"No!"
The voices in the meeting hall were almost louder than the cannon fire from the Coastal Army just moments ago.
It was no wonder the Silver Blood merchants were reacting so violently.
What did eighty percent of their liquid assets represent?
The small merchant guilds that had only recently joined the Silver Blood Society could set that aside, but those ranked above sixtieth were all old guilds that had operated in Profound Candle Prefecture for at least thirty years.
Because the banking system was underdeveloped and transportation was inconvenient, the guilds really had few places to spend money. Buying land and factories had been an early strategy, but later there was nowhere left to buy. They were also reluctant to purchase land in other districts—though some guilds had invested in the Skyline District, such as the Shi family, only to lose so badly that they had to sell off their assets.
Buying land and building factories in other districts during peacetime was far too dangerous. Local clans, officials, thugs, and martial artists—any of them could make a Silver Blood merchant suffer. In many places, merchants had very low status.
The Silver Blood Society had originally been nothing more than a friendly organization where merchants banded together for cooperation.
Ironically, it was during chaotic times, when the military held absolute power and local magnates were too conservative to cause trouble, that Silver Blood merchants could bribe the military and safely invest in property. It was like buying the dip when the entire stock market was green, then sitting back and waiting for the market to rise.
As long as they could preserve their fortunes and survive the chaos, they would have "broken into the outside world" and unlocked a new map.
Many of the major guilds in the Silver Blood