From Douluo Dalu to Queen

Chapter 377: Trading time for space?

"The high-level ones are slaves who have been brainwashed in all aspects by us and are extremely loyal. They include not only women, but also male bodyguards. They have been brainwashed by special secret methods. The assassins we use are all at this level. Most of them do not have their own thoughts. They will only live according to the schedule set by the master unconditionally and follow the habitual customers cultivated during training. To be classified as a high-level slave, even if it is just a mortal, it costs 10,000 gold soul coins. The beauty is one in a million. Most of them are kidnapped from outside. These ladies with good family backgrounds and good cultivation can be sold for a high price even if they have no soul power."

"Of course, we will also spend some effort in the North to train a large number of bodyguards with the strength of Soul King and Soul Emperor. The price of one bodyguard ranges from one hundred thousand to one million."

"What about the special ones?" Leng Xiyao also knew about this for the first time. In her mind, the slave trade in the Governor's Mansion was probably what she had seen. She didn't expect that there were so many twists and turns in it.

"Special." Luo Yuanji hesitated for a moment, and finally changed the subject: "This is a top secret of our Governor's Office. Miss Leng won't mind if I don't tell you, right? However, I can tell you that such a special slave can be sold for an average of 10 million, and it is sold in limited quantities each year, and only three will be sold."

Leng Xiyao calculated that with the current scale of the slave trade in the Governor's Office, hundreds of thousands of people would be handled every year. If the normal promotion ratio was followed, the total annual income would be more than 300 million gold soul coins.

What a terrifying concept! How much does Spirit Hall earn in a year? The war reparations she wants are only 200 million gold soul coins!
A trading city of the size of Giant Sword City could only earn a few hundred million a year with a 10% trade tax. How could a slave trade that was "resisted" by the two major empires make so much money?
"This so-called slave tax was first established by the great Emperor Xue Ling. The slave trade has always been the basis of our income. Therefore, as long as it is not destroyed, the slave trade will never end."

"Therefore, Xue Leng encouraged us to go to the Xingluo Empire to traffic in human beings, and as long as we pay a 50% tax, we can continue the slave trade."

"At that time, we didn't have very advanced skills in training slaves. At most, we could brainwash them. However, due to the immature technology, the escape rate was always high. The cost was not high but the income was not low. Even if the tax was as high as 50%, it was still profitable."

"But as technology develops and our scale gradually increases, you probably have figured out that our trade income has reached an extremely terrifying figure. Once the slave tax is restored, we will have to give up nearly 170 to 180 million gold soul coins. You know, our precious high-level slaves earn a lot, and it takes a lot of resources to train them. If that happens, we will be in a situation where our income is not enough to cover our expenses."

At this point, Luo Yuanji slammed the table fiercely: "After all, these people still think that I am young and want to take advantage of the opportunity to make a fortune. Nearly 200 million gold soul coins every year! If they are allowed to pocket money based on their own abilities, even the smallest clerk can get dozens of gold soul coins! That is all our hard-earned money!"

Leng Xiyao disagreed with this. No matter what the starting point of the nobles in Tiandou was, at least they were doing a good thing. Hard-earned money? They captured people who should have been free, ruined their lives, and then sold them for money. How dare they call this hard-earned money?
That’s not true either, at least the slaves did bleed.

But for now, she still had to pretend to be polite and followed his words and asked, "So, how do you want me to help you?"

"The nobles of the Tiandou Empire are not fools. They will not be so foolish as to declare war on my own initiative just because I am young. They will definitely use the entire northern province as their imaginary enemy. Even so, they still proposed this resolution, which means that there must be some powerful people or forces supporting them behind the scenes, perhaps those bastards in the Senate."

Senate? This was the first time Leng Xiyao had heard of this term, but it sounded like it belonged to the Tiandou Empire, and should be similar to the Elders' Hall.

After memorizing the word calmly, Leng Xiyao did not ask any questions rashly. Asking here would seem a bit ignorant.

"So, I hope we can hold a meeting openly, and have the Terran Chamber of Commerce come forward to guarantee the independence of our Governor's Office. You must know that you are now the most famous person in the entire Douluo Continent. If you come forward, the Douluo Empire will definitely not dare to do anything more. After all, even if they are stronger than us, they are definitely limited. With you and your terrifying tribe, they will definitely give up their stupid ideas." Speaking of the topic, Luo Yuanji also used honorifics.

Leng Xiyao frowned and began to think carefully.

This sounds simple, but in reality it means tying her to the chariot of the Governor's Office. If anyone wants to attack the Governor's Office in the future, she must go too.

Ultimately, it is a question of credibility. If a force guarantees the independence of others but does not lend a helping hand at critical moments, then its credibility will surely plummet to the bottom - this has nothing to do with the nature of the Governor's Office.

If you take benefits but don't do your job, who would want to do business with you?

So, the question before her is, is it worth exchanging guaranteed independence for space for development?

If she had these territories, then after the production lines were put into place and Tianmeng returned with the Ice and Snow Emperors, within a few months she would have the strength to overthrow the Governor's Office and unify the northern provinces. But if the Tiandou Empire insisted on attacking the northern provinces in these few months, then she would have no room for maneuver.

The former is that the righteous side overthrows the evil rule, while the latter is that the fear of a powerful enemy stabs their allies in the back and makes peace with the enemy. This does not sound like the same thing.

However, even if Tiandou intends to attack the northern provinces, it will take several months to prepare. From this perspective, it seems that it would be fine to agree.

Nishizumi Miho standing by had a silly look on her face, as if she didn't understand what they were talking about.

Seeing this, Leng Xiyao smiled slightly and asked, "Dear, do you think this is feasible?" But in her heart she silently thought: It's all a show.
As a person who is very loyal to her feelings, she felt guilty even for just flirting with him.
Nishizumi Miho tilted her head slightly, looking not very smart. After thinking for a few seconds, she said, "I think the Governor's proposal seems to be very helpful to us. One statement can be exchanged for a large piece of land. Isn't this a very cost-effective deal?"

Hearing this stupid statement, Luo Yuanji almost laughed out loud. Unexpectedly, Nishizumi Miho said with a silly face: "However, Governor, you know that this girl of ours is not interested in soul masters. She likes to adopt some homeless orphans and poor people. She feels very sympathetic when she sees those slaves. I think if the Governor's Office sends those slaves to my lady, we can not only gain reputation, but also use this as a legitimate reason to protect the independence of the Governor's Office. What do you think?"

(End of this chapter)