"Empress Elashia, you must understand—for citizens of normal countries, the cost of rebellion actually isn't as high as you imagine."
Staring seriously at Elashia, Adeline continued:
"Look, whether in the Holy Kingdom's history or in Elasia—we handle peasant and royal rebellions using almost identical methods—'punish the ringleaders, ignore the rest.'"
"Especially when handling peasant uprisings caused by famine, we almost never use other methods."
"After all, rebels are essentially just ordinary citizens who can't get food, not irredeemable thugs. Combined with the need to disintegrate their internal forces, no emperor could possibly punish them all."
"So for the poor, rising up in revolt could not only provide food necessary for survival, but also wouldn't necessarily result in punishment, much less implicate others."
"Even if the emperor or king ultimately decided severe punishment was necessary, only oneself would bear responsibility, without implicating family and friends."
"Analyzed from a criminology perspective, this means criminal costs are less than criminal gains."
"But..."
Adeline's tone shifted.
"While this was true in the past Holy Kingdom, it's not the case in the current Holy Kingdom..."
"The Holy Court is ultimately just a puppet serving Blood Clan rule; they don't have the concept of 'punish the ringleaders, ignore the rest'..."
"Look—a normal person can only donate three to four hundred milliliters of blood annually, but the Holy Court must provide over a thousand tons of blood to the Blood Clan yearly..."
"In contrast, killing one person yields much more blood relative to this figure..."
"A normal person has at least five to six kilograms of blood throughout their body, and adding their family members, that's at least twenty to thirty kilograms of blood..."
"Alright, I understand..."
Elashia interrupted Adeline's words.
She didn't want to hear more.
She roughly understood what Adeline wanted to say...
Just thinking about that horror... Elashia felt waves of heartache and nausea...
"Sigh..."
Everyone present sighed deeply.
Adeline thought for a moment, then added again:
"However... this situation only exists in the Holy Capital and surrounding areas."
"In places the Holy Court's army can't threaten, popular forces can still accomplish many things."
"For example... Northern Fire's existence and rise itself relies on these starving citizens."
"The Holy Court's tyranny can only reach the Holy Capital and some large cities, while other regions of the Holy Kingdom are relatively much better off."
"Mm..."
Elashia nodded seriously, her eyes showing unprecedented seriousness and determination.
"It's okay, don't worry, I'll provide you with sufficient grain aid."
"Whether it's a hundred thousand tons, two hundred thousand tons, three hundred thousand tons... whatever amount I can provide, I'll give to you..."
"Pfft..."
Seeing Elashia's serious expression, Ileina beside her suddenly giggled.
"What are you laughing at?"
Elashia glared at her somewhat dissatisfied.
"Hehe... nothing."
Ileina scratched her head with an embarrassed smile.
"It's just... I think Elashia is so easily deceived by bad people."
"Having only known everyone from Northern Fire for less than a month, you can already trust everyone so much..."
"Minister Adeline just said a few words to you, and you're willing to lend us such important strategic reserves..."
Being told this by Ileina, Elashia looked at her somewhat dissatisfied.
"What... wasn't the aid matter already agreed upon before?"
She was indeed easily trusting of others, which was true.
But her "trust" didn't come from defenseless naivety, but from her god's-eye view as a former player.
She was very clear about everyone's hearts and abilities.
Familiar with the plot, she had deep understanding of Ileina and the Northern Fire members...
Moreover, hearing these words from Ileina's mouth... made Elashia feel somewhat amused.
Please, when you were being played around by "Elashia's" crude schemes, why didn't you think this way...
Elashia smiled as she glanced at Ileina.
"Alright... let's leave it at that. From now on, every three days I'll fill all the granaries in the Holy Capital, you just focus on selling them out..."
...
"Father, please sell all the grain you've hoarded according to Northern Fire's standards normally."
"This is an extraordinary time, please prioritize the greater good of the Holy Capital and Holy Kingdom people."
In a luxurious house, a girl with extremely determined eyes stared intently at the aged man.
Lila had finally returned to the home she hadn't visited for three full years.
She didn't return home for anything else, only to persuade her biological father to support Northern Fire's economic war.
The news that Northern Fire was about to vigorously regulate the Holy Capital's economy was something everyone in the entire Holy Capital was extremely clear about.
Now all the people in the Holy Capital were staring intently at Northern Fire's state-run grain stations, praying that Northern Fire could hold on.
As a core member of Northern Fire's [Night Shadow] unit, Lila knew—if she could persuade her merchant father, Northern Fire would have an easier time...
"Sigh... sit down first..."
The aged man pointed to a chair by the table, indicating for the girl to sit down.
Lila said nothing, just sat down as the man requested.
"Sigh... it's been three full years since we father and daughter last met..."
Looking at his daughter who had changed greatly before him, the man sighed continuously.
He had built his fortune from nothing, experienced countless hardships, and finally established his commercial empire in middle age.
Honestly, his business luck had been quite poor.
The second day after opening his shop, he encountered robbing thugs; when he managed warehouses, he faced lightning strikes and fires from nowhere; after entering agriculture, his land was requisitioned by the state for war needs...
He had been struggling since his teens until now at fifty, experiencing countless failures and hardships unimaginable to ordinary people along the way.
But he had never surrendered to hardship.
After each failure, he would summarize his experience and charge toward wealth's peak with an even stronger stance.
Finally, he had achieved victory in his struggle against fate, joining the ranks of the Holy Capital's most influential merchants.
In the past, he had always thought his life had been very successful.
But... when he achieved great commercial success and turned around, he discovered his family had failed to the extreme.
His wife died early, his only daughter was poorly educated, and she was born with extreme aversion to business, always strongly refusing to take over his industry...
Looking at his daughter he hadn't seen for three years, the man sighed again...
"Sigh..."