Realm of Power

The meeting with the Emperor was shorter than expected. In just ten minutes, Song Que appeared at the entrance of the alley with a pale face. Everything was intact, but his steps seemed a lot more urgent.

"Principal" Four Song guards quickly gathered around nervously, wondering if their Patriarch had been plotted against. Otherwise, the Patriarch had always been a steady and steady demeanor. Why did he show a hint of imperceptible impatience in just ten minutes? What happened in the alley!

"I'm fine"

Song Que waved his hand to stop the four guards from asking, knowing that his face must not look good. In fact, anyone who knew the current situation in Yanzhou would behave like this, although most people said that they had no idea about Long Yang. Even those who cling to Yanzhou show disdain, but even though there are tens of thousands of people, I am here alone. This kind of courage and the great moral values ​​of sacrificing one's life for righteousness have always been the most admired moral symbols of the nobility of China and Bia. Although the Long family is a local family, it has always been slandered by the court of China and Bia, but this time it alone defends Yanzhou , but many people couldn’t help but give a thumbs up and express their admiration.

"Go to the pick-up point outside the city immediately, and we will return to the south as quickly as possible." Song Que smiled faintly, indicating that there was nothing wrong with him, and then his eyes meaningfully swept over the Guangling people who were still celebrating in the city. At this moment, Guangling, the whole city Everyone is cheering for the great victory of Yanzhou. No one knows that the battle of Yanzhou is the most important. The dangerous stage has just arrived. Fifty thousand people from the Northern Royal Court went south and went north with the Yelu family. Strategically, it was already a flanking tactic. The Long family had just experienced a bitter battle in Yanzhou. It would be considered lucky to have ten thousand remaining troops. How could they withstand five people? As for the charge of Wancai cavalry, as for giving up Yanzhou, it was too late at this time.

How could that old fox Yelu Hongtai let go of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity? He must have laid an ambush on the way south, just waiting for the Long family to crash into him! The news of Yanzhou's great victory must have come out in advance. Otherwise, surrounded by 50,000 grassland troops, the news would not have been able to spread at all. Even if someone did run out, the message should have been for help. Letter, the Long family may not even know that the situation in Yanzhou has changed dramatically. Whether Longyang can survive this battle is a question. How long can the celebration brought by Yanzhou's so-called great victory last? When the news of the Long family's fiasco comes, what will it look like? Even the leader of the Song clan doesn’t dare to think about it!

After completing the meeting with the Song people and finalizing the agreement to open the southern waterway in the shortest time, Fatty sent someone to say hello to the Long family in Southwest China and immediately took them away from Guangling. If he didn't leave now, would he wait until the news of Longyang's defeat? Do you leave before you hear it?

After winter, the port of Lisbon is getting busier and busier. There are ships of all sizes around the port. The white sails are like dense white clouds in the sky reflected on the sea. There are no gaps at all. The sea is originally green and transparent. , and it also became white at this time. ≯≧≥Large merchant ships docked one after another in an orderly manner, unloading a large amount of materials, and then transporting a large amount of imperial products or ores. Those Aden merchant ships from the far south carry a large amount of spices and precious metals. Their unique upturned and hollow bows are particularly eye-catching among the densely packed merchant ships docked in Lisbon. These Aden merchant ships are generally large in size. It is so huge that it requires careful guidance from the pilot to park it smoothly on the dock.

Corresponding to the hustle and bustle is the silence in the Imperial Harbor. Today, there are many more soldiers from the Navy Department in the direction of the military port. They are distributed in straight lines, standing like statues on the pier of the military port, straddling their waists. The imperial sword exuded a biting cold light under the sunlight. Among the soldiers standing guard, there are several mobile sentries with temporary armbands on their shoulders.

At almost dusk, two large Imperial Dragon-class battleships flying special flags entered the naval port. Kusterdelin in black dress stared at the slowly stopping Imperial Navy Dragon-class battleship until the one above it The beautiful woman wearing a hood saw her doing it

"Your Highness the Princess," Sokustedelan saluted softly with a slightly worried expression. This was her first real direct contact with the imperial princesses. No one knew what would happen, let alone those who came off the battleship. It’s Mao Monaqing, the most powerful princess in the empire. To say she’s not nervous is Fake, when he raised his head, he saw behind Mao Monaqing a black-headed Central Asian woman. Kusterdelan also knew Li Yuehua, who was heard to have disappeared due to investigation by the Ministry of Supervision, and now appeared in Mao’s house. The presence of Princess Monaqing is enough to show that there should be no problems in the investigation.

"We finally meet, thank you for your hard work!"

Mao Mo Naqing looked at the beauty in front of her, smiled faintly, stretched out her hand to help Sokustedelan, showing unusual magnanimity. This time, I don’t know what Aden empire offended the emperor, and a secret order was sent to the empire. In Dahai City, when she saw the name of the person who asked to meet her in Lisbon, Mao Monaqing was so excited that she immediately stopped her internal affairs. At the annual meeting of the ministry, the Ministry of Military Affairs was immediately asked to arrange for warships to go south to Lisbon. The emperor had many women, but the woman who most worried about the first princess, Mao Monaqing, was not the princess, but a businesswoman. That woman was The former Thirteenth Steward of the Imperial Business Alliance, who single-handedly suppressed Sokutus Stellan of the Business Alliance Steward Council.

She has long been familiar with the emperor's underground lover and business assistant, but the two women have never really met. Dark Rose, the empire's business queen, both say that this mysterious woman has thousands of charms, and can also be ruthless. A frown and a smile can make the person facing her fascinated, and it can also make her The enemy is like falling into an ice cave. This is a woman who is like a shadow. Under her delicate and seductive appearance, she controls the most powerful business organization in the continent, the Imperial Bank. She controls the wealth and power of an incredibly wealthy country. As a master The Imperial Princess, who is in charge of the Imperial Household Affairs, has been exposed to the power of the Imperial Bank controlled by this woman many times.

If the empire's army is the sword of the empire that expands its territory, then this woman's Imperial Bank is a well-deserved imperial treasury! In the last quarter alone, it is said that the number of gold coins passing through the hands of this woman reached a huge amount of 30 million. Even Mao Monaqing was a little jealous, not to mention that the power of the Imperial Bank shrouded 60% of the empire. Commerce, the national economic lifeline of more than ten kingdoms outside the empire, is the imperial The emperor's true confidant is also a powerful force that the emperor has always kept secret. It is by no means comparable to those other princesses. If it were not for his own son, the secret of the empire would one day be handed over to his son. I am afraid that the emperor would not be able to Would put myself in contact with this woman now!

"Your Highness, the princess, has been tired from a long journey, so it would be better to take a rest and discuss things first!" In the carriage, Sokutus Stellan said with a respectful expression. She knew that her identity had always been kept secret, and this time, the emperor wanted to Let myself walk into the sunshine, except because Princess Mao Monaqing is a mother In addition, he also has plans to get in touch with the princess class. You must know that among all the princesses, Mao Monaqing is the number one. If you can get the support of this number one princess, your identity as an underground lover will not matter. It seems so embarrassing. If necessary, it is not impossible to be included in the emperor's harem!

"Don't be too polite. Although it's not the first time Lisbon has asked me to come here, it's definitely the first time for a secret visit. I wonder if I'm honored to let you, the landowner, take me around!" Mao Monaqing said with a relaxed expression. He looked at the port outside the carriage with bright and interested eyes. It was the setting sun, and the sea surface of the port was shining with golden light. Merchant ships were still arriving in an endless stream, preparing to enter the port. Lisbon was worthy of being an imperial sea trade company. After experiencing such a heavy blow last time, it only took a few months for the center of gravity to not only recover, but also to be even better than before. The taxes it paid accounted for 5% of the empire's taxes. It was truly the hen that laid golden eggs. According to his own speculation, the emperor obviously entrusted Lisbon to Sokutus Stellan for management. In other words, Sokutus Stellan is the uncrowned queen of this super commercial city.

This woman is a legend. Mao Monaqing was born in an orthodox aristocratic family. Although she has a tolerant personality and is quite disciplined in doing things, in fact, she is not a little crazy in her heart. For example, she asked Sokutus Dailan, rumors What on earth was going on in the financial war that China used tens of millions of dollars to sweep across the south of Obaro last year? Is it really possible to destroy a country's economic lifeline with just money? If it weren't for that, how could the Feize Kingdom suddenly fall into a state of total rebellion and alienation? How could Nanou Barrow, who originally hated the Empire, collapse under the Empire's golden bullet offensive! If that financial confrontation was also a war, then was the woman in front of me the commander-in-chief in that war? It turns out that women can also command a continent-level war. Just think about it, even Mao Monaqing I am also yearning for it

Regarding the various questions asked by the first princess of the empire, Sokutus Stellan just laughed and answered respectfully.

"Your Highness is joking. That financial raid was completely planned by His Majesty. The younger one just played a coordinating role in it! As for the rumors that the deaths of several deacons of the Business Alliance are related to me, that is completely false. Those people They are just greedy and trying to use the business alliance to blackmail the empire, so they are asking for trouble. In fact, they really have nothing to do with me! The betrayal of the Feize royal family is naturally a betrayal."

Relationships between women often begin with good talks. Sokutus Stellan has experienced all kinds of storms in the business alliance. Naturally, she knows that the content that Her Royal Highness is most concerned about is the content that is too bloody. Naturally, the content that is too cruel will not be mentioned. can't say , the princess wanted to hear the kind of jokes that swept the south, so she picked out one or two particularly exciting ones to talk about. When she heard that Mao Mona's eyes lit up, she deeply regarded Sokutus Dailan as her idol, a woman. How extraordinary it is to be able to do this. No wonder her man was very relieved to hand over Lisbon, the imperial sea trade center, to her. Only Li Yuehua next to her rolled her eyes. As an intelligence officer, what she knew was naturally the cruel truth. The imperial war against the south The financial attack caused the bankruptcy of 80% of the commercial guilds in the South. In particular, thousands of small and medium-sized businessmen were forced into desperate situations. How many sold their children and daughters, and how many committed suicide due to debt. How could there be a library? Tustelan is so rosy and beautiful! War kills people, and in financial war, the number of people who die is no less than those who die on the battlefield!

However, this woman is indeed talented in business, and she is definitely not inferior to her in being decisive and ruthless. I don’t know where the fat guy came from. I always thought that she was the best among women. Li Yuehua, I have been hit a lot recently. First I was dismissed from my post, and then there was the investigation by the Ministry of Supervision. After the first princess finally escaped from the Ministry of Supervision in the name of needing a female guard chief, she met such an evil woman here again.

As he got closer and closer to the core of the empire, Li Yuehua realized that the empire he knew before was so superficial.

She had always thought that the empire could only defeat its enemies with powerful weapons, but during the time following Mao Monaqing, she saw how powerful the empire was in all aspects. The empire's investment in various technological transformations had always been astronomical. Even Li Yuehua was dizzy looking at the funds that were driving the rapid improvement of various technologies in the empire. You know, technological progress. It is a synthesis of the results of all aspects. Only when the conditions in all aspects are mature can more advanced technologies be produced. However, Li Yuehua has already seen something called a steam engine in a secret report from the Imperial Ministry of Internal Affairs, as well as something from Central Asia. The three-line water-milled textile machine has been developed to the fifth line in the empire, and five to six thousand workshops have been built densely in the wool-rich west coast area of ​​​​Obalo. Some of the empire's clothing materials already have woolen textiles.

The empire's use of ocean trade has left Li Yuehua dumbfounded. She knew ocean trade was profitable, but she never thought it would be so profitable. The empire has always spared no effort in investing in ports, and it can be berthed at the same time. There are more than 60 large ports for hundreds of large ships on the imperial coastline. Each pier berth is also equipped with a shaft puller. These large-scale loading and unloading equipment The equipment looks very simple, but it is very practical. It only requires the strength of a few people to easily pull up thousands of kilograms of goods, which greatly speeds up the loading and unloading of goods. This is countless times faster than manual loading and unloading, especially For heavy cargo, a large iron box also appeared in some ports of the empire, and most of the scattered goods were loaded in the large square box. It can be pulled directly onto the carriage without reassembly, which undoubtedly greatly reduces the intermediate links. If these technologies are not brought to the coastal areas, they will be basically invisible. No wonder the Imperial Army can sweep through the talks and be so arrogant. , there is indeed a reason to be arrogant, According to her estimation, the cargo throughput of just one Lisbon port exceeded the cargo throughput of the entire Central and African ports. The huge wealth brought by these sea trade eventually became the outstanding and impressive source of the Imperial Army. Weapons, one of them is enough to destroy a city and tear apart a country, the God of Thunder! (To be continued.) 8