The doctor suffers from amnesia, but not complete amnesia.

However, this was just a deceptive facade, and the nobles could not be truly fooled. Therefore, the conflict between the civil service and the nobility would only intensify.

"I suspect that Witte will try to shift the blame eastward by 'renovating' the serfs he has acquired in the name of the Imperial Ministry of Labor. This way, he can at least have a cover-up and also get Your Majesty involved in dealing with the nobles."

Qiao Yelan kindly reminded him.

Fyodor waved his hand.

“I have already considered what you said, my dear minister—but it doesn’t matter. Even if he doesn’t do this, as long as industrial reform begins, the conflict between me and the nobles will inevitably intensify. His use of such methods is actually a poor move.”

"How could such a greedy and treacherous person possibly possess the vision of His Majesty!"

Qiao Yelan flattered.

"Haha, Minister Qiao, do not underestimate Islam Witt. He was able to rise from a commoner to his current position, not only because of the late emperor's support, but more so because of his own abilities."

The emperor smiled; he had never underestimated Witte.

“Just like Witt’s method now, we’ve already guessed it, and he even knows we can guess it, but would we stop him from doing it?”

Qiao Yelan was taken aback, then shook his head with a wry smile.

“His Majesty is right. Even if he does do it and then asks Minister Yegor for help, we must help him—because it will benefit both of us and also suppress the power of the nobles.”

"That's exactly right! What Witt excels at is using others' strength against him, hiding under the tiger's skin and quietly strengthening himself. Otherwise, how could he bargain with me, or stand on equal footing with the nobles?"

The emperor solemnly admonished him.

"Your Majesty's instruction will be followed by my utmost attention to Speaker Witte's words and actions."

Qiao Yelan bowed.

"Just keep this in mind. We'll still be able to cooperate with Witt for a while. At tomorrow's meeting, I'll nominate you as the Minister of the Imperial Ministry of Industry. That position used to be held by Witt's people, and he'll understand what I mean."

"Thank you for your kindness, Your Majesty!"

The man's expression remained relatively calm, but his voice betrayed barely suppressed excitement.

"Do a good job, Minister Qiao! The revival of Ursus will surely be achieved in our hands!"

-------------------------------------------------- -----

"Grand Duke Cosice, are you there?"

"I'm always here."

The black figure detached from Qiao Yelan's body and landed in front of him.

"I need to ask you for a favor—I am now at the very center of the vortex of Saint Eagle Fortress, attracting countless eyes, so I must be careful when contacting anyone, just like when passing on a message. Therefore, I cannot use Yefim's side for the time being."

Upon hearing Qiao Yelan mention Yefim, Koschke immediately understood what he meant.

"You want to contact Nikolai?"

“Yes, Nikolai didn’t have a fixed base of operations before, so I didn’t ask him to do so. Now that he’s been transferred to the front lines in Kazimir and will be there for a long time to come, it’s necessary for him to take action and establish a communication route between Saint Eagle Fortress and him that can’t be monitored or recorded.”

Qiao Yelan explained.

"This message is extremely important. I lack the resources within Ursus, and you are the only person I can trust. Therefore, I need you to deliver this message and return to me as quickly as possible."

Kosiché did not agree immediately, but instead looked Qiao Yelan up and down with a suspicious gaze.

"...Are you trying to get rid of me again?"

Huh? Why did I say "again"?

"How could that be? It's just that this matter is too important, so only you can do it."

Qiao Yelan spoke with righteous indignation.

"Are you anxious?"

"It would be best to go tonight and then rush back—I can't do without you here either. I don't dare to go out without you. After all, if the Ursus people get really angry, they don't care about identity or location; they'll kill the other person anyway."

Kosiché nodded, as long as it wasn't intentional to abandon her.

But...

"What exactly is your purpose in sending Nikolai to the Kazimir front this time?"

"Smuggling."

"Is it really smuggling?"

"Yes, it's purely for smuggling—I want to completely monopolize the smuggling channels."

The black snake coiled itself around Qiao Yelan's body, glaring angrily at him.

“Tell me the truth! I don’t believe you sent Nikolai to Kazimierz just for smuggling. You must have your own plans.”

Qiao Yelan was both amused and exasperated. Why could she be misunderstood even when she told the truth?

"If you put it that way, then there is indeed some additional purpose you want to achieve."

Kosich's eyes lit up.

"Say it!"

"I want the Kazimierz Business Federation to accept LMD as the settlement currency."

what?

Is there any connection between these two?

Kosichello was dumbfounded.

"You're jumping the topic too fast. Wait a minute, can you start from the beginning?"

Qiao Yelan sighed.

"...Then I'll start from the beginning. After you finish listening, you'll be leaving."

"Okay, I promise you."

Kosic agreed readily.

"Let me think about where to begin... Uh, let's start from when you took over Lungmen—"

blacksnake:?

How come it jumped even further?

Why don't you start from when you first met me?

She said something rather irritating.

"If you want to hear it... we can start talking from then on."

Qiao Yelan glanced at her in surprise, then slowly said.

Kosich was surprised; could they really start a conversation from here?

She didn't interrupt Qiao Yelan again; she wanted to see what he would say.

She didn't believe that Qiao Yelan could have started planning today's events with Kazimierz back then.

"At that time, the Witch King Herhunzoron was regarded as a madman by others, and he himself hardly participated in any political affairs anymore. Although the Electors still feared the Witch King's power, they had also begun to harbor disloyal thoughts."

"Victoria was in a similar situation. The independence of the Colombian colony and the rise of the Grand Duke led to the division of Victoria's domestic political landscape."

This history is recorded in the history books of Terra, so Kosichean is no stranger to it.

"Such division actually led to the decline of the Tower of Babel's power, because the large number of scattered local forces would increase the difficulty of forming alliances, and the layers of exploitation would lead to an abnormally exaggerated decline in the profits of trade routes. There were even fools who wanted to swallow up both the money and the goods."

"So I started to think that it was time to open up a new trade route to continue connecting the East and the West—and for that, I set my sights on Ursus."

Qiao Yelan's words startled Kosichrie.

During this time, Qiao Yelan has been busy with Lungmen Coins. In order not to be completely clueless, Koschke, under the identity of Kashena, specially went to Saint Eagle University to study economics. So now she can understand a lot of what the other party is saying.

"The trade routes in the [Lungmen Coin Project] have been in operation for many years?"

"Of course, otherwise where do you think my money comes from? Does it fall from the sky?"

Qiao Yelan's question silenced Kosiché.

"In short, at the time I had my eye on Vladimir, who was still a prince. With your help, I supported his rise to power. From the struggle for the throne to the Four Emperors' War, Vladimir finally succeeded in taking the throne—and then the Trans-Siberian Railway was born."

“Thanks to this railway, I recouped my investment, and Vladimir had the money to continue fighting. But the problem is—you had clearly established a foothold in Lungmen, but you were kicked out again. Even the nobles took advantage of your setbacks in Lungmen and Vladimir's serious illness to target this railway.”

Black Snake swayed awkwardly for a moment, then changed the subject.

"The nobles you're referring to, are you referring to Marquis Boris of Chernobog?"

“That’s right. After that, due to my own health problems, I was eventually squeezed out of control of the railway. That’s why when you came to me, I told you that I had no cards in hand in Ursus—because even Vladimir had passed away, and my trade routes had completely disappeared.”

Kosichrie sighed. So that's how it is.

As a result, he himself was one of the reasons for Ursus's decline...

“After that, I began planning my counterattack against the Ursus nobles—I’ll make them pay back double what they took from me!”

Qiao Yelan's expression was icy.

"So this time you sent Nikolai to Kazimierz to cut off all the smuggling channels between Ursus and Kazimierz, so that the nobles would just watch you make money all by yourself."

Kosiché believed he had finally understood Qiao Yelan's logic.

"Stop the smuggling route between Ursus and Kazimir?"