The dim light flickered, and whenever there was an explosion in the distance, the magic light flickered on and off.

Richelieu sighed as he signed his name on the paperwork.

The pearl of the world, the city that never sleeps, and the prosperous capital of Lüdes. Now it's like a joke, there are fires and explosions everywhere, and sin and ugliness are raging on every street. Nowadays in the royal capital, it takes a lot of courage to light an oil lamp, and no one knows what a little light in the darkness will induce, whether it is a flurry of guns or a horde of thugs.

Even Richelieu, who was the prime minister of the kingdom, covered every window with a black cloth before lighting the lamps to prevent unnecessary trouble from leaking light.

That alone is enough to make people sigh, but compared to the unpredictable fate and the incomparably powerful enemy, the chaos in front of us can only be considered a small matter. That feeling of being tied up can really drive people crazy.

In the presence of the Mother Goddess and her substitutes, human beings behave like nothingness. This is not a theory preached in religious texts, but exists as a real phenomenon. The infallible gods, the brave men who act as agents of the gods to fight against evil, are ancient legends and unshakable common sense.

Only a very small number of people in his position know that God and the Divine Will Agents are not concepts in popular perception, but that they do exist and interfere in the world in various forms.

Sometimes it is a religious person who performs miracles;

Sometimes it is an invincible bravery;

Sometimes it is a sage who writes books and speaks;

Sometimes it's the king who inaugurates the great times;

With the changes in the world, it appears in different guises and subtly manages the whole world. Until a man who is a substitute for God's will gets tired of it and detaches from the task.

Although he was a little unimpressed by the unruly man's act of abandoning his responsibilities and eloping with the woman, Richelieu was not relieved by this. Without the Agent, there is no way to defeat that man. The Mother Goddess can only gradually withdraw her hand from interfering with the world, and after leaving the set track, the world will slowly but surely develop towards an autonomous trajectory.

Siegfried. Otto. Li Lin. The appearance of this monster changed everything.

Now it seems that Li Lin simply appeared in this world as a divine will agent from the beginning. Wisdom, strength, skill—in each respect, all of them fit the concept of "the being closest to God." At the same time, he also has a ruthlessness that the world can't imagine, as long as he can achieve his goal. He would kill thousands of people without blinking an eye. In the face of the power he held, no one could stop or resist at all.

(Where did he come from, and where was he going? at least the bare minimum of information-)

Sweeping the latest battle reports desperately sent by his subordinates at a glance, Richelieu couldn't help but sigh.

Roland's performance was even better than he expected, but it was not enough, it was too far to stop the elven camp's strategy, and even more so to prevent the Divine Will Agent from purging the world in the worst case.

Just as the quill tip reached into the inkwell, a light-hearted voice came.

"I was worried about whether it didn't matter if you stayed up late at your age, seeing His Excellency the Prime Minister so energetic. One cannot but admire your sense of responsibility and energy. ”

As if afraid of the voice, the shadows in the hallway parted to the left and right, and a slender and well-proportioned figure emerged.

In fact, this is an illusion, whether it is a sophisticated black suit or black hair like a crow's feathers, it has a camouflage-like effect in a low-light environment. The reason why it stands out so strongly is that the visitor's presence is so strong that everything else around him is completely swallowed up.

"Looks like I still have a lot to learn from you, Your Excellency Prime Minister Richelieu. ”

The crisp sound of leather shoes stepping on the marble. The dignified-looking black-haired teenager smiled gently, reminiscent of a pool of blood's pupils imprinting an indifferent old face.

"I was also surprised...... In your capacity. will actually go down as a lowly killer himself, V. President of the E consortium, Supreme Archon of Yalfheim, Siegfried. Otto. Your Excellency Li Lin. ”

"You're very angry. I haven't seen you for a long time, but the first sentence turned out to be this?

casually raised his hand and killed the dagger, lightning, and ice sword in front of him. and the guards hiding in the shadows disappear without a trace in the blink of an eye. If it weren't for the unnatural circular hollows in the ceiling, floor, and walls, no one would have thought that those people never existed.

"It's a good idea to sacrifice your subordinates to spy on the strength of the other party, and as a way of hospitality, it's a bit too much. ”

With a snap of the fingers, the missing parts were filled back in. Can...... If there is a third party at the scene who witnesses the "filled back part". I'm afraid I'll vomit on the spot.

The person who is on fire, the person who is frozen, the person who is half transparent, the person who dissolves - like plasticine rubbed at random, mixed with the walls and floors, embedded back into the vanished void.

"What did you do?"

"What did you do? It's just the 'Philadelphia Experiment'. ”

Maintaining an elegant smile, Li Lin said lightly.

The so-called "Philadelphia Experiment" was not the one where the great Franklin flew a kite during a thunderstorm and knelt down to beg for thunder. It is the Philadelphia experiment that has been widely discussed by the world as a rumor of World War II black technology. Experiment）。 However, Li Lin didn't think that he would use a Tesla coil to play teleportation so high, he actually teleported matter and human body to another dimensional space and then teleported back, and in the process of transmission, the matter was randomly combined, causing a thrilling effect similar to that urban legend.

"I see...... Although I had already heard it, it was really shocking to actually witness the power of this generation of Divine Will Agents. ”

That's the end of the insincerity. I have a tight schedule, and there's a whole bunch of things to attend to after burying you. ”

"Having said all that, it's not like you're going to kill me, a bad old man. ”

With a bitter sigh, Richelieu's eyes shone sharply.

"But before I die, I'd love to hear what kind of plan you have for the world, and what you're thinking of being an agent of God. ”

"This kind of thing has nothing to do with dying people, right? Anyway, in that world, someone will tell you the answer. ”

"It's not like it's going to come out of your mouth. A man who obviously doesn't believe in anything. Actually saying 'the world after death' also gives me a limit to hypocrisy. Or are you so jealous of me, an old immortal, afraid that the dead will tell the secret?"

Richelieu spread his hands, mocking and disdainful.

“......”

"First of all, I don't want to listen to the old and empty slogans like 'restore the old order' and 'renew the world', and the men who move the world to work. It shouldn't be that simple. ”

“...... That's fine. ”

Li Lin said, sat down opposite Richelieu, the red wine and wine glasses in the wine cabinet on the side flew out, and the "invisible hand" pulled the cork off the bottle and poured wine into the two wine glasses in turn.

"I'm sure you've heard from Roland that my ultimate goal is to build a relatively stable and sustainable world system. To achieve this, I first need to build a strong country with a constitutional monarchy. ”

Is there the best system in the world? Just as there are a hundred Hamlets in the hearts of a hundred people, different people have different opinions on this question, and the vast majority of people find it difficult to agree with a different answer than their own.

For example, the Confederacy of America, which recognized slavery, and the United States of America, which was determined to abolish slavery at all costs;

For example, the dictatorial German Empire, the Japanese Empire and the "democratic" Mi Ying ghost animals;

For example, to build nuclear weapons like sausages. pondering the two camps of the East and the West, "eliminating tyranny" and "liberating all mankind";

However, if we can put aside the shackles of emotional factors, humanism, and ********, and use pure realism and utilitarianism to dialectically dialectize various systems, the simple truth of "white cats, black cats, and catching rats is good cats" will become the best answer.

There is no such thing as a good or bad system, only one that can adapt to the times and continue to function well - the Supreme Archon of Alfheim has the same view of good or bad institutions as he does with everything: realistic, ruthless, and efficient. So when designing the blueprint for the future world, he did not hesitate to choose a constitutional monarchy.

It cannot be any other system, but a constitutional monarchy like the Second German Reich and the old Japanese Empire. To be more specific. It is close to the German Empire under Wilhelm I, the Japan of the Taisho and Democratic eras.

The cabinet party system under the monarchy can satisfy the demands of the liberals for "constitutionalism" and "expanding the people's participation in politics", and restricts the scope of military participation in politics. It also reserved a stage for conservatives to play. As the supreme monarch and de facto dictator, what Li Lin has to do is only to play the role of a "good king" who is willing to listen to the voices of the people, and use his influence behind the scenes to adjust the territory of various factions in the parliament, so that his ideas and ideas can be implemented.

Of course, the result of trying to please everyone is bound to be to displease everyone. Look at the Mao Xiong family who want to reform serfdom. As a result, the tsar who was suffocated to death with a pillow, poisoned to death, and killed in the street knew it. Moreover, the elven state that is about to be born must be a regime in which a minority dominates the majority, and its nature determines the inevitability of racism and hierarchy. Therefore, sacrificing the "ruled nation" to satisfy the "excellent ruling nation" has become the most reasonable choice. When democracies encourage racism, they are torn apart by opposing ethnic groups. The state plays this trick and turns the supreme ruler into a conspicuous target, and in the minds of the people, the distance between "little daddy" and "bastard thing" is much closer than most people think. A constitutional monarchy can more or less avoid similar problems. Anyway, in the eyes of the general public, the bills are all made up by the "****" in the parliament, and the **** monarch himself is just forced to agree by the "public opinion" and "law".

Cloaked in the cloak of "enlightened" and "democratic", with the name of "acting in accordance with the Constitution", it is in fact a monarch **** and a hierarchical system, which is the essence of a constitutional monarch. As long as the monarch is wise enough to keep the army in check, and not to be played free by loopholes in the system such as "independence of the commander-in-chief" and "the active duty system of the army and navy ministers and military attachés", the country will be quite peaceful for a long time.

"This is the first phase goal. ”

Playing with the wine glass, the red mirror reflects a gentle smile.

"Based on the constitutional monarchy, the second phase will be supplemented by political means and military power to integrate the economic and industrial structure, integrating the empire and the remnants of Charlemagne into a huge production base and consumption area. Based on this, we will export our economy to foreign countries. The final goal of the third stage is to establish a global system in which the flow of international supply and demand is completely under the control of the elven camp. ”

Among the political, military, and economic iron triangles, the most important is the economy, which can be called the foundation of the iron triangle. In the final analysis, politics and the military are actually escorting the economy.

To put it more bluntly, whoever controls the world economy controls the world.

And the basis of the economy. It is "supply" and "demand" that grasp these two sources, and then control the circulation link, which is equivalent to pinching the eggs of the world. If you want to listen to whoever is calling, just hold it tightly, and if anyone dares to resist, just pinch out his eggs.

In Li Lin's vision, the nascent Holy Gilmanian Empire would play the role of both a consumer and a producer in the division of labor in the globalized industrial chain. The empire as a consumer country is at the very top of the global division of labor and is responsible for providing export needs. It also exports standards and protocols for liquidity and institutional and technical aspects. The empire, as a producer, controls the export of goods to each country, producing "everything" that each country needs.

If the world economy is compared to a river, the Holy Gilmanian Empire controls both upstream (supply) and downstream (demand), and the resource and consumer countries in the middle - the failed industrialized and technologically backward countries - become fish in the cofferdam, at the mercy of the empire.

Imagine facing a guy who is both a producer and a landlord, a rule-maker in the industry, and finally a part-time judge for the police. What can consumers and long-term workers do?

Nothing can be done, nothing can be done.

The system of imperial exports. It is composed of three parts, the international alliance in the political dimension, and the global monetary system in the economic and financial dimensions. In terms of trade, it is the International Trade Organization, that is, something like the WTO. This is the top-level design of global production and collaboration.

The borders of the country are the result of war. Every border. All of them have been painted with blood and fire, knives and swords, and aircraft cannons for a long time in history. In the global industrial chain division system under the leadership of the empire, the economic map is drawn in marks. Where does Mark go. Where there will be prosperity, and where Mark will withdraw, there will be depression. This is the regional distribution of global mobility. At the same time, there is a periodic tidal pattern in the global flow of the mark.

As consumers, they are pure consumers of debt, offering nothing of substantial value to the global division of labor, but only one link in the chain of international economic recycling, responsible for spending a portion of the imperial surplus. In this way, the kingdoms as a whole could ostensibly form an equilibrium with the empire. As resource nations, they provide the resources needed for the empire's industry and export cheap labor in exchange for capital and the empire's industrial goods.

On the surface, it's a fair and reasonable win-win. But the devil is always hidden in the details, if you take the "international trade settlement currency is uniformly denominated in the Reichmark" into the overall observation, you will find that this is a bottomless pit that eats people and does not spit out bones.

The value of a resource country depends on the type and quantity of its resources, which is reflected on the books as a surplus of foreign reserves and the exchange rate of its own currency; the value of a producing country depends on its production capacity; and the value of a first-class consumer country is determined by the money printing machine, and it does not have to do anything but print money to get by.

In the entire economic circulation system, resource countries have the least right to speak. The resources they extract from their own territory are priced by the Reichsmark and settled by the Reichsmark, and the resource countries themselves have no bargaining power at all. And they are the least resistant to the financial disasters associated with the tide of the Reichsmark, as soon as the Reichsbank raises interest rates, their foreign exchange reserves will immediately become urgent, and the local currency will depreciate sharply, followed by the withering of the people's livelihood and the people's misery. If the empire were to attack commodity prices in the capital markets where it had pricing power, it would probably not take a single shot to see the spectacle of "the corpses stinking through the capital, and the whole country full of the unemployed."

The status of second-class consumers is also not much better, they are responsible for digesting the industrial capacity of the empire, that is, buying all kinds of goods and industrial goods produced by the empire in large quantities. Since the guarantee equivalent of the Reichsmark is the various industrial products it produces, after the countries exchange resources for the marks, they can only buy industrial products or the marketable bonds issued by the Reichs, that is, a large number of Reichsmarks and national bonds flow into the countries.

Most people may think that it is good to have money coming in, but please don't forget that the essence of paper money is that it is a piece of paper that reflects its value through credit. Its value depends on the value of the collateral to which it is pegged, as well as the amount of issuance. Once the empire started the printing press for monetary expansion. The world economy is starting to rise, and the prices of risky assets are rising. When the empire contracts its currency, the global economy will immediately be in mourning, with the prices of risky assets collapsing and the prices of safe-haven assets skyrocketing in an instant. As much as the risk asset can fall, the safe-haven asset can go up.

In this rising and falling tide of monetary value. With an inflation tax, the empire is cheating on old debts. After getting rid of the debt, they can re-borrow the low-interest and cheap mark through the currency repatriation mechanism. After that, a new round of monetary expansion will be carried out, and inflation taxes will continue to be collected from other countries. This process is commonly known as sheep shearing. This action is clear, and this is the normal seigniorage. There are also sneaky cheats, and this is the tide of monetary value.

In the global division of labor, the empire exported capital to the occupied territories under its domination and to the remnants of Charlemagne. It is mainly manifested in direct investment by consortiums. With capital and projects obtained, monopolies go to resource countries to purchase raw materials and transport them to the empire for production. After the production of the product was completed, the empire digested a part of it and then exported it to other countries. The Reich paid marks to the occupied territories and Charlemagne as payment for goods. After Charlemagne got the mark, because of the huge scale of the trade surplus, how to manage and invest in the international market is a problem. Due to the inability to use the accumulated foreign exchange reserves to buy the core high-quality assets of the empire. So Charlemagne could only buy low-interest imperial treasury bonds.

The Reich receives the marks that flow through the purchase of low-interest Imperial Treasury bonds, which are then imported into the occupation zone. Reinvest and control high-quality assets to achieve high investment returns and profits. This is again the use of asymmetrical rules for the third shearing. In this way, the circulation of money between consuming countries, producing countries, and resource countries was established.

This whole set of mechanisms is actually the beginning of the 21st century on earth. The final form of the G2 conceived by Miti. The Europeans once pointed out that "the base rabbit is the most evil alliance in the world", and if it really makes Eagle Sauce a thing, the rhetoric of President ****** Black Charcoal "continue to lead the world for 100 years" is not just a rhetoric. However, Eagle Sauce has missed a little bit in the calculation, and the place that was conceived as a sweatshop base is the rabbit master, not the bald Kaishen Gong's house. As the only one of the five hooligans who has ever fought with the United Nations. Rabbits and bald people only have similar pronunciations, and the strength of the kneecaps and vertebrae is not on the same level.

Now, this "most evil alliance in the world" will be realized by the elven camp.

"No one will allow such a system to be established, the nations will not remain silent, and the Charlemagnes will not endure it forever. It is delusional to want to establish a set of rules of the game that are absolutely beneficial to you. ”

Richelieu blushed. The idea of dominating the world with economic warfare has never been done in history, and no one has put forward the idea of such a theory so far. Although it is a plan on paper, it is indeed a plan that is more realistic than the desperate use of force.

The exception is the part that is "absolutely beneficial to one's own side".

Throughout the ages, many powerful countries have plotted "absolute hegemony", but including the current Charlemagne, what they have finally obtained is hostility around them. The reason is also very simple, everything is relative, and the "absolute security" of one party means the "absolute insecurity" of others. Whenever someone seeks his "absolute superiority" or "monopoly", his former allies and enemies will unite to fight him. Historically, this has been the case for many years.

It can be expected that the countries will form political, economic, and military alliances against the monopoly of the Empire, just like the current anti-Charlemagne League.

Merely...... What's the use of that?

"What do you think they can do? Who do you think they are playing against? Your Excellency Prime Minister?"

First of all, from the most basic economic level, it is impossible for them to threaten the empire.

People in charge of the economy in various countries rarely pay attention to the most basic principle of economics -- only precious metals and foreign exchange as collateral, but at the same time, there is no matching amount of daily necessities, means of production, industrial products, and agricultural products as a corresponding, and currency is still just a piece of paper printed with digital symbols, which has no meaning and is no different from military stamps.

If governments think that trade barriers are being created, they refuse to V. It would be naïve for the E-consortium to produce goods and to create its own trading circles on the gold standard, which would have led to the defeat of the empire like Charlemagne.

What the common people need to live is firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar and tea, they cannot eat gold, silver and banknotes, these things must be exchanged for firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar tea, kerosene, matches, cotton cloth and other daily necessities. It only makes sense to them. All countries and their colonies produce the above materials, although the output cannot be compared with that of the consortium, and it is enough to engage in self-sufficiency. All transportable routes were exposed to the Empire's air and sea power. As long as the empire has nothing to do, today it will play military exercises, tomorrow it will draw a no-fly zone and a no-navigation zone, and the day after tomorrow it will accidentally "lose" a few mines or "mistakenly fire" a few torpedoes...... It is believed that countries will soon see prices soaring and currencies depreciating.

What's more, the elven camp has been inducing countries to reduce the area of arable land for grain by slowly raising the price of fabrics and finished clothing. The increase in the production of cash crops has made it possible for countries like Albion and Castile to account for a large part of the annual grain production of the overseas colonies. As soon as the air and sea routes are cut off, the food crisis on the mainland will immediately erupt. At this time, if the elven camp uses biotechnology to launch the final blow to the agriculture of the countries, then they will really be doomed.

Material supply is the foundation of monetary stability, and if you don't understand this truth, you will wait to be played to death.

"It's crazy. ”

Richelieu shook his head.

"Rather than being strangled little by little by a noose, people would rather choose to burn jade. ”

"That's why this war is needed, and what better way to show military power than a landslide victory that brings everyone to their knees, and makes them think about the consequences before they act stupidly. Think about whether you want to lift the table or not. ”

The voice was as steady as ever, but the content had a toughness that even Richelieu could say.

The shallow smile overlapped with Roland's comment that "he was an extremely dangerous man", and if it were him, the destruction of any country, or even the elimination of humanity, would be nothing more than a matter of raising a finger. Existential bargaining with natural disasters such as typhoons, earthquakes, floods, etc., is no different from delusion.

"Please don't be mistaken, all I want is deterrence. Mass extinction is a last resort, not an end. There are more effective ways than this. It is possible to open the door with a key. Why should I get an axe?"

If you want to rebel against the economic hegemony system, there will never be fewer countries and individuals who control their own destiny, and letting Roland play the "brave" is also out of consideration for letting dissatisfaction get a channel for catharsis. It's just that outside of the "controllable cathartic channels", the fate of "wild rebels", especially those at the national level, is often not very good. Generally, the body is dead, the country is destroyed, and the lives are ruined. By the way, it has become a test and exhibition venue for high-tech military equipment. If anyone wants to get rid of the hegemony of the Reichsmark, then the Reich army will have to go out to solve the "humanitarian crisis" and let certain rule challengers experience the end of Saddam Hussein and Gaddafi. What? There is no humanitarian crisis in your country? Don't worry, it will happen soon.

As for the attitude within the empire towards this hegemonic act...... Needless to say, the elves except the anti-imperialist. Everyone will definitely say, "I am relieved to see the motherland so hooligan." Since childhood, we have accepted a series of class division methods such as "happy learning" and "tilting educational resources", and most of the human beings who can only work in primary industries are exhausted just for three meals a day, who has the energy to pay attention to the fate of foreigners who are invisible and have no direct relationship with them?

Finally, post-war reconstruction, the consumption caused by the war can also be used as a part of the economic cycle, injecting a certain degree of vitality into the market.

Everything will run smoothly. The world and humanity will also survive with the cycle, which is gratifying and congratulating.

"Before the final phase of the plan is implemented, many ideas and policies need to be tested, compared, reviewed, adjusted and then put into practice. Charlemagne's role is the role of the specimen. Regardless of the results of the experiment, the impact can be controlled, and if something goes wrong, the past is covered up with 'it's wartime' or 'there was a war'. ”

Richelieu lost his words, and his always grim face did not hide his overwhelmed feelings.

The idea was too grandiose for him to understand, and the means he took were unthinkable. Until the final structure emerges, no one can say for sure whether this is the delusion of a madman or the brainchild of genius.

Can......

Compared to these, the smooth speech like a machine, the unwavering smile from beginning to end - this person, no, this mirror image that exudes an inhuman aura, is even more creepy.

Swallowing his heart palpitations, Richelieu asked:

"And what is Roland to you?"

"Your question is too general to answer. It's like asking 'what is human?' How do you answer this question? Explain it all from the perspective of biology, philosophy, sociology, political science, and ethics?"

"Then let me put it another way, what is the purpose of 'adopting Roland', part of a huge experiment, a whim, a reserve of expertise for the constitution of the future world?"

"Count it all. ”

The corners of his mouth were twisted, and Li Lin's voice sounded as if he was prepared for everything.

"Depending on the situation, there can be different ways of application. Purely from the fundamental purpose and starting point, it is similar to the current world, and it can be said that it is similar to the existence of 'sticky note paper'. (To be continued.) )