189: Chapter 189 Economic Warfare

Just as Gao Feng was stationed in Qingzhou, watching the changing tides of the world with a cold eye.

A middle-aged scholar dressed in a green robe, with a thin face and an elegant demeanor, was leading a few attendants as they silently crossed the turbulent Great River and stepped onto the lands of the south.

He was none other than the chief strategist under the King of Wei, and the most renowned diplomat in the entire Central Plains—Zhang Guan!

His purpose in this journey was singular: to rely on his silver tongue to persuade the Southern Kings, who had long been divided and harbored their own ulterior motives, to cast aside their past grievances and form an "Anti-Gao Feng Alliance" capable of resisting Gao Feng's monstrous might!

This was a task that seemed almost impossible to complete.

However, Zhang Guan's face was filled with confidence.

Because in his hand, he held a trump card that no Southern warlord could refuse—fear!

A fear of Gao Feng that was deeply embedded in their bones!

The first stop: the State of Chu, Shouchun.

Inside the main hall of the Chu King's palace.

Xie Changhuan, the King of Chu, who possessed the greatest strength and the greatest ambition, sat high upon his throne, listening with a gloomy expression to Zhang Guan's passionate and bewitching lobbying.

"Your Highness, King of Chu!" Zhang Guan performed a respectful yet composed bow toward the King of Chu, who sat high above. His clear and resonant voice echoed for a long time within the vast hall.

"Surely, Your Highness must have already heard of the events in Qingzhou, right?"

Upon hearing this, a trace of imperceptible dread flashed across Xie Changhuan's usually dignified face.

He did not speak, merely letting out a cold snort, which served as his silent admission.

Seeing this, Zhang Guan chuckled inwardly; he knew the fish had taken the bait.

He took a step forward, his voice suddenly rising, filled with endless grief, indignation, and persuasive power!

"This scoundrel Gao Feng, claiming to answer the imperial decree to aid the King, is in reality a great parasite of the nation! He is brutal, inhumane, and addicted to slaughter! Before Yanmen Pass, he buried alive hundreds of thousands of surrendered soldiers under my master's brother's command! In Qingzhou City, he even let his troops massacre the city, washing it in blood for three days, causing hundreds of thousands of innocent commoners to die tragic deaths, leaving not even their bones behind!"

"Such atrocities are too numerous to record, infuriating both man and god! Compared to him, the Blood Wolf King entrenched in the Divine Capital is practically a benevolent, living Bodhisattva!"

"Now, this tyrant from the north has already aimed his blood-stained fangs at our prosperous Jiangnan! Qingzhou is merely the first stepping stone for his southward advance!"

Zhang Guan's words struck Xie Changhuan's heart like heavy hammers!

He paused, staring intensely at the King of Chu, whose face had already turned ashen, and said, word by word, in a tone filled with an endless sense of crisis:

"Your Highness, when the lips are gone, the teeth are cold!"

"Today, Gao Feng can destroy Qingzhou; tomorrow, he can cross the Great River to destroy our State of Chu!"

"By then, we will all be fish on the chopping block, left to his mercy! My tens of millions of Jiangnan subjects will also repeat the tragedy of Qingzhou, becoming ghosts under that tyrant's blade!"

"Does Your Highness have the heart to watch our beautiful Jiangnan landscape be wantonly trampled by the iron hooves of those northern barbarians?!"

"Is Your Highness truly willing to hand over the foundation you worked so hard to build to a tyrant who kills without blinking an eye?!"

Zhang Guan's voice was filled with bewitching power; every word seemed to carry magic, piercing deeply into Xie Changhuan's heart, which was full of ambition and suspicion!

Xie Changhuan's breathing became rapid; his hands gripped the armrests of his throne so tightly that his knuckles turned white from the exertion!

He knew that every word Zhang Guan spoke was the truth!

Gao Feng's powerful rise had already seriously threatened his survival, as well as the survival of all the warlords in the south!

"Then, in your opinion, sir, what should we do?" Xie Changhuan's voice was hoarse and filled with gravity.

Upon hearing this, a glint of triumph flashed in Zhang Guan's eyes; he knew he had already succeeded halfway.

"It is very simple! Vertical Alliance!"

"My master, the King of Wei, although harboring an irreconcilable hatred for Gao Feng, understands that the strength of Jinzhou alone is definitely no match for that northern tyrant. Therefore, my master is willing to set aside all personal grievances and prioritize the greater good!"

"My master, the King of Wei, is willing to be the vanguard, to be the pawn! We will mobilize the remaining two hundred thousand troops of Jinzhou to establish the first line of defense north of the River, buying precious assembly time for the Southern Kings!"

"And you, Your Highness, as the leader with the greatest strength and prestige in Jiangnan, only need to raise your arm and call out to unite the kings of Wu, Yue, Min, and Yue to form the 'Jiangnan Alliance,' assembling a million troops to station them south of the Great River!"

"In this way, we will echo each other from north to south, acting as horns to one another, and we will surely make that rebel Gao Feng not dare to take a single step across the line!"

"Furthermore, we can even take the initiative to secretly contact the Blood Wolf King in the Divine Capital, uniting our three forces to jointly exterminate this villain! Once it is done, this world will be ours to divide!"

Zhang Guan painted a tempting picture for Xie Changhuan, a vision so beautiful that he could not refuse it at all!

"Good!" Xie Changhuan stood up abruptly from his throne, his ambitious eyes burning with raging flames!

"We shall follow your advice, sir! I will immediately write letters to invite the Southern Kings to come to Shouchun to form an Alliance and pledge brotherhood! Together, we shall resist that northern tyrant!"

Under Zhang Guan's tireless lobbying and driven by that fear of Gao Feng deeply embedded in their bones.

Within a mere half a month, the Southern Kings, who were originally a loose sand and even had friction with each other, actually set aside their previous grievances. Under the leadership of Xie Changhuan, the King of Chu, they swore an oath of blood in Shouchun and formed an unprecedented "Jiangnan Alliance"!

They assembled the most elite troops under their respective commands, with a total force reaching as many as eight hundred thousand!

Eight hundred thousand troops, with banners blocking the sun and blades like a forest, marched majestically to the north bank of the Great River. Together with the Jinzhou Wei Army that had long been waiting there, they constructed a seemingly indestructible steel defense line spanning hundreds of miles!

The monstrous Killing Intent gathered by nearly a million troops even caused the turbulent Great River to cease its flow!

However, this was not their true trump card!

On the third day after the million-strong army was stationed on the riverbank, a massive fleet, pitch-black and filled with endless oppressive force, like an ancient behemoth awakening from the abyss, slowly sailed out of the Yangtze River's estuary and appeared before everyone's eyes!

It was an invincible fleet composed of exactly one hundred giant tower ships!

Each tower ship was over ten zhang high and fifty zhang long, and its grand scale was comparable to moving maritime fortresses!

Their hulls were built from the hardest South Sea ironwood, and the outer layer was wrapped in thick wrought copper, sufficient to withstand the vast majority of attacks!

And on the wide decks, hundreds of giant catapults capable of throwing huge stones hundreds of paces away, and terrifying ballistae capable of piercing heavy armor in succession, were densely mounted!

This was the "Black Water" fleet, the strongest naval force that the Great Qian Dynasty once relied upon to suppress the four seas and deter all directions!

After the fall of the previous dynasty, this fleet had been secretly hidden away by several great aristocratic families in Jiangnan, becoming their greatest bargaining chip with the Southern Kings!

And now, in order to resist Gao Feng, this common and even more terrifying enemy, they finally revealed this trump card they had kept hidden at the bottom of the box!

The appearance of the "Black Water" fleet was like a giant boulder, smashing heavily into the already turbulent situation of the world!

Everyone knew that a final decisive battle, which would determine the future destiny of the entire world, was about to erupt fiercely upon this vast Great River that separated the north and the south!

...

In the temporary imperial palace in Qingzhou.

Gao Feng quietly looked at the top-secret intelligence in his hand, which had been transmitted at the risk of their lives by "Sky Net" secret agents. His face showed no surprise, nor any anger; there was only a calmness as deep as an ancient well.

It was as if that so-called "Jiangnan Alliance," that so-called eight-hundred-thousand-strong army, and that so-called "Black Water" fleet were, in his eyes, nothing but a bunch of ragtag rabble, vulnerable to a single blow.

"Eight hundred thousand troops, the Black Water fleet... It seems that taking Jiangnan without bloodshed is impossible."

Gao Feng slowly put down the intelligence in his hand and walked to the huge military sand table. His eyes, as deep as the stars, quietly stared at the vast Great River that lay before him like a natural chasm.

"This tough battle must be fought. And it must be fought until they are convinced and submissive!"

His voice was calm, yet filled with a terrifying power capable of making the mountains and rivers change color!

However, contrary to everyone's expectations, Gao Feng did not immediately order his army to march south to engage in a decisive battle with the so-called "Jiangnan Alliance."

Instead, he seemed to have completely cast this matter to the back of his mind. Every day, he was either handling government affairs within the palace or playing with his wife and children in the back garden. He even had the leisure to enter the long-forgotten spirit spring space to inspect his "private territory."

As he had continuously taken concubines over these years and engaged in the great harmony of life with various women, the Dragon Qi within his body had become increasingly prosperous, and this mysterious spirit spring space had also undergone earth-shaking changes.

The space now was no longer the cramped location that was only the size of a small hut as it had been in the beginning.

Its scope had already expanded to cover an area of dozens of miles in radius!

Within the space, mountains, rivers, lakes, and plains were all present; it was practically a paradise independent of the main world!

The initial spirit spring had also long since transformed from a small spring eye the size of a bowl into a vast, misty lake spanning several miles!

Within the lake water, the Spiritual Qi was so abundant that it was almost on the verge of condensing into a solid form!

And in the very center of the lake, on an island shrouded in mist and filled with Immortal Qi, the mysterious small tree that had accompanied Gao Feng for many years had already grown into a towering tree that was a hundred zhang tall, with lush branches and leaves!

At this moment, on the topmost branch of that great tree, a mysterious fruit the size of a fist, crystalline and translucent throughout, as if carved from the purest jade, and emitting an alluring fragrance, was hanging all alone!

Gao Feng looked at that fruit, his eyes filled with endless anticipation and burning intensity!

He could clearly feel that from that fruit, a massive amount of life energy was radiating, enough to make his Soul tremble!

He knew that this fruit was his greatest hope to break through his current Bottleneck and step into the legendary realm of an Eighth-Rank Martial Saint!

Over the past few years, although his cultivation had been steadily improving, he had always been firmly stuck at the Peak of a Seventh-Rank Great Grandmaster, unable to take that final and most crucial step.

He had a premonition that as long as he could consume this fruit, he would be able to break through the shackles in one fell swoop and reach a brand-new level of life!

However, just as he was about to reach out to pick the fruit, he inexplicably stopped his hand.

He always felt that now was not the time.

This fruit was his final trump card, kept at the bottom of his chest, and it had to be used at the most critical moment!

Thinking of this, Gao Feng suppressed the impulse in his heart and turned to leave the spirit spring space.

...

Inside the study, the lights were bright.

A top-level military conference that would determine the future destiny of Jiangnan was being held in a tense and heated atmosphere.

"Your Highness! This general requests to fight! Please give me thirty thousand iron cavalry! I am willing to serve as the vanguard and trample that so-called Jiangnan Alliance for you!"

Ma Qianli, who had always been known for his bravery, was the first to stand up. In his eyes, which were like cold stars, a raging Battle Intent burned!

"Your Highness! This general also requests to fight! Those mere tower ships are nothing more than floating coffins on the water! As long as you give the order, I am willing to lead the Divine Power Battalion and smash them all into pieces!"

Xiang Hao, who resembled a demon god, also said in a muffled voice, his giant hammer already famished and impatient!

Looking at the fierce generals who were eager to show their strength and filled with high Battle Intent, a relieved smile appeared on Gao Feng's face.

But he slowly shook his head.

"I appreciate the Battle Intent of all you generals."

"However, for this battle, we cannot be in a hurry."

His gaze slowly fell upon Li Qingzhao, who had been silent all along but whose eyes were flashing with the light of wisdom.

"Qingzhao, tell us your thoughts."

Hearing this, Li Qingzhao slowly stood up, her pretty, delicate face filled with confidence and composure.

"Reporting to Your Highness, I believe that we do not need to rush into using force to deal with the Jiangnan Alliance."

"War has never been just a military confrontation; it is a comprehensive game of economy, public sentiment, and even culture!"

"The Jiangnan Alliance appears to be powerful and numerous, but its internal structure is not solid. They are just a mob gathered together temporarily out of fear, each harboring their own ulterior motives, riddled with contradictions."

"We can practice courtesy before force and launch a war without smoke and fire against them—an economic war!"

Li Qingzhao's voice was crisp and pleasant, filled with the radiance of wisdom.

"Over these years, under your wise leadership, Your Highness, the technology of the Hundred Crafts Institute has been changing with each passing day, and we have already achieved large-scale production of many daily necessities. Our iron pots, salt, cotton cloth, and porcelain are far superior to the local products of Jiangnan, which are still stuck in the handicraft workshop stage, in both quality and price!"

"We can use our 'Four Seas Bank' to import these high-quality and inexpensive 'Northern Goods' into Jiangnan on a large scale through a dumping strategy!"

"In this way, within half a year, the fragile, high-cost handicraft industry in Jiangnan will be shattered and defeated by our influx!"

"By then, the economy of Jiangnan will inevitably fall into chaos; countless craftsmen will lose their jobs, and countless commoners will complain endlessly because they cannot buy cheap daily necessities!"

"And we can take the opportunity to appear as saviors, using the grain and commodities in our hands to win their hearts!"

"At the same time, we can let Lord Xu Changqing's 'Sky Net' incite rebellion among the weak links within the Alliance who already have conflicts with the King of Chu, such as the King of Wu and the King of Yue, who have long been dissatisfied with the King of Chu!"

"As long as we can offer heavy profits and let them turn their weapons against the Alliance at the critical moment, that so-called 'Jiangnan Alliance' will collapse without being attacked!"

Li Qingzhao's words were like a bolt of lightning cutting through the night sky, instantly illuminating everyone's hearts!

The generals present, although they were rough men who only knew how to fight and kill, understood the terrifying nature of Li Qingzhao's words!

To kill, and to strike at the heart!

This was simply more vicious and more effective than directly crushing them with a large army!

"Good! What a great economic war! What a great way to subdue the enemy without fighting!"

Gao Feng slapped his thigh hard, his deep eyes filled with undisguised appreciation and admiration!

"Qingzhao, you are truly my Xiao He!"

"This matter is fully entrusted to you! The Hundred Crafts Institute, the Department of Finance, and the Sky Net will cooperate fully! I want that so-called 'Jiangnan Alliance' to have already completely rotted and collapsed from within before our iron hooves even step onto the land of Jiangnan!"

"Your subject obeys!"

...

In the following months, a war without smoke and fire quietly began across the entire land of Jiangnan.

Countless "Northern Goods" poured into the major cities of Jiangnan like a tide through various overt and covert channels.

Jiangnan, Wu Commandery, inside an ordinary farmhouse courtyard.

"Dear, come and see! This is the 'Rock Brand' iron pot I bought in the city today! Guess how much it cost?" A farm woman who looked to be in her early thirties held up a brand-new, gleaming black iron pot, showing it off to her husband with a face full of excitement.

"This pot looks so bright and sturdy; it must have cost at least one tael of silver, right?" The dark-skinned farmer put down his hoe and leaned over curiously.

"One tael of silver? Do you think they're robbing people!" The farm woman rolled her eyes at her husband triumphantly. "Let me tell you, such a good pot only cost one hundred wen! One hundred wen!"

"What?! One hundred wen?!" The farmer's eyes almost popped out. "This... how is this possible?! The thin and brittle broken pot we bought before cost us half a tael of silver!"

"What's impossible about it!" The farm woman's face was filled with pride. "Now, these 'Northern Goods' are being sold everywhere in the city! Not only iron pots, but also 'Snowflake Salt' that is as white as snowflakes, which only costs ten wen per jin! And that thick and warm cotton cloth, only two hundred wen per bolt! It's even cheaper than the homespun cloth we weave ourselves!"

"I heard that these things were all specially produced by the Prince of Yan in the North for us poor commoners!"

"Everyone says that the Prince of Yan is a tyrant who kills without blinking, but in my opinion, he is clearly a living Bodhisattva who saves people from suffering! If he could come to Jiangnan to be the emperor, our lives would be so much better!"

As the farm woman spoke, she used the newly bought iron pot to stir-fry a plate of fragrant green vegetables.

The farmer took a bite and felt the fragrance fill his mouth; it was a hundred times better than the vegetables stir-fried with the old broken pot!

Looking at the long-lost happy smile on his wife's face and listening to the happy laughter of his children because they had eaten delicious food, his heart, which had long been numbed by life, was completely filled with an unprecedented sense of happiness and satisfaction at this moment!

He silently muttered in his heart: "The Prince of Yan is benevolent and virtuous."

Similar scenes were constantly being played out in thousands of households across Jiangnan.

Public sentiment is a scale.

Whoever can give them a good life, they will support.

This truth is simple, yet unbreakable.

And Gao Feng had grasped this most fundamental truth.

He used those high-quality and inexpensive industrial products to easily win over the hearts of the vast majority of the common people.

In stark contrast to this were the increasingly acute contradictions and the rising wails within the Jiangnan Alliance.

Countless handicraft workshops went bankrupt due to the impact of "Northern Goods," and countless craftsmen became unemployed. They took to the streets to protest and demonstrate, demanding that their monarchs ban the influx of "Northern Goods."

And those Jiangnan aristocratic families who had intricate connections with the handicraft industry suffered even heavier losses. As if their own flesh had been cut off, they cried and wailed outside their respective monarchs' palaces every day, demanding severe punishment for the "profiteers" smuggling "Northern Goods."

For a time, the entire Jiangnan region fell into unprecedented chaos.

That so-called "Jiangnan Alliance," under Gao Feng's unreasonable dimensionality-reduction strike, had already shown signs of falling apart before the war even began.

Gao Feng stood on the city wall of Qingzhou, gazing far into the south of the Great River, his deep eyes flashing with the composure of someone who held everything under control.

"War is fought with military power, but even more so with economy and public sentiment. I want the Jiangnan Alliance to fall into chaos without a fight."

"Now, everything is ready, except for the east wind."

And the east wind he spoke of soon quietly blew in from the distant land of Wu and Yue.

...

Great Qian, Divine Capital, inside the Crown Prince's bedchamber.

That once high-spirited Great Qian Crown Prince Ji Cheng, who thought he could control everything, was now like a Puppet drained of all vitality, sitting slumped and deathly pale on the dragon bed made of gold.

Beside him stood the Imperial Tutor, Lin Zhengde, who had always been known for his superior intelligence and infallible planning.

However, at this moment, Lin Zhengde's face, which had always been full of wisdom and composure, was covered with gloom and spite.

"Your Highness, we cannot wait any longer!" Lin Zhengde's voice was hoarse, like two pieces of sandpaper rubbing against each other. "That rebel Gao Feng is now sweeping through the Central Plains like a hot knife through butter, having taken Qingzhou, and his military force is pointing directly at Jiangnan! If we let him take the land of Jiangnan as well, he will have the capital to contend with the whole world! By then, we, as monarch and subject, will truly become eternal sinners!"

"Then... what can we do?" The Crown Prince's voice was filled with endless dejection and despair. "Now that the Divine Capital has fallen and the Emperor has died tragically, we are already fish on the chopping block of that Blood Wolf King, waiting to be slaughtered... What... what else can we do?"