Vientiane Throne of Civilization

Chapter 1918 The Rhythm of the Elves

Since the Elf King wasn't bringing up the alliance, Hilk wasn't in a hurry to bring it up either.

As things stand, it's clear that the Great Zhou and the elves here are not enemies. The key question now is how close an alliance they can forge with the elves.

To achieve this goal, the first step is to pique the interest of the elves in their Great Zhou.

Didn't the Elf King want to know how they'd been doing all these years?

Then Hilke simply followed the Elf King's lead and began to describe their life in the Great Zhou Dynasty.

They picked out some things that the elves had never heard of, never seen, and certainly never eaten, and began to talk about them.

The elves stay within their own little world, and their lives often remain largely unchanged for decades, or even centuries.

They can endure loneliness and adapt to or get used to this kind of life, but that doesn't mean they have no interest in new and exciting things.

Hilke wasn't exactly a smooth talker, but at least he had eaten at restaurants before.

In the Great Zhou Dynasty, whenever you went to a restaurant, you were guaranteed to hear a storyteller telling stories.

Hilke had a pretty good memory; he just followed the storyteller's words and that was it.

The storytellers in their Great Zhou Dynasty are all professionals.

Especially that kid Wang Pengfei, he's a smooth talker and a braggart.

Their task is to pique the audience's interest so that they can focus their attention and listen to what they are about to say.

Back in Blackmoon City, what Hilke heard most often was the story told by Wang Pengfei.

Where had these elves ever experienced anything like this? In just a few words, apart from the gray-robed elf who left in a huff after being humiliated, the rest of the elves who remained in the palace listened intently.

During this time, the Elf King also ordered people to bring wine, fruit and melons, making it seem as if he was holding a banquet.

Unfortunately, Hilke wasn't a professional. If Wang Pengfei were here, his smooth talk would definitely have fooled them.

The problem is, however, that they've been chatting for almost the entire afternoon, but the party shows no signs of ending...

After a brief moment of recollection, Hilke suddenly realized.

He remembered that this was the normal rhythm of the Elven race. Given their efficiency, they could hold these chat parties for ten days to half a month.

Having lived in the Great Zhou for years, their leisurely nature had long been eroded. Now, being dragged back into this rhythm after so long, they were finding it quite difficult to adapt.

Now that he had realized what was happening, Hilke calmed down.

It's unlikely that their Great Zhou will go to war with the Elven race right now, so he doesn't need to rush. He can just go with the flow for now.

For Hilke, there was just too much to say about Da Zhou; he could talk for ten days or half a month and still not finish.

But before that, he had to go back and let them know he was safe.

With this in mind, Hilke seized the opportunity to bring up the matter, and the Elf King naturally had no reason to refuse.

Upon returning to the new district, Hilke immediately met with Zhou Xu and reported the situation.

This also includes the whereabouts of the place of inheritance.

"Your Majesty, as it stands, the place of inheritance is not within the Elven territory; the compass points to a more distant location."

After that, Hilke gave a report on some aspects of the Elven race.

After understanding the situation, Zhou Xu nodded. "You did a good job. Don't rush, just take it one step at a time."

Zhou Xu wasn't saying he wanted the elves to immediately submit to their Great Zhou. Everything takes time; haste makes waste, and some things have to be done slowly.

During this period, Hilke's strategy was also sound.

All of this is predicated on first getting the elves interested in their Great Zhou Dynasty before anything else can happen.

Ideally, it would be best to find an opportunity to bring some elves over for a visit and to observe their lives.

However, the environment in the new district is so bad that even they can't stand it, let alone the elves who value the natural environment. Bringing them here now would probably only have the opposite effect.

In situations like this, we have no choice but to try a different approach.

Now that the Elf King has invited Hilke and his companions to the castle, it's a perfect opportunity to bring some of their Great Zhou goods over and introduce them into the daily lives of the Elven race.

Zhou Xu didn't give too many instructions; the important thing was to first establish good relations with the elves.

Ultimately, everything that follows depends on the premise that both parties have established a good relationship.

Having confirmed this, Hilke packed plenty of local specialties from their Great Zhou Dynasty and set off with great confidence. Judging by the efficiency of the elves, he estimated that he would be staying there for quite some time this time.

Zhou Xu told him to go ahead without worry, and that he didn't need to worry about the new district.

Hilke had no doubt about this. Their emperor's strength was such that he could be considered an army on his own. With their emperor personally overseeing things, the new district was indeed impregnable.

Zhou Xu's intention in this move was to take advantage of the fact that others were in the new area, and at least solidify their alliance with the elves.

At the same time, if there are any alliance terms that need to be negotiated, it is best to finalize them while he is there, as this will be more convenient.

After Hilke left, Zhou Xu, who remained in the newly governed city, didn't have a particularly busy day.

Having just broken through to the fifth level of the Out-of-Body Realm not long ago, he is currently indulging in cultivation. After hitting a bottleneck, the feeling of steadily improving his magical cultivation, which had stagnated for a long time, is wonderful.

Of course, in his spare time, he also took care of some routine administrative affairs in the new district.

The main work is still being done by the local governance team. However, there are some things that they would normally need to report and apply for, but now that His Majesty is in the new district, there is no need to send the reports to Black Moon City. They can just hand them over to His Majesty and get approval, and that's it.

On the new day, Zhou Xu had just finished reviewing a report that requested the transfer of personnel from the Greenery Bureau to assist in the environmental management of the new district.

Zhou Xu naturally approved it directly.

Right now, there are two main tasks in the new district.

One is to provide the technological equipment needed for their Great Zhou production, and the other is to address environmental issues.

Environmental governance, in particular, will likely affect diplomatic relations with the neighboring Elven race, so we must act quickly.

When it comes to environmental governance, the Great Zhou Dynasty can be considered quite experienced.

There are essentially two approaches: one is to increase greenery to purify the air; the other is to address the source of pollution by reducing emissions.

In fact, after the Goblin Kingdom collapsed internally, many factories had already stopped operating, and industrial pollution had been greatly reduced.

Unfortunately, decades of environmental pollution cannot be naturally recovered from in just a few years.

Now that things have come to this point, all we can do is have their Greening Bureau from Dazhou come here and lend a hand to the environmental governance work in the new district.

(End of this chapter)