Chapter 1163 - 1104. A Month & A Half Passed By
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(A/N: Don’t forget to give those power stones to Skyrim everyone!)
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"We will gift them the luxury variants in their guest quarters," Lie Fan decreed. "We will let them experience this miracle of cleanliness themselves. We will let them become completely addicted to the scent and the status it brings. And when the celebration ends, and they beg to know how to acquire more... we will open the state monopolies, and we will bleed their treasuries dry."
Jia Xu and Mi Zhu, the two pillars of Hengyuan’s economic and covert supremacy, listened to their Emperor’s predatory, brilliant strategy with absolute, synchronized understanding. They recognized the flawless trap being laid for the arriving dignitaries. It was not a trap of iron and blood, but one of luxury and inescapable desire.
Both men rose smoothly from their chairs. In perfect unison, they brought their hands together, cupping them respectfully and bowing deeply from the waist.
"We understand your vision completely, Your Imperial Majesty," Mi Zhu declared, his voice trembling slightly with the sheer, intoxicating thrill of the impending commercial monopoly. "I will personally oversee the logistical scaling. We will have the warehouses stocked to the rafters with these soaps and shampoos, perfectly packaged in exquisite cedar boxes, ready to be unveiled and distributed to the guest quarters before the first vassal king even sets foot in the capital."
"And I shall ensure that the cage remains entirely impenetrable while the stockpiling occurs," Jia Xu added, his raspy voice dropping to a whisper of absolute finality. "The secret of this purity will remain in the dark until Your Majesty commands the dawn."
Lie Fan offered them both a slow, deeply satisfied nod of approval. "See to it. You are both dismissed. Go and build our new mountain of gold."
As the heavy rosewood doors clicked shut behind the departing ministers, the absolute, profound silence of the imperial study settled back over the room. The frantic, high stakes energy of military and economic planning finally ebbed away, leaving Lie Fan alone with the staggering reality of what he had just accomplished earlier in the day.
He stood up from behind the massive mahogany desk. His movements were slow, deliberate, unburdened by the crushing weight of endless war.