Although the Three Overseas Provinces are plains, they are not the main grain-producing areas. Usually, they are just self-sufficient and import a small amount of grain in previous years for adjustment.

This year is destined to be a disaster year. Roland plans to personally lead a team to the neighboring Oden Kingdom to cut wood in the second half of the year, which requires a lot of grain consumption and must be prepared in advance.

Stanley has already arranged for the Samaritans to purchase grain, which should be more than enough, but you can't put all your eggs in one basket. More preparation is necessary.

With the addition of the Golden Kite Wanderers and Val City-State People, along with the continuous influx of foreigners rushing to him, ensuring food supply this year is difficult, especially with natural disasters exacerbating the issue.

After preparing the list of captured intelligence personnel, Roland personally wrote letters to the Jin Yuan Republic, Tirol Kingdom, and Vladimir Empire.

"Dear President of the Jin Yuan Republic, seeing the letter feels like seeing the person. Recently, your country's residents XX, XX, XX visited our Hansa Province..."

"Dear King of Tirol..."

The first two letters were easy to write; the wording was simple, direct threats would suffice.

He wouldn't take the other party's grain for free; he could pay, but there had to be a discount.

But the discount had to be greater than the value of these intelligence personnel.

This approach was the result of careful consideration.

Politicians are indifferent; they only care about the lives of front-line intelligence personnel on the surface. If shaking them down empty-handed, there is a high chance of refusal.

If it's a business deal, whether losing or profiting, there is room for negotiation.

This offer could also send misleading information to the other side, making them think he is looking to take advantage of more benefits!

However, his real intention is not that but rather in the grain.

Accumulating grain is the wisdom of the ancestors.

About to go to war, with grain in hand, there is no panic in the heart.

Purchasing grain requires a lot of funds, and just as the Samaritans return, the funds will be in place.

A perfect connection.

For the third letter, after much thought, Roland did not directly write to Sofia but rather to Angelina, who presided over affairs in Val City.

Sofia is extremely extreme, and in her view, the weak are not even considered human.

No matter how loyal these intelligence personnel are, struggling under torture, failure means being weak and must be eliminated. This is Sofia's logic.

Shaking down Sofia?

Roland pondered for a moment; his love for life surpassed his desire for wealth, so he casually tossed the handwritten letter into the fireplace to burn it clean and rewrote a new one.

Writing to Angelina was much simpler.

"Miss Angelina, seeing the letter feels like seeing the person, you wouldn't want the missing intelligence personnel incident to be known by Sofia, would you?"

Although many considered Angelina to be a little Sofia, Roland thought otherwise.

There is only one terrifying person like Empress Sofia in the world.

...

After the intelligence network completely collapsed, Angelina was somewhat agitated.

Her Majesty the Empress sent her to Val City not just to be in charge of one city.

She also had to manage the western affairs of the Empire, including gathering intelligence from countries like Jin Yuan and Susax.

If it wasn't for this secret mission, those Rurik Nightwalkers, mobilized only by the Empress, wouldn't be under her command.

This loss of the intelligence network cost at least three elite Nightwalkers and seven second-level Nightwalkers, along with other grassroots intelligence personnel.

The extent of this loss was enough to nullify all her accomplishments.

When the Empress returned, she would never praise her for a job well done.

Just as she felt restless and uneasy, the intelligence director appeared, holding a letter.

"This is a letter passed on to you by Miss Christine, reportedly from Governor Roland."

Angelina's face instantly turned somewhat pale.

She adjusted her breathing, not even sure how she took the letter from the intelligence director's hands.

Tearing open the envelope, she knew the ending just by seeing the beginning.

Unfortunately, those missing intelligence personnel were taken down by Roland altogether; with only a very few committing suicide by swallowing poison, most were captured.

Angelina slumped back into her seat, looking dejected.

Although she had anticipated this result, people always hold a lucky mindset, and the bad news still left her a bit desperate.

Her work had been going smoothly for some time, allowing her to relax a little.

The first thing she did was expel the Val people from her jurisdiction, finding ways to legally confiscate their assets.

This task was done smoothly.

Within her jurisdiction, there were about twelve thousand Val City-State people, and she originally thought this task would face enormous resistance.

The Val City-State People had lived there for a hundred years; moving them was not that easy.

Angelina prepared over five thousand elite soldiers dressed in police uniforms for these citizens.

If anyone dared resist, she would not hesitate to kill the first resistor as a warning to others.

Despite being fully prepared, she didn't think things would go smoothly.

After all, it's about tearing down homes and expelling people.

To reduce resistance, she chose to first use diplomacy before force, announcing to the Val City-State People that as long as they voluntarily left, they would not be troubled and even willing to buy properties, although at a slashed price of course.

She never expected these people to willingly leave and had kept reserve plans.

However, the situation developed beyond her expectations. Under the persuasion of the former Executive Officer Tony, the residents in her jurisdiction mostly evacuated.

Most of these people settled in Hansa.

Although they lost real estate, they took away liquid assets at least.

Seeing the empty rooms, Angelina initially thought it was a major victory for the Vladimir Empire's national power, only feeling something was amiss afterward.

The gap left by the departing Val people was soon filled by the Rurik people.

Nearly fifty thousand immigrants came to Val City, and this number would double in the future.

Everything went smoothly until Roland appeared.

"That bastard!"

Angelina couldn't help but curse in her native dialect.

She really wanted to kill Roland, but she knew she couldn't.

Killing the governor is almost the same as declaring war directly.

She knew the Empress's strategy was to first clean up the small surrounding countries, stabilize the order, and then expand to the west.

Rashly stirring up war in the west, what awaits her is certainly not the praise of the Empress.

Though very displeased, Angelina did not have the qualification to refuse.

She picked up her pen and quickly wrote a reply.

Her attitude was clear, she could accept Roland's terms, but some details needed to be discussed; she wanted to meet with Roland.

The agreed meeting point between the two parties was midstream of the Rodinia River. Neither party was to bring attendants, meeting on a small hillock.

There were no cover around here, making ambush impossible, forcing just the two to meet.

Roland did not refuse, and gave her a reply three days later.

"Okay."

Angelina prepared thoroughly, riding a white horse northward.

Although she had to accept the result of compromise, she wanted to display her strength to Roland before compromising.

She needed Roland to understand that the Vladimir Empire was rich in talent.

Not only did the generals have exceptional fighting prowess, but even intelligence personnel engaged in special work were formidable fighters, and civil servants were abundantly courageous!

She was now the person in charge of Val City, and certainly a civil servant.

If Roland couldn't even win a one-on-one duel against her, a civil servant, he should at least give her a discount.

Soon, at the arranged time, Angelina met Roland.

Roland stood calmly on the hillock, looking at her with composure, "You're late."

"I am not, I even arrived a few minutes early!" Angelina didn't expect Roland would start with such nonsense, almost making her speechless with anger.

But she quickly calmed down.

Calm, must remain calm, consider how Empress Sofia would respond to such a situation?

She was somewhat frustrated to discover, no one dared speak to the Empress this way, unless they valued their life little. Roland certainly wouldn't.

Indeed, still too weak, Angelina silently reprimanded herself.

Seeing her still arguing, Roland smiled and asked, "What is your level in your country?"

"If according to your levels over there, it would be equivalent to sub-ministerial level." Angelina tried to remain calm, answering nonchalantly.

Actually, she was somewhat lying. Her current level, if converted, was not sub-ministerial, but equivalent to primary hall-level.

She was temporarily performing sub-ministerial duties at primary hall level.

Roland of course knew her actual level, he was waiting for this statement.

"Angelina, you are acting as sub-minister, while I am authentically minister-level. According to diplomatic etiquette, you should have arrived ten minutes early to wait."

Roland's words sounded like nonsense, but it was true.

Even private negotiations are diplomatic activities. Angelina arriving only three minutes early was indeed slightly impolite.

Angelina bowed her head silently, nearly losing control, but her remaining rationality stopped her.

Control your anger, Angelina!

Her Majesty the Empress had warned her more than once, people can have emotions, but not become slaves to them.

Roland did it intentionally, seeking to anger her, to gain an advantage in negotiation.

She bit her lip, voice as soft as a mosquito, "Sorry, I am late."

"No worries, we Sussex people are gentlemen, won't mind such trivial matters."

Roland was somewhat surprised at Angelina, not expecting her ability to control her emotions.

It was said she stayed a long time at the Arctic Glacier, the exclusive training sanctuary of Empress Sofia, indeed the ice there did foster growth.

Roland focused, no longer treating Angelina as a reckless fighter.

"Speak, what's the matter of asking me to meet?"

"The conditions you propose are too harsh, exceeding my limits. Although my country is a major grain producer, the quantity you demand is too much. Not even considering the price, just the transportation itself is troublesome."

"Transportation needn't worry you, I can contact the caravan and bear the shipping cost." Roland calmly stated.

After all, it was the Samaritans responsible for transportation, he was happy to be generous.

Angelina was somewhat dazed, was Roland really just here to buy grain?

Seeing her confused expression, Roland smiled and said, "I have more thousands of population added to my jurisdiction this year, need more grain, have to buy more and store them. The relationship between your country and mine is yet undetermined, since no conflict has begun, we are not enemies."

Angelina cautiously watched Roland, asked quietly, "Do you intend to start a war? I will never sell grain to an enemy preparing to attack my country!"

Roland stared at her annoyedly, calmly asking back, "Miss Angelina, do I seem like someone with impaired intelligence? What benefit is there in attacking your country?"

Angelina was momentarily at a loss for words.

Indeed, there was no benefit.

Simply being marked as an enemy by Sofia was enough to give everyone headaches.

Many nations prayed daily not to be invaded by the Vladimir Empire; who would provoke the frenzied behemoth on land?

Angelina spotted no reason to counterargue but felt something was amiss.

Looking at her suspicious expression, Roland calmly said, "You may perhaps doubt, but I absolutely do not wish to be an adversary to Her Majesty the Empress of your country, I can swear."

His gaze was clear, eyes not dodging, full of sincerity.

Angelina carefully watched Roland, attempting to find traces of deceit in his eyes.

However, what Roland said was genuinely true, albeit cleverly phrased.

He indeed would not proactively opposing Sofia, yet the reality was Sofia actively targeted him.

Even if one were not a rival to Sofia, one cannot simply lie still without resistance?

Motionless, doesn't it become stagnant?

Angelina sighed lightly, feeling somewhat discontented.

The conversation from the beginning was controlled by Roland, she was passively led.

In civil debate, she was not an adversary, and in martial contest, she couldn't even begin.

Roland had stated he would not proactively make an enemy of the Empress and was merely buying grain for the newcomers in his territory, even willing to voluntarily release apprehended intelligence personnel.

Such generous terms, she of course could not refuse.

Having accepted Roland's generosity, she could not turn around to challenge him to a duel, she wouldn't.

After a long silence, she extended her right hand.

"Deal."

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