So, upon arrival, he took up residence in a manor. The manor served as an official government guest house. It wasn’t luxurious and the decor was nothing special, unable to even compare to some of the second-rate tourist resorts back home.
But that was to be expected. The region was just too poor.
Afterward, Feisen, Bulin, Baguda, and General Dali were all summoned there as well.
The moment General Dali saw Lu Feng again, he said with some irritation, "Your Excellency, you’ve finally decided to show up. Do you have any idea what a mess it is out there?"
His tone was clearly one of complaint, laced with strong dissatisfaction.
Lu Feng could tell, but surprisingly, he wasn’t angered. The general was clearly the patriotic type, devoted to his country and its people. Otherwise, to dare speak in such a manner while wearing an electronic shackle, his very life under someone else’s control, would be a death wish.
’If I can win a man like this over,’ he thought, ’his loyalty will be a far more effective means of control than any electronic shackle.’
With that thought, Lu Feng smiled and said, "General Dali, the reason I’ve only shown up now is that I was busy finding a way to resolve this. My being here means I already have a plan to handle the situation."
"Besides, this could be an opportunity for us. If we can overcome this crisis and trap Aubens’s capital here, getting them so bogged down they can’t pull out, then that money will no longer be his to control."
Baguda heard this and found it unbelievable. "That’s completely impossible. We don’t have the financial resources for that. In fact, our banks have already completely collapsed."
"Then we’ll rebuild a bigger Xuanfeng Alliance Bank, one that’s open to the entire world," Lu Feng said. "We’ll take a page from Switzerland’s book and be completely neutral, attracting deposits from all over the globe. The services we develop here won’t be any worse than what they have."
Baguda felt it was impossible to get through to the man. ’Does he not understand what I’m saying?’
So, he could only repeat himself. "Your Excellency, we simply don’t have those kinds of financial resources. Your whole premise rests on us being able to fend off Aubens and actually trap his capital here."
Lu Feng just smiled and asked, "Would a few hundred tons of gold be enough? At least 600 tons."
"Uh..." Baguda froze instantly.
Dali, Feisen, Bulin, and Red Lizard all instinctively turned to look at Lu Feng.
’Did he just say 600 tons of gold?’
’How is that possible?’
’It’s not 600 tons of dirt. How can he just produce it on command?’
But Lu Feng simply added, "And if 600 tons isn’t enough, I can figure out a way to get more."
He wasn’t bluffing. In the game world, Celestial Sea City might have run out of gold, but there were other cities he could search.
Venturing into the wild was extremely dangerous for other survivors because of the abundance of Mutant Beasts. If they ran into Mutated Cheetahs like he and Wang Cheng had, it would almost certainly be a death sentence.
But his mecha weaponry guaranteed his safety.
So, in theory, he could procure any amount of gold. Given enough time, he could find more gold than even the major world powers.
"You’re not joking?" General Dali asked, his tone softening considerably.
This time, Lu Feng ignored General Dali and gave a direct order to Baguda. "Go make the announcement. Establish the new Xuanfeng Alliance, issue a new currency, and open up gold exchanges. The new currency’s value will be double that of the old currency, an exchange rate of one new for two old!"
"Ah... This..." Baguda was utterly stunned.
’The man’s ambition is this great?’
’He not only wants to restore the currency’s value, but he wants to make the new currency twice as valuable as the old one?’
’If he can actually pull this off, the assets of everyone in the Xuanfeng Alliance won’t just be restored—they’ll double.’
’Something that used to cost ten yuan to import would now cost only five.’
’If that really happened, the entire Xuanfeng Alliance would be completely stabilized. Everyone would probably be proud to be a citizen of the Xuanfeng Alliance.’
’But has he really found that much gold?’
’With enough gold, it’s certainly possible. But without it, everything is for naught, and the collapse will be even more severe.’
"Are you not going?" Lu Feng’s tone turned forceful.
"Yes, Your Excellency." Baguda said no more and immediately went out to gather key officials and get to work.
Lu Feng then turned to Red Lizard. "Find a location and secure it. No one is to come within a five-kilometer radius. That includes all of you!"
He was about to move hundreds of tons of gold out of the game, and he naturally needed absolute secrecy. He couldn’t let anyone know the truth.
He didn’t want so much as a fly getting past the perimeter.
"Yes, Your Excellency!" Red Lizard responded at once.
For him, His Excellency’s word was law.
He wouldn’t dream of questioning the order.
General Dali, standing to the side, grew anxious. "Your Excellency, what are my orders?"
Lu Feng, however, ignored him. ’A man like him needs to be kept in suspense for a while,’ he thought, turning to walk out.
Red Lizard immediately went out as well to carry out his orders.
General Dali called out anxiously, "Red Lizard, I can help."
But Red Lizard only offered him a smile before leaving.
This only made General Dali more anxious. ’What are they playing at?’
...
Before long, Baguda issued an announcement on behalf of the Xuanfeng Alliance:
_Xuanfeng Alliance to Establish New Central Bank, Open Gold Exchanges, and Issue New Currency at Double the Value of the Old Currency!_
The moment the news broke, it sent shockwaves through the entire Xuanfeng Alliance, leaving everyone in disbelief.
For a moment, a hush seemed to fall over the entire region. Then, a sense of urgency took over. Everyone rushed home, even the protesters holding banners.
They were all rushing to get ready to exchange their money for gold.
Regardless of the truth behind the announcement, everyone was planning to rush to be the first in line to exchange for gold tomorrow.
No matter how the economic disaster turned out, exchanging for gold was a safe bet—gold wouldn’t devalue. But what if they were too late and couldn’t exchange their money? If the crisis wasn’t resolved, they would be completely wiped out. They might as well be preparing to jump off a roof.
In an instant, an exchange frenzy was on the verge of erupting. The entire populace was just waiting for the new bank to open.
Meanwhile, Aubens and his mole inside the Xuanfeng Alliance, Linda, had also received the news.
Linda immediately placed a video call to Aubens. "Aubens, I saw the news. What’s their angle? It looks like they’re trying to use gold to stabilize the economy."
Aubens laughed. "It seems they’ve got someone clever on their side. But this is just a bluff. It’s a shame they take us for fools. Don’t worry. When it comes to how much gold they have, you know better than we do, don’t you?"
Linda nodded. He knew full well that Baguda couldn’t possibly come up with that much gold. Their entire region, including Dalat Town, and even neighboring places like Myanmar, India, and Ba Country, couldn’t produce enough gold.
Aubens was even more confident, as he monitored this sort of thing with extreme scrutiny.
He was well aware of the role gold plays in situations like this. If the Xuanfeng Alliance wanted to turn the tables, their only chance was to use a hard asset like gold to stabilize the market. Otherwise, there was no way they could muster more capital than he had.
Therefore, he had people monitoring any and all movement of gold from every country. So far, not a single nation’s gold reserves showed any unusual activity, and certainly none of it was flowing into the Xuanfeng Alliance.
So, there was nothing to worry about. This bluff would instead trigger a run on gold, causing them to dig their own grave and collapse even faster.