The World Online

How could the rights to certain technology compare to the overall strategy of the territory? As such, Ouyang Shuo decided to hand the sewing machine technology to Xunlong City.

The one given the rights would not be able to pass on the technology to another person. Hence, Xunlong City would not be able to teach anyone else the sewing machine technology.

Even if Xiong Ba wanted to use the sewing machine in schemes or plots, it would not be much. After all, Ouyang Shuo intended to release both technologies to the entire China region at a suitable time.

No matter how they fought with one another, it could only be called an internal conflict. During the future country wars, the two alliances would have no choice but to work together.

Ouyang Shuo was more than willing to raise the technology tree of the China region.

”Since I have already thought about this, there’s no need to dwell much further on this topic.” Ouyang Shuo shelved her opposition.

Cui Yingyu glanced at Ouyang Shuo, nodding and not saying anything else.

Noticing that the atmosphere was getting awkward, Fan Li cut in, ”The Financial Bureau also has something to report. The wood trading deal with the ASEAN states have gone through the first round of discussion. They raised an additional term; they wish to have the rights to purchase Shanhai City warships.”

Ouyang Shuo shook his head, ”Their appetite is really huge.”

The ASEAN Lords were not fools or friendly people. In the Nanyang region, all the ASEAN state squadrons were suppressed by Shanhai City.

To build a strong navy to face off against Shanhai City was the priority of all the ASEAN states.

Xingzhou Squadron Fleet Admiral Yanhuo Yaonie had written a letter to Ouyang Shuo, saying that the navies of Java, Johor, Luzon, and the other states were all showing signs of rising up once more.

If it was not for the Xingzhou Squadron suppressing them, the situation would have gone sour. Hence, Ouyang Shuo built the Nanyang Navy Headquarters after the Battle of Red Cliff ended.

One of the uses was to pressure the navies of the various ASEAN states.

Apart from Nanzhang, the rest of the ASEAN states were either near the sea or island states. Hence, they did not lack sailors, and their seafaring skills were decent. Their only weakness would be that in terms of warship building technology, they were behind China.

This was the only reason they would turn their attention to the Shanhai City warships.

”Inform the Business Division negotiation team to tell them that we can sell the warships to them, but there’s a strict limit to the number of turreted warships that they can buy. Also, in terms of price, raise it by at least two times.” Ouyang Shuo gave an unexpected answer.

Naturally, they should rip off the ASEAN countries when they could do so.

In the game, before the federation was established, countries would rake in over ten times of profits from export prices underpinned by technological breakthroughs.

Ouyang Shuo did not even feel the slightest of psychological barrier in setting this price.

”In terms of negotiation, they also need to pay attention to the technique and try to exaggerate the quantity of wood needed for each warship as well as the time to produce one. Also inform the Lords of the ASEAN states that whoever wants to buy needs to first sell at least twice the wood to us. First come, first serve. Whoever sells us the wood would get the warships first.”

The ASEAN was not a united group, so Ouyang Shuo believed the Lords would fight to be the first to sell wood to Shanhai City if they could get the warships earlier than the others.

This was an unexpected surprise.

Since they had a need for Shanhai City warships, it was like Shanhai City having a stranglehold over them. As such, they had no choice but to take a step back in terms of wood trade negotiations.

At the very least, they could not raise the price during the negotiations.

Ouyang Shuo did not choose to sell the warships to the ASEAN states because he was greedy for gold. Rather, the shipbuilding group was already building a new type of warship known as the Z1 Type Warship. It would mesh the strengths of both the Ming Dynasty Warships and the English Man O’ War, creating a revolutionary upgrade.

The dragon bones in the experimental warship made use of the black dragon bones that Ouyang Shuo found on the dragon island. After it was completed, it would become Ouyang Shuo’s new warship.

Ouyang Shuo knew that the English Man O’ War type warships would be the future of warship development because modern day iron warships were built on the basis of these and developed.

The iron warships that Shanhai City would make in the future would require them to first understand the Man O’ War battleship technology completely. At the same time, the Ming Dynasty Turreted ships had many useable points that could be incorporated into the new type of battleship.

Combining the two, using the strengths to cover up the weaknesses, they would create an even stronger warship.

As long as the development of the Z1 Type Warship succeeded, along with equipping them with the P1 to P2 type cannons, Shanhai City would be able to give the Nanyang Navy a makeover.

At that time, the turreted warships that the ASEAN navy had would be of no challenge to them.

If was the same as saying that the ASEAN states were just emptying their pockets and using plenty of elite wood to buy eliminated warships. In the end, they were still controlled by Shanhai City.

Ouyang Shuo wanted the Business Division to negotiate and buy some more time for them to develop the new warship. The amount of wood resources needed to build the Z1 Type Warship was an ocean like amount and needed to be amassed beforehand.

If they could earn a large amount in the process, why not make this trade?

When Fan Li heard that, his eyes lit up as he said, ”I will send your words to the negotiators.”

”That’s good.” Ouyang Shuo naturally believed that Fan Li would be able to handle it well.

...

After sending away Fan Li, it was already 5 PM.

Seeing that there was some time before dinner, Ouyang Shuo did not meet anyone and started to deal with the memorials. In the reading room, there was one more person; naturally, it was the newly appointed Tsing Yi.

After joining three meetings in a row, Tsing Yi’s eyes were truly opened up.

Each management staff in Shanhai City was a giant, and they all had their own views and thoughts. It was amazing how Ouyang Shuo could control all of them and push all the right administrative decisions to make all these old foxes yield.

Tsing Yi’s eyes shone bright upon seeing that.

A focused Ouyang Shuo had an unusual charm.

Hence, Tsing Yi felt an even larger pressure. Although she looked soft and weak, she was a extremely determined person. Since she accepted the job, she wanted to do it well.

Ouyang Shuo did not bother about her thoughts, swiftly dealing with the memorials. There were four types of memorials that had the rights to be passed to him.

First, memorials from intel organizations like the Black Snake Guards and the Shanhai Guards.

Basically, these were passed on from Black Snake and Shen Buhai. When Ouyang Shuo was in Shanhai City, most of them would be reported face to face.

Secondly, the war fighting generals.

Based on the rule, Legion Generals and above, including navy fleet admirals, could directly report intel to Ouyang Shuo. Lower ranks like Major Generals did not have this right.

Thirdly, the various Governors.

The Governors, including the City Magistrates of Friendship City and Jidian City, all had the rights to deliver the memorials to him. In fact, they had to at least report once every month.

When the Prefects faced an emergency, they could break the rule to report. As for what was defined as an emergency, the Administration Bureau had specific rules. If it exceeded this range, one would be bypassing their superior.

Fourthly, the people in charge of the major organizations of the Nanjiang Governor-General House.

Apart from the four Bureau Directors, directors and secretaries could report to Ouyang Shuo. Of course, unless it was a huge problem, normally such things would just be reported to the four Bureau Directors.

Considering everything, there were 50 to 60 people who had the ability to report to Ouyang Shuo directly. Considering sudden and unexpected situations, this number would be even larger.

It was still okay when Ouyang Shuo was here as some matters could be handled face to face. When numerous departments were involved, he could also pull all the in charge personnel in for a meeting.

The moment he was not in Shanhai City was when the problems starts.

Problems faced could only be communicated through memorials so many correspondents would be done for just one matter. For those matters involving many departments, it was even worse.

When Ouyang Shuo was outside, he did not have any time in the day, so he could only read and work on them at night. Hence, it was no wonder that he needed to burn the midnight oil in Lingnan.

Luckily, Gaia had such an efficient relay system. Both letters and memorials could be transported quickly like emails.

If not, a Lord on the outside would not be able to care for territory matters.

The reason why Gaia did that was to be more humane. While caring for the Lords, it also trained their ability to deal with administrative matters.

The memorial Ouyang Shuo was reading was from Xingzhou Governor Pei Mo. it was regarding guilds being set up. Hence, Pei Mo sought Ouyang Shuo’s opinion.

For anything that involved players, the Governors would often be more careful.

Qing Sikou had a sharp eye and knew that the ASEAN states around Xingzhou Prefecture were a massive raw material base. For a purely work occupation guild like them, it was naturally a huge opportunity.

Now, she applied; naturally, it was because she saw that Shanhai City had stabilized their position in the region.

”That girl is really smart.” Ouyang Shuo smiled and shook his head, writing in red: Agreed, handle with discretion.

After handling memorial after memorial, 6 PM had unknowingly past.

Just at this moment, a head popped in. It was Bing’er, who ran in and shouted, ”Brother let’s eat! You have been busy since returning and did not even eat.”

This little lady had become a real busybody.

Ouyang Shuo stretched, ”Ok, I’m coming.” He turned around and looked at Tsing Yi, ”Tsing Yi, it’s time for you to end work.”

”Yes.”

Tsing Yi naturally would not have her meal together with Ouyang Shuo.

When they merged with Consonance City, the Construction Division had built a residence for Bai Hua. The three sisters all stayed there now.

A busy day had finally come to an end.