The World Online

Shanhai City’s series of actions made the Spanish people feel rather complicated.

First, they formed an alliance with Atlantis. Next, they grabbed Henry and formed the Mediterranean Alliance. All of a sudden, they had replaced their position as the overlord of the Mediterranean.

The problem was that they were still in the middle of a country war.

The Spanish felt conflicted, and the Lords near the oceans were still waiting and making preparations for war. They had raised their morale to the highest point, but when they were right ready to fight, they realized that the enemy was totally ignoring them?

This made the Spanish extremely depressed; it felt like they had punched air.

”A**holes, focusing won’t kill you, right? It won’t kill you, right?” The Spanish could not help but curse.

When the matter of the Mediterranean Alliance came to an end, and the Spanish thought that they could finally have an all-out battle with Shanhai City, the messenger from Shanhai City arrived in Madrid with a proposition for peace.

Ouyang Shuo announced that he was willing to stop right now; the two sides could shake hands and settle for peace. The Mediterranean Alliance was also willing to coexist with Spain to maintain order in the Mediterranean.

On the exact same day, Henry and Kalia both expressed similar views.

Of course, if Spain was not happy about it, the Mediterranean Alliance did not mind fighting. His words were soft but had a tinge of toughness, truly showing his style.

This god-like change in situation totally caught the Spanish off guard.

The Spanish formed two differing views. The main faction felt that the Spanish needed time to rebuild their invincible squadron and backing off now was the right move.

The other faction wanted war, and they felt that the direction of war could not be totally directed by Shanhai City, ‘Why? We fight because they want to fight and go for peace when they peace?’

The Spanish people felt that this was hard to swallow.

Even though they felt aggrieved, the enemy’s strength was apparent and easy to see. Shanhai City alone was enough to give the Spanish a headache, and now there was even the revived Atlantis City and the Spanish mortal enemy, Vic City.

If they truly started a war, things would not bode well for them.

Amongst all the clamoring, there was one more view that many of the Spanish agreed on, ‘Shanhai City is just here for long distance trading, they didn’t hold any ambitions toward Spain. But our neighbor France is different, they are the true wolves.’

‘In my opinion, that kid Henry is hoping we reject peace so that they will have a chance to use both Shanhai City and Atlantis to fight us.’

This time, the Spanish were totally jolted to their senses and broke out in cold sweat.

Even the ones who wanted war were totally silent, saying in unison, ‘That’s right, we need to stop the rise of France.”

With that, the opinions of the players in Spain slowly came to a consensus.

Under such a context, Phillip the Second meet the Shanhai City messenger squad in the imperial palace.

After a period of negotiation, Phillip the Second decided to give Ouyang Shuo the title of Honorary Knight and also hand Gibraltar over to him.

With that, they just barely saved the face of the Spanish.

Of course, scars remained.

However, the Spanish people needed to focus time and effort into stopping the rise of France. As for Shanhai City, they could only take a step back.

….

8th month, 8th day, Jidian City.

The title from Phillip the Second allowed Jidian City to be like Friendship City; they could open a relay.

At the same time, the meeting hall gave birth to a stone steele, which Ouyang Shuo used a black iron village creation token merged with a merger token to activate; this allowed him to increase the population count of the city at a quicker rate.

The manpower and resources from Vic City had started to be transported over to Jidian City.

Jidian City was slowly going onto the right track.

After opening the relay, Ouyang Shuo wrote his first letter to the city magistrate of Friendship City, Gu Xiuwen.

Half a month ago, Gu Xiuwen had already led his forces and reached Friendship City in Somalia, officially taking office. The large shipyard had also been completed.

Ouyang Shuo ordered Gu Xiuwen to get the shipyard to rush production of a batch of warships to send over to Jidian City for the Mediterranean Squadron’s use. At the same time, he would also send a batch of civil servants over for the time being.

For the second letter. Ouyang Shuo wrote it to Military Affairs Bureau Director Du Ruhui; he asked the director to prepare navy logistic supplies and military officers to send over to Jidian City.

Similarly, Administration Bureau Director Xiao He and the Financial Bureau Director also received the news. The Administration Nureau would send civil servants while the Financial Bureau would lead merchants and Chambers of Commerce over to trade.

Along with the establishment of Jidian City, Ouyang Shuo’s great trade route passed through Jidian City, Friendship City, Lion City, Yashan City, and Beihai City, forming one line.

Under the massive motivation of large profits, not only the chambers of commerce in the territory but even the ones in the various imperial cities rushed over to use this newly formed trade route opened by the voyage squadron.

The age of seafaring had truly arrived.

With that, just by collecting taxes, Shanhai City would be able to earn plenty.

More importantly, Shanhai City had raised its power and strength to speak up on world matters.

Of course, the various countries in Europe could also use the trade route to enter the eastern regions. The game was still different from the ancient times. With China as an example, they could not obtain too much of an advantage because of this trade route.

The difference in technology levels even meant that China would be at a loss. Hence, the Lords in China needed to focus their attention on developing technology in their various territories.

If not, and they lagged too far behind, they would definitely be attacked.

In conclusion, Shanhai City opening the trade route was like opening pandora’s box. It caused the territories and Lords to face many uncertain challenges.

The opening of long distance trading would bring changes, challenges, and chances for new industries; it could alter the prosperity of the territories.

At the same time, it would also be a huge challenge for Shanhai City and the Nanyang Navy to maintain this trade route. Under the temptation of huge profits, people might come over to challenge their power.

The road to conquering the seas had just started.

8th month, 10th day, Jidian City.

Jidian City heading on the right path meant that it was once again time for the voyage squadron to leave.

Before setting off, Ouyang Shuo held a grand ocean auction at Jidian City. The items auctioned off included 20 Spanish galleons, 30 Carracks, 700 Spanish cannons, and two thousand underwater breathing devices.

The moment the news was sent out, the entire Mediterranean was shocked.

The current countries were fighting to increase their ocean strength. Be it warships or cannons, they were all items that they desperately needed. Moreover, the Spanish galleons and cannons were all the top of the line items.

As for the underwater breathing devices, they were even more eye-catching.

Under the investigation of the spies of the various nations, the underwater breathing devices that had caused the destruction of the Spanish invincible squadron entered their field of sight, astonishing all the countries.

Before it had happened, nobody would have expected that the invincible squadron would actually fall to something like that. However, the Atlantis Civilization was too mysterious, and the underwater breathing device was too magical.

The current underwater breathing devices were all sold at sky high prices.

Meanwhile, Jidian City was selling off two thousand of them at once, so how could that not make their blood boil? When they heard the news, the Lords were worried that they would be too late.

In the few days, many warships had parked at Gibraltar Port.

The port, which turned cold due to the actions of Juan, had once again become bustling.

At the same time, the insane defenses of Jidian City were clearly displayed to everyone.

The huge combat puppets, the strong Mediterranean Squadron, the high city walls, the cold cannons, and the mimicry flying devices soaring overhead made everyone fearful.

The auction was mainly to clear resources that were not needed; it was also to form relationships with the Lords of other countries. At the same time, it also had a hidden intention - to warn everyone that Jidian City was not weak

He could not be too sure that the other countries would not have any strange thoughts after the voyage squadron left. Hence, he could only create a positive situation for Jidian City before he left.

Ouyang Shuo also took this chance to share the hot potato that was the underwater breathing device.

One could foresee that if Shanhai City were the only ones to possess such a secret weapon, the Mediterranean Countries would not truly trust them.

After the war, if people like the Spanish fanned the flames, it would be easy to cause people to be wary and start to hate Jidian City.

To Jidian City, it would be a huge loss.

As such, he might as well throw out a bait to allow the other countries to fight; this would buy him some space and time to retreat.

……

At 10 AM, the auction officially began.

The ones who joined the auction were all Lords from the various countries, and they all had enormous wealth. Naturally, Ouyang Shuo would not be petty and sell it item by item. Instead, he sold items batch by batch.

Moreover, to the various Lords, buying one or two warships had little to no meaning.

10 Spanish galleons, 15 carracks, 350 cannons, and 500 underwater breathing devices were sold in one batch.

The entire auction would be split into three batches. The last batch would be left with one thousand underwater breathing devices and the starting bid of each batch was 400 thousand gold. Each addition in bid had to be no less than 20 thousand gold.

At the same time, Ouyang Shuo also made a rule that the player who had already won could not join again. Hence, there would be three winners.

Such intense competition far exceeded their expectations.

The Lianzhou Lord really is a huge schemer, the players could not help but think.