I really can't control myself.

Chapter 3377 Invitation

The next day, several presidents of chambers of commerce in the capital city of Saint Delavan received invitations from the current Imperial Prime Minister Terrad.

Yes, Terrad did not issue any announcement as Linton said, but directly notified several people from the Chamber of Commerce and asked them to come over. As for why they did not issue it, it was mainly because these merchants were not even qualified to have the Empire officially issue this announcement to them.

The presidents of the several chambers of commerce who received the invitation were all trembling with fear. Although Terard seemed like a punching bag in front of Linton, his identity was actually quite scary.

The current Holy Empire of Ilan is a giant empire of a certain level, and the prime minister is second only to one person... or should I say, second only to two people. After all, it is not clear who is on the throne.

Anyway, besides Linton and Yalan, Terrad is the third most important person in the empire. What kind of person is he? He can decide the life and death of tens of thousands of people with just one word.

How could they not be nervous when someone of such high status came to summon the presidents of several chambers of commerce?

In short, the several presidents who received the invitation felt a sudden shock in their hearts, and their subconscious reaction was... could it be that the Empire was going to make a profit from them?

I have mentioned before that these businessmen define themselves as leeks. Of course, they do not use the word leek, but the meaning is similar.

This was the case when the human empire was still divided. The three empires all did the same thing. If you have no money, just go to these merchants. Otherwise, you can donate money and get a good reputation. If you are not polite, they will just rob you. What can you do?

In this world of magic and fighting spirit, force is everything. Merchants have money, but what can they do?

Some people may ask, can't you just hire someone? Of course you can hire someone, but the problem is that if you are a warrior or a magician, and you help a businessman, you will be laughed at. But any warrior or magician with a bit of dignity will not degenerate.

Of course, there are also those who don't need a face, but the level and number of people who can be hired at this level are limited. And with such a small number of people, do you still want to fight against the state machine?

Moreover, merchants have no support from the people. The people do not consider merchants as their own people, but as the people. If the government kills merchants, it has nothing to do with them, and no one will speak up for them.

The final result is that they become the leeks who are hated by everyone, and even they themselves accept it.

"President Cossach, the Prime Minister invited us this time. Could it be that he wants to..." Thomas, the president of the Mistry Chamber of Commerce, said as he made a gesture of cutting his neck and asked another invited president of the Chamber of Commerce next to him.

Yes, they are so self-conscious that as soon as they were invited, they started thinking about whether they should start cutting.

Although I was afraid, who would dare not go since the Prime Minister had invited me?

"It shouldn't be. As far as I know, the empire's treasury is well-stocked and there should be no shortage of money." said the president of the Chamber of Commerce, whose name is Coxsackie.

"Really?" President Thomas' face lit up, but soon his brows frowned again, "But why did you call us here? There must be something wrong." "It must be a money issue. After all, we don't have anything else except money." Another president came up uninvited to discuss the matter.

"I heard that the new city built by the new emperor, you still remember it, right?" Another guild leader nearby also spoke up, "That city cost a lot of money, and then it seemed that something happened and someone destroyed it. I guess they have to rebuild it from scratch."

"Is that so?" Thomas nodded, thinking that it made some sense. Building a city naturally requires a lot of money, so this guess is more reliable. "If that's the case, then it's simple."

Yes, spending money is the easiest thing, after all, money is what they have.

The Empire's policies towards merchants are so bad, so theoretically, not many people would want to be merchants, right? However, the reality is that there are countless chambers of commerce in the Empire, large and small. There are more than 20 chambers of commerce in the living room right now, and these are the chambers of commerce in the capital, and not all of them, but only some of the larger ones. Small chambers of commerce don't even have the qualifications to be invited.

In addition to the fact that it is really good to be rich, another reason is that the business policy in the empire basically does not suppress the development of merchants. The business tax in the empire is very low, and there are almost no restrictions and regulations on doing business.

After all, no matter how much these businessmen earn, they will all be leeks if they develop. There is no need to restrict them. The more they earn, the more fun it will be to reap the profits.

If you don't have the talent for martial arts and magic, then the best development option is naturally to become a businessman, otherwise you can only go home to farm. There will always be people who are unwilling to be lonely, even if they know where the end of this road is.

"If only it were that simple." President Coxsackie sighed. He was not so optimistic. He had heard from insider information that the treasury was not short of money, which made this matter more troublesome. If they were not short of money but still came to them, it proved that this matter was definitely not as simple as giving money.

If it's not about money, it could be about life.

  Coxsackie speculated that perhaps the merchants in the empire had been too active recently? Did the authorities want to make an example of them?

Yes, the empire has expanded so much recently and has developed rapidly. When the empire was divided before, they could only do business domestically. Now they can do business not only in the three major empires of the human race, but also in other places. After all, those other countries are nominally considered "domestic territories" even if they cannot be controlled by the government, right? Why can't they do business?

Coxsackie knew that some chambers of commerce had been very active recently, and they even did business with the local "rebels". Those who were rebelling needed food and weapons, but could they solve the problem themselves? Could they still rebel and farm at the same time?

It’s no wonder that the empire doesn’t treat merchants as human beings. You see, merchants can still do such things at such a time. Who would have any psychological burden to cut the leeks of these people?

"If the Empire really wants to... then who should we push out?" Thomas looked at Coxsackie and asked, "President Coxsackie, I have always followed your lead."

"Yes, President Coxsackie, we all listen to you." Several presidents nearby also responded.

Coxsackie sneered. Could he not see through what these people were planning? Were they going to push him out as a gun? But at this moment, he did have some ideas of his own.

Looking around, Coxsackie pointed to a young woman sitting in the corner and said, "You've all heard about the Qi Wan Chamber of Commerce."