Crown Prince of the Empire, I quit!

Zhujiabao is located in a strategic place where the Gobi Desert and the oasis meet.

The fire in the castle burns day and night, and the roar of hammering iron is the eternal background here.

However, in recent days, a strange kind of anxiety has replaced the previous hustle and bustle.

"Father! Something happened!"

Zhu Hong, the young master of the Zhu family, hurried into the heavily guarded study.

His face was filled with uncontrollable shock and anger.

"Several small mines in Liangzhou and Suzhou suddenly broke their contracts! They said the ore had been bought out at exorbitant prices and they wouldn't sell us a single grain of sand! The people we sent to negotiate with them couldn't even see the mine owners!"

Behind the desk was Old Master Zhu Tao, an old man with a thin face and eyes like an eagle.

He was stroking a piece of shiny black Xiliang iron ore.

Hearing this, his wrinkled hands suddenly tightened, and the hard edges of the mineral almost embedded in his palms.

This is their lifeline. If they can't even get the raw materials.

With so many workshops, even a skilled cook would be unable to make a meal without rice.

If these workshops stop for one day, they will lose tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of taels of silver.

This is certainly a huge loss.

For the Zhu family, any money that is not earned is a loss.

"High price? How high?"

Zhu Tao's voice was hoarse and had a metallic friction texture.

"Thirty percent higher than...than our usual purchase price! And it's in cash!"

Zhu Hong gritted his teeth.

When he heard the news, he himself felt a little bit unbelievable. In this period, there were actually people willing to use cash to trade with others.

In the midst of chaos and war, aren't they afraid of being robbed?

"What's even more troublesome is that in the western region of Shenmu, King Zuo Yun sent someone to convey the news yesterday that he had found a cheaper source of goods and wanted to renegotiate the price! Several smaller forces are also ready to make a move!"

"boom!"

The ore in Zhu Tao's hand slammed heavily on the desk, making a dull sound.

"Investigate! Investigate for me! Who is behind this? Is it some wealthy family in the interior? Or some ignorant tribe in the Western Regions?"

"We're investigating! But the other party is extremely clean, and those small miners are as tight-lipped as an iron barrel! The new source of goods from Shenmu is also very well hidden!"

Zhu Hong's forehead was covered with sweat and he felt a little nervous.

But this is not the worst news, because for them, there are many other things that need to be paid attention to. Just like at this time, Zhu Hong suddenly added:

"Even more bizarrely, of the three iron transport teams sent to the Red Blood Alliance, two lost contact deep in the Gobi Desert, and one was robbed by a group of masked horse bandits just after crossing the Black Water River! All the cargo was lost! Those guys... were ruthless, unlike ordinary sand bandits!"

The air in the study froze instantly. In the light of the fire, Zhu Tao's face turned ashen.

The supply of raw materials is cut off! The sales channels are being snatched away! The lifeline of the Red Blood Alliance has been cut off!

This is no coincidence! Someone has orchestrated this murder!

"Qin Ming...Changbaishan..."

Zhu Tao squeezed out these two names from between his teeth.

His eyes burned with the ferocity of a cornered beast.

"What a cruel trick! Cut off my food supply without resorting to violence!"

He stood up suddenly, and his skinny body burst out with terrifying momentum.

"Do you think you can force my Zhu family to collapse like this? Dream on!"

"Father! What should we do?"

Zhu Hong asked anxiously.

"The ore reserves in the workshop can only support half a month at most! If we default on the order from Shenmu, the compensation will be astronomical! If the Red Blood Alliance cuts off the supply, the consequences will be even more unimaginable!"

Zhu Tao walked to the window and looked at the vast and dangerous Gobi Desert outside the fort. In the night, only the wind was howling.

"Three-pronged approach!"

Zhu Tao's voice was firm and resolute, with a determination to fight to the death.

"Use the Sand Scorpions to teach those small miners who dared to break their promises a lesson! Kill one to warn the rest! Let them know the price of betraying the Zhu family! Contact Black Wind King Vulture and tell him I'll pay double the price to get him and his men back to take back the looted goods and those caravans that dared to steal our business!"

"What about the third one?"

Zhu Hong hesitated.

Zhu Tao turned around, his eyes flashing with coldness.

"Activate the Black Armored Guards in the fort's secret vault, have them disguise themselves as bandits, and take over the largest independent mines for me! In extraordinary times, extraordinary measures are called for! Qin Ming wants my life? I'll show him what it means to perish together with his enemies!"

"Yes!"

Zhu Hong's spirits lifted, as if he had found his backbone, but then he hesitated again.

"Father, using the Sand Scorpions and Black Armor Guards, and colluding with the Vultures... would cause too much noise. What if the border troops caught us?"

The court of Shenmu Kingdom has been very busy recently dealing with orders from Tongbao Pavilion.

But this does not mean that they completely ignore the various disturbances in the country.

If they were to find out that the Zhu family dared to unite so many forces and even used their own troops to shuttle back and forth within the country, they would definitely not agree.

"Have something to hold against me?"

Zhu Tao sneered with a hint of madness.

"Once our workshop shuts down, we lose orders, and the Red Blood Alliance breaks off relations, the Zhu family will be doomed! Rather than sit and wait for death, we might as well fight to the death! Doesn't Qin Ming want me to use force? I'll do it to show him! I'll muddy the waters completely! Let's see who drowns in it in the end!"

They had always longed for the Western Regions, but had not been able to persuade the Shenmu Kingdom to successfully occupy it.

Instead, Qin Ming got this piece of land, which made the major families in the Shenmu Kingdom somewhat dissatisfied. That is why they secretly opposed Qin Ming.

He walked to the wall and pressed the switch.

A huge map of the Western Regions slowly unfolded, covered with signs of mines, trade routes and various forces.

"Pass the order down. The fort is on wartime alert! All mines and workshops, double the security force! Tell the Red Blood Alliance's messenger."

Zhu Tao stared at the direction of the Red Blood Alliance-controlled area on the map with a cold voice.

"Their goods will be doubled soon! But the price must also be doubled! Have their Blood Wolf Riders move for me at the border and tie down Qin Ming's men!"

The storm suddenly escalated in a more violent way amid the seemingly calm economic stranglehold.

The cold ore is about to be soaked in even colder blood.

Zhu Tao sneered.

His counterattack was like the fangs of a trapped beast, biting fiercely at the invisible net laid by Qin Ming.

But what he didn't know was.

The sharpened saber of Changbai Mountain was already on its way westward, its cold light reflecting the rising waning moon.

This time, he even recruited a lot of people.

That night, in the tent, Liu Yueli found Chang Baishan.

"General Chang, someone has come to seek refuge again... but they are a group of bandits."

"Bandits?"

Chang Baishan raised his eyebrows.