Chapter 275 Hu Tian, The Envoy Of Kun Empire
He reached the Imperial Palace in 20 minutes and handed a letter directly to the Emperor, who was in the middle of having a casual chat with the Grand Secretariat.
Emperor Shang offered him to sit with them and have a drink of wine, but Allen refused it and started returning home.
Meanwhile, Shang Fu read the letter and was visibly surprised.
"What is it, Your Majesty?" asked Li Zhen Kang.
Shang Fu replied as he handed the letter to him, "It looks like Lu Zhen needs our help to inform the leaders of the major noble clans, sects, and guilds about his upcoming so-called expo. He was worried that people might not show up because of his reputation among the noble clans. I don't know whether to feel happy that he wanted to rely on us or make us feel insulted that he wants us to be a messenger."
"Eh?" The Grand Secretariat read the letter carefully and then opinioned, "Your Majesty, the letter clearly mentioned that we need to invite them, not inform them."
"Hmm, what does that mean?" Shang Fu furrowed his brows. He looked at him as if he was saying, 'weren't both of them the same?'
Li Zhen Kang, the Grand Secretariat, then explained, "Your Majesty, I believe that he wants to use the authority of the Imperial Palace to force them to attend the weapons exhibition. They might reject his invitation but not yours.
Well, if you ask me, I'd say that we should comply with his request because you know he's no longer a simple weapon seller. With the contract, he had become a partner like the dwarves.
The Emperor thought for a while and finally nodded, "alright, then. We only have two days to spare. So, let's not waste any time and get to work. Prepare invitations for the leaders of the top 10 guilds, sects, and all the twelve major clans. Of course, don't forget the wealthy merchants and other prominent individuals."
"As you wish, Your Majesty."
Li Zhen Kang left the room with hastened steps to finish the work as quickly as possible.
***
Almost at the same time, at the Western Moon Kingdom;
Royal Palace, Lunaris city;
Inside one of the private meeting chambers, King Shen Niu was drinking wine with some stranger. Both of them appeared to be quite polite with each other.
"We have upgraded the security of the Qincheng Prison. We can't do anything if someone as powerful as Lu Zhen suddenly decides to forcefully break out a prisoner without bothering to consult us.
But then again, even if he isn't an ally or even if it is some other legendary realm expert, no prison in the world would be able to stop such people, and no Empire would dare to make an enemy out of them either." The King was trying to reassure the envoy from Kun Empire to invest their money in the Qincheng prison, which has its reputation recently damaged by Mark's actions.
The King cannot blame Mark even for the sake of the guest's feelings as the person rescued from that place.
By portraying the latter as a guy who was strong enough to take down an elder of the Church of Doom, he also indicated to the guest that the Western Moon Kingdom, with its powerful ally, is worth forming relations with. It isn't just the island prison that was on Shen Niu's mind. There are several things that he wanted to cooperate with the Kun Empire.
The envoy appeared to be interested.
As they were talking about various things, all of a sudden, the door was knocked on three times before the Prime minister entered the chamber.
"Prime Minister Zhu?" The King looked at him curiously. He wondered what might be the matter that forced him to disrupt the meeting. "What is it?" He asked.
"I apologize, Your Majesty. But, I believe that you should know this." The Prime minister bowed to him and explained, "Lu Zhen sent a message through the communication talisman."
As Zhu Jianhong went on to explain the upcoming expo, the envoy of the Kun Empire was shocked at the details.
Hu Tian couldn't stay silent and expressed his disbelief, "An ungraded weapon that can kill even a seven-circle from several kilometers away? Who the hell is this Lu Zhen, Your Majesty?"
King Shen Niu could only sigh and reply, "I wonder the same. His past is pretty much ordinary. Suddenly, out of nowhere, he became too strong as he shifted to the Imperial city of the Phoenix Empire. Anyway…"
Shaking off his thoughts, the King looked at his prime minister, "Reply to him that I will definitely attend. Tell Treasurer Dai Zan to meet me. And also, contact Wangxi bank to send a representative. We can't draw hefty amounts from our treasury all of a sudden. So, we might need to take a high-interest loan from those greedy merchants."
"Um, Your Majesty, our Kun Empire can help you with that." The envoy of Kun suddenly entered into a matter that basically has nothing to do with him.
Hu Tian further said, "We don't know how much the final price of the item will go, but if everything is true as you mentioned, I believe even a million gold coins wouldn't suffice. I can make the decision on behalf of our Emperor, and Kun will grant 10 million gold coins to the Western Moon Kingdom as a part of our investment. In return, we want those ten of those twenty aircraft or whatever they are. Of course, we would pay our share of the weapons too.
What do you think?"
King Shen Niu silently stared at Hu Tian for a while, wondering whether he should accept this offer or not. First, there's no guarantee that he might win the bid as there's already a strong competitor.
Secondly, Mark was only selling 20 aircraft at the expo. Even if the Western Moon kingdom successfully won the bid, giving away half of them to the Kun Empire might hurt him a bit. After all, each of them is equivalent to having a bunch of 7-circle experts as Battle Slaves. And possessing 20 of them could make the King of Western Moon as powerful as the emperors of surrounding lands.
But then again, it is difficult to reject such a good offer. For one, Shen Niu would lose a massive investment opportunity. And two, it might strain his ties with this northernmost empire of the Vermilion Bird Continent.
And Kun Empire isn't just a simple northern empire. Along with the Eastern Sun kingdom, this Kun empire was also a neighbor to the Black Turtle continent. So, in a way, this alliance could be a gateway to the other Empires that were abundant in natural resources.
And maybe, who knows, if the relations improve further, King Shen Niu could send a marriage proposal to the imperial family of the Kun Empire. Considering Mark was already engaged, Shen Niu was confident that his intelligent daughter would surely give up on him.
Believing that alliance was more worth than some ten weapons, the King agreed to his offer, although with adding a piece of warning, "thank you for your assistance. But, I should remind you something. We will be fighting against Emperor Shang in the auction."
"You don't need to worry about that. If I have enough influence to grant that much investment, I can also drag one of our princes to accompany us," replied the envoy with a confident look.
Meanwhile, the reassurance from the envoy sowed expectations in Shen Niu's mind. As a result, he couldn't help but speak his thoughts, "Then, will you be able to convince Qin Zhi to accompany us?"
"Eh? The fourth Prince?" The envoy, for some reason, was surprised by Shen Niu's request. In an instant, Hu Tian understood his thoughts. In fact, even Qin Zhi wanted to tag along with him to visit Lunaris City.
Seeing that the both of them were on the same page, He nodded with a smile, "Alright, I will do what I can."
***
Sometime later in the afternoon, the Eastern Sun kingdom;
On the outskirts of the city of Helius, a 12-year-old was sitting on the flying horses with an M-99 sniper rifle on his shoulders.
*Bang*