Chapter 2150 - 2: Declaration of War and Action

Chapter 2150: Chapter 2: Declaration of War and Action

Zhao Xing and Carlos had been at odds for a long time; it could be traced all the way back to when Zhao Xing took part in the Primordial Conference.

Back then Zhao Xing was far too weak. Even when the Territory Great Zhou had conquered was destroyed by the Carlos Family’s proxy, Lord Rainbow Moon, he could only swallow the insult.

At that time the Empire’s grand development plan for the Desolate Domain had yet to begin; the conflict of interests in the Annihilation Star Corridor wasn’t considered very big.

After that, he bought the development rights to the Ancient Star Path from Ruyin Carlos.

Ruyin Carlos once sent people to approach Zhao Xing, demanding to rejoin the development and get a cut of the profits, but Zhao Xing ruthlessly rejected him.

Because at that time he already had Emperor Hongshan, Five Poison Emperor, Emperor Lu Shan, and Zuo Qiyu coming in as shareholders.

The thirty-two Dharma Assemblies even had Bo Wei in attendance; even if someone wanted to sabotage things, they couldn’t.

Later he found Emperor Meng Wu of the Martial God Temple to serve as backing, and Zhao Xing originally thought the Carlos Family would give up on any further schemes.

Yet judging from this intelligence, ever since his true body went missing and his avatar merely followed the preset objectives, the Carlos Family once again started making moves.

Because the profits generated along the Ancient Star Path were too enormous; they even drew the interest of that Carlos Venerable.

And with Zhao Xing, the de facto controller, missing, during the two thousand years of his disappearance the Carlos Family launched two rather severe offensives.

They tried to kick Great Zhou and Zhao Xing out of the game and seize a portion of the Ancient Star Path’s rights.

"Ji Si, what exactly is the story behind this intel?" Zhao Xing immediately sought out Ji Si to question her about what happened back then.

"Grand Minister of Agriculture, at that time both Five Poison and Hongshan were still in the midst of breaking through to Demigod, while the Carlos Demigod Family was tremendously powerful. In the end I had no choice but to seek aid from Emperor Meng Wu of the Martial God Temple. Only under his intervention did we survive that calamity."

"Afterwards we no longer suffered military assaults, but the conflict mutated into an economic one instead," Ji Si recalled.

"The Carlos Family leveraged its colossal capital advantage to begin merging the upstream and downstream industrial chains Great Zhou held domestically and abroad, and they bought up our debts at a premium."

"They mounted a massive commercial siege against us."

"During the middle two hundred Solar Years of Wilderness 2 Epoch year 1998, the materials for Daoist Soldiers, Elixirs, Artifact Refining materials, the Weaving Bureau for the Ancient Star Path... aside from plant-based raw materials, troop types, and the Star Land materials supplied by Ancient Hill which did not have abnormal price spikes, almost everything else went up more than fiftyfold."

Ji Si said with feeling, "If not for that one harvest in the cave dwellings being large enough, and for the Grand Minister of Agriculture having left ample funds, we would have collapsed in the very first wave of the encirclement."

"After that, the Da Zhou Chamber of Commerce increased Emperor Bishui’s shareholding ratio. Together with the Grand Minister of Agriculture’s friends in the Primordial Realm making a concerted effort, we finally stabilized the supply of daily materials, though the pace of development slowed down."

Zhao Xing listened, his expression dark. The armed assault had been blocked by Emperor Meng Wu, but this kind of targeted commercial offensive against Great Zhou was beyond even Meng Wu’s reach.

In this capital war, with the Carlos Family’s deep foundations, shorting Great Zhou was practically effortless.

"We tightened our debt ratios, cut many lines of business, and adhered to the principle of steady, cautious operation, refusing to leave the Carlos Family any more openings. We barely endured fifty bitter years."

"After that, the Carlos Family intensified their siege. This time, Senior Zuo and Senior Lu Shan had no choice but to join in, and even Senior Hongshan and the Five Poison Elders interrupted their closed-door cultivation."

"Even so, we were still at a disadvantage in this round of encirclement. A great many projects were forced to halt. Only that one exploratory route you had originally planned remained untouched, and because it was in cooperation with the Martial God Temple’s direction, no problems occurred there."

Zhao Xing merged with the memories of his ’Annihilation Star avatar,’ and at once a brutal financial war unfolded vividly in his mind.

As a founding Demigod Family, the Carlos Family’s rallying power was beyond doubt. This was not merely a battle between Great Zhou and the Carlos Family, but a struggle between new and old power elites.

Even though Great Zhou became overnight-rich after excavating more than three thousand cave dwellings, compared to an epoch-spanning clan like Carlos, it still wasn’t enough to be called a true financial behemoth. Even with Five Poison Emperor, Zuo Qiyu, and Emperor Hongshan calling in their circles of friends, they were still on the back foot.

At the peak of intensity, the Arrays and Mechanisms along the Ancient Star Path were losing 100,000 Five Emperors’ Money every single day they operated—equivalent to an Emperor Level force going bankrupt every day!

Killing without spilling blood, the Carlos Family used precisely this kind of method to force Great Zhou and Zhao Xing to compromise and let them share in the spoils.

"The turning point came seventy-eight years later, when two Origin Realms and one Silent Annihilation Realm were discovered in succession along the Ancient Star Path," Ji Si said.

"This was our second great windfall after the Cross-Domain Ship and the discovery of the cave dwelling inheritances."

"Ten years later, I, Emperor Hongshan, Five Poison Emperor, and Emperor Lu Shan all stepped into the ranks of Demigods."

"It was precisely because of that harvest and our increased strength that the Carlos Family realized they could no longer kill us through economic means. And with Emperor Meng Wu mediating between us, that crisis was finally defused."

As Zhao Xing recalled that invisible war, he couldn’t help but break into a cold sweat. "Great Zhou truly wasn’t fated to perish. If those three Small Worlds had been discovered a few years later, we probably wouldn’t have been able to hold out."

"Not fated to perish," Ji Si murmured in a daze. "If we’d been just a little slower, it would’ve been over."

"We survived that time, but we also came to feel the Carlos Family’s overwhelming strength. So this intelligence was merely filed away; we had no strength to launch any counterattack."

"The Carlos Family has gone too far," Zhao Xing said, and immediately summoned the key personnel, opening a Cause and Effect communication.