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The success of the Honglu Temple was without a doubt good news for the war plans of Shanhai City.

Shanhai City coming out of seclusion, who to attack, how to attack.

Long before Ouyang Shuo headed out to sea, he had handed this problem over to the Military Affairs Bureau, Baiqi, Han Xin, and the others; he asked them to come up with a detailed military plan.

Military Affairs Bureau had finished the military preparations Now, they only lacked military orders from Ouyang Shuo. As long as he shot the gun, the entire Nanjiang would enter war once more.

After Zhang Yi left, Ouyang Shuo met many officials. This reporting meeting only came to a halt when the guard reported that the Dali envoy had arrived.

When Ouyang Shuo upgraded to Lianzhou Lord, the imperial court envoy had come.

Now, when he became the Shanhai Duke, as expected, the imperial court would reward him once more.

Only, for this second time, Ouyang Shuo did not feel as excited or emotional. After all, the current Shanhai City was not too different to Dali Imperial City.

It was to the point where if Ouyang Shuo was determined to take them down, it was not impossible.

Since both sides were on an equal level, why would Ouyang Shuo feel excited?

This was without mentioning that once Shanhai City established a country, the seals, coronation uniform, and other items given by the imperial court would be useless; Shanhai City would have to make such items themselves.

Hence, although the second ceremony was grand; it was not really anything exciting.

……

After sending away the envoy, Ouyang Shuo decided to not see any more officials and prepare to upgrade Shanhai City to a Grade 3 Prefecture first. As for the remaining administrative matters, he would solve them during the morning court assembly.

Ouyang Shuo arrived at the main hall and muttered ‘territory upgrade’ in his heart. Then, a white light shone, and the golden stone steele in the middle of the hall rose slowly once again.

Placing his right hand onto it, the system sounded out.

”System Notification: Checking Shanhai City upgrade requirements.”

”Requirement 1: population one million upper limit, requirement met!”

For the 500 thousand new people, Shanhai City spent close to a year, and this was under the help of three village creation tokens working together.

This time, to increase the population, Ouyang Shuo had to think of other ideas.

There was no way he would wait for two more years before upgrading to capital city as that was impractical.

”Requirement 2: all basic buildings constructed, requirement met!”

The two buildings required for a Grade 2 Prefecture was long built during the Gaia 2nd year.

Near the wholesale center, which was located in the middle city region, was the distribution center built when the territory was still a Grade 1 Prefecture.

These two centers were the heart of Shanhai City trade.

The current Shanhai City was not only the political core of the territory but also its trading capital.

”Requirement 3: Lord is at least 1st class Marquis, requirement met!”

Ouyang Shuo had already upgraded to duke. However, in the entire China region, there was not a second 1st class Duke. Even Bai Hua and Feng Qiuhuang had not reached the rank yet.

His rank advantage was unassailable at this stage.

”System Notification: Congratulations player Qiyue Wuyi, your territory Shanhai City has met all upgrade requirements, will you upgrade?”

”Upgrade!”

A golden light shot up into the sky from the stone steele, bursting open mid-air. The golden luster spread in all directions till the new corners of the territory before disappearing.

Not only in the China Region, Xingzhou Prefecture, Friendship City, and Jidian City were all covered by the golden light. Only now were the fates of the new territories truly tied together.

”System Notification: Congratulations player Qiyue Wuyi for upgrading to Grade 3 Prefecture. Prefecture Grade Lord’s Manor has automatically upgraded, player please take a look!”

……

”System Notification, Congratulations player Qiyue Wuyi for upgrading to Grade 3 Prefecture. After upgrading, the territory can have one more teleportation formation, please choose its location! Friendly Reminder: It is not restricted to Shanhai City but any city in the territory.”

When Ouyang Shuo heard this news, he was delighted.

The rewards for upgrading to a Grade 3 Prefecture simply came at the right time.

If the territory were to have two or three more teleportation formations, maybe Ouyang Shuo would need to consider matters further. But now it was only adding one, so apart from Jidian City in the Mediterranean, Ouyang Shuo did not even need to think about anything else.

This was because Jidian City really needed a teleportation formation.

With this formation, he would be connected to the entire European Continent, even the African Continent.

”I choose Jidian City!” Ouyang Shuo was excited.

”System Notification: Location selected, teleportation formation is being formed.”

”System Notification: Found that Jidian City is located overseas; hence, this will be a cross-country teleportation formation. For the rules related to cross country teleportation, player please familiarize yourself.”

Ouyang Shuo was not surprised about this.

In Lion City, the teleportation formation was also a cross-country one and could only be connected to teleportation formations within the territory.

In truth, at this stage, Ouyang Shuo was not ready to open the Jidian City teleportation formation to China players, not even to his Shanhai Alliance allies.

The Mediterranean was more complicated than Southeast Asia, and it was not wise to start conflict now.

……

”System Notification: Congratulations player Qiyue Wuyi for upgrading to Grade 3 Prefecture. After the upgrade, the Lord can adjust one of the geographic features in the territory. The degree of change will be decided by the system. Friendly Reminder: the change can only be done on the base and not totally change the area. For example, widening rivers, making mountains higher, and the like.”

”It’s finally here!” Ouyang Shuo was elated.

When he upgraded to Grade 2 Prefecture, Ouyang Shuo had used the chance to expand Friendship River and Qiushui River, so that Shanhai City did not need to depend on Beihai City.

As for this second chance, Ouyang Shuo would naturally cherish it.

During the Battle of Singapore, Ouyang Shuo had obtained a Mountain Opening Seal. After use, this item could open a path through any mountain.

If he did not have this item, Ouyang Shuo would have definitely chosen to open a path between Lianzhou Basin and Annan Region to sneakily open up his route to there.

With the seal, there was no need to waste such a precious chance.

Ouyang Shuo noticed that this time the system said adjust, not the slight adjustment like last time. This meant that the degree of change he could make was far greater than the previous time.

Thinking about it, Ouyang Shuo finally said, “Extend Friendship River and Qiushui River and connect them to Chuanbei Province and Lingnan Province.”

Ouyang Shuo’s goal was to increase the connections of Shanhai City with the other provinces to make it not as enclosed as before.

A true capital city should be a transport hub in both land and sea transport.

The current Shanhai City was only connected to the ocean; the north through Zhennan Pass to Chuannan Province; the east through the mountains to Lingnan Province.

The mountains on the west were slowly being opened up.

The problem was that roads were difficult, and some were even mountain paths that were hard to scale.

Opening the water paths was the right way. The two life rivers of Shanhai City naturally became the key to all this.

”System Notification: Land change being verified, extending river, calculating.”

……

”Calculations completed, geography changed. Friendship River can stretch north west 1200 kilometers, Qiushui River can stretch south east 1300 meters; these two are now connected to the pearl river water system. For the specific situation, player please take a look!”

Ouyang Shuo was delighted.

The pearl river system was the second largest river in China and the thirrd longest. In reality, it contained close to 349.2 billion cubic meters of water, taking second out of all water systems in China, only second to Changjiang.

The pearl river included Xijiang, Beijiang, and Dongjiang, flowing past Yunnan Province, Chuanbei Province, Chuannan Province, Lingnan Province, Wannan Province, and Jiangchuan Province.

Basically, pearl river covered the entire Nanjiang.

It was even connected to the north east portion of Annan.

Hence, it was understandable that Ouyang Shuo was so excited. Friendship River and Qiushui River connecting to that system basically settled the waterway of the territory.

Especially in the game, with the maps 10 times larger, the rivers were wider, making the waterways more developed and convenient.

At this point, the strategic geographical position of Shanhai City had basically been established.

……

Along with the extension of the river, the territory upgrade had been completed and the system notification sounded out in his ear.

”System Notification: Congratulations player Qiyue Wuyi for becoming the 1st Lord in the China region to upgrade to Grade 3 Prefecture, awarded 10 thousand merit points!”

……

The moment the notification sounded out, the entire China region was shocked once more.

Ouyang Shuo used this unique method to announce his strong return.

……

Handan City, Lord’s Manor.

The moment Di Chen heard the system report, his face instantly turned green, and he gritted his teeth, “Damn it, that fellow has snatched it again.”

Handan City only lacked Di Chen’s rank; once he ranked up, he could upgrade the territory to Grade 3 Prefecture.

He was now a 2nd class Marquis; he only was only 20 thousand merit points away from 1st class Marquis. Originally, he was planning to use the next battle map to upgrade.

With that, Handan City would have a chance to overtake Shanhai City.

If that was truly the case, the reputation of Handan City would definitely soar. Along with the glorious results that the Yanhuang Alliance had obtained, they would be able to step down on the Shanhai Alliance.

However, no matter how he calculated, he did not expect Ouyang Shuo to succeed at this time.

With that, his hopes went up in smoke.

After Grade 3 Prefecture, he was left with one more chance - capital city. Thinking about Ouyang Shuo’s current rank, Di Chen did not hold any hopes.

Hence, this was his only opportunity. Who knew that even so, Ouyang Shuo would still beat him.

Obviously, Di Chen would be furious about this defeat.

”He truly is my nemesis. I really cannot get rid of this nightmare.”