Resurrection Empire

Chapter 1547: Chapter 580: Long River of Garbage Planets, When It Rains, It Pours_3

This massive array of garbage planets was dragged over, forming a huge planetary system’s ultra-distant orbit ring together with the garbage planets from the Far Border Star Domain that had arrived early.

From a distance, it seemed as if the stars had been fitted with "Saturn’s rings," and it was quite magnificent.

Standing on the habitable planets of this star system, gazing at night, one could see that long river of garbage planets, resembling the Milky Way.

Tang Tu, Mao Jin, and Wu You observed the countless sea of garbage planets below from the spaceship, feeling a sense of satisfaction that they had not disgraced the Earl’s old guard and had fulfilled their mission.

But they also harbored concerns in their hearts.

Sena and her advisory team could understand the situation, so how could these three Red Blade Clan business magnates not comprehend it?

Five years ago, they exhausted the Red Blade Clan’s liquidity and incurred huge loans.

Nonetheless, despite the stealth coating factory working overtime at full throttle, the liquidity remained far below its previous state, and monthly loan repayments strained their utmost capabilities.

Moreover, it was precisely during these five years that enterprises under the Duke Wenle Mansion quietly increased their product prices.

Although the products were still cost-effective compared to homemade ones, the slight price increase for each product gathered considerable capital.

In detail calculations, during these five years, the per capita living standard of the Red Blade Clan had not only failed to improve but had slightly declined compared to the past.

Of course, no one would complain, as the Red Blade Clan had been established for a relatively short time, and the core citizens still remembered the arduous journey from Source Star, as well as the miserable past days on Source Star; even the former pirate auxiliary citizens hadn’t forgotten the precariousness of their previous lives.

Regardless, the situation was already very precarious.

Tang Tu anxiously said, "We’re in big trouble. Now that the material reserves are established, with the Earl’s planning, I guess we will definitely find ways to reuse these scrap metals and significantly expand industrial activities. However, industrial expansion means massive energy demand. Energy cells, unlike ordinary products, suffer substantial losses when traversing the Star Gate, so they mainly rely on the domestic supply from the Nanxiang Star Cluster. So when our demand rises, the energy prices within the Nanxiang Star Cluster are bound to increase. Currently, the clan’s economy is barely sufficient; if energy prices increase further, we will be unable to make ends meet."

"That’s right." Mao Jin nodded silently.

Wu You, however, was very confident, "Don’t worry, the Earl’s wisdom is profound like the sea; he surely considered this situation."

At this moment, their secretary suddenly walked into the conference room, looking alarmed and said, "Something’s happened."

"What happened?"

The three asked in unison.

The secretary didn’t answer, instead handing over a document just sent from the Duke Wenle Mansion.

The three looked, all fell silent.

They had been "betrayed."

For years, they had built excellent personal relationships within the Duke Wenle Mansion’s star domain with numerous merchants, marquises, earls, viscounts, and other nobles.

Yet just now, their "good brothers" sent a joint signed notice, stating they had completed the ship modifications and would immediately stop purchasing Red Blade coatings.

They also announced that they would not renew their respective sales agent contracts for Red Peak coatings.

Not only that, they also informed the trio that the Duke had recently awakened once and felt that the zero tariff treatment provided to Earl Red Blade had effectively helped the Red Blade Clan achieve significant development. Now, it was time to withdraw this benefit and return to the Empire’s common 20% tariff rate.

The most terrifying thing is that this 20% tariff is a bilateral import-export tax.

This means that from now on, products shipped from the Duke Wenle Mansion will immediately increase in price by 20%.

As if the roof leaks during overnight rain, the Red Peak Commerce Department also received bad news almost simultaneously, as almost all agents located at the Empire Core sent emails in short succession, expressing not to renew agent contracts.

This was certainly the handiwork of the Duke Wenle Mansion.

Who knows what price Duke Wenle paid to orchestrate a situation where the Red Blade Clan was caught off guard.

Under consecutive sniping, the Red Peak Commerce Department quickly found that even if the garbage planet renovation project was put aside, the normal energy supply within the Red Blade Clan would encounter problems.

The more severe situation was, due to long-term industrial dependence on the Duke Wenle Mansion, many routine material production enterprises within the Red Blade Clan substantially shrank.

Even if the technology was still present, attempting a quick rebuild to restore production capacity was already unrealistic.

Meanwhile, the scoundrel Liu An also made a move.

The Nanxiang Earl Mansion announced that due to the Red Blade Clan’s continuous high energy consumption over the past dozen years, procuring a large quantity of energy cells from the Nanxiang Earl Mansion caused the latter to experience energy shortages as well.

Therefore, the energy companies under the Nanxiang Earl Mansion immediately announced a 50% price hike, effective immediately.

Ren Zhong’s "at all costs" national strategy of preparing for forty-three years was finally severely damaged after running smoothly for over ten years.