Extreme Cold Era: Shelter Don't Keep Waste-Chapter 642 - 606: The Central Hub Shrouded in Melancholy

In a conference room of a building in Beloburg, the top officials of the Empire were gathered together, discussing with stern expressions how to tackle the current troubles.

Although it wasn't a formal meeting, since almost all the high-ranking officials qualified to attend a council meeting were present except Perfikot and a few other less important officials, it hardly differed from a formal meeting.

Because everyone was worried, and they all had a habit of smoking, the room was filled with smoke.

"The current situation is entirely triggered by the Lord of the North. I think we must understand the attitude of this Countess, at least clarify why her attitude towards the Imperial Center has changed," said the Finance Minister, whose face was the most difficult among everyone, as he smoked his pipe and expressed his opinion. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Despite the Empire's supply of materials having already faced significant issues, tobacco had become an outright luxury, yet they could still maintain the consumption needed for their daily needs.

However, at this moment, smoking more couldn't alleviate the Finance Minister's distress, it even made him feel like he wanted to flip the table.

The Northern Territory development plan of the past three years had almost emptied the Empire's entire reserves, and the national treasury had long been drained dry.

If it weren't for the Empress taking out some money from the Royal Family's assets to support the national finances, the Empire might have already gone bankrupt.

Of course, more importantly, at that time Perfikot won the Seven Days War, allowing the Empire to freely exploit the defeated three countries, plundering a lot of wealth and resources from them, which was necessary to support the completion of the entire plan.

But now, with the advent of the Doomsday Winter, even the traffic between the Empire's native land and the relocated Imperial Center in the North is almost interrupted, how could there be any extra power to plunder resources and wealth from the Old World?

Moreover, those three countries had already been impoverished beyond measure, and their people's livelihoods ruined after experiencing the baptism of the Doomsday Winter, it was feared no more oil and water could be squeezed out from them.

But this also brought a very serious problem, which was that the Empire's finances were missing a substantial source of income.

This made the Empire's finances, which could barely be sustained, become dangerously precarious.

At this time, the lead from the North in reducing the tax paid was no longer an ordinary problem, but rather a literal stab at the Empire's lung.

"It seems we can't influence that Countess anymore. Previously, Eldest Princess Annie went to meet her once, and the two parted unhappily, which is probably enough to show her attitude." The Army Minister of the Military Department, although equally furrowed, at least had some strategy: "We can't fall out with the North, and the Empire can't afford the cost of falling out with the North, but this doesn't mean there's nothing we can do."

"Is there any solution from the Army?" The Duke of Gloucester, who presided over the meeting, looked over with a hint of hope in his eyes.

For him as the President of the Noble Council, the pressure of work in recent years had been too great, he had long reached the point of being overwhelmed.

This snowball effect of the situation was such that the Duke of Gloucester was really at a loss to deal with it. He was still sitting here, just in the hope of propping up the Empire, finding a way to solve the problem so that the Empire could continue to endure.

"We can't fall out with the North, nor is it appropriate to pressure that Countess, but this doesn't mean the Empire can't exert pressure in other directions!" The Army Minister's eyes gradually became sharp, as he tapped the sofa's armrest with his fingers and said: "We need to kill a chicken to warn the monkey, and a chicken that could be used to frighten others is still within our grasp at this time!"

Although the Army Minister didn't specify his plan, it was not difficult for the Empire's top officials present to understand.

They immediately grasped the Army Minister's meaning, and soon someone asked: "So which chicken do we choose? The North can't be chosen, and there are not many options for us."

"The New Continent's colony is now split in two, and the dominion side has been defying the Empire in actions and words, they could be this chicken!" Someone immediately proposed.

But immediately someone else vetoed: "Inappropriate, because the dominion relies on military force to counterbalance the New Continent's colony for its current position, last time it was only temporarily suppressed to agree with the Empire due to the Lord of the North's suppression.

If we choose them as this chicken, it would only cause them to rebel against the Empire's rule again, at that time, it would not be the cost of killing a chicken we would bear, but the expense of a war."

Regarding this, the Finance Minister instantly nodded in agreement, emphasizing that the Empire's finances were already stretched to the limit, and there was no money to fight a war.

"Since the dominion can't be chosen, what about the Empire's native land? That's the heartland the Empire has been operating in for years, although we've extracted Langton's essence, it doesn't mean the Empire's native land is useless, does it?" At this point, someone proposed an idea that sounded a bit whimsical: "If we send people back to the Empire's native land, attempt to reclaim this land, restore the Imperial Center's control over it, it's not necessarily a bad choice to counter the Lord of the North.

We can't handle the Lord of the North now, the biggest problem is the Imperial Center has relocated to the North, we lack the foundation to counter the Lord of the North.

If we could manage the Empire's native land well, we might be able to reverse the current situation!"

This suggestion quickly gained some support; among them were some conspiracy theorists who believed that Perfikot had proposed the construction of the North and moved the Imperial Center there as a long-planned conspiracy.

After all, the current Imperial Center in the North was in a state of living under someone else's roof, everything was inferior to the North's, leading to the current situation where the North defies the Imperial Center easily, and the Imperial Center has no means to deal with them.

"This suggestion..." The Duke of Gloucester mused for a moment, just about to say something when the conference room door was rudely pushed open.

Eldest Princess Annie, dressed in military attire, barged in, frowning as she fanned the smoke in front of her with dissatisfaction and directly walked to a window, vigorously opened it as well.

Instantly, a cold wind blew in, quickly dispersing the smoke in the room, while also sweeping away the previously heated discussion atmosphere.

"Your Highness, what are you doing?" The Duke of Gloucester asked with slight dissatisfaction as he looked at Eldest Princess Annie.

"I heard what you were discussing just now; indeed, it's a good choice to find a chicken to kill, but your chosen target is wrong! For the Empire now, even if we could restore the North's tax payment to the Imperial Center, it would be difficult to improve the current situation! So, we need to develop new sources of revenue!" Eldest Princess Annie said loudly, then had someone hang up a map of the Empire's domain. Standing before it in the cold wind from outside the window, Eldest Princess Annie tapped a specific place on the map with her hand: "We ought to reclaim the Empire's other overseas colonies!"