The Imperial Palace of Candela is located in the heart of the capital city of Wimbledon, just north of the capital, on a hill high above the surrounding plains.

The hill was originally the only high ground in the vicinity of a large flat bottom, and the palace was built so tall that the people of Wimbledon could see the palace high above and with gold coins in the distance.

His Majesty, the great Emperor of the Candela Empire, would hold a court meeting every morning in the main hall of the Imperial Palace, the most conspicuous building of the Imperial Palace, which is also the core of the entire Candela Empire's political affairs, to listen to the return of the Imperial Ministers.

Generally speaking, this court meeting is just a formality, and some major events will be done to make some brief reports to His Majesty the Emperor, and as for the specific handling and implementation, it will be dealt with after the court meeting.

Therefore, most of the time, His Majesty the Emperor would just sit on a tall chair, look down at the ministers below, and listen intently.

Today, however, His Majesty Depol XVII, the Venerable Emperor of the Candela Empire, stood up from his tall chair in a very rare manner, and stared angrily at a middle-aged man in the costume of an Admiral of the Candela Empire standing in the middle below.

"The dignified Imperial Navy was actually unable to be solved by the fleet of even a mere chamber of commerce, but was beaten to pieces by the other party, and the loss of its own warships exceeded seventy percent! Duke Warner, this is the Imperial Navy under your command? This is the Imperial Navy that the Empire spends tens of millions of gold coins on it every year?"

The middle-aged man's head, which had been lowered, pressed lower, but he did not respond.

Seeing that he was speechless, De Boer XVII became even angrier in his heart.

"Good. Since the empire spends tens of millions of gold coins every year, it is just a bunch of things that are not as good as waste. So what do you want to do? From today. I don't want to spend any more money on you waste!"

Hearing De Boer XVII's words, the Duke of Warner raised his head suddenly, and a trace of surprise flashed in his eyes.

Although there have been doubts and debates within the empire about whether the navy needs to continue to exist, and even the budget of the military department for the imperial navy has been reduced every year, His Majesty the Emperor has never expressed his position, so the impact is not fatal.

But now His Majesty the Emperor was furious because of the disastrous defeat suffered by the Imperial Navy in the southern seas against the fleet of the New Flying Chamber of Commerce, and even said the phrase abolish the Imperial Navy, if someone took the opportunity to make some trouble. It is highly likely to have a truly fatal effect on the Imperial Navy.

"Your Majesty, don't do it!" it was not the Duke of Warner who shouted these words, but the Marquis of Hastere, the Minister of Finance of the Candela Empire, who was standing to the right of the Duke of Warner.

Seeing that it was him who jumped out, not only the other ministers, but even De Boer XVII were taken aback.

Because the Imperial Navy has always eaten a large amount of the budget, but has hardly made any contributions, the Imperial Ministry of Finance, which is in charge of the Imperial budget, has always had great opinions about the Imperial Navy.

Now that His Majesty the Emperor is furious and claims to remove the Imperial Navy, the most deserving of the Imperial Treasury should be the Imperial Treasury.

Why did the Marquis of Haastrid jump out against it?

De Boer XVII looked at him inexplicably: "Marquis Haastrid, why not? If you can't tell me a convincing reason today, then don't blame me for being unkind." ”

Listen to the tone of De Boer XVII. All the ministers below are in their hearts.

It seems that His Majesty the Emperor is really angry this time.

If you have to touch his moldy head at this time. I'm afraid it's really bad luck.

The Marquis of Hasteri wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, obviously feeling extremely stressed.

However, after calming down, he still barely maintained his calm and said, "Your Majesty." I don't know anything about war, so I don't comment much on it. But as Minister of Finance, I would like to prove the significance of the Imperial Navy's existence from the perspective of my concern. ”

Everyone looked at him in surprise.

Isn't it meaningless in the Imperial Navy's finances other than the huge budget that eats up tens of millions of gold coins from the Imperial Treasury every year?

"Oh? De Boer XVII was similarly curious.

"Your Majesty, it is true that the Imperial Navy swallows tens of millions of gold coins from the Imperial budget every year, and in the previous years, at least in the years I have been in office, it has basically been without output and actual contribution, and it is indeed meaningless. ”

Hearing this, all the ministers around couldn't help but nod in unison.

This is in line with everyone's impression and evaluation of the Imperial Navy.

"But ......," the Marquis of Hasteree suddenly changed his words, and his voice raised slightly. "The situation has improved significantly in the last two years. Although I can't give specific statistics, in the last two years, the pirates in the southern seas of the empire have almost disappeared under the blows of the imperial navy, which has greatly increased the maritime transportation industry in the southern seas of the empire. The three seaports in the southern part of the empire alone, which are under the protection of the Imperial Navy, have paid more than seven million gold coins in taxes so far this year. ”

"Seven million gold coins?"

All the ministers around him looked surprised.

Although for the vast Candela Empire, the tax of seven million gold coins is nothing at all.

But before that, the Imperial Treasury had never reported any taxes on the southern seaports, which was equivalent to none.

But now that this year is only a year old, it is really surprising that this number of close to zero jù has suddenly skyrocketed to seven million gold coins.

"Is it just taxes from sea freight?" asked De Boer XVII.

"Yes. The Marquis of Haastrid nodded. "The tax of these seven million gold coins is entirely from the tax of the three maritime ports. And the impact of this is far more than that, because of the development of shipping, the commercial activity on the southern coast of the empire has obviously increased significantly, so the taxes paid by the cities on the southern coast of the empire have also increased significantly this year. Compared with last year, the city with the biggest increase is even more than 300%!"

"Three hundred percent? You're not kidding, are you?" asked one of the ministers.

De Boer XVII also frowned slightly: "Marquis Hastere." This number jù is no joke. Are you sure?"

"Yes. Detailed statistics are now available in the Ministry of Finance, and you can review them at any time. When it comes to the finances of the Empire, I would never dare to make any jokes. The Marquis of Haastrid said proudly.

De Boer XVII nodded slightly.

Of course he believed that the Marquis of Hasterean would lie about such a thing, because there was nothing good in it, and it was very easy to expose, and he could not have taken such a big risk to deceive His Majesty the Honored Emperor in public.

That is to say...... Because of the existence of the navy, the pirates in the southern seas of the empire were eliminated. This allowed shipping to flourish, leading to a dramatic improvement in the financial situation along the southern coast of the empire, and this improvement was exaggerated. That's what you mean, Marquis Haastrie, right?" asked De Boer XVII.

"Yes, Your Majesty. "The Marquis of Haastrie is right. "If the preservation of the Imperial Navy did not show any concrete significance in the past, then now I am sure that because of the existence of the Imperial Navy, the vigorous development of the maritime industry is guaranteed. If we can invest more in this area, I believe it will be a very big boost to the growth of the empire's finances. ”

"Really?" De Boer XVII glanced at the silent Duke of Warner, and suddenly asked, "What about Duke Warner." You tell me why the Imperial Navy had not been able to wipe out the pirates that were rampant in the southern seas for so many years. What can you do in two years?"

"yes......"

Everyone reacted and looked at Duke Warner in unison.

However, everyone found that after being asked this question by His Majesty, the expression on Duke Warner's face was a little embarrassed.

Everyone was amazed.

Duke Warner's prestige and status in the Candela Empire are extraordinarily high, what else could make him feel embarrassed?

"Say!" exclaimed De Boer XVII.

Duke Warner smiled bitterly, saluted De Boer XVII, and sighed slightly: "Your Majesty, in fact, the navy has been able to clean up all the pirates in the southern waters of the empire and even the surrounding waters in these two years, mainly because of the ......help of the escort fleet of the New Flying Chamber of Commerce."

"Huh?" Hearing this answer, the surrounding ministers and De Boer XVII were all dumbfounded.

Why is it related to this new flying chamber of commerce?

De Boer XVII frowned slightly.

He suddenly realized that because he had always thought that the Imperial Navy was of too little significance, he didn't care much about it at all, so he didn't know what the Imperial Navy was doing.

Judging from the answer given by Duke Warner now, the changes that the Imperial Navy has made in the past two years have a strong connection with this new flying chamber of commerce, and even made Duke Warner say that it is mainly because of the help of the new flying chamber of commerce to escort the fleet, and the imperial navy can eliminate pirates in the southern seas.

Judging from this point, it can be known that the ability of this New Flying Chamber of Commerce escort fleet is obviously far beyond that of the Imperial Navy, otherwise why can't the Imperial Navy clean up those pirates for so many years, with the help of the New Flying Chamber of Commerce Escort Fleet, it can do it.

This inference is further confirmed by the battle report that the Imperial Navy was defeated by the fleet belonging to the New Flying Chamber of Commerce received earlier.

Thinking of this, De Boer XVII slowly sat back in his chair, regained his composure, and said to Duke Warner: "Duke Warner, come, introduce this new flying chamber of commerce escort fleet." Why is this fleet of a chamber of commerce actually more powerful than our dignified Candela Imperial Navy?"

Duke Warner was just about to speak, when the Marquis of Hasterie on the side suddenly interjected: "Your Majesty, can you introduce you to this New Flying Chamber of Commerce first?" I think as long as you listen to my introduction, you should understand why this escort fleet under the New Flying Chamber of Commerce is so powerful. ”

De Boer XVII frowned slightly, feeling a little unhappy that his question was snatched away by the Marquis of Haastrie, but the curiosity in his heart about the Xinfei Chamber of Commerce made him ignore this unhappiness.

"Okay, then you can introduce this new flying chamber of commerce. I'd like to see what is so peculiar about this chamber of commerce that it can be talked about by two of the most important ministers in our empire. ”

The Marquis of Haastrid saluted respectfully to De Boer XVII, and after a slight groan, he spoke: "Your Majesty, actually...... I've been looking for a good time to introduce you to the New Flying Chamber of Commerce, because I feel that the Empire must take this Chamber of Commerce seriously enough to do so......" (to be continued......