Chapter 635-Alienating the ASEAN
Translator: ryangohsf
Editor: Nora
Apart from the gains from the treasury, the player equipment was also a great boon. Although the equipment did not fit their army, they could be sold to the Chinese players.
Even if a portion of the dropped equipment from the 100 thousand players despawned, the remaining value was no less than one million gold.
Thinking about this point, Ouyang Shuo raised his head and said, "Write it down."
"Yes, my Lord!" Pai Nanpu took out his recording book.
Ever since the official ruling department director Zhang Tingyu pushed out the letter memorial system, Ouyang Shuo's imperial decrees had needed the secretary office to handle before they were signed off.
After all, the literary standards of Ouyang Shuo was something that the officials did not dare to compliment.
"Firstly, the jewelry and gems will be moved back to Shanhai City for the Lady to deal with."
Ever since the Governor-General House backed out from the industries, they had needed a massive sum to maintain the daily expenses of the House. During the wedding, Song Jia had used the presents as funds for the House. Hence, every time they experienced great monetary gains, Ouyang Shuo would off split a portion to put into the treasury for Song Jia to maintain.
"Secondly, the equipment in the arsenal, apart from refilling the resources of the voyage squadron, the remaining would be left to build the Xingzhou Garrison Division." The Garrison Division would use the five thousand guards as its backbone, and they would recruit a bunch of new troops in Lion City. Furthermore, a portion of the troops would be moved from Shanhai City to build it up.
"Thirdly, the player equipment will be sold by the Financial Bureau. All the funds would be passed to the Industry Division, and they will purchase various teas to engage in tea trading."
It was too early to talk about opening the merchant routes between Shanhai City and the west. However, along with the fall of Singapore, opening a merchant route between Shanhai City and the east was only a matter of time.
"Fourthly, of the 1.7 million gold, I will keep one million. Take another 500 thousand to pay for the compensation fees to the dead as well as the military expenditure of the two squadrons. As for the remaining 200 thousand, draft it into the financial budget of the Xingzhou Prefecture." Ouyang Shuo distributed all the funds in just a few sentences.
At his level, millions of gold was exceedingly easy to spend.
4th month, 24th day, Xingzhou Prefecture.
"Lord, frontline intel!"
Chen Dameng held two letters in his hands and hurried over.
Ouyang Shuo took a look; it was a letter from General Huo Qubing. The Guards Legion Corps had found traces of the Johor Army hidden in the north.
Currently, Huo Qubing had quietly activated the Guards Legion Corps to surround the 50 thousand reinforcements, and they were just waiting to reel in the net. Huo Qubing had written the letter to ask the Lord about how to deal with these reinforcements.
It was obvious that to Huo Qubing, they were already in the bag.
The other letter came from the Military Intelligence Division Headquarters in Shanhai City. Based on the intel, the Annan Navy had started to patrol the Beihai Bay region, looking extremely menacing.
"ASEAN is ready to act?" Ouyang Shuo muttered.
The moment Singapore fell, Ouyang Shuo had foreeen that this day would come. To fight an all-out war with ASEAN was impossible. Ouyang Shuo's strategy was to alienate.
As long as the ASEAN states did not act together, they would not be enough to pose a threat.
Ouyang Shuo immediately replied to both letters, sending them completely different military orders.
In the letter to Huo Qubing, Ouyang Shuo requested the Guards Legion Corps to take down the reinforcements with the smallest number of casualties. At the same time, they would release a small squadron to bring a letter from Ouyang Shuo to the Johor players.
In the letter that Ouyang Shuo wrote for Johor, he stated that Shanhai City was willing to trade with Johor. As for the specifics, he would need Johor to send representatives to Lion City for discussion.
At the end of the letter, Ouyang Shuo concluded, ‘The moment the flames of war burn, let's not mention whether Shanhai City could defend Xingzhou Prefecture. All the countries neighboring Xingzhou Prefecture will fall into war and will become the main battlefield, sucked into this conflict. Between war and trade, which one is better for your country? Please think twice.’
If one said that he was attempting to pull Johor to his side, then he was striking out at Annan.
Ouyang Shuo wrote an imperial decree and appointed Navy Fleet Admiral Shi Lang as the commander. They would gather the Jiaozhou Squadron, the Beihai Bay Squadron, and the Yashan Squadron to charge toward Annan to crush their navy.
‘This battle affects the ocean strategy of the territory, so general must give them a painful lesson to make their ships unable to leave their port. Let the members of the ASEAN see that no one can be impudent in front of Shanhai City.’ Ouyang Shuo decreed as such.
Annan was one of the countries that Shanhai City needed to attack. Ouyang Shuo would not allow such an uncertain element to exist at his front door. This time, Annan had jumped right into his waiting arms.
With that, the relationship between the two sides was completely ruined. At the right time, Shanhai City would have a reason to challenge the ASEAN and slowly take them down one by one.
The first step was to take down Singapore, the second was to suppress Annan.
Johor, Putrajaya.
Putrajaya was the imperial city of Johor, located on the west shore of Johor, with the Malacca Straits to the west. The entire city was located where the Klang river and Gombak river met; it was termed as the Muddy River Mouth.
Johor's most powerful players were named as one group, two prefectures.
The group was the biggest group in the country, the Fierce Tiger Mercenary Squad. The inspiration of the mercenary guild came from the Malaya tiger of Johor. Their base was chosen to be Putrajaya.
The two prefectures referred to the two half island grade 1 prefectures in Johor. These were the only two territories in Johor, Perak City and Sabah City.
These three powers basically took control of the talking rights of the Johor players. The 50 thousand reinforcement troops were mainly made up of Perak City troops.
The three leaders all looked at the letter and exchanged gazes with one another.
"The opposition suggestion is something I feel we can consider." The one who spoke was the Lord of Perak City, Datuk Shantha Bin Techa, Shantha for short.
The names of the Johor people were rather special. They did not have a family name, only their own name, while they took their father's name as their surname. Their father's surname was the name of his father and so on.
In their name, at the front was their name, and their surnames were at the back. The males had a Bin word separating their name and surnames while the females used Binte.
This meant that Shantha was his name, and Techa was his surname. Bin represented that he was male.
As for Datuk, it was a title for nobles.
Hearing that the 50 thousand reinforcements were captured by Shanhai City, the one that was the most worried was Shantha. Furthermore, if the flames of war spread, the first to be hit would be Perak City.
Hence, Shantha was the most supportive and resolute of the three about this matter.
Shantha, who was of noble birth, was the representative of a Johor aristocratic family, similar to Di Chen. Perak City had also started to climb ahead of Sabah City, and it was seen as the biggest territory in Johor.
Which was why out of the three of them, he had the biggest power.
"Wouldn't we just be falling for their plans?" Fierce Tiger Mercenary Guild guild leader Han Duya was unhappy about Shantha’s proposition to compromise. He had a head full head of red hair, which was really eye catching. He said, "In my opinion, we have to fight!" As he spoke, he swung his fists and showed his muscles.
Han Duya, the strongest expert out of the Johor adventure gamemode players. Since he was extremely valiant and had a head full of red hair, he given the title of Red Tiger by the players.
However, his enemies called him crazy tiger, showing this person's desire to fight and hot bloodedness.
As for starting a country war, Han Duya was the most supportive of the idea, and he was on totally different sides from Shantha. This person was also born in an aristocratic family. Furthermore, the two were born in different regions. Naturally, he did not fear Shantha.
When Shantha heard these words, a cold gleam appeared in his eyes.
This coward, one day I'll teach you a lesson. Shantha thought to himself.
After all, there were not many cases like Singapore where the guilds were stronger than the Lords. Although Han Duya was the guild leader of the strongest guild in Johor, Shantha had never looked at him as an opponent.
What made Shantha worry was Guo Yannan, who had remained silent.
Guo Yannan, the Lord of Sabah City. He was the only Chinese person out of the three, and he was the representative figure of the Johor Chinese. As a result, he was extremely low profile and basically did not proactively express his views.
Based on what he intended, he naturally wanted a peaceful resolution. The moment the flames of war started, Sabah City would definitely be dragged into the matter. Secondly as a Chinese, fighting China would make Guo Yannan feel a little conflicted.
The most crucial point was that they were right next to the Spratly Islands ocean region, so ocean traffic was exceedingly convenient. The moment they opened trade with Shanhai City, Sabah City would be the first to benefit.
Guo Yannan was confident in making use of this ocean trading to push up the territorial finances to a whole new level.
Even so, Guo Yannan maintained his neutral stance. Not for other reasons, just that he did not want to make enemies with Han Duya.
In Johor, Malays were the natives. As for the Chinese and the Indians, they were looked down on and treated as second class citizens. The relationship between these two groups had always been filled with conflicts and unhappiness.
However, the Chinese were exceptional, making the Malays rather unhappy. Han Duya was a traditional Malay, and he was not comfortable with Guo Yannan.
What about Guo Yannan? The man maintained the family legacy and followed their teachings of the golden mean. He seemed to back off on the surface, but he was competing in the shadows. No matter how unhappy Han Duya was, he could not do anything about the rise of Sabah City, and he knew he could not underestimate it.
Which was why Guo Yannan made Shantha feel worried.
It seemed like sometimes following the golden mean was a great way to survive.