Arknights? Colonization Ark!

"Now that you've lost money, you come to me crying and making trouble?"

The new nobles were terrified by the anger hidden in the emperor's words and could only lower their heads and accept the scolding.

Feodor glanced at the group of people in front of him, especially Baikal, who actually thought that there were not enough infected people.

Most of the infected people's bills are difficult to implement because of these people.

They are unwilling to bear the economic burden of mechanized mining, since the infected people don't even have to worry about wages anyway.

If a large number of mechanical equipment are replaced, it will cost money for personnel training, equipment, maintenance, and salaries. In their eyes, these large investments are completely unnecessary, even if the subsequent output can pay back the investment in more than ten years.

Because there is no cost to persecuting infected people.

In their eyes, the infected are not even slaves, they are just consumables, very useful consumables.

Chapter 46: The Weakness of the Bourgeoisie

Infected slaves are like drugs to Ursus.

They were addicted to this deadly drug from top to bottom.

Those at the top want to use them to divert conflicts, those in the middle want to use them to reduce costs, and those at the bottom want them to complete tasks that carry infection risks on their behalf.

With these accumulated layers, the human rights of the infected have been directly deprived. It can be said that none of the beneficiaries of the Originium industry in Ursus are innocent.

But there is no free lunch in this world.

The more the Originium industry develops, the more infected people there are. In just a few decades, the number of infected people has increased exponentially.

The larger the group of infected people is, the greater the instability in society will be, and the more everyone will persecute them. The spring will be compressed tighter and tighter, and when it explodes, everyone will die.

The sins they have accumulated on the infected will be repaid many times over.

Feodor knows, or is there anyone here who doesn't know?

so what?

You want them to spit out what they ate?

It would be quicker for you to kill them now.

So now that there is a problem with the ice field, these people will have withdrawal symptoms immediately.

Don't be fooled by Feodor's appearance of sympathizing with the infected and wanting to improve their status. In fact, he is just pretending to be sympathetic because he knows that it is impossible to do so.

I really want to try taking a dollar out of his pocket.

But he didn't want to continue adding water to the pressure cooker.

“It is true that the state’s industrial finances declined last year, but it did not reach the point of loss.”

At least according to the apparent accounts, these guys did not lose anything. What does the loss of the extra source stones they embezzled have to do with him?

"However, it is also true that Originium production has been reduced. In the coming year, some taxes on Originium-related companies will be reduced and deducted from the Duke's Mansion. The specific amount will be decided by you, Witte. That's it, we adjourn the meeting."

He was really annoyed by these people and didn't even have the mood to look at them any longer.

The new nobles were obviously dissatisfied with this result. They thought it was just an attempt to smooth things over, but just as they were about to say something, they were glared back by Witt.

These people are here just to hold him back.

……

"That's it."

Balalaika listened to his uncle's account of the meeting, which must have been greatly exaggerated.

But it is certainly true that they suffered a loss.

She wanted to laugh when she heard it.

This is probably what he meant by the weakness and compromise of the bourgeoisie.

Don't be fooled by the fact that these guys seem to be able to compete with the military nobles. In fact, they are nothing without the emperor's support.

They had no military power at all. On the surface, the Fourth Army chose to stand on their side several times, but in fact it was just the emperor's instruction.

Without the emperor's military support, their entire family would climb trees the next day, and they don't even have the courage to use money to support private soldiers.

Ever since the Lion King and the Witch King of Victoria died in rebellion, emperors of various countries have regarded military power as more important than their lives, for fear of following in each other's footsteps.

In Feodor's eyes, these new nobles were nothing more than fat sheep that could be exploited at any time. They had no military power and could be squeezed and kneaded as the emperor pleased.

Even if the new nobles had huge grievances, they had to swallow them.

"Think of a solution quickly, my dear niece. If you continue like this, it will not just be a matter of a small loss."

They can afford to lose a little money, but they are more sensitive to some things than the emperor.

An economic crisis sweeping across Ursus is about to come. Their products themselves have no advantages, and they can only compete in the market by oppressing the infected and obtaining low prices and large production volumes.

Now that low costs are gone, prices have to be raised, and if they are raised, they won’t be able to be sold.

These people in the imperial capital relied on Balalaika's suggestions to sell off their poor-quality assets and suffered very little loss, but this was a risk transfer, not the end of the crisis. Factory owners in other places were already complaining bitterly, and the break in a large number of capital chains could cause an overall economic avalanche, with a large number of factories closing down and going bankrupt.

By then, it will definitely affect the country's fiscal deficit. When the emperor runs out of money, the first thing he will do is kill these fat sheep.

That's why these people are so anxious.

On the one hand, they hoped to get rid of a few old nobles who were trying to steal their food to buy a breathing space, and on the other hand, they were trying to find ways to wash their assets out of Longmen. However, the emperor was watching them very closely, so they dared not make any big moves.

If they really wait until next year to see if there will be any turnaround, if the other party strangles them, they will become pigs to be slaughtered and will inevitably suffer heavy losses.

Balalaika slowly lit a cigar and smoked it as if no one was around, his eyes flickering in the smoke.

"Uncle, when a person is poor, I am powerless to help with this kind of thing."

But the other party would not believe this. There is no such thing as being poor in the world. It’s just that the money given is not enough.

"My dear niece, if you can help me through this difficult time, your uncle will reward you handsomely!"

Looking at the old guys in front of him who were pretending to beg, Balalaika felt nothing but disdain. These old guys said nice things when asking people to do things, but when it came to paying, they were just dragging their feet.

If they had been willing to help her father back then, perhaps she would not have ended up with her family broken up and been adopted by Kosice.

"There might be a way, but..."

Balalaika stopped talking halfway, which made his uncle, who had just started to feel hopeful, anxious.

"Just what? Don't keep me in suspense."

"Given the current economic situation in the country, it is definitely impossible to find a solution internally, but we can seek help from outside forces."

He shook his head halfway through the conversation.

"This trick is useless. We have already tried it. The prices of various Originium minerals in Longmen are almost skyrocketing."

Of course Balalaika knew what he was talking about. This group of people had been competing to buy Originium from Longmen since the beginning of the year. They were not as united outside as they were at home.

In Longmen, they are all competitors of each other. If they delay for one more day, the repayment date in the bank will be closer.

The final outcome was that the price of Lungmen's Originium was driven up to the sky in just a short period of time, and everyone except themselves made a fortune.

Balalaika pressed the half-smoked cigar in his hand into the ashtray. The scar on his right eye was moved by the muscles at the corner of his mouth, making him look a little scary.

"To be honest, my dear uncle, when I was studying abroad in my early years, I met some rich children from RIM Billiton who went to Victoria to study. Many of them were engaged in the mining industry. If I ask them for help, I might be able to get a lower price, but..."

At this point, the other party would not listen to anything else.

"As long as you can help me solve this problem, I will give you whatever you want!"

Chapter 47: New job, new boss

Balalaika walked out of the noble mansion and went to the armory without looking back.

She hated this country because it took away everything she once had, and the scars on her face were also left from that time.

After being taken away by Kosice's men, her only motivation to survive was to take revenge on this country.

Even Koschei himself found her interesting, so he trained her in the direction of a spy. It turned out that he had a sharp eye, and she could always complete the task perfectly, whether it was assassination or undercover espionage.

As for her hatred for Ursus, Kosice never cared. In his words, she hated it because she cared about it. The more cruel you are to Ursus now, the more you loved it in the past.

Balalaika didn't want to pay attention to this guy who was always talking nonsense, but her life was saved by him, so she would do whatever Kosice asked her to do.

Until one day, Koschei brought back a little girl named Tallulah from Longmen, and she stayed at home all day playing some kind of justice game with her.

She felt that this bastard's brain had been beaten stupid at Longmen.

Later on, this old guy actually let Tallulah explode her gold coins. If she hadn't been told some secrets in advance, she would really have gone to find a lawless area to become a mercenary leader.

As for revenge, it is impossible. For Balalaika, her relationship with Kosice is very simple. The other party saved her once, so Balalaika worked for Kosice, that's all.

Since Koscheiche was not dead, she would continue to work for him. According to the final instructions, she used the Originium to attack herself and became an infected person that the Ursus people hated.

Then he followed Tallulah all the way, watching her being rescued by the village elders, the pickets coming to her house, escaping, and forming a resistance organization.

Only at this time did she have the opportunity to formally approach the other party, and successfully mixed into the team of infected people, keeping an eye on Tallulah's every move.

Kosciusz is an old bastard, and she understands this very well. Therefore, in the integration movement, even Snake Scales is one light and one dark. One is responsible for jumping outside, while she hides in the dark and records Tallulah's changes, judging which stage Kosciuszz has entered, and then planning the next step.

For example, kill that Alina.

But all this was ruined by the appearance of a person. The mountains of food and the city falling from the sky caught her off guard.

"Mr. Zhang, you are looking for me."

She looked at the man who was playing with an Ursus standard crossbow with his back to her, and estimated the distance between them.

There is no one around here and it is close to the wilderness. If I kill the other person here, I might have a chance to escape. The other person has been missing for more than a month and is probably in great danger.

Snapped.

The bowstring sounded, and the crossbow arrow shot out and hit the center of the bull's eye.

Zhang Miao put down the crossbow in his hand, turned around and looked at the woman in front of him.

His hair was dry, split and a little messy, covering half of his face. The left side of his face that was exposed looked dull and numb, and his ten fingers were crossed together nervously and excitedly, as if he was in awe of the person in front of him. He looked no different from an ordinary infected person.

"I want you to do something for me."

"Me...me?"

There was a lot of insecurity and surprise in his voice.

As he spoke he took another step forward.

She would not think this was a coincidence, because since joining the Reunion Movement, her performance has been extremely mediocre, so how could someone suddenly come up with an idea to ask her to do something?

Even if all her weapons were taken away, she was still an infected person after all, and was good at close combat.

"I want you to go to Saint Jun Castle to do something, and by the way, help me contact Kosi..."

Before he could finish his words, Balalaika pounced on him like a female leopard.

It's just a little distance

"ah!!!!!"

The terrifying screams echoed in the empty wilderness.

Zhang Miao reached his hand into the mouth of the twitching Balalaika, who was already lying on the ground, and finally broke off the crown of a back molar.

"Actually, you can calm down a little. At least wait until I finish talking before you decide to take action. Although the result will not be much different."

The Terrans have strong physiques, and she quickly recovered from the paralysis caused by the high-voltage electric shock.

"What do you want to do?"

She wouldn't say anything like "Gusha".

Zhang Miao did not expect to influence such a stubborn man with words. It was impossible for them to rebel just because of a few words from him since they were arranged here by Kosice.

"I just need someone smart enough to do something for me and pass on a message."

It would be fine to let Bozhukas kill people for them, but it was really difficult for them to go undercover in Saint Jun Castle and meet up with the top leaders in a short period of time while completing the task assigned by Zhang Miao.

It would take at least four or five years to train a spy with good professional skills.

But hasn't someone already trained him in advance?

Balalaika turned over on the ground with great effort like a fish thrown on the deck, lying on her back on the snow, looking at Zhang Miao squatting in front of her.

"Hah~hah, why do you think I will help you?"