Chapter 1,129 Unyielding Coveting
"Teacher, Grand Duke Kawei is here to visit." The black-haired and brown-skinned girl Kaya, an apprentice whom she hadn't seen for a long time, said expressionlessly. But what was different today was that Lin actually saw a hint of embarrassment on the face of his usually calm apprentice, as if he had something to say.
The old Duke said that he was also a nobleman in the Holy City of Estali, so as long as Lin met him, he would have no reason to refuse. He could only put aside his apprentice's thoughts for the time being and said, "Take the Grand Duke to the drawing room." At the same time, he put Hakakiri on the table. The scabbard that was originally under his left shoulder did not fit Hagakiri's current shape. If you want to sheath it, you have to make a new scabbard.
The home in the holy city of Estali originally had only two living rooms, distinguished by size. But since Marquis Balan moved in and the home was expanded, another living room was added. The size is between the first two, but after all, it is run by a real nobleman, so in terms of layout and decoration, it is better than Lin's. The imagination is more suitable for the communication between the nobles of Lost Land.
After all, she is one of her relatives, and one of the few people she wants to get close to, so Marquis Balan, who always avoids strangers, makes a rare appearance. But like a vigilant kitten, he sat far away and kept a certain distance from everyone. The old man looked like he wanted to give him a hug, but he didn't dare to get close, so he could only ask for help from a distance.
As for Lin in his own home, he doesn't necessarily use the flash technique to appear and disappear, or he uses two legs to walk down to earth. It just depends on his mood at the time and how he wants to get over it. This time, he walked towards the reception room on the west side with his legs. In the process, he asked his apprentice to see if there was anything he had missed while staying in the eye of the storm.
Speaking of which, now that the time sequence has entered summer, several things have indeed happened around us. It's just that someone was hiding in the eye of the storm to do research in order to inflict multi-dimensional damage to himself. Whatever happened in the Lost Land was ignored unless it was life-threatening, so it was postponed until now. Now, the old Duke is here to collect debts.
But it’s not quite right to say it’s debt collection. After seeing a certain magician enter the drawing room, the old Duke broke out of the mode of pampering his granddaughter and looked at someone with a constipated look on his face.
The old Duke's expression was not surprising at all to Lin, who had just learned of what happened during this period. The crux of the problem lies in the automobile manufacturing and R&D center. In a word, the nobles of the Gwane Empire were jealous.
If it is just a normal business transaction, jealousy will be jealous. Doing business depends on one's ability. If you can't afford it, it's hard for the nobles to grab it. However, the identity of the Grand Duke of Kawei is enough to block many unreasonable thoughts, but the car also has military uses!
If this is a specialty product in the territory, such as crops, minerals, etc. Unless the Grand Duke of Kawei is deprived of his territory, no one else can get involved, and there won't be as many problems later. But this is not it! This is just an industry where a group of magicians and craftsmen can gather together to complete manufacturing. People are the key. And people can move anywhere.
No matter how honorable Duke Kawei is, there are still fifteen people in the Gwane Empire who can be equal to him, let alone an emperor who is above them. When the emperor of the empire is gone and the other grand dukes are working together, a grand duke really can't withstand this level of pressure.
Who told this old man to put on a show that made others tremble in fear? The original one-month journey was shortened to three days, and he led half of the Duke's Guards from his own territory to the capital. This means that as long as there are enough vehicles, this old man can appear in any corner of the empire within a month. And this speed far exceeds the number of troops that others can raise to resist.
In fact, to accomplish such a feat, roads, logistics and other aspects must be able to cooperate. But I can’t help but others don’t understand! Even people who understand have to pretend not to understand, otherwise how can they unite with others to exert pressure and cut off a piece of this delicious big cake.
So in the past few months, there has been a series of tragedy for the Grand Duke. All kinds of overt and covert means were used endlessly on him and the people around him.
Although the Auto Center has another partner, the Nguyen family from the Gia Long Chamber of Commerce. But this wealthy family that rivals other countries can only rival those small countries. The wealth, power and force of the Chamber of Commerce are far from the height of an empire. In addition, their roots are not within the Gwane Empire, so they do not have much power to resist the pressure from the empire.
As for the center's third partner, a magician... this one was simply ignored by the nobles. A mere magician, even if he reaches the level of a Dharma Saint, has his own magic tower, which is not a big deal in the eyes of the 'big' nobles. The pride of the empire makes them confident that they can crush everything in the world!
Therefore, the empire's request is very simple, that is, to relocate the automobile manufacturing and R&D center. There was also a very valid reason for choosing the location, which was a city near a large mine.
This mine mainly produces high-end magic materials, but there are also quite a lot of ordinary metal minerals that cannot be supported. Coupled with the wood from nearby forest farms, it can basically meet all the needs for manufacturing an ordinary car, effectively reducing the cost of transporting materials.
It sounds like a perfect location. but! Within the territory of Grand Duke Kawei or the area controlled by the Jialong Chamber of Commerce, there are also such concentrated mineral areas. So why is the empire's request to move the automobile center to the territory of the Grand Duke of Risa?
In fact, as early as when the automobile industry was in its infancy, the empire had tried to send someone to confer the position of magic advisor to the empire and asked someone to go to the capital. It is still unknown what the follow-up plan is, but it was scared off by the demon prince Azad before it was implemented.
According to someone's subsequent investigation, the special envoy, Marquis Aga, was none other than Duke Risa's eldest son. In terms of status, it is definitely a super-standard treatment for such a person to convey the emperor's edict.
The intention behind the request to move the automobile center to the territory of this grand duke is quite interesting.
By the way, the reason why someone entered the eyes of people in the cloud was not because the car was so promising at that time, or because the profits that someone could make made the nobles jealous. It was simply that Duke Risa wanted to attack Duke Kawei's forces. Since he could not directly target the Kawei family or its territory, he shifted his target to these peripheral auxiliary forces.
To put it simply, someone has caught the tail end of a political storm.
Only in the past, two great dukes fought, although it ended with one staying at the center of the empire and the other going home to retire. But as a decisive emperor, there is no obvious preference. At least, Duke Rizal was not given the opportunity to kill the Kawei family. The latter is still under the protection of the emperor's wings.
But this time, the military use of the car made the nature of the matter completely different. The emperor had to correct his stance and seek the path that was most beneficial to the empire. Letting Prince Rizal take the lead in seizing the automobile industry is the first step. The next step is to expand this new technology to all parts of the empire.
From the emperor's standpoint, he could not agree that this strategically important technology should be monopolized by just one vassal, but he did not mind if one of them had the upper hand. Hence the current situation.