It had to be admitted: the Vias Commercial Federation was a highly developed commercial nation. Its efficiency in commercial services far surpassed that of the Blood Qin Empire. After all, the Blood Qin Empire was a traditional Eastern Empire, where merchants held positions that could even be called lowly.
But here, merchants were everything; commerce had seeped into everyone's soul.
Apart from the three officials who had initially received Lin Qi, more Noble Council officials rushed back in great haste. Pretty young maids were also pulled back from the banquet next door, and everyone began bustling around Lin Qi.
When Lin Qi leisurely laid ten gold notes, each worth a million gold coins, in a neat row across the conference table before him, the atmosphere in the Noble Council abruptly turned feverish—this was a trustworthy client of immense means, one who sincerely wished to restore his family's glory!
Nine million gold coins to purchase the title of Dragon Mountain Count, its seals, private signets, family genealogy, bloodline charts, and other documents of identity, along with the deed to the Dragon Mountain Count's family fief in the Federation's northwest, bordering the Harlan Empire.
The Dragon Mountain Count's family had fallen into decline seventy years ago. At the time, its territory contained three medium-sized cities, each with nearly two hundred thousand residents; thirty-seven towns and villages fell under its jurisdiction, with a total population exceeding one million. Across its fief of nearly ten thousand square li stood several small mines and several vineyards producing wine of exceptional quality.
After seventy years of development under the Vias Commercial Federation's stewardship, the territory's total population had increased by nearly half. The number of cities and towns had not risen, but more than twenty natural villages had appeared. The original small mines had become two