Lin Hao instantly cowed the merchants who had gathered outside City Hall to make a scene, making an example of the ringleaders.
Li Minghuang had martial strength, but his prestige here was nowhere near Lin Hao's.
Had he acted as Lin Hao had just done, he might instead have simply aggravated the conflict and made matters more complicated.
But when Lin Hao stepped forward to settle the matter, he subdued everyone present.
The other merchants nearby not only refrained from offering support, but many even chose to kick the troublemakers while they were down.
After the guards dragged the ringleaders inside, each was handed a bag of gold coins, returning their deposits.
Guards also escorted them to the commercial district to root out all their caravans.
Then, seated on his horse, Lin Hao looked at the remaining merchants and said calmly, "Plas City-State is open for business. We welcome friends, but we will never tolerate troublemakers."
Those nearby could only nod like chickens pecking grain.
"You're right, Baron Link. We're all here to do business."
"Exactly. We hate troublemakers most of all."
"They only grew bold because Baron Link had been away for a while."
Just then, several more carriages approached from afar.
Each carriage bore a different coat of arms.
The Kingdom of Lauren, the Red Maple Kingdom, the Brute Kingdom, the Northern Federation, and the Mountain Kingdom-each represented a powerful nation of the human world!
Unlike the previous occasion, when the nearest nation, the Red Maple Kingdom, had dispatched a Hero Domain expert, the representatives this time seemed to have little martial strength.
Those who had come this time were purely civil officials.
They had presumably heard that Lin Hao had entered the city and hurried over immediately.
Besides them, representatives of Rafael City-State, Schuster City-State, and Oak