The Bilisi were once a nomadic nation.

In the Cold Weapon Age, the Bilisians conquered the east and west, known as the country of horseback, and once had a very large territory.

But the mighty Bilisian Empire was short-lived, rapidly feudalized, and soon disintegrated, forming a number of small principalities, which in turn merged and intermarried with Western countries and peoples, and many of the countries of the Western Ocean Alliance can be traced back to that long history.

The people of Bilisi are proud, and after the collapse of the Great Bilisian Empire, some of those who remained in their native birthplace have not given up on restoring their former glory. They attributed their defeat to the destruction and hostility of the Europa, so they remained hostile to the Europa, and had been at peace for less than fifty years in a few hundred years.

However, the appearance of gunpowder weapons hurt the Bilisians very much, and this weapon ended the era of the steppe peoples.

However, the Bilisians quickly embarked on the **** path, and all adult men served in the military, including some women. Internally, in addition to developing animal husbandry, which is already very developed, it has also vigorously developed modern mining and manufacturing industries to strengthen the economy and national strength. Externally, it was divided into two parts, adopting mercantilism towards the countries to the west and the Western Ocean Union in order to obtain the scarce resources of the landlocked countries, and a hostile attitude towards Europa in the east, and portraying the eastern neighbor as an evil enemy in terms of national education.

In the last year, they sent troops almost simultaneously with the Assyrians, echoing each other from afar, putting great military pressure on the Europa Empire.

In January 1834, the Belisians pretended to have reached an armistice with the Europas, and their negotiators even made gestures to discuss trade between the two countries.

This succeeded in paralyzing the Europa.

In July 1834, the Bilisians saw an opportunity to launch a surprise attack while the Assyrians were in the midst of a fierce battle with 50 divisions of Europa.

The Europa people were caught off guard, and a hole was torn open in the line of defense that had been in operation for a long time and had cost countless times. The opening grew wider and wider, and the army, which had lost its supplies at the front, was routed by the inspired Assyrians.

According to the latest news, the Assyrians have captured three steppe provinces, which is on par with the Red Moon War five years ago. This time the Assyrians did not continue the attack, because they had learned the lesson of the last time they had gone too far into the front and were ready to consolidate the gains they had made, not to mention that they had a strong ally this time.

The only thing that pleased the emperor was that the imperial army in the northern area was still fighting, and they relied on various cities as bases to carry out limited counterattacks, which was also a lesson learned from the defeat of the Red Moon that year.

Unable to resolve these rebels, the Assyrians did not dare to throw their forces into the northern part of Gyeonggi Province, and their war with Europa was at a stalemate.

The Bilisians, on the other hand, were so strong that they advanced from the northwest, only slowing down slightly after capturing five provinces in a month's time, and the Europa resistance cost them a lot.

The suppression of news of the defeat by the Imperial military and cabinet spread rapidly as the people of the north fled south, because paper could not contain fire.

When the accurate news reached Genoa, it was already August 1834.

Even away from the war, the Genoese were worried.

Prices began to rise, especially for food. This also affected the wealthy who invested in securities in the North, and many stocks were turned into scrap paper overnight.

In a letter to Sean, the Count of Koval said that he had lost all the profits he had made in the past ten years overnight, and that fortunately he had recouped a lot of his investments in the north in the past two years in order to obtain funds to focus his investments on new industries in Genoa, otherwise he would have gone bankrupt.

Count Coval's letter was written in a very private way, as he vaguely discussed some terrifying possibility with Sean.

He was pessimistic about the future, with the wealthy in northern Gyeonggi fleeing south and the rich in the holy city moving south, the city's skyrocketing population pushing up food prices three times in a month, and the members of the aristocratic parliament still wondering who was responsible for the defeat.

Crown Prince Jean Sauron finally took control of the military in the North, and he became the Commander-in-Chief of the Northern Resistance.

The war inevitably affected Genoa, and rumors of a wartime policy would be imposed on the Empire, which meant that the Cabinet could arbitrarily increase taxes and conscription on the grounds that war required it.

For Sean, the immediate effect was that the Navy's orders changed from a prepayment system to a settlement system, and the total number was reduced by almost half, to a total of only fifty Shark-class warships. Obviously, the empire is focused on war on land, and if there is no land for even a land home, there is no sea.

At this time, the ambassador of Xia came to Poitou, the ambassador's name was Zhao Ran, Xiao Si had met at the Holy City University five years ago, and he became the ambassador of the Xia Kingdom to the Holy City the following year.

The foreign ambassador came with the will of Carlos II.

Carlos II essentially gave up the sea for the time being, and he allowed Kang's shipbuilding to export ironclad ships to the Xia Kingdom, but for each export, the empire would charge an export tax of 100 gold louis for each ton of displacement measured. For example, for the 1,000-ton Shark class, the empire will levy an export tax of 100,000, and as for the 2,000-ton ironclad cargo ship Rocky Mountain, the empire will levy an export tax of 200,000.

Until then, the Empire would never have allowed the export of these new ships. The Europa people still remember the hegemony of the Xia Kingdom on the sea, but the appearance of the steam ironclad ship obviously gave the Europa people an advantage in the sea for the first time.

It's a pity that people are not as good as heaven. Forced to allow exports, Carlos hopes to use this as an opportunity to allow the Xia people to fight the fish demon independently, and at the same time grab as much wealth as possible to support the war on land.

The Xia people were very interested in the steam ironclad ships, and Daley, the head of the Poitu secret police, even arrested many Xia secret agents.

The ambassador will personally accompany Daley, who will witness the negotiations and endorse Sean as a witness.

The Xia people are temporarily unable to use the power of the state, which is entirely the ambassador's initiative, because the sea between the two countries is ruled by the fish demon, and he cannot contact the motherland. However, tens of thousands of Xia people are stranded in Europa, most of them are merchants, and these people cannot return to the country, and they are always anxious.

Someone told Sean that Ambassador Zhao had easily raised about 25 million gold louis from the merchants of Xia Kingdom.

In fact, although Sean's shipyard is still busy with naval orders for the time being, Kang's Power, whose main business is the production of special steam engines, has fallen into uncertainty, and the orders he reached with the Torres family have been greatly reduced, because many northern shipyards cannot survive, and have gone bankrupt or changed careers.

After a visit to the shipyard, Sean explained to the ambassador:

"Mr. Ambassador, there is one 2,000-ton cargo ship USS Rocky Hill and three 1,000-ton Shark-class ironclads of the Navy, and for the latter, you can try to convince the Navy to agree to the transfer, because the Navy has not yet paid. You must know that cargo ships need to be escorted by warships. Of course, if you are willing to wait, there are still 2,000-ton cargo ships and five 1,000-ton Shark-class ships under construction in the dock, which are expected to be launched in mid-September. ”

"Dear Earl, I would like to know how much you are offering?" asked Ambassador Zhao.

"2.2 million for the Rocky Hill and 800,000 for each Shark class, including personnel training, but not artillery. ”

Ambassador Zhao was silent.

He has already collected intelligence, Kang's shipbuilding sold to the Navy Shark-class for about 700,000 yuan, and the Rocky Mountain belongs to Kang's power now, after all, Kang's power is different from Kang's shipbuilding, and it is completely a wholly-owned company owned by Sean himself, and when Kang's shipbuilding sold the first 2,000-ton steam ironclad cargo ship Rocky Mountain to Kang's power, the price was about 2 million.

In comparison, Sean's current offer is quite fair.

"This is my sincerity!" Sean emphasized.

"I thank the Earl for his kindness, and I thank the Earl once again for helping the people of the country. Ambassador Zhao said. He was referring to the Xia Ocean Cargo Ship that Sean had turned to for help during the Fish Demon Rebellion last year, and the crew members were still stranded in Vichy Town, and Sean allowed them to find work to support themselves.

Ambassador Zhao had heard of Sean for a long time, and he did not expect that he had completely ignored the young people back then, and now he has become the most influential person in Genoa. Just as he was impressed by Genoa's trains and new industries during this trip south.

"You know, Count, that the fish demon is wreaking havoc on the seas these days. I was so worried that I couldn't sleep at night, I didn't know what was going on in my country, and I was desperate to return to my country by steam. Ambassador Zhao said, "I'm going to settle on Rocky Mountain, as for the three shark-class, please give me a little time to convince the emperor of your country." At the same time, I need a marine steam engine more, and I am willing to pay more for it. ”

"Mr. Ambassador, the steam engine itself is not for sale, and His Majesty only allows the sale of the entire ship. Sean shook his head, he glanced at Daley, who was sitting on the side, "Of course, as a supporting equipment, it is understandable to add an extra set of key equipment to each ironclad ship, after all, it will take a month and a half to sail from Poitu to your country. Once you arrive in your country, you will need to face damage to your equipment at any time in future use. ”

"So what is your offer?" said Ambassador Zhao was very pleased.

"The Shark class is 1 million, including 2 supporting steam engines and related equipment, and the Rocky Mountain is 2.5 million, which also includes the supporting key power equipment. Sean said.

However, Sean changed his words: "You need to meet our emperor again, I am optimistic about it!"

Ambassador Zhao came and went in a hurry, and he could see that Sean was happy to export a steam engine to him, but only if he had permission from the Empire. Ambassador Zhao didn't want to buy the whole ship, first, because the construction speed was too slow, and second, he was a patriot and wanted to use it to get some secrets of the steam ironclad ship.

Obviously, Sean rejected the possibility of a private transaction, not to mention that there was a secret police officer who witnessed the whole process.

Soon, Sean read in the newspaper about the Xia merchants collectively donating 5 million to Carlos II to thank the empire for the shelter they had given to these stranded foreigners.

Immediately afterwards, Sean received the emperor's decree and agreed that Kang's Power would export marine equipment to the Xia Kingdom, and the export tax would be calculated separately, with a tax rate of 20%.

Ambassador Xia had to come to Poitu again to renegotiate with the emperor allowing the export of marine power equipment.

Xia Guoren ordered 5 Rocky Mountain-class ironclad cargo ships and 20 Shark-class warships, with a total tonnage of 30,000 tons and a value of 40 million, because the ambassador received the generous support of his compatriots. For this reason, Xia Guoren also has to pay 3 million export taxes for the whole ship and 1.3 million export taxes for key equipment.

Carlos II and his cabinet were very pleased with the deal, and they suppressed the strong dissatisfaction of the navy, and agreed to give up the full amount of the taxes paid by the Xia people to the navy.

It is worth noting that the transaction was guaranteed by credit from several of the big banks in Al-Quds, which are quietly extending their tentacles into Genoa. This is also risky, because Xia Guoren can only come up with half of the cash at the moment.

Siyes told Sean: "Capital always looks for the safest place. ”