Chapter 194: Can I really defeat someone like this? (23)

Aaron Capital, Rhine City

At the entrance of the Weilan Embassy, two more documents appeared on the bulletin board.

The title of the first document.

The font was very large and eye-catching, reading: "Warm congratulations to the Weilan Arcane Department on its breakthrough in large-scale food creation!"

Below is the detailed content of the breakthrough in large-scale food creation, especially emphasizing that Duke Weilan will freely disclose the key arcane content to the entire Natural Alliance.

The second is a recruitment document.

"The Weilan Citizens' Bread Factory has been officially established, will commence operations in one month, and is now recruiting a large number of food creation mages across the Natural Alliance."

"It includes 50 supervising mages, requiring high-level arcane power, with rich experience in casting food creation techniques, aged 20 to 50."

"Benefits: provided a free single-person two-story small house (with a 30-square-meter courtyard), monthly meal subsidy of 1500 klae, salary starting at 15000 klae plus sales commission."

"Large numbers of ordinary production mages are needed, requiring low-level arcane power, proficient in mastering food creation techniques, aged 15 to 40."

"Benefits: provided a free single-person room (with independent bathroom), monthly meal subsidy of 500 klae, eight-hour workday, salary starting at 6000 klae."

As soon as the two documents were released, they spread like a thunderous tsunami, quickly sweeping through the entire Rhine City.

Moreover, similar situations occurred not only in Rhine City, but also in Kao's Silver Moon City, Levinde's Bai Jin Cheng, and various duchies.

The spread of the news was so rapid, surpassing the previous grain export ban by a large margin; within less than half a day, residents of all major cities in the Natural Alliance knew these messages.

After the major cities learned, the news spread at extreme speed to towns and villages.

Early the next morning after the announcement, grain prices that had been driven up by the export ban plummeted, falling uncontrollably, dropping more than ten times faster than the ebb of the tide.

The previous evening, one ton of potatoes cost 20 ogre to buy; by the next morning, it was halved, costing less than 10 ogre.

People had one thought: large-scale food creation has emerged, and it is being shared freely with the entire Natural Alliance—even wood and straw can be turned into flour, so will food not be everywhere from now on? Good days are coming imminently; hoarding grain is pointless, and further hoarding will only lead to loss.

A large amount of grain poured in from private grain merchants, shifting the market from shortage to oversupply, causing grain prices to plummet.

However, private grain merchants are small in scale yet highly sensitive to the market, so they ship out extremely quickly; those noble grain merchants, even the royal grain merchants, cannot react that fast.

They want to ship out, but must seek approval layer by layer from superiors, obtain one permit after another, and even the cabinet has to hold a meeting.

Perhaps the king happens to be feeling unwell, or perhaps he is simply playing and has no time for state affairs, causing another delay of one or two days.

By the time the resolution was finally passed, grain prices had already nearly hit bottom.

Three days later, Danng sat in his study, looking at the market report given to him by the newly appointed Minister of Government, Master Glennt, his face darker than a fireplace that hadn't been cleaned in ten years.

This time he purchased a huge amount of staple food.

Flour, potatoes, sweet potatoes, etc. —basically anything edible he collected, spending a total of 8 million ogre.

Because he entered the market late, the purchase unit price was relatively high; for example, potatoes were bought at an average price of 12 ogre per ton.

Now, the average price of potatoes is less than 5 ogre, and the average prices of other staples have also plummeted sharply.

In total, he suffered a net loss of 6 million ogre.

After a long silence, Danng asked indignantly, "Is Weilan's large-scale food creation real, or is it fake news?"

The Minister of Government, who had taken office less than two months ago, replied cautiously, "It should be real."

"What makes you say that?"

"Because Duke Weilan swiftly fulfilled his promise, sharing the arcane conversion formation with the arcane departments of all major kingdoms and duchies, as well as all major arcane academies."

Danng frowned: "Did our arcane department also share it?"

"It has been shared, and is currently undergoing urgent verification."

"But I heard that Kao's Silver Moon Higher Institute has already reproduced the phenomenon of light-to-arcane conversion, with a conversion rate as high as 5%."

"5%? That's not high at all."

Glennt is also an Arcane Master; although he has just been promoted, his arcane achievements are ordinary, but he naturally has common sense.

He thought to himself, "Not high? This is already directly usable!"

He silently mocked the king's ignorance, but the lessons of the past were still before him, and he still had some attachment to the position of Minister of Government, so he patiently explained.

"Your Majesty, this conversion rate is indeed not high, but Weilan surely has better, more mature conversion formations, with conversion rates of 10% or even 15% posing no problem."

"Moreover, light energy is very easy to obtain, and food creation is a mature technique, so large-scale food creation should indeed be true."

Danng did not know how to describe his feelings; they were very complex.

There was admiration.

Because he never expected the opponent to break their joint strangulation in this way, and then freely disclose the results, even saying they hoped the alliance would have no more famine.

This statement had already spread throughout the Natural Alliance, and the duke instantly rose to a position where everyone looked up to him, becoming a great figure of the Natural Alliance.

Meanwhile, these kings were made to look like despicable clowns.

There was fear.

The opponent's move was completely contrary to common sense, almost like the beloved son of the Creator.

Could such an opponent really be defeated by him? The fear that had previously subsided surged back, even more intensely than before.

A loss of 6 million ogre is not small; it would even be enough to build ten new Black Stone warships, or to restart several projects of the Lion's Fang Manufacturing Bureau that had stalled due to lack of funds.

Initially he confiscated the Aaron nobles' estates, gaining a total of 43 million ogre, lost 18 million, leaving 25 million; over the past half year various expenses have been incurred, and now after this setback he has less than 16 million left.

The problem is that Aaron has completely lost Weilan, overseas revenues have plummeted by eighty percent, and the expenditures of the royal family and the new government have not only not decreased, but have increased considerably.

Why did it increase? Because Danng greatly improved the benefits of civilian officials; perhaps each individual's increase is small, but the sheer number of civilians means the total spending actually exceeds that of the noble era by a considerable amount.

Making money is slower than spending it.

If this continues, the national finances will go bankrupt in just two years.

Thus he faced only two options: either break his promise and cut officials' benefits, or halt all domestic money‑burning projects.

Researching new weapons, building new warships, supplying the army, etc., all must be scaled down.

After much deliberation, Danng took a deep breath and asked the Minister of Government for advice: "Glennt, do you think the grain in the granary should continue to be stored, or be sold at low prices?"

Glennt really did not want to get involved in this mess; he also harbored resentment, since when he was gathering grain he had not yet taken office, and now that trouble has arisen they come to him for ideas—what a damned situation!

But as Minister of State, sharing the king's worries and solving problems is my duty.

So he whispered, "Your Majesty, we can foresee that in the future all kinds of food‑manufacturing factories will spring up everywhere, capable of turning trees and straw into flour, which would at least double grain output."

"Therefore, grain prices will inevitably keep falling, and storing grain costs a lot; over time there are various losses, so it's better to sell it."

These days, grain‑storage methods aren't very advanced; the longer the storage, the greater the loss.

"But to whom can we sell it?"

With such a volume, if we dump it all into the domestic market, no one could possibly eat it.

Throwing it onto the international market is no better; nobody wants it because the entire Natural Alliance is offloading supplies. So it's not sellable either.

The Minister of State replied immediately, "Sell it to Weilan, Your Majesty."

"We must act quickly, sell before Levinde ships out, since Levinde's purchase price was considerably lower than ours."

When Dan Ge heard the word "Levinde," the veins on his forehead throbbed: "I'm really blind as dog‑shit, how could I get tangled in this nonsense with that damned young king!"

But selling to Weilan at a low price still left him unwilling.

First, the other side might not take it, and he'd end up begging to sell.

Second, he couldn't swallow it, because the deal was tantamount to him buying grain with his own money and then handing it over to Weilan.

Just thinking of that made him feel as nauseous as swallowing a fly.

He thought for a moment and said, "How about we simply brew wine from this grain?"

The Minister of State whispered, "Your Majesty, I have already contacted the major domestic vintners; they can only take twenty percent, and they hope you can offer a favorable low price."

Dan Ge's face began to gather a storm: "Is the price not low enough yet?"

"It's low, but with this volume, I hope it can be even lower than the current market price."

Dan Ge, irritated, shouted, "These greedy merchants—I think their necks itch and they want to scratch them with knives."

He now has no goodwill toward any merchant, especially Levinde merchants, who are all scoundrels!

"Contact all domestic traders—grain merchants, wine merchants, pig and cattle breeders—anyone who uses grain, get them for me."

"Let them take half—no, sixty percent—of the grain I originally collected."

"Make sure this entire grain stock is consumed, each prefecture assigned its share. Any official who dares to refuse will be immediately removed and replaced."

"Any merchant who dares to refuse, put them on the gallows!"

He would rather let this grain rot in the domestic market than cheapen Duke Weilan.

The Minister of State was shocked: "Your Majesty, you must not do that; it will cause trouble."

"What trouble could arise?"

Dan Ge's eyes flashed with fury: "I command the Lion Legion; tell me what could happen? Huh?!"

The Minister of State dared not reply, hesitated a moment, then nodded and said, "Yes, Your Majesty, I will convey your order at once."

Dan Ge continued, "Don't rush off; there's one more matter."

After saying that, the Lion King's voice deepened considerably, and a pair of emerald eyes flashed with a predatory, selective‑hunting light.

"Go tally the Levinde people within Aaron's realm, quietly count their numbers and assets, and get a clear picture."

He will soon run out of money and must find extra income.

In this world, the quickest income is robbery.

The nation's own citizens naturally cannot rob easily, but Levinde people can do so without worry.

"Who let your king give me a rotten idea?" Dan Ge thought bitterly.

Gele Te was startled, instantly understood Dan Ge's intention, tried to advise, but was frozen by Dan Ge's appearance, then obediently nodded: "Yes, Your Majesty."

He inwardly sighed: "Levinde merchants are truly unlucky."

In Weilan, a wave of raids had just occurred, countless people suffered.

Now Aaron must come again, and it can be foreseen that Dan Ge's methods will be ten times more brutal than Weilan's.

Kao.

Kao's situation is considerably simpler.

First, the princes and princesses have little money and collect little grain.

Second, Kao himself is somewhat short of grain.

So the matter becomes the third prince and the sixth princess spending money to buy grain for the populace, without weakening Kao's national strength, and even enhancing the royal reputation.

The only problem is that the estates under the third prince and sixth princess are bankrupt in many places; the two royal sons, originally quite wealthy, now take turns pleading with their mother to fill the fiscal hole, begging her for mercy.

After all they are his own children, so Kao's queen simply raised her hand and let them pass the hurdle.

However, the hurdle was passed, and their vitality was seriously drained; for a long time they had no money to maneuver.

When the little king took the urgent document submitted by the cabinet, it was already five days later.

When the young king picked up the urgent document submitted by the cabinet, it was already five days later.

The reason was that he had been hunting in the royal grounds recently.

If the cabinet ministers hadn't been urging him relentlessly, he would have stayed five more days before returning.

After a cursory glance at the document, the just‑turned‑17‑year‑old young king grinned, "Hey~ This duke really has some talent; he actually managed to devise such a scheme."

The Minister of State reporting, Helade, reminded, "Your Majesty, we have lost at least 15,000,000 Ogre in this incident!"

"It's just 15 million Ogre; the money's gone, but the grain's still here."

"Then sell this grain at a low price to the major nobles across the realm; each noble gets a share, and we recover whatever money we can."

The Minister of State frowned and reminded again, "Your Majesty, about half of this money was borrowed from the major nobles and wealthy merchants within the kingdom and must be repaid."

The young king looked up at the minister, a look of impatience, and said, "Helade, are you finished?! If they have money, repay it; if they have no money, give them an IOU."

"The matter was done together, so the loss is naturally shouldered by everyone."

"Do I still have to teach you that?"

Helade was instantly choked speechless.

The young king waved his hand: "Alright, alright, you handle this matter; I haven't had enough fun hunting yet."

After saying that, he flicked his whip, turned and left the study.

Radiant Empire.

News of large-scale food creation techniques once again urgently landed on the queen's desk.

She looked at the document, gave a light smile: "This little duke is quite capable of causing trouble; go ahead and cause trouble, after all you won't be able to cause trouble for long."

She had already obtained the other's blood; her grandfather used various methods to carefully examine it, confirming that the other indeed possessed early Eighth Ring power, and indeed had made no progress.

Eighth Ring power, no matter how much trouble is caused, Duke Weilan will not pose a threat to the Radiant Empire.

And the lifespan of the Heavenly Father Divine Might of the Natural Alliance is nearing its end; once he passes completely, the Natural Alliance will be nothing but meat on the chopping block.

By then, she could simply play a few cards and force the little duke to Meidaxilin Cheng.

Then, let him substitute for the Duke of Xisi Ting, becoming my new Grand Preceptor Protector of the State.

(End of chapter)