Chapter 561 The Rudiments of Empire (I)

On the day after Li Huacheng arrived in Recchi City, the atmosphere there became very delicate.

The excitement of the people’s welcome to friends from Zhongzhou State faded away. The day before, the media, which had praised the merits of the whole day, began to a.n.a.lyze the huge business opportunities and economic effects that were brought to Wulan State and even the whole of Eastern Europe by the close connection between Zhongzhou State and Wulan State.

All the media exaggerated the welcoming party held for Zhongzhou State’s people into the best party in Eastern Europe and Zhongzhou State directly. And to confirm this statement, Wulan State made an instant reaction. Civil aviation flights going to all parts of the world are temporarily grounded at Recchi City’s airport. And the international airport in Recchi City seemed to be the special zone of private planes. Since the day that Li Huacheng arrived until noon of the second day, private planes landed in the international airport one by one in a continuous stream.

Those decent patriarchs of these rich families in Eastern Europe were all gathered in Recchi City. They didn’t come alone but brought a professional negotiation team with them, and they all prepared very detailed plans in advance.

The top bodyguards, business elites, and rich men kept pouring out of the airport. When they arrived in Recchi City, they used all their contacts to see the delegation members of Zhongzhou State. Some of them had the same intention of cooperating. Before they could meet the honored guests, they had become compet.i.tors with each other, and there were even several conflicts.

But no matter how they competed with each other, they showed extreme docility to the members from Zhongzhou State.

These men in the top cla.s.s in Eastern Europe were the ones who were truly able to see the current situation. But they were all businessmen. They used the power of capital to manipulate the world. Somehow it was a world purer than the Dark World.

In the world of capitalists, there was no righteousness or sense of belonging to the country. All they wanted was profit.

So they knew that there would be no cooperation for Zhongzhou State in coming to Eastern Europe. Their true purpose was completely plundering. But when the media was praising, they echoed it the most.

Whether through robbery or cooperation, it would be good if there was profit for them.

So in less than a day, Li Tianlan received countless gifts.

The gifts were varied, including decades or even hundreds of years of valuable ancient armor collected by every family, the famous swords used by some famous generals in Eastern Europe, and some remarkable medals. As they knew that Dongcheng Rus.h.i.+ was around Li Tianlan, some precious gems were sent over.

The top economic circle in Eastern Europe had always been very strange, or you could say that it was a common problem for every capitalist country: the rich ones in the top cla.s.s were so powerful that they could control everything, but only a few people could be the top elites. Like the old four families. They occupied most of the resources of Eastern Europe. With the benefit chain they created, some small and powerful families rose with the trend. The so-called prosperity of Eastern Europe was supported by the four families and many small families. As for some middle-level powerful families, there was little room for them to develop in Eastern Europe. When many small and powerful families sent gifts to Li Tianlan, they only looked at the gifts list. The approximate valuation made by professionals had exceeded 100 million. It could be said that Li Tianlan made a killing.

Li Tianlan didn’t refuse. He received all the gifts. Actually, it was nothing about corruption. Behind every gift lay a social relations.h.i.+p in Eastern Europe. All the relations.h.i.+ps entwined could cover the whole of Eastern Europe. No matter how delicate Zhongzhou State’s att.i.tude toward Li Tianlan was, at least the five countries in Eastern Europe would be Li Tianlan’s world in the future.

Li Tianlan was quite suspicious of these small rich families, and vice versa.

When he received their gifts, it could be the first step of contact. Once there was a good beginning, they could go deeper naturally.

Now the Qin Clan, which had seemingly become the most powerful family in Eastern Europe, had not given gifts. However, Qin Dongchao, the Patriarch of the Qin Clan, had appeared in the Manlisi Hotel in Recchi City early in the morning. The first man he looked for was Li Tianlan, not Li Huacheng, which to some extent showed the att.i.tude of the Qin Clan.

But it seemed that he had shown up a little too early. He arrived at the hotel at five o’clock in the morning, but Li Tianlan did not appear in front of Qin Dongchao until nearly eight o’clock.

Li Tianlan looked tired, but his smile was still calm. He shook hands with Qin Dongchao and sat down on the sofa. He seemed to be apologetic. He shook his head and said with a smile, “Mr. Qin, I’m sorry for being late.”

He had not come back since he had left the Office of the President. It was late at night after chatting with the Master of Samsara Palace. Later, after Dongcheng Rus.h.i.+ sent another piece of material, it was nearly three o’clock by the time he finished reading it. Qin Weibai stayed by his side after taking a bath.

While he was read the materials, she was looking at him.

The perfect time, a beautiful landscape, and pretty people. They could not disappoint.

Li Tianlan forced himself to read through the data calmly, then immediately turned into a beast, embracing the body that could drive the world crazy and not going to sleep until dawn. Even when Qin Dongchao just arrived at Recchi City, the last “war” between him and Qin Weibai was not over.

Li Tianlan got the call, but he was too lazy to move. After two hours of unsound sleep, he finally struggled to get up and go to the Manlisi Hotel.

“Your Highness is busy. You have to take care of everything. I am half the landlord. I am ashamed to say that I have not come until today.” Qin Dongchao smiled and shook his head.

“I remember the efforts made by the Lin Clan at this time. Mr. Qin, we don’t need to be so official like this.” Li Tianlan smiled.

Dongcheng Rus.h.i.+ served two cups of tea aside.

When the tea was placed beside Li Tianlan, his delicate little nose moved, and a fragrance that was unfamiliar but doomed to be unforgotten penetrated into his nostrils.

Dongcheng Rus.h.i.+ looked at Li Tianlan and pursed her lips.

Li Tianlan was a little embarra.s.sed. He coughed and said directly, “Has Mr. Qin come for the dinner tonight as well?”

“Of course.”

Qin Dongchao replied to him with a smile. This patriarch of a rich family who was unimaginably rooted in everyone’s heart was over 50. Although he was still handsome, his face looked a little old. Yet his eyes were deep and his behavior was strict. Every move he made was quite energetic with a top-cla.s.s power, dignified and peremptory.

“It’s just part of the reason, not even the main one.”

Qin Dongchao said softly, “The Qin Clan will cooperate with Your Highness. I believe that in any case, Your Highness will not treat his friends poorly.”

This was not a retreat, but a serious explanation.

Tonight’s dinner in Recchi City, to some extent, was the beginning of the division of interests of the five countries in Eastern Europe by Zhongzhou State. All the interests of the five countries would be in the hands of Zhongzhou State, which would use these interests to cooperate with the local giants of Eastern Europe, digest them together, and then tie them to their own war chariot. This was a feast, crazy and unimaginable.

When the cooperation between Zhongzhou State and many powerful families was gradually deepened, and after the interests of the five countries were completely squeezed, Zhongzhou State would also take every powerful family as the starting point to conquer, plunder, and squeeze the interests of other Eastern European countries besides the five countries. These leaders might not be blind to this, but sadly, no one cared about it at all.

As Li Tianlan’s most staunch ally, the weight of the Qin Clan couldn’t be overestimated. Qin Dongchao didn’t have to come over for such a dinner. If he really had come over because of the dinner at night, it was not only that he didn’t trust Li Tianlan, but also that he was narrow-minded and trying to make people laugh.

“I’m here today, and the most important thing is to meet with Your Highness. In addition, I’m very interested in some things in your hand. I don’t know if Your Highness can give them up,” Qin Dongchao said tentatively.

“What things?”

Li Tianlan felt it a bit strange.

“I heard that Your Highness has received many gifts yesterday. I think if those small families are not stupid, they should know that gifts are just the beginning. Since you have received them, it’s natural to wait for their further intentions. So if there’s no accident, soon every family should reveal their true purpose with sincerity. What the Qin Clan wants is that sincerity. Even part of it will also do,” Qin Dongchao said quietly. At this moment, he didn’t feel smart, but intelligent.

Li Tianlan narrowed his eyes, feeling surprised. Actually, Qin Dongchao was wrong about one thing.

The sincerity of every family was not on its way. Some families with quick reactions had already sent their sincerity to Li Tianlan the first time. This sincerity was simple and astonis.h.i.+ng.

Within one day, at least 20 small families wanted to cooperate with Li Tianlan and were willing to sell part of their family’s core business stock at a low price.

And the one with the highest proportion even was willing to sell 45 percent stock to Li Tianlan at a low price.

They invited Li Tianlan to jointly develop their family’s current core business.

Although it was a small family, it was still a rich family. Their core business in some way was equal to some core businesses in the whole of Eastern Europe.

This was the material that Li Tianlan had read last night.

It could be predicted that at present, these fast-reacting giants were only the first ones. Maybe in the afternoon or maybe in the evening, but they understood that more and more giants would continuously show their core business and invite Li Tianlan to develop together.

Li Tianlan couldn’t give these things up. This could be the most important chip in Eastern Europe.

If Li Tianlan could hold all those core businesses of these families, then he could hold the core of Eastern Europe in some way. It was such a profit that it was huge and unimaginable.

The only flaw was that if he wanted to obtain these profits, he needed to make huge investments in the beginning.

No one could deny that it was a good thing. Li Tianlan had a far-reaching view.

He really wanted to have this big cake. He really wanted to take all the core businesses from every giant family, without hesitation and without issues. But there was one problem—he had no money.