Cut off my army's food supplies? I'll open a portal between the two worlds and max out my

"He is an envoy sent by the heavens to save poor souls from hell."

"Shang Qingtian" is the Western Regions' term for the Heavenly Emperor.

In the myths and legends of the Western Regions, the human soul is considered impure, and being born into this world is a sin. All the suffering in the mortal world is meant to cleanse the impurity of your soul.

Myths also say that once your soul is cleansed of its impurities, the heavens will send a messenger to lead you out of suffering.

The prime minister, of course, did not believe this rhetoric; these were all rhetoric devised by kings to better govern their people.

As the one who controls this system, he naturally wouldn't believe such nonsense.

But precisely because of this, the Prime Minister was well aware of how firmly the lower-level herders believed in this faith. Even if you held a knife to their throats, these people would never change their beliefs, even if they died.

Otherwise, those kings would have already declared themselves envoys sent by the heavens.

Why would a former general of the Great Zhou Dynasty be revered as a god by the notoriously ignorant Mu tribe?

Could it be that he really performed a miracle?

"That's impossible..." The Prime Minister shook his head inwardly, dismissing the impossible answer.

Under the Prime Minister's arrangement, the trading post and supporting system were established very quickly. The noble forces in the city, who originally wanted to obstruct the operation from the shadows, were forcibly suppressed by the Prime Minister.

After all, the Prime Minister brought the White Elephant Kingdom's Imperial Guard with him this time.

Putting aside the consequences of the conflict, they were no match for the Imperial Guard.

While everything was in place, a group of noble forces were also secretly gathering.

"That old man still has a large army; we're no match for him if we fight head-on. What should we do next?"

"It was said by a nobleman in a magnificent robe wearing a mask."

"We will absolutely not allow the royal family to establish a foothold in Tongcheng. Tongcheng belongs to us!"

The other person emphasized their point of view.

Sitting in the middle was the obsequious, fat city lord from before, but now his expression was serious, and he no longer had the comical look he once had.

The obese city lord said, "We are no match for them in a direct confrontation... Perhaps that old fellow came here just to wait for us to rebel."

Upon hearing the city lord's words, the expressions of the others immediately turned grim.

Come to think of it, Tongcheng has been under their rule for decades and has had no connection with the royal family. Now that the old king has suddenly sent the princess to Tongcheng to "experience being the acting city lord," this can't really be just Ariel's nonsense, can it?

"I was deceived by her naive appearance."

The man said at the beginning because he really thought Ariel was a naive and innocent girl.

"Is this some kind of scheme by that old man? He wants us to make a move so he has a reason to attack Tongcheng?"

Another person continued their analysis.

Based on the analysis of the situation, everyone felt that this was the most likely possibility.

This explains even the emergence of the prime minister.

"Gentlemen, we must unite."

"That's what the obese city lord concluded."

"...Alright, Lord City Lord, what do you suggest we do? This time, our family will definitely not hold us back."

"So are we."

"We are the same."

These nobles were not so coordinated among themselves, and now they have suddenly become united simply because they have a common enemy.

Seeing that the nobles had become united, the obese city lord smiled smugly and said, "In that case, I have a good idea."

"What idea?"

"Business warfare."

Ok?

The obese city lord's words stunned everyone present; no one else understood what he meant.

The obese city lord thought to himself, "A bunch of idiots," then put on a smile and explained, "Our noble princess naively believes that doing business is simply a matter of setting up a trading post. She doesn't understand the real difficulties of doing business."

"This noble princess has no idea that I've already found out exactly what goods she intends to sell when she opens her business!"

The obese city lord wore a confident smile.

"Lord City Lord, please tell me what kind of product it is!"

"Fragrances. The kind of fragrances women use!"

"The obese city lord said confidently."

"...I see! Lord City Lord, I understand what you mean! You want us to compete with the princess in the market and defeat the products she wants to promote."

The obese city lord nodded and said, "That's right, exactly."

"So what should we do?"

"It's simple, just stock up...stock up on Persian rose perfume!"

Persian rose perfume is a fragrance made using their special distillation method, and it was highly favored by nobles in both the Western Regions and the Great Zhou Dynasty.

Because this stuff, when applied to the body, gives off a rose scent.

Fantastic.

Since it's so amazing, the price is also extremely high.

Even these nobles wouldn't hoard goods on a large scale because the cost is too high.

"Imagine if we simultaneously sold large quantities of rose perfume at a drastically reduced price on the very day that noble princess opened her market. Do you think the merchants of Tongcheng would buy our perfume or their own fragrances?"

The obese city lord said with particular confidence.

"It's rose perfume, of course! It's a symbol of nobility! If it's transported to the Great Zhou Dynasty, the price will be more than ten times higher."

"...Then I'll go back and find someone to stock up on the goods."

"Me too."

With the market opening fast approaching, these nobles didn't waste any time. They quickly went back to consolidate their wealth and squeezed out a large sum of money to start buying perfumes on the market.

Soon after, the steward approached the obese city lord and said, "Your Majesty! I'll go prepare the money to buy rose perfume right away! Don't worry, I know several Persian merchants, and they will give me priority."

"Hoard your mother!"

The obese city lord roared, "This rose perfume is so expensive! Are you trying to rip me off by hoarding so much?! Take out all the rose perfume we bought before and find some unfamiliar merchants to resell it at a higher price for us!"

"Yes, Lord City Lord."

The butler left, drenched in sweat, to prepare for what was to come.

Although Tongcheng is said to be the largest border city in the White Elephant Kingdom, it is actually just the best of the worst.

Its size was not much different from that of a small county town in the Great Zhou Dynasty. Basically, everyone knew about any activity in the market within a day.

As these nobles rushed to buy rose perfume, the price of rose perfume rose from three hundred coins to five hundred coins per bottle.

This trend is still rising.

The nobles originally thought that rose perfume would be difficult to acquire because it was inconvenient to preserve, and Persian caravans would not bring out too much of it.

The actual situation turned out to be easier than they had imagined.

As they accumulated too much inventory, they began to feel something was amiss.

Although they weren't worried about the rose perfume going to waste, because they felt that as long as they took it to Da Zhou, they could sell it no matter what, it was just that the travel costs were relatively high.

The nobles gradually stopped.

After the nobles' antics these past few days, the day for the market to open has finally arrived.

As the distinctive instruments from the Western Regions began to play, this trading post, representing the cooperation between Ariels and Anxi Town, officially opened for business.

According to the terms of the cooperation agreement, Blackstone will be the main person in charge of the initial trading site.

Early in the morning, Blackstone set up a shelf, but covered it with a red cloth.

Other merchants in Tongcheng were also very interested in this trading post representing the noble princess of the White Elephant Kingdom, and soon a large crowd gathered around.

"Open for business!"

With a cheer, the gates of the trading post were opened.

"Anxi Town Specialty! Pure Natural Soap! If it doesn't smell good, you don't have to pay!"