Chapter 739: Lisheng

"So, you are the envoy sent by Congzhong City, representing City Lord Dusu'an?"

Thales sat in the study and smiled at the male envoy from a foreign land before him. The man wore brocade wrapped around his head, a splendid collar, and noble sleeves. His face was covered with the unique patterns of the Homburg people, making the shape of his face exaggerated and unusual, even pulling the shape of his eyes out of form.

"Precisely. May the Dawn Sun bless you, respected and noble Diba Thales. This lowly servant is called Na'usude, a servant-envoy under Talal Dusu'an."

After speaking, Na'usude followed Homburg etiquette. He pressed his belly and bowed, touched his forehead with his left hand, praised the Dawn Sun aloud, and paid Thales a great salute.

Thales smiled and told him to sit.

"May the Dawn Sun shine forever. Diba Thales... I mean, His Highness Thales governs Emerald Palace as regent. If my lord Dusu'an in Congzhong City were to learn of this, he would surely rejoice and offer generous gifts in congratulations."

Na'usude's Western Common carried a notable accent, but the grammar was accurate and the word choice natural, so others had no difficulty listening.

By comparison, however, he stood hunched and deferential, not daring to sit. His posture was cautious to the point of timidity.

"Unfortunately, this lowly servant is humble and dares not rashly speak or present gifts on my lord's behalf. I only wish that the Dawn Sun Lord illuminates your ears and eyes, granting clear sight and keen hearing, that the Sunset Goddess cleanses your faith and grants pious sincerity, and that you may receive the teachings of the Ultimate True God and at last hear the truth!"

This unusual blessing linked three gods together, making Thales rather unaccustomed. He recalled the Homburg Dynasty's customs and folkways that Gilbert had taught him.

Unlike the Sunset faith within Stars, whose scriptures emphasize that the Sunset is the third-generation chief god after the Bright God and the Sacred Sun, matching the legitimacy of the three successive regimes of the ancient empire, the final empire, and the Kingdom of Stars, the Homburg Dynasty had expelled other faiths and worshiped only the Dawn Sun Lord as the sole true faith since the third Cadil, Iraora, later called the Most Sacred Cadil, established the Faith of Correct Light.

The Dawn Sun Temple's interpretation of the Holy Meaning of the Dawn Sun was that the true god and true faith had always been one and only one from ancient times to the present.

The Bright God never perished. He only transformed into the Sacred Sun in order to enlighten mortals.

The Sacred Sun never vanished either. In order to save the mortal world, he transformed into the Dawn Sun.

And one day, the Dawn Sun Lord would return to the true faith in the most dazzling, most radiant, and greatest Supreme Beginning, completing his divinity and achieving an ultimate chief-god form beyond mortal imagining, great and perfect.

After the Supreme Beginning, wherever divinity reached, wherever divine power issued, wherever divine might awed, every person would become a sage and every land would become a heavenly kingdom.

In other words, from the Bright God's creation and enlightenment of mortals, to the Sacred Sun's salvation of the mundane world, to the Dawn Sun's awakening of the world and achievement of heaven, every stage was a necessary road for the mortal world. They were gates set by fate, trials bestowed by the true god, absolutely unavoidable yet destined to be reached.

As a believer of the Dawn Sun, if you felt life was difficult, if you felt the world was all suffering, if you felt life was hopeless, then it had to be because the Supreme Beginning had not yet arrived. The world was still in an incomplete middle stage, because the Dawn Sun Lord had not yet awakened the world, because the heavenly kingdom had not yet been accomplished, because ultimate divinity had not yet been attained.

If you wanted to transcend these sufferings, the only thing you could do, and the thing you had to do, was hold firm to faith in the Dawn Sun, single-mindedly wait for and push forward the Supreme Beginning, and sacrifice everything to accomplish the heavenly undertaking that perhaps only your grandson would be able to see and enjoy. When the day of the Supreme Beginning came, when the Dawn Sun Lord achieved the ultimate, then your achievements would be complete as well, and you too would become a sage.

Of course, as for what exactly the Supreme Beginning in the Holy Meaning of the Dawn Sun referred to, whether it was a war to expel heretics, a revolution engraved into bone, a far-reaching missionary movement, or an apocalyptic event like the War of Eradication, different theologians and scholars in different eras had different interpretations and arguments. There were even religious wars caused by differences in opinion and position.

This was also one of the causes of the Second Continental War.

In the second century of the Calendar of Eradication, an extreme sect within the Dawn Sun Temple suddenly rose. This sect believed that the Sunset faith across the sea, which likewise claimed descent from the Sacred Sun, and the Sunset Goddess they worshiped, was the missing piece of divinity needed for the Dawn Sun Lord to return to the true faith. Since they came from the same source, the Sacred Sun, what reason was there not to return to one place and accomplish an even more complete, greater, supreme undertaking capable of saving all suffering and bringing a boundless heavenly kingdom?

Once viewed this way, what the Supreme Beginning referred to became obvious.

As for the Dawn Sun Lord and the Sunset Goddess, who would be master and who would be auxiliary, who above and who below, who completed whom and who merged with whom... well, since they would be united as one, complete divinity, and accomplish the ultimate undertaking, what need was there to distinguish between them?

The bad part was that this sect, called the Gate of Dawn, grew stronger step by step and actually succeeded in persuading the Cadil of the time, Dunkeva, later called the Cadil Who Carelessly Lost His Way. At that time, Dunkeva had just inherited the dynasty from his diligent and capable uncle and was full of ambition.

Under daily incitement, the sixth Cadil of Homburg, Dunkeva Ama Donseng Homburg, began to believe that he was the destined ruler who would open and witness the Supreme Beginning, ultimately help the Dawn Sun Lord achieve ultimate divinity, gain merit beside him, and become eternal with divinity.

We all know the result.

The Homburg Dynasty sent envoys to the Western Continent, hoping to preach to the nations, but was politely refused by the Kingdom of Stars and Eckstedt.

"Your Cadil having such a grand wish is naturally excellent... How about this? As long as you can persuade the high priests and chief priests of the Sunset Temple and the Sunset Church to unify their opinions... What? Where are they? Oh, the ones fighting at the palace gate just now are them..." said Drex Nantrist, the "kind-hearted" Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Stars.

"Good! Good! Good! As long as you prove the Dawn Sun is stronger than the Sunset and can do what the Sunset cannot, then let the Dawn Sun Lord descend at night and suck my cock! Suck it for three days and three nights! Then I will believe it is a true god! Preach wherever you like! Preach it to those ice bastards if you want! Look, right here! See it? Come on! Huh? Where is the Dawn Sun god? Suck! What? Too big for it?" said Jakob Lampard, the "foolish man" elected king of Eckstedt.

Thus, in a fit of rage, Cadil Dunkeva gathered allies such as Suyo, assembled an army of "one million," crossed the sea, and launched an invasion.

However, after the Eastern Continent coalition successfully landed, seized cities and territory, spread its faith, and fought the Western Continent coalition of Stars, Eckstedt, and other nations for several months, Homburg's enormous Morning Wind Fleet, carrying a full load of wounded Eastern soldiers back home for resupply and manpower replacement, unexpectedly encountered the naval fleet of Kessel the Second, the Far-Sailing King, which had set out from Radiant Harbor, near the Borasco Great Trench.

From contact battle to encounter battle, from main-force engagement to decisive battle, from pursuit to annihilation, the brutal naval battle lasted a full half month. In the end, the Morning Wind Fleet dyed the sea red with blood, and not one in ten ships survived.

With the sea sails sunk and the route of retreat gone, the Eastern Continent land armies fell into panic. To stabilize morale and even more to regain control of the sea, they rashly left their defensive positions and blindly marched toward Radiant Harbor. But in thick fog, they crashed headfirst into the marching route of the personal army of Eckstedt's king, which had hurried down from the north to reinforce the war. The army was imposing and eager for battle.

The result was obvious.

"Fuck their mothers, those Stars people, dogshit imperial bastards. I brought all my men to help, to fight for them! What's wrong with asking for tens of thousands of pounds of grain and a few hundred girls to cool the fire? Is that a lot? I didn't ask for their king's own mother...

"Fuck their mothers, stingy bastards. They won't even give that. I don't know what they're afraid of, guarding against us like thieves...

"Believe it or not, if they piss me off, we'll turn around and hit Eternal Star City first! Split the girls and the grain! Let that imperial king's mother suck my...

"What? There are people in the thick fog ahead? No banners? A black mass of them, maybe local refugees fleeing disaster?

"Fuck it. Dogshit imperial bastards either way. Who cares if they are soldiers or bandits? Even better if they are pretty girls. Doesn't matter. Brothers, cut through them! Rob the Stars people enough to make this trip worthwhile first!"

So went Jakob Lampard, the "foolish man" elected king of Eckstedt, in his pre-battle mobilization speech at the moment before victory. In that battle, the warriors of the Northland faced righteousness, each brave and eager, each fighting first, fearless of death, and finally broke the enemy formation.

As for Dunkeva Homburg, the devout Cadil who dreamed of witnessing the Great Beginning and completing the ultimate undertaking for the Dawn Sun Lord, after receiving news of the defeat at the front, he vomited blood and fainted. After waking, he laughed and cried, lost his mind, and could no longer handle state affairs. In the end, the grand patriarch of the Dawn Sun Temple and the seven great-family ministers forcibly sent him into the temple for treatment. Several years later, he unfortunately passed away.

Returning to the present, in the study, Thales carefully observed Na'usude for a while and found that he kept his head lowered and his brows down. Even when speaking, he did not dare raise his head. He was deferential to an extreme.

As if he had been trained rigidly since childhood.

Thales's eyes turned.

"If, as you say, you cannot even speak on his behalf, will the words I say today be delivered to your master's ears?"

Na'usude, the envoy from Homburg, was startled and spoke tremblingly:

"By the Dawn Sun above, Your Highness, you are the most noble Diba on the western shore of the Sea of Eradication, the next Cadil of the Gilded Ancient Blood of the Stars Kingdom!"

Gilded Ancient Blood.

Thales frowned.

Was this how the Homburg people referred to imperial blood, to the ancient surname Karoser?

Na'usude pressed both hands to his belly and bowed with exaggerated depth.

"Therefore, no matter what you say or do, witnessed by the Dawn Sun, this lowly servant will bring it word for word and completely across the great sea, back to Homburg, back to Congzhong City, back to my generous and wise master Dusu'an, who is deeply favored by the Dawn Sun, as though he saw it with his own eyes and heard it with his own ears. I will certainly not let your wise golden words suffer omission or mistake."

Although it was not his mother tongue, this speech was elegant and refined, making Thales nod inwardly and view him a little more highly.

If this person had not spoken Western Common since childhood, then he had clearly spent a great deal of effort on languages later in life. And not only Western Common. He was very likely proficient in both Eastern and Western tongues at the same time.

Unfortunately, Thales had not come today to appreciate linguistic art.

"Indeed. Your master will see with his own eyes and hear with his own ears," Thales said heavily. "But not through another person's retelling, let alone translation."

The prince looked at the envoy before him, his gaze sharp.

"Because you, Na'usude, are not a lowly servant, and not even an envoy."

Na'usude frowned.

The next second, Thales decisively raised his index finger and pointed straight at the envoy.

"Because you are the Talal of Congzhong City, meaning the city lord himself, Dusu'an Lisheng Goda."

As his words fell, Na'usude froze solidly.

When he reacted, he immediately knelt in fright. His tone was nervous and his voice trembled.

"Noble, Gilded Ancient Blood Diba Thales, please forgive this lowly servant's dull ears and slow brain. I cannot fully understand the essence of the ancient kingdom's Common language, but my lord Dusu'an is presently..."

"You can waste breath denying it, Dusu'an," Thales said coldly. "Or you can save both of us some time."

Na'usude trembled all over in shock. But his eyes lit up, and he explained with both flattery and sorrow:

"This lowly servant understands! Noble Diba, you must have used a subtle and special rhetorical device just now, comparing this lowly servant to the ears, eyes, and senses of my wise master Dusu'an, a part of his noble body. But this lowly servant's status is humble. If my master were to hear such words..."

"Then stay here and let your envoy group return home."

Na'usude raised his head in shock.

"They can bring a message to Talal Dusu'an on the way," Thales did not shift his eyes, only stared fixedly at the mournful-faced envoy. "Tell him I greatly like this servant-envoy of his. For that, I am willing to offer two hundred gold coins in compensation and keep you here to serve me for life."

Na'usude's face turned deathly pale.

"Your... Your Highness Thales..." His lips trembled.

"What? You are unwilling?"

Thales sneered.

"Or is Dusu'an himself unwilling?"

Na'usude was completely stunned.

The study quieted.

One second. Two seconds. Three seconds.

Finally, Na'usude slowly lowered his head, and the tension and fear on his face gradually vanished.

"Ahaha. You discovered me."

The "envoy," or more precisely, the lord of Congzhong City, Dusu'an Goda, removed his headscarf and revealed his face.

"Little Diba of the Gilded Ancient Blood."

Thales looked at his eyes and secretly let out a breath.

If the other party had denied it to the end...

The second prince leaned back against his chair and reexamined this Homburg noble who had come in disguise.

"I know that in the Homburg Dynasty, only those with either distinguished family background or exceptional achievements can be looked upon favorably by the Dawn Sun Temple and granted a sacred sun-name. Most sun-names reflect personality and virtue, physical traits, talent, or specialties..."

Dusu'an narrowed his eyes.

After removing his disguise, his face was handsome, his gaze bright, and his bearing natural. He stood in stark contrast to the hunched timidity from just now.

"For example, you, Talal Dusu'an, City Lord Dusu'an. Your sun-name is Lisheng."

Thales had relaxed for only a short while before he became alert again, constantly reminding himself that the opponent before him could not be underestimated.

"This is enough to show your achievements in governing Congzhong City. Countless living people, tens of thousands of commoners."

Thales took a deep breath, looked directly at his opponent, and called out the title by which the man was widely known within Homburg:

"Lisheng Talal."

Dusu'an's eyes brightened. He smiled slightly, showing pure white teeth.

"You overpraise me, adorable little Diba," he said, casually throwing himself onto the sofa, limbs spread wide, without the least politeness or restraint. "All achievements belong to the Dawn Sun Lord."

Diba...

Although he knew this unfamiliar and strange word was the Homburg ceremonial title for a prince, just as Talal was the title for a city lord or administrative chief, Thales still felt somewhat uncomfortable, especially with the prefix "adorable." But he soon realized that this Lisheng Talal's Western Common was fluent and smooth, without the slightest trace of Na'usude's earlier mild accent.

"Your Western Common is excellent."

"Of course." Dusu'an looked pleased. "When I was classmates with Zayen, he learned Eastern Continental speech faster than I learned Western Continental speech. Though environment had something to do with it, I refused to accept defeat. So every day I mixed in the trading houses of Westerners and found people to talk to all day. That is how I practiced this foreign tongue. Mm, with an inevitable mixture of accents from various Western regions."

Studying with Zayen when the latter traveled in the Eastern Continent. This matched the intelligence.

But...

Thales frowned. That meant this Homburg noble had even faked his accent earlier.

"Did Zayen invite you here?"

"In truth, I came of my own accord," Dusu'an clicked his tongue after observing him carefully for a while. "I came to personally see, beyond mountains and seas, after the empire, the 'lost and recovered Diba,' as well as the next Cadil of the Gilded Ancient Blood."

Dusu'an's tone was relaxed, his posture natural, as if they were casually chatting at home.

But no matter how he behaved, even if he looked like a fool, Thales did not dare relax.

All the more because this was Lisheng Talal.

"Traveling in disguise. Truly bold."

With previous experience behind him, Thales did not dare be negligent. He gathered all his energy, thinking about what kind of opponent sat across from him and how he should open the topic to achieve his purpose.

"Did Zayen say nothing?"

"Of course, when I first arrived in Jade City, I gave him quite a fright too," Dusu'an said with a smile. "Until Zayen asked for my help. May the Dawn Sun bless us. If the worst happened, I was to rescue his sister out of the city and across the border."

Thales frowned.

"Rescue Hilley out of the city... that serious?"

So this foreign noble was Zayen's escape contingency.

And very likely the final one.

"Looking at it now, it was needless worry." Dusu'an let out a great sigh and looked at the injury on Thales's face. "His sister is fierce and formidable. She probably does not need anyone to look after her!"

"To be entrusted with his sister," Thales was too lazy to explain the injury on his face, "shows that your friendship is deep."

"That is right. Extremely deep!"

Dusu'an laughed loudly and leaned back on the sofa.

"The Dawn Sun pity us. When we studied in Hope-Dawn City, we often joked that with friendship as deep and understanding as thick as that between Zayen and me, if one of us were a girl, we would have had to marry!"

Not too good.

If his relationship with Zayen was truly this close, if they were old childhood friends...

What bargaining chip could he use to move him?

Thales raised his brows and narrowed his eyes.

"Is it appropriate to describe your friendship with Zayen as that of husband and wife?"

"What is inappropriate about it?"

Dusu'an raised his brows and slapped his thigh hard.

"You should know, the servants of the monarchs in Suyo of the Far East often compare themselves to the king's concubines, writing poetry to beg for favor, rolling about and acting spoiled, and taking pride in it, spreading it everywhere!"

Thales carefully considered the other party's possible interests and weak points, somewhat distracted.

"Truly?"

"Oh my." Dusu'an sat askew, relaxed and comfortable. "Those lines, when recited, are full of turning pleasure and repeated enjoyment, only begging the ruler to lower his eyes and grant favor. Now that is truly flirtatious temptation. Even eunuchs would blush and burn with desire after reading them!"

So you use husband and wife to compare your friendship with Zayen?

Thales came back to himself, his expression strange.

"Uh, all right. So aside from being almost like spouses, you and Zayen have no..."

But the next second, Dusu'an, who had been smiling all over and utterly relaxed, suddenly chilled.

"Aside from discussing the similarity between friendship and love," he said sternly, "I wonder what Diba Thales needs me to do by inviting me here and exposing my identity?"

In that second, Lisheng Talal's face was cold and his gaze sharp.

The transition was too abrupt, and Thales could not help pausing.

Not good.

Thales frowned, and the voice in his heart sounded an alarm.

Careful, Thales.

This opponent, who dared conceal his name and personally come to Jade City, is trying to control the course of the conversation.

Do not let him succeed.

So Thales delayed no longer and went straight to the point.

"Very good. Since you brought it up... In truth, Jade City is carrying debts totaling several million..."

"Oh." Dusu'an nodded in realization.

"And after tracing these debts back to their source, turning through seventy or eighty bends, my people barely discovered that several large debts with complicated components all have countless connections to the Eastern Continent..."

Thales paused, observing the other party.

"Roughly speaking, they are debts lent out under various names from Congzhong City's side to Jade City."

Enormous debt.

At that moment, Dusu'an's gaze moved.

But he reacted extremely quickly. He slapped his forehead, looking embarrassed.

"Ah, it seems not only my identity, even this has been discovered by you..."

Thales did not intend to let him muddle through.

"How do you explain this, Lisheng Talal?"

Dusu'an blinked.

"Ah, how else can it be explained?"

He laughed loudly.

"Look, this is normal capital cooperation and trade between Zayen and me. You know, I have plenty of ready money but lack channels, while he has every sort of business and urgently needs funds. Cooperation is mutual victory. But sons of great wealth should not be stained with the smell of copper, nor compete with the people for profit. It would be bad for reputation if word spread, so I needed to use agents..."

Thales interrupted him with a cold laugh.

"So the strange restructuring of Jade City's largest debts, the coincidental extensions, their simultaneous concentration at maturity, and their urgent collection, which drove other small and medium creditors to demand repayment together and nearly left all official offices and merchant groups in Jade City bankrupt and empty, were ordered by you?"

Dusu'an's smile stiffened.

"I roughly know what you want to do, little Diba. I understand very much and sympathize very much, truly," said the Lisheng Talal of Congzhong City, his eyes bright and his tone serious. "But debts must be repaid. That is heaven's law and earth's principle."

Very good.

As long as he admitted it.

"Law and reason do not ignore human feeling," Thales said, softening his attitude. "Is there truly no room to discuss it?"

Lisheng Talal smiled.

"Thales, do you have money?"

Thales's heart sank.

Of all pots, he had to open this one.

"Oh, I am not talking about the kind of money for 'how much is this meal'..."

Dusu'an casually rubbed his fingers together.

In the next instant, his face tightened. He spread his palm, then slowly clenched it into a fist.

"I am talking about... money."

Feeling Dusu'an's increasingly serious gaze and his gradually tightening fingers, as if he were locking down steel, Thales understood something.

"If you had it, you would understand."

Lisheng Talal said coldly:

"That is my money."

Thales frowned tightly.

Their gazes met in the air, tense and gloomy.

But the next second, Dusu'an changed face and smiled.

"Wrong! To be precise, that is not my money either. It is merely the collective wealth created by the tens of thousands of Congzhong City citizens through the grace of the Dawn Sun Lord and their hard work, entrusted temporarily to my safekeeping!"

Thales's brows furrowed even tighter.

Dusu'an spread his hands helplessly.

"Therefore, little Diba, if you want to alter these debts, it is useless to look only for me..."

"First, I am a prince. A Diba," Thales interrupted him coldly, "but not some 'little Diba.'"

Dusu'an could not help freezing.

Thales's attitude was hard, no longer mild as before.

"Because my title concerns only its nature. It has nothing to do with size, height, praise, blame, or anything else."

He narrowed his eyes.

"Just as I respectfully address you as Talal Dusu'an, not 'little Talal,' nor 'the live-in-son-in-law Talal who became city lord by relying on his wife.'"

Dusu'an's expression changed abruptly.

The air in the study froze for several seconds.

Thales stared fixedly at his opponent, aggressive and unwilling to yield.

Finally, Dusu'an took a deep breath and sat upright.

"My mistake," he said solemnly, nodding and bending at the waist. "I apologize, respected Diba Thales."

Thales breathed out.

But he was not finished.

"Second, Lisheng Talal, I understand and sympathize with you valuing your creditor rights, cherishing the principal you lent out, and insisting that debts must be repaid as heaven's law and earth's principle."

At this point, Thales's tone changed.

"But what about your debts?"

At that moment, Dusu'an froze again.

He slowly raised his head and looked at Thales with complicated eyes.

"My... what?"

Very good.

The intelligence was correct.

Seeing the other party's reaction, Thales secretly let out a breath.

The second prince propped an elbow on the desk and sneered.

"Yes. I am talking about those dozen-plus debts that Zayen used many agents to arrange, turning through seventy or eighty bends, before lending them across the sea to Congzhong City, to the famous Lisheng Talal..."

Thales narrowed his eyes.

"Debts which also come due after a certain number of years, and whose total is roughly, mm, also several million?"

Dusu'an went completely stiff.

"I do not understand..."

Bang!

Thales slapped the desk.

"The fact is that you owe Jade City at least several million in enormous debt, just as Zayen owes Congzhong City. You and Zayen borrowed money from each other."

Dusu'an looked elsewhere and clicked his tongue.

"Everyone has times when turnover is poor and cash is tight..."

"Is that so? Merely temporary turnover?"

Thales snorted coldly, opened a drawer, and took out document after document.

"As it happens, I have here several documents that were not easy to transfer over. Jade City's engineering arrangements and budgets, including external negotiation records, large transaction notarizations, property certificates, debt contracts..."

Dusu'an frowned and came forward.

"'The cash guarantee for this project shall be offset by an external debt from Congzhong City.' 'This business shall be entered into by a certain merchant group of Congzhong City through debt-backed equity and dividends.' 'Termination, divestment, and other changes to this transaction must be reported to the massive creditor overseas.' 'The contractual validity of the Sea Wolf Ship Group shall be guaranteed by funds from the Congzhong City Spice Guild, its assets including but not limited to cash, real estate, creditor rights, and so forth.' 'The notarized assets of this merchant group include a public investment in the building-material industry of a certain large city in the Eastern Continent, with rich return and real reliability.' 'These urban construction funds are earmarked for special use and may not be used for other purposes. If losses occur, the following external creditor rights shall serve as collateral'..."

Before Thales could finish reading them one by one, the instant Dusu'an saw the headings of these documents clearly, he sighed and supported his forehead with one hand.

Thales smiled, and the smile was very gratified.

"I suspect that although the countries differ and the systems vary, Congzhong City probably has similar businesses and projects. It likely uses magical things like 'overseas creditors,' 'great merchants of Jade City,' 'partners from the ancient kingdom of the Sunset,' and 'massive creditor rights redeemable in the Western Continent' to decorate its front, make guarantees, provide collateral, even pretend to be wealthy..."

Dusu'an rubbed his false eyebrows fiercely and said nothing.

"Thus Jade City and Congzhong City guarantee each other, serve as each other's hidden cards, conceal finances, share risks, and smoothly play a whole series of messy, complicated operations involving time gaps, interest, and credit costs. You keep the many powerful people and partners, competitors and business opponents dealing with the two cities, even your own clients and shareholders, those wronged big fools, completely in the dark and spinning in circles..."

Ignoring the other party's expression, Thales continued with a light laugh.

"At the same time, you deliberately move things back and forth between each other, cross-hold shares, turn real gold and silver into figures on the books. One sum of money rolls around and becomes two. You take it out to build cities, hire officials, make guarantees, negotiate business, set deadlines, fool people, open channels, bind more stakeholders, even mortgage it to borrow more external debt, using new debt to repay old, using old debt to borrow new, doing everything that cannot be done with only living money and cash..."

Dusu'an said with a headache:

"This, you know, sometimes financial management requires flexible thinking, boldness, and care..."

"And you also borrow each other's prestige, falsely report wealth, exaggerate sums, and create creditor rights and assets that in reality do not exist and cannot be offset, leaving others confused, either afraid to act because they fear harming their own interests, or blindly trusting and following the trend to place bets. You truly achieve spending one copper plate as though it were split in two, perhaps more than two."

Thales clicked his tongue.

"I roughly understand how you became 'Lisheng.' You clearly carry enormous debt and guard a treasury that is in fact empty, yet operate huge funds, using other people's money to do your own work. This trick of moving money from left hand to right hand until a third hand appears, tsk, tsk. Even Camusians would marvel at it."

His words fell.

In the study, a dropped needle could have been heard.

Until Lisheng Talal drooped his expression and sighed helplessly and boredly.

"In truth, this whole set was precisely borrowed and learned from the credit industry of Camus and the southeastern states. Innovative financial maneuvering methods..."

It was only that the Camusians crossed merchant groups, crossed industries, and crossed city-states.

While they had merely... crossed countries.

"You see, in this era, if you do not manage wealth, wealth will not manage you. Money that does not flow is the same as having none..."

"Or perhaps, if you do not manage wealth," Thales interrupted him, "wealth does not leave you?"

Dusu'an smiled awkwardly.

"In other words, putting aside these twists and turns of positives, negatives, additions, and subtractions, Jade City does not owe you any money at all," Thales concluded.

"No, no, no. Strictly speaking, Jade City still owes me money," Dusu'an hurriedly waved his hand and denied it. "It is merely that at the same time, Congzhong City also still owes Zayen money."

Thales frowned.

"What is the difference?"

"A huge difference!"

Dusu'an slapped his thigh.

"No matter what calculation method is used, as long as the equals sign is not drawn..."

The young Lisheng Talal revealed a cunning and shrewd smile, still carrying a few traces of fresh cuteness.

"The equation will forever remain in the moment before the calculation."

For most people, knowing this much was enough.

As for what result would appear after the equals sign was drawn...

Dusu'an looked at Thales's complicated expression and smiled faintly.

What? Did mere commoners think they could set the algorithm and write the equation themselves?