Chapter Summaries

Lin Qi supported O'Neill's weapons-cooperation proposal in principle, then attended a meeting where the Department of Defense proposed taking control of Nagaril's military forces. The meeting ended with the Department of Defense suggesting that a swift civil war could resolve resistance to its plans.

• O'Neill offered Lin Qi favorable prices on weapons, and Lin Qi agreed to discuss cooperation at the meeting.
• At the meeting, the Duncan Family's young representative opposed sending weapons to Nagaril, warning they could fall into unsafe hands.
• O'Neill and the Department of Defense representative argued that domestic transactions and strict records would limit the risks of weapons reaching unauthorized groups.
• The Department of Defense representative proposed that Federation forces replace much of Nagaril's National Defence Force and take direct control of military operations when needed.
• The Duncan Family representative demanded the right to appoint his own personnel, but the Department of Defense representative rejected the demand and said the local ruler could be replaced if necessary.
• When someone questioned whether everyone could be replaced, the Department of Defense representative said Nagaril might soon erupt into a civil war that would end quickly.

At a United Development Company meeting, Lin Qi discussed how the joint military exercise and stronger national power would reshape international affairs. He later told Provincial Governor Drag that Federal troops would be stationed in Nagaril, prompting Drag to accept that his country would lose its independence and decide to prepare his son to take over before leaving for the Federation.

• During a meeting break, Lin Qi predicted that the joint military exercise would spur military reforms and localized conflicts, while international trade would depend increasingly on national power.
• After the break, the United Development Company agreed to include Federal military assistance in Nagaril's reconstruction plan.
• Lin Qi called Provincial Governor Drag and informed him that Federal troops would enter Nagaril to maintain order and protect rulers and investors.
• When Drag asked what would happen if people resisted, Lin Qi said the Federation would replace Nagaril's ruler.
• Drag asked to abdicate to his son after the current matters ended and to move to the Federation, and Lin Qi agreed that he could make arrangements.
• After taking pills for his stomachache, Drag called for the young master to come to his study.

Provincial Governor Drag told his Third Son he planned to step down and warned him that the Federation controlled Nagaril, but the son accepted the burden, eager to take power. Nagaril’s leaders approved a Federation military presence, while Lin Qi supported Old Fox after his tax-evasion conviction, leaving Little Fox cleared and the Fox family business secure.

• Provincial Governor Drag told his Third Son that his worsening health had led him to step down and explained that the Federation had already made Nagaril’s leaders into puppets.
• Provincial Governor Drag offered his Third Son a chance to give up the governorship and leave for the Federation, but the son said he believed he could handle the responsibility.
• Nagaril’s Provincial Governors tacitly accepted the New King’s proposal to invite Federation troops to maintain stability, and the proposal passed unanimously.
• Old Fox pleaded guilty to tax evasion, received a five-year prison sentence, and met Lin Qi at the courthouse after the trial.
• Lin Qi explained that he had supported Old Fox because Old Fox had kept his oath and protected him, while Little Fox remained cleared and the Fox family business was secure.

Lin Qi arranged for Old Fox to serve his prison sentence in comfort and promised to protect his son. Days later, Governor Sedel’s staff met with Lin Qi to discuss his demands for Amelia, leaving the region poised to become a testing ground for major reforms.

• Lin Qi told Old Fox he had arranged comfortable prison conditions, and Old Fox asked him to look after his son before being taken away.
• Several days later, Solun brought two of Governor Sedel’s staff members to meet Lin Qi and discuss his three demands.
• Lin Qi explained that fully opening Amelia’s market meant keeping the government from interfering in market developments.
• Lin Qi argued that competition would regulate prices and warned that Federation merchants could outcompete Gefra’s protected capitalists.
• Lin Qi discussed his other demands concerning sensitive public facilities and resources, and learned that Governor Sedel wanted to use Amelia as an experimental zone for reform.

Akumali watched the Federal-backed crackdown crush the Resistance Organization and concluded that Nagaril needed to change through ideas rather than armed resistance. Meanwhile, Lin Qi learned that the campaign had also broken up gangs and improved public order across the Amelia Region.

• Akumali questioned whether armed resistance could succeed as the Team Leader sent the convoy to the docks, where he saw Federal soldiers and learned that thousands of troops had arrived.
• Over the following weeks, Federal mercenaries captured Anti-Government Armed Forces members and executed or sent them to labor camps, while Akumali transported some of the dead.
• After the fighting subsided, Akumali connected the defeat of the Resistance Organization to Blackstone Security and concluded that Nagaril needed to grow stronger through ideas and peaceful change.
• A local defector told Lin Qi that residents felt safer, while gangs across the Amelia Region were arrested, publicly denounced, executed, or sent to labor camps.

Lin Qi began recruiting local workers in Zhu Lisi, using paid factory jobs as part of his plan to build goodwill and stimulate consumer demand. As applications grew, Gefran merchants watched uneasily, while Lin Qi remained focused on a phone call with Mark.

• Lin Qi learned that Gefran merchants were organizing to compete with Federation businesses, and he ordered the recruitment of two thousand workers in Zhu Lisi at Nagaril-level wages.
• The next morning, locals posted signs offering factory work with daily pay, but few people initially came forward.
• Gefran merchants speculated that Lin Qi was trying to curry favor with the locals and mocked the recruitment effort.
• A frail young man applied, followed by more locals, as merchants, officials, and Federation traders watched the growing crowd.
• Lin Qi ignored the recruitment scene because he expected it to succeed and saw the jobs as a way to encourage local consumption.
• Lin Qi spoke by phone with Mark, the former mayor of Sabine City's nephew, whom he had invited to work in Amelia.

Lin Qi offered Mark a food factory in Amerilia after Mark lost Councilor Landon’s support. Meanwhile, Lyme warned Lin Qi that the Motor Company’s bankruptcy had frozen his and his clients’ short-selling funds, and Lin Qi left him to handle the consequences.

• Mark admitted he was struggling after Hart’s Cheap Apartments fraud cost him and Councilor Landon money and ended Landon’s support.
• Lin Qi offered to invest in a food factory in Amerilia after Mark questioned whether the business could succeed there.
• Lyme learned that the Motor Company’s bankruptcy and delisting had frozen assets and halted trading, potentially trapping funds for years because of a nine hundred million Federal Sol contract penalty.
• Lyme reached Lin Qi and explained that his clients’ accounts were caught in the freeze, while Lin Qi said the Motor Company would eventually get through the process and told Lyme to handle the problem himself.

Lin Qi refused to fully rescue Lyme from the frozen investment funds but promised to provide half of his principal within the year. He then contacted Wo Delike to explore what he could gain by arranging an agreement with Solun over Motor Company's breach-of-contract penalty.

• Lyme begged Lin Qi to save him from the frozen funds and possible bankruptcy, but Lin Qi offered only half of his principal within the year and told him to handle his clients himself.
• After the call, Lin Qi came up with a new idea and phoned Wo Delike on his private line.
• Wo Delike said he was satisfied with his increased stock holdings despite expecting to miss a seat on the Board of Directors Presidium.
• Lin Qi asked whether Wo Delike would benefit if he got Solun to sign a memorandum of understanding that eliminated the breach-of-contract penalty.
• Wo Delike said an agreement could save tens of millions in legal costs, preserve resources, and protect the company's reputation.
• When Lin Qi asked what Wo Delike could do for him in return, Wo Delike said he could be selected as chairman of the Board of Directors Presidium.

Lin Qi strengthened his political ties by securing Wo Delike’s promise to join the Board of Directors Presidium if Lin Qi could arrange a settlement with Solun. During a private visit, Lin Qi advised Governor Sedel to observe Anmelia’s reforms without interfering unless they threatened catastrophe.

• Wo Delike promised to enter the Board of Directors Presidium if Lin Qi persuaded Solun to propose a settlement.
• Lin Qi called Governor Sedel and visited him at the Governor’s Mansion, where Sedel welcomed him and mentioned that Jenia had asked for Lin Qi’s contact information.
• Lin Qi and Governor Sedel discussed the Imperial Special Zone and the Governor’s role in its development.
• After dinner, Governor Sedel asked how to respond to unforeseen events during the reforms, and Lin Qi urged him to watch and let them run their course unless they caused catastrophe.

Lin Qi showed Mark the desperate hunger in Anmeria and proposed a profitable food factory to supply the suffering locals. He gave Mark a biscuit recipe that paired nutritious ingredients with wild plant matter to keep people feeling full, leaving Mark stunned by the scheme.

• Lin Qi's convoy passed starving families in Anmeria, where women traded sex for food after losing access to relief supplies.
• Lin Qi told Mark he wanted them to invest in a food factory, but Mark warned that locals could not afford the products and the business might lose money.
• Lin Qi explained that coarse, hard-to-digest ingredients could keep people from feeling hungry and handed Mark a biscuit recipe.
• Lin Qi showed Mark that the recipe combined nutritious foods with common wild plants, which would fill stomachs for longer without harming consumers.
• Lin Qi told Mark that people who had never gone hungry could not understand what the poor needed.

Lin Qi inspected an abandoned factory outside Zhu Lisi and pressured its owner into selling it for five thousand marks so Mark could begin production. The next morning, Lin Qi encountered Akumali, who had been studying the Federation and wanted to talk with him.

• Lin Qi took Mark to inspect a former hat factory and heard its owner describe how the war and his homeland had stripped away his family's business.
• Lin Qi offered five thousand marks for the factory, arguing that land and human life were cheap in Anmeria, and the owner accepted.
• The Truck Driver paid the owner, and Lin Qi told Mark that workers and machinery were already being arranged for production.
• The next morning, Lin Qi met Akumali, who had reconsidered violence and wanted to understand Federal society better.
• Lin Qi waved the hesitant Akumali over to talk.

Lin Qi explained to Akumali how social stability depended on people’s living conditions and shared ideals, then urged him to act despite uncertainty. Akumali left inspired to work for Nagaril’s future, with a possible chance to study in the Federation if he advanced in the company.

• Lin Qi remembered Akumali by name, treated him respectfully, and listened as Akumali asked what created peace.
• Lin Qi explained that employment, basic comforts, and ways to express grievances helped people accept society rather than risk disrupting it.
• Akumali asked how he could help Nagaril, and Lin Qi said people needed unity around shared ideals and a vision of the future.
• When Akumali asked whether Nagaril could change, Lin Qi used a coin toss to argue that uncertainty was a reason to act, not to give up.
• Lin Qi encouraged Akumali’s ideas and said he could study in the Federation if the company reached Level Three.

Lin Qi approved Mark’s improved, low-cost grass-fiber biscuits for production to feed Zhu Lisi’s hungry residents and compete for relief-food contracts. Meanwhile, the Gefran merchants struggled to recruit workers after their executions alienated locals, leaving their factories idle and their market position threatened.

• Akumali left Lin Qi determined to study in the Federation and bring what he learned back to Nagaril, while Lin Qi considered helping him advance.
• Mark showed Lin Qi the improved biscuits, and Lin Qi tasted one, ordered shorter fibers and more cheap seasoning, and urged the factory to begin production quickly.
• Lin Qi expected the biscuits to compete with Gefran relief food and planned to leave some city contracts for other merchants.
• Gefran merchants failed to recruit enough workers because locals refused to work for them after the mass executions, and the Governor’s Mansion rejected their request to force people into labor.
• The Gefran Chamber of Commerce President warned that labor costs and idle factories threatened their ability to compete, then pressed the merchants to reveal what their backers had told them.

Gefran merchants struggled to hire local workers despite raising wages, while Lin Qi’s Federal hiring site remained crowded. Lin Qi visited the Chamber of Commerce President and offered to supply workers for two Gefran dollars and eighty cents per person per day, leaving the President to consider a deal that could secure labor while benefiting Lin Qi.

• The Chamber of Commerce President urged Gefran merchants to raise wages and use charity to win over locals after the executions had fueled resentment.
• The Gefrans raised wages to three dollars per day, but the Federals attracted a packed crowd even after raising theirs to 1.8 Federal Sol.
• The Chamber of Commerce President learned that the Federals had recruited many workers while the Gefrans had hired only a few elderly men.
• Lin Qi arrived at the President’s home and proposed supplying his own workers to Gefran businesses.
• Lin Qi offered workers for two Gefran dollars and eighty cents per day, payable to Lin Qi, and promised he could provide as many as the merchants wanted.

Lin Qi agreed to supply Gefra merchants in Zhu Lisi with workers from Nagaril, turning their labor shortage into a profitable business. After the employment contract was signed, Nagaril workers began boarding ships for Ameliah as demand for overseas jobs surged.

• The Chamber of Commerce President met with Lin Qi, who agreed to supply workers and sign a formal contract.
• The Gefra merchants agreed to hire forty thousand workers at three Gefra dollars per day, despite concerns that Lin Qi might be setting a trap.
• Lin Qi calculated the profit from supplying Nagaril workers and anticipated greater demand as Ameliah's industries expanded.
• The merchants and Lin Qi signed a Labor Employment Contract under City Hall's supervision, and the mayor announced resumed production and new construction.
• Nagaril workers gathered at the port with Overseas Work Passports and boarded cargo ships bound for Ameliah, while many others pleaded for a chance to join them.

Nagaril’s New King and Provincial Governors approved replacing the hereditary monarchy with an elected United Council and transferring national defense to Federation contractors. The Nagaril United Kingdom ceased to exist and became the New Nagaril Federation.

• Nagaril’s literacy schools and technical training programs fueled a labor-export boom among the lower classes.
• The New King and Provincial Governors gathered to discuss political reform and the dissolution of most of Nagaril’s armed forces.
• The New King urged the Provincial Governors to learn from the Federation and support changes to Nagaril’s political system.
• The New King voted in favor of replacing the monarchy with a United Council, and the other members followed.
• The meeting approved both proposals, and the Nagaril United Kingdom became the New Nagaril Federation.

Akumali brought Nagaril laborers to Amelia Province, where their arrival highlighted the hope of a new life and the importance of economic opportunity. Lin Qi’s labor deal with the Gefra merchants grew more contentious when he revealed that the workers would arrive in batches and that a Labor Union would oversee disputes, leaving the Chamber of Commerce President angry at what he had not been told.

• Akumali watched the Nagaril laborers arrive in Amelia Province after enduring an overcrowded, foul-smelling voyage and reflected on how economic opportunity had changed their lives.
• A Gefra merchant in the Port City alerted the Chamber of Commerce President that the workers Lin Qi had supplied were Nagaril People, and the president found that their contract did not require local hires.
• The Chamber of Commerce President met Lin Qi and the other merchants as fewer than ten thousand of the promised forty thousand workers arrived, with the rest due over the next five days and wages already accruing.
• Lin Qi introduced several Labor Union leaders who would establish a local branch and coordinate disputes between workers and employers.
• The Chamber of Commerce President privately confronted Lin Qi, angrily demanding to know why he had not disclosed the Labor Union.

Lin Qi established a Labor Union in Amelia as a registered company, securing control over a growing labor-dispatch business while reassuring local capitalists that it would not immediately disrupt production. Governor Sedel and the Chamber of Commerce President realized they could not shut it down legally and faced Lin Qi’s growing influence.

• Lin Qi persuaded the Chamber of Commerce President to accept the Labor Union by presenting it as a mediator between workers and management and reminding him that they had signed a contract.
• Lin Qi began dispatching workers to Amelia, earning profit from each laborer, while planning to let the Labor Union grow gradually so the Gefrans and locals would not become wary.
• Labor shortages across Amelia created demand for hundreds of thousands of workers, but Lin Qi could only send tens of thousands or perhaps over a hundred thousand more without disrupting Mengwu Province.
• The Chamber of Commerce President warned Governor Sedel that the Labor Union could threaten their power and asked him to intervene.
• Governor Sedel explained that Lin Qi had registered the Labor Union as a legitimate private company, making it difficult to shut down without violating the law.
• The Chamber of Commerce President left to consider a response, and Governor Sedel said they would have to defeat Lin Qi openly and within the rules.

Lin Qi pitched Governor Sedel on replacing Zhu Lisi City's relief food with his new biscuits, arguing they would feed people better and cost less. Sedel agreed to consider the proposal, leaving the deal close to approval.

• Lin Qi watched coverage of the Joint Military Exercise, focusing on the submarines that had few effective countermeasures.
• Governor Sedel criticized the exaggerated military specifications announced by a Small Country and asked Lin Qi why he had come.
• Lin Qi served Sedel his biscuits, and Sedel judged them ordinary and not especially tasty.
• Lin Qi revealed that he intended the biscuits to replace relief food in the Amelia Region and described their nutritional and filling qualities.
• Lin Qi offered to take over relief-food distribution in Zhu Lisi City, citing potential savings and the benefits of feeding residents so production could resume.
• Governor Sedel said he would think about Lin Qi's proposal.

Lin Qi returned to Sabine City after Neil told him that he and Sera had decided to divorce. He approved their peaceful property agreement, and the chapter ended with Neil and Sera completing the divorce and wishing each other happiness.

• Neil called Lin Qi and told him that he and Sera had decided to divorce.
• Lin Qi booked a ship ticket, returned to the Federation, and met Neil and Sera at the villa in Sabine City.
• Lin Qi reviewed the divorce agreement and approved its division of property.
• Neil, Sera, and Lin Qi went to the Sabine City Social Services Bureau, where Neil and Sera received their divorce certificates.
• Neil and Sera embraced, wished each other freedom and happiness, and Neil said he would give Sera his real address.