The Regent was indeed a smart man. Regardless of when he started paying attention to Isgard's commodity trade, his guess was not wrong at all.
So Nia chose to give up struggling and changed her code of conduct from "being sneaky" to "being straightforward".
"Yes, you guessed it right. Ishugard does have a huge demand for minerals - but if Caparia is also starting its industry, how can we trade the minerals?"
“If I have to say, it’s mainly industrial investment and commercial exchange.”
"I understand business exchanges very well, but industrial investment? Please explain clearly."
"Basically..."
Yang Hao talked to Nia about the industrial investment between the two countries. In order to discuss this matter, he took out the black stockings produced in Isgard from the box that had been prepared under the conference table in front of Nia.
At that time, Nia blushed and subconsciously thought that this man actually wanted to give Isgard benefits through "hidden rules" -
As a result, before the black dragon could hesitate whether to give it a try and ask for help in bringing the regent back to the country, Yang Hao took the initiative to resolve the misunderstanding:
"Take this pair of black stockings for example - this is a silk fabric sewn by Ishgard using "real silk", not some synthetic material, right?"
"Eh? Eh... Oh... You, you're right." Nia was stunned for a moment. After realizing that the dirty thoughts in her mind appeared at the wrong time, she cursed herself in her heart and then calmed down.
Yang Hao continued to talk big, trying to use some of his knowledge to confuse the black dragon in front of him, and then let her impulsively sign her name on the contract bookmark:
"Then I will assume that Ishugard has machinery such as "textile machines" - you can invest in these means of production in our place in Caparia, and use the raw materials of the continent of Elucia to produce similar products here in the continent of Elucia. Then we will maintain the machines for you and use part of the products and profits produced as a return to you regularly.
In this way, we can obtain new technologies, and you can save manpower and material resources and obtain free goods from us. It is a win-win solution for both of us.
We can accept not only textile machinery but also other industrial investments.
On the other hand, Caparia can also make industrial investments in you, and Isgard only needs to provide us with corresponding returns as mentioned in the message above.
The specific return standards are set differently according to different industrial investments.
Of course, the risk after the investment is borne by the party receiving the investment, and the investor only needs to wait for the return according to the contract. What do you think? "
In a sense, Yang Hao actually intended to use the insignificant profits to directly exchange for Isurgard's technological information, so that Caparia could quickly catch up with Isurgard in all aspects.
After all, the current industry of Caparia is indeed very deformed. Except for the enchanting industry, which is universal, other industries are basically growing rapidly towards the military, which is obviously a deformed development.
Although Yang Hao had some knowledge of military and industrial affairs, he did not dare to gamble with his knowledge of civilian and light industries as if it were for military purposes.
After all, with the development of the military, everyone knows that if they don’t take a gamble on the military, they may die in the next war—
So no matter what, everyone will support the development of the military industry during wartime, and this is the same no matter where you are.
But the people's livelihood and light industry are a bit of a pain... Not only can't you "take a gamble", but it's also easy to make mistakes during the research process -
Take generators and light bulbs for example. If you ask the elves, who are used to using glowing gems for lighting, to study this, they will just think you have nothing to do...
Yang Hao has already gained the consensus of the old elves in the Elf Council on this point. Even Finn is puzzled by this. He thinks that if there are more luxurious and better-looking luminous gems for lighting, then this so-called "electricity" and "light bulb" blindness is actually unnecessary...
Yang Hao did not blame them. After all, this is human nature. People living in the African continent, which is the richest in natural resources, also feel that it is unnecessary and incomprehensible for other places to store food.
After all, for them, they can collect fresh food by just walking a few steps outside, and they have no need to store food at all, so they naturally will not invent the skills to store food for a long time.
Yang Hao understood.
So - instead of trying so hard to persuade or even force the elves to do their own research, it would be better to directly obtain the technology from Ishgard and imitate it.
At that time, Yang Hao simply laid the circuit, hung up the light bulbs in the name of "festival", and then at one o'clock in the night!
He wanted to see what the glowing gems, which couldn't even illuminate Theresa's beautiful body clearly in those dim nights, could do to the electric lights.
After experiencing the beauty of electricity and light, even the most stubborn elves will be interested in technologies like "electricity" -
Just like before experiencing the cup of happiness personally, little boys without girlfriends would only think that their wives on their left and right hands are the most comfortable.
After personally experiencing the excitement brought by the Happy Cup, how many little boys can resist the temptation and continue to achieve their dreams with their own hands
Yang Hao was thinking of beautiful ideas in his mind.
After careful consideration, Nia felt that she would have to have more in-depth exchanges with Caparia sooner or later. At this stage, it was acceptable to trade with Caparia for a large amount of almost free supplies using some technologies that she had not yet figured out.
What's more, this regent always has some wonderful ideas - if he can make some progress in "electricity", Ishugard can confidently share a piece of the pie with him...
"I think it's acceptable. But the details..."
"We have plenty of time to discuss today, so don't worry, Miss Nia."
…
During the first truly important meeting between the Elf Kingdom and Ishgard.
The Roman Empire was also not idle.
After Pope Peter finally arrived to attend the round table meeting, the divided threads of the Roman Empire were temporarily twisted into a hemp rope.
Although the nobles and landlords still had a lot of resentment towards the royal family, at least within the context of the "Roman Empire" as a whole, they chose to temporarily accept Prince Gasson's arrangements.
The nobles and landlords went to investigate the enemies who spread rumors in their territories, General Dreshuka and his warlords gathered their strength to prevent another threat from the Elven Kingdom, and the royal family needed to continue the diplomatic game with Alesse. Only the diocese -
They are trumpeting their "great victory".
The diocese is helpless in this regard - after all, their overall faith and morale are extremely low.
After the Magic Castle was destroyed, many gambling addicts shouted "Give me back the Magic Castle" while attacking the defense line of the St. Petersburg guards who were maintaining order.
Although Pope Peter killed all the troublemakers in a rage, he also knew that if he did not find a way to boost the morale and public support, the diocese would face endless rebellion.
Therefore, it became necessary for the diocese to publicize Bishop Stephen's victory.
As for whether the deceased Bishop Stephen achieved victory or not, it is actually not important.
After all, what humans are best at is giving a clear sign of victory to a major event that is a failure, and comforting themselves mentally, "I won."
Under the manipulation of the priests, under the "victorious atmosphere" created by the crusaders, and under the threat of the other bishops doing their best to capture the defeated army and directly release them to be burned at the stake.
The villages and towns destroyed by the elves and demons were changed to "the work of the defeated army", and the destruction of the demon city was naturally blamed on the defeated soldiers who were tied to the stake.
Although some people still doubted whether the parish's victory with so many casualties was real, under the eloquent speech of Patriarch Peter, more than half of the believers in the parish accepted the view that "more of our people died, but more of the elves died as well", and devoutly believed that this was indeed a victory for the parish.
If Yang Hao were here, he would probably laugh until he vomited - but it must be mentioned that the status of the Church of Light in the hearts of the people in the parish is still too high. It can only be destroyed from within, perhaps because of sectarian divisions, perhaps the God of Light himself came down to eat his own believers, or perhaps...
In short, even other factions in the Roman Empire could no longer tolerate the actions of the diocese.
However, even though they couldn't stand it, in order to prevent the parish from turning the entire north into a toilet with shit all over the floor after a methane explosion, the nobles and landowners still cooperated with Pope Peter to publicize their victory.
On the ground, the leader's propaganda seemed to be going very smoothly.
Under the ground, Saint Cecilia was kneeling in front of the statue of the God of Light and praying.
She had been praying for so long, so long that she almost forgot how much time she had spent underground, and so long that she no longer knew what the parish on the ground looked like.
For this reason, she did not think she had done anything wrong. The duty of the saint was to offer the highest and purest faith to the God of Light. As long as she could continue to pray in front of the statue, she would actually be fulfilling her duty no matter where she was.
Although the saint has the power to provide support for religious development or determine its direction to a certain extent, Cecilia still believes that it is better to let the believers of the parish decide on their own development.
After all, she was just a saint. Having the power of being favored by the God of Light did not mean that she could see the future development direction of the empire like Yang Hao or the previous emperor.
"well… "
Thinking of this, Cecilia sighed softly. And just after sighing, she heard a strange rustling sound coming from underground.
This made Cecilia frown. But soon, she relaxed her brows again: "They are just some mice. Remember not to harm innocent people and public facilities because of your own selfish desires."
Since November, strange noises have been frequently heard from underground in St. Petersburg, deeper than the shrine where the saint prays.
At first everyone thought it was a monster, but after checking it with divine magic, they could only detect some underground mazes that had not been explored yet.
She has asked the ascetics who have nothing to do to go underground to ensure safety, lest any monsters come out from underground to harm the believers on the surface.
After a month of hard work, the ascetic nuns did not find any possible monsters except for the remains of their ancestors, a broken stone statue that looked like a tall demon with long wings, and a giant rat that should have disturbed people's dreams.
Perhaps there were monsters lurking outside some of the locked doors deep in the underground passages, but after a new round of reinforcements, Cecilia felt that there should be no problem.
Now... the strange sound came out again. She was so annoyed that she wanted to use magic to blast the ground open, to kill the countless mice and their nests, but in the end, Cecilia calmed herself down.
I felt that I shouldn't get so angry over a few mice, because a few mice caused the nuns to go out again.
And compared to this... Cecilia felt that the person who should be more angry should be Yang Hao, who had never personally contacted her even once until now.
"Even when the border was breached by the demons, he never came to look for me... Humph, I would have gone out to help him if he had come once, so why must he be so angry like a child?"
Cecilia puffed up her face and complained. She stood up and went back to sit at the table in the room. She rang the dinner bell so that the ascetic nuns upstairs could bring today's lunch.
She didn't want to think about the strange noises made by the rats underground, and living deep underground she didn't realize that this was not something that happened only under St. Peter's Basilica.
In fact, in every important town in the Roman Empire, similar sounds were heard from underground in any town with a "portal" network.
In the ruined Kagad, the sounds were even closer to the ground—
However, for some reason, the originator of the sound did not go directly to the surface. Instead, he just observed for a while at a place close to the surface or the underground structure, and then quietly returned to lurk underground.
This is what happened in the Roman Empire. In recent times, these events have been integrated and judged by merchants as changes brought about by the massive reproduction of rats.
They neither sent anyone to clean the underground pipes nor did anyone take any precautions against what was happening underground.
Everyone lived their lives as usual, and even in the drought-stricken areas, many farmers crowded at the sewage outlets hoping that rats would crawl out, because that way they would have meat other than humans to eat.
In the Elf Kingdom, as the oldest kingdom today, the elves know better what this means.
At the border with the Bayerjans Empire, a tattered purple double-headed eagle flag was fluttering in the wind. It had been burned by flames, parts of the surface had been petrified and cracked, and many places had been torn by sharp claws and then patched up.
For a moment, the old elves patrolling the border thought it was an illusion.
But after squinting again and again, and confirming again and again that there were actually soldiers standing under the eagle flag wearing simple and shabby equipment waiting for their reply and entry permission.
The old elf jumped down from the treetop and shouted in surprise with a voice as loud as a rooster:
"The eagle flag of Bayerjans! The Bayerjans are back!!"
The eagle flag of the Bayerjans Empire appeared on the border of the Elf Kingdom.
The last princess in the prophecy, whom they were looking for, was wandering anxiously on the commercial street of Fingal, worrying about what to eat tonight.
Chapter 2: Purple Eagle Flag, Meeting Results, and Tears-eyed Nun 8K
In the memory of the old elves on the border, the military flags of the Bayerjans Empire can be roughly divided into three categories.
The first is the white double-headed eagle military flag that was directly modified from the national flag. In the organization of the Bayerjans Empire, this kind of flag is generally a white flag that can only be used by those who have not made any military achievements or ordinary city defense corps.
The number of white flags was extremely small in the total number of legions in the Bayerjans Empire. Because according to the intensity of the Demonic Disaster War that year, a legion that had just been established for less than half a month had to be immediately sent to the battlefield. The legions that could maintain the "white flag" organization from its establishment to sinking underground were really a minority among the minority, even rarer than the rarest purple eagle flag legion.
The advanced version of the "white flag" is the "yellow flag" with a yellow background and red stripes. The yellow flag is the most numerous in the organization of the Byzantine Empire. Generally, all legions that have been on the battlefield will be upgraded from the initial "white flag" to the "yellow flag".
In the "Yellow Flag", there are three classes with more than 20 levels in total, based on the number of military achievements. It is the main military force of the Bayerzas Empire.
The three major classes are applied to all legions after the "Yellow Flag", and all legions will perform their duties according to the positioning of these three classes.
According to the upper and lower limits of the combat experience of the corps under the legion, the legion will place them in the "youth army", "mature army", and "reserve army" for combat deployment.
Among them, the youth army is the youngest and has the lowest military achievements. They are young and energetic, eager for military achievements, and have less experience than the mature army, so they are usually placed at the forefront of the army and are the first to engage in combat with the enemy.
The middle-aged army is composed of mature veterans who strictly abide by discipline and pursue discipline much more than their desire for military exploits.
They will be placed in the middle of the legion, fighting alternately with the Young Army to give the other side time to rest, and they can also serve as the second line of defense to stop the enemy's advance after the Young Army is defeated.
Finally, there is the reserve army composed of "chief veterans". They are the oldest in the legion, and at the same time, they are the best equipped and have the strongest fighting will, so they will never retreat.
During combat, they will be deployed in the third line at the rear to rest and wait. Only when they are needed will these elite veterans stand up from the ground and move forward.
When the war is going well, the reserve army will hardly be deployed to the battlefield. Only when the Bayerjans are facing the most dangerous moment, the Bayerjans will say -
"It's time for the reserve troops to go!"
This means that the Bayerjans Empire's front has been broken. This is the last thing the Bayerjans Empire Legion can do. It also means that it is time for [the real big problems require the intervention of real big figures].
Because of this, sometimes even after several years, the reserve army may not have a chance to go to the battlefield. While the young veterans and young soldiers are fighting on the front lines, these elite veterans can only wait.
This drove the reserve troops crazy, as they were even forced to sit on the ground and watch the battle like children, as they were notorious for their lawful obedience.
They would even plead to go to the battlefield, and as far as the old elves knew, there had indeed been several cases where the reserve troops went to the front line to fight under normal circumstances.
Because at that time the commander of the Byzantine Empire received a request saying that if the reserve troops were allowed to continue sitting on the ground this time, they would rebel.
These are the three common classes in the "Yellow Flag" of the Byzantine Empire.
Above the "yellow flag" is the more noble double-headed eagle flag with a purple background, which only a very few legions can enjoy. It is not a military flag, but an "eagle flag".
This is an honor that only the most elite legions, those with countless outstanding military achievements and the most loyal ones can have.
In Bayerjans, the legions with the purple eagle flag were almost all wiped out at the last moment. The Bayerjans affectionately called them "the royal guards" because every time the purple eagle flag appeared on the battlefield, it meant that at least one member of the royal family was wearing armor and fighting, which meant that the fighting situation in a certain area had become so intense that the royal family had to come forward and take charge of the rear.
The destruction of each eagle flag meant the complete destruction of a legion, along with the royal family members who went into battle.
And now, when the last purple princess appeared in the Elf Kingdom, there was actually a flag of the Eagle Flag Unit appearing on the surface, which really made the old elves feel excited.