"His Royal Highness Norton, On behalf of the Chickard Chamber of Commerce, Seliham would like to pay you high respects. I wish His Highness the best of health and all the best..." Young Master Seliham said respectfully to Lorist. This is a very standard audience ceremony.
"You don't need to be too polite, young master Seliham, you and I are old acquaintances, so there is no need to say more polite words. I have always admired the young master's talent, but it is a pity that the young master gave me the battle at Cape Romani. Added a lot of trouble, and left afterwards, I regret not being able to meet with the young master. I think if the young master can stay with me, I believe it will be able to fill in the gaps for me, and it won't happen again Such an escape incident, what do you think, young master?" Lorist said with a smile.
"His Royal Highness is laughing," Eldest Young Master Seliham replied without changing his face. "At the Battle of Cape Romani, Seliham tried his best, but it was of no avail. In the end, he had to flee in a hurry. During the war, the Chickard Chamber of Commerce was exhausted and could not afford the ransom for Seliham. In order to avoid such an embarrassing incident, Seliham had to leave. It is also His Royal Highness the Duke of Norton. , did not send elite men to chase after him, which gave Seliham a way out. Seliham is here to thank His Royal Highness for the fulfillment."
"Hehe, you really know how to talk, Thurliham." Lorist smiled slightly: "Okay, it's time to talk about the business. Thurliham, what I want to ask is whether the Chicod Chamber of Commerce intends to break away from the business alliance control, become an independent kingdom?"
"His Royal Highness, to tell you the truth, the Chicod Chamber of Commerce has indeed thought about becoming independent, but the problem is that although the Chicod Chamber of Commerce is one of the seven giants of the business alliance, the economic lifeline has always been in the hands of the business alliance. Gui The family should know that our Chicod Chamber of Commerce is mainly based on sea transportation and sea trade, but at present we have been forced by your family's North Sea Fleet to go to sea, and most of the land trade routes are in the hands of the business alliance. As for commodities , are also purchased and raised from various chambers of commerce in the business alliance. Without the fleet, we have no way to purchase goods and raise goods. But nothing can be done." Young Master Seliham began to cry.
Lorist laughed at Fatty Shi who was standing aside, stretched out a hand, and spread his palm. Shaking his head and sighing, Fatty Shi took out a Gold Ford from his pocket and put it in Lorist's palm with great reluctance.
There was a black line on the young master's face: "Your Highness, what are you doing?"
Lorist replied lightly: "It's okay, Master Thurliham, I made a bet with you, Baron Shredder. Baron Shredder thinks that you will definitely agree with my proposal to suggest that the Chickard Chamber of Commerce break away from the business alliance and become an independent kingdom, but At the same time, many conditions will be put forward. And I think you will definitely reject my proposal very tactfully, young master. Look, I won."
"Uh..." Young Master Seliham was dumbfounded. If someone did this in other places, it would be an absolute insult to Young Master Seliham, but in front of Lorist, he lost his temper and couldn't help it. At present, the Chickard Chamber of Commerce and him are in a weak position, so he can only swallow his anger.
Lorist threw the gold coin in his hand into the air a few times before catching it, and finally threw the gold coin back to Fatty Shi: "Master Thurliham, let's stop playing tricks, just spread it out and talk directly. In fact, the bet I made with Baron Shredder should have been won by him. Since you appeared in Morente City, it means that the Chicod Chamber of Commerce is very interested in my proposal.
You are a smart person. You should be able to see that the current situation of the business alliance has gone from bad to worse. Otherwise, the armed legion of the Chicod Chamber of Commerce would not have raided the newly-built territory of the Vicia Chamber of Commerce when they withdrew their troops back to the territory, and plundered a large number of craftsmen and craftsmen from there. Production supplies. You should understand what such behavior means to the business alliance, it is betrayal. That's why your chamber of commerce reacted positively to my proposal.
To us, the Nortons, the Chickard Chamber is an outstretched claw of the Commerce Federation, our enemy. We still remember that your Chamber of Commerce once contacted the pirates who were active on the Gold Coast and caused heavy losses to our family, so that we had to issue a sea ban on the territory of your Chamber of Commerce, and no sails could go into the sea. But now we are willing to give your Chamber of Commerce a chance to correct its mistakes. It is very simple, that is to break away from the business alliance and become an independent kingdom. This should be very attractive to you.
I don't mean to make things difficult for you, Mr. Thurliham, I'm just not interested in haggling. If the Chicod Chamber of Commerce does not want to leave the business alliance, then sorry, the Norton family will still regard your Chamber of Commerce as an enemy. After all, we and the business alliance have a total score, don't we? We have repeatedly proposed that the two sides conduct peace talks and sign an armistice agreement to restore peace. But the business alliance has been trampling on our sincerity. It is like a greedy wild dog, staring at the fat that does not belong to it and drooling.
So before completely dispelling the ambitious appetite of the Business Alliance, I have given up my plan to have peace talks with it. Next we will take a new war action against it. Young Master Thurliham, you are a smart person. If you want to go ashore before the wrecked ship of the Commercial Alliance sinks, I think we should be more frank. You can directly list any requirements of your Chamber of Commerce, as long as they are not excessive We'd love to see the Chicod Chamber of Commerce exist as a separate kingdom in the south-central continent. "
Young Master Seliham blushed, took a step forward, bowed his head again and bowed: "His Royal Highness, as you said, the Chicod Chamber of Commerce really wants to break away from the business alliance and become independent. In fact The war with the noble family and the Antinac Kingdom has exhausted the reserve resources of the various chambers of commerce in the business alliance, but under the intimidation of several other large chambers of commerce, the Chicod chamber of commerce had to continue to join the war.
We have long wanted to stop the war and conduct peace talks to end this senseless and costly war, but our opinions are light, and no one wants to take our opinions to heart. They even blamed our chamber of commerce for the annihilation of the Armada, regardless of our chamber of commerce. The fact that the armed fleet was also completely lost forced us to recruit pirates to attack your family's merchant fleet, and at the same time forced our chamber of commerce to raise food for the merchant alliance in several southern provinces.
We have had enough of the oppression and urging of the business alliance, especially after we lost our armed fleet at sea and cut off shipping and sea trade, the status of our chamber of commerce in the business alliance has plummeted, and we have been called around all the time, like slaves. After receiving the proposal from the Grand Duke, we were really happy, as if a long drought meets nectar. It's just that we used to be enemies of the noble family and caused a lot of losses to the noble family, so many people have doubts.
My coming to Morant City to meet His Highness the Grand Duke this time also represents that the Chicod Chamber of Commerce wants to reach an understanding with your family, and it is also a formal reply to the Grand Duke's proposal. Our Chicod Chamber of Commerce is willing to break away from the commercial alliance and become independent, but because our chamber of commerce is weak, I am afraid it will be difficult to resist the counterattack of the commercial alliance on the territory after our independence. So we hope to get the help of your family to ensure that we will not be attacked by all parties after independence... "
Lorist nodded in satisfaction: "That's right, Young Master Seliham, since your business has such an independent mind, our family is willing to help you achieve your wish. Please rest assured that the conditions I can promise in the letter are not Just talking. How about this, you can discuss the specific conditions and requirements with Baron Shredder, as long as it is not excessive, our Norton family is willing to reach a settlement with your chamber of commerce and help you gain independence."
Two days later, Fatty Shi came to see Lorist with a document: "Your Highness, this is an agreement we reached with Young Master Seliham."
After placing the document in front of Lorist, Fatty Shi sighed deeply: "Your Highness, in fact, not only did the Chickard Chamber of Commerce have long been independent, but their ambition is not small."
"What's wrong?" Lorist asked.
Fatty Shi came to the map hanging on the wall, and clicked on the area around the territory of the Chickard Chamber of Commerce: "Look here, Your Highness. What the Chickard Chamber of Commerce wants is not the independence of the original territory of the Chamber of Commerce. These two areas spread all over. This was originally the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lauder and the Kingdom of Inksilon, and now it is the five provinces of the Commercial Alliance. The Chicod Chamber of Commerce is going to take these two areas, so that after becoming the Chicod Kingdom, it will be With the territory of seven provinces, it can be regarded as a big country in the central and southern parts of the mainland.
I asked Master Seriham, why the Chickard Chamber of Commerce insisted on taking these two areas, and he justified it confidently. The fields are known to be barren. If these five provinces can be captured from the territory of the business alliance, the Chicod Chamber of Commerce will not have to worry about the famine that the independent kingdom will suffer in the future. I can only agree with what he said is reasonable, acquiescing that the independent Chickard Kingdom occupies five provinces in these two regions... "
Lorist laughed loudly: "Ambition is a good thing. If the Chicod Chamber of Commerce is only independent in its own chamber of commerce territory, I will despise it. It is surrounded by commercial alliance territories, and it wants to occupy How many provinces does it matter to our family? The more provinces we occupy, the greater the blow to the business alliance. As long as it has the ability to occupy it and defend it, it is its kingdom territory, but now it seems that the Chicod Chamber of Commerce It is still very measured, as long as the territory of five provinces in these two regions is occupied."
Fatty Shi complained dissatisfiedly: "Your Highness, I have never been able to understand why you helped the Chickard Chamber of Commerce to break away from the business alliance and obtain an independent kingdom status. In fact, the Chickard Chamber of Commerce is the enemy of our family. It has caused a lot of damage to our family. Big loss. Now we can't retaliate but come to an understanding with it and even help it become a kingdom. It feels like shit to be honest."
"I understand how you feel, Shredder." Lorist also sighed: "But I can't help it, even if I am a sword master. You can see from the map that the Chicod Chamber of Commerce and Morente City are far away. Thousands of miles away, there is the other side of the Titanini Mountains. Its territory is just like what Master Seliham claimed, with high mountains, dense forests, and barren fields. We cannot send out the family's armed forces to conquer it, isn't it? The price our family can afford.
And we should also know what the young master Seliham has not said. You have also read the information about the territory of the Chikede Chamber of Commerce submitted by Tagle. The territory of the Chikede Chamber of Commerce was originally the Grand Duchy of Urubah Most of the citizens there are poor and brave. In the past, apart from being a soldier and being rented out by Grand Duke Urubah's army to earn money, the other way out was to go to sea to become pirates and pirates. There is a saying among those private ship owners that 70% of the pirates on the Golden Coast come from the Grand Duchy of Urubah, which illustrates this problem.
After the Chicod Chamber of Commerce entered the Grand Duchy of Urubah, the pirate problem was greatly controlled and improved, and the Chicod Chamber of Commerce also aggressively recruited these residents near the sea, which greatly strengthened its sea power. But now the sea fleet of the Chicod Chamber of Commerce is gone, and many residents near the sea have become pirates again. And now the Golden Sea Road has become lively due to the increase of those private ship owners, and it has also given those pirates more opportunities. In the second half of last year, 17 private boat owners were ransacked by pirates, and six of them died in the hands of pirates.
Our family's fleet has now controlled the golden coastline of the Sunshine Sea, but if we want to become the overlord of the southern seas, we must combat and suppress the increasingly rampant piracy, and protect the merchant ships and maritime trade on the golden sea route. Although our family has issued a ban on the territory of the Chicod Chamber of Commerce, no sails are allowed to go into the sea. But do you believe this sea ban is useful? It is impossible for our family's fleet to stay in the waters of the Chickard Chamber of Commerce.
Therefore, we must get the cooperation of the Chicod Chamber of Commerce to effectively eliminate pirates. This is one aspect, and another aspect is that compared to the commercial alliance, the Chicked Chamber of Commerce is a card that we can use to help it break away from the commercial alliance. Independence would be the fatal blow to the business alliance. Just like those neatly arranged dominoes, the Chicod Chamber of Commerce is the first domino to be knocked down, and it will bring earth-shaking changes to the business alliance. "
Fatty Shi nodded helplessly: "Your Highness, this is what you said before, the lesser of harm, the enemy's enemy is our ally. Forget it, you don't have to worry about my entanglement, just look at it." Documents, I have ticked everything I can agree to. It’s just that you can guarantee that they will not be threatened by the Storm Sword Master after they become independent, which I can’t agree to... "
"It's okay, I'll write a letter and ask them to bring it to the Storm Juggernaut. I believe that old man will sell me face and promise not to threaten their chamber of commerce for the sake of the business alliance." Lorist said.
Fatty Shi continued to report: "For the rest, such as allowing them to reorganize the merchant fleet for maritime trade, and coming to Morente City to set up trading houses for purchases, I have already asked them to follow the regulations of our family and the regulations of the Freedom Alliance, Siri Young Master Ham agreed. In addition, regarding the sale of products produced in our family territory, I also followed the agreement reached with the Mermaid Chamber of Commerce of the Chigda Kingdom, and only gave them the exclusive right to sell the territory of their own kingdom.
Another thing is that Young Master Seliham asked our family's armed forces to inflict heavy damage on the Commercial Alliance before they declare their independence from the Commercial Alliance. What he meant was that he was worried that our family would renege on its promise, and that after they declared independence they would become targets for attracting the armed forces of the business alliance, while the armed forces of our family would sit still and watch the armed forces of the business alliance mobilize large forces to attack them. That's why Young Master Seliham is willing to stay and see with his own eyes our family's armed forces launch a new conquest against the business alliance. "
"Okay, no problem. It's normal for them to worry that we're going to trick them. After all, we haven't reached the stage of mutual trust. Let that Seliham stay. The commanders of the various legions will arrive in two days. After the military meeting is held, we will take action against the business alliance," Lorist said.
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