The Fourth Financial Crisis

With both parties coming to an agreement, things fell into place.

Before reaching an agreement with Tian Beixi, Yang Lu had already prepared a batch of gunpowder, and took the opportunity to kill Zhu Ziming to give a lively road show to the local lords of the outlying islands. Now all the lords of the outlying islands knew that Yang Lu successfully stole the magic spell of the witch Tian Beixi and could always find an opportunity to invade the outlying island.

The lords of the outlying islands did not know the restrictions on the use of gunpowder, so they thought it was Yang Lu who cast a magic spell on the merchant ship, and then killed Zhu Ziming through self-explosion. Although they could refuse the Haiya Fleet to enter the port, if Yang Lu learned what Tian Beixi did back then, , single-handedly brought the magic spell to sneak across, but no one could stop him at all, so people on the outlying islands are now in panic.

However, Yang Lu had no plans to invade the outlying islands.

Although the Qingning Chamber of Commerce has been secretly manufacturing black gunpowder under the cover of "special refining technology", there seems to be no possibility of leaking the secret for the time being, but if the gunpowder is used too many times, it will inevitably reveal its flaws, so this thing is the best It is like a nuclear bomb that is detonated but not used purely as a deterrent, so that long-term and stable profits can be obtained.

After negotiating the terms with Tian Beixi, Yang Lu wrote to the major lords of the outlying islands through Han Fulai's channel, saying that the Qingning Chamber of Commerce was willing to coexist peacefully with the outlying islands and had no intention of changing the status quo of the outlying islands. He hoped that the lords of the outlying islands could reciprocate and ensure that the Qingning Chamber of Commerce would reciprocate the situation. Ningxia Chamber of Commerce has priority in supplying export products.

According to feedback from the outlying islands, Xu Tong, the lord of Yanbo Island, has taken the lead in expressing his willingness to become a "long-term partner" of the Qingning Chamber of Commerce. When other outlying island lords saw someone taking the lead, they all chose to compromise.

The current dispute between the two parties mainly focuses on the obligations of the Qingning Chamber of Commerce to the outlying island lords.

Although most of the outlying island lords expressed their willingness to cooperate with the Qingning Chamber of Commerce and to ensure the Qingning Chamber of Commerce's trade privileges in the outlying island areas, they also hoped to use the power of the Qingning Chamber of Commerce to maintain their dominance.

According to the proposal of these outlying island lords, they hope that when there is a rebellion within the outlying island, or when an external cultivation force like the Fire Cloud State intervenes in the outlying island, the Qingning Chamber of Commerce can act as the protector of the outlying island area and use magic to protect the outlying island lords. rights, otherwise they are not willing to make too many concessions on trade.

But the problem is that Yang Lu does not want gunpowder to be abused, so the negotiations between the two parties have reached a stalemate.

However, this stalemate did not last long, and Yang Lu quickly found a breakthrough in the negotiations.

He was keenly aware that for the local emperors like Lidao, the economic benefits brought by exports and even the overall political interests of Lidao were secondary. The most important thing was actually how to maintain their power, just like Tian Beixi encouraged Shi Yi Next, he murdered the former owner of Guhong Island. This kind of thing is actually what the lords of the outlying islands fear the most.

As long as they can keep their power and position, the remaining problem is the difference between getting more and less. They asked Yang Lu to use gunpowder to ensure their safety precisely out of consideration for this request.

So Yang Lu said that there is no problem in using magic to maintain your rule, but I can only negotiate with you individually.

The alliance formed by the major lords of the outlying islands was originally composed of bulk goods, and they were very contradictory to each other. As soon as these words came out, the lords of the outlying islands could no longer maintain internal unity.

Although Huang Xuan, the lord of the island, has repeatedly stated that everyone should unite to negotiate with the Qingning Chamber of Commerce, Huang Xuan's control over the major lords is very limited, and no one can guarantee that his neighbors will not make secret peace with Yang Lu.

If something like this really happens and the other party has a "magic protection umbrella" but you don't, then things will be in trouble.

In addition, Xu Tong, the mole installed by the Haiya Chamber of Commerce on the outlying island, jumped out directly to oppose Huang Xuan, saying that if you are not willing to negotiate with the Qingning Chamber of Commerce, then we Yanbo Island will talk to Consultant Yang alone. , there is a strong intention to act as the agent of the Qingning Chamber of Commerce and help consultant Yang conquer the outlying islands.

Under pressure from both inside and outside the Yanbo Island and Qingning Chambers of Commerce, Huang Xuan, the chief executive of the outlying islands, quickly lost the initiative in negotiations and was forced to compromise with Yang Lu.

Yang Lu did not press too hard, so he said that the Qingning Chamber of Commerce could promise not to cooperate with a certain outlying island lord alone. Even Xu Tong, the lord of Yanbo Island, would not receive special treatment, but the outlying islands must also make concessions. Qingning The Chamber of Commerce can act as the protector of the outlying island areas when external cultivation forces intervene on the outlying islands. However, if the unrest itself comes from within the outlying islands, then the Qingning Chamber of Commerce has no obligation to clean up the mess for any outlying island lord.

For the Qingning Chamber of Commerce, this commitment does not require any additional cost. If the Qingning Chamber of Commerce can really take the opportunity to control the trade hegemony of the outlying islands, then the invasion of the outlying islands by external forces will be equivalent to damaging the core interests of the Qingning Chamber of Commerce. Even if the outlying islands If the lord does not send a request for help, the Qingning Chamber of Commerce cannot just sit idly by and ignore it.

If Yang Lu had proposed this condition from the beginning, it would have been difficult for the outlying island lords to accept it. However, Yang Lu first threatened to negotiate alone with the outlying island lords, and then took a step back and said that it was okay not to negotiate alone. This seemed very kind.

The lords of the outlying islands did not know that the use of witchcraft was actually a matter of "beating a wolf with a straw". Yang Lu never considered negotiating with them separately from the beginning to the end, which would only cause him to abuse the power of gunpowder and make the gunpowder quickly Without the ability to intimidate, they felt that Yang Lu was doing things fairly, so the lords of the outlying islands quickly accepted Yang Lu's request in full.

According to the terms negotiated between the lords of the outlying islands and Yang Lu, from now on, all merchant ships holding the tokens of the Qingning Chamber of Commerce will have the trade privileges of priority purchase and discount purchase in the outlying island areas. Since the outlying island areas are rich in several species that have become extinct in the outside world, cherished cultivation materials, which is equivalent to the Qingning Chamber of Commerce having a Kyushu monopoly on certain key resources.

After the cooperation between the two parties was reached, the name of the Qingning Chamber of Commerce quickly spread throughout the Eastern Ocean, even to many chambers of commerce as far away as Arctic State and Fire Cloud State. I heard that the lords of the outlying islands began to give special treatment to merchant ships carrying the certification of the Qingning Chamber of Commerce. After that, they all began to travel thousands of miles to Haiya City to discuss cooperation with the Qingning Chamber of Commerce, and even expressed their willingness to form an alliance with the Qingning Chamber of Commerce.

At the critical moment when the Qingning Chamber of Commerce was frantically expanding its scope of influence, Li Qingning finally took a break from his busy schedule and successfully advanced to the foundation building stage. This made the situation of the Chamber of Commerce like a raging fire.

As usual, a banquet is held to celebrate cultivators who advance to the foundation stage, and the Qingning Chamber of Commerce is no exception.

Li Qingning originally did not intend to be too ostentatious, but planned to have a private gathering with cultivators such as Xu Yannan, Chen Ping, Yang Chenglong, and Xi Ziang who were relatively close to him. However, due to the Qingning Chamber of Commerce's rapid rise in the world, all major forces were tightening their grip. Watching the troubles in the Qingning Chamber of Commerce, even with the help of Haiya City official forces to cover it up, the news of Li Qingning's advancement to the foundation building stage was quickly spread by the good guys.

After the incident was completely spread, not only the three giants of the Haiya Clan visited the house in person to congratulate him, but also the trade leaders of the Eastern Ocean business community sent congratulatory gifts.

The most shocking thing is that even the mortal lords of the island who have never been willing to step out of the island and usually hate cultivators have sent special envoys to congratulate Miss Li.

Just looking at the momentum, those who didn't know might have thought that the Haiya Sect had another Jindan-stage ancestor. Even if Li Qingyang was still alive, Li Qingning's celebration of breaking through the Foundation-building stage might not be able to lead to such a big battle.

Some senior practitioners in the cultivation world lamented that even when Lin Jianxing took over as the head of Wuliang Sword Sect, the chief executive of the outlying island he appointed personally only sent a congratulatory letter.