Mythic version of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 7328 So That's How It Is

Chapter 7328 So That's How It Is

And so, the senators spent the whole morning trying to come up with something substantial, at most reaching a consensus on the Spanish issue, but how to resolve the Spanish problem was still uncertain.

"Chao, are you interested in anything from Spain?" Ganassis asked Ma Chao during lunch, noticing him looking around like a scoundrel.

"Oh, Duke, here, here, here, this is a gift I prepared for you." Ma Chao didn't answer the question. To be honest, he wasn't interested. What interest could he have in Tachitto's hometown? When Tachitto was around, he might have been interested in going there to take advantage of the situation, but now that Tachitto was in exile, of course he had no interest.

Therefore, when Ganassis asked him a question, Ma Chao ignored it and pulled out a piece of brocade from the side and stuffed it into Ganassis's hand. After all, Ganassis was his strong support, so of course he had to give it to him.

"Holy crap!" Ganassis had seen it all before, and even got dozens of boxes of tribute-grade silk for free from the Han Dynasty, but he had never seen anything like Ma Chao's level of stuff. As the saying goes, this stuff is not just about the materials, but also about the maker.

Currently, it seems that only two or three people in the Han Dynasty have this level of ability, but unfortunately, neither of them works for the imperial family.

Furthermore, the royal family only required the silk to reach the level of tribute, not the upper limit of tribute quality, so it was good enough. Therefore, when Ma Chao took it out, Ganassis's eyes lit up. What a fine item!

"Not bad, that's all we have. Luckily we ran into the Duke, otherwise we would have been left with nothing," Ma Chao said naively. Ganassis, used to the dim-witted creatures in his territory, didn't mind Ma Chao's way of speaking.

"Come with me later to take over the bankrupt concrete plant in Taisifeng." Ganassis returned the favor. He had only planned to treat Ma Chao to something nice, but since the other party remembered his hobby, he decided to give him something good.

"Huh? A cement factory can go bankrupt?" Ma Chao was dumbfounded. Damn it, there are cement factories going bankrupt these days? Do you know what era we are in? It's the third century. Cement factories only have insufficient production capacity. There's no such thing as going bankrupt. Even if the quality of the products is not good and they can't build roads, they can still go to the countryside. There are always places that need them. Even in the Han Dynasty, concrete factories are still a very profitable industry.

If Chen Xi hadn't intervened to control the price, who knows how high the price of this thing would have gone.

“Why not?” Ganassis said matter-of-factly. “We owe money to the upstream mines, and the materials can’t be delivered on time. If we don’t go bankrupt, who will?”

Multi-party debt was unavoidable in the early stages of state-owned industries. In addition, under the complete control and unified management of Pompiñus and Chen Xi, payments were often made through transfers or even direct fiscal transfers. Whether there was a loss or not was just a number. Even if some links were all losing money, as long as the overall industrial chain was profitable, there was no problem.

This was also the gift Chen Xi gave Liu Tong back then—a super-large Chang'an textile factory as New Year's money. It was a large state-owned textile factory with a scale of 10,000 people and a complete upstream and downstream industrial chain. However, Liu Tong's textile factory did not earn a single penny in a year and even lost several million.

After all, Chen Xi manages the entire upstream and downstream industry chain. He considers it a victory if the entire textile industry chain can make money and support people. Therefore, he does not pursue the so-called profit of textile factories. In fact, it is only natural for textile factories to lose money in order to cause trouble.

The same applies to cement plants. Moreover, cement plants are closer to infrastructure than textiles, so under Pompianos's overall management, they are actually not profitable industries, but rather industries that provide support to other industries.

Now that Pompiñus is dead, this thing is in Ganassis's territory. After checking the accounts, it was found that this thing was actually losing money. Ganassis thought about serving the country, so of course he had to confiscate this thing and turn it into a profit in his own way!

As a henchman for Ghanasis, Ma Chao naturally gets a share of the profits. As for whether Ghanasis understands why the cement plant is losing money, frankly, that's not important. Ghanasis believes that once the cement plant is under his control, it will definitely turn a profit. This is a contribution to the country. Of course, while contributing to the country, it's not a problem to take a little profit, right?

After all, the previous books showed a loss. Since I, Ganassis, took over the cement plant, it has turned a profit. In the process, I, a duke, don't even need to personally take a share of the profits. There are plenty of people willing to act as my guarantors. Besides, this is a combination of national and individual interests!

"Huh?" Ma Chao was stunned for a moment, but his solid brain still couldn't understand this.

“You’re not suited for these things. Let me explain, so you can understand,” Ganassis said, stroking his chin. “Your houses, land, and shops are worth a total of ten thousand gold coins, but now, because the overall environment has shrunk, and you’re even in debt like Nigel, being chased by creditors, you need to pay them back quickly, or something terrible will happen. Under these circumstances, do you think your physical assets are still worth ten thousand gold coins?”

"Why not kill the creditor?" Ma Chao asked bluntly.

"Forget it, you can come with me to take over the cement plant later." Ganassis didn't feel any surge of blood or a tightness in his chest. He just felt that he was really getting old and his mind wasn't clear anymore after teaching Ma Chao this kind of knowledge.

"Oh, okay." Ma Chao nodded, agreeing that it made sense; why was he even thinking about these things?

Ma Chao then presented a horse to both Severus and Caesar, and both were very satisfied. Severus even asked Ma Chao, just like Canassis had, whether he was interested in the Spanish region, but Ma Chao refused as before.

For Severo, it didn't matter who took over the Spanish region, as long as the 70% belonging to the country could be completely recovered. The rest, whether it was Niger, Gordian, or any other veteran group, was fine with him, since it was all in the same pot anyway. So he didn't mind making a wish to Ma Chao when he was in a good mood.

Although Ma Chao was not a pure Roman, Severus had seen his contributions over the years. Rome could not be defined by bloodline, so Ma Chao was a legitimate Roman citizen!

With this premise, Severus was also willing to give Ma Chao some benefits and feed him. After all, this silly kid's tax-owning zone, Media, was lost once because of the mistakes of the Han Dynasty. In the Norse War, everyone else had a superhuman body, but Ma Chao went with his real body and suffered heavy losses.

In this situation, it's normal that the Governor of Media didn't have enough funds to rebuild his elite troops. After all, a normal governor would definitely complain about being broke in this situation. However, after Ma Chao returned to Media, he never complained once, and it's said that he rebuilt the Seventh Eagle Emblem Legion.

Look, this is the backbone and elite force that the Roman Empire needed!

So when he saw that Ma Chao had brought some gifts, Severus decided to feed Ma Chao a couple of bites. Even if "the squeaky wheel gets the grease," he wouldn't let the child who didn't cry go hungry.

As a result, Ma Chao refused without thinking. Severus didn't elaborate. Considering the existence of the Duke of the Eastern European Border Region, Severus thought that when the Senate review committee was formed, Ma Chao could be included, on the grounds that all factors should be taken into account.

Severus, having been a duke, knew very well that even if Ma Chao himself was an idiot, those who were with him would still feed him a few bites to keep him quiet. They wouldn't feed him as much as the others, but they would still give him a share, which would be enough.

Thus, without Ma Chao's knowledge, he had been included in the Senate review committee's list of members, just like Vincenzo.

Afterwards, Ma Chao visited his beloved Perennis. Although they almost came to blows, Perennis offered him a way out because of the gift.

"Chao, what do you think about what happened this morning?" Perennis asked with a hint of melancholy after receiving the gift. After Pompiñus' death, Perennis, who had experienced countless battles and storms, suddenly felt that the Senate was just like it was more than twenty years ago, full of petty scheming. He couldn't suppress his murderous intent and really wanted to kill those brain-dead senators.

All you do is babble, can't you just shut up?

"What do you think? I don't have any opinion," Ma Chao said with a hint of doubt.

“Very good.” Perennis exclaimed, just like when he was young, waiting for his blood to boil, then skipping all the formalities and getting straight to the point.

"What's wrong?" Ma Chao's intuition told him that Perennis's praise was not a good thing.

“No, I was just impressed by your animal instincts,” Perennis said with a smile. “By the way, Virgilio said he’s going to teach Valierius a lesson. Are you interested?”

"Are you interested in getting beaten up?" Ma Chao said irritably. Back then, even with seven plus one, they almost capsized when they went to fight the Tenth Knight. It's not like they wanted to get beaten up!

“I thought you would go help Valerius,” Perennis said with a smile.

"Before we have sufficient strength, all provocations are reckless and foolish, unless we have nowhere else to retreat and we fight for dignity and for our country and nation," Ma Chao said with a resolute expression. At this age, he finally had his own complete understanding.

"Very good, you've grown up too." Perennis looked at Ma Chao with some emotion. Ten years ago, when he met Ma Chao, Ma Chao was no different from a madman. He would beat up anyone he saw, regardless of their status. He was a complete brat.

"But don't underestimate the 20th Eagle Emblem Legion, and don't underestimate Valierius either; he broke your record." Perennis's expression turned solemn after praising Ma Chao.

“I didn’t underestimate them. I just know what kind of monster Virgilio is,” Ma Chao said with a hint of reminiscence. “What Virgilio said, though strange, was indeed true to his claims of love and miracles.”

Ma Chao had witnessed the 20th Eagle Emblem Legion's strength. Before the upheaval, Ma Chao had even joined forces with the 20th Eagle Emblem Legion. At that time, the 20th Eagle Emblem Legion was indeed quite strong, but its main strength lay in its terrifying potential.

This time, Valierius brought his main force, and Ma Chao also went to see them. As someone who had seen all the top legions and fought against them one by one, Ma Chao could clearly feel that soaring will, which was the powerful pressure emanating from the top legions.

To be honest, it's even stronger than the current Seventh Loyalist's aura. After all, Ma Chao's Seventh Loyalist suffered heavy losses in the battle of Northern Europe. Although it made the strong even stronger, it also had to replace some of the core members, resulting in a decline in overall strength. It can only be said that the upper limit has been raised again.

Therefore, Ma Chao also acknowledged Valierius's strength. In just a few years, Valierius had grown into a powerful figure who could fight against veterans like him on the battlefield, but that was all he could achieve.

Having faced the Xiliang Iron Cavalry and sparred with the Tenth Knight several times, and fought a life-or-death battle with the Holy Fallen Cavalry, Ma Chao clearly realized that there was still a fundamental gap between him and these things. As for the Twentieth Eagle Emblem Legion, it was strong, but in reality, it was only on par with Ma Chao's Seventh Loyalist. Only after a real battle on the battlefield could they know for sure.

Ma Chao knew perfectly well that if everyone was at full strength, he could only fight against that group of people, and winning would be virtually impossible.

This is reality; this is a chasm-like difference.

"I didn't expect you to have such insight. It's not easy," Perennis said with a touch of emotion. He actually knew this, which was why he sent Virgilio to teach his grandson a lesson and also to put Gordian down. He just didn't expect Ma Chao to see things so clearly. To be honest, it was indeed quite rare.

"Hmph, I've fought against quite a few elites," Ma Chao said with a hint of arrogance.

“But you still can’t beat those guys,” Perennis said with a sigh.

"It's the same legion, do you think you can defeat it?" Ma Chao retorted.

"I can't beat him," Perennis said truthfully. Even leading the Emperor's Guard, Perennis would have a hard time defeating the Tenth Knight. The opponent was really strong, especially with Caesar still alive. He was getting stronger every day and was practically a monster.

"I'm off." Ma Chao waved to Perennis, who didn't try to stop him. Before Ma Chao could leave the Senate, he sensed an extremely violent aura erupting from somewhere in Italy. It should be noted that the entire city of Rome was currently suppressed by the supermodel cloud, and even breaking through the boundary wouldn't be able to display such power.

As Virgilio looked at Valierius and Statius, who were rising from the ground amidst a crimson glow, along with the standard-bearer headquarters of the 20th Triumphant Legion, a smile appeared on his previously stern face.

"So that's how you are. No wonder you dared to say such things." Virgilio, who had originally come to trip up Valierius and the others, naturally had starlight appear on himself after the crimson glow appeared on Valierius and the others.

“Old man, you’ve been winning for over two hundred years. It’s time for the strongest legion of over two hundred years to move on!” Valierius said with a sneer.

“You have the right to say that, and you have the right to challenge the throne.” Virgilio had put aside all his arrogance, and all he felt was the excitement of seeing the new generation grow up.

The soldiers of the Tenth Knights began to converge on the alley. In less than ten seconds, the Tenth Knights, who were initially outnumbered, had completely gained the upper hand. This was because the Tenth Knights were stationed in Italy year-round, pretending to be the Imperial Guard, while only a very small number of members of the Twentieth Legion came to Rome to attend the meeting.

"Charge!" Five times the number of soldiers in the Tenth Knight Legion charged forward from all directions. At this moment, the Tenth Knights, who had fully entered their Miracle Mode, ignored all obstacles and, despite Valierius's empathy, launched a powerful attack on Valierius and his men.

"Virgilio, you despicable bastard!" Valierius cried out before collapsing.

So what if it's a miracle? Even if you've been in this field for years and have completely mastered the art of miracles, you'll still fall when faced with a miracle many times larger than yours.

Virgilio looked at his opponents, who had all been knocked to the ground, and walked over. He reached out and twisted time to fully restore Valirio. The moment Valirio was restored, he leaped backward and then assumed a defensive stance towards Virgilio.

But at this moment, Virgilio looked at Valerius with complete indifference.

“You passed the test, very good.” Virgilio extended his hand. “You are qualified to be a guardian of human civilization.”

“What are you saying!” Valierius frowned.

"No matter how you achieved this miracle, no matter what you faced to take this step, as long as you became a miracle, you are qualified," Virgilio said calmly. "You should have felt the world's rejection, felt that constant oppression."

Valierius paused for a moment, then nodded.

“A miracle is when a person is outside the boundary, unbound by the world. This is not power, but a characteristic of us. You are about to fall into the boundary.” Virgilio said, looking at the faint miracle glow on Valilius. “Your foundation is better than Ardashir’s back then, but your will is much weaker. Even if you achieve a miracle, the lack of a foundation could cause you to fall back down.”

Valierius's face turned extremely ugly. Only at this moment did he realize what the Tenth Knight really was. For more than two hundred years, he had endured this rejection and had not fallen!

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