The Fourth Financial Crisis

As Lin Jianxing chose to give in, Haiya City gradually returned to its former prosperity.

At least that's what it seems on the surface.

Except for a very small number of Cultivation Chamber of Commerce and Cultivation Investors who were damaged or even bankrupted due to the violent fluctuations in commodity prices, the inexplicable blockade for two consecutive days seemed to be just an illusion, leaving no trace on Haiya City. This commercial The city is like a complex machine, once again operating according to its original inertia.

A major event also happened in the Qingning Chamber of Commerce in the past two days:

Li Qingning, the eldest lady of the Qingning Chamber of Commerce, finally officially broke through the bottleneck of the Foundation Establishment stage and became a first-level Foundation Establishment cultivator.

It stands to reason that Li Qingning's breakthrough speed should not be slower than that of Yang Chenglong, but the development speed of Qingning Chamber of Commerce during this period is so fast that not only the people who eat melons are amazed, but even she, the founder of the chamber of commerce, is surprised. Unexpected.

Two years ago, the Qingning Chamber of Commerce was still a fringe chamber of commerce eating leftovers behind the Haiya Chamber of Commerce. Even this leftover was deliberately rewarded by the Haiya Department for the sake of Li Qingning's "My Grandfather the President". Food for the Qingning Chamber of Commerce;

However, just two years later, the Qingning Chamber of Commerce has become the recognized fourth largest force in Haiya City. Even the Zhu Family Chamber of Commerce and the Chen Family Chamber of Commerce in their heyday five hundred years ago may not have the momentum that the Qingning Chamber of Commerce has today. and status.

However, explosive expansion also brings explosive workload.

Although Yang Lu can leave most of the work to two tool men, He Mingyuan and Ji Sihan, these two guys with criminal records are not fuel-efficient. If they really become the hands-off shopkeepers, these two people may not be able to do it. What kind of trouble did you make, not to mention there are many things that must be communicated and coordinated by Li Qingning in person.

These trivial matters and chores make Miss Li's cultivation time seem a bit stretched.

The most important thing among them is the Yangjiang Port project and the issue of offshore island trade. It’s better that the Yangjiang Port project is on the right track, but the trade issues with outlying islands are not that simple.

Since Tian Beixi invented gunpowder, it can be said that the political situation on the outlying islands has undergone earth-shaking changes. Although the power of gunpowder is what it is, it is not enough to rewrite the balance of power of mortal cold weapon armies. It may be impossible for the earth to truly eliminate cold weapons. We have to wait until the breech-loading gun appears.

But if the enemy doesn't know the principle behind gunpowder, then this thing is like a spell, enough to cause a fatal blow to the morale of the cold weapon army.

Back then, Cortes and Pizarro relied on dozens of extremely backward matchlocks to defeat tens of thousands of Inca and Aztec armies. They relied on this information asymmetry.

Therefore, if the secret of gunpowder can be protected, the Qingning Chamber of Commerce will be able to control the hegemony of outlying island trade!

However, the biggest problem is that not only Yang Lu himself knows the details of gunpowder, but Tian Beixi, the inventor of gunpowder, also knows it.

Since gunpowder only looks bluffing, if Tian Beixi chose to get angry and reveal the secret of gunpowder after escaping from the island in disgrace, it would be equivalent to perishing with the Qingning Chamber of Commerce. Therefore, if he wanted to control the outlying island trade with the "mysterious power" of gunpowder, Yang Lu first needed to convince Tian Beixi to cooperate with him.

Because of this, when the situation in Haiya City was tense, Yang Lu specially invited Tian Beixi to drink tea at the headquarters of the Qingning Chamber of Commerce, mainly because he wanted to talk to her about gunpowder, and in order to persuade Tian Beixi to conspire with him to protect gunpowder. Yang Lu even planned to give up 30% of the equity of the Qingning Chamber of Commerce to the other party. Although this price made Li Qingning feel painful, it was still worth it if he could exchange 30% of the equity for the hegemony of outlying island trade.

The huge economic interests involved in offshore trade are just one of them. More importantly, after Li Qingyang's death, the Qingning Chamber of Commerce desperately lacked its own political base.

Although the Qingning Chamber of Commerce and the Haiya Chamber of Commerce have in-depth cooperation in various aspects, these cooperation are still only at the level of interests. The Qingning Chamber of Commerce has not demonstrated its irreplaceability, or the irreplaceability of the Qingning Chamber of Commerce. To a large extent, it still comes from Li Qingning’s golden name as “former Lingshi Reserve Bank Princess”.

However, just like the Shunfeng Warehouse owner who took the risk to cooperate with Zhu Ziming, relying on the legacy of his predecessors is not a long-term solution after all, and Li Qingyang's influence has continued to weaken after his death. If the Qingning Chamber of Commerce wants to have a long-term future, it must have its own unbreakable foundation so that the Haiya system cannot easily replace itself.

The outlying islands that cultivators cannot interfere with are obviously the most suitable bargaining chips for the Qingning Chamber of Commerce.

With the outlying island trade hegemony as capital, the Qingning Chamber of Commerce, even if it is not covered by any cultivators, will become the meat and potatoes of the major superpowers competing for it. It may even be like the five major chambers of commerce in Haiya City seven thousand years ago, each of which contributed its own share. The basic market is like establishing a super ocean trading trust, taking shares in the outlying island trade franchise, and completely integrating the Qingning Chamber of Commerce into the Haiya system.

From then on, the Qingning Chamber of Commerce will truly become the fourth largest family in Haiya City!

Because of this, if the Qingning Chamber of Commerce wants to have a solid foundation, it cannot do without off-island trade, and control of outlying islands cannot be separated from gunpowder. Tian Beixi is extremely smart and must understand the role of the secret of gunpowder on the Qingning Chamber of Commerce. Yang Lu originally thought This will be a difficult negotiation, and he even communicated with Li Qingning in advance about the bottom line of doing business with Tian Beixi Wuwu.

Unexpectedly, Tian Beixi's reaction was very refreshing.

Not only did she not bargain with Yang Lu, she also said that she would definitely not take advantage of the Qingning Chamber of Commerce. She only needed 20% of the equity of the Qingning Chamber of Commerce, and she was willing to keep the secret of gunpowder for Yang Lu and Li Qingning.

Since gunpowder was invented by Tian Beixi himself and had nothing to do with her master Tian Daxiao or the Shenhuo Sect, Tian Beixi really had the right to make the decision.

But Tian Beixi also has his own conditions, that is, Yang Lu can no longer humiliate her with "I let you go twice in a row" no matter what happens. Not only that, Yang Lu must also admit to Tiandao that he in turn owes her A favor.

Yang Lu originally thought that this negotiation would cause Li Qingning to bleed a lot, but he never expected that Tian Beixi's conditions were actually aimed at him.

Indeed, when he usually chats with Tian Beixi, he likes to talk about her being captured by him twice in a row. Therefore, when he heard that Tian Beixi actually offered such conditions, he immediately said with laughter and tears that this matter was simply too childish. .

However, when Tian Beixi heard that Yang Lu actually wanted to bargain, her expression changed on the spot and said that if Yang Lu did not agree to her conditions, even if the Qingning Chamber of Commerce gave her 80% of the equity, she would make this secret public.

Yang Lu originally expected Li Qingning to say a few words for him, but when Li Qingning heard that the conditions proposed by Tian Beixi were so simple, he defected to Tian Beixi on the spot, saying that Tian Beixi was indeed his good sister, so let's not show off. .

Seeing that his eldest daughter was about to say something like "Don't say that Yang Lu owes one favor, even if we owe three favors each, it's not too much." Yang Lu didn't dare to let her continue to be like this. After bargaining, we had no choice but to honestly sign this treaty with Tian Beixi that was "a loss of power and an insult to the country".