In the reception room refurbished by Anpu, Tang Mo had finished his work and took the time to meet two envoys who had come from afar.
The two anxious dwarves sat on the sofa and immediately stood up when Tang Mo entered the room, bowing in greeting and said, "Great King of Tang Country, your admirers convey their sincerest greetings to you."
Tang Mo made a rather casual gesture, then proceeded to the seat of honor, sat down, and crossed his legs, "Gentlemen, the Ice Cold Empire is not close by. You didn’t come all this way just to greet me, did you?"
"Your Majesty jests," the leading envoy from the Ice Cold Empire said with an awkward laugh, hurriedly waving his hands to explain, "Of course not, or rather, not just to greet you."
Tang Mo recognized this dwarf envoy; they had met before in Brunas. Back then, Tang Mo was still a merchant, and this gentleman was a representative of the Ice Cold Kingdom.
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Now, it seemed both had taken a step forward, Tang Mo had become the king of a nation, and the representative had become an envoy of the empire.
However, the step Tang Mo had taken was somewhat large and had left his old acquaintance from the Ice Cold Empire a bit embarrassed.
"Then let’s discuss why you have come to see me. You know me; I dislike beating around the bush. Time is money, my friend." Tang Mo took a cup of wine from Wes’s hand but did not offer the two distant dwarves a cup, which clearly indicated an attitude.
Concerning the Ice Cold Empire’s breach of faith, Tang Mo certainly wouldn’t let bygones be bygones. To say he held grudges might be an exaggeration, but to call him forgiving would be a grave misunderstanding of the man.
Like many from Huaxia, he believed in the principle of offering fine wine to friends and a hunting rifle to wolves. In Tang Mo’s view, everyone who had ever wronged him fell into the category of the wolf...
The two dwarves glanced at the wine in Tang Mo’s hand and, with a hint of bitterness, averted their eyes. They knew their visit wouldn’t be easy, but they had reasons they couldn’t ignore.
Some empires don’t rely on sea transport and don’t worry about Tang Country controlling the Endless Sea, so they can temporarily ignore the challenge of Tang Country’s invincible battleships.
But every nation has the same vast sky above their heads, and they must all seriously consider whether Tang Country’s airplanes might drop bombs on them.
Yes, the two dwarves had come for the airplanes.
The lead envoy laughed awkwardly again, then began to speak, "The Ice Cold Empire made choices out of necessity, and despite great pressure from many countries, we have remained neutral throughout the war..."
"Hmm, it seems you’ve paid quite a price," Tang Mo moistened his throat with the wine, then gestured with a light wave of his hand, at which point Wes placed the documents just obtained from the intelligence department on the table.
"I found many good things near Beiyuan City, including Ice Cold branded cars, 130mm caliber howitzers, and apart from Mosin-Nagant rifles and the bodies of dwarves, I’ve found almost all industrial products from the Ice Cold Empire that could be bought..." Tang Mo gestured for the two dwarves to flip through the files, "There are photos, and detailed records of how they were seized from the hands of people from Shireck and Qi Country."
"Your Majesty..." The dwarf attendant began to say something but was stopped by a hand from the lead envoy. The dwarf didn’t even look at the pile of intelligence documents, but pulled out a handkerchief to wipe the sweat from his brow, while also carefully considering his next words.
Soon, he reorganized his speech and stated, "Your Majesty, you were once a merchant, some matters, as you know, are business matters... We, we..."
"You’re right, business is business," Tang Mo nodded slightly, agreeing surprisingly with the dwarf envoy’s point.
However, his following words made the two dwarves uncomfortable again, "However, you dwarves are really not good businessmen. You’ve taken my products without paying, so... isn’t it a bit inappropriate for you to be talking about business ethics?"
The ports and a large amount of mines that the dwarves had promised to Tang Mo were all taken back when he founded Tang Country.
These assets were priceless because Tang Mo had given the dwarves a complete industrial system and the opportunity to build a majestic empire.
With Tang Mo’s backing, only then could the Ice Cold Kingdom industrialize so rapidly, defeat the surrounding nations, and become today’s strongest in the Northern Region—the Ice Cold Empire!
"You established a country, Your Majesty! If we didn’t reclaim our lands leased to you, it would be tantamount to betraying our nation’s territory, and that is legally impermissible. Please understand our constrained position," the dwarf envoy insisted, as he steeled himself for the explanation.
"You didn’t seem to care so much about your territory before," Tang Mo said sarcastically, swirled the wine in his glass, "but in the end, you did not fulfill your promise to me! You took my goods without paying the agreed price!"
As he spoke, Tang Mo looked toward Wes, "Wes, do you remember the price the last person who owed us money paid?"
"Remember," Wes nodded gently, "and they forgot the price they paid, now they’re on the debtor’s list again."
"Oh! I remember now, the Poplar Kingdom, right?" Tang Mo nodded, as if he had just remembered such a place, "No worries, Wes, when we have time, we’ll go collect the debt."
This was almost a blatant threat, and the dwarf could hear it too, but he truly had no recourse.
After all, his visit was a petition for assistance, so he had to keep a very low profile, and even if his smile was stiff, he had to continue: "This time, we promise to pay in full."
"Your credibility isn’t that great, forgive my bluntness, but since you took my Eternal Winter City, your promises are worthless to me," Tang Mo curled his lip, showing disdain.
"..." Even with a thick skin, the Dwarf Envoy was at a loss for words. In the eyes of the Great Tang Group, the credit of the Ice Cold Empire was truly bankrupt—a fact that could not be disputed.
They had taken back Eternal Winter City, which belonged to the Great Tang Group, and occupied all the mines belonging to the Great Tang Group, even appropriating the machinery for mining the ores.
In the face of such facts, to talk about credibility was utter nonsense: this was not a matter of a few thousand Gold Coins, it was a breach involving tens of millions, even billions of Gold Coins.
However, the Dwarf Envoy still wanted to try to convince Tang Mo, so he spread his hands and countered, "Forgive my directness, Your Majesty... it’s not just our Ice Cold Empire that has lost its credibility with you, is it?"
"Poplar Kingdom, Suthers Empire, Laines Empire, Dorne Empire... you see, you surely can’t refuse to do business with almost the entire Eastern Continent, can you?" The dwarf seized on the key point, hinting at the idea that many offenders could not all be punished.
Tang Mo nodded, and then pointed in the air at the other party: "Not bad for someone who’s been to Brunas for a few days, your ability to focus on key points is quite good."
"In a sense, you are still my principal," the dwarf immediately climbed up by association, his smile becoming more natural and brilliant.
"So, tell me, what do you... want to buy from me?" Tang Mo genuinely couldn’t afford to give up a market spanning half the world, so he decided to first listen to their demands to see if he could change his precarious position of being at odds with the world.
"We plan to buy the technology to manufacture airplanes," the Dwarf Envoy stated his intent, his face full of hope as he stared at Tang Mo.
Tang Mo didn’t refuse immediately but pondered while staring into his glass for quite a while. As the two dwarf envoys began to grow restless waiting, he finally asked, "So, what kind of price do you plan to offer for my airplane manufacturing technology?"
"One hundred million Gold Coins... how about that?" the Dwarf Envoy ventured, offering what seemed like a very appealing price.
Tang Mo shook his head, clearly very dissatisfied with the price: "Sorry, but that money wouldn’t even cover the losses from the occupation of Eternal Winter City and the mines..."
"We can return the mines to you..." the Dwarf Envoy gritted his teeth, adding another huge sum to his proposal.
To his surprise, Tang Mo burst into hearty laughter: "Hahaha! I dare not accept your mines, for who knows when you might take them back again, then I’d have to go through the trouble of debt collection. I’m very busy and have no interest in playing such tiresome, fickle games with you."
At this point, the Dwarf Envoy was at a loss for words; his empire couldn’t afford more Gold Coins, as giving more would seriously disrupt the normal economic operations of his own country.
But to make up the difference with things like mines, given their history of unreliability, proved to be a problem for them.
"If one family can’t afford it, why not have several chip in together? Money in one hand, goods in another, clean and straightforward—wouldn’t that be nice?" Tang Mo couldn’t help but suggest an idea to the dwarves.
"Your Majesty, do you mean...?" The dwarf perked up at the prospect of Tang Mo truly being willing to sell the airplane technology, and excitedly inquired.
"Since the Ice Cold Empire alone can’t afford it, add Shireck, as well as the Dorne Empire, Laines Empire, Suthers Empire... and the Dahua Empire... would that work?" Tang Mo reeled off the names of several countries in one breath.
"How, how could that be possible?" the dwarf asked, obviously startled and unsure of Tang Mo’s intentions.
"One billion per country! What a fair price..." From Tang Mo’s eyes, the dwarf saw a fierce gleam.