Munitions Empire

Some places are destined to remain unaffected by war, and a manor on the outskirts of Chang'an City shows no signs of such conflict at this moment.

It is still bustling, still affluent, still lively, with plenty of comings and goings—you wouldn't even realize this manor is located in the suburbs of Chang'an City, as the road that passes by it is even better than the best highways in many countries.

The butler, standing at the entrance, smiled and nodded in acknowledgment to a man who was about to leave, who even respectfully bowed slightly and was all smiles, "Thank you for escorting me out here, I greatly appreciate it."

"Not at all, you are our master's esteemed guest, it is natural for me to see you out," the elderly butler replied with a smile, his response exceedingly gracious.

The man almost bowing to the old butler was the owner of a sugar enterprise, with a net worth in the millions of Gold Coins.

Yet, here, even when just facing the manor owner's butler, he still appeared so humble, for this manor was Bailu Manor.

The manor's owner had a soccer team that had won the Club Cup championship for five consecutive years, and had defeated the Tang Country national men's soccer team just a few weeks ago in a friendly match with a score of 12-1.

In fact, there were many teams capable of defeating the Tang Country soccer team, but to win with such disregard, without giving any face at all, was something only the Bailu team could do.

Because of the war, the soccer World Cup that Tang Country had been planning all along was completely scuttled, and even the specially built soccer stadiums had their construction halted due to the war.

However, soccer, as a sport, was still very popular in Tang Country; during their leisure time, everyone liked to watch matches and were accustomed to spending a little money to buy the national soccer betting lottery.

It was common knowledge that the Tang Country men's soccer team was poorly performing, so the betting odds were terribly tragic. The betting line was Bailu team giving seven goals, and the final score was fixed on the fantastical number of 12-1.

Therefore, today's newspapers harshly criticized these national team players of Tang Country as incompetent, suggesting that it would be better to send them to the front lines and select a new batch to reorganize the team.

Indeed, this Bailu Manor was currently the residence of the Marquis of Bailu, who originally came from the South but had the foresight to follow Tang Mo loyally to make their fortune.

He had joined Tang Country right after its establishment, becoming a genuine Tang Person. Now his business was growing bigger, and his wealth was rising accordingly.

Having such a manor in a place like Chang'an was indeed a demonstration of power. Despite its suburban location, the actual area of Bailu Manor was even larger than the embassies of other countries in Chang'an!

Chang'an, as the political and cultural center of Tang Country, has developed too rapidly over the years, so fast that it was hard to believe: before the outbreak of the war, the city's area was already comparable to that of the Dahua Imperial Capital.

And the real estate prices within Chang'an had already skyrocketed, owning one's property in such a location had become proof of economic strength.

It has been proven that real estate development is always a catalyst and a poison for economic prosperity, which if drunk blindly, allows one to show the most brilliant side to the world before dying.

At some point, phrases similar to "Chang'an is big, but living here isn't easy," had become a common understanding among many ordinary people.

Although the real estate prices in Chang'an seemed outrageously high to ordinary people, even the most foolish economists knew that the capital of any country is not supposed to be affordable for every incoming commoner.

The Marquis of Bailu had indeed been growing his business increasingly larger, under the auspices of Great Tang Group, virtually expanding his enterprises to all regions around the Endless Sea.

Although the war had reduced his income by three-quarters, the remaining quarter still made him one of the richest men in the world.

Because he was so wealthy, many rumors described the Marquis of Bailu as an exceptionally handsome man with blond hair, blue eyes, a strong jawline, and a round, perky butt—an enchanting man with charm on all sides.

The reason the Marquis was described this way was that many believed the Tang King, Tang Mo, had a penchant for such appearances and liked the Marquis of Bailu, thus taking extra care of this businessman.

This rumor, inflated by certain people and powers, continued to circulate among commoners, who, despite their love for their king, didn't mind joking about it during tea breaks and meals.

Only upon meeting Marquis of Bailu once could one scoff at such rumors, for in fact, the Marquis was old enough to be Tang Mo's father. He indeed wished he could be Tang Mo's father-in-law; unfortunately, his only three daughters were either married off or they strongly resembled him in appearance.

Marquis of Bailu's wife was indeed very gentle, having been a well-known beauty from a distinguished family before marrying the Marquis. Sadly, the Marquis had a square face, and no matter how elite his daughters were, they too could only boast the super-rich square face.

One could not say their looks were hideously unique, but they were definitely not pretty—hoping that the Marquis's daughters would make Tang Mo fall in love at first sight was hardly likely. The traditional method of spending lavishly seemed even harder than the former option.

The Marquis of Bailu was very wealthy, but compared to Tang Mo, his money was only good enough to buy a yacht to occasionally splurge in Tang Mo's hands.

Jokingly, one could see what kind of women fantasized about becoming princesses every day: the hottest leading actress in Great Tang Group, wealthy ladies from affluent families, daughters from old political families with immense capital...

Whenever there was a banquet at the royal palace, how many people sent their highly selected, heavenly-beautiful daughters or wives? Later, some were warned and fell into misfortune. Those sending wives and sons ceased, but those sending daughters still relished the opportunity.

Wherever Tang Mo showed up at the banquet, one could see Empire sings, pure-desire Oirans, domineering female CEOs, clumsy glasses-wearing women, white-haired reclusive beauties, the rarest beautiful Elf Princess seen only once in seven thousand years, the strongest armored female warrior over eighty thousand miles... They were as numerous as fish in a river—a spectacular sight.

Recently, many people had sought out the Marquis of Bailu because such a significant figure naturally had many subordinates and vassals working for him. These people leaned on Bailu Group as Bailu Group relied on the towering Great Tang Group.

As the end of the year approached, naturally, there were many more visitors—some came to give gifts and pay respects, others came to report work, and of course, some visited the Bailu Manor with other intentions.

Indeed, recently, many people who seemed to be businessmen on the surface but had other backgrounds behind them came to meet this great lord.

In the room, having just seen off the so-called Sugar King, the Marquis of Bailu did not even switch to another reception room but met another businessman who had traveled from afar right in the same place.

These days, any businessman daring to sail from the Eastern Continent to the Western Continent had somewhat messy other identities, which was an open secret that these individuals seemed not keen on hiding.

Since the Tang Army defeated the Dahua troops at South Wind Pass, achieving its strategic goal, such individuals began to be frequently active.

"Marquis, as you know, our country is small, so sometimes we are forced to make irrational choices following some powerful nations," said the businessman, appearing constrained, as he tremulously spoke.

Despite having seen the prosperity of Brunas, now in Chang'an City, in the opulent manor of the Marquis of Bailu, he still seemed like a naive country bumpkin. He was shocked to find that the four-story main building even had two elevators!

When he arrived, his car passed inspection and directly entered the underground garage, and as he took the elevator through the corridor to the conference room, he saw countless expensive fluorescent lights!

Nowadays, in Brunas, only the wealthy could use fluorescent lamps, an extravagance found almost exclusively outside of Tang Country.

"I fully understand your helplessness—war... halts the economy and hinders development. Our wealth... has all turned to ashes," the Marquis of Bailu said bureaucratically, gesturing to a servant to pour a not inexpensive wine for his guest.

"My emperor has given me a mission, thus I have come to see you, Marquis of Bailu... hoping you could speak kindly on my behalf to the great King of Tang Country and secure an audience with His Majesty, the Tang King," the businessman, who appeared to be there on business, pulled out a check and pushed it towards the Marquis of Bailu.

The amount on the check was most enticing, a willingness to pay ten thousand gold coins just for an appointment—it was indeed a substantial sacrifice.

However, the Marquis of Bailu did not reach out to take the check; he lowered his eyelids, silent as if asleep for a few seconds, then suddenly said, "I cannot help you meet with His Majesty, the Tang King. The whole world is waging war against Tang, and lately, His Majesty is constantly busy with matters of the battlefield."

As if he hadn't detected the sarcasm in the words of the Marquis of Bailu, the businessman from afar continued adamantly, "The Suthers Empire is very sincere."

"Hmm?" responded the Marquis of Bailu, lifting his eyelids to look at the other.

The man focused on Marquis of Bailu's eyes, emphasizing slowly, "If the Marquis is willing to facilitate peace talks between our two nations and restore peace between Great Tang and the Suthers Empire, the Suthers Empire is willing... to make some efforts to quickly achieve peace."

"Let's hear it," said the Marquis of Bailu, noncommittally.

Biting his teeth, this man from the inland Suthers Empire, or rather a spy disguised as a businessman from the Suthers Empire, lowered his voice, "Although Shireck has connections everywhere, the alliance is not ironclad! We happen to know some things, about... the approximate location where the alliance's fleet is hiding..."