After Maxing out all Classes

Chapter 767: Cannot break the connection with the New World

Xuelu received a promise to be taken to fight the Black Dragon, and her mood improved. As she looked around, she noticed that Robb was holding a plate with a strange yellow and red dish. She recognized the yellow one as eggs, but what about the red one?

She couldn't help but ask, "What is this?"

"Tomato and egg stir-fry," Robb smiled. "Do you want to try it? It's a rare occasion, and I made it myself."

Xuelu was delighted. "Yes, I want to try it!"

Just then, the queen in the crystal ball spoke up. "I want to try your dish. You can have one of the two dishes my chef made."
  "What?" Robb said. "Why do you want to eat my dish when yours is supposed to be better? You just boasted about it earlier."

The queen huffed. She didn't want Xuelu to eat Robb's dish, but she couldn't say it outright. "I just want to taste the original version. You won't lose out if we exchange one of your dishes for one of mine, right?"

"It's a big loss," Xuelu interjected. "Godfather, do you know who you are? Your dish is worth a lot of money. If you auction it off now, I'm sure the merchants in Westwind City will pay a fortune for it. But the dish made by the chef, no matter how good it is, can only sell for the price of one dish."

Everyone thought about it and realized she was right.

"So we can't make the exchange," Xuelu said. "It's too much of a loss. I'll just eat this dish." She grabbed the plate from Robb and took a bite, her face showing how much she enjoyed it. "Mmm, it's delicious."
  Actually, whether the dish was good or bad didn't matter. Even if it tasted like crap, she would say it was delicious and deliberately make a satisfied expression to show the queen.

As expected, the queen's face didn't look good. She snatched a plate from the chef's hands, took a bite of the tomato and egg stir-fry, and suddenly her expression softened. "Mmm, it's delicious!"

She was a person whose mood would improve immediately with good food.

After ignoring Xuelu, she ate the tomato and egg stir-fry with relish.

At this time, Robb spoke up, "Miss Queen, the tomato problem has been solved. With the batch of fruits and seeds I've grown, we can plant them in large quantities and never run out of this dish again. However, Lost City is currently in the hands of the Church of Darkness, and our relationship with them is not good. This means that we won't be able to get any fresh goods brought over by sea merchants from the New World in the future. I think this is a very serious problem. Will you please consider it carefully?"
  The Queen curiously asked, "Oh? Is there anything worth trying in the New World?"

Robb replied, "Let me think... Hmm... There are actually quite a few delicious things, such as peanuts, cocoa, pineapple, pumpkin, sunflowers, sweet potatoes... Hmm, if I don't think about it, I wouldn't have known, but now that I think about it, there are so many."

The Queen was excited to hear that there were so many delicious foods. Although she didn't know what they were, if they were things that the strange man was interested in, they must be good. "We can't miss out on all these delicious things. Let's send troops to attack Lost City."

"Don't say silly things," Robb objected. "Attacking Lost City is not a good idea. I strongly oppose starting another senseless war right now. Let's try to find another solution. How is your port city coming along?"

The Queen was a little proud and replied, "It's coming along quite nicely."

The Queen had learned from Robb how to issue national bonds to raise a large amount of money. She used the money to launch a new port city construction project on the southwest coast of Bright Road. She hired many top craftsmen in Westwind City and used advanced building materials such as cement. After months of construction, the new port city was beginning to take shape.

Robb smiled and said, "Miss Queen, now that the port city has been built so well, we should start using it. We don't need to start a war. We just need to attract all the sea merchants from Lost City over to our new port city."

The Queen frowned and said, "That's not easy! These sea merchants have been trading at the docks of Lost City for many years, forming a huge port trading settlement with a very complete trade chain system. It won't be easy to attract them over to our port city."

"Yes, it's not easy, but... where there's a will, there's a way!" Robb laughed. "First, we need to attract some sea merchants to our new port city. What do you think is the best way to do that?"

The queen considered the question carefully and said, "Distinctive products!"

Robb thought she would say "Take a steel battleship and seize it", but he didn't expect the queen to hit the nail on the head. Yes, to make sea merchants circle around a new port, the first thing they need to have is distinctive products, a large number of distinctive products that allow merchants to make huge profits, so they will come to this port to purchase.

The queen couldn't help but ask, "What are our distinctive products?"

Robb laughed, "Haven't we already had many distinctive products in recent years? For example, the Corton family's silk stockings town produces a large number of silk stockings. It's time to spread it to other small kingdoms through sea trade."

"Hey, didn't you just say the word 'spread' earlier? Did you say it?"

"No, I didn't say that." Robb said, "In addition, Westwind City and your Bright Road also produce various sugars such as white sugar, brown sugar, and red sugar, as well as cola, potato chips, soy sauce, and countless products with distinctive characteristics. I don't think these products are not attractive to sea merchants."

The queen was intrigued.

Robb continued, "After attracting sea merchants to stroll around the port city, the next step is to keep them. We want them to like trading in our port and slowly give up Lost City. Therefore, I suggest you set the port city as a free trade port."

The queen asked, "What is a free trade port?"

Robb smiled, "Well, I'll have to talk to you about this for a long time. I think Marian Corton will understand this aspect better. I'll ask her to come along, and you should also invite the chief minister in charge of political affairs on your side. Let's have a proper conference call."