Realm of Power

The Imperial Bank's clipper slowly docked at the Lisbon Tone River Pier. As the sails were lowered, Fatty and Tiernarant, who had changed into plain clothes, came down from the top. "Your Majesty, look!"

Tiernarant looked at the Song fleet not far away with a frown. He could see the Song sailors unloading goods from the ship. They were all very valuable silk and Central Asian porcelain. Some nearby businessmen were surrounding them. Where would anyone even hope to be able to purchase these goods,

"We don't sell these goods!"

A middle-aged man who was obviously the leader of the Song fleet stood up and rejected the merchant's trade request. Although his imperial language was a little awkward, it was definitely not impossible to communicate.

"I can pay a good price for these."

The businessman was obviously unwilling to give in. Goods from China and Libya are not uncommon in Lisbon, but the ones that look like the best among the best are very few, especially those with colorful patterns like the glow of the sun. Forged, it is definitely the best among Central and Asian silks. Although the Empire Grand Annual Conference has It's over, but most of the nobles from various countries who gathered in Lisbon during the New Year's Eve are still there. If you can buy all this batch of fine silks as soon as they get off the ship, the price may increase several times when they are resold. Yes, such a business opportunity is right in front of us, no matter what, we have to give it a try.

"This batch of goods already has an owner. If you don't want to sell it, you won't sell it. No matter how much money you give, you won't sell it!" The middle-aged man raised his hand unceremoniously, and several sailors immediately came up and drove the businessman away.

"How can you be like this? You won't sell anything even if you give me money!" The businessman cursed angrily, but those Song sailors were no ordinary sailors at first glance. They were all tall and tall, and even many of them had faces with... There are hideous scars from old injuries on their arms. They are all warriors who have experienced battles for a long time, and there is not one such person, but more than twenty sailors! In the empire, it is not uncommon for veterans to retire from the battlefield and become caravan guards. With such a lineup, other onlookers did not dare to step forward. In the end, the businessman left with a curse.

"Your Majesty, those Sino-Bian silks seem to be..."

Tillnarant's eyes fell on the batch of gorgeous silks, and his breathing suddenly became a little faster. He had seen this style of silk before. It seemed to be a high-end silk called Southwest Yunjin. His sister was I once spent more than 10,000 imperial gold to buy such a piece of high-grade silk. If the price is calculated at this price, then the batch of high-grade silk from the Song fleet in front of me is probably worth millions of imperial gold. ,

"It's Southwest Yunjin, a specialty of the southwest region of Zhongbia. It's also an important material specially used by Long Po, the head of the Southwest Long family, to exchange with the empire." The fat man saw this scene and said in a solemn voice.

"Long Po, the head of the Southwest Long Family...isn't this the Song fleet? Why is it full of Southwest Yun brocade?" Tiernarant's face was blank.

Regarding Tiernarante's confusion, the fat man laughed, "It's nothing. In fact, I don't believe a word of what Song Qian said! Where is the Tone River Wharf in Lisbon? Businessmen from all over the mainland gather here. Is it because they don't know how to do it?" Are you not allowed to land if you speak Imperial language? Isn't this a joke? And only a few chambers of commerce dare to be in Lis. Bento Pier arbitrarily blocks merchant ships from landing. They really think that the Lisbon Government Affairs Bureau is responsible for this! No matter how secretly they do it, once they are exposed, not only the Lisbon Government Affairs Bureau will come after them, but also the Imperial Bank. I won’t let them go, just to disgust my competitors, those chambers of commerce are not stupid enough to be so crazy!”

"Your Majesty, you mean that we were deceived?" Tillnarant's expression changed. He really didn't think of this just now. Now that the emperor mentioned it, he couldn't help but feel a sudden realization in his heart. "Are you right?" Wrong, we were deceived. This is not the Song fleet. In fact, I only noticed it later."

The fat man nodded. "There are no signs of the Commercial Alliance or the Imperial Bank hanging on the masts of the Song fleet. This means that the other party has not passed through the inland sea, otherwise the Imperial Navy will definitely stop it, and the Song Clan's Central The waters south of Bibia have long been blocked by the Aden Navy, and the Song fleet has basically no It is impossible to reach Oubaluo through that area." "Then the only way this fleet can go is the waterway of the Southwest Long family!" "According to the relationship between the Song family and the Southwest Long family, they are currently competing for it! How could the Long family, Bia's biggest rival for royal power, let such a large Song ship go? The fleet passes! The stronger the Song clan is, it will only threaten the status of the Southwest. Not to mention that in the first battle in the Southwest, most of the Song clan's fleet fell into the hands of the Long family. Long Po knew that if it were the Long family's fleet, it would be difficult to enter. We can't reach the hinterland of the empire, so we just pretend to use the name of the Song fleet. "No way, this kind of thing can also be done." Come out? "Tilnarant's eyes widened suddenly." Thinking back to the beginning, in order to attack Yelu Guda, the young master of the Yelu family, and cut off the Yelu family's sweep of Zhongbia, the head of the Long family did not hesitate to fight against the enemy, the Prairie Royal Court. If we join forces, there's nothing that guy can't do!" The memory flashed in the fat man's eyes. His tone was filled with emotion. He was also quite helpless towards the head of the Southwest Long family who had no bottom line for his purpose. However, he had to admit that the former head of the Long family, Long Yang, insisted on defending Yanzhou and almost wiped out the entire family. In just one year, the Long family became prosperous. , the Yelu family was barely able to survive, the northern grassland tribes were invincible, and the Southern Song tribe was so weak that they did not dare to advance to the south, and more than a million young people were willing to become dead soldiers. Only people like Long Po could do it. "Because he has no bottom line, you will never guess what he can achieve. Du! The fat man snorted with a heavy tone, and said with flashing eyes, "But this Song Qian is indeed from the Song tribe, because everyone in the Song tribe knows that Song Que actually injured his hand in the Southwest Battle. Not much, Song Que is the undefeated spiritual leader in the hearts of the mountain people in southern China, even if the southwest is defeated , the Song people have always claimed to the outside world that it was Song Que who strategized and finally allowed the Song people to return to the south unscathed. If the news of Song Que's injury spread, it would be a big earthquake for the southern mountains, and the embarrassment of the Song people's defeat would be even worse. However, This woman actually knew that Song Que's injured hand was real! "

"Song people, Long family fleet..."

The chaos here made Tiernarant frown, hesitated, and said, "Your Majesty, do you think it is possible for the Southern Song Clan to unite with the Southwest Long Clan? After all, looking at Siberia now, there are only a few people who can compete for the kingship. It is these two families. After the Aden people destroyed the Zhongbia court, the Song family and the Long family were the first to bear the brunt. If the Southwest Long family and the Song family are still hostile to each other, the final result will be that they will be wiped out one by one by the Aden army! "

"The Song family and the Long family unite?"

Hearing what Tiernarant said, the fat man's face showed solemnity for the first time. He touched his chin with his hand and raised his head with sharp eyes. "This kind of thing is not impossible! According to the pragmatism of the Long Family and Long Po, there is no bottom line." With the Song Que's forbearance, in order to fight against the Aden people, the possibility of the two families temporarily joining forces is very high, and in order to fight against the Aden army, the iron forging weapons is very likely! Mines are undoubtedly the most important material in all war preparations. The Zhongbia court is already struggling to save itself. There are also iron ore mines for two families. The main mining areas in Zhongbia used to be in the central and northern parts, but that is now the territory of the Yelu family. , the Yelu family and the Southwest Long family are both mortal enemies because of the Yanzhou incident, and it is even more impossible to sell the iron ore to the Southwest Long family, so the only way is the empire."

"Why didn't the Southwest Long family come directly to buy it, but they were so secretive? Hasn't the empire already reconciled with the Southwest Long family?" Tiernarant was also confused when he heard this. He was in the Empire's Ministry of Internal Affairs. After staying for half a year, I also heard about the war and reconciliation between the Empire and the Long Family in Southwest China.

"You can also believe the so-called reconciliation. It is nothing more than a temporary compromise because of our respective interests."

The fat man glanced at the corner of his mouth with disapproval, looked at the fake Song fleet that was still unloading, and said in a solemn voice, "The Southwest Long family was severely punished by the empire in order to get the empire to relax trade restrictions. Southwest Dragon The conflict between the country and the empire was not just once or twice. How could the empire really lift the trade ban on it? It only relaxed some restrictions on goods related to people's livelihood. However, iron ore mines, which are important for armaments, are still under limited orders. On the surface, of course, they are all open. In fact, in a quarter, the iron ore flowing into the southwest region will not exceed 10,000 kilograms, and the number of armored weapons will not exceed 1,000 pairs. War horses are even more strict. , merchants who sold more than ten horses were secretly arrested after returning. If not for this, how come the Southwest Long family has not recovered its strength until now? "

Hearing what the emperor said, Tiernarant couldn't help but feel a chill in his heart. The emperor made it clear that he would not give the Long family any chance to grow. He said with emotion, "It's no wonder that the Long family wants to pretend to be the Song family." The fleet came to take risks, and under the banner of the Song clan, it was undoubtedly possible to circumvent many restrictions. The empire only limited the quantity sold to the Southwest Long family, but it would not have thought that the Southwest Long family could purchase iron under the banner of the Song clan's fleet. Mine! ""This is indeed an oversight"

The fat man nodded and said in a solemn voice, "It's just such a thing. I'm afraid it can't be concealed from those large chambers of commerce that monopolize the Sino-Biya trade route. Because they are well aware of the empire's restrictions, the other party can use this as a blackmail." Even if they pretended to the dock that the fleet was a smuggling ship, the fleet did not dare to defend themselves and could only choose to wait for Bertrand Bonnie's people to come and coordinate.

"I just don't know what benefits the Long family has given to the Song family, so that the Song family is willing to send family members to assist the Long family in disguise. If it hadn't been for this unexpected encounter, who would have believed that the members of the Song family were actually covering up the Long family? The family's fleet! And, does Bonnie know about this?" The fat man's eyes flashed, as if he had thought of something, and he said coldly.

"I think Miss Bonnie doesn't know, otherwise this fleet would not be unable to disembark in Lisbon!" Tillnalant glanced at the emperor's slightly livid face and said cautiously

Although the Southwest Long family has reconciled with the Empire, both parties know that this is just the result of mutual compromise. The Southwest Long family has never really had the intention to reconcile with the Empire. You must know that the empire's general person in charge of Central Asia is Li Yuehua, but It is Bertrand Bonnie who controls the connection between the empire and Central Asia! If Bertrand Bonnie knew that this was the Long family's fleet in disguise and acted as its protective umbrella, this would be naked support for the enemy! "I hope so!"

The fat man also hoped that Berlant and Bonnie were not involved. He let out a long sigh and stepped onto a black carriage that had been waiting at the dock for a long time. After sitting down, he looked at Tiernarant who was sitting opposite. He said in a solemn tone, "Tilnarant, do you know why I knew there was a problem with this fleet and deliberately asked Sokutus Stellan to find trouble with those chambers of commerce?"

"I suspect that what His Majesty wants is for these businessmen to take the initiative to approach the Government Affairs Office."

Tiernalant's eyes flickered, "Miss Sokutus Stellan will definitely put pressure on several major chambers of commerce after she returns. Those major chambers of commerce will definitely not be able to handle it. The only one who can stand up to Miss Sokutus Stellan is , in Lisbonto, there are only If the Government Affairs Bureau of Lisbon Trust cannot find out the specific truth under this situation, I can no longer be the Government Affairs Officer of Lisbon Trust!" "It's just a few chambers of commerce, and I need to mobilize Sokutus. Will Dailan take action? "

The fat man took one last look at the "Song Fleet" in the distance from the carriage window. The vehicle shook slightly and began to move forward slowly. The fat man took out a document from the drawer on the carriage table and placed it in Tiernarant In front of him, he said in a solemn voice, "I specially arranged for Sokutus Stellan to take action." , just to ask her to muddy the waters in Lisbon, so that the underground forces and businessman forces in Lisbon will surface when touched, and then your government will have the opportunity to rectify it. An imperial government officer was assassinated and seriously injured. Those people are really Do you think you can escape safely? Although the murderer has been eliminated, I asked Sokutus Stellan to continue the investigation and did not allow Sokutus Stellan to intervene. This is the result of the investigation. You really offended not many people at the beginning, although You can use gentle methods in other places, but not here."

"This is Lisbonto, a mainland commercial capital full of gold. It is the real imperial capital in the hearts of the empire's 300,000 merchants. I believe you have felt it in the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the past six months. Without thunderous means, how can we control Lisbonto, a continental commercial capital? , how to scare the evil spirits, I hope you won’t let me down again this time! ""Yes, I understand what to do"

Tiernarant nodded excitedly. Half a year after leaving Lisbon, he came back. He picked up the document and glanced at the contents. Although he was prepared in his heart, there was still a huge wave, his own Lisbon. The assassination of Lisbon actually involved so many people. How many of them watched indifferently, and how many people contributed to the situation behind the scenes, using this assassination to attack Lisbon's government, so that the reputation of Lisbon's government was reduced. Hopes have plummeted, governance capabilities have been greatly reduced, businessmen have become more and more unscrupulous, and various bullying and hegemony have also emerged. Although there was a blow last time, the effect was only for a while, and Tiernuris has limited abilities to support a huge business group in Lisbon. In front of them, they are also exhausted and have achieved little results. There are even high-level empire officials involved behind the business group, which is also putting great pressure on the Lisbon Government. The situation in Lisbon is getting out of control.

The crowds of people came rushing towards me like a tide, but these sounds sounded like a fight in Tiernalante's ears. This was Lisbonto, his battlefield for Tiernalant! I'm back again! Tillnarant closed the document in his hand with bloodshot eyes!