Lord of the Mysteries: The New Black Emperor

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Hobert came to Audrey today to talk to her about the precautions of diplomatic work.

He picked up his teacup and took a sip of tea, continuing to say to Audrey: "Don't be fooled by the international relations in the newspapers. The real cooperation models and benefit transactions will not be published in the newspapers, and even very few people know about them."

"For example, this negotiation with the Eternal Blazing Sun Church seems to be an 'ice-breaking' negotiation, but it is actually a 'routine negotiation' that standardizes future interactions."

"After future conflicts between the two sides, it will no longer affect cooperation in the Northern Continent, but there should be a customary exchange of Beyonder characteristics to avoid the outflow of Beyonder characteristics from both sides."

Audrey's upbringing in a noble family allowed her to immediately understand: "If both sides want to take back their own Beyonder characteristics, they exchange them 1:1."

"But like this war, the Duchy of Southern Balam won the victory and seized many Beyonder characteristics from the Eternal Blazing Sun Church. If the Eternal Blazing Sun Church is defeated, they need to exchange twice the number of Beyonder characteristics."

Hobert nodded with a smile: "That's roughly the idea."

"But..." Audrey still had some doubts: "But I still find it a little difficult to accept the model of fighting and cooperating at the same time. Wouldn't that be... wouldn't that feel very fragmented?"

"The relationship between organizations, to put it bluntly, is a relationship of competition and distribution of interests." Hobert further explained: "Negotiations, wars, confrontations, and cooperation are all means of competing for or dividing interests."

"For example, in the Intis Republic, the Eternal Blazing Sun Church and the 'Earl's Light' have common interests, so they can cooperate."

"But in the Southern Continent, because there are conflicts, they fight."

"However, the conflict in the Southern Continent is not so great that it requires sacrificing the relevant interests of the Northern Continent, then it's very simple, they fight and cooperate at the same time."

Hobert said seriously: "Never treat diplomatic negotiations as a polarized 'peace' or 'war'. Peace and war are not the main battlefields of diplomatic negotiations. Your main battlefield is between peace and war."

"And the core of your work is actually the division of interests!"

Audrey felt greatly inspired, and she suddenly had a very clear understanding of her upcoming work.

Three hours later, at the Earl Hall's family dining table.

After listening to Audrey's description, Earl Hall was first surprised, but then quickly felt that it seemed very reasonable: "Hobert has a very thorough understanding of the purpose of diplomacy."

Audrey asked with a spoon: "But Father, during this time I have consulted many experts in the field of diplomacy, why is there no one like Hobert who can describe my work so clearly?"

Earl Hall took a sip of wine before smiling: "Currently, there are only two diplomats in the entire Northern Continent who are recognized as diplomats."

Audrey was very happy, obviously Hobert had received a high degree of praise from her father.

Just then, Earl Hall's secretary entered the restaurant led by the butler: "Sorry everyone, to disturb your meal."

Then the secretary said: "Earl, the Prime Minister just called and asked you to go there immediately."

Earl Hall wiped his hands with a napkin while getting up: "Okay."

After leaving the restaurant, he asked the secretary: "Is there anything urgent?"

The secretary took a deep breath: "The defense line on the southern coast of Midseashire has fallen."

...

In the northern part of the Loen Kingdom, a blizzard ushered in, and the industrial town of Constant seemed to have turned into a white city overnight.

As the sound of gunfire got closer and closer to the city, it was now in chaos. The streets were full of fleeing pedestrians, and the thick snow was trampled into a slippery surface.

Car accidents and quarrels often occurred due to slipping or uncontrollable sliding.

At the same time, the entire city had almost no law and order, and thieves and robbers were rampant.

Just on the noisy and crowded street, suddenly a young man in a suit, dressed as a manager, stood on a wine barrel and shouted: "Are there any steelworkers? This factory is recruiting steelworkers. Workers who can use the CT-15 steel production line will be given priority."

"As long as you complete the application, we will send you and your family directly to the new factory south of Backlund in a carriage, and provide work meals, provide employee dormitories, and family members can also live in the dormitories, weekly salary of 1 pound 8 shillings..."

Before the manager could finish shouting, he was already surrounded by applicants.

This recruiting manager, of course, was from the "Earl's Light". The heavy industry center built in the Southern Continent encountered an embarrassing problem. The equipment purchased earlier was too advanced, and many workers were not very good at using it.

Just like the CT-15 steel production line that the manager just mentioned, this is currently the most advanced steel production line in the Loen Kingdom, and even the entire world. Only a few large steel plants in Constant have a large number of workers who are proficient in using this production line.

If the battle line on the southern coast of Midseashire had not fallen, it would have been difficult for the "Earl's Light" to recruit such skilled workers.

Now it's good, shouting like this on the street, the salary is not very high, but in just about 3 minutes, more than 100 qualified workers came to apply.

Because the conditions offered by the "Earl's Light", or rather the Duchy of Southern Balam, seemed to be prepared for these fleeing workers.

The carriage will take them to the new factory, and they will also take care of food and accommodation. You must know that the price of renting a carriage in the city is outrageously high now, and it costs 10 pounds just to get out of the city!

Train tickets and carriage tickets have been saute to sky-high prices, and ordinary workers, even if they spend all their savings, will find it difficult for their entire family to take these means of transportation to leave the city.

The workers can only carry their luggage and flee with their families, but because of the congestion on the road, they are already very tired before leaving the city.

In addition, it is said that some bandits are already waiting outside the city, just waiting for people who can't afford tickets to come to their door.

At this time, the manager shouted again: "Are there any workers who know how to use various machine tools produced by Box Company? It's okay if you only know how to use any one of lathes, milling machines, boring machines, drilling machines, and grinders..."

In the Heisdon Hotel across the street, Hobert sat by the floor-to-ceiling window, watching the manager shouting hard, watching the workers rushing to sign up, watching the people's faces full of confusion and helplessness, watching the children's ignorance or crying loudly.

Today, on every street in Constant, there is a manager recruiting people. Those who successfully apply will be immediately taken to a large power plant under construction in the suburbs.

There, bread, hot soup, and hot water will be provided, so that everyone can eat and drink their fill. Then, people from the government of the Duchy of Southern Balam will use the teleportation array that has just been built there to directly send the workers to the Southern Continent.

When they arrive in Crowlier, after taking them to visit the working environment, they will be told that they are already in the Duchy of Southern Balam, which is indeed south of Backlund, but a little too south.

If they directly say that it is a job opportunity in the Southern Continent, it is estimated that the workers will regard the recruiting managers as human traffickers.

Hobert smiled: "This can also be regarded as a kind lie."

At this time, Todd knocked on the door tiredly and came in: "Duke, it's settled, it cost 13,000 pounds."

"Very good." Hobert poured him a glass of red wine: "Rest for a while, there is another negotiation later."

With the loss of the southern Midseashire front, Hobert seized the opportunity to recruit various skilled workers in the industrial areas of the southern Midseashire.

This even created a very strange phenomenon: in several industrial cities, the industrial areas and the city center were crowded with people, but at the train stations, long-distance carriage stations, and on the roads leading to major southern cities, there were no signs of congestion.

At the same time, Hobert led the management of the "Earl's Light," carrying a large amount of cash, and spent several days in advance buying up factories, land, real estate, and so on.

For example, there was a previous energy tycoon who planned to build a huge power plant in Constant, along with Packages light bulb factories and wire factories, etc. The initial investment exceeded 200,000 pounds, but it was acquired by Todd for 12,000 pounds.

Although the power plant and various factories were not yet completed, they were almost finished. Hobert only spent about one-fifteenth of the peacetime price to complete the acquisition.

In the past few days, Hobert's team spent about 3 million pounds, almost buying half of Constant.

It's not that no one saw through Hobert's trick. The people selling land and factories knew that the "Earl's Light" was taking advantage of the situation, but they were still willing to sell their assets.

Because in this chaotic time of war, only having gold pounds in hand can bring peace of mind. In times of crisis, a stack of gold pounds may save one's life, while a land deed is useless.

In addition, the speed of the collapse of the Loen front exceeded people's expectations. Coupled with the Intis Republic's declaration of war on Loen, the wealthy generally lost confidence in the Kingdom of Loen, feeling that it would be difficult for them to return to Constant to operate their industries, so they simply sold off these properties.

Of course, there were also some venture capital firms that came to acquire properties like Hobert, but they did not dare to acquire as much as Hobert, or they would not give money as readily as Hobert.

The reason is simple: Loen soldiers have already begun to organize defenses in the industrial cities, and it is said that they will continue to resist in these cities, engaging in street fighting with the enemy.

Then, in the upcoming war, the acquired factories are likely to become ruins. For them, even if the Loen army can fight back, such ruins would be difficult to sell.

Back in the room at the Heiston Hotel, Todd drank the red wine in one gulp. He smiled and said, "Currently, our total investment in the electricity sector of the southern Midseashire industrial area has only cost £120,000!

"If it were peacetime, it would have cost at least 2 million pounds to complete this scale of investment. It's as if someone helped us choose the factory site and plan the production scale.

"When the factory was about to be completed, it was delivered to us at an extremely low price."

Of course, all of this is premised on the future return of the Kingdom of Loen; otherwise, these lands and factories will all be spoils of war for the Feysac Empire, and the "Earl's Light" will have acquired a stack of waste paper.

But Todd has great confidence in Hobert's judgment, because it has been proven more than once that Hobert's judgment is very accurate.

Todd was once worried when those energy tycoons bought the technology to build power plants from the "Earl's Light" at a high price, and when they built factories on a large scale in northern and western Loen.

Now it seems that the final winner is the "Earl's Light." First, they made a huge profit from patent fees, and then they acquired the power plants and supporting factories at a low price.

Now, all that remains is to wait for the war to end, rebuild the factories, and then put them into operation. The "Earl's Light" will have no rivals in the entire Northern Continent.

It is very likely that the "Earl's Light" will immediately become a "billion-pound" mega-enterprise after the war.

Hobert smiled upon hearing Todd's flattery and said, "We are also taking a great risk, having to draw on the cash of the 'Earl's Light.'"

Todd could tell that Hobert's words were purely polite. The Duke was very confident that he would receive ten or dozens of times the return in the future.

So Todd said, "That won't happen. 'Duke Grain' has a lot of cash to supply to the 'Earl's Light' every day."

"Duke Grain" is a grain company that was just established in Backlund in early December. On the first day of selling grain, all the stores were swamped by bakeries and food processing workshops.

Because the grain price of "Duke Grain" is only half of the current grain price in Backlund, these food-selling workshops and many ordinary citizens are hoarding grain with all their gold pounds.

Currently, the grain price in Backlund has increased four times compared to before the war. That is to say, even just half of the current grain price is twice the grain price before the war, which is definitely a huge profit for Hobert.

After all, these grains come from the Routhd Archipelago, from the Southern Continent, and the prices are very low. Moreover, they are transported to Backlund through the teleportation array, so the freight is not high.

On the first day of opening, basically small workshops came to buy grain. On the second day, some food companies and noble butlers came to discuss large transactions.

On the third day, several major grain merchants, under the introduction of Lord Bradley, found the Duke's Palace, hoping that "Duke Grain" would respect the current state of the grain market and asked Hobert not to disrupt the grain market any further.

As a result, Hobert said, "You are right, we should indeed respect the grain industry. Tomorrow, I will have the grain store lower prices."

Several grain merchants were dumbfounded. Didn't they express their meaning clearly? Why are they still lowering prices?

On the fourth day of opening, "Duke Grain" did not lower prices, but several major grain merchants also joined the ranks of buying grain.

Their intention was very simple: to buy up all the cheap grain from "Duke Grain," leaving only high-priced grain on the market.

The commercial war between the "Earl's Light" and the gas industry had only just ended a few months ago. Originally, these grain merchants still wanted to continue talking with Hobert.

But because of Hobert's engagement with Audrey, many nobles secretly harbored resentment towards Hobert.

So they secretly contacted each other, found the grain merchants, said they were willing to fund them, and made some political promises, hoping they would bleed Hobert a little.

So these grain merchants prepared to fight a grain war with Hobert, buying up almost as much grain as the "Grain Store" released.

However, "Duke Grain" has been open for more than ten days, and currently, the supply of grain still seems to be very sufficient.

It is precisely because of the strong support of these grain merchants and nobles that Todd has the confidence to acquire real estate on a large scale.

Otherwise, with only the previously prepared 10 million pounds, Todd would have reserved a large portion of the funds, preparing to acquire the power plants, wire factories, and other factories under construction throughout northern and western Loen, in order to complete the electricity layout of Loen.

He would never be as extravagant as he is now, spending 3 million pounds in Conant alone.

Hobert stayed on the southern shore of the Midseashire for about a week until the Feysac army reached the suburbs of Constant, then he returned to the Southern Continent to continue monitoring the land reform and system reform of the Duchy of Southern Balam.

These two reform measures have currently allowed Hobert to digest half of the potion. As the reform enters its final stages, he can only wait for the next opportunity to digest the potion.

However, with the influx of immigrants and the large-scale construction that has begun in various places, Hobert believes that the potion will continue to be digested.

In addition, some new policies will continue to be introduced in the future, which is like playing the role of Hobert and can also help Him consolidate His state, killing two birds with one stone.

Currently, Hobert's focus has been placed on building his first mausoleum.

He plans to build this tomb in a natural cave inside a mountain.

And the people who built the mausoleum were the rebel prisoners from the previous civil war.

Hobert had Angus interrogate them. Those who had killed people outside the battlefield or committed extremely bad crimes were sent to build the mausoleum.

Because Hobert didn't intend to let these people live after the mausoleum was built, he interrogated them first, but did not sentence them. After the mausoleum was completed, he simply executed them immediately.

After the interrogation, the team building the mausoleum immediately gained more than 20,000 laborers.

Among them, there were many Beyonders, but they did not receive special care or amnesty. They still had to do hard labor, and even their workload was greater.

Around the construction site, Hobert directly put on the Uniqueness in the "Nation of Disorder" and created a "wall" of "chaos".

Because the level of the "wall" is very high, it is difficult to detect it unless it is at the level of a True God.

But soon the construction of the mausoleum encountered a very embarrassing problem: the construction site simply couldn't use so many people!

So Hobert immediately began looking for a location to build a second mausoleum. At this time, he received a report from his subordinates that an envoy from the Loen Kingdom was coming to visit the Duchy of Southern Balam.

… …

Princess Alice of the Loen royal family was appointed by her brother, George III, as an envoy to visit the Duchy of Southern Balam.

Accompanying this outstanding princess was also Georgina, the chief of MI9.

The delegation also included many diplomats, a team of guards, and reporters from major newspapers.

When departing from Backlund, the reporters from major newspapers were informed by the diplomats of the Duchy of Southern Balam that they were not allowed to report or reveal the way to the Southern Continent.

They also had to sign a confidentiality agreement and could only report on the content that the Duchy of Southern Balam agreed to let them report.

The reporters were of course very resistant to such a request, but at the request of Princess Alice, these reporters reluctantly signed the agreement.

After the delegation set off, when these reporters saw the magical teleportation array, all their dissatisfaction was smoothed out.

How to report the teleportation array? Would anyone believe it if it was reported?

So when the diplomats of the Duchy of Southern Balam asked them to write in the report that they had arrived at the Duchy of Southern Balam by airship, the reporters agreed with smiles on their faces.

Audrey, the newly appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs, received this high-profile delegation.

Currently, with the help of Earl Hall and Hobert, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs already has a framework, and there is no problem in receiving foreign guests and holding talks.

Audrey did not arrange for Alice and the others to stay in Angers, which is the capital of the Duchy of Southern Balam, but it is now a large construction site and immigration transit center, which looks very messy.

She arranged for the delegation to stay in the capital of Milherbon, where there are several villas left by the former colonial army or local nobles.

Audrey arranged for them to stay in one of the villas and held a grand welcome banquet that evening.

Conrad, Donna and other dignitaries, as well as several military officers such as Seer, attended the banquet.

Because the civil war had just ended not long ago, many people from the "Rose School" were still lurking in various parts of the Duchy of Southern Balam, so Eliot's "Dawn Army" was transferred to ensure the safety of the delegation.

Although the main figures of the Duchy of Southern Balam had basically arrived, Hobert was the only one missing.

Audrey's reason was: The Grand Duke went out to inspect.

But Alice and Georgina both knew that even if Hobert was inspecting the Rorsted Archipelago, he could still return before the banquet started if he wanted to.

However, the two envoys did not feel that they were being slighted. After the Duchy of Southern Balam won the civil war, Hobert's political status in Loen was second only to King George III, and he was fully qualified not to attend the reception banquet.

The next day, the activity Audrey arranged for the delegation was to visit Longtail Island. The two ladies tacitly agreed that Fors, who was yawning, would pick them up at the villa, and Audrey did not show up.

When they saw the bustling crowd in Longtail Port, when they saw the neat wheat fields and rice fields, and the endless rubber trees, the officials and reporters of the delegation were a little shocked.

Because according to the descriptions of some Loen people who had lived here, the island was barren and backward, and the natives did not even wear clothes.

However, the brick houses in the fields, as well as the vests and shorts worn by the natives, proved that those descriptions were completely rumors.

At this time, Fors personally explained to Alice and the others: "The dam under your feet is called the 'Earl Dam' by the locals. It was built when Hobert was still an Earl."

"Don't look at the small river in front of you. During the rainy season, the river will overflow its banks and the surrounding villages will be flooded."

"At that time, the natives on both sides of the river did not build houses, but only built a thatched shed, because even if they built a house, it would be washed away during the rainy season…"

Then Fors introduced the main and branch canals built attached to the dam, forming a very scientific water conservancy system.

After Fors finished his eloquent introduction, Alice smiled and said, "You seem to know this water conservancy project very well."

"Yes." Fors said proudly: "I supervised the construction of this project. After a project, I am half a water conservancy expert."

Alice was slightly taken aback, feeling like something was wrong.

After visiting the water conservancy system, Fors accompanied Alice to meet the local mayor.

The mayor was a thin, dark-skinned young man, wearing the unified uniform of civil servants, a short-sleeved shirt and trousers. He looked energetic, especially his eyes. Everyone could even see the light in his eyes.

The mayor smiled generously and said to Alice: "Your Highness, I didn't expect to see you here."

While Alice was stunned, Georgina had already recognized him: "Adrian, are you Adrian?"

"Yes, Duke."

Alice recalled that the person in front of her did look very similar to a collateral relative of the royal family, but in Alice's impression, he was a fat man, and he was timid and always revealed some annoying confusion in his eyes.

In the next instant, Alice finally knew what was wrong with this island. The people here had a very good mental outlook.

Farmers on the ridges were laughing loudly, the Duchess actually personally participated in a small water conservancy project, and a self-deprecating fat man became a confident and sunny young man.

Alice suddenly said: "This is really a wonderful place."

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