In this cyberpunk era, why are you still playing the traditional villain?

Xu Shi nodded, "In the end, it was you who were unjust first, almost completely erasing our achievements in defeating the sea god."

"I remember clearly that before setting sail to fight the sea god, His Majesty said that he wanted the two nations to be on good terms forever."

He cleared his throat and said, "But now I can't see any sincerity from them, so it's only natural to retaliate."

"After all, I'm a very petty person."

"..."

Hearing his blunt remarks, Dongfang Xiao was once again stunned.

What's wrong with this person... this person?

To be honest, through the previous negotiations, she had come to understand that Xu Shi's personality could definitely be described as assertive—if he didn't have such a personality, their city-state probably wouldn't have let him lead the expedition as an envoy.

But isn't this a bit too forceful?

You really don't mince words when you talk to people, do you?

She even felt a strange sense of frustration—saying nice things to you doesn't work, and using my kingly demeanor can't intimidate you, so what else do you want from me?

In Dongfang Xiao's view, although being an empress was frustrating, she still possessed the basic qualities of a ruler. At least she could control the general officials, and it wasn't a situation where "the world only knew the Grand Duke and not the Empress."

But when he faced Xu Shi, it felt like none of his tricks worked.

Tsk.

"...Since Mr. Xu says so, I can understand your feelings."

Despite her frustration, the conversation had to continue, so she thought for a moment and said, "However, some things cannot represent my will... I wonder if you are feeling any better now?"

"well enough?"

Xu Shi's answer was ambiguous: "In the end, I didn't get anything good out of it. I don't care what the people of the Empire think of me, but I really did put in a lot of money."

"I think that's not necessarily true."

The young empress shook her head and said, "I do know something about what Mr. Xu has done... It seems that from the very beginning, you have set up many trading posts to trade houses and livestock with my people?"

When the price of Poseidon Stone skyrockets, the prices of other goods will only get cheaper and cheaper. She was aware of this. Previously, the market price of a draft ox was three silver coins, but later it could be bought for as little as one silver coin. By extension, the situation of other things was not much better.

but.

"Now that Poseidon Stone is worthless, the prices of these things will naturally rise, and may even be higher than before."

"So, you are actually the biggest beneficiary, aren't you?"

Buy at a fair price or even a low price, and then sell at a high price. The difference between the purchase and sale price alone will be a lot of money. Don't pretend here, I can see through you!

Not to mention that he was the one who started this whole thing. Dongfang Xiao doesn't believe he's the kind of person who would be willing to hurt others a thousand while hurting himself eight hundred. Who would believe that he also lost out?

"You can't say that."

Xu Shi did not deny it, but of course he had to act innocent after getting the benefit. "What use is it for an outsider like me to have so many houses, cattle and sheep? I have to spend money to hire people to manage and clean them... I don't know how much I have to spend on feed every day. It's not as easy as Your Majesty makes it sound."

"In that case, Mr. Xu, would you consider selling these items back to the royal family?"

The young empress pursed her lips, not bothering with pleasantries, and said directly, "I'll take as many as you have. As for the price, we can discuss it. I can guarantee you won't lose out. This way, you can get revenge for yourself. How about it?"

Upon hearing this, Xu Shi raised an eyebrow slightly.

Pretty clever... Ultimately, the royal family brought him here today to discuss things, mainly to minimize their losses.

And this is indeed a good method—for the Hualan Empire, especially for its people, these are indeed indispensable parts, as they have not yet completely broken away from the scope of an agrarian society.

In this situation, using produce as compensation to appease people is far more effective than directly filling the gap with money.

If he put himself in the shoes of the affected citizens, he might have sold the items back to them at a lower price, which would not only have reduced their losses but also minimized the royal family's losses.

At the same time, they can earn a lot of prestige, since the royal family saved everyone from dire straits, which is much more substantial than the small favors from the Papacy.

Of course, if the produce could be distributed back for free, everyone would be even more grateful.

These are all feasible solutions; it just depends on how much of her life she's willing to sacrifice.

Therefore, this little empress, Dongfang Xiao, is not really just a mascot. At least when faced with such an unprecedented and difficult situation, she can quickly come up with a solution, which is commendable in itself.

This made him appreciate her more; she wasn't just a pretty face.

only.

"Why?"

After thinking for a moment, he just shook his head. "Selling it to the royal family is not as good as reselling it myself. I think I can definitely make more money. The market is in short supply now, and I can offer whatever price I want and someone will buy it."

"you!"

This sentence made Dongfang Xiao lose his composure. That's enough!

From the very beginning of the conversation, she had been trying to curry favor with Xu Shi and had always maintained a very humble attitude. She had never done this even when facing Cheng Gujian.

The result was a "Why should I?", which really made her lose her temper.

"Mr. Xu, don't forget, this is the Hualan Empire, not your city-state."

Her face was ashen, and she tried her best to keep her tone from being too angry. "And I am the Empress of this empire, and I will never let you do whatever you want."

"But Your Majesty, didn't you say before that there are many things you can't decide?"

Xu Shicai wasn't buying it and responded with a smile, "Even if I were to talk to the royal family, why wouldn't I just go directly to Grand Duke Gujian? If I'm not mistaken, he'll have to pay a portion of the money no matter who I talk to."

That's already a very tactful way of putting it. To put it bluntly, I never considered you an empress. Cheng Gujian is the real power holder, okay?

We used to have a relationship, why should I waste my time on you?

"..."

This was the third time Dongfang Xiao had stayed in Bengbu during this short conversation.

Moreover, this time it can be said that it hit her sore spot, and it was the most outrageous time.

After all, who would actually tell her outright that she was a mascot? No matter how tactful the words were, they still sounded quite harsh to her.

But Xu Shi's words hit the nail on the head; he knew that it was possible to bypass him and go directly to Cheng Gujian.

After all, he was absolutely right. This deficit was not going to be borne by the royal treasury alone. As the person in charge of promoting the Poseidon Stone trade, Cheng Gujian would naturally have to pay some of the price.

Since that's the case, Cheng Gujian probably doesn't care whether he pays more or less—he wouldn't care too much if the difference wasn't too big. If he could do Xu Shi a favor in this way, it would be even more worthwhile for him.

After all, the two of them had become somewhat estranged because of the matter of defeating the sea god, and he could take this opportunity to resolve some of the discord between himself and Xu Shi.

"Then... what do you want?"

The little empress bit her lip and asked in a slightly trembling voice.

It seems that she is only now realizing that her previous thoughts were somewhat naive, but it is undeniable that from the very beginning, Xu Shi had been leading her by the nose in this conversation, both emotionally and practically.

However, as I said before, this might really be her only chance in this life, and even so, she cannot give up easily.

"I don't want anything in particular, I just want His Majesty to understand a principle."

Seeing her slightly aggrieved yet helpless expression, Xu Shi's smile grew even brighter. "You're not the one who sets the price; I am."

“I know His Majesty is intelligent and quick-witted. Perhaps he saw through the intricacies of the Poseidon Stone transaction from the very beginning.”

He interlaced his fingers and said slowly, "But you didn't stop it, instead letting it develop to this point... I think it's probably to seek an opportunity to cooperate with me?"

"To be honest, I admire your courageous decision to risk the fate of the Hualan Empire... This is something most people wouldn't even dare to think about."

"Of course, it is selfish, after all, you already knew that once the bubble bursts, countless people will be ruined, and even the entire empire will be plunged into turmoil... But I can understand you. It is really hard to bear when the ruler is weak and the ministers are strong. I have experienced such things before."

"So, based on that alone, I'm actually quite willing to help you out."

"However, I do have conditions, it just depends on how much you can accept."

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 259 Dongfang Xiao has grasped the future

2023-09-09

Dongfang Xiao wasn't too surprised by Xu Shi's words.

Because she actually saw things very clearly. Although Xu Shi went too far with the Sea God Stone incident, he left a lot of room for maneuver, clearly indicating that he didn't really intend to wipe them out completely.

For example, the trading of Poseidon Stones only stayed in the main city of the empire and did not spread to other surrounding counties.

Furthermore, although he did open up trade and purchase goods from citizens, he could have gone even further, such as by simply offering loans.

If he had actually done that, it would have dealt a devastating blow to the empire's economy, but he didn't, which already suggests that he stopped short of causing serious damage.

Including the first point, I can't say that absolutely no one did these things, but there really weren't any of Xu Shi's people involved. In addition, this turmoil came and went quickly, and so far, the impact has been confined to the main city, which can be considered a stroke of luck amidst misfortune.

In any case, Dongfang Xiao did not think that this was a momentary oversight by Xu Shi—after all, she had to admit that in terms of manipulating the economy, Xu Shi's methods were far superior to those of everyone in the Hualan Empire. So how could he not have thought of what she could think of?

And his meeting with me today... To be honest, although his aggressive attitude really annoyed Dongfang Xiao, Xu Shi's actions themselves already indicated that he wanted to negotiate.

Moreover, the negotiation was conducted with her alone, making her personal biases quite obvious.

Otherwise, he could have simply ignored everything and stayed on Silverpine Island, wouldn't he? No matter how much the royal family and the Papacy had to bleed, he would always be the undisputed beneficiary.

That's the advantage of being an outsider: you can attack or defend as you please... especially an outsider with considerable strength who can even handle a being like the Sea God. It's not so easy to force him to do anything by force.

So, after all that groundwork, the current situation is exactly the result he wanted... He had already explained the stakes, and now all he wanted was Dongfang Xiao's attitude.

As for her own attitude... the little queen could easily confirm that.

The fact is, from the moment she said "What do you want to do?", she had already made her stance clear.

"Mr. Xu, please tell me your terms first."

So she didn't hesitate for long. After a moment's hesitation, she tentatively asked, "I... I can't possibly agree to everything you say unconditionally. I need to hear your opinion first."

"I understand. It's good that Her Majesty the Empress has this attitude."

Xu Shi nodded with satisfaction, "It's no wonder I've always admired you so much."

"I really admire you, Miss Dongfang."

He launched into the topic very seriously, saying, “As I said before, you are one of the few people who can see the situation clearly and seize opportunities accurately… Even if it comes at a great cost, in my opinion, it is still a very good quality.”

"Do you... really think that way?"

The little empress's eyes brightened, and she no longer cared about the change in his address. Instead, she asked with a hint of eagerness.

"Otherwise what? Do you want me to say you're a bad kid? Cold-blooded and ruthless, disregarding your subjects for your own benefit?"