"These damned nobles, each one of them has begun to cause us trouble." Gis sat in his own office, his complexion ugly as if possessed by demons.
Recently, his intelligence network had almost completely collapsed. Those nobles whom he had bribed and who were largely still willing to cooperate now adopted an attitude of outward compliance but inward defiance toward him.
Many people suspected that Fisheo's death was orchestrated by Shireck behind the scenes. Although there was no direct evidence, suspicion did not require evidence.
All the initially suspected parties proved their innocence through their actions: Tang Mo directly helped the heir of the Ronin Family secure his footing, Suthers did not make any moves, and even the royal family of the Leite Kingdom sent representatives to the Earl's funeral.
After going in circles , with nobody taking any drastic actions, the Shireck Consortium remained the most suspect.
Everyone detested Fisheo and was quick to want him dead because no one liked the way Fisheo treated the civilians, which indeed hindered others from making money off the populace.
But to assassinate a noble was a completely different matter—we were all bloody the same class, playing together was fine, but playing dirty like that was unacceptable!
So, everyone began adopting a passive-cooperative approach to warn Shireck to rein it in and not touch the fundamental interests of the nobility circle.
After all, though we were a nest of snakes and rats, bound by common interests, we could not touch each other's fundamental interests, that was the bottom line!
"My lord, we have produced over 5,000 of the new model rifles, and His Majesty the King has already sent people to inquire several times, hoping that his troops could be re-equipped as soon as possible!"
"Let him wait! My troops haven't been re-equipped yet, what's he in such a hurry for?" Gis's anger flared up when this matter was mentioned.
He was the first to obtain the technology of the needle gun, and he also purchased a large amount of cartridge ammunition from Tang Mo. However, most of these things had been sold off at high prices to other countries by the Consortium.
As a result, he had no choice but to obey the orders from above, executing commands that infuriated him. He was just a manager, with no right to question the decisions made by his superiors.
But in his own schemes, the Shireck forces within the Leite Kingdom should have been quickly assembling troops, equipping new weapons, and setting out to subdue the disobedient Great Tang Group! Once the Great Tang Group was defeated, wouldn't technology and talent be available in whatever quantity he desired?
In the end, in the face of huge profits, the top brass of the Shireck Consortium still chose to be the middleman, shearing other nations' wool with gusto.
The needle guns produced by Shireck were sold for the high price of 30 Gold Coins each. Thus, the 5,000 needle guns laboriously produced overtime in the Shireck workshop didn't even reserve a single one for themselves and were all sold off.
Now Gis's own private troops were still training with Shireck Flintlock Guns, barely even having handled the needle guns a few times.
"Did not our superior say…" one of his subordinates quickly interjected with reassurance.
"Next month? Always next month! Our opponents are growing stronger by the day! And they will only miss our last chance!" Gis bellowed in frustrated rage.
He had been waiting here for almost three months. As time trickled by, Tang Mo was growing stronger.
The Great Tang Group had completely assimilated the region of Brunas and even connected with Northern Ridge, becoming even tougher to deal with.
Yet, they were still waiting—Gis had heard that even the King's controlled military might already be re-equipped with K1 Quick Guns, but Shireck's own private army was still armed with the outdated Shireck Flintlock Guns.
Wasn't this situation absurdly laughable?
Gis did not even know that Tang Mo had intentionally slowed down the buildup of troops on the road. To the present day, the security troops of Tang Mo's Great Tang Group were only maintained at a scale of less than a thousand people.
Most of this small force's weaponry was still K1 needle guns, with no significant improvements. And all this was because Tang Mo was focusing on building his own Navy.
Gis was also unaware that Tang Mo was concentrating heavily on Black Dragon Island, selecting a second base for himself and preparing to start mining operations there.
And he… was still diligently manufacturing K1 needle guns, preparing for a "straightforward one-on-one contest" with Tang Mo. And for this contest, he had waited… for three months.
Over a month had passed since the assassination of Lord Earl, and clearly, he would be waiting for another month or even three months. It might not be until mid-year of 114 of the Leite Kingdom that he might be able to assemble his troops.
All the while, sea salt from Brunas started appearing in large quantities in the King City, His Majesty the King even began using cement to repair his castle.
Cloth from Brunas was everywhere in the markets, as if their textile mills were as plentiful as hairs on a cow. These inexpensive yet high-quality fabrics were immediately popular with the people.
Similarly, processed fur and wool products were also abundant, with most coming from the direction of Brunas.
Commerce throughout the kingdom seemed to be more prosperous than before, with the King's tax revenue even increasing. The more Gis waited, the more he realized that the cost of acting against the Great Tang Group could be increasing exponentially.
Time flew and another two months had passed.
In the King City of Suthers, a door was pushed open from the outside, and a young man placed a stack of documents on the desk of an elderly man.
He was very careful, waiting until the old man finished reviewing the document he was currently working on before he reported, "Lord, I have sorted and processed all the documents."
"Ah… thank you so much." The elderly man rubbed his neck, visibly fatigued, and pulled out a document from the pile the young man had brought, "Did you find anything?"
The young man moved behind the elderly man and began to gently massage his shoulders, softly replying, "There are issues, we can reform the merchants' tax system. Lowering the tax burden could stimulate commercial circulation."
"You're thinking along the same lines as me, this approach is the gentlest and could also win us the support of the merchants." The elderly man nodded in satisfaction.
Then, as if a thought had just occurred to him, he continued to enjoy the young man's massage with his eyes closed and asked, "The acumen with which you address these issues is so precise that it's almost hard to believe. I hear you're only 25? Married yet?"
"No, Lord," the young man answered, the ring on his ring finger glowing softly under the gaslight, a lifelike dandelion.
"Come to my house tonight, I want to discuss the tax reforms with you." Pleased with the young man's skilled massage technique, the elderly man spoke with a voice full of kindness, "I have a granddaughter, you can tell her about your experiences studying in Dorrenolum, it must be quite the story."
"As you command, Lord." The young man's demeanor remained unruffled.
"Hmm? Stop calling me Lord from now on, I see you are diligent and quick to learn, with good abilities. Why don't you study with me... What do you say?" The more the elderly man saw of this young subordinate, the more he liked him.
"Teacher!" The young man did not disappoint him, bowing respectfully as he accepted the new title.
"Hahaha!" The elderly man laughed heartily, "Keep up the hard work! Perhaps it won't be long before you'll have to call me by another name, hahaha!"
He was so fond of the young man. Ever since the young man had applied to join his Prime Minister's office, he had demonstrated unmatched capabilities.
Truth be told, in the entire King City of Suthers, finding a junior as outstanding as this young man was extremely rare, or perhaps there were none at all.
The young man was presentable and followed strict etiquette, always arriving on time every day and working late into the night before leaving.
Soon the documents he handled caught the Prime Minister's attention, as the files processed by this young man were clear and well-organized, making reviewing them a pleasure.
Afterward, the Prime Minister deliberately had the young man deal with some state affairs beyond his usual duties to test his abilities.
As a result, the young man performed very well, even exceeding expectations: he investigated the matters thoroughly and handed in an investigative report that could almost serve as a model.
Therefore, even before one month of probation had ended, the young man was transferred to the Prime Minister's side to begin assisting him with secretarial work.
And then, the Prime Minister discovered that the young man had studied in Dorrenolum, the same place where he himself had studied.
The more they got to know each other, the better they clicked, with the Prime Minister even consulting the young man on his ideas for the tax reform plan.
To the great surprise of Lord Earl of Suthers, regarding tax reforms, the young man's vision was indeed lofty. He easily pinpointed the right direction and even enhanced the Prime Minister's reform plan.
The young man's computational skills were astonishing; with just some scribbling on paper, he could effortlessly arrive at the results of complex calculations.
More shockingly, due to his sensitivity to numbers, the young man could roughly glance over account books and detect parts where embezzlement or falsifying losses had occurred.
As things naturally progressed, the more the Prime Minister saw of the young man, the more he took a liking to him, even entertaining the idea of giving him his granddaughter in marriage.
Although he hadn't yet shared this thought with his own son, who despised the poor and loved the rich but had achieved nothing, he indeed harbored such considerations.
After all, marrying his granddaughter to a noble could not extend his political ambitions, but finding a successor who shared his own ideals might be a more reliable plan.
Although the young man was no noble, but… nobility can be cultivated, can't it? Especially when one is a Prime Minister, nurturing a noble seems not so difficult.
This is the 7th update, with another one to follow shortly.