"Sir Soth... I have to admit that the way you appeared did give me a huge surprise. Because among all the banquets I have attended and hosted in my life, you are the first to use a dragon as a means of transportation.

."

Sir Crispian suppressed his inner fear of the huge creature in front of him, tried hard to appear calm and composed, and also tried to use language to create a relaxed and humorous atmosphere.

Of course, if his legs and arms hidden in the wide sleeves didn't shake so much, the effect would be better.

No way!

Even low-level professionals cannot be exempted from the dragon's power, let alone ordinary people who don't even have a professional level.

Being able to stand in front of an adult green dragon without turning around and running away immediately is considered quite courageous.

In any case, Sir Crispian has seen the white dragon attack and the centipede monster charge in the Yunwu Mountains, so he still has some courage.

Zuo Si smiled and patted the green dragon on the head, telling it to go into the woods to avoid human sight. Then he walked closer and explained with a smile: "I have no choice. You know, even if you come from Askatra,

It will take at least two days to ride a horse. And I have never been here before, so I can’t use teleportation magic, so I had to choose to fly here on a dragon."

"Hahahaha! Well, it seems that I didn't think well. I should send a carriage to pick you up at the castle in advance."

As the green dragon disappeared into the vast night, Sir Crispian finally recovered completely and took the initiative to take the responsibility for this little commotion on himself.

Obviously, he ignored the very different ways of thinking between spellcasters and ordinary nobles.

The biggest difference between the two is that the latter usually cares about "decent" and "ostentation", while the former cares about efficiency.

You must know that in just a few minutes after the dragon landed, many horses in the nearby barn began to run away due to fright, and the servants responsible for taking care of the horses chased after them.

After all, many of these horses are expensive stallions used by guests at the banquet to pull carts, and the price of each one is not less than one thousand gold coins.

If it is lost, it is a small matter to pay for it, but it is a big matter to make the owner lose face.

After a brief greeting at the door, Sir Crispian immediately pulled Zuo Si into the living room of the manor villa.

As soon as they entered the door, the guests who were still whispering stopped all movements and all looked at the door.

To be precise, it was thrown at Zuo Si, the chosen one of the goddess of poison and disease.

Although he has not been in Ascaltra for a long time, he has already done a lot of things that shocked these top dignitaries.

In particular, he used the incident of the attack on the envoy to suppress Baldur's Gate and forced it to make huge concessions, successfully winning the praise of many great nobles and chambers of commerce.

The reason why we held the banquet today was not only to seek advice from him on how to suppress his competitors without starting a war, but also to accept his idea of ​​officially entering the circle of Amn's upper ruling class.

Out of the basic courtesy and responsibility of a host, Sir Crispian first introduced Zuo Si's identity to all the guests, then directly blocked all the guys who tried to strike up a conversation, and quickly came to the study on the second floor.

.

More than two dozen middle-aged and elderly men and women, ranging in age from forty to sixty, have been waiting here for a long time.

You don't need to ask to know that they are the true rulers of the country below them, and they are also the leaders of the major families.

In addition, there should be six members of the review committee hidden among them.

Sir Crispian took the trouble to introduce Zuo Si one after another.

This whole process alone lasted more than ten minutes.

But no one present showed any impatience, but waited patiently with a smile.

When everything was over, an old man who looked to be in his early sixties took the lead and said: "Everyone, we are all the richest and most powerful families in Amn. Many of our families can even trace their history back to Calimshan.

The end of the Shane Dynasty.

I believe you all understand the reason why we are gathered here today.

During the negotiations with Baldur's Gate not long ago, the noble Lord Thos, the chosen one of Talona, ​​the goddess of poison and disease, used his superb wisdom and political skills to teach us all a lesson.

He got something at the negotiating table that we couldn't get on the battlefield, which was to force Baldur's Gate to make significant concessions on trade and tariffs.

There is no doubt that this time, both in terms of diplomatic operations and attacks in the economic field, our competitors have suffered a big loss.

In particular, uniting with chambers of commerce in other cities and regions to raise the prices of daily necessities, completely dividing and disintegrating the relationship between the lower class people and the merchant class in Baldur's Gate, gave us a new way of thinking, and also successfully intensified the conflict between the city and farmers in surrounding areas.

.

Because of this, the stupid and greedy dukes of Baldur's Gate had to choose to retreat.

Because the foundation of their rule has been shaken.

Through this example, we can summarize many useful experiences and then use them on other competitors.

After all, starting a war is the stupidest thing to do.

Not only is the investment cost too high, but even if you win, you may not get what you want."

"I completely agree." Another forty-year-old man with a beard nodded slightly. "For us, gaining trade dominance in a certain area will always earn more than actually occupying and managing it.

More profits. This is a truth that has been proven a long time ago. And in the economic field, except for the oligarchs in Sambia, no country or city-state is Amn's opponent."

"That's right! That's why we invited Mr. Soth to come today. He comes from another world and has a lot of insights and precious knowledge that we don't know." The female nobleman in his fifties next to him also agreed.

Tao.

"Then Mr. Soth, could you please explain to us how you made such an accurate judgment in a complicated situation?" The leader of the old man asked politely with a smile.

Zuo Si nodded slightly: "Of course. It's actually not as complicated as everyone here imagines.

To put pressure on an independent political entity, there are no more than the following options.

The first is the military pressure that everyone knows, which is to use powerful violence to make the other party feel the threat of destruction and death, and eventually have to retreat out of fear.

Of course, as the knight said, the cost of launching a war is too high, and the risks are also very high.

So big that few countries and city-states can afford one or two tragic defeats.

Not to mention the loss of food, armor, weapons and various materials, just the pension and the death and capture of so many young and middle-aged laborers will cause a huge blow to the government's prestige and even shake the foundation of rule.

In addition, maintaining a large and well-trained army for a long time will also put huge pressure on finances.

So war is always the last resort.

In contrast, the second point of diplomatic pressure is much easier.

When doing this kind of thing, you must first have a sufficient and unquestionable legitimate reason, and then put yourself on the side of justice, portray the other party as an evil villain, and criticize from the moral high ground.

The second is to create and coerce public opinion, let as many people as possible know about this matter, and then mobilize the people's empathy and let them join in condemning a certain country or city-state.

Finally, and most importantly, do your best to win over other surrounding forces, especially those churches and organizations in the good camp, and use various means to force them to express their stance.

When the above three elements are present, this country or city-state will inevitably fall into diplomatic isolation and absolute moral disadvantage.

At this time, we can immediately launch the second step, which is economic sanctions, while simultaneously dividing and disintegrating the various social classes of the enemy, provoking and intensifying internal conflicts.

Not only are they unable to unite to tide over the difficulties, but they also blame each other and become hostile to each other.

As we all know, in the eyes of most low-level civilians, bad people have no human rights and do not deserve sympathy.

After successfully shaping an evil country and city-state, we can unite merchants from other surrounding areas to carry out various attacks on it.

For example, suddenly restrict the inflow of some daily necessities such as food, salt, cloth, and steel, and then take this opportunity to significantly raise prices, causing an increase in people's living costs, which in turn leads to social unrest and the accumulation of dissatisfaction.

When this kind of turmoil and dissatisfaction accumulates to a certain extent, conflicts will be like a volcano about to erupt, containing unimaginable destructive power.

At that time, all it takes is a little encouragement from the local Shadow Thieves Guild to trigger a horrific riot.

It might turn into a brutal civil war that violently overthrows the current government.

In addition, when taking this step, you can also consider wooing and supporting a group of local businessmen as internal agents by promising benefits, constantly inciting opposition between the poor and the rich, civilians and nobles, and creating strong hostility between each other.

In short, remember that the strongest fortress can always be breached from within.

As long as you pay more attention to the hidden dangers within your competitors, and then find ways to intensify these contradictions and cause commotion and chaos, you can easily defeat them completely.

This is the case in Baldur's Gate, and it is also the case in Sembria, which implements the serfdom system.

Even the seemingly enlightened City of Waterdeep actually contains huge crises inside..."

With a calm and unhurried voice, Zuo Si explained some of the simplest and most basic "fool-like" operation methods to these Amn executives through clear and logical language.

After all, the other party paid expensive "tuition", so he also generously taught many "little tips".

In fact, in the continent of Faerûn, due to the conflict between good and evil, order and chaos, the class consciousness of the people here is weak, or even non-existent.

But now, when Zuo Si clearly proposed this concept and gave a series of actionable suggestions, all the Amn dignitaries present showed either solemn or thoughtful expressions.

Because they realize that this system is a "double-edged sword" that can be used to deal with enemies as well as themselves.

After a long time of silence, the old man who spoke first finally took a long breath and praised with a slightly emotional tone: "It's really amazing wisdom. It seems that as long as you master these, Am

It will soon enter a period of strong expansion. But what I want to know now is, what do you think of the internal situation in this country?"

"In which way?" Zuo Si asked with a half-smile.

"Of course it's an internal conflict. Or to put it another way, what can we do to ease the relationship between the merchants and aristocratic class and the lower class civilians, and ensure that a similar situation will not happen in Ascaltra?"

The old man directly raised the problem that troubled him.

As the top dignitary of this business empire, he has extraordinary vision and understanding, and is very aware of the crisis hidden under the surface of Amn's prosperity.

For example, there are the huge slums in the city, and the little gangsters who can't find serious jobs and wander around all day long.

In addition to inside the city, there are also many traditional nobles outside the city who use various means to seize land from farmers, or convert farmland into pasture to raise horses, cattle and sheep that can make more money, dismiss all tenant farmers and leave them to fend for themselves.
To be continued...