"His Majesty the King is hosting a banquet in honor of us. I wonder if there is anything we need to appoint the young man to do?" Zhou Xingyun said very politely. He sat down and took two bites of steamed buns, then asked the king why he invited him to see him.
To be sure, Zhou Xingyun couldn't do it without asking. He needed to deceive the nautical charts collected by King St. Hillenburg, so he could only take the initiative to get into the topic.
The king of Saint Hillan Castle also wanted to discuss matters in the Eastern Continent with Zhou Xingyun and others, so the two hit it off and started chatting.
"I heard that some of them are businessmen from the Central Plains, right?" The king of Saint Hillan Castle pondered his thoughts and said, "To be honest, before establishing the kingdom of Saint Hillan Castle, our family had a close relationship with His Excellency Zhou Xingyun.
Same, he is a traveling businessman. From the letters left by my ancestors, I learned that in the far east, there is a country with vast territory and abundant resources. Even in my grandfather's generation, they still kept in touch with the royal family of the Central Plains and would send people to the Central Plains.
Doing business.”
"Oh, what about now?" Zhou Xingyun asked following the king's inquiry.
The king of St. Hillenburg said that even after their grandfather's generation, they would still send people to the Central Plains to do business. This can be reversed, that is, after their grandfather's generation, they would not send people to the Central Plains anymore.
"Due to the change of ownership of the Central Plains dynasty, we lost our original regular channels and now no longer send people to the Central Plains for business."
King St. Hillenburg explained lightly that in the past they dared to spend huge sums of money and send people to the Central Plains to do business because they had good buyers.
The royal family of the Central Plains would purchase their goods and provide them with various commercial services, so that they would make a steady profit in the Central Plains.
However, since the Central Plains changed hands, they lost their original big buyers and were unable to establish friendly relations with the current royal family. The results can be imagined.
Starting from the Kingdom of St. Hillan Castle, transporting goods to the Central Plains is not only extremely costly, but the risks along the way are immeasurable.
Without the Royal Family of the Central Plains as a buyer, even if the St. Hillenburg Kingdom's caravan arrived in the Central Plains, no one would be able to pay enough to purchase their goods.
Even if some dignitaries could afford to buy their goods, it would still be a drop in the bucket.
What's more, without the help of the Central Plains royal family, ordinary merchants would not be able to provide sufficient Central Plains goods for the St. Hillenburg Kingdom's caravan, as well as supplies for the return voyage, regardless of entry into the city and customs duties.
Therefore, the former king of St. Hillenburg decided that they would no longer send ocean-going caravans to the Central Plains to study and do business before establishing friendly relations with the new lord of the Central Plains.
"Does His Majesty the King want me to help you establish diplomatic relations with the Central Plains Dynasty?"
Zhou Xingyun secretly figured out that in front of the King of St. Hillenburg, he was just a businessman from the Eastern Continent.
To be honest, in this era without flying vehicles, people who can do business across oceans must be awesome.
The king of Fort St. Hillan definitely felt that Zhou Xingyun was a wealthy and powerful man, and wanted to use his connections in the Central Plains to establish good relations with the current royal family and re-open the ocean-going commerce of the Kingdom of Fort St. Hillan.
"In the past, I would have asked His Excellency Zhou Xingyun for help. Now things have happened for a reason, and it is no longer possible for us to do business in the Central Plains."
"Then what does His Majesty the King plan to do...?" Zhou Xingyun was confused. Since the King of Saint Hillan Castle did not intend to go to the Central Plains to do business, what did he invite him to do?
Besides, if he doesn't go to the Central Plains to do business, the value of the merchant navigation chart will be infinitely lowered. Qili'an's bad idea to attract others has really become a bad idea!
Zhou Xingyun wanted to return to the Central Plains, but he didn't know how to go back. He needed the nautical charts collected by the Qili'an family.
It should be impossible to go directly to the king of St. Hillan Castle to ask for the nautical charts, so Qili'an had an idea and asked Zhou Xingyun to pretend to be a traveling businessman and lure the king of St. Hillan Castle to take the bait.
Qili'an helped Zhou Xingyun figure out this deceptive routine and process.
After they met the King of St. Hillan Castle, Zhou Xingyun began to discuss business, pretending that he knew the business conditions of the Central Plains well and could provide the King of St. Hillan Castle with the latest maps of Central Plains towns.
Although Zhou Xingyun didn't know how to return to the Central Plains, he knew the layout of the cities and towns in the Central Plains very well. He could tell the king of Fort St. Hillan where they could purchase which goods after arriving in the Central Plains, and what forces were present in which towns.
Zhou Xingyun could also say hypocritically, "Let me see your navigation chart, maybe I can find a safer shortcut."
The king of Saint Hillan Castle was 100% unexpected that Zhou Xingyun and his group of foreigners from the East had no idea of the way back.
However, after Zhou Xingyun listened to King St. Hillanbao's words, he found that he did not seem to intend to trade with the Central Plains.
So, what was the reason why the king invited them to the castle? Could it be that he wanted to do evil to them like the emperor of Essilans?
When Zhou Xingyun was in the Principality of Cheryl, he was in an awkward situation and there were always unscrupulous people trying to harm him, so much so that he almost suffered from persecution paranoia, and now he has become suspicious.
Fortunately, the king of Saint Hillan Castle quickly answered and said: "Although I do not plan to send people to the Central Plains to do business, I hope that His Excellency Zhou Xingyun can lead a way and take our people to the Central Plains."
"What do you mean by your highness? Don't you have... a passage to the Central Plains?"
"Well, there is, but after all, it is a nautical chart from a hundred years ago. It is difficult for us to be sure whether there are errors in this map. If His Excellency Zhou Xingyun leads the way, this journey will naturally be much safer."
Now Zhou Xingyun finally understood the intention of King St. Hillanburg. It turned out that he hoped that Zhou Xingyun, an "experienced person", would lead the way.
After all, it is always safer to have an experienced driver lead the way than to fumble around by looking at a map.
Unfortunately, Zhou Xingyun was a fake driver and he didn't know how to get back to the Central Plains.
Fortunately, as long as we get the Qili'an family's navigation chart, Qili'an, Isabel, and Seluvinia will definitely be able to lead everyone back to the Central Plains.
Zhou Xingyun is a fake driver, Qili'an, Isabel, and Seluvinia, but they are really good people who crossed the sea to the Central Plains.
Especially Seluvinia, she came from the Principality of Cheryl to the Central Plains to find Zhou Xingyun in the past six months or so.
As long as she gets the Qili'an family's navigation chart, Seluvinia can follow the chart and take everyone back to the Central Plains.
"Why did His Majesty the King send people to the Central Plains?" Qili'an couldn't help but ask, because in her memory, going to the Central Plains for development was a bad idea made by 'that woman'.
Qili'an's family and Isabel's family are close friends.
The reason why the Qili'an family was able to discover the Central Plains Continent was all thanks to Isabel's family, which provided money behind the scenes to support their overseas trade.
Therefore, when a coup occurred in the country where Isabel was located and Isabel's family was in trouble, Qili'an's family, the current King of St. Hillenburg, drew his sword to help without hesitation.
The reason why Isabel survived unharmed was because of the strong pressure from the king of St. Hillen Castle, who traveled thousands of miles to station an elite team in the opponent's border area.
The King of St. Hillenburg has opened his mouth. If the opponent dares to touch a hair of Isabel, the Kingdom of St. Hillenburg will fight to the end even if it is a life-and-death struggle.
Having just wiped out all its wealth due to the civil war, Isabel's country naturally did not dare to go to war with the Kingdom of St. Hillenburg at this time.
Therefore, they could only agree to the request of the King of St. Hillenburg, put Isabel under house arrest, and allow the Kingdom of St. Hillenburg to send a group of people to protect Isabel.
It is true that all this is a delaying tactic, and they will attack Isabel once they have calmed down.
The princess of a subjugated country is worse than a dog. This is really not nonsense.
Fortunately, Qili'an's family was very righteous. For the sake of their family friendship, they would risk their lives to protect Isabel.
No matter how you say it, Isabel can be considered the niece of Princess St. Hillenburg.
So here comes the question. Why did King St. Hillenburg send people to the Central Plains at this time?
Qili'an was very young back then, and she didn't know why her father wasted resources and invested the country's financial resources and elites in the Central Plains when the country was in the most critical moment.
"As early as my great-grandfather's time, we bought a piece of land in the northern border area of the Central Plains. I thought that instead of setting up an ocean-going merchant ship, it would be better to send a group of people to the Central Plains to develop and form their own business group. In this way
Come, even if the Central Plains changes hands, our ocean-going trade can continue to be maintained."
King St. Hillenburg explained that after the last lesson, they already understood the principle of one emperor and one courtier, so he planned to create a business group in the Central Plains to first develop contacts, collect business intelligence, and then send out ocean-going merchant ships.
It is true that King St. Hillenburg's explanation makes sense, but Qili'an and Isabel both know that he is lying.
The reason why King St. Hillenburg sent people to the Central Plains was not to form a business group or a new force.
The King of St. Hillenburg urgently dispatched his country's elite to the Central Plains because he could predict based on the country's national conditions that the Kingdom of St. Hillenburg would not be able to survive for a few years and would be on the road to national subjugation.
To put it bluntly, King St. Hillenburg is looking for a way out for his family. They are a royal family. If the country dies, the enemy will definitely find ways to eradicate it.
"It turns out that His Majesty the King plans to develop his own business in the Central Plains." Zhou Xingyun fell into deep thought, or in other words, he hesitated in a pretentious manner.
Zhou Xingyun will definitely agree to the proposal of King St. Hillenburg. After all, they have no choice. Only by agreeing to the other party's request can they return to the Central Plains smoothly.
However, Zhou Xingyun was worried that if he agreed too readily, he would arouse the suspicion of King St. Hillanburg.
"As long as Your Excellency Zhou Xingyun agrees to our proposal, we are willing to provide you with generous rewards. Once we have a firm foothold in the Central Plains, we can also provide your business group with our country's specialty products on a regular basis. My business group will regard you as
The best partner, we only supply our country’s specialties to your business group.”
When King St. Hillenburg saw Zhou Xingyun's hesitation, the first thing that came to his mind was to win him over with generous benefits.