The doctor suffers from amnesia, but not complete amnesia.

"You two actually came out to pick me up?"

Wei Yanwu said in surprise.

"I arrived earlier than you, what should I do? It's a pity I can't give you a proper salute, Your Highness Wei Yanwu, Governor of Longmen."

"Never mind, you never kneel, not even when you see the late emperor—this is my wife, Princess Wenyue of the Eastern Kingdom."

Qiao Yelan greeted him with a smile.

"Your Highness is truly a beauty that could topple kingdoms. What a pity, such a beautiful flower has been stuck in cow dung."

"You still talk like you're about to get beaten to death."

Wei Yanwu laughed and scolded, but Princess Wenyue bowed properly.

"Your Excellency Qiao Yelan, it has been a long time since I last sent my greetings."

"Your Highness, have we met before?"

Qiao Yelan was slightly taken aback.

"You probably don't remember, but five years ago, Ursus launched an invasion of our Eastern Kingdom. It was thanks to your heroic efforts in the Battle of Blood Peak that we were able to hold out until the reinforcements from Great Yan arrived, forcing Ursus to sign a peace treaty. I was fortunate enough to meet you once at my father's place. Of course, we didn't have any conversation at that time."

Adams was taken aback by these words, while Qiao Yelan suddenly realized that he had only written about these things briefly in the letter he left for himself, without mentioning Princess Wenyue at all.

Wei Yanwu's expression was somewhat strange.

To outsiders, the war appeared to be a victory for the Eastern Kingdom, backed by the Great Yan Dynasty, against Ursus. Afterwards, economic and military exchanges between the two sides became increasingly close, and the marriage of the Eastern Kingdom's princess to the Great Yan was considered a celebrated event. However, the truth behind this was far more complex...

After the war, Ursus was severely weakened. Its invincible record since the Four Emperors War was broken. Emperor Vladimir was critically ill, the newly established crown prince was unstable, there was discontent within the army, undercurrents among the nobles, and the political situation became unstable after that war, which has continued to this day.

The Eastern Kingdom was nearly destroyed, with almost all adult males going to the battlefield. The cards they had saved up to compete with the Great Yan were all used up in the Blood Peak Battle, and their economy collapsed completely. They had no choice but to put aside all their ambitions and continue to kneel at the feet of the Great Yan as dogs. In order to obtain various resources, they even sent a princess to marry into the country.

Only the Great Yan has won—its disobedient vassal states have become obedient, the restless Ursus in the north has fallen into internal strife, and its own prestige has spread even further across the continent.

Coincidentally, Wei Yanwu, who was still the eldest prince at the time, was favored by his father, the emperor, and many things were open to him—this was the opportunity for him to meet Qiao Yelan.

However, this was also an opportunity for him to win the heart of the beauty, so Wei Yanwu quickly adjusted his expression.

"There's such a coincidence involved. In a moment, on behalf of my wife, I'll offer you another toast."

The past incident was easily put aside, and the dinner officially began after the guests arrived.

Outside, the guests and hosts were having a great time, but soon the three of them were seated in a private room.

"Having just secured your position at the Dragon Gate, you're using this as an excuse to urgently summon me here. What exactly is it about?"

Qiao Yelan slowly repeated the question she had asked Adams to Wei Yanwu.

"There is indeed something wrong."

Wei Yanwu sighed.

"After I gained a foothold in Longmen, my younger brother... His Majesty the Emperor seems to have become more wary of me, especially since I was too hasty and used the Black Cloak Guards that my father left me. He must have noticed that."

"After all, his ascension to the throne was too dramatic. Who could believe that a crown prince would give up his rightful throne to marry a beauty he could never have otherwise obtained, abandoning his position as the Crown Prince and becoming the Duke of Wei? No wonder people are gossiping behind his back—don't you think?"

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Sweating Profusely

Wei Yanwu awkwardly picked up his teacup and took a sip.

He originally had no interest in the throne, and since he genuinely loved Princess Wenyue, he immediately became a regular entertainment item in the teahouse, with the theme "The Eastern Kingdom's princess is a remnant of Qingqiu, a wicked concubine who brought ruin to the country, and she seduced the Crown Prince of Dayan who loved beauty more than the country."

Marrying a foreign princess naturally dashed his hopes of becoming crown prince, nearly giving his father a heart attack.

As a result, they had no choice but to forcibly promote one of their sons, and then, after raising him for only a few years, he passed away.

Unfortunately, because he didn't receive proper upbringing in his childhood, he developed a somewhat distorted personality. Coupled with a lack of education later in life, this emperor's paranoia was terrifying.

So this blow landed squarely on Wei Yanwu's head.

"I am in a very awkward situation. I have to find a way to regain the emperor's trust. Although he may still have some feelings for me and does not want to take action against me for the time being, I think people's thoughts can always change."

"Tell me, how can I help you?"

Qiao Yelan still looked lazy.

"Do you want me to help you find Koschche?"

Adams, who was pretending to know nothing, almost spat out his tea.

So you, BYD, just copied and pasted everything from the questions to the process, and you're too lazy to even change it, right?

If you continue to act like this after the book is published, see if the readers will take offense.

"Even if Kosicée comes back, the emperor won't believe she can still pose a threat to me."

"So you want me to find a way to build you a powerful military force to check and balance the emperor?"

"I might die sooner if I do this kind of thing."

"Oh, I see. You want to move somewhere else again? Like that time you wanted to leave the capital of the Great Yan Empire? No problem. Look, Letania just had a coup, everything needs rebuilding, and I still have some connections there..."

"Don't joke around. I'm a member of the Great Yan royal family. I can go on official visits, but wanting to live in a foreign country long-term—what's the difference between that and treason?"

Wei Yanwu looked at Qiao Yelan with a very serious expression.

"I understand. You just want to spend the rest of your life in Longmen with your wife, while also preventing His Majesty the Emperor from constantly thinking about how to get rid of you, right?"

Qiao Yelan snapped his fingers

"I think we should try a different approach—make sure your younger brother can't bring himself to kill you, what do you think?"

Old Wei's eyes lit up.

"May I ask, sir, what is your plan?"

The other party simply threw his briefcase at him.

"See for yourself!"

So Wei Yanwu focused intently on reading the document, and then Adams realized that he was once again the only one who could be responsible for changing the tea.

So I obediently went to change.

After Wei Yanwu finished reading, he put down the document in his hand and looked at Qiao Yelan.

"Can you guarantee that the Great Yan will provide us with covert support?"

This is the difference between a prince of a country and the head of a family.

“I will speak to the Emperor. Your brother is too suspicious. Babel Tower is already in a bad situation within the Great Yan territory, so it is the perfect opportunity to exchange it for something.”

Qiao Yelan laid out her plans in detail.

First, feed the Emperor the wealth and trade routes of Babel within the Great Yan territory, so that he can truly benefit from them. As long as the Emperor doesn't remain acquiescing, they can then launch the Lungmen Coin Plan. Once the plan is launched, seeing the ever-increasing tax revenue from Lungmen, the Emperor will be even less likely to object.

As for initial investment...

Now that I have the right to mint coins, who would bother with the real economy? I must immediately bring the principle of leverage to Terra, this virgin financial territory, and squeeze every last penny out of the nobles.

How do you say "far ahead"?

Wei Yanwu nodded and handed the document in his hand to Adams.

Adams' heart trembled as he took the document—he finally understood why Qiao Yelan had said he would consider the occasion for meeting Wei Yanwu based on his reply.

Because the decision to cooperate has nothing to do with me or the Swire family!

Wei Yanwu agreed; how could I dare not participate?

If Wei Yanwu doesn't agree, would I dare to participate?

He looked up and met Qiao Yelan's ambiguous smile, then immediately looked down, pretending to be looking at the documents intently.

Qiao Yelan was giving himself a wake-up call—keep all those little thoughts to himself, keep them firmly hidden in his heart, and work hard. He would ensure that the Swire family would prosper in Longmen.

The devil's gifts are not so easy to take.

Did Qiao Yelan help the Swire family move from Victoria to Lungmen just so that he could support Wei Yanwu?

Wrong—it was only because a single Victorian family joined that this trade route was able to break through the current Victorian border and extend further west to Colombia, Bolívar, and Sargon.

Wei Yanwu represents Da Yan, Qiao Yelan represents Leitania, and Swire represents Victoria. When the three of them are together, they can open up transportation routes to the entire Terra continent. Only when these three representatives endorse Lungmen Dollars can other countries realize that this matter is irresistible and they can only rack their brains to get a share of the pie.

Wei Yanwu's identity and power, as well as the special status of the Dragon Gate, allowed him to act without too many constraints. In addition, with the support of the Great Yan, no one dared to touch him.

As for Qiao Yelan, whether it was Helhunzoren before or the current Twin Empresses, Letania would always stand behind him. Coupled with Babel Tower's own reputation, no one dared to touch him.

Only the Swire family, whose Victorian backing is a facade, are truly supported by the dukes who covet their wealth and try every means to collect protection money, but they will never genuinely support them, because they would love for the family to be torn apart so that they can install their own representative in their place.

The most bizarre thing is that because of the division among the dukes, their plans would be hindered by each other, and in the end they could only focus their energy on infiltrating the Swire family, plunging the family into endless internal struggles.

Adams expressed his fear of being sidelined or even disposed of by Wei Yanwu, and sought help from Qiao Yelan. Qiao Yelan, of course, would offer him a truly effective solution.

Kneel at your own feet, or kneel at Wei Yanwu's feet.

Your family can be preserved, and its development is beyond doubt, but of course, there will be a price to pay.

Adams was right, Qiao Yelan was indeed very lazy, so lazy that he only thought of copying and pasting when it came to questions and dialogues, and he only thought of copying and pasting when it came to handling problems.

But when Qiao Yelan copied and pasted the methods he had used on Dongguo fifteen years ago onto Adams, Adams truly realized what this "laziness" really meant.

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Applying Pressure