl’ have common interests, so they can cooperate.

“But in the Southern Continent, there was a conflict, so we fought.

"But the conflict in the Southern Continent is not so serious that it requires sacrificing the relevant interests of the Northern Continent. So it is very simple, just fight and cooperate at the same time."

Hobert said seriously: "Never polarize diplomatic negotiations into "peace" or "war." Peace and war are not the main battlefields of diplomatic negotiations. Your main battlefield is between peace and war.

"And the core of your work is actually the division of profits!"

Audrey felt that she was greatly inspired, and she suddenly had a very clear understanding of the next work.

Three hours later, at the dinner table of Earl Hall's family.

After hearing Audrey's description, Earl Hall was surprised at first, but then quickly felt that it seemed reasonable: "Hobert has a very thorough understanding of the purpose of diplomacy."

Audrey took the spoon and asked: "But father, I have consulted many experts in the field of diplomacy during this period. Why can't any of them describe my work so clearly like Hobert?"

Earl Hall took a sip of wine before smiling and said: "Currently, there are only two diplomats in the entire Northern Continent who are recognized diplomats."

Audrey was delighted, and it was clear that Hobert had received high praise from his father.

At this time, Earl Hall's secretary entered the restaurant under the leadership of the butler: "Sorry, everyone, I disturbed your meal."

Then the secretary said: "Mr. Earl, the Prime Minister called just now and asked you to come over immediately."

Earl Hall wiped his hands with a napkin and stood up: "Okay."

After leaving the restaurant, he asked his secretary: "Is there anything urgent?"

The secretary took a deep breath: "The defense line on the south coast of Jianhai has been lost."

…

A blizzard hit the northern part of the Loen Kingdom, and the industrial town of Constant City turned into a white city as if overnight.

As the sound of gunfire gets closer and closer to the city, the place is now in chaos. The streets are full of fleeing pedestrians, and the thick snow has been trampled hard and becomes very slippery.

Car accidents and quarrels often occur due to slipping or uncontrollable sliding.

At the same time, the entire city has almost no security at all, and thieves and robbers are rampant.

In the noisy and crowded street, suddenly a young man dressed in formal clothes and dressed as a manager stood on a wine barrel and shouted: "Are there any steelmaking workers? Our factory is recruiting steelmaking workers and will use the CT-15 steelmaking production line. workers are given priority.

"As long as you complete your application, we will send you and your family directly to the new factory in the south of Backlund by carriage. We will also provide working meals and staff dormitories. Your family can also live in the dormitory. The weekly salary is 1 pound 8 sole..."

Before the manager could finish shouting, he was already surrounded by people applying for the job.

This recruitment manager, of course from "Earl's Light", encountered an embarrassing problem in the heavy industry center built in the southern continent. The equipment purchased before was too advanced and many workers were not very good at using it.

Just like the CT-15 steelmaking production line that the manager just mentioned, it is currently the most advanced steelmaking production line in the Loen Kingdom and even in the entire world. Only a few large steelmaking plants in Conston City have a large number of them. Workers who are skilled in using this production line.

If the front line on the south coast of Jianhai had not been lost, it would have been difficult for "Earl's Light" to recruit such skilled workers.

Well, now, if you shout this on the street, the salary is not very high, but in just about 3 minutes, more than a hundred workers who meet the requirements have come to apply.

Because the "Light of the Earl", or the conditions offered by the Principality of South Balam, seemed to be prepared for these fleeing workers.

The carriage is delivered to the new factory, and food and accommodation are also taken care of. You must know that the price of renting a carriage in the city is ridiculously high. Just going out of the city costs 10 pounds!

Train and carriage tickets were charged sky-high prices. Even if ordinary workers spent all their savings, it would be difficult for their families to leave the city by these means of transportation.

The workers could only flee with their families carrying their luggage, but due to the congestion on the roads, they were already tired before they even left the city.

In addition, it is said that some gangsters are already waiting outside the city, waiting for people who cannot afford tickets to come to their doors.

At this time, the manager shouted again: "Are there any workers who know all kinds of machine tools produced by Box Company? Just anyone who knows lathes, milling machines, boring machines, drilling machines, and grinders will be enough..."

In the Heston Hotel across the street, Hobert sat in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, watching the manager shouting hard, watching the workers rushing to sign up, watching the confusion and confusion on people's faces, and watching the ignorance of the children. Or cry.

Today, on every street in Constantinople City, there is a manager recruiting people. Successful applicants will be immediately taken to a large power plant under construction in the suburbs.

Bread, hot soup and hot water will be provided there. After everyone is full and full, the people from the South Balam Principality government will use the teleportation array just built there to send the workers directly to the southern continent.

After arriving at Crolier City, he showed them the working environment and then told them that they were already in the South Balam Principality, which was indeed the south of Backlund, but a little too south.

If it were directly about the job opportunities in the Southern Continent, workers would probably regard the recruitment managers as human traffickers.

Hobert smiled: "This is also a white lie."

At this time, Todd knocked on the door tiredly and came in: "Grand Duke, it's settled, it cost 13,000 pounds."

"Very good." Hobert poured him a glass of red wine: "Take a rest, there will be a negotiation later."

As the front line in southern Jianhai fell, Hobert took the opportunity to recruit various skilled workers in the industrial zone in southern Jianhai.

This has even caused a very strange phenomenon. In major industrial areas and urban areas of several industrial cities, there is a huge flow of people, but at train stations, long-distance carriage stations, and on the roads to major cities in the south, there are no people. to any signs of congestion.

At the same time, Hobert led the management of "Earl's Light" and carried a large amount of cash to purchase a large number of factories, land, real estate, etc. here a few days in advance.

For example, an energy tycoon planned to build a huge power plant in Constantinople, complete with supporting light bulb factories, wire factories, etc. The initial investment exceeded 200,000 pounds, but Todd purchased it for 12,000 pounds.

Although the power plant and various factories have not yet been completed, they are almost complete. Hobert completed the acquisition at only about one-fifteenth of the peacetime price.

In recent days, Hobert's team spent around 3 million pounds to buy almost half of Constant.

That's not to say that no one saw through Hobert's trick. People who sold land and factories knew that "Earl's Light" was taking advantage of the situation, but they were still willing to sell their properties.

Because in this chaotic war period, only gold pounds in hand can keep you from panic. In times of crisis, a stack of gold pounds may be able to save your life, but a land deed will have no effect.

In addition, the speed of the collapse of Loen's defense line exceeded people's expectations. In addition, the Republic of Intis declared war on Loen. The rich people generally lost confidence in the Kingdom of Loen and felt that it would be difficult for them to return to Constant to run their own businesses. property, so simply sell these properties.

Of course, there are some venture capital companies that also acquire real estate like Hobert, but they don't dare to make large acquisitions like Hobert, or they don't give out money as readily as Hobert does.

The reason is simple. Loen soldiers have begun to organize defense lines in industrial cities. It is said that they will continue to resist in these cities and fight with the enemy in the streets.

Then in the next war, the acquired factory is likely to be turned into ruins. Even if the Loen Army can fight back, it will be difficult for them to deal with such ruins.

Back in the room of Heston Hotel, Todd drank the red wine in one gulp and said with a smile: "For now, our total investment in power in the Jianhai South Bank Industrial Zone has only been 120,000 pounds!

"In peacetime, at least 2 million pounds would be needed to complete an investment of this scale. This means that someone has helped us select the factory site and plan the scale of production.

“When the factory was about to be completed, it was delivered to us at a very low price.”

Of course, the premise of all this is that the Kingdom of Loen can be brought back in the future, otherwise these lands and factories will be the spoils of the Fusac Empire, and the "Light of the Earl" will be like acquiring a pile of waste paper.

But Todd is very confident in Hobert's judgment, because it has been proven more than once that Hobert's judgment is very correct.

Todd was worried about this when the energy tycoons bought the technology to build power plants from "Earl's Light" at a high price, and when they built large-scale plants in the north and west of Loen.

Now it seems that the final winner is "Earl's Light", which first made a huge amount of patent fees, and then purchased the power plant and supporting factories at a low price.

Now just wait for the war to end, rebuild the factory, and put it into operation. Then "Earl's Light" will have no rivals in the entire northern continent.

It is very likely that "Earl's Light" will become a "100 million pound" super large enterprise immediately after the war.

Hobert smiled when he heard Todd's compliment and said, "We also have to take a big risk to draw out the cash of 'Earl's Light'."

Todd could tell that Hobert's words were purely polite. The Grand Duke was very sure that he would get ten or dozens of times the profit in the future.

So Todd said: "That's not the case. The Duke's Grain Store supplies a lot of cash to the Earl's Light every day."

"Duke Grain Store" is a grain company that was just established in Backlund in early December. On the first day of selling grain, all major stores were crowded with bakeries and food processing workshops.

Because the price of food at the "Duke's Food Store" is only one-half of the current price of food in Backlund, these food-selling workshops and many ordinary citizens use their own gold pounds to stock up on food.

At present, the price of food in Backlund has increased four times compared to before the war. In other words, it is only one-half of the current price of food and twice the price of food before the war. It is definitely a bloody profit for Hobert. .

After all, this food comes from the Rhoside Islands and the Southern Continent, and the price is very low. It is also transported to Backlund through the teleportation array, and the freight is not high.

On the first day of opening, it was basically small workshops that came to buy food. On the second day, some food companies and stewards of nobles showed up to negotiate large transactions.

On the third day, several major grain dealers, under the recommendation of Lord Bradley, found the Duke's Mansion, hoping that the "Duke's Grain Store" could respect the current situation of the grain market and ask Hobert not to disrupt the grain market again.

As a result, Hobert said: "You are right, the grain industry should be respected. I will ask the grain store to lower the price tomorrow."

Several grain merchants were dumbfounded. Didn't they express themselves clearly? Why do you want to lower the price?

On the fourth day of operation, the "Duke Grain Store" did not reduce prices, but several major grain merchants also joined the rush to buy grain.

Their intention is simple: to buy all the cheap grain from the "Duke Grain Store", leaving only high-priced grain on the market.

The business war between "Earl's Light" and the gas industry has only ended a few months ago. Originally, these grain merchants wanted to continue the dialogue with Hobert.

But because of Hobert's engagement to Audrey, many nobles secretly harbored a grudge against Hobert.

So they secretly contacted the grain merchants and said they were willing to fund them. They also made some political promises, hoping that they would bleed Hobert.

So these grain merchants were preparing to fight a grain war with Hobert. They would take away as much grain as the "Grain Bank" released.

However, the "Duke's Food Store" has been open for more than ten days, and it seems that the supply of food is still sufficient.

It was precisely because of the strong support of these grain merchants and nobles that Todd had the confidence to acquire real estate on a large scale.

Otherwise, with only the 10 million pounds previously prepared, Todd would reserve a large part of the funds and prepare to acquire power plants, wire plants and other factories under construction in the entire northern and western parts of Loon to complete the power layout of Loon.

It will never be as arrogant as it is now, with 3 million pounds spent just on Connacht.

Hobert stayed on the south coast of the Sea for about a week. It was not until Feysac's army reached the suburbs of Constant that he returned to the southern continent and continued to focus on the land reform and institutional reform of the Southern Balam Principality.

These two reform measures have now allowed Hobert to digest half of the potion. As the reform comes to an end, he can only wait for the next opportunity to digest the potion.

However, with the flow of immigrants and the start of large-scale construction in various places, Hobert believes that the potion will continue to be absorbed.

In addition, some new policies will be introduced in the future, which are similar to Hobert's performance and can also help him consolidate his status and kill two birds with one stone.

Currently, Hobert's focus has been on building his first mausoleum.

He planned to use a natural cave to build this tomb in the heart of the mountain.

The people who built the mausoleum were rebel prisoners during the previous civil war.

Hobert asked Angus to interrogate them. Those who had killed people outside the battlefield or committed extremely heinous crimes were all sent to build the tomb.

Because Hobert had no intention of keeping these people alive after the mausoleum was built, he conducted interrogations first, but did not conduct verdicts. After the mausoleum was repaired, he simply executed them immediately.

After the interrogation, the team building the mausoleum immediately received a labor force of more than 20,000 people.

There are many Extraordinaries among them, but they have not received special care or amnesty. They still have to do hard labor, and their workload is even greater.

On the periphery of the construction site, Hobert directly put on his uniqueness in the "country of disorder" and created a "wall" of "chaos".

Because the "wall" is of a very high level, it would be difficult to find this place if you are not at the level of a true god.

But soon the construction of the mausoleum encountered a very embarrassing problem. There simply weren’t enough people on the construction site!

So Hobert immediately started looking for a location to build the second mausoleum. At this time, he received a report from his subordinates that a special envoy from the Loen Kingdom was coming to visit the South Balam Principality.

…

Princess Alice of the Roen royal family was appointed as a special envoy by her brother Winton II to visit the South Balam Principality.

Accompanying this princess with outstanding temperament is Georgina, the director-general of MI9.

The visiting group also included many diplomats, a team of guards, and reporters from major newspapers.

When setting off from Backlund, reporters from major newspapers were told by diplomats from the Southern Balam Principality that they could not report or disclose the way to the Southern Continent.

They have to sign a confidentiality agreement and can only report content that the Principality of South Balam agrees to report.

Of course, the reporters were very resistant to such a request, but at the request of Princess Alice, these reporters reluctantly signed the agreement.

After the delegation set off, when these reporters saw the magical teleportation array, all their dissatisfaction was calmed.

How to report on the teleportation array? Will anyone believe it if it is reported?

So when the diplomats of the South Balam Principality asked them to write in their reports that they arrived at the South Balam Principality by airship, the reporters smiled apologetically and agreed.

Receiving this high-profile visiting delegation was the newly appointed Foreign Minister Audrey.

At present, with the help of Earl Hall and Hobert, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has a framework in place. There is no problem in receiving foreign guests, holding talks, etc.

Audrey did not place Alice and the others in Angelou. Although it was the capital of the South Balam Principality, it was now a large construction site and immigration transit center, and it looked very messy.

She arranged the visiting group in Port Lanagua, the capital of Milhe State, where there are several villas left by the colonial army or local nobles.

Audrey arranged for them to stay in one of the villas, and held a grand welcome banquet that night.

Attending the banquet were dignitaries such as Conrad and Donna, as well as several military officers such as Schier.

Because the civil war had just ended, there were still many people from the "Rose School" lurking throughout the South Balam Principality, so Elliot's "Morning Army" was mobilized to ensure the safety of the visiting group.

Although basically all the main figures in the South Balam Principality arrived, Hobert was the only one who did not see them.

The reason Audrey gave was: the Grand Duke went on an inspection trip.

But both Alice and Georgina knew that even if Hobert was far away on an expedition to the Rhoad Islands, if he wanted to come back, he could still come back before the banquet started.

However, neither of these two envoys felt that they were being underestimated. After the victory of the civil war in the South Balam Principality, Hobert's political status in Loen was already second only to King Govington II, and there was no reason why he would not attend the banquet. qualifications.

The next day, Audrey arranged for the delegation to visit Longwei Island. The two ladies had a tacit understanding, and a yawning Fors came to pick them up at the villa. Audrey did not show up.

When they saw the bustling crowds at Nagawei Port, the neat wheat and rice fields, and the endless rubber trees as far as the eye could see, the officials and reporters of the visiting delegation were a little shocked.

Because according to the descriptions of some Loen people who once lived here, this island is wild and backward, and the natives don't even wear clothes.

But the brick houses in the fields, as well as the vests and shorts worn by the natives, all prove that those descriptions are completely rumors.

At this time, Forsi personally explained to Alice and the others: "The dam under our feet is called the 'Earl's Dam' by the locals. It was built when Hobert was still an earl.

“Don’t look at the small river in front of you. During the rainy season, the river will overflow its banks and the surrounding villages will be submerged.

"At that time, the indigenous people on both sides of the river did not build houses, but only built a straw hut, because even if they built a house, it would be washed away during the rainy season..."

Forsi then introduced the main canals and gross canals built around the dam, forming a very scientific water conservancy system.

After Fors finished his eloquent introduction, Alice smiled and said, "You seem to know this water conservancy project very well."

"Yes." Forsi said proudly: "I supervised the construction of this project. After the completion of the project, I am already half a hydraulic scientist."

Alice was stunned for a moment, feeling that something was wrong.

After visiting the water conservancy system, Forsi accompanied Alice to meet with the local mayor.

The mayor is a thin and dark young man, wearing the uniform uniform of a civil servant, a half-sleeved shirt and trousers. He looks full of energy, especially his eyes. Everyone can even see the light in his eyes.

The mayor smiled and said to Alice generously: "Your Highness, I didn't expect to see you here."

When Alice was in a daze, Georgina had already recognized it: "Adrian, are you Adrian?"

"Yes, Your Excellency."

Alice recalled that the person in front of her did look very similar to a collateral relative of the royal family, but in Alice's impression, he was a fat man, and he was submissive, with an annoying blankness in his eyes.

In the next moment, Alice finally knew something was wrong with this island. The people here were in good spirits.

Farmers were laughing loudly on the field ridge. The Duchess actually participated in a small water conservancy project. A fat man with low self-esteem turned into a confident and sunny young man.

Alice suddenly said: "This is really a wonderful place."

Thanks to [Jiupin Zhima Official] for the reward.