Realm of Power

The empire's commercial power was divided by the inland sea, and there was a huge gap between the north and the south.

To the north are the wealthy merchants of the empire who have been severely beaten by the emperor many times. From the prosperous commercial capital of Lisbon, where thousands of merchant ships dock every day, to the ports on the south coast of the Congo region that are close to the entrance to the inland sea, from the gray From the forested Gaul region to the sunny Barro in Central Europe, all chambers of commerce, regardless of their imperial background or other power backgrounds, abide by the imperial commercial laws and regulations.

These emerging classes that rose rapidly with the expansion of the empire played a huge role in the imperial war and have become the second largest class system in the empire after the military.

But south of the Inland Sea, it's a different scene.

The honest chamber of commerce organization in the north immediately showed its fangs in southern Europe and turned into various power organizations. Robbery, slave trade, black market smuggling, and joint local forces to plunder local resources are even more common. , after all, the Barrow region in southern Europe cannot be completely regarded as the empire's homeland. During the two North-South wars that determined the fate of the continent, the Barrow countries in southern Europe were staunch resisters, and most of them held a hostile attitude towards the empire's merchants.

The Natural Empire Chamber of Commerce here will not regard itself as a lamb that can be slaughtered by others.

Clashes of swords and blood are commonplace. Regional nobles who want to plunder the properties of these chambers of commerce are often punished with extremely cruel liquidation. Don’t look at the fact that a caravan has only a hundred or so guards, but as long as a chamber of commerce is attacked in a certain area, When robbery occurs, several large chambers of commerce that regard the area as their own sphere of influence will unite and send joint combat troops. The small number is more than a thousand, and the large number is three or four thousand. The local nobles are the first to suffer. Since there are many bandits here, it is understandable that there are thousands more bandits. These large numbers of mercenaries will Loot the local lords, and then find the stolen goods from the dirt. Once this is done, the local nobles will be hanged unceremoniously.

Therefore, from time to time on the trade road, you can see rows of corpses hanged on dilapidated castles. It is too boring to hang one person. Naturally, they must be hanged one by one. Under such a shock, the regional lords who dare to rob the Imperial Chamber of Commerce Trivial, for one It is not cost-effective to carry a batch of goods on your whole family. Chambers of commerce that can wage war on ocean trade have their own chambers of commerce. Merchant ships loaded with goods are also fortresses full of weapons. Sailors sailing on the sea are fully equipped for combat in the blink of an eye. Legion

These are veterans with rich combat experience

The empire's war of conquest wiped out many forces in Oparo in the north. Hundreds of thousands of the former dynasty's armies were defeated or disbanded. Many of the soldiers belonging to these forces became mercenaries hired by the Chamber of Commerce. Currently, they are only officially registered in the Business Alliance. There are 167,000 Chamber of Commerce mercenaries, and there are even more temporary Chamber of Commerce mercenaries who are not registered. According to the estimate of the Business Alliance, there are at least 200,000. Most of these Chamber of Commerce mercenaries are deployed in the South European Barrow area, which is still a war zone. They have no fixed insurance and no so-called benefits. Most of them are used by the Chamber of Commerce to clear obstacles on trade routes. tool. Here, the Imperial Chamber of Commerce is definitely not synonymous with justice and kindness. The Chamber of Commerce is more of a force.

One of the most notorious preferred Reichsbank

This super organization has the strongest military background and the strongest financial support in the empire. Its members are said to include 40% of the royal family in the continent of Obarro. In essence, it has long been separated from the scope of the chamber of commerce. A fully formed economy, with a total of 80,000 Imperial Bank Flag Guards under its command, divided into four flag guards

Two of the flag-protecting troops are in the holy capital area in the north of the Order Kingdom. This ensures that the north of the holy capital does not fall into a messy situation like the south.

"Sister Dailan, can you tell me how many people are loyal to the temple in the Holy City now?" Putamia sat gracefully on a chair on the balcony, holding up the bubbling teacup on the table. The light blue blue and white cup exudes a different kind of tranquility. No one would know that the female pope of the religious sect who rushed back to the Holy Capital did not go directly to the Holy Capital. Instead, she changed her clothes and came to Mo Ze ,

As the Pope, Potamia still has a glimmer of hope in his heart, but this hope is too slim.

The emperor had agreed to return the Holy City to himself, and at the same time, he also wanted to use his own hands to crack down on rampant commercial smuggling. Potamia knew this very well, and Potamia came to visit as soon as possible. Sokutus Stellan, except that Sokutus Stellan has been in the Order Country for the past three months and is well aware of the situation in the Order Country, her more intention is to explore the business queen's tone.

Potamia knew very well that in the current religious order country, Sokutus Stellan's name was far more useful than his own pope. No matter how arrogant and domineering the imperial merchants, big and small, were in front of Sokutus Stellan. He could only take a few obedient glances. He wanted to return to the Holy Capital, but he couldn't do it without the approval of the commercial queen. Don't look at the fact that the emperor gave him three thousand Guards Cavalry, but in fact, these three thousand Guards The range that cavalry can use is extremely limited

Rather than giving myself a knife, it is more appropriate to say that it is to protect myself from being killed.

The flag of the Imperial Business Alliance with the sun and moon as its emblem is currently flying on the flagpole outside the window. Following the direction of the flagpole, you can see the crescent-like azure port in the distance to the southeast, and the white merchant ship masts are like a large forest. Standing there, with white waterbirds rising and falling on the sparkling water, the Ramsey River that crosses the northern part of the Order State starts from here. It intersects with another Domtru River and merges into the Holy River Sealand that flows to the Holy Capital of the Order State. However, in the eyes of Pope Potamia at this moment, the sun and moon badge of the Imperial Commercial Bank looks like the word "money". It is said that the money in the Ikadiwa Wikia text is a day shape embedded in a circle. The warm sunshine of early spring shines on the body, giving people a lazy feeling of being caressed.

"Your Highness the Pope, I believe you already have an understanding of the current situation in the Order Country. In the past few months of your absence, to put it bluntly, the Order Country has ceased to exist in name only, so it is better to abandon unrealistic illusions. better"

"Outside the Holy Capital, the decrees of the Chamber of Commerce have even replaced the original decrees of the Order State, and within the Holy Capital..." Sokutus Stellan looked calmly at the port in the distance, with a pretty face. Putting an order document in his hand on the table, "Your Highness should be able to I think about how many people can keep their true intentions without the constraints of His Highness and under the temptation of various favorable conditions of the Imperial Chamber of Commerce. However, His Majesty has already explained the Holy City area. As long as His Highness needs it, after three days, His Highness can still rest assured. Entering the Holy City"

"I don't want the Holy City to be stained with blood again, and even with the status of the Imperial Bank, I'm afraid it will cause a huge backlash if forced." Putamiya hesitated for a moment, and was slightly dissatisfied with Sokutus Stellan's persuasion. He frowned and said,

"Don't worry, His Highness the Pope. I am a businessman. Naturally, I will follow the merchant's methods. Of course, if Your Highness is not in a hurry, give me ten days and I should be able to allow those chambers of commerce to withdraw from the Holy City on their own initiative." Sokutus Dai Lan shook her head with a smile on her face, holding a spoon with her fingers and gently stirring the tea leaves in the green teacup. With the large quantities of Central and Asian tea entering the Obaro region , Tea drinking has also emerged among the Oparo nobles and businessmen, but the way of quoting is slightly different. The Oparo people are more accustomed to soaking the tea leaves in water and slowly stirring them evenly, or adding their own custom ingredients, Sokuto Stellan I am used to adding purple rosette leaves to tea. It has a faint floral aroma in the mouth. It is said that drinking rosette leaf water for many years can make people emit a peculiar aroma.

"Many people think that drinking Roland leaves will have aroma. In fact, it is incomplete. It should be soaked with slices of Roland leaves and gamma tree roots to give out a scent similar to lilies." Putamia glanced at The tea cup in Sokutus Stellan's hand said intentionally or unintentionally

"His Royal Highness the Pope has also studied this?"

Sokutus Stellan's slender and charming eyes lit up. She was no longer young. Ever since she retired from the position of the Thirteenth Minister of the Business Alliance, she was far away from the business battlefield of the past. Sokutus Tus Cable doesn’t need to keep itself in a fighting position all the time , also began to study some things that women like. Although the emperor did not express it clearly, judging from the orders sent, it is nine out of ten that he will visit the Holy Capital of the Order Kingdom in the near future and see Sokutus Stellan. He was actually drinking this extremely bitter Roland leaf. Putamiya also roughly guessed something.

I saw her smiling and saying, "My sister calls me the Pope, but he still doesn't treat me as one of his own. Sister, don't forget that as the Pope himself, he is also a master of medicine, and there are special experts for these medicines that can increase charm." According to the Medical Officer’s records, as far as I know, there are more than a dozen kinds of fragrances that can only emit body fragrance, and each fragrance brings different feelings to people. Even the crimson moon flower fragrance that Your Majesty is most accustomed to has, but it is a pity. , these information are all in the Holy City at the moment, otherwise I will take them out and give them to my sister now."

"Did His Majesty tell the Pope that he was coming to the Holy City?" Sokutus Stellan pressed the tea cup with her hand and looked at Potamia with her eyes fixed on it.

"I'm not a fool. Even if I didn't know it when I came here, don't you know it now? Since I left the Holy City, my sister has gone to the northern part of the Order Country to take charge. Isn't it just to help me watch over the Holy City!" The Pope! Potamia sighed slightly.

Sokutus Stellan's pretty face turned serious for the first time and said, "The various chambers of commerce are making too much noise in the southern part of the Order Country. In the past, they chose to ignore it in order to completely cut off the trade routes in the Harvey Plateau. Now the war situation in the Harvey Plateau has changed." It was decided that both the Hawis and the Ikars would suffer. It is an ideal moment for the empire's commercial routes to extend into the Harvey Plateau. At this time, the major chambers of commerce are still stirring up trouble in the southern part of the Order State for their own selfish interests. This has even affected the empire's potential in Martin's Fang. The trade route of the Blue Chamber of Commerce, they are seeking death! "

"Martin Sharptooth's Blue Chamber of Commerce!" Putamia paused for breath,

"Yes, this is a situation set up by His Majesty himself. Originally, the empire secretly supported the Samtamara family, and at the same time used the Blue Chamber of Commerce as an influence to gather more than twenty Martin Fang Lords who had withdrawn from the Order Country, hoping that Being able to use the interests of the Blue Chamber of Commerce to make these more than 20 powerful lords become staunch supporters of Samtamara and become the largest force in Martin Liya, and then directly affect the progress of the Martin Liya people.

For this plan, His Majesty has been planning the war in the Holy Capital since the beginning. He even spared 200,000 Martin Liga people and later released all the Martin Liga prisoners. Your Majesty paid such a price, how could he not want to repay it? !

But in fact, this plan has almost failed miserably!

Sokutus Stellan paused and smiled bitterly. Even though the Blue Chamber of Commerce has the exclusive trading rights for Martin's fangs, the trade volume last month was only tens of thousands of imperial gold, not the expected dozens. Wan Empire Gold, why? The reason is that these chambers of commerce are kings in the southern part of the Order State. Because the chambers of commerce are fighting each other and suppressing each other, even the Blue Chamber of Commerce, which is registered with the Imperial Business Alliance, is charged when passing through the areas controlled by these chambers of commerce. High taxes, greatly reduced benefits

Eighty percent of the benefits from the trip are consumed on the road, and only 20% of the benefits are gained. Naturally, the binding force on the major lords of Martin Liya will not be sustainable.

Fortunately, these lords remembered the friendship that protected them when they retreated to the country, and still stood on the side of Sam Tamara on big occasions. For example, the Sam tribe's proposal to abolish the young chief was criticized and rejected by these powerful lords.

As a result, although the Sam tribe chose to deprive Sam Tamara of his status as the young patriarch, at the group meeting in Martinliya, the major lords still regarded Sam Tamara as the young patriarch of the Sam tribe. The chief of the Mu tribe was very angry

But it's hard to say how long this situation can last.

If the Blue Chamber of Commerce cannot achieve the expected normal profit results, the empire's huge investment and efforts in Martin Fang will be in vain!

Pope Potamia knew a little about the emperor's arrangements for Martin's Fang. He didn't think about it at first. However, after learning about the chaos in the southern part of the Order State on the way, Pope Potamia first In time, you will know what you are here for.

Where the emperor is inconvenient to take action, he, the Pope, has no pressure at all, because he is the Pope of the Order State and the nominal monarch of this land.

Even if any conflict does break out, it can only be defined as a conflict between the Holy City and the local area. Businessmen who are suppressed will inevitably complain to the empire.

At that time, the empire can step in with all due respect, and these businessmen are not just free to manipulate!