The gold shop shopkeeper and the casino boss had been Zhi Ning and Zhi Li’s dogs for quite a few years.
Wanting Zhi Ning to kill these two dogs, Solon’s weight was still too light.
One must know that the fat shopkeeper of the gold shop had not lied. Although he held no title, a group of counts were all polite and even tried hard to please him in front of him. There was no other reason than that he was a close associate of Prince Zhi Li.
Solon was merely a count’s heir, and moreover one who was already about to be finished. Saying he wanted to kill these two people around Zhi Li was indeed somewhat ignorant of the height of the sky.
But since Solon had said so, Duke Zhi Ting was also unwilling to get involved in more trouble. He put away his smile and said: “You proposed in the royal city academy that the kingdom’s expansion strategy should develop the navy and attack southward into the heart of the Barbarian Wilderness Plain, right?”
Lan Ling said: “Yes.”
Duke Zhi Ting said: “Xiu Yan submitted your plan, and in the past few days it has caused great debate in the royal family and the cabinet. Zhi Li firmly proposes to enter the Barbarian Wilderness Plain through the Barbarian Wilderness Canyon and continue expanding. I insist on developing the navy and attacking the Barbarian Wilderness Plain from the sea. These two views have already quarrelled until they are irreconcilable. Zhi Li and I have almost reached the point of being unable to coexist. For the sake of your family’s ten thousand gold coins, I have really suffered a loss that outweighs the gain.”
“Thank you, Your Grace.” Lan Ling bowed and said.
Duke Zhi Ting said: “Do you know where the key to saving your Suo family lies?”
Lan Ling said: “In His Majesty the King.”
“Correct. Do not look at how fiercely Zhi Li and I are fighting. In the end everything still depends on His Majesty’s独断乾坤.” Duke Zhi Ting said: “Do you know what it means if His Majesty the King chooses the direction of developing the navy?”
Lan Ling said: “It means His Majesty the King has sent out a signal that Prince Zhi Li’s position as crown prince is in danger. Therefore in this struggle you can afford to lose, but Prince Zhi Li cannot afford to lose.”
Duke Zhi Ting nodded and said: “Correct. Zhi Li cannot afford to lose, and of course your Suo family also cannot afford to lose. If you lose then it is over. Then who do you think has the greater chance of winning between me and Zhi Li?”
Lan Ling said: “Prince Zhi Li.”
Duke Zhi Ting said: “Why? Tell me.”
Lan Ling said: “Because if the Angry Wave Kingdom develops its navy, it can not only directly attack the heart of the Barbarian Wilderness Plain but can also sail north to attack important cities of the Yan Empire. One must know that many cities of the Yan Empire are coastal and do not have sufficient defence. Therefore, as soon as the strategy of developing the navy is adopted, it will arouse the Yan Empire’s vigilance, which means the end of the Angry Wave Kingdom’s strategy of hiding its strength and biding its time against the Yan Empire. And right now, the Angry Wave Kingdom does not have the strength to challenge the Yan Empire’s position as hegemon.”
As soon as these words came out, Duke Zhi Ting was completely shocked.
Was this still that profligate son Solon? Was this still that ignorant and incompetent profligate? His vision was actually so far-sighted and wise?
“Did you think of this yourself?” Duke Zhi Ting said.
“No, it was my sister.” Lan Ling said.
Duke Zhi Ting breathed a sigh of relief and said: “Fortunately it was your sister. Otherwise you would be in danger.”
Correct. If a feudal lord’s son was so wise and moreover an enemy of the royal family, then even the king probably could not tolerate him.
One must know that feudal lords were not ordinary nobles. They were semi-independent forces.
Then Duke Zhi Ting said: “Since you have already seen through it, then let me tell you. In about two or three days, His Majesty’s decree will come down. Let us wait together!”
Then Duke Zhi Ting suddenly said: “You threatened those two dogs of Zhi Li?”
Lan Ling nodded and said: “Yes.”
Duke Zhi Ting said: “Then you must be careful. Those two dogs have countless experts under them and their methods are very ruthless. They may not dare to kill you, but they will kill the people around you.”
Lan Ling said: “If nothing unexpected happens, they will die very soon. Zhi Ning will personally kill them.”
Duke Zhi Ting was astonished and once again completely disbelieving.
…
At this time Princess Zhi Ning was still lazily lying by the water reading a book.
In one hand she held fish food, and in the pond many beautiful and rare goldfish were being raised.
Her other hand held a book, but her gaze was not on the book.
In front of her, two people stood with bowed bodies: the gold shop shopkeeper and the casino boss.
Princess Zhi Ning said lazily: “This battle’s defeat has nothing to do with you. It is because the trap I set was not deep enough, allowing that profligate Solon to jump out. This idiot is not completely useless either.”
Instantly the two bowed deeply and said: “The princess is magnanimous. This lowly one is endlessly grateful.”
These two were arrogant and domineering in front of the kingdom’s nobles, even high-ranking nobles like counts. This gold shop shopkeeper looked more amiable than anyone on the surface, always smiling, but his gaze had always been high above.
Over these years, as Prince Zhi Li’s position as crown prince became clearer and clearer, the two of them had also risen with the tide. Now in the royal city they had become great figures, like underground emperors, and even noble families had to avoid their edge.
Just as the casino boss had said, the two bodyguards beside him were both Dragon Warriors. How many Dragon Warriors were there in the entire kingdom?
But at this moment the two of them were truly as obedient as dogs in front of Princess Zhi Ning.
Although Zhi Ning’s reclining curves were incomparably undulating and alluring, although Zhi Ning’s face was peerlessly beautiful and radiant, and although these two were the most lecherous of people, at this time they did not even dare to raise their eyelids and only dared to look at their own feet.
The gold shop shopkeeper smiled and said: “There is a joke. I will tell it to Your Highness the Princess to amuse you.”
Zhi Ning said: “I am not Your Highness. There is only one female Highness in the kingdom now, and that is Princess Zhi Yan who is cultivating in the Divine Dragon Holy Temple.”
The gold shop shopkeeper said: “But who does not know that His Majesty the King is not close to Princess Zhi Yan, while you are more like his own daughter. He listens to everything you say.”
Zhi Ning frowned slightly, as if she did not like hearing these words, and said indifferently: “What joke? Tell it.”
The gold shop shopkeeper said: “When Solon repaid the debt, he even threatened to kill our entire families, and to do so before tomorrow.”
Zhi Ning said: “He probably wants to bribe Zhi Ting again and provoke him in front of Zhi Ting, saying that you once had designs on Duke Zhi Ting, wanting Zhi Ting to kill you.”
The gold shop shopkeeper said: “Your Highness is wise.”
Zhi Ning sneered: “Zhi Ting’s good days are numbered. These days he has jumped too fiercely. His methods are dirty, but your methods are even dirtier. He cannot kill you. Using power and means, Zhi Ting cannot bypass us. Using dirty means, he will instead suffer a loss. Solon wanting to borrow a knife to kill is purely a dream.”
The gold shop shopkeeper said: “What ability do we lowly ones have? It all depends on the shelter of His Highness the Crown Prince and Your Highness the Princess. We only have that little ability to borrow the tiger’s might.”
At this moment a eunuch came in and said: “Your Highness the Princess, Solon has sent a letter. It has been checked and contains no poison.”
Zhi Ning said: “Bring it in.”
Then Zhi Ning stretched out her jade hand, and a maidservant stepped forward to put on light and soft gloves for her.
Zhi Ning had a cleanliness obsession. She looked down on everyone and was unwilling to touch anyone else’s belongings.
She took the letter from Lan Ling. On it were written a few words: Zhi Ning, please kill your two dogs.
Princess Zhi Ning waved the envelope at the two and said: “Look, Solon is asking me to kill you two.”
The gold shop shopkeeper and the casino boss immediately laughed obsequiously and said: “This profligate has really gone mad in the head. Your Highness the Princess cherishes us servants so much. Even if we do something wrong you only scold us a little.”
Princess Zhi Ning showed a peerlessly beautiful smile, indicating she accepted the two’s flattery, then took out the letter and read it.
“Zhi Ning, why is your gold shop so successful? The key lies in the specific anti-counterfeiting technology. The gold notes issued by your gold shop have never had a single one that could be forged. Therefore other gold shops also have to store large amounts of gold coins and silver coins in your vaults, then use your gold notes and silver notes for large transactions and circulation.”
Correct, it was indeed so. The reason Zhi Li and Zhi Ning’s gold shop could run rampant across the world was precisely because of the special anti-counterfeiting method of the gold notes that no one could crack. Therefore the gold notes issued by their royal city gold shop could circulate throughout the world.
This was equivalent to Zhi Li and Zhi Ning’s royal city gold shop possessing the right to issue currency.
The letter continued: “Of course, I cannot crack your anti-counterfeiting method either. But I know your anti-counterfeiting technology very clearly. Suppose I tell this anti-counterfeiting technology to other gold shops. If your gold shop loses its unique right to issue currency, can it still be as powerful as it is today?”
The content of Lan Ling’s letter ended here. It did not even say what Zhi Ning’s anti-counterfeiting technology actually was.
But Zhi Ning’s expression changed. She scattered all the fish food in her hand into the pond, immediately stood up, and walked into her secret room.
Inside the secret room she opened layer after layer of tightly sealed cabinets. Inside was a special crystal stone that emitted a purple light.
Zhi Ning used this purple crystal stone to shine on the letter paper. On the originally blank letter paper, seven large characters appeared, shining with green light, incomparably clear and dazzling.
“Zhi Ning, you cheap bitch!”
This was the unique anti-counterfeiting method used by the royal city gold shop to issue gold notes, the ultraviolet lamp principle!
This purple crystal stone was a natural ultraviolet lamp. The last seven characters on the letter paper were written with blood, then washed clean with water. On the surface it looked as if there was nothing, but when illuminated with an ultraviolet lamp, these remaining blood traces would emit a刺眼的 fluorescent glow.
Even in modern Earth’s banknotes, besides watermarks, ultraviolet anti-counterfeiting methods were also used. Under ultraviolet lamp illumination, certain parts would display刺眼的 fluorescent light.
Zhi Li and Zhi Ning issued gold notes in three layers total.
The middle layer used special blood to write a special code and complex patterns. After rinsing clean, two layers of paper were used to sandwich the middle layer and thoroughly glue and press it together.
Therefore when these gold notes entered the royal city gold shop, Zhi Ning only needed to shine the purple crystal stone on them to know if they were real or fake, and she would also know when this gold note was issued and who it belonged to.
Lan Ling had discovered this secret unintentionally while playing with gold notes by holding them up to sunlight.
Then he associated it with Earth’s banknote ultraviolet anti-counterfeiting technology and further associated that Zhi Ning was probably also using this kind of technology.
After discovering this secret, Lan Ling had originally wanted to directly forge gold notes, but he found it was completely impossible. Because the gold notes’ special patterns and the sandwich layer’s secret light code matched perfectly, and there were corresponding codes in the gold shop.
Without understanding this set of codes it was impossible to forge them. Even the paper used by the gold shop was unique, and Lan Ling could not imitate it.
But he could threaten to make this unique anti-counterfeiting technology public. In that way Zhi Li’s royal city gold shop would no longer be able to monopolise the right to issue gold notes. This was a huge blow.
Of course this kind of damage hurt others without benefiting oneself. Therefore Lan Ling used this to threaten Zhi Ning to personally kill those two dogs.
Princess Zhi Ning stared at the last few characters that emitted green fluorescent light and was completely stunned.
How was this possible? The core secret of her gold shop, how could that profligate son Solon know it?
Once the right to issue currency was lost, what enormous impact would her gold shop suffer? And this gold shop was Zhi Li’s biggest money bag. Without astronomical amounts of money, how could Zhi Li bribe nobles and secretly develop his forces?
Then Zhi Ning’s peerlessly beautiful face instantly turned iron-green, even twisted. She猛地 tore the letter to shreds.