Age of Mysticism

When Luke and Dill returned to their room after lunch, they saw a group of court tailors waiting here. The accompanying internal officer informed Luke that the Emperor of the Empire would be summoned separately at the dinner party and needed a tailor-made suit for the audience.

So Luke was invited to stand on a wooden platform, and several tailors took measuring measures on him. Several other tailors are unfolding a cutting table and cutting out the fabric on the spot according to the measured data.

Tailors measure very carefully, the unit is accurate to millimeters.

The internal officer explained to Luke the etiquette of meeting the emperor of the empire, as well as the matters that must be paid attention to when dining.

With such fanfare and cumbersome etiquette, it can be seen that having a meal with the emperor is definitely not an easy task.

Fortunately, Agatha told Luke about the etiquette.

And she also said: These etiquettes are made by the ceremony officer, and His Majesty doesn't care much.

Luke was tossed by a group of people for a whole afternoon, and the dress was also sewn.

Affected by the new era, people's pace of life has accelerated, and noble costumes have gradually become simple from the previous cumbersome. The aristocrats put more effort into clothing fabrics and decorations to show their different identities from commoners.

Off-white silk shirt, black calfskin vest, and a ribbon lace scarf around the neck. The outside is a light blue Lufque coat with double-breasted buttons, a lapel collar, and a knee-length hem. It is a reference prototype for the popular tuxedo among the wealthy and nobles.

The coat has a large number of gold stitching patterns, and the left chest hangs the medal representing the Lord and the Royal Knight.

The whole set of clothes is very comfortable to wear, and the spirit of the whole person can feel a bit lifted.

The internal officer brought the mirror, and after seeing it, Luke praised: "Very generous! I didn't expect to see His Majesty and get a dress specially made by a court tailor. There are not many people who can get this kind of treatment."

The internal officer replied respectfully: "Your Majesty the acting governor governs Rage City and brings important tax revenues to the empire. He is an important minister appreciated by His Majesty, and he deserves this kind of treatment."

Luke looked at himself in the mirror again, and smiled without revealing another meaning behind the dress. They were afraid that they had hidden dangerous goods, so they simply found an excuse to change themselves inside and out.

Could it be that there are swordsmen hidden in the houses on both sides of the dinner restaurant, just waiting for Augustine the Great to throw a cup?

Luke happily fantasized, and then asked, "When will I see His Majesty?"

The internal officer looked at the pendulum clock on the table and replied: "It is now, please come with me, Your Excellency the Governor."

This special dinner was arranged in a small restaurant with a high dome. A small long table was filled with food served in golden utensils, and Augustine the Great and Luke sat at both ends of the long table.

The table waiter was a puppet wearing an official uniform. Except for the royal chief knight Milcombe standing behind Augustine, everyone else was ordered to leave.

The door is closed.

Emperor Augustine first smiled and said: "You don't need to be so restrained. The etiquette is designed to let people outside see the royal majesty. It's better to be casual after closing the door.

Let's have a drink first.

To the great empire. "

Luke held up the golden cup in front of him and raised his head: "To the great empire! To the great emperor!"

After drinking a glass of wine, the puppet waiter poured wine for the two of them respectively.

Augustine the Great cut a piece of meat from the steak on the dinner plate and put it in his mouth. He chewed and said, "The tenderest meat is fried by the best chef, but I still have a bit of difficulty chewing it. Sometimes I have to admit that I am old." , lack of energy, and worrying about health, so that some people took advantage of the loopholes and threatened the rule of the empire.

Meteor, you have done a very good job in Raging City, and the increased after-tax has greatly eased the pressure on the empire's finances. However, the empire is facing many wars, and the taxes paid by Raging Waves City are far from enough for various expenses. Does the Raging Waves City Council have any plans to increase the amount of taxes paid in the near future? "

Luke also cut and ate the steak on his dinner plate. The fat, tender, juicy and mouth-filling aroma was simply a high-end enjoyment.

Facing the faint hints and requests from Emperor Augustine, Luke replied easily: "I have discussed in detail the troubles and difficulties that the empire will face in the future with His Highness the First Prince, His Highness the Eldest Princess, and Chief Assistant Gabriel.

According to the national strength of the empire at this stage, and the executive power demonstrated by the imperial court, the victory of the Tedgar Hills War is only a matter of consumption and time. The economic and social systems of the barbarians are out of this era, and the longer the war is fought, the more serious their own problems will be.

The forces on the western front are complex, including lords who support the Celtic duke, lords who support the empire, and a large number of neutral small lords and ethnic minorities. The banditry is serious, but it does not threaten the foundation of the empire. His Royal Highness the Second Prince is stationed on the western front. Even if the bandits cannot be wiped out in a short time, the empire does not need to devote too much energy to the western front.

The biggest threat to the empire comes from the northern border, and the invasion of the Attorney League is already known to both the enemy and the enemy.

Once the northern border is attacked, neither the south, the west, nor the central part of the imperial capital can give strong support to the northern border. The only region that could support the empire to fight an all-out war at that time was the eastern coastal region.

The Council of Raging Waves City has a plan to drive the economy along the eastern coast of the empire. The main content is to use Raging Waves City as the hub of economic development, integrate the eastern coastal cities of the empire, and form a division of labor and economic cooperation within the system.

According to my vision, the council of Raging Waves City formulated the blueprint for the architecture of the empire's coastal economic belt. I have brought this document, in my briefcase with me. "

Luke's briefcase was taken away by the court guards before entering the dining room, and it was left outside the dining room.

Augustine the Great tells Milcombe to fetch the briefcase and give it to Luke.

Luke then took out the relevant documents and asked Milcombe to pass them on to Augustine.

And briefly describe what's in the file.

"I have already negotiated with Prince Macdonald of the Kingdom of Lusien about the large-scale investment plan in Lusien Bay, and this investment plan has also received the support of Her Royal Highness the Queen.

The agricultural product processing industry and light industry have small investment and quick results, and the Lusien Kingdom has very rich resources of grain, meat, seafood, wine, and dairy products. Realization of production capacity.

The empire can not only gain a lot of wealth from it, but the factories of the Kingdom of Lucen can also continuously provide the empire with cheap and sufficient military supplies.

The amount of this investment is very large, and Raging Waves City's finances are unable to bear all of it, so it needs the World Bank's assistance in financing. Fortunately, I have good personal relationships with directors Pan and Yin of the Raging City Branch of the World Bank, and I was able to persuade the World Bank to support this investment project.

There is also the expansion of Raging Waves City and the assistance and investment in nearby coastal cities, all of which require a large amount of short-term investment, so Raging Waves City is unable to provide more financial support for the empire..."

Emperor Augustine looked at the pages of documents in his hand seriously.

When Queen Christina told him that Meteor was going to invest in the Lusien Kingdom, he already felt that the scale of the investment was very large. But after looking at the documents in his hand, he realized that the investment in the Lusien Kingdom was only a part of the eastern part of the empire's economic drive plan.

In Luke's plan, Raging City's sea power will gradually completely control this sea area with a large number of international routes. With the advantage of the sea, it will attract more business opportunities to Raging Waves City. Then Rage City uses itself as a hub to transfer the industrial classification to surrounding cities, forming the same type of concentrated industrial scale, lowering production costs and improving competitiveness in the international market.

Take Lusien Kingdom as a pilot. As long as the agricultural and sideline products of Lusien Bay form an intensive commodity supply chain, the advantages of a rich land can be fully utilized. At that time, there was no grain-producing area in the world that could compete with Lusien Kingdom. compete.

Luke proved his idea with a lot of data and formulated a plan for international food monopoly. Once the Golden Shield Empire can control the international grain price, it can first use the low grain price to crush the agriculture within the Yate County Union, and then raise the grain price to harvest the Yate County Union, causing chaos within the Yate County Union and then implementing it. segmentation.

Emperor Augustine looked at it with relish at first, but he couldn't help sweating when he looked at his head.

Can war still be fought like this?

Augustine the Great read more deeply, so absorbed that he forgot to eat.

Luke, on the other hand, feasted on himself, and even ordered the puppet waiter to fill a plate full of delicacies for himself, and drank wine glass by glass.

Millscombe noticed something strange about Augustine the Great. He thought that Meteor had arranged some spiritual magic in the document, so he quietly put his hand on Augustine's back, and used the awakening skill to whisper in Augustine's ear: "Your Majesty, you What's wrong?"

"Oh!" The spiritual reminder brought Augustine the Great back from his concentration, and then he replied to Milcombe: "I'm fine."

"Your Majesty, do you want me to examine this document?"

Millscomb wanted to check whether there were hinting spells in the file, but Emperor Augustine folded the file vigilantly and pressed it under his hand, for fear of being snatched away by someone: "No need, there is nothing wrong with the file, I was caught by it." content attracted.

You don't have to be nervous. "

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Millscomb put down his guard, and looked at Meteor curiously, guessing what was written in the document, it could make His Majesty feel as if he had been enchanted by spiritual magic.

Emperor Augustine wiped the sweat from his brow with a napkin with the other hand, then drank a glass of wine and let out a long breath.

"Who has seen this document?"

Luke replied: "The most important part, only you have seen."

Augustine the Great pressed his hand on the document, and the paper was incinerated in the flames.

"A very bold idea, and no one has ever implemented it before. How can you be sure that you can do it? How can you be sure that you can do it successfully?"

Luke took a sip of his wine and replied confidently: "No one has implemented it before because the current conditions were not available before. Large-scale industrial production, prosperous international trade, and the free market advocated by liberals .

Now this era has it all.

Whoever has the largest industrial scale, the lowest cost, and the strongest maritime power will be more likely to gain the right to speak in the market. "

Emperor Augustine once again fell into deep thought.

The reason why the Golden Shield Empire has its current national power is that at the critical moment, it did not choose to protect the small peasant economy advocated by the conservative aristocracy, but boldly used the new aristocrats to encourage the development of industry and commerce.

Facts have proved that my choice is correct.

The Imperial Court is generally optimistic about the Southern Front War because the Empire has a complete industrial system.

However, this kind of national power advantage ultimately needs to be reflected through war, requiring soldiers to occupy the enemy's land and capture the enemy's city step by step with flesh and blood.

What Meteor just showed him was a brand new war mode. The army used for attack is no longer a well-trained soldier, but a full warehouse of goods transported by sea.

Now no country in the world is wary of such an army, and all countries are defenseless in front of it.

If the economic promotion plan on the eastern coast of the empire is completed, the empire will have an invincible army, and the empire's territory will no longer be restricted by the border.

At this moment, Emperor Augustine could finally understand why people who were political enemies in the court regarded Meteor as the guest of honour.

Even I... hold the wine glass carefully at this moment, for fear that it will fall to the ground if it is not stable.

"Although the empire is facing many difficulties now, it can still continue to tighten some unnecessary expenditures. Raging Waves City is a very good plan to drive the economy along the eastern coast of the empire. I am qualified to wait patiently for it to be hatched. At that time, Raging Waves City was right The contribution of the empire is definitely much more than a little tax increase now.

How much do you need in terms of funds, I can order the Imperial Bank to give you a certain amount of support. "

Millscomb was dumbfounded.

Just now His Majesty wanted to ask for some money from Raging Waves City, but after reading that document, he even took the initiative to provide money to subsidize Raging Waves City!

What is the most important content in the file?

It's a pity that the document has been burned to ashes, and the only ones who know what's inside are Augustine the Great and Meteor.

But Milcombe is sure of one thing... Your Majesty will not kill Meteor.

Even though he knew that his support would speed up Meteor's becoming a power minister who threatened the royal family's rule, there was a temptation in that document that allowed him to suppress the emperor's instinct.

Millscomb knew Augustine the Great, and the temptation to make him make such a choice so simply was beyond his imagination.

Millscombe looked at the ashes of Emperor Augustine's subordinates. Even though the document had been burned clean, he still didn't take it away.

"Thank you Your Majesty. Any financial support at this time will help to speed up the completion of this plan." Luke raised his glass and said, "To the great empire, to the great emperor of the empire."

Emperor Augustine wanted to serve the wine glass, but his hands trembled a little due to his excitement.

He tried a few times, and finally took his hand back: "I am too old to drink too much, I have received your respect.

Let us respect the great empire together! "