The doctor suffers from amnesia, but not complete amnesia.

He took back three of the checks, leaving only one on the table.

This was meant for the Emperor. Although he originally only intended to give one, since Kosiché had given up one, he might as well add a few more chips to the Emperor's side, so that the Emperor could have a little more time to "eat his fill"—so that this short-sighted, desperate fellow wouldn't keep staring at Yegor's side every day, hoping that the Imperial Ministry of Labor would give him a lot of gold coins.

That would affect Qiao Yelan's entire Ursus strategy.

The remaining check was to be used by Qiao Yelan himself to buy a plot of land in Saint Eagle Fortress as a site for building a factory. For now, only a framework would be needed, and Witt would continue to give him gold coins, so he could invest in the second and third phases later and expand the construction further.

The reason for taking them back was that these three checks couldn't be given out simply with Witt's signature. Qiao Yelan needed to manipulate them to have his own signature before giving them away.

However, the remaining one doesn't require such trouble.

"Ace, go and invite Mr. Yefim here."

"Yes."

Soon, the hotel manager arrived at Qiao Yelan's room and greeted her politely.

The man smiled amiably and pushed the checks on the table toward him.

Yefim's gaze was naturally drawn to it, taking in the amount and signature at a glance. Even though Yefim had seen a lot in the world, he couldn't help but be slightly taken aback.

"This is a political donation I am giving to His Highness Nikolai—and please give my regards to His Highness Nikolai."

"I will certainly convey your greetings."

Upon hearing that the check was for Nikolai, Yefim accepted it without hesitation, then bowed more solemnly to Qiao Yelan before leaving.

Qiao Yelan agreed to give Nikolai 20% of the profits—he always kept his word.

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

Kosichrie returned in no time, but this time she was in Kasena's body.

Obviously, since they can't live without Qiao Yelan anymore, they might as well try to learn more from him.

Kashina's personality is clearly closer to Qiao Yelan, so Koschei doesn't mind continuing to learn from Qiao Yelan under this identity—at least it will let Qiao Yelan feel his sincerity, right?

However, such a subtle approach was clearly a waste of time when used on Qiao Yelan, who didn't care at all which personality or image Koschich was using.

During this period, Qiao Yelan had already bought a large piece of land in the non-core urban area of ​​Shengjun Eagle Fortress, and without any hesitation, he used his authority to forcibly relocate the nearby residents, whether they were willing or not, to another resettlement house after they had paid a large sum of money.

After all, he doesn't really want to build a factory—how much money can he make by building a factory?

He certainly doesn't completely rule out building a factory, but at least not now.

The reason for buying this land and relocating other people was, of course, to maintain secrecy.

The second [Elsula Time-Space Route Node] has entered the design drawing stage.

This isn't smuggling; it's our Tower of Babel's magical warehouse, which grows larger and taller when it gets wet...

Given that the trade relationship between the Great Yan and Ursus is almost completely severed, Qiao Yelan only needs to transport the goods westward from Longmen to Kazdel, and then transfer them to the Holy Eagle Fortress, where they can be sold to the nobles for money.

According to the previous agreement, Theresis, as a confidant under the spell of unwavering loyalty, could take a 10% cut.

So, when Teacher DaTe had money and discovered a batch of well-established Ursus active-duty equipment that was about to be transferred from his territory...

Could he possibly resist the urge to chop off his hands?

Qiao Yelan liked to use this to test his cadres.

Of course, the design of the third [Elsula Time-Space Route Node] is also underway, and its location is naturally in Kazimir, to connect the smuggling channels between Kazimir and Ursus.

This is a product from two great empires, serving one Ursus nobleman at the same time—how could this be anything less than a blessing?

In Qiao Yelan's eyes, this was nothing more than interest paid by the Ursus nobles.

—This isn't the stage of repaying the principal yet, so you guys have to hang in there.

Look at Speaker Islam Witt, who is wholeheartedly promoting industrialization reforms; this is the true attitude of paying back Qiao Yelan's debt—and the price to pay.

"Is everything done?"

"Everything is arranged. The nobles have realized that things are not going well, but they still hold onto a sliver of hope, hoping that the Ursus Empire will resume its past procurement practices next year."

Kashina's lips curled into a mocking smile.

With Qiao Yelan's guidance, she had seen through the predicament of these nobles—they already had one foot on the edge of a cliff.

Putting aside the fact that disarmament is Ursus's current national policy and future military procurement cannot continue to expand, their current situation alone means that the longer it drags on, the higher the price these nobles will have to pay.

Just kidding. When Qiao Yelan first came to Ursus, he specifically instructed Grand Duke Nicholas to turn a blind eye to the armies of the nobles when implementing the disarmament policy, almost allowing them to openly retain their own organization and even continue to expand their army.

This extra instruction earned Nicholas the understanding of the nobles for his proposed disarmament plan, allowing him to extricate himself from the political vortex of Saint-Eagle Castle with almost no additional cost—now, the moment when Qiao Yelan's words truly took effect.

Nikolai had completed the demobilization and reorganized the new Sixth Army. In other words, he received the pay and budget of the three downsized armies, so he was able to barely maintain the situation. With the support of Qiao Yelan, he could live a fairly comfortable life.

However, these nobles were already a semi-private army, receiving little central government funding, and their numbers dwindled after the military downsizing. Instead of downsizing, they used the downsizing as an opportunity to recruit a group of veterans, which led to even greater military expenditures.

Others focus on increasing revenue and reducing expenditure; they focus on increasing expenditure and reducing resources.

With funding dwindling, military procurement spending plummeting, and tax revenue within their territory unlikely to defy the laws of nature—they would soon be begging Kosiché to lend a hand to their brothers for the sake of the Empire.

Kosichrie understood this clearly, but since those nobles still wanted to maintain a certain demeanor, she was happy to oblige.

Anyway, the boomerang is coming soon, so she's not in a hurry.

“Indeed, we can wait a little longer. After all, you have the initiative in this matter and can manipulate the nobles more to gain more benefits.”

Qiao Yelan did not deny Kosich's actions.

"However, have you made any extra preparations?"

"Additional preparation?"

Kashina responded with a black snake question mark.

Is teaching this guy economics a bad idea? How can he be so careless about even his own job...?

Qiao Yelan sighed, her face showing concern for the char siu.

"Do you think that after the nobles discovered that the Ursus Empire's central government spending was shifting from military to civilian purposes, all they wanted to do was engage in arms smuggling and sell more of their stockpiles?"

"Uh... they're probably planning to do something underhanded to shift the Empire's future focus back to the military, which would completely solve their revenue problem."

Fortunately, Miss Black Snake was just a little confused. After Qiao Yelan gave her a slight hint, she quickly figured out something deeper.

"So... I can take advantage of their thinking, because they will definitely be single-mindedly trying to provoke a war between Ursus and other neighboring countries, and as long as I express my willingness to return to Lungmen, they will definitely give me more support."

Seeing Qiao Yelan's encouraging expression, Kashina spoke more and more fluently.

"Yes, that's right—whether or not I can truly regain control of Lungmen, they'd be happy to see it happen, because it would drastically worsen the relationship between Great Yan and Ursus. Moreover, in their eyes, Great Yan, which has almost never been mired in war or internal strife, undoubtedly possesses enormous wealth."

“They don’t care how powerful the Great Yan is. After all, they’ve never actually fought the Great Yan. During the Eastern War, the noble alliance avoided the strong and attacked the weak, just like before, hiding behind the Tsar’s Guard in Vladimir, and never directly confronted the Great Yan army.”

The more the black snake spoke, the brighter the light in its eyes became.

"That's right, they definitely can't wait to go to war with Great Yan. After all, Great Yan is also a great power, and once a war breaks out, it will definitely last a long time. This way, they can get more and longer-lasting orders, and their income will be more considerable. Moreover, the wealthy Great Yan is a very fertile land that is worth plundering in the eyes of the nobles!"

Qiao Yelan slowly clapped her hands, a gratified smile on her face.

"That's very well said, Kashina. So, now that we've considered this direction, what's your next step?"

"Uh... I need to take care of something else—you're not leaving anytime soon, are you?"

"Don't worry, of course I'll wait for you, I always will."

After hearing Qiao Yelan's promise, Miss Black Snake, who had just returned to Qiao Yelan's side, turned around and ran out excitedly again, obviously to change bodies and cause trouble again.

Seeing her leave, Qiao Yelan lowered his head and resumed reading the documents in his hand, immersing himself in the tense and exciting work of exploitation—no, robbery—and also, benefiting Ursus.

What's going on? How come this guy is back so fast? He hasn't even finished his preliminary work yet.

It's true that Qiao Yelan really enjoys teaching and nurturing people—but having a chashu (a nickname) who likes to ask questions around when he's doing his proper job is actually quite unpleasant.

Chapter 178 The Mysterious Financial Report of the Tower of Babel

"I believe I have done all the preparations this time, without any omissions. The foreshadowing in the intelligence network is quietly waiting for the right moment. As long as we let time pass slowly, the nobles will definitely take the bait."

Kasena made a solemn promise to Qiao Yelan this time.

Qiao Yelan nodded with a smile, praising Grand Duke Koschche's outstanding work performance and encouraging Miss Black Snake to continue her efforts and achieve even better results in the future.

Actually, he had finished his business in Ursus and was preparing to head to Kazimierz, so he was too lazy to give Kashena any more extra tutoring.

"Shall we go to Kazimierz now?"

Black Snake asked somewhat impatiently.

She was indeed impatient—she couldn't wait to see how Qiao Yelan would deal with those guys from the Business Federation.

Although the nobles of Ursus are essentially the same kind of scoundrels as the Kazimierz Merchant Guild, she would rather see foreigners being outmaneuvered by Qiao Yelan than watch him scheme against the nobles.

"Yes, I just received news that the personnel I mobilized from Victoria and Letania have arrived. They are now at the Babel Tower base in Kazimierz and are waiting for my instructions."

"Did you mobilize a lot of people?"

Black Snake keenly sensed Qiao Yelan's attitude; clearly, these people held significant weight in Qiao Yelan's plan.

"Of course—it's already summer of 1079, and the triennial Casimir Knights Tournament is about to begin. This tournament will determine which four mobile cities will be able to piece together a Great Knight Territory and gain the best first-mover advantage in the coming era of global trade."

"Babel will certainly not miss this opportunity, especially given the current turbulent situation, which makes this opportunity all the more precious."

Qiao Yelan said nonchalantly, his expression and the content of his words forming a stark contrast.

After all, it would be ridiculous if the propagandists believed the lies they were spreading.