“At this moment, it’s like a person has stretched the bow to its maximum limit, but the problem is that the person pulling the bow himself has no idea because he is confused by the cheers all around him.

If he stopped, the people cheering around would be the first to disagree, and everyone would lose the fun. But if he ignored it and increased the force, the final result would be that the bow would break. As for whether he would be injured or not, only God knows. "

"He has another way to avoid getting hurt, and that is to shoot the arrow."

"But no one can predict what consequences will be brought about after this arrow is shot. I don't know about others, but the emperor and my father have actually realized this problem. Do you know why they don't stop it?" Colliver stared at Caitlin's changing expression and did not embarrass her. He drank half a glass of red wine on the table in one breath.

"Actually, you have already guessed it. Both your father and my father believe that this arrow will hit Kurma. Moreover, they have been preparing for this battle for a long time and there is absolutely no possibility of failure." After saying this, he lay down on the rocking chair as if all his bones were pulled out.

"Is there really no way to resolve this issue peacefully? Does it have to be a life-and-death fight to find the answer?" Caitlin muttered to herself.

"Give up! The emperor needs it to collapse in order to boost the morale of the empire. When everyone is in despair, the emperor will come forward to turn public opinion to Kurma. Everyone will fight to the death with Kurma with hatred. This is what the emperor needs." After saying this, Colliver picked up a book and covered his face with it.

"You've seen it a long time ago, right? I told you that you're smarter than us and have learned more than us, but why didn't you tell me earlier?" Tears flowed from Caitlin's eyes. This strong woman who had never suffered for more than 30 years could no longer control her tears.

"I don't want you to be sad, I don't want any of us to be sad. Sometimes I hate myself for why I asked him to form the mission together, why I listened to his lectures for you and ended up learning them myself. I hate myself for being incompetent and not being able to settle it no matter which side it is." The voice came from under the book, and the smaller it was, the more unbearable it was.

The party had lost its interest at this point, and just as Caitlin and Marcy were saying goodbye and walking to the door, Colliver stopped her.

"Caitlin, give up. It will be useless even if you go looking for him! The civilians of the empire are innocent, and so are Maple Leaf Territory and Kurma. Everything that has happened now was forced upon him by the empire. If you really care about the friendship between us, don't make things difficult for him.

There are actually no innocent people on either side, and everyone is just trying to protect themselves.”

"I understand. Thank you, Colliver! Thank you for still considering us. But I will do my best, whether it's for him or the empire, I will do my best." After saying that, he left with the child, along with Marcy.

Everyone keeps it to themselves until the window paper is broken. But once someone breaks it, all kinds of monsters and demons emerge.

As Caitlin continued to exhort those who held the bills, most people would not listen, but there were always some people who were more suspicious and wanted to lock in the money.

As soon as the first person started to sell his bills or exchange them for physical objects, Caitlin knew that she had done something stupid, and there was no way to remedy this stupidity.

More and more people began to run on the banks. No matter whether it was gold coins or physical objects, they were exchanged in an instant without any preparation. When people heard that their real money would turn into a few pieces of waste paper in their hands, the capital suddenly became chaotic. Countless holders began to run on the exchanges, which were surrounded by layers of enemies.

People in several banks were panicking because they also had many second mortgage bills in their hands. At this time, both Gustav and Duke Kirk were getting restless. Although they had expected some disturbances, they did not expect the current result.

The bills in hand cannot be cashed and the working capital is insufficient because all has been used for construction and land speculation. Since gold coins cannot be exchanged, I will exchange them for physical objects. After all, physical objects can also be useful.

Unfortunately, it was only at this time that everyone discovered that many goods in the imperial market began to be in short supply. Gustav and Duke Kirk would not worry about the closure of the exchange, but they had to pay attention to the fact that there was no food and other materials in the country.

After an all-out investigation, the empire discovered that all the materials had flowed to the surrounding principalities or federations. A scene of collapse was laid out before their eyes. One-tenth of all the land in the empire was now used to plant mulberry trees, and fruit trees accounted for 1 percent.

Including various cotton, vegetables and various cash crops from Maple Leaf Territory, less than half of the land in the entire empire is still used to grow food.

Three years ago, when the empire underwent comprehensive reform, grain imports had already begun, but no one paid attention to it because the empire’s great cause had enough grain reserves to sustain it for two years.

But now the empire has unknowingly found itself strapped for many of its important supplies. Food can be replanted but that takes time and if the plantations are destroyed and food is replanted, the empire will have to face the issue of compensation.

Gustav refused to subsidize the nobles, and his policies repeatedly harmed the interests of the nobles. If he offended the largest number of civilians at this time, even Gustav would not be able to bear the consequences.

The situation that was originally under control is now out of their control. Several bigwigs began to panic and try to stop the losses. The capital has been in turmoil for three days. During these three days, many people have been chased for debts by banks or their houses have been confiscated. Some of these people could not accept it and committed suicide by taking poison. There were also people who were forced by loan sharks to sell their children.

The original plan was brought forward when Gustav issued a statement as the emperor of the empire. The statement mentioned that everything that happened today was caused by the Kurma Kingdom. In order to retaliate against Kurma's despicable behavior, he wanted to seek justice for everyone in the empire.

In the midst of the public excitement, people who had nothing joined the army one after another, hoping to exchange their military achievements for some opportunities.

These people were sent to the military camp to complete basic training. The atmosphere was created by themselves, but they naturally needed to deal with the next spies themselves.

Although the empire had huge grain reserves, it could not last long with only outflowing grain without importing. It was already July and it was too late to replant, and many crops had reached the harvest season. Faced with this dilemma, Gustav had no choice but to send troops directly.

This time the troops were no longer small-scale like in the past. The main combat force was 600,000 and the auxiliary forces reached an unprecedented 800,000. In addition, countless civilians served in this campaign.

Forcing the empire to send out troops rashly when all supplies are in short supply is a huge strategic goal set by Lin Xingchen. In the past few years, Kurma has repeatedly controlled the planting projects on all lands in the territory, and except for some necessary cash crops, all other lands are used to plant grains.

First, large quantities of grain were exported to the Sharpnero Empire to suppress their local grain prices, and then cotton and raw silk were purchased at a premium. The result was that a large number of plantations were mainly planted with cotton, mulberry and hemp.

Cotton, silk and linen are made into finished products in Maple Leaf Territory and then flow back to the empire, which once again drives down the local prices. Although Kulma seems to be at a disadvantage in this round trip, there are many profitable aspects.

This was a plan that lasted for several years. For this plan, the major territories endured the price difference and losses and persevered all the way. In the end, the profit was turned into profit. It was not just the monetary profit that was the tip of the iceberg.

The real victory came from disrupting the layout of the empire. No matter how much cotton and mulberry trees were planted, they could not be eaten, and canned food made from fruit trees could not be eaten as meals.

More than half of the land in the entire empire was planted with what Lin Xingchen wanted them to grow. Every harvest season, a large number of caravans would pull the empire's grain out of the city, and those plantations and landlords would happily sell the grain they grew, and then forcibly buy grain from the surrounding kingdoms at a very low price.

You can earn some profit from the price difference by reselling the gold coins, and then invest the gold coins you earn into the commodity exchange in exchange for bills.

The simpler the operation, the easier it is to confuse people, because it is so simple that one can play it as long as someone teaches him. I don't know who said this, "If you don't make money, you are a bastard." No one knows who spread this saying, but it may not sound good, but the meaning is simple and clear.

No one wants to be this bastard, so the exchange has become extremely popular.

Kurma pulled out cartloads of inedible things and exchanged them for cartloads of food and other items. This was one of the operating methods.

If you encounter a situation where barter is not possible but gold coins are needed for trading, it will be even simpler. You can use the gold coins to buy the agreed-upon bills, and then take them to the Imperial Bank for a mortgage loan.

In the beginning, the mortgage time and loan were strictly controlled, but as the funds grew and the value of the bills increased, the banks became bolder.

The banks are holding more and more bills and they are starting to get scared, but it's useless because the market is already oversubscribed. Once they refuse to accept or demand the return of the loans, it will inevitably cause panic and they will suffer greater losses.

A vicious cycle was formed in which banks were afraid of losses and only cautiously accepted loan mortgages. However, if Imperial Bank didn't work, they could go to Chaoyang Bank, and if these two banks didn't work, they could go to other banks.

Gustav felt the pain all of a sudden. His original intention to speed up and catch up with Kurma had ruined himself. The massive opening of banks had caused the entire empire's finance to lose control of its reins.

After calming down, Gustav negotiated with Kirk, the Prime Minister and others to divert the fire to Kurma to ease the situation in the empire.