This was a tactic that Usonia had been using for many years in the mortal realm, and it was as shameless as it was effective.

Back when Qin Ye was alive, he had wondered why Cathay wasn't a more dominant force on the international stage when it held so much of Usonia's national debt.

Only after dabbling in international affairs himself did he realize that on the world stage, the debtors had far more leverage than the creditors.

In frank terms, national debt was essentially equivalent to blank cheques. If the debtor refused to pay, then the creditor really couldn't do anything. Usonia didn't dare to print more USD as it was trying to control inflation, and that resulted in insufficient USD circulating in the international currency market to satisfy demand. Without sufficient reserves of USD, they would be unable to purchase Usonian technology and other Usonian exports, and this was the exact tactic that Qin Ye was currently employing.

What was even more harrowing was the thought of how depleted every nation's dragon jade reserves had become during the Cathayan Underworld's century-long seclusion.

Did anyone even have enough dragon jade to pay off the patent fees for the first 10 years?

This was why the strategy that Qin Ye was adopting was so shocking to everyone!

Essentially, Qin Ye was only stopping just short...