Chapter 63 - The Smoke of War Rises Again
Chapter 63: The Smoke of War Rises Again
After putting up the trade, Li Xiang thought for a moment and noted that he would pay with gold soli instead of choosing the general currency that came with the system.
Soon, an unfamiliar country lord requested a trade.
Li Xiang randomly checked the contents of half of the map. After finding no signs of forgery, he clicked on “confirm the transaction”.
“Transfer or cash?” Li Xiang asked.
That person replied, “Transfer to the account of the Thousand Rock Kingdom’s Country Lord, Zhao Duo.”
The other party was willing to accept gold soli?
Li Xiang secretly memorized the name of the Thousand Rock Kingdom’s Country Lord, Zhao Duo. Then, he exited the main interface and said to An Ya, “Go to the Pacu Branch of the Flower Goblin Winery and transfer 30,000 gold soli to the Thousand Rock Kingdom’s country lord, Zhao Duo.”
“Yes, Country Lord!”
An Ya accepted the order and left.
Not long after, she returned with the transfer receipt.
After Li Xiang took a photo of the receipt and showed it to Zhao Duo, a complete map was sent over via email.
Li Xiang opened the map and immediately frowned.
According to the map, the Demon Country was actually located in the southwest corner of the entire Myriad World Continent. Not only that, there were two tall mountains surrounding the Demon Country, and a narrow passage leading to the outback of the Myriad World Continent was controlled by a country called Red Flame Nation.
Further north of Red Flame Nation is a barren wilderness, beyond which is the Swamp Kingdom and other merchant caravans that trade with the Demon Country.
In other words, the Red Flame Nation controlled the only path that allowed the Demon Country and the outside world to communicate.
Another level of meaning was that, in order for the Demon Country to strengthen its national power, it must annex the Red Flame Nation and open a passage to the hinterland of the Myriad World Continent.
“Red Flame Nation?”
Li Xiang sneered.
With the prosperity of the business district, Li Xiang had long expected that the country lords of other countries would be jealous. As long as someone dared to jump out, Li Xiang would definitely make an example out of them.
And the first to jump out was the Red Flame Nation, which brought Li Xiang two big meals in one go.
Leaving the castle.
Li Xiang came to the water curtain room in the business district and saw the heavily injured mud man.
A pure water fairy in charge of healing cast a few water affinity healing spells to wake him up from his serious injuries.
“Mud man John pays his respects to the country lord.”
The mud man kneeled on one knee and said in a deep voice, “Bullock’s team and the other races were killed by the flame demon soldiers of the Red Flame Nation in order to protect the seeds of the bramble water grass.”
“The batch of seeds that I need?”
Li Xiang asked.
The mud man John nodded and said, “Yes, Your Highness.”
Li Xiang replied, “I will seek justice for your merchant caravan.”
The mud man John was stunned for a moment.
The Swamp Kingdom had communicated with many countries in the outside world. John knew very well what the other country lords did when they asked for help from the mud men. They would first inquire if there was anything they could squeeze out from the mud men.
If there was something, they would exploit them. If there wasn’t, they would immediately chase them away.
And it was the first time John had seen someone like Li Xiang, who did not ask for anything and helped!
Oh my God, the Sun was rising in the Swamp Kingdom?
John could not believe it. He had originally prepared a very emotional speech and was prepared to ask the gnome bank to lend a sum of money to Li Xiang, and the request was only for the Demon Country to come out and strengthen their momentum during the decisive battle between the Swamp Kingdom and the Red Flame Nation.
But now, it seemed that there was no need for anything!
John reminded him in a low voice, “Your Highness, there are a lot of withered grass and withered trees in the narrow valley. It is the natural home ground of the flame demon soldiers. If you want to fight against the Red Flame Nation, you must not choose that place.”
The narrow valley was the narrow and long passage controlled by the Red Flame Nation.
“You don’t need to command where the Demon Country fights. You only need to inform your country lord to pay accordingly. I... Don’t intend to do it for free.” Li Xiang said with a smile.
There was no free lunch in the Myriad World Continent.
“It’s my duty. It’s my duty.”
John nodded repeatedly.
At this moment, a clamor came from outside the water curtain room.
Li Xiang walked out of the room and saw a group of merchants surrounding the water curtain room. Among them, the one standing in front was a merchant who had rented a single tree house in the business district to trade. And the one standing first in line was surprisingly the one who had paid the most rent and rented the best Flower Goblin Winery, Pacu.
The merchants were all furious.
“The Red Flame Nation has gone too far. They have withheld our goods and proposed a tax of up to 70%. We simply are unable to allow the business to continue.”
“Your Highness, you must uphold justice for us!”
“You are the master of the business district. This matter must be handled by you!”
Li Xiang calmly said.
“I already know everything. I have a solution.”
The scene instantly quieted down.
The merchants turned their gazes towards Pacu.
Pacu, who had become the temporary representative for the conversation, coughed a few times and asked, “Your Highness, what is your solution?”
Li Xiang smiled and said, “To destroy the Red Flame Nation.”
Country war?
Pacu’s expression was shocked.
There were many countries being destroyed and born in the Myriad World Continent every day. But at the same time, the Myriad World Continent was extremely vast. It was so vast that the stories of those countries that disappeared or were born were as short and childish as fairy tale fables in the ears of Pacu and the other merchants.
And now, they had heard with their own ears that a country lord was about to start a “country war”!
“Your Highness, forgive me, but not long ago, you destroyed a pure water fairy country and a mermaid country, and you also destroyed the Black Dragon Country and many other small countries. Aren’t you worried about your country’s strength? Don’t you want to take a break?” Pacu asked.
As a gnome race that had dealt in usury, they were very sensitive to the changes in the Myriad World Continent’s situation. They knew that the Demon Country’s lord had destroyed a powerful country with a vassal country not long ago.
However, they were not clear about the details.
Because the war happened in the deathmatch space.
Pacu had only vaguely heard of it. It was said that in that great war, the Demon Country’s lord had displayed an extremely long strategy and military command ability.
However, Pacu felt that no matter how brilliant his command skills were, facing a powerful enemy would still consume a lot of the country’s strength, right?
The other merchants also spoke up.
“Once the country war begins, the narrow valley will be sealed off, and at that time, the merchant caravans will have no way of entering or leaving. We can bear the loss of a short period of the blockade, but with the country war... it will at least be sealed off for a year or two, right?”
“I’m afraid it’s not just that. The narrow valley has withered trees and withered grass all year round and is naturally suitable for flame demon soldiers to fight. If we take over the narrow valley, the losses will be very heavy.”
“Moreover, not only does the Red Flame Nation have flame demon soldiers, it’s said that they also have two vassal countries!”
“Your Highness, please think twice!”
Pacu finally said sincerely.
Li Xiang narrowed his eyes and asked, “Then, Mr. Pacu, what’s your solution?”
“Negotiation!”
Gnome Pacu snapped his fingers, “Our president once said that ‘there’s no deal in this world that can’t be negotiated, only a price that can’t be paid’. This is the secret of our Fennelanth Bank which has branches that took up almost half of the Myriad World Continent.”
“I agree!”
“I agree as well!”
“Your Highness. Please lead us to negotiate so that we can lower the road tax!”
The merchants all agreed.