The mayor's office in Tianzhou City is not large, only a small suite of thirty square meters.

Zhao Gao and the young man walked in and saw a middle-aged man bowing his head and writing words on the clay tablet with a carving knife, and there were two clerks next to him sorting out the clay tablet.

The middle-aged man had short, flat gray hair, and he didn't raise his head and said, "If you have something to say, please come back if you have nothing to do." ”

"We are the envoys of the Xia Kingdom, bringing gifts from the Xia Lord. Zhao Gao didn't go around the corner, and directly took out the paper and ink he prepared and handed it to the mayor.

After seeing the slightly yellowed bamboo paper and the black ink next to it, the mayor finally put down the carving knife.

He looked at the two of them with a sharp gaze: "Xia Guo's gift, I know the ink, as for this paper ......"

"Something for writing. Zhao Gao took out a brush from his sleeve and wrote a few official scripts on bamboo paper with ink.

Seeing this scene, the young man's eyes moved slightly: This guy is fast enough to learn. Perhaps among them, he was the fastest to learn the Heavenly Seal.

Seeing the words appearing on the bamboo paper, the mayor's eyes widened and he immediately fell into deep thought.

"Is this paper?" the secretary behind the mayor looked at the paper and ink with a surprised look.

Paper, for these small countries of Tianzhou City, has epoch-making significance.

The secretary said eagerly, "Mayor, we-"

The mayor stopped his assistant and stared at the paper in front of him.

Tianzhou City came from the gods, and the language and writing were guided by the gods, and belonged to the same system as the Tumu Dynasty. In fact, if it weren't for the fact that Zhao Gao and the young man were blessed by the witches of the Spirit Palace before they left and translated with divine magic, they wouldn't have understood the language of Tianzhou City at all.

However, the language barrier can be compensated for by divine magic. But words are different.

The carrier of writing is a common problem that plagues the countries of the earth. After all, the gods were not so kind and industrious, and they were workers themselves, constantly producing paper for the nations of the earth.

Therefore, the technology of paper is a top secret among the countries of the earth. Only the top powers have papermaking technology. In a small city-state like Tianzhou City, the easiest way is a clay tablet. For more advanced ones, use animal skins or wooden planks.

"It's not papyrus, it's not fishskin. Stroking the slightly yellowed bamboo paper in front of him, the mayor took out the ink, grabbed the brush in his hand, and clumsily wrote down a few graphic fonts.

Soon, the ink spilled on the bamboo paper, and the font became blurry.

"Can't you?"

"The mayor is not familiar with the use of brushes, and when he gets used to it in the future, he can write clear words on bamboo paper. ”

Seeing Zhao Gao's beautiful calligraphy, the mayor's face became better: "Explain your intentions, right? This kind of paper, do you plan to trade with us, or do you exchange technology?"

"You think we're going to come up with this technology?"

"So, trade bamboo paper? The only thing in our city that is worth exchanging for the Xia Kingdom is the shipping industry. Do you want a flying boat, a pontoon, a kayak, a wooden boat, or something else?"

The shipbuilding industry in Tianzhou City is too developed, and with the support of the gods, they can even customize it according to the requirements of various countries.

"Xia is also a foreign civilization, and it must have its own opinions on the shipping industry. Get out your drawings, and within a month I'll be building the ships you need. ”

Zhao Gao's eyes lit up: "Boat?" He really has drawings in this regard! Back then, Qin Shi Huang sent people overseas to seek immortal medicine, and he had also seen the drawings of those big ships.

"Ahem......" The young man coughed twice, and Zhao Gao's attention returned to business: "Our intention is to trade with the eastern countries and maintain peace between the two sides. ”

"Peace?" the mayor reacted, "You guys are for the 'God of War Oracle'?"

As a city that is a dependency of the god of ships, they also worship some gods to protect themselves, and the god of war is one of them. This morning, the mayor received a notice from the priests, saying that it was the oracle of the god of war: asking Tianzhou City to provide floating boats for the eastern countries to march into the Xia Kingdom.

Sure enough, it's the god of war!

By now, the young man had finally determined who the god of the Xia Kingdom was secretly.

Zhao Gao's face was calm: "We don't know about the so-called oracle, we are just on the orders of the Xia Lord to conduct peaceful trade." ”

"Don't go around the bend, I want your Xia Kingdom's papermaking technology. Give me the papermaking technology, and Tianzhou City can remain neutral in this matter. After knowing Xia Guo's intention, the mayor immediately calmed down, and his eyes flashed: This time, he may be able to take a bite from Xia Guo!

Zhao Gao smiled: "Your Excellency Mayor, what will you do if someone forces Tianzhou City to hand over the shipbuilding technology?"

How? Killed, of course.

"However, do you Xia Kingdom have the energy at the moment? According to the oracle, it seems that you are currently facing a plague? If we send troops from the Eastern Kingdoms, we can still get your paper-making technology. ”

"Then you can try!" The young man took two steps forward, and the martial soul momentum exploded: "Do you believe it or not, I can slaughter your entire Tianzhou City by myself?"

The mayor's expression was grim, and he also stood up, and a wave of power also appeared in him.

Seeing this, Zhao Gao hurriedly played a round: "We are discussing trade with the mayor with sincerity, and we will be harmonious, and we will be harmonious." ”

After the young man finished singing with a white face, he immediately sang with a red face and said to the mayor: "Since the mayor knows that we are an extraterritorial civilization, then I am willing to tell you a story." ”

"This story is called 'The False Way Destroys the Dead'. ”

False ways are destroyed. refers to the pre-Qin era, the Jin State borrowed the way from the Yu State to destroy the Yu State, and then destroyed the Yu State on the way back.

Although the mayor couldn't understand the titles of "Yu Kingdom" and "Jin Kingdom", he could understand what Zhao Gao meant: "What do you mean, the Eastern countries asked us to borrow a boat, and they will destroy us backhand on the way back?"

"Your country's shipbuilding industry is the best in the world. ”

"At that time, we will take the initiative to destroy the technology of the shipbuilding industry, so that they will not get anything-" Suddenly, the mayor reacted, looked at Zhao Gao with a smile on his face, and suddenly realized.

Yes, at the moment of the destruction of the city, he will destroy hundreds of years of shipbuilding technology. So, why can't the other party's papermaking technology be destroyed?

"Of course, the mayor can not borrow a boat, but send soldiers to participate in the battle and complete the oracle. But in this case, what about the safety of Tianzhou City itself?"

"You can't beat us. Zhao Gao said seriously: "You are worried about the safety of Tianzhou City itself, and it is impossible to use all your strength. As far as I know, there are 50,000 citizens in Tianzhou City, and there are only 3,000 active guards. Admittedly, if you use all your strength to pull all the young strong men in the city, you can indeed put together a large army. However, in that case, only the old and weak women and children were left in Tianzhou City. Can't the other nations take over your Heavenly Boat City in the name of 'helping to guard it'?"

"They wouldn't dare! In front of the oracle, they would never do that!"

"Perhaps. But on the way here, the contemptible people have sent this strategy to several other eastern countries. Of course, those city lords and kings may not be doing the same thing. But if one of the lords of the kingdom is serious......"

The mayor had a dark face: "You want to disturb the order of our eastern countries?"

"Your Excellency the Mayor, do the Eastern Countries really regard your Tianzhou City as a member? On the way, I saw that the children in your city were yellow and thin. Moreover, the slums are so frequent that you can't even feed your own slaves. I have heard that the land of the East is fertile, so will the countries of the East not provide you with food?"

Of course, I can't afford it!

The shipbuilding industry in Tianzhou City is very profitable, but the technology of the ships they make is too good. The countries of the East have long been saturated, and there is no need to buy too many ships every year, only to pay a certain amount of maintenance costs.

In this case, the economic situation of Tianzhou City is very poor. Therefore, the mayor agrees with waging war against the Xia Kingdom. Because of the war money, it is enough for Tianzhou City not to worry about food problems in the next few years.

Xia Kingdom, that is a behemoth with a population of 500,000. Moreover, they were able to feed slaves without suffering from famine.

"Tianzhou City can make warships, and even fly boats. Moreover, the geographical location of Tianzhou City is excellent, and the citizens are united, if Tianzhou City is given the opportunity to develop, it will become the first of the eastern countries. Zhao Gao did not hesitate to praise him, as if the Tianzhou Kingdom had unlimited potential and could become the seventh largest country on the earth.

Of course, all this is inseparable from the mayor's efforts. It is precisely because of the leadership of a wise mayor like you that Tianzhou City has such achievements. ”

Under his praise mixed with spiritual power, the mayor's vanity was greatly satisfied.

"But—"

"But what?" the vanity, which was held high, fell to the ground, making the mayor subconsciously ask.

"It's because the potential of Tianzhou City is too high. Therefore, the eastern countries must restrict the development of Tianzhou City. Cutting off the supply of food and making Tianzhou City dependent on the countries and unable to reproduce the population on a large scale is the sinister intention of the Eastern countries!"

"Nonsense!" a secretary defended: "The reason why vegetables and grain cannot be delivered is because there were frequent tsunamis some time ago, and it was inconvenient for the eastern countries to trade. ”

Zhao Gao shook his head slowly: "Then, they only need to prepare supplies in advance and send more each time." ”

"That's because their ships are too small to deliver too many ...... at once"

"Can't send it? The ship is too small? Isn't Tianzhou City built by ships? Why don't they build a big ship?"

Because big ships are too expensive, and why are big ships expensive? Because Tianzhou City is too poor, and it needs to make big ships to supplement the economy. And the reason for supplementing the economy is to find other countries to exchange food.

It's an endless loop. Unless someone gives in, the embarrassing situation in Tianzhou City cannot be solved.

The mayor had planned to sign agreements with several chambers of commerce, asking them to deliver more supplies on the grounds of making large ships for free.

However, in Zhao Gao's mouth, he directly changed his taste: "To put it bluntly, they deliberately withheld the grain of Tianzhou City, just to starve you to death and limit the population of Tianzhou City!

"Look at the oracle of the god of war, only to let the Heavenly Boat City out of the floating boat, not the soldiers. Because from the very beginning they disdain your army. In the eyes of the gods, they don't put your Tianzhou City and the Eastern Kingdoms on the same footing. ”

The God of War knew that there were not many soldiers in Tianzhou City, so he deliberately took care of these craftsmen and let them concentrate on building ships. How did it become discrimination?

"The reason why you have a low status is because you are being manipulated by the eastern countries, you have no new food production area, you can only rely on one way, then you will be eaten to death by the other party!"

The mayor fell into deep thought.

As Zhao Gao said, their most developed industry is shipbuilding. There is a push from the gods behind this, and the ships they have built have been transformed from different merchant ships into warships, and they are warships that exert divine powers. It can fly in the air and engage in long-distance battles.

This is the confidence of Tianzhou City to send troops to the Xia Kingdom.

But how does it sound so wrong?

"If Tianzhou City does not provide help to the Eastern Kingdoms. Our Xia country can conduct large-scale grain transactions at a price one percent lower than that of the eastern countries. ”

Nearly 50,000 people, according to the results of Zhao Gao's inspection in Jiugong City, the grain reserves of Xia Kingdom are more than enough.

"It's lower than the price of grain in the eastern countries?" According to the mayor's idea, the other party sold at a fair price at most, but he didn't expect to lower the price?

"That's right, lower one percent!" Zhao Gao silently tore up the proposal he had originally prepared in his heart. According to his original idea, it was to lower the price of 30% and use 70% to conduct large-scale trade.

But after seeing the current situation of Tianzhou City, Zhao Gao decisively raised the price. This group of fat sheep in Tianzhou City will not be slaughtered if they are not slaughtered!

Zhao Gao said with a "sincere" face: "On the way here, I saw the children of Tianzhou City. Children are the future of a country and a city, and if we can't even feed them, what kind of face do we adults have to call 'parents'? Therefore, even if it is to let these children eat an extra bite of food, I will try my best to persuade our Highness to give preferential treatment when providing food for Tianzhou City. ”

。 m.