Darkstone Code

Nagariel is very poor.

Before confirming this issue, there is another question: how poor must one be to be considered very poor?

In Nagariel, at least twenty to thirty percent of people have never owned a banknote of their own from birth to death.

It's difficult for people to calculate how much income an ordinary person has in a year because most of their income is traded through barter, and these are all essential goods that are quickly consumed in their daily lives.

By the end of the year, their home might just have some stocked food, extra clothes, or a sturdy patch on a leaking roof, and that's it. That's all they have.

Yet the ruling class lives a life comparable to the upper echelons of some developed countries, an indulgent lifestyle, as evidenced by the gold-trimmed table in front of the Provincial Governor.

It's not just him who is wealthy; the merchants serving the ruling class are also rich.

Although they do not have relatively absolute power in their hands, they have essentially become part of the ruling class in Nagariel, some even wielding more influence than lower-tier rulers.

For instance, Mr. Preton, the owner behind Nagariel's largest trading company, the Pretton Trading Company, has significant personal relationships with most provincial governors.

Every year, the rulers here import various goods and industrial equipment through Mr. Preton's connections. The more dependent people are on him, the greater his influence can be translated into short-term power.

People can't live without him, and at the same time, they hate him; he's like a vampire, crazily sucking blood. For example, a luxury car that costs less than about a hundred thousand Federation Sols in the production country requires at least three hundred to four hundred thousand Federation Sols when shipped to Nagariel.

But people can't live without him for a simple reason: there are many things only Mr. Preton has access to, and he also has relative influence at sea.

Even a hundred years later, people cannot eradicate the profession of piracy, let alone now.

In the vast, endless sea, many pirate groups of various kinds roam. Some are rumored to be related to Mr. Preton; apart from the trading ships of Mr. Preton and some other merchants, ordinary merchants' ships can hardly enter Nagariel.

This also means that if people want to import things from abroad, especially those with enormous profits, they cannot bypass these merchants.

Even if the rulers of Nagariel have their own connections, they are likely to be robbed and sunk in the sea.

Deploying the military for escort?

It's a good idea—not discussing whether foreign ports and waters allow Nagariel's warships to approach and dock, nor discussing whether the cost of deploying warships exceeds the price quoted by the merchants, nor whether they can match the pirates—just the energy consumption alone is enough to give them a headache.

Nagariel indeed has abundant mineral resources, but none of them are developed, including an oil mine that has been surveyed and hasn't been exploited.

When the team responsible for exploration discovered an oil field hidden deep in the jungle, their first thought was transnational development. The team leader did not consider letting the local indigenous people develop it but chose to contact the domestic authorities, trying to obtain the extraction rights of the oil field through political influence, whether by threats or incentives.

Before the plan took shape, it was leaked, and after urgent consultations between the Central Government of Nagariel United Kingdom and various Provincial Governors, they fabricated an accident, where the exploration team unexpectedly encountered a beast attack and ended up being devoured.

To prove this, the Nagariel authorities even dispatched rescue teams and successfully captured the predatory animals that attacked them, dissecting some identifiable remains from their bodies.

Since then, Nagariel has refused entry to scientific exploration teams for mineral exploration. They lack the ability to protect their underground resources and even may lose ruling power due to these resources, so they simply deny others the chance.

As long as no one exploits them, there won't be a problem. Although foreign countries are very confident that there are rich mineral resources here, nobody will take it seriously until something is indeed explored.

The uncooperative attitude of the Nagariel Central Government means that those capitalists won't incite their nations to go to war with Nagariel over some uncertain resources, especially considering it's a divine authority country.

A characteristic of divine authority countries is that when people call upon the name of the deity, the timid indigenous people in front of firearms suddenly become brave and fearless.

Developing mineral resources requires going deep into the jungle and occupying territory, which means if they actually did that, even if they captured some areas, the situation would eventually become chaotic.

People's suicidal attacks are more than enough to give everyone a headache unless they can kill all the believers.

For some uncertain resources, dragging a country into a prolonged offensive and defensive war in the occupied territories is something nobody would do.

Without their own oil field, it means Nagariel's military equipment relies on imported energy.

Therefore, even if Nagariel's not-so-powerful warships are to be deployed, they must first purchase some oil from Mr. Preton, then use it to reduce dependency on Mr. Preton...

Well, that's a ludicrous matter; compared to such a complicated process, better to directly satisfy their demand for profit, thereby saving some trouble.

The ruling class hates these merchants yet cannot live without them, which is why the second son of Provincial Governor Degra wants Lynch to contend with those merchants.

If Lynch wins and Mr. Preton loses, then some existing rules will disappear with Mr. Preton's vanishing, and Lynch would develop from a provincial merchant to a nationwide big trading company, which means a few years to over a decade; local rulers stand to gain.

If Lynch loses, there would be no loss for the rulers; they could directly "confiscate" Lynch's local assets, and Mr. Preton's side would also suffer some losses in the struggle with Lynch, with his stance significantly softened.

In the eyes of the Provincial Governor's second son, this is the best choice. No matter how they choose, they are winners.

Sitting behind the desk with half-closed eyes, the Provincial Governor thinks quickly, hesitating; his reason tells him this is not a good choice.

Over the years, he has seen through the essence of those merchants; they are no different from spotted wolves on the grasslands—greedy, insidious, sly, brutal, cold-blooded, only interested in profit.

Every few years, the wolf pack has internal conflict; the younger generation grows up to challenge the Wolf King, and after the Wolf King fails, a new Wolf King emerges, and the pack's size and territory continue to expand until they encounter another spotted wolf pack.

Eventually, these spotted wolves gather into a group, a larger, more horrifying group, just like the merchants.

From the beginning, they fought for themselves, contended for trade rights, even fought at sea, and now, after eliminating unstable factors, they began to cooperate intimately; they are no different from wolves.

Throwing Lynch into this wolf pack is not a good idea because he is not an ordinary wolf; he may trigger a series of unpredictable problems, just like this time when asked to make a stance.

Prior to this, no one knew he'd eventually throw the problem back, turning it into trouble for those who posed it.

The Provincial Governor shook his head, he looked up at the third son, "What about you?"

The second son's smile froze instantly, but the previously sulky eldest son now revealed a smile, even comforting his brother, switching quickly to become a good big brother.

The third son is somewhat younger than the first two; he studied abroad and his understanding of developed countries far surpasses his two brothers.

He calmly retorted a question to the Provincial Governor, "Why don't we choose to cooperate with Lynch?" and he began elaborating his thoughts, "These merchants, capitalists, their ultimate goal is none other than to obtain more money. We can give him benefits, but he must provide corresponding returns."

"If he wants exclusivity, that's fine, but our condition cannot merely be how much he deposits in the bank, rather how much return he gives us."

"Father, money makes everything easier, and once we reach a cooperation with Lynch, people like Mr. Preton will consider Lynch an enemy because Lynch stands with us; they can't be in the same group!"

The Provincial Governor looked at the usually low-profile third son with some surprise; although his words might not completely align with what was on the Provincial Governor's mind, they were already very close.

He nodded slightly, making the first and second sons glare at the third son, while the third son innocently smiled, seemingly trying to please his two brothers.

The Provincial Governor again looked at the remaining two sons, who had nothing much to say; what should and shouldn't have been said were already discussed by the previous three, at which point saying more would only make them appear more incapable.

The Provincial Governor was aware of the choices of these two sons; he didn't criticize because sometimes, in families like theirs, the order of birth really matters.

He paused for a while, then sighed, "The matter is your doing, so it should also be ended by you. I don't want to know how you did it; I only want to see the result!"

In the end, he decided to leave the choice of action to his sons.

It was precisely this attempt to have them handle these matters that led him to unexpectedly find the third son was more astute than his two older brothers, prompting him to let them take charge, potentially yielding some unexpected surprises.

If things go awry, he could still calmly step in to clean up the mess.

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