Chapter 1 Nie Yan and Xie Yao's Date

Nie Yan and Xie Yao strolled around Hua Hai. The city scenery of Hua Hai was quite beautiful. More importantly, they were both very familiar with the place and had a special feeling for the city.

Nie Yan drove, occasionally glancing at Xie Yao. Bathed in the night, Xie Yao, in her white dress, appeared even more radiant and alluring, like an elf of the night.

"My dad called and said my grandfather wants you to visit their villa in Xiangdong when you have time," Xie Yao said, a captivating blush appearing on her cheeks.

Nie Yan was silent for a moment, then said, "Let's wait a bit." He didn't want to go to Xie Yao's house just yet. If he went now, he would inevitably have to endure the looks of Xie Yi and others.

"Okay, I'll tell my father," Xie Yao said, understanding Nie Yan's thoughts, and nodded.

They enjoyed the quiet time together. Xie Yao had to go back to accompany her parents, and Nie Yan had a lot of things to do in the game. As it approached the time to log in, Nie Yan and Xie Yao parted ways and went home.

Nie Yan returned home, ate something, and then entered the game.

After a day of stagnation, the gears of Faith continued to turn.

The amount of money needed to build a territory on a large scale was astronomical. Nie Yan checked the accounts of the Niu Ren Tribe guild and found that there were about 2.2 million gold coins left. The Xingkong Pharmacy also had nearly 2 million gold coins, and the Assassin Alliance had 2 million gold coins. In addition, Nie Yan had accumulated nearly 3 million gold coins in his personal warehouse, which was the income from various auction houses and shops.

However, this amount of money was far from enough to build a territory, because within a territory, one could build a large city like Carol City, and also build any fortress in a suitable location. Each construction project was a huge expense.

What Nie Yan looked forward to most was that in his territory, he could formulate laws and tax rates, and freely recruit NPCs to become his mercenaries. If he was willing to pay enough, he could even recruit very powerful high-level elites.

If he had a powerful NPC legion, the foundation of the Niu Ren Tribe would be solid, and they could attack Angel Corps at any time.

There were so many places to spend money on building a territory. Where would the money come from?

The Scroll of Mist Dispelling and the gems he had acquired last time had been sold out, and the Niu Ren Tribe had made a large amount of money from them, but he needed more ways to make money!

Nie Yan had an idea in his mind. The money that could be earned by ordinary methods was quite limited. Tens or hundreds of thousands of gold coins were just a drop in the bucket for the Niu Ren Tribe.

If he was going to play, he would play big!

Nie Yan thought of a very ruthless method used in the real world, which was dumping and monopoly! The British Empire used this method to achieve the legend of the empire on which the sun never sets.

When a country's production capacity reached a certain level, and it wanted to completely occupy the commerce of another country with its products, it would often take some measures, which were dumping and monopoly. First, a large number of low-priced goods would flood the market of that country, suppressing the price of that commodity, so that the enterprises in that country that produced that commodity could not make money. As a result, the enterprises in that country that produced that commodity would close down one after another. After they formed a monopoly of the commodity in the other country, they would slowly increase the price, thereby generating huge profits.

Nie Yan's goal was set: to completely control the potion markets of the Satreen Empire and the Green Land Empire! The most powerful commercial force that Nie Yan could use was the Xingkong Pharmacy.

Currently, there were a total of three grandmaster-level alchemists in the Green Land Empire and the Satreen Empire, all in the Xingkong Pharmacy. However, they didn't get there on their own, but by wearing the Su Yuan Necklace. Some time ago, Nie Yan had his men search everywhere and obtained eleven materials for the Su Yuan Necklace, producing three Su Yuan Necklaces that added +1 to the alchemist skill level. In addition, twenty-one of the twenty-six grandmaster-level alchemists were in the Xingkong Pharmacy, and nearly 90% of the more than five thousand master-level alchemists were also in the Xingkong Pharmacy. Besides, there were also a large number of advanced and intermediate alchemists.

After Nie Yan's operation for so long, the production capacity of the Xingkong Pharmacy was quite astonishing, accounting for nearly 60% of the market share of the Green Land Empire and the Satreen Empire. Although the Niu Ren Tribe had already grasped some of the pricing power of potions, the remaining 40% of the alchemists were also a force to be reckoned with. Every time the Niu Ren Tribe had just raised the price of a certain potion, wanting to increase some profit, many alchemists would immediately swarm to produce that potion, and the price of that potion would immediately be suppressed. Therefore, the Xingkong Pharmacy had not yet formed a true monopoly. The most important aspect of a true monopoly was to control the pricing power!

Nie Yan estimated that if the Xingkong Pharmacy could occupy more than 90% of the market, the profit could be increased by at least five times. This was the horror of a monopoly.

Dumping was a means to devour that 30% of the market, but dumping required strong financial backing!

Currently, the Niu Ren Tribe had a total of 9 million gold coins in liquid funds. The net profit of the Xingkong Pharmacy, the guild fortresses, the major shops, the major auction houses, the Assassin Alliance, and other projects, after deducting guild expenses and other expenses, could reach about 1 million gold coins per day. Such a powerful financial strength, if fully utilized, would be extremely terrifying.

Perhaps, in the short term, it would not be possible to earn a large amount of money, but if a monopoly was really formed, the money earned in the future would be enough to cope with the huge expenses of building a territory.

Nie Yan already had a very perfect plan in his mind. He quickly called Guo Huai over to prepare for a full-scale rollout.

After receiving Nie Yan's message, Guo Huai hurried over.

"What's the matter you called me here for?" Guo Huai asked.

Nie Yan roughly explained the plan in his mind. The more Guo Huai listened, the more shocked he became. He exclaimed, "This plan is too amazing. If it can really succeed, only our Xingkong Pharmacy will be left in the Green Land Empire and the Satreen Empire!" Guo Huai could hardly imagine the enormous profits that would be generated if a monopoly was really formed. Moreover, even if the plan failed, the Niu Ren Tribe would only make a profit, and it would be of great help to the Niu Ren Tribe in the short term or the long term.

Guo Huai suddenly thought of something and said, "But we have to be careful of guilds like Angel Corps, they may also want to get a share of the pie and may use their financial resources to intercept us."

"Even if they succeed in intercepting us, we can still earn what we should earn. As long as we do a good job of keeping it secret in advance and take it step by step, it will be too late when they react," Nie Yan said confidently.

"Okay, then arrange the tasks, and I'll do it immediately."

"We'll implement the first step now. First, find some trusted subordinates and spread them to various cities to start acquiring medicinal herbs on a full scale. The actions must be concealed and try not to attract attention. In addition, we also need to mobilize a large amount of funds. It's far from enough to rely on the nine million we have on hand. We need to mobilize all the players of the Niu Ren Tribe and the subordinate branches and have everyone pool money together, giving them 30% interest per month," Nie Yan said. In reality, 30% interest was no different from usury, but in Faith, this interest rate was considered relatively normal, because gold coins depreciated more severely in the game. Under normal circumstances, the interest on ordinary loans was about 20%.

"How much money do you want to borrow?" Guo Huai asked.

"The more, the better! The more money we borrow, the more effective it will be. We need at least 30 million gold coins," Nie Yan said. With the wealth of the players of the Niu Ren Tribe and its subordinate branches, 30 million gold coins was not too much for them.

Guo Huai opened his mouth and said, "Isn't this method a little too radical? If the plan fails, or we don't earn that much money, we'll have to tighten our belts for a while in the future."

"Just do it with confidence. I have a sense of proportion," Nie Yan said with a very firm attitude.

"Okay, I'll listen to you." Guo Huai immediately began to mobilize manpower. There were about one hundred trusted subordinates, all of whom Guo Huai knew and trusted in reality. Each of them carried nearly seventy or eighty thousand gold coins and began to rush to various cities.

Nie Yan's plan was actually very simple. Faith was an intelligent system, and the amount of medicinal herbs it produced every day was fixed, which was relatively scarce. Every day, a portion of them was collected by players, put on the market, bought by alchemists, and then made into various potions, which were sold to players. The number of medicinal herbs was limited. Basically, every player had to consume a large number of potions when grinding monsters to level up or running dungeons, so the potions on the market were generally maintained in a state of supply and demand balance.

The supply of medicinal herbs on the market was not much to begin with. Once Nie Yan's funds entered on a large scale and began to hoard medicinal herbs in large quantities, this supply and demand balance would be broken. When Nie Yan's acquisition of medicinal herbs reached a certain level, the medicinal herbs would become even scarcer, and their prices would be greatly pushed up. At that time, the large amount of medicinal herbs hoarded by Nie Yan would suddenly become valuable.

This was not the end. The rise in the price of medicinal herbs would inevitably push up the price of potions, because alchemists wanted to make money, they would add some processing fees on top of the raw material costs, which was the money they earned. If Nie Yan used the low-priced medicinal herbs he had acquired earlier to produce potions on a large scale, and sold the potions at a price that was basically the same as the price of raw materials on the market, the situation on the market would suddenly become subtle. The Xingkong Pharmacy used the low-priced medicinal herbs bought earlier to produce potions, so it was still making money. However, the alchemists outside, because they had not hoarded medicinal herbs in advance, would not make money or even lose money if the price of the potions they sold was the same as that of the Xingkong Pharmacy. After a long time, the alchemists outside the Xingkong Pharmacy would definitely not be able to hold on. Nie Yan would then release news at the right time, offering high salaries to recruit alchemists. Those alchemists who had no way out would naturally gather towards the Xingkong Pharmacy. If all the free alchemists on the market joined the Xingkong Pharmacy, then Nie Yan's goal of monopolizing the potion market would be achieved.