"Therefore we failed."

Jennard, who was holding Jenny's hand, suddenly spoke up, which made many people look at him.

"In the bloody year, our Star Legion rushed to the rescue of the Blade Leader," Genard raised his head and looked at the sky with emotion, "but we were beaten to pieces and lost our armor along the way."

Morgan touched the handle of his knife and frowned.

"Duke John doesn't understand why every time he raises the nine-pointed star flag, the enemy on the opposite side becomes morale-boosted, becomes furious, and is as brave as the Northlanders. Now I understand. We think we are going to liberate the Blade Territory."

, those who go to 'defend the enemy invaders' are the real foreign forces."

As soon as these words came out, everyone in the Star Lake Guard fell silent.

Thales was sitting in the carriage, silent and with an ugly expression.

Under the unfamiliar eyes of the surrounding people, the group of them walked on the unfamiliar streets of the Emerald City, their spirits low and the atmosphere depressing.

But Thales soon realized that the Ruhsan Street incident had far-reaching consequences, and the challenges he had to face during his administration were far more than that.

"This is definitely not a coincidence."

A few hours later, Glover and Miranda came back from outside and brought Thales the first-hand, most direct truth that was not covered up by any official influence:

"It's inevitable."

It turned out that the two groups of people who clashed were not small gangsters. On the contrary, they were ordinary people. On one side were the coachmen from the Carriage and Horse Guild, most of whom were natives of the South Bank. They were driving horses and carts on the streets of Emerald City, delivering goods and soliciting customers.

On the one hand, immigrants are mainly from other places, many of whom are porters and laborers at docks and warehouses, and even sweepers and dung pickers, selling their pure labor to make a living.

The two groups of people are of different social classes and origins, but they have intersected due to business activities, resulting in rifts and frictions in the past. However, under the strict laws of the Emerald City, both parties are extremely restrained, and at most they can only make things difficult for each other.

Never dare to cross the bottom line, let alone fight in the most prosperous street, until...

"When they had conflicts before, their respective leaders would sit down and negotiate," Miranda said solemnly, "But it is said that the leader of the group pulling the cart disappeared recently. As for the other group of porters, they all

Temporary livelihood comes and goes, and there is no leader. There is only one leader of the dung collector, and he is the only one who can speak in that group of people."

Glover nodded and said in a heavy voice:

"That guy's name is Roger, nicknamed 'Shit Dan'..."

"One of the leaders of the Blood Bottle Gang," Thales frowned, "The one who died in the internal strife?"

Glover nodded slightly.

"As for today's incident, we have no concrete evidence yet to prove whether the two parties really expanded the conflict due to an accident, or whether there were unknown forces behind it to instigate it, but..." Miranda added.

"There is no difference," Glover shook his head, "I know these people. After the Blood Bottle Gang happened, both sides had no leaders and no one who could talk, let alone a coordinator. Then sooner or later a fight would break out.

It’s just something that I didn’t expect to cause such a big fuss..."

Thales fell silent.

He suddenly understood:

The internal strife of the Blood Bottle Gang witnessed by Glover and Rolf, which ousted the boss of Katharine, was not just about seizing power or revenge.

"So whether it's a coincidence or intentional, this incident ultimately happened because of me - ever since the Blood Bottle Gang was in chaos, it was doomed."

Glover and Miranda looked at each other, but stopped talking.

Thales took a deep breath and smiled at them, telling them not to worry.

In the following time, His Royal Highness the Prince went back and forth non-stop between the study room, the meeting hall, the reception room and the several official offices in the outer palace of Kongming Palace, visiting to express condolences, meeting with officials, appeasing people, and issuing orders, and every time

When he finally sat down and thought he could rest for a while, a large pile of documents and letters would always appear on his desk, requiring him to read them all the time, write and approve, sign and stamp, and write and reply, leaving him to eat quietly.

Not enough time for lunch.

Just like this, there are always new unexpected events - such as the tragedy on Ruhsan Street just now - suddenly popping up and forcibly inserted into his schedule that already has few gaps:

The exhausted Thales couldn't help gritting his teeth and thinking:

As a city lord and a duke, was Zhan so busy before?

However, misfortunes never come singly. Only a few hours before the prince returned to the palace, several officials hurriedly came to report:

Prices in Emerald City vary and market conditions change.

The thing was first discovered by a tax collector when he was collecting vendor fees. The objects of his charges were merchants, whether they were traveling merchants who came from surrounding towns or further afield to bring goods to be sold at the celebration, or merchants.

Large shops and small vendors who stocked local goods with the intention of making a small profit from tourists began to compete with each other in vicious price reductions:

We are also selling fabrics. If you lower the price by two coppers, I will lower the price by three coppers. If you sell two pieces together at a discount, I will put three pieces...

At first, such incidents only happened sporadically, limited to the circle of four or five competitors in the same market, but after the tragedy on Ruhsan Street, similar situations occurred in markets in several urban districts.

Thales, who had been busy for most of the day, had to endure his fatigue and listened to the marketing officer's report, his expression becoming more solemn:

Soon, no matter whether they were merchants, workshops, or even many large business groups, everyone followed suit and began selling goods in bulk. From grains, meats, and vegetables to spices, powders, local specialties, and ocean goods, almost all goods in the Emerald City were sold.

The prices of commodities, textiles, handicrafts, luxury goods, and necessities are all falling...

It wasn’t until several market supervision officials noticed something was wrong and pursued and inquired all the way that they discovered something was wrong:

I don’t know when, rumors began to spread in the city, saying that the incident on Ruhsang Street was just a precursor, and with Duke Xinghu’s temperament of not even drinking, the political turmoil in the Emerald City may soon affect the market...

As a result, many merchants are rushing to sell goods and clear their inventory. They do not hesitate to cut prices and would rather sell at a loss to exchange for cash. There is even a merchant ship coming to the Emerald City at sea, loaded with luxury goods. The owner of the ship heard that

After hearing the incident in the Emerald City, he was very anxious and hurriedly sent a messenger to inform the warehouse that the goods on the ship should be sold in advance at half price or even lower price to prevent unsalable losses after docking at the port.

"I heard that at the pier, there are even merchants who throw unsold goods on the street and let people pick them up, or even throw them directly into the water." Miranda, who came back after asking around outside, looked livid.

"These are panic selling. They are worried about political unrest and are bearish about future market conditions, so they make sure they have enough cash in hand first."

A few quarters of an hour later, the financial controller Melakhovich, who came after receiving the news, was calculating the accounts in the meeting hall and frowning:

"But Your Highness, if this continues, Emerald City's credibility and reputation on the trade road will only get worse and worse, and the market will only get worse. Emerald City is so prosperous because of the inputs it relies on for its livelihood - transaction tax, property tax

, I’m afraid the tariffs will be cut in half.”

"If Emerald City's revenue declines, there is no guarantee that next quarter's revenue will exceed, or at least be the same as, this quarter's..." the tax officer gritted his teeth, "Damn it, we still expect to repay the debt!"

Thales' head was as big as a bucket after hearing this.

"Everyone, this is just the lightest consequence," another experienced market officer was sweating profusely. "Listen to me, if this happens for a few more days, the news will get out, and the merchants will lose profits.

The Emerald City has become more motivated to do business. When the goods in the city are almost sold out and there is no more flow of goods, the market will begin to be depressed, followed by shortages of materials..."

"Then what should we do?" Huaiya said with a headache.

"Allocate funds to stabilize prices first and maintain market stability," Manager Mylahovich gritted his teeth. "Money problems can only be solved with money."

"What about our debts..."

"Don't think about repaying your debts now, let's get through the present!"

"If it doesn't work out, just borrow it again and pay off the old debt with a new model..."

"The debt will get bigger and bigger..."

"First ensure a stable annual income. As long as the rule of Emerald City is stable, there will always be a way to resolve the debt..."

"Your Majesty, I don't know if His Majesty has sent an order, or if you have any instructions on how to deal with it?"

"Can Yongxing City support our finances?"

"If it really doesn't work, can we waive some of the taxes that need to be paid to the kingdom..."

There was a quarrel going back and forth in the meeting hall, and Thales, who was troubled by numerous problems, became increasingly unbearable. He became extremely angry and asked Marius to kick all these officials out.

"From finance to taxation, from the market to public security, I can see that they are not trying their best, they are all doing their best, procrastinating, and doing half-hearted work." Paul closed the door of the conference hall with a serious expression, "They are even waiting to see our jokes.

."

"After all, the original Duke stepped down just yesterday, and the way was not very good-looking," Miranda sighed, "It's understandable."

"They are not doing their job well, so can we scare the monkeys and punish them?" Morgan snorted coldly.

"They did not openly disobey orders, nor did they say anything rude," D.D shook his head. "At most, they were doing things perfunctorily and carelessly. This is far from a crime."

"Of course not for ordinary people," Morgan made a fierce gesture, "but for these officials... huh."

"Be careful, everyone," Huaiya held his notebook. "When encountering setbacks and disasters, it is often easiest to blame others, especially the weak who are under us and have no power to resist."

He gave everyone a warning look:

“There is a saying in "The Political Strategy of a Wise King": Giving up difficulty and seeking ease is often the origin of tyranny."

"Ah, isn't it another reference book for the royal guard's entrance test?" D.D dug his ears.

"Um, no, this is my own extracurricular reading."

"What about extracurricular readings?"

Thales, who was sitting in the main seat, rubbed his forehead and lamented the little energy he had left. Hearing their conversation, he rarely smiled.

But before Huaiya finished speaking, he was interrupted again.

This time, the person who came was the commander of the Emerald Legion, a Seychelles knight and captain.

The Star Lake Guards immediately became nervous and prepared for the attack.

But fortunately, the Seychelles knight who entered the hall just glanced at everyone with disdain, then followed the rules and took off his weapons and handed them to old Jeannard. Then he saluted in a decent manner and reported to Duke Thales:
To be continued...