"Your Highness…" Standing there and seeing Olivia space out, Chen Heng lightly spoke.
Olivia came back to her senses.
"Apologies."
Looking at Chen Heng, she sighed and covered it up, saying, "Apologies, seeing you, I thought of some matters in the past."
"I understand." Chen Heng nodded understandingly and did not pry.
"During the past few months, you were not in the Kutu Royal City; where did you go?" Olivia asked.
She naturally knew everything that Chen Heng had done, but she had just asked this to start the conversation.
"I went to my father's territory and stayed there for some time," Chen Heng said honestly, "I had some matters to take care of there."
"Oh?"
Olivia looked quite interested and asked, "Is it convenient for you to tell me what it was about?"
She looked quite curious and there was a smile on her beautiful face, which could make anyone's heart itch.
Anyone who saw her like this could find it difficult to resist and tell her everything.
However, Chen Heng was not affected and only smiled as he gave a simple outline of what he had done.
Even though what he had done was important, it was not a very secretive matter.
At the very least, for Princess Olivia, if she wanted to investigate, it would be very easy for her to know everything.
Since it was impossible to hide, Chen Heng did not try to keep anything from her.
"A north-south trade route."
Hearing Chen Heng's answer, a look of surprise appeared on Princess Olivia's face, and her expression was filled with respect.
"What a great idea. How did you think of it?" she asked out of curiosity.
Even though she was putting on an act, she truly did feel those emotions to a degree.
She indeed felt much respect towards what Chen Heng had done and wanted to talk to him more about it.
Her performance was not completely fake.
"My friend Krudo is the son of a northern ruler. Through this friend of mine, I understood the predicament of the northern rulers, and was flabbergasted at the difference between the northern side and southern side. My idea for the trade route came from this," Chen Heng softly said.
"Oh," Olivia became interested, "tell me, what did you discover?"
"That's quite complicated,
Chen Heng smiled as he said, "There's climate, as well as crop production. Your Highness might not know, but the difference in climate between the northern side and the southern side is massive. This gravely impacts production, as well as the profits of rulers.
"Because of the northern side's climate, they cannot produce much crops, and they only have one-quarter the amount of farmland that the southern side has. Moreover, their battles with the desert Outlanders have also greatly affected them."
Looking at Olivia, Chen Heng explained, "Fighting has affected production because labor that could have been put into agriculture is instead turned into warriors. This further causes their production to fall. As such, these conditions affected the price of crops, causing the price of crops in the northern side to be quite expensive."
"Indeed," Olivia looked at Chen Heng and agreed with his words.
Even though what Chen Heng said was quite simple, in an age like this, not many people were able to understand and say such things.
For the nobles who lived within the Kutu Royal City, they most likely did not even know about the situation in the northern side, much less draw any conclusions.
"What should be done in such a situation then?" Olivia asked as she looked at Chen Heng with interest.
She only asked offhandedly and did not expect Chen Heng to seriously reply.
She had asked many people about this before, but none of them were able to give any specific answers.
Even those who were very familiar with the northern side did not have any solutions, so she did not expect anything of Chen Heng.
What surprised her was that Chen Heng only thought for a few moments before answering.
"There are two methods," Chen Heng said after thinking for a few moments, "The northern rulers' predicament is not actually because of their production abilities but because they are constantly embroiled in war."
Just the crop production would not put the northern rulers in such a predicament. After all, even if their farmland did not produce that much, that only meant that they would earn less and would not be as prosperous; at the very least, they would not be poverty-stricken and on the verge of collapse.
The true reason for their predicament was that not only was their crop production low, but they also constantly had to face Outlander forces.
The northern rulers were constantly facing battles, and fighting required expenditures.
It was because of this that they were in such a situation.
As such, if they wanted to resolve the northern rulers' predicament, the method was actually quite simple.
"Either the pressure from the desert needs to disappear, or the northern rulers need to be able to profit from their battles with the Outlanders, allowing them to go on," Chen Heng said as he looked at Olivia.
"What should be done to achieve this?" Olivia instinctively asked.
She still sounded quite casual, but as Chen Heng spoke, she became more and more invested until she was completely focused on what he was saying.
As a Princess of the Kutu Principality and someone whose territory was close to the northern rulers, she took the northern rulers' problems seriously.
In the past, she had listened to many people's recommendations, but none of them were able to analyse the problem as closely as Chen Heng.
"The solution is actually quite simple."
Looking at Olivia becoming more and more enthralled, Chen Heng said, "If we want to reduce the burden on the northern rulers, it is best to start with trade.
"In contrast to the northern side, the southern side's crop production is abundant because of the climate. There are even times when the crops rot in storehouses, and it is incredibly difficult to sell all of it. This is the exact opposite of the northern side's situation."
Chen Heng continued to softly speak, "Through trade, the southern side's overabundant crops can be sent to the northern side, reducing the northern rulers' costs.
"On the other hand, the slaves that the northern rulers gain through battle can be distributed through trade, allowing the northern rulers to gain profits through battle. This makes it so that fighting the Outlanders is no longer completely unprofitable. If this can be achieved, the pressure on the northern rulers will be greatly decreased and their situation will not be as difficult."
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