Chapter 680: This is a Trap!

"This is a trap!" First Minister Kolton Hamra leapt from his seat and roared furiously, "The moment we accept this offer is the moment we become subjects of those damn Rockwell dogs!"

Many others in the council chamber screamed in agreement, including a significant number of those belonging to the Royalist Faction.

None of them were fools, they knew what would happen if a massive amount of extremely cheap grain suddenly poured into their country.

Everyone who was currently growing grain or staple crops in the Darr Kingdom would immediately switch to farming sugar in order to increase their own wealth while simply buying what they needed to feed themselves from the Rockwell Kingdom, even if it was an enemy nation.

Why were the big wealthy nobles who sat in the Royal Council Chamber so sure this was what would happen?

Because that was the first thought that came to all of them the moment they heard the contents of the conference invitation!

They also knew that inside this hall, all of them would swear to not do this, but once the deal was actually signed, they would rush home and order the current crops to be ripped up and re-planted with sugarcane.

Even if they knew doing this would eventually make them totally dependent on the Rockwell Kingdom to survive, many of them would still do it at least to a certain extent as they chased after wealth and riches while convincing themselves that they could ’break free’ of this control at any point they wanted.

No, the only way to stop this from happening was to prevent it from the outset, and the only way to do that was to refuse the offer.

However...

"You think not attending is an option?" Minister of Finance Baas snickered, "With such a generous offer being made for simply showing up, it’s impossible that the other nations of the South-Central Region not send proper delegations to this conference!"

"If we don’t send our own delegation, we’ll be missing out on all the potential opportunities that will surely come up!"

"It’s even worse than that!" Crown Princess Talia Darr shouted, slamming her fist against the table in front of her, "The invitation may have said this was only about ’trade’, but it’s obvious that more than that is going to be discussed at this conference!"

"The Rockwell Kingdom is obviously just using this ’trade’ conference as a pretext to form deeper political, economic, and possibly even military ties with the other nations of the South-Central Region! Them offering up cheap grain to everyone is just their way of ensuring everyone attends while proving their ’sincerity’!" Talia quickly concluded.

She then further added, "If we don’t even show up, it’ll make our hostile intentions completely transparent and isolate us from the other nations!"

"How are they even able to offer such cheap prices for their grain?" One of the lower-ranked nobles in the hall asked in frustration.

"There have been some rumours about the Rockwell Kingdom developing new farming techniques recently, but none of us had any idea they would be able to cut the production cost of their grain so much so quickly," Talia reported as she massaged her aching temples, "But how they did this isn’t important right now, what matters is that this has given our long-time adversary an incredible amount of leverage!"

"If they can really afford to export staples like wheat and barely at nearly half the current cost, the Rockwells will be able to swiftly capture the entire grain market!"

"The Tarnaths will never allow that!" One of the ministers swiftly pointed out, "Next to the Rockwell Kingdom, the Tarnath Dynasty is the biggest exporter of agricultural products, the Rockwells cutting in on their profits will surely create friction between their nations, which will surely benefit us!"

"I’d agree with you... if both the Tarnath and Rockwell Kingdoms were run by complete morons!" Talia snapped, "It’s always hard to predict what Queen Tarnath will do, but there’s no way she’d risk going to war over this, not when grain exports only make up a small portion of the Dynasty’s total income."

Shaking her head, Talia reasoned in real time, "No, I’d say the most likely scenario is that the Rockwells and Tarnaths reach some kind of mutually beneficial deal to further carve up the South-Central Region’s food market, drawing their two nations closer together rather than driving them apart."

Her expression turning gloomy, Talia continued, "In the worst-case scenario, if we’re not at that conference to protect our interests, the Rockwells may be able to use their newfound ability to produce cheap grain to pressure the Tarnath Dynasty into limiting their exports to us, or at least raising the prices they charge again."

Hearing it put this way, many of the less far-sighted individuals in the hall shuddered.

If both the Rockwell Kingdom and Tarnath Dynasty stopped selling them food, or even just forced them to pay more for it, it wouldn’t be long before their people began to go hungry, which would be a complete and total disaster!

After all, nothing destabilized a nation faster than its population suffering from starvation.

That was already a nightmare scenario to most of the nobles in the hall, but Talia apparently wasn’t done just yet, "We might still be able to weather that kind of disruption with our reserves and by switching some of our sugar plantations to staple crops, but what if at this conference the Rockwells manage to form a military pact with the Zilon Kingdom and Elros Grand Duchy!?"

"That’s not possible..." Some began to object, only for Talia to cut them off, "No! It’s entirely possible! Like us, those two small nations are net importers of food, and if it means forming an alliance to totally isolate us, I doubt the Rockwell Kingdom would even hesitate to lose money selling grain to the Kardesh and Elros Families!"

Many of those from the Noble Faction wanted to dismiss Talia’s musings as hysterical fearmongering, but the more they thought about it, the more they realized she wasn’t wrong.

If the situation were reversed, and they had a way to contain and suppress the Rockwell Kingdom by simply paying a few million Gold Coins a year, all of them wouldn’t hesitate to do so.

Sure, it would be a big annual expense, but compared to fighting a full-scale war it was dirt cheap.