The World Online

On the topic of wood, Southeast Asian countries Annan, Siam, Johor, and Java were all big producers of wood. Amongst which, both Siam and Johor traded with Shanhai City.

Shanhai City also constructed a large-sized shipyard in Lion City and had the convenience of geography.

Cui Yingyu mentioned on the memorial that the Business Division had already arranged some trading negotiation groups to contact the two countries to try to strike up a trade partnership.

Of course, this was not a long term solution.

Not mentioning the high transport costs, neither the Lords in Siam or Johor could give Shanhai City much price discounts as the purchase costs were not low either.

Both sides were just simple trade partners and were not even friends, much less allies.

With money to earn, the Lords on both sides would not act soft-hearted.

In history, the Southeast Asian countries were all colonies of the west and became bases for raw materials. The western suzairans used the price difference between industrial products and raw materials to rip off the labour of the local civilians, hence obtaining large amounts of materials.

The current Shanhai City did not have enough power to do that.

ASEAN in the game was like a powder keg; it could explode at any time. The moment a large war started, trade could be affected and the territory shipbuilding industry could suffer as a result.

Hence, the most stable method would be to take down one of them through a country war. The target that Shanhai City chose was naturally Annan, which they have had some conflicts with.

Between the two of them, war was unavoidable.

However, before the Battle of Yunnan ended, Shanhai City did not have the energy to start a country war. The ASEAN countries were all linked to one another; they might act together, so one must make ample planning.

When Shanhai City started a country war against Annan, they needed to be ready to face the entire ASEAN.

Attacking Annan would be a difficult systematic war mission, and it was something that was totally impossible to complete in the 3rd year of Gaia. At most, they could act in the 4th year at the earliest.

Not talking about the matters that were far away, the Battle of Yunnan right in front of them was not simple.

Be it the cooperation between Yunnan City-State and Yanhuang Alliance, or the Xiangnan City-State expanding their army, all of this information was passed back to Ouyang Shuo through informants.

Ouyang Shuo was not surprised at all by the interference of the Yanhuang Alliance.

Ouyang Shuo wanted to use this chance to teach Yanhuang Alliance a lesson and let them suffer losses when they were trying to take advantage of others.

No matter what, the Battle of Yunnan was going to be much more complicated than the Battle of Lingnan.

...

Cui Yingyu also mentioned another key pillar of the territory in her memorial – steelmaking.

Similar to the shipbuilding industry, the steelmaking industry was restricted by raw materials, more accurately energy. The need for coal had not been solved till date.

Fallen Phoenix City was located inland, so itransportation posed a serious issue.

In recent times, Ouyang Shuo started to turn his eyes to Jingdu and Ludong Province, these two top-level coal regions.

Compared to Taiyuan Province, although these two did not produce as much coal, they had a natural advantage; they were close to the sea and had naturally ports.

The China region coastline was extremely long. From north to south, the region had over 10 large natural harbors, including northern Jingdu Province Binhai Bay, Haijin Bay in the south, Jiaodong Bay in Ludong, Haizhou Bay in Donghai Province, Zhoushan Bay in Jiangnan Province, Quanzhou Bay in Minnan Province, Jiaozhou Bay in Lingnan Province, and more.

In comparison, Shanhai City’s Beihai Bay was not much.

The Binhai Bay in Jingdu was coincidentally located within Stone City territory.

Shanhai City’s Business Division had already discussed with Stone City to use the sea routes to build a stable coal transport channel. The prerequisite would be that Stone City increased their digging of coal.

Coal digging and mining not only needed large amounts of labor but also gold investment.

For this, the Four Seas Bank provided a massive amount of 500 thousand gold to help Stone City increase their production of coal. The guarantor of the loan was Shanhai City’s Financial Bureau.

Before even receiving any coal, the Financial Bureau paid a 100 thousand gold deposit.

Cui Yingyu, who was managing territory industries, had already given the word. No matter how much coal they dig out, Shanhai City would purchase it all.

Hence, this made it a win-win situation for both sides. Shanhai City obtained the coal that they needed while Stone City obtained the funds that they needed to develop.

There was a phrase, ’Do not put all your eggs in one basket.’

Apart from Stone City, Shanhai City also looked at Ludong Province. Compared to Stone City, not only was Ludong Province bigger, it was also closer to Shanhai City.

Currently, the entire Ludong Province was occupied by the West Chu regime.

Speaking of which, the relationship between Xiang Yu and Ouyang Shuo was rather complicated. During the Battle of Julu, it was him who pushed Xiang Yu to the depths. Hence, they could be called enemies.

But an overlord was still an overlord.

Before Xiang Yu left, he had promised Ouyang Shuo that he owed the latter a favor.

Ouyang Shuo suddenly realized that it was time for him to make use of that favor.

Thinking about that, Ouyang Shuo immediately wrote a letter to Zhang Yi to ask him to arrange an envoy to travel in secret to West Chu. It was both to form relationships and to activate the coal trade deal.

Obviously, his goal was not limited to coal, which was why he took it this seriously. He also wished to use this chance to remove the barrier between the two and form closer relationships.

For example, forming an alliance.

Yanhuang Alliance doing such despicable actions every day truly annoyed Ouyang Shuo. It was time to give them some problems so that they could join in the Nanjiang Battle when they wished.

Ouyang Shuo had heard that the West Chu Army was huge, sweeping across the Ludong Province, merging with the Zhangchu Regime and becoming one of the giants.

However, West Chu had their weaknesses.

The greatest weakness of the West Chu Regime was that the civilians were all scattered, and their economy was weak. Xiang Yu wanted to expand once more but was restricted by finances, so he had no choice but to stop.

With that, naturally Ouyang Shuo would not mind helping him.

Ouyang Shuo believed that Xiang Yu would be interested in Shanhai City’s kind intentions.

West Chu maintained their strength in the mid regions. If they went north, they could threaten Di Chen’s Jingdu Region, and if they went south, they could subdue Zhan Lang’s Donghai Province.

With such a regime existing, Di Chen and Zhan Lang would both face immense problems.

Apart from the West Chu Regime, Ouyang Shuo also instructed the Honglu Temple to work with the Shanhai Guards to come into contact with the aristocrat territories in Wannan Province.

Maintaining a chaotic Wannan Province was best for Shanhai City’s interests. The same theory could be used in the complicated Zhongyuan Province.

Without a doubt, as the Honglu Temple rose up, Shanhai City would use more diplomatic means to fulfil its interests; they wold form allies to subdue enemies.

Sun Tzu once said, ’The best form of using troops is to counter your enemy’s plan, followed by breaking up his alliance using diplomacy, then by sending troops in a head on battle, the worst would be to siege.’

One could predict that Shanhai City’s diplomatic route would play a greater and greater important role in the future.

...

By the time Ouyang Shuo finished writing the secret letter to Zhang Yi, the sky was already dark, and there was total silence all around.

On the table were many stacked memorials; they were all annotated and read through, and each and every one were approved at the end by Ouyang Shuo. The next morning, these memorials would be transported back to the relays through the Nanjiang Governor-General House.

Ouyang Shuo placed down his pen, stretching his hands backward. He rotated his neck and took a long stretch. Instantly, his body gave out the sound of bones cracking; one could see that he had sat for too long.

Although it was tiring, Ouyang Shuo felt that it was truly meaningful. Seeing the territory prosper under his leadership, such a sense of achievement was unparalleled.

After leaving the reading room, Ouyang Shuo returned to his sleeping quarters and started his habitual cultivation.

Along with the Yellow Emperor Internal Cultivation Technique breaking through to the 11th layer, Ouyang Shuo’s golden primordial energy was like that of a river, gushing about and splashing around.

The position of his dantian already became a golden eye fountain, and primordial energy flowed down the eye of the fountain, forming a truly majestic sight.

After the fortuitous encounter on the dragon island, his meridians had grown much stronger. With the constant brushing of the golden primordial energy, it even had a golden luster.

Even his bones started to emit a golden color.

Based on what the Yellow Emperor Internal Cultivation Technique recorded, once all the meridians turn gold, it was a sign of completing the 11th layer. If one’s bones turned gold, the person in question would have finished the 12th layer.

Helplessly, although it had been five months since he broke through to the 11th layer, his progress was still extremely slow even with daily effort.

Based on his current speed, to break through to the 12th layer would take a really long time.

Even so, Ouyang Shuo was not anxious and just trained as usual. He believed that the daily accumulation would pay off in the end.

Cultivation was the training of the heart.

One must be able to bear the loneliness and toughness.

Till date, the first 10 levels were all so smooth. He either found treasures or had the help of fortuitous encounters.

At the current stage, it was time for him to face some problems.

Hence, Ouyang Shuo was not worried at all.

The daily cultivation was a form of enjoyment for Ouyang Shuo.

The next morning, Ouyang Shuo started packing up to rush to the next county.

Just at this moment, the guard reported.

”Monarch, there’s a player lady outside who wants to meet you.”

”Player lady?” Ouyang Shuo frowned.

Based on the rules of the wilderness, after a territory fell, the players living in it would be teleported back to the imperial city. Hence, Ouyang Shuo rarely saw any players on his journey.

Not to mention there would be players who wanted to find him themselves.

At his current position, the players who were able to speak directly with him were not many.

Ouyang Shuo asked, ”What’s her name?”