Long Live Money in Anime Crossover

The Emperor knew very well that if Mo Mo didn't want to talk about it, asking wouldn't make a difference. But now, he still asked, which showed that he genuinely cared about the issue and its consequences.

Mo Mo stroked his chin, his face showing no sign of tension, nor did he have anything to be nervous about. More than nervousness, he felt troubled. How was he going to explain everything he had done to these two people who actually had little understanding of him?

"First of all, the so-called paralysis of the Chinese Empire is only temporary."

Mo Mo's words immediately turned the faint anger on the two people's faces into confusion: such a huge chaos, and it's only temporary?

"That's right, I'm pretty sure this chaos is only temporary. Unless something really tragic happens somewhere because of a large-scale physical accident caused by my information warfare, this chaos will only last until today at most."

"Although computers have begun to be used in many key areas of the world, the scope and prevalence of computer applications are still too small. Moreover, the so-called application of computers is just a modification of the original manual structure. A truly fully automated technology industry that uses computers has not yet emerged."

Mo Mo held up one finger and said, "Let's talk about electricity first. All the electricity comes from the Sakura Stone Power Plant, but the Chinese Federation doesn't have any newly built Sakura Stone Power Plants right now. All the Sakura Stone Power Plants have a complete manual operation mode."

"After confirming that the computer is unusable under any circumstances, the Sakuraishi Power Plant will quickly switch to manual mode to restore power. Once power is restored, communications based on radio and wired cables will be restored, as will transportation, water power, and so on."

"Therefore, there is no need to worry about the complete chaos in the Chinese Empire. If I am not mistaken, after dawn today, the Sakurashi Power Plants across the country will gradually begin to resume operation."

"That's why I launched an information warfare attack during the day yesterday and immediately began the decisive battle that night. Time waits for no one, and we only have one night at most to make the most of the results of the information warfare."

"Moreover, the best opportunity is when the enemy has just entered the Luoyang Military Region yesterday, has not yet established a firm foothold, and has not yet fully caught up with supplies."

Upon hearing this, the old emperor and Gao Hai exchanged a glance and nodded. They possessed this common sense, and they breathed a sigh of relief at Mo Mo's words.

It seems that at least Momo isn't acting recklessly.

“Even so,” Gao Hai’s tone softened a little, “have you considered the situation afterward? Are you so sure that Britannia and the EU won’t act rashly, and that the member states of the Chinese Federation won’t take the opportunity to make trouble?”

"Do not."

Momo shook his head instead, saying, "Britannia and the EU will definitely make some underhanded moves. Even if their officials don't allow it, their subordinates won't sit idly by. After all, our Chinese Empire is a piece of fat meat in their eyes!"

"Then what will you do..."

Mo Mo smiled slightly, shook his finger to stop Gao Hai, and said, "Lord Gao, yesterday's information warfare was not just an attack on the Chinese Empire!"

Gao Hai was taken aback upon hearing this, not yet understanding Mo Mo's meaning. But then his eyes widened, and he said, "Could it be... that you also attacked Britannia and the EU? You dare to provoke two empires!"

Mo Mo shook his head and said, "What are you talking about, Lord Gao? Why would I provoke them? It's just that the internet is globally interconnected. With such a huge virus outbreak in the Chinese Federation, it shouldn't be a problem if even a little bit of it gets transmitted, leaving Britannia and the EU in a state of stagnation for ten or fifteen days."

"You mean..."

"I estimate that Britannia and the EU are still struggling with various viruses. Unfortunately, due to the limitations of my equipment, I cannot launch a proactive attack on them. The viruses that are transmitted are merely passively spread, excluding the Bios virus, and cannot inflict a fatal blow on them."

"At most, it will confuse these two behemoths until their technical engineers come up with a solution to the virus."

Gao Hai frowned and said, "What if they find out that it was us... or you who did it?"

"Don't joke around, Lord Gao."

Mo Mo waved his hand and said, "Don't forget, Luoyang's external network has been completely cut off right now. In any case, theoretically speaking, this shouldn't have been done by us."

"Anyway, this is a global viral outbreak. Anyone interested in finding the culprit is welcome to give it a try. If all else fails..."

Mo Mo smiled slightly and said, "There are so many traitors and rebels in the local areas of the Chinese Empire. If we add a few more charges to them in addition to treason, they won't have the strength to resist anymore."

"As for the various states of the Chinese Federation... forgive my bluntness, but even if they wanted to become independent before, we still couldn't stop them. After all, the armies that control the states are not our Luoyang army; those are actually the territories of powerful warlord families."

"For those places, we can take them back one by one, just like we did when we were dealing with powerful warlord families. If they are useful or valuable, we can take them back."

"At worst, we can present the facts and reason with everyone in the world, and explain the strategic deterrent weapons of our Chinese Federation—since ancient times."

"Since ancient times?"

Gao Hai blinked, not quite understanding. When did the Chinese Federation acquire such a weapon?

Also, what exactly does "since ancient times" refer to?

Author's Note:

Second update, one more update before midnight.

122. Independence? That's utterly shameless!

"what!"

Mo Mo exclaimed in surprise, "You don't know that since ancient times? Since ancient times, it has been an incredibly powerful weapon, often putting a country in an invincible position in diplomacy."

"Whenever we encounter troublesome and chaotic situations, as long as we Chinese use this weapon that has been around since ancient times, it will definitely create a fatal effect that leaves the enemy frustrated, spitting blood, and speechless."

“Generally speaking, we shouldn’t use such powerful weapons often, but in theory, His Majesty the Emperor and Lord Gao should know about them!”

Hearing Mo Mo speak so righteously, the old emperor and Gao Hai were instantly intrigued and said in unison, "We would like to hear more details."

Mo Mo stroked his chin and said, "Well, it's a bit complicated to explain, so let me give you an example!"

"For example, if India wants to secede from the Chinese Federation, where does its legitimacy lie?"

The old emperor and Gao Hai looked at each other, and said, "The legitimacy of independence?"

Gao Hai sneered and said, "So what if they're independent? They have power, money, and guns. They don't plan to stay in the Chinese Federation, and they don't want to pay taxes and tributes to the Chinese Empire. They're independent, so what legitimacy do they have?"

"So it lacks legitimacy?"

Mo Mo was not bothered by Gao Hai's ridicule; on the contrary, he became even more smug.

There is no such thing as the United Nations in this world. After all, there are only three sovereign states in the world right now, and a few independent alliances or similar entities, such as the Arab League in the Arabian Peninsula.

In such a world situation, there is certainly no need for the so-called United Nations to mediate international affairs. And naturally, there is no such thing as international law.

Therefore, in international relations, there are basically no rules or bottom lines, meaning there are very few times when reason is involved.

"Being unreasonable is, frankly speaking, about whoever has the bigger fist is right. Whether they are actually right or not is irrelevant."

Mo Mo smiled and said, "If that's the case, why should we waste our breath on them, or care about their actions? If they really want independence, we can't stop them."

"What we need to do is to enrich the country and strengthen its military, so that when we have a strong and well-equipped army, we can take over the territories that are useful to us."

Gao Hai's face showed a hint of anger as he said, "That's just sophistry, an excuse for the chaos you've caused."

In Gao Hai's view, Mo Mo was indeed making excuses. Even though everyone knew that the Chinese Federation was now just a name, and all the states had thoughts of independence, no one had yet to tear off this veil.

Therefore, if this civil war leads to the secession of various states from the Chinese Federation, Momo would be the best scapegoat on the surface.

Gao Hai wanted Mo Mo to take the blame, but Mo Mo refused to take the blame and cleverly shifted the blame to the law of the jungle.

The old emperor, however, seemed to have caught on to something and said, "What if India finds legitimacy for independence? For example, if India, under the influence of the EU, holds a national referendum and uses public opinion as the basis for its independence, what should we do then?"

Mo Mo turned back to the old emperor and said, "Now is the time to reason with him, and it is also the time for us to unleash this weapon that has been used since ancient times."

"Since there is no real legitimacy at present, the ownership of a piece of land actually only has two points to consider."

"One is actual control, and the other is moral ownership."

Mo Mo raised two fingers and said, "The so-called actual control is still a matter of who has the bigger fist, I won't say much about that. As for the so-called moral attribution..."

Mo Mo pointed at the documents in front of him and tossed them out, saying, "Our Chinese Empire has a long and rich history. Since we need to reason with each other, then let's reason with each other."

“Since Zheng He’s voyages to the Western Ocean, hundreds of years ago, the countries of the East had already submitted to us and become our vassal states. Their letters of surrender and investiture are still on display in our Luoyang History Museum.”

"If we're not going to fight with fists, we'll fight with reason! This place has belonged to us for hundreds of years. Your ancestors even acknowledged that it's ours. What's ours is ours."

"Now look what's happened. You've gathered a group of people, held a democratic referendum on our territory, and are trying to turn our land into yours, all while claiming it's legal."

"Isn't this kind of thing...shameless?"

After hearing Momo's words, the old emperor and Gao Hai were stunned. Indians were holding a referendum on their own land, wanting to govern their own people and build their own country with their own laws...

How did it become shameless?

But upon closer reflection...

Their eyes lit up...

To be fair...

It's nothing special!

Hundreds of years ago you acknowledged your submission to my Chinese Empire, that you were subjects of my Chinese Empire, and that your things were our things.

It's like this: if a servant takes something from his master and then, without the master's permission, a group of servants decide to divide it up through a democratic vote, isn't that the behavior of a robber?

To commit robbery and then call it legal and reasonable, and even to claim it as democracy and justice—isn't that just shameless?

The old emperor and Gao Hai realized that this so-called "since ancient times" was just using the long history of the Chinese empire to occupy the moral high ground. No matter how many reasons or methods you come up with in modern times, you still cannot change the historical facts.

In this way, whatever you do without the consent of the Chinese Empire is considered a servant touching the master's property, and is considered shameless.

Unless you're unreasonable and resort to violence, that's a different story.

The old emperor smiled enigmatically and said, "When our Chinese Empire was at its largest, it occupied the entirety of Asia. Do you think that one day we will be able to tell the whole world... about everything since ancient times?"

Mo Mo smiled and replied, "If anyone wants to reason with us, we'll talk to them about things that have been going on since ancient times. Of course, this also needs to be combined with our own invincible fist."

"When our fists are bigger, others can't beat us and can only reason with us. At that time, this great weapon, which has been used since ancient times, will truly be invincible."

The old emperor fell silent, but his eyes shone brightly. In his youth, he had indeed dreamed of enriching the country, strengthening its military, and revitalizing China. However, his life had been wasted because of the curse of Geass, and he was almost destined to be unable to do anything more.

But now, he vaguely saw hope in Mo Mo.

However, the old emperor was no longer a passionate, immature youth. He quickly came out of his daydreams about the future and turned to reality, his expression becoming serious.

“Mo Mo, I admit that what you said before made a lot of sense, both regarding your disruptive methods of information warfare and your analysis of the surrounding situation.”

"Indeed, our biggest problem right now is to restore our control over the entire Chinese Empire. This requires us to have a strong army, a strong society of scholars, farmers, artisans and merchants, and to unite the entire Chinese Empire."

"Right now, we've wiped out the main local forces, and Luoyang is temporarily out of danger. But what should we do next?"

"Don't forget, you destroyed the entire banking industry of the Chinese Empire, causing all the wealth of the Chinese Empire to vanish. How can we talk about revitalizing China under such circumstances?"

Gao Hai nodded in agreement, saying, "That's right, Mo Mo, you've passed the first two tests, but what about the money? You've destroyed all the money. Without money, how can the Chinese Empire become prosperous and strong!"

"Don't tell me you think you can make the country rich and powerful just by shouting slogans!"

Momo scratched his forehead. Explaining all this to these two people who had no concept of currency or value was indeed a bit troublesome. Not difficult, just a little boring for Momo.

"Let me ask you a question first, Lord Gao: What is money?"

Although the old emperor asked the question first, when Mo Mo answered, he naturally had to choose someone he could use to provoke and suppress him, and Gao Hai was the only one at hand.

Gao Hai was slightly taken aback by the question. What is money?

Money is just paper money...

Gao Hai instinctively wanted to answer, but he knew that what Mo Mo asked would definitely not be so simple.

Therefore, Gao Hai began to think more deeply about what this money really was.