World Online

by Srtyi

Earth Online – a virtual MMORPG that takes place in the future year of 2190 – a game that everyone will bet their futures on. Set in a map that is ten times the size of real-world Earth, players battle for supremacy in the first game to feature personal adventure, territory construction, and grand warfare. For every death you experience in the game, your level would drop back to 0.

19. 537

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Chapter 537- Humiliation Stone Steele

Translator: ryangohsf

Editor: Nora

"Lord, on this matter, you have to be firm."

Seeing Caiyun Zinan acting a little hesitant, Zhang Liang instantly reminded him, his attitude resolute like iron.

Zhang Liang knew that if they were not able to complete the two strongholds in a short period of time, the rewards obtained from the battle would not last long.

"I understand."

Caiyun Zinan nodded his head and smiled, "Do not worry, Zi Fang. I will think of a way to convince them." However, his smile was a little forced.

"Actually to you, this might be a good thing." Zhang Liang continued, "As long as you succeed in this, not only the Wannan City-State, even in both provinces, you will have a say. This will definitely aid and help you in future matters."

When Caiyun Zinan heard that, his eyes lit up, and he excitedly said, "Since Zi Fang has put it that way, even if I lose all my face, I'll get this matter settled."

In the end, anyone who had great potential would definitely have great ambition too.

Zhang Liang's words had definitely struck the sweet spot with Caiyun Zinan.

If not, why would one say that Zhang Liang was the Strategy Saint. He could pinpoint the weakness of his Lord to come up with a different viewpoint to persuade him.

In comparison, Fan Zeng, who was born in the same generation, was worlds apart.

After the discussion, Caiyun Zinan turned and left.

Zhang Liang looked at the fading back view of Caiyun Zinan, as anxiety appeared in his eyes.

"In the end, was the plan too small-scaled?"

Within the hall, a sigh broke out.That afternoon, the alliance army's discussion had a breakthrough.

Who knows how Caiyun Zinan accomplished it, but in the end, they accepted Zhang Liang's plan and gave up on splitting the spoils of war.

The gold that they obtained this time, apart from using it on the compensation money for the casualties, they spent the remaining on building the two strongholds to ensure the safety of Guilin Prefecture.

Apart from that, in regards to the number of troops, the various Lords had all come to a consensus.

Guilin Prefecture would maintain 150 thousand prepared troops, amongst which, one hundred thousand would come from Wannan City-State and fifty thousand from the Chuanbei Province. The overall commander of the troops would still be Li Mu.

This army would establish an unbreakable defense line with the two strongholds as its core.

As for the shortfall in terms of troops, a portion would come from the surrendered troops of the Taiping Country Army, while the various territories would contribute the rest.

To come to an agreement, Caiyun Zinan had no choice but to make way in terms of the appointment of officials in Guilin Prefecture. As the person who had started this war, in the end, his control of the Guilin Prefecture was minimal.

On the contrary, Gu Henxiao, who contributed General Li Mu, had the greatest speaking power in Guilin Prefecture. Even the choice of governor was suggested by him.

Although the various Lords did not barbarically try to split up the prefecture, they still did not give up on increasing their influence in the area. The cooperations and conflicts within were not something that could be described in a short while.

Luckily, Zhang Liang's plan was basically fulfilled.

11th month, 24th day, Guiping Pass.

At around 3 PM in the afternoon, the two mountain barbarian independent divisions finally arrived at Guiping Pass.

Unfortunately, the huge war at the pass had already ended.

The mountain barbarian soldiers only saw a heavily damaged pass in tatters. In the deep forests outside of the pass, there were thousands of new gravestones, creating a truly eye-catching scene under the shine of the sunlight.

That afternoon, all the mountain barbarian warriors rushed to the cemetery to send off their dead comrades.

Under the setting sun, this scene seemed really heart wrenching and emotional.

Ouyang Shuo stood on the city wall, looking out at the distance for an entire afternoon, not moving in the slightest.

The soldiers felt that since yesterday when the Lord had found out that the five thousand mountain barbarian soldiers at Xuanwu Pass had all died, he had become really down and quiet. He often looked out afar, and no one knew what he was thinking about.

Such a scene also affected the moods of the soldiers in the pass. The entire pass was enveloped in a solemn atmosphere, one that was hard to climb out of.

Even the soldiers that had done well and made contributions did not approach the Lord as usual to receive their rewards.

When Pei Ju saw the situation, a flash of worry appeared in his eyes.

Logically speaking, as a leader, as a Lord, one should not expose their personal feelings, especially one's weaker side to those under them. Such an act would be a huge blow to the might and prestige of the Lord.

Any action by Ouyang Shuo would be overly read by his men and cause chaos and worry.

This was where Pei Ju needed to step in to do his job.

Under the dim lights, there was nothing weird or unusual about Ouyang Shuo's expression. In his hand was a blueprint, the building blueprints of Guiping Pass.

"Minister Pei Ju greets the Lord!"

Seeing that, Pei Ju bowed slightly.

"You came? Sit!"

Ouyang Shuo casually raised his head. His voice sounded stale and uninterested, lacking his usual aura.

"Lord…." Pei Ju spoke up then stopped.

Ouyang Shuo's mood was bad but that did not mean his senses were not sharp. Finally, he noticed that this minister was not acting right. Putting it another way, he was acting really strange.

He placed down the blueprints and laughed, "What words do you want to say, just say it."

"Then, I will be bold," Pei Ju said.

"It's fine." Ouyang Shuo nodded.

"The dead are already gone. You need to put down the burden and look toward the future. Pick yourself up. A loss should not make you lose your soul to such an extent."

Pei Ju's words were really direct, so direct that it made Ouyang Shuo feel a little ashamed.

When Ouyang Shuo heard these words, he let out an awkward smile, "For these past two days, I've been thinking about a problem. There are somethings that are not as others think."

"Lord, please elaborate!" Pei Ju nodded.

"Look at this!" Ouyang Shuo took up the blueprint once more, "During these two days, I've been thinking. The fall of Guilin Prefecture has already happened, so how can we make up for it?"

"Lord, what you're saying is?"

In Pei Ju's eyes, a light started to shine up.

"Build a stronghold!" Ouyang Shuo was determined, "With the Guiping Pass as the base, we will expand it into a stronghold comparable to the Mulan Stronghold."

Ouyang Shuo's thoughts were exactly the same as Zhang Liang's.

"We are unable to make sure whether the enemy has the ambitions to enter Xunzhou Prefecture. No matter what we may think, Guiping Pass is our only barrier toward the north. This barrier was exchanged for by the blood of tens of thousands of soldiers, so we cannot afford to lose it."

As he said that, Ouyang Shuo started to grow a little emotional.

"In a short period of time, I do not think we will have the ability to take back Guilin Prefecture." In Ouyang Shuo's eyes, sadness flashed across, "Which is all the more why we have to house troops in the north. The Leopard Legion, which was originally planned to be stationed at Guilin Prefecture, will now be temporarily housed here."

"That works." Pei Ju nodded his head.

"This stronghold, I would like you to be in charge of it, are you willing?" Ouyang Shuo asked.

"It's exactly what I wanted." Pei Ju nodded.

Based on Ouyang Shuo's previous plan, Pei Ju was going to work in Guilin Prefecture. The sudden fall of Guilin Prefecture meant that he had lost his job, making his situation extremely awkward.

To Pei Ju, the fall of Guilin Prefecture made him feel ashamed, and it was a stain in his life.

Hence, Pei Ju had wanted to personally wipe off this stain. Taking charge of building the stronghold would be his first step to redeeming himself.

If Ouyang Shuo made him work at Shanhai City, he would have been unhappy about it.

One had to say that Ouyang Shuo's eyes were really sharp, and he often found the right person for the job.

"The new stronghold, will it be called Guiping Stronghold?" Pei Ju asked.

"No." Ouyang Shuo shook his head, as a cold glow appeared in his eyes "At Guilin Prefecture, at Guiping Pass, Shanhai City faced an unprecedented failure. The glory of the golden dragon flag was stained for the first time. Such a humiliation, how can I forget it in a day? Hence, let's call the new stronghold the Withered Flower Stronghold to remember this huge lost. To take revenge, let's reclaim the glory of this withered flower!"

"Withered Flower Stronghold."

As Pei Ju spoke those words, the deep and heavy meaning behind it weighed on his heart.

"Since that's the case, I suggest we build a huge humiliation stone steele in front of the pass to remind all the soldiers housed here to not forget about the humiliation of this day."

The night was dark and the two of them had come to a consensus once again.

"I'll leave now!"

Pei Ju looked out at the pitch black sky, getting up to leave.

"Pei Ju." Just as Pei Ju walked out of the gate, Ouyang Shuo spoke, "Your reminder today is something I will remember deeply in my heart."

When Pei Ju heard these words, he turned around and smiled, "For the Lord to think that way, I have no worries."

The Lord and the minister looked at one another and laughed.The next day, Han Xin's troops smoothly arrived at Guiping Pass.

The three armies had finally met up in Guiping Pass.

Ouyang Shuo naturally had immense faith in Han Xin. Even Li Mu would face a lot of problems at the hands of Han Xin.

The arrival of Han Xin also signaled that it was time for Ouyang Shuo to leave.

Originally, Ouyang Shuo should have reached Tianjing City long ago. However, this abrupt change had delayed him by several days. Who knows what chain reaction this event would have on Tianjing City.

In a short amount of time, it would be impossible to take back Guilin Prefecture. Ouyang Shuo could only bear the pain and deal with the things at hand. On the same day, Ouyang Shuo spent the whole day discussing matters with Han Xin and Pei Ju.

On the second day, Gaia 2nd year, 11th month, 26th day.

The black-faced Ouyang Shuo led the mountain barbarian army back on their path to Tianjing City.

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Chapter 538-Evil Remnants of the Religion

Translator: ryangohsf

Editor: Nora

The red sun hung overhead; the wilderness was utterly silent.

Suddenly, from a small road on the side of the official path, a man's shout broke out.

"Stand still!"

"Quick, catch him; do not let that little wimp run!"

A short while later, a frail-looking woman dressed in a tattered dress limped out from the small path. Dirt covered her dress, and there was even a hole at her knee area. One could even see some blood stains.

The young woman was terrified, as she ran forward for her life. Time after time, she would turn her head around as if a bunch of devils were chasing after her.

Following closely behind her were naturally not some devil but three men. They were not that old, and the oldest among them was probably not even forty. From his appearance and clothing, he seemed like a nearby farmer.

The only unusual area was a white cloth on their heads and around their arms.

Ahhh!

Probably because of the immense stress, she did not notice the path ahead of her. She tripped on a rock, stumbling before crashing onto the ground.

When the men behind her saw that, they were delighted.

"Haha, let's see how you will continue running!"

As he spoke, the three of them quickened their pace and was about to grab her.

A look of despair appeared in the eyes of the girl, and she had already prepared herself for the worst.

At this very moment, at the far end of the path, the rhythmic sounds of horse hooves rang. When the girl heard this, her eyes showed a strong will to live once more, as she hollered, "Save me!"

"Save me!"

When the three men heard her scream, they froze immediately. They quickened their steps; they wanted to drag the girl back into the side path that they came from before someone else arrived.

However, the sounds of the horse hooves did not stop.

A well-equipped cavalry soldier emerged from the official path, with a golden dragon flag in his hands.

When the three men saw this flag, their faces turned ashen white.

Anyone under the rule of Shanhai City knew that the golden dragon flag represented the personal guards of the Lord.

"What a downer!"

At this sight, the three men scolded the girl and wanted to escape. Unfortunately, at that moment, an arrow broke through the air and stopped them in their tracks.

The arrow stopped three inches from them; it was obviously a warning. If they continued to run forward, the arrow would greet their bodies.

All of a sudden, the three men broke out in cold sweat, their faces completely white.

In the end, they were just normal farmers, so what kind of knowledge and confidence would they have?

After a short while, the leading cavalry soldier arrived and from atop his horse, he shouted, "How bold, you actually dare to try and forcefully capture a woman in broad daylight!"

"Sir, this woman is my my wife. She wanted to run away from home, so I'm just trying to catch her." One of the young men stepped out and said expressively.

"Oh?" When the cavalry heard this claim, he did not believe it, so he turned his head to the woman and asked, "Are his words true? Do not worry, we are the personal army of the Lord. We can help you."

When the girl heard these words, her eyes brightened, and she pitifully said, "Sir, save me!"

"Speak!"

"He is really my husband, but I was not misbehaving. They wanted to kill me and use me as a burial sacrifice for King Hong," the girl replied.

"Burial sacrifice?" The cavalry frowned, "The funeral matters of the old king will be handled by Tianjing, what does it have to do with you?"

"This…." When the girl heard this question, she was a little hesitant.

"If you want to live, speak!"

The cavalry could feel that this whole matter was highly complicated, and his expression became really serious.

When the young girl saw that, she disregarded the eyes of the men and said resolutely, "When the old king died, the various sacred religion believers all wanted to hold burial ceremonies for the king. One of the points was to choose young women to be sacrifices to be buried with the king."

As she stated this, the girl was filled with both sadness and anger, as she pointed at the young man that spoke, "Since there are no suitable girls, he actually targeted his own wife. I had no choice but to escape from the village."

"Preposterous!"

When the cavalry heard this news, he was furious and knew that the situation was unusual.

"Men!"

"Present!"

"Tie them all up and interrogate them before handing them over to the Lord!"

"Yes!"

Needless to say, these cavalry were members of the Divine Martial Guards, and the vanguard forces of the army.

When Ouyang Shuo received the news, he immediately ordered the army to stop their advance. The three captured men and the woman were interrogated by the Military Intelligence Division.

They were all normal people, so how could they hold on under the torture of the Military Intelligence Division? As a result, they spilled everything.

It was just as the girl had said. Everywhere in Xunzhou, people who believed in the religion spread by Hong Xiuquan decided to take such action upon learning that he had died.

Such acts basically happened at the various villages and avoided the detection of the officials.

The part that left Ouyang Shuo astonished was that based on their words, some of the minor officials and scholars had actually secretly rushed back to attend the sacrificial ceremonies.

It seemed like that although Hong Xiuquan had died, his religion had already taken root around the land, as he had formed a strong believer base.

In a short time, it would be hard to remove them.

This was a dangerous signal toward the future rule of Shanhai City. Even Ouyang Shuo did not think that the believers of the religion would run so rampant.

It seemed like he had to take charge of Tianjing City as soon as possible.

Hence, Ouyang Shuo immediately decided to leave a Divine Martial Guards squadron to investigate this matter. The army would proceed at their fastest speed toward Tianjing City.

During the battle at Guiping Pass, only two thousand mountain barbarians from Shihu's 1st division led survived. Apart from the injured, only 1500 of them were left.

As for the Divine Martial Guards, they also suffered heavy casualties.

Hence, Ouyang Shuo decided to move all the survivors of the 1st independent division into the Divine Martial Guards to maintain the three thousand member number.

Although these mountain barbarians had not undergone much training, they were all top-class soldiers. Moving them into the Divine Martial Guards would not reduce the group's combat strength.

On the other hand, bringing them in was also the greatest reward to these warriors.

Of course, the title of mountain barbarian 1st independent division had also disappeared. As for the young general Shihu, he would become the major general of the 2nd independent division.

As for the surrendered soldiers that participated in the battle at Guiping Pass, Ouyang Shuo did not treat them badly. He moved them into Han Xin's Leopard Legion.

When Wuzhou Prefecture was organized, the Leopard Legion had a shortfall of thousands of men. Now, after several battles, although their core was not that badly affected, they had still lost five to six thousand members.

Hence, even after adding in the surrendered Taiping Army troops, they still lacked a few thousand men.

Not only the Leopard Legion, the Dragon Legion, the Guards Division, and even the 1st division of the city protection division housed in Mulan Stronghold needed more members.

The Taiping Army troops would naturally fill up this shortfall.

The Battle of Mulan Stronghold had net them 120 thousand prisoners. During the Battle of Xunzhou, they had also captured forty thousand city protection forces.

After destroying Shi Dakai's west army, they had captured a further ninety thousand prisoners.

Lastly, there was the one hundred thousand Taiping Army troops housed within Tianjing City.

Summing up everything, a total of 350 thousand Taiping Army soldiers awaited reorganization. This did not take into account the prisoners that would appear as Baiqi led the Dragon Legion to sweep Zhen An Prefecture.

For Shanhai City to defend their vast land, they needed to completely digest this batch of surrendered soldiers.

Military Affairs Director Du Ru Hui personally took charge at Mulan Stronghold and the 250 thousand prisoners there.

The main part of the job would be to remove the injured members, including the soldiers that lacked combat strength. Secondly, they needed to work together with the Military Intelligence Division and the Black Snake Guards to dig out the cancers in the army.

Out of the three thousand surrendered soldiers at Guiping Pass, there were many dead loyalists to the old king. It was not hard to imagine how many there were among one hundred thousand troops.

If they did not get rid of these people, how could they reorganize the army?

During this period of time, the interrogation experts from the Military Intelligence Division, the Black Snake Guards, and the newly built Shanhai Guards all gathered at Mulan Stronghold.

Based on lines and lines of information, they investigated each and every one of the hundred thousand surrendered soldiers.

Even so, Ouyang Shuo was still not certain if this round of washing would leave only trustable soldiers. There would definitely be some people that infiltrated the army.

As long as it did not affect the big picture, Ouyang Shuo would have the charm and confidence to make use of this batch of surrendered soldiers.

Of course, according to the usual practice, this batch of surrendered soldiers would be broken up and sent into the three legions.

The weaker soldiers would even be sent into the various Garrison Divisions. At the same time, the elites of the Garrison Division would be moved to the combat army.

Hence, this reorganization mission would affect every part of the military. If they really wanted to organize everything, it would at least take two to three months or even an even longer period of time.

As such, Ouyang Shuo did not have the ability to start a huge war against Guilin Prefecture.

11th month, 30th day, Ouyang Shuo and his troops reached Tianjing City.

The fall of Guilin Prefecture had made the atmosphere in the city exceedingly weird.

At this point, the officials of Taiping Country realized that in the southwest region, there was actually a presence that could fight against Shanhai City. All of a sudden, hidden forces started to act in the city.

Luckily, Yang Xiuqing remained resolute, and he managed to temporarily stabilize the situation.

Moreover, the arrival of Ouyang Shuo would put an end to this hidden current.

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Chapter 539- Luring the Snake out of its Hole

Translator: ryangohsf

Editor: Nora

11th month, 30th day, night, Tianjing City.

On the day that Ouyang Shuo led his troops to enter the city, the city was naturally in a peaceful and vibrant state. All the inharmonious elements were suppressed under the iron fist of Yang Xiuqing.

Based on Yang Xiuqing's arrangements, Ouyang Shuo met the officials and generals from the old regime. He pardoned thousands of the normal criminals and handed out daily items to the people in the city.

Basically, anything that was lucky and auspicious.

Yang Xiuqing was well-versed and familiar with planning such matters, so this could also be considered the specialty of Taiping Country.

When Ouyang Shuo saw that, he could not help but feel amazed.

Ouyang Shuo was kept busy for the entire day. The show only ended after the feast at night.

In the end, when choosing a place to rest, Ouyang Shuo moved contrary to Yang Xiuqing's arrangements for the first time. Based on Yang Xiuqing's plan, Ouyang Shuo would stay in the palace Yang Xiuqing had sealed up.

Ouyang Shuo politely declined this suggestion.

Instead, he chose a courtyard in the city. This courtyard previously belonged to the fallen general, Lin Fengxiang. It could be considered majestic, and it was not an insult to his identity.

When Yang Xiuqing saw that, he did not insist.

He could feel that there were reasons behind why the Lord did not want to move into the palace.

After the formalities, Ouyang Shuo finally had time to deal with actual matters.

That night, the Guards Division major general, who was temporarily in charge of the defence of the city, Huwei General Lin Yi, the people in charge of the Black Snake Guards, the Military Intelligence Division, and the young General Shihu gathered in Ouyang Shuo's courtyard.

This was obviously an internal Shanhai City meeting.

Even Yang Xiuqing was not invited by Ouyang Shuo.

In fact, before Ouyang Shuo had arrived in Tianjing City, the relevant intel gathered by the two intelligence organizations had been sent to Ouyang Shuo for him to read.

As for the small hiccup that occured on their way to Tianjing, it was enough to show that they were putting too much focus on the city and missed out on the villages.

Through the intelligence sent from the two intel organizations, Ouyang Shuo knew that a hidden power currently resided in Tianjing City. Moreover, this power aimed to go against Shanhai City.

Amongst this hidden power, there were generals from the military, ministers, and officials from the old regime. There were even merchants and the like. Basically, there were people from every level of society.

Hence, Ouyang Shuo needed to hurry up and clear out this hidden power before Bao Shuya arrived to take up his role. If not, the moment Tianjing City lacked a huge army keeping control, chaos and riots would start at every moment.

The current problem was what actions he should take.

Lin Yi's suggested they send out the military and wash the city with blood.

When Ouyang Shuo heard this suggestion, he instantly shook his head and rejected it.

Lin Yi was purely a military person, so it was not weird for him to have such a thought. After all, it was also a viable choice. However, it was a bad idea to Ouyang Shuo.

Since Shanhai City took down Tianjing City so easily, there were naturally pros and cons.

Think about it, if they had forcefully taken the city, Ouyang Shuo could have used the might from that victory to start a slaughter based on the intel gathered by the Black Snake Guards and the Military Intelligence Division.

At that point, there would probably be no one who would oppose them.

Now, it was different because Tianjing City had surrendered.

Facing surrendered people, it was not easy for them to use violence.

If they ignored this concern, it would make the commoners cold to them. Moreover, it would make people like Yang Xiuqing, who had pledged their allegiance to Shanhai City, feel uncomfortable and guilty.

As a result, Ouyang Shuo was really careful when dealing with matters regarding Tianjing City. For this reason, he accepted Yang Xiuqing's plan and put up with that huge show in the afternoon.

Apart from that, there was another problem that meant that Ouyang Shuo needed to exercise caution.

In the hands of the two intelligence organizations, there was indeed a namelist containing the names of some of the people in this hidden power. However, they were unsure if the list was complete. Even the two in charge were not confident.

The moment the military started to cleanse the place, they would definitely alert the enemies, scaring those people into hiding and making them hide even deeper.

Hence, if they wanted to wash them out, they would need a plan.

The few of them discussed till the dead of night before they finally thought of a suitable solution.

Needless to say, they would monitor and keep in check the already identified enemies to ensure that they could be taken down at any moment.

As for those hidden members in the military, they would be left for Lin Yi to handle.

For this matter, Ouyang Shuo had also instructed Shihu to lead the two independent mountain barbarian divisions to aid the Guards Division, with the reason of protecting the safety of the Lord. They would use this chance to increase their control over the city and take over Tianjing City.

Especially toward the one hundred thousand Taiping Army troops inside the city; they had to be wary of them. They would restrict their logistical supplies and range of activity to lower the risk to a minimum.

At the very root of this, Ouyang Shuo would still need to meet Yang Xiuqing and the other generals to discuss what to do with the one hundred thousand soldiers.

As long as they removed the threat of the military, anything else were just small matters.

Hence, the meeting tomorrow would be a huge test to Ouyang Shuo. He knew that among the generals of Taiping Army, there were definitely at least one or two that were still loyal to Hong Xiuquan.

As long as they did not find a chance to rebel, they would remain undetectable and continue to lie in wait.

Thinking about this point, dealing with such an opponent was definitely not a simple matter.

On the other hand, if he wanted to draw out the other hidden rebels in the city, Ouyang Shuo thought of a method called, 'Luring the snake out of its hole.'

"Luring the snake out of its hole?" Lin Yi asked.

"That's right."

"What great idea does the Lord have?" Lin Yi smiled and asked once more.

When Ouyang Shuo heard this question, he also smiled, "Think about it, in the city, is there any place that is considered a holy ground to the people that are still loyal to Hong Xiuquan?"

"The king's palace?" Lin Yi and the others replied in unison.

"That's right!"

"The Lord wants to purposely destroy the king's palace to anger those loyalists to Hong Xiuquan to make them jump out on their own?" Lin Yi asked.

"No." Ouyang Shuo shook his head, "To burn it up in flames, won't it be a huge loss for us?"

Strictly speaking, Ouyang Shuo was still greedy for riches.

As Xunzhou Prefecture and Zhen An Prefecture badly needed funds, Ouyang Shuo naturally needed to think of a method to settle their monetary problems.

As for his specific plan, Ouyang Shuo did not reveal it.

Early the next morning, Ouyang Shuo gave out his first imperial edict since moving into Tianjing City.

The edict stated that since Tianjing City was chosen as the governing city of Xunzhou Prefecture, it should naturally have a suitable provincial office to allow the governor and four departments to use.

After some research, the location of the king's palace was the best place to build this provincial office.

Hence, Ouyang Shuo had to bear with the pain and demolish the palace to build a standard and practical office.

The moment the imperial edict went out, the city was thrown into an uproar.

The normal people were shocked by the heroism of the Lord. As for those loyal to Hong Xiuquan, removing the king's palace was the same as breaking the last connection they had with their king. It felt much worse than tearing down their own house.

Hence, the moment the edict went out, many people begged the Lord to take back the order. These people that stepped out naturally entered the books of the Black Snake Guards.

Not to mention those people who were dead loyal to Hong Xiuquan, even Yang Xiuqing was confused by the Lord's order. After all, as a minister of the old regime, he knew how important the king's palace was to the people and to the believers of the faith.

If he wanted to build a provincial office, there was no need to go through so much trouble.

Firstly, as long as he made some simple modifications to the palace, it would become a really majestic office. Secondly, even if they did not modify it, choosing another place to build the office was possible.

After all, what he wanted to build was a provincial office. It was not a new palace, so there was no need to pay so much attention to fengshui.

Thinking back to how the Lord insisted on not moving into the palace, Yang Xiuqing guessed that the Lord was really determined to tear the palace down.

Soon, he was going to rush to Leizhou to become its governor, so he naturally did not want to go against the Lord's intentions and oppose his decision.

There were actually many people who looked for him to ask him to speak out and ask the Lord to retract his decision.

When Yang Xiuqing heard those words, he could only give them an awkward smile.

Needless to say, all those people were blocked out of the courtyard by the Divine Martial Guards, and they did not even manage to see Ouyang Shuo's face.

Before tearing down the king's palace, Ouyang Shuo did not show any intentions of using the ten carriages of treasures. Instead, he asked the Business Division to discuss with the various Chambers of Commerces about selling the items off.

Firstly, he was not a materialistic person. Secondly, he wanted to remove the influence of Hong Xiuquan from both prefectures.

Based on conservative estimations, the treasures taken from the palace amounted to three hundred thousand gold; this allowed one to see how luxurious Hong Xiuquan's life was.

With this huge amount of gold, the finances of the two prefectures would not need the support of the Nanjiang Governor-General House.

As for the palace maids and eunuchs in the palace, they were naturally removed from their duties.

That afternoon, numerous smiths and artisans started to tear down the palace.

That's right; the place was torn down.

The high class materials, the stone carvings, statues, and the other item were all carefully gathered up. They were not destroyed like Lin Yi had thought.

Ouyang Shuo announced that they would hold an auction to sell these old items from the palace. The people from both prefectures could participate.

These items could act as souvenirs in their homes. Even if they did not want a souvenir, the materials and decorations themselves were all rare products.

Seeing that they were unable to prevent him from tearing down the palace, Ouyang Shuo believed that the loyalists of Hong Xiuquan would not be able to maintain their calm. They would jump out to buy all these products.

With that, he could earn some money and also capture those rebels, killing two birds with one stone.

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Chapter 540- Reorganization of the Taiping Army

Translator: ryangohsf

Editor: Nora

12th month, 11th day afternoon, Lin Fengxiang residence.

Ouyang Shuo had gathered the main generals of the Taiping Army to discuss the military reorganization.

Before the meeting began, the atmosphere of the entire hall was incredibly solemn.

Firstly, not long after the Lord sent out his first imperial edict, he had followed it with a second imperial edict.

The decree stated that from tomorrow onward, Tianjing City would be under the charge of the Guards Division and the two mountain barbarian divisions. The one hundred thousand Taiping Army soldiers would remain in the military, but they were not allowed to go out without a proper reason.

Anyone with a brain could see that the Taiping Army was becoming a cold turkey.

Secondly, the symbolic edifice of Tianjing City, the king's palace, was being mercilessly torn down. Be it the generals who were close to Yang Xiuqing or those who were his enemy, they all felt uneasy about the matter.

Under such a backdrop, for Ouyang Shuo to gather up the various generals held an unusual meaning behind.

At 3 PM, all the generals had already gathered. After they waited for an hour, Ouyang Shuo finally arrived. Behind him, Lin Yi and Shihu followed.

Apart from that, there was one more person; he was Yang Xiuqing.

Before meeting the various generals, Ouyang Shuo had asked to meet Yang Xiuqing alone and had an hour-long conversation with him. After that meeting, Ouyang Shuo finally came out to meet the other generals.

Naturally, Ouyang Shuo chose to do so annoy and anger the other generals. Moreover, he wanted to make it clear to them who the real ruler of Tianjing City was.

Compared to the meeting on the first day, the current Ouyang Shuo had suddenly become exceedingly solemn and serious. His Mingguang Armor and the Chixiao Sword by his side added a killing aura around him.

During the battle at Guiping Pass, Ouyang Shuo had experienced a lucky break, and his Killing Sword Sword Technique had risen to the perform with ease stage. He had also understood the sword intent behind the killing sword and the 6th stroke, Killing All Life.

With that, the shura killing aura he had gathered up in his last life merged with the killing aura of this one.

His current killing aura lacked bloodiness, but it was more imposing and mighty, becoming purer.

More importantly, Ouyang Shuo could freely control this killing aura. Usually, he would not release it, so it would only charge toward others when he desired it.

At the current moment, the six Taiping Army generals in the hall felt a suppressing might. All of a sudden, they broke out in cold sweat and felt in shock.

In just that short moment, Ouyang Shuo had completely changed his aura, and the gentle image that he had emitted became as hard as steel.

"Fellows." Ouyang Shuo looked around and spoke, "You are all commanders. Naturally, you know the importance of following orders. Since you are all under Shanhai City, your forces would naturally follow our plans and be reorganized. What do you all think?"

The moment his words sounded, the hall became utterly silent.

The various generals all looked at one another, not knowing what to say. The moment they surrendered, they had expected a future reorganization. However, they did not expect that day to come so quickly and suddenly.

However, they could not reject or oppose him.

After all, for a surrendered army to be reorganized was an expected matter.

Apart from Yang Xiuqing, out of the six of them, two had been the right and left hand men of Shi Dakai. Two were the main and deputy commander of the fifty thousand troops housed in Tianjing City, while the other two generals commanded the local city protections forces.

Out of the six, two of them had no power to speak. Naturally, these two were the city protection force members. Added together, they had less than thirty thousand soldiers, and they were all ordinary ones.

However, amongst them, there was one known as Lin Qirong, who was loyal to Hong Xiuquan. Ouyang Shuo had decided to directly remove this person after the meeting.

The remaining one was known as Yang Buqing; he did not hold much power. If he knew his place, Ouyang Shuo did not mind making him a general of a local city protection squad.

Although Shi Dakai had resigned and left, his trusted aides still controlled the remaining twenty thousand west army forces. Since this army could break out of the encirclement with Shi Dakai, they truly had strength. They were indeed the elite of the elite.

The left hand general of Shi Dakai was called Hu Yihuang. He had made it clear to Yang Xiuqing that he was willing to pledge his loyalty to Shanhai City. The Military Intelligence Division and the Black Snake Guards had also investigated him, and they did not find anything wrong.

Hu Yihuang had played a massive role in Yang Xiuqing's smooth take over of the army.

As for the right hand general, he was known as Shi Zhenji, and he had displayed a strange attitude. He was not loyal to Hong Xiuquan but Shi Dakai instead. The worst part was that he was from the same clan as Shi Dakai.

As a result, he naturally felt some resentment toward Yang Xiuqing. As a byproduct, he naturally lacked any good feelings toward Shanhai City, and he even opposed them.

Ouyang Shuo needed to rope Shi Zhenji in. Firstly, Shi Zhenji was close to Shi Dakai, and he had a high-level of prestige in the west army, similar to taking over from Shi Dakai. Secondly, considering that he would have a chance to recruit Shi Dakai, Ouyang Shuo naturally knew he had to give this person opportunities.

As for the fifty thousand troops housed in Tianjing City, they were also an elite force. If not, Hong Xiuquan would not confidently pass the protection of the main camp to them.

The commander of the fifty thousand troops was known as Ceng Tianyang, while the deputy was known as Qin Ri Gang. Ceng Tianyang was an old and experienced general loyal to Hong Xiuquan. However, this person was really crafty. On the surface, he seemed to follow Yang Xiuqing's leadership, but in truth, he was preparing to start trouble.

Hence, Ceng Tianyang was the most unstable factor. As the primary leader of the troops in Tianjing City, his control over this unit was stronger than Yang Xiuqing's.

Furthermore, this person was an old fox; he was really respectful to Yang Xiuqing on the surface, so one could not find fault with it. As a result, he obtained the protection of the troops.

If Ouyang Shuo went too hard on him, the soldiers might revolt.

As for Qin Ri Gang, he was a trusted loyalist of Yang Xiuqing. Qin Ri Gang's presence made Ceng Tianyang not dare to lead his forces to revolt, which also allowed Yang Xiuqing to gain control over the troops housed in Tianjing City.

One had to say that the Military Intelligence Division did a great job in recruiting Yang Xiuqing. Only someone like Yang Xiuqing could have influence in both the administrative and military sides of Tianjing City.

If it were any other person, they would not have such influence."My Lord!" Seeing that Ouyang Shuo was about to place everything under control, the old fox Ceng Tianyang finally could not take it and stepped out, asking gently, "Can the Lord tell us whether our roles will change after the reorganization? Can we still take charge of our original forces?"

Ceng Tianyang's words directly aimed at the two most significant problems of the military reorganization.

As a commander, he had to care about his position. After the reorganization, it would be good if he was promoted, but if he got demoted, he would lose face.

Apart from their position, a general also cared about their old forces. If one was moved to a new army and did not have anyone trusted around them, even if they ended up in a high position, they would feel exceedingly uncomfortable.

Of course, the above two points only targeted those generals that chased for titles and glory.

For examples, generals like Han Xin and Di Qing, even if they were not given prominent positions, it did not matter. They would not be resentful about it, as they believed in their own abilities.

It was evident that the Taiping Country Army had little to no influence over these two points.

Hence, many generals agreed with Ceng Tianyang's words. Even Hu Yihuang and Qin Ri Gang, who had expressed their loyalty, looked toward Ouyang Shuo with concern.

When Ouyang Shuo saw the situation, he exchanged glances with Yang Xiuqing.

Ceng Tianyang was truly an old fox.

Unfortunately, no matter how cunning a fox, it would be unable to escape the chase of humans.

Before this, Ouyang Shuo had discussed with Yang Xiuqing, and they had theorized and predicted how the generals would create problems for him during the meeting.

Hence, Ceng Tianyang's question was something that Ouyang Shuo had expected.

Although Ouyang Shuo was not a military genius, after spending so much time around god generals like Baiqi and Han Xin, he had grown familiar with military matters.

Seeing that Ceng Tianyang had riled up the generals, Ouyang Shuo pressed his hands down. He actually laughed at Ceng Tianyang, which made this old fox panic, and his face tensed up.

"Fellows, even if General Ceng did not raise this up, I would still have to explain the situation to all of you. All of you should already know that the Shanhai City Army uses regiments, divisions, and legions as its core structure; each legion has a total of seventy thousand men."

Ouyang Shuo paused and gave them some time to digest his words before he continued, "I promise here that all of you can become major generals. As for generals of a legion, that will depend on the merits and contributions you amass in the army. In the military, if you want to convince the masses, you have to accumulate contributions and results."

When the generals heard this explanation, they all heaved sighs of relief, and their expressions relaxed.

One must know that a major general position, even in the Shanhai City Army, belonged to advanced generals. It was a prominent position. Amongst them, although some of them controlled smaller numbers of troops, regarding quality, it was actually a raise.

Even Ceng Tianyang could not retort it. After all, although he currently led fifty thousand soldiers, Ouyang Shuo naturally could not give him the position of legion general.

Even if his face was incredibly thick, he did not have the confidence and ability to line up alongside Baiqi, Han Xin, and Sun Bin.

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Chapter 541- Vicious Bait

Translator: ryangohsf

Editor: Nora

"As for the old troops that you commanded."

When Ouyang Shuo raised this matter up, he noticed that the six generals that had just relaxed suddenly tensed up once more. He laughed in his heart, "Shifting them all under your control is impossible, but I'll make sure that in your new division, half of the force will be composed of your old soldiers. How does that sound?"

Ouyang Shuo's two promises could both be considered sincere. Hence, the generals seated basically had no reason to reject.

"The Lord treats us so well. We will be loyal to you till death!"

Hu Yihuang and Qin Ri Gang were relatively loyal generals, and they stood out at the right time to express their loyalty.

"We will be loyal to you till death!"

Following which, the local protection squad general Yang Fuqing pledged his loyalty. Yang Fuqing was clear about the situation. Moreover, those two promises satisfied his wishes.

More importantly, he currently led less than ten thousand men. If he could become a major general, it would be a promotion. Naturally, he felt delighted.

When Ouyang Shuo saw them voice their loyalty, he nodded his head. If the time was right, arranging Yang Fuqing to become a major general of a Garrison Division was also possible. It could be considered a reward to him.

Only Lin Qi Rong, Shi Zhenji, and the old fox Ceng Tianyang remained.

The three of them looked at each other. Evidently, they had not expected the situation to end up like this. Facing such great terms, if they dared to go against it, their ambitious hearts would be revealed.

After a short while, the three of them had no choice but to suck it up, kneel down, and swear their allegiance.

Although that was the case, the faces of Lin Qi Rong and Ceng Tianyang lacked any unusual expression. On the contrary, they looked like they were touched and grateful.

Ouyang Shuo sat on the Lord's seat, with a happy expression, as he laughed and looked down at these two actors deep in their acts. These two probably did not know that the Military Intelligence Division had long since noticed their nefarious intentions.

In truth, a cold and delighted feeling had started to rise in Ceng Tianyang's heart.

Ceng Tianyang had not expected the Lord in front of him to actually pay such a hefty price to recruit their old forces.

He really is stupid, Ceng Tianyang exclaimed in his heart.

Originally, he was still thinking of starting a storm within Tianjing City, leading his troops to attack Lin Fengxiang residence to kill the Lord and enact revenge.

Now, however, he had temporarily shelved that thought.

Ouyang Shuo had promised him a major general position, and he could also retain half of his old forces. As a result, he could take this chance to infiltrate the Shanhai City Army.

This was truly a divine opportunity.

With that, he could play many more different tricks.

Be it spreading the religion around within the Shanhai City Army to recruit believers and expand his strength, or giving Shanhai City a fatal blow during an important battle, both were incredibly tempting ideas.

Just thinking about it made him excited.

In comparison, killing Ouyang Shuo just once seemed a little dull.

Hence, to Ceng Tianyang, Ouyang Shuo's actions were basically leading the wolf into the room.

Just these thoughts were enough to leave Ceng Tianyang delighted.

Ceng Tianyang and Lin Qi Rong took a quick glance at one another. They knew what the other was thinking about without any verbal communication.If one said that Ceng Tianyang and Lin Qi Rong were acting, then Shi Zhenji's expression was peculiar, as it was a mix of confusion and unhappiness.

In contrast to his clan Brother Shi Dakai, Shi Zhenji was a young general filled with ambition. In truth, prior to the meeting, he had a terrible impression of the Lord because of his biases toward Yang Xiuqing.

Before this, Ceng Tianyang had secretly probed out Shi Zhenji's thoughts. The old fox had revealed his desire to start a coup when the Lord arrived in Tianjing City.

Shi Zhenji did not express any interest or reaction toward Ceng Tianyang's probe.

This meant that he was tempted in his heart, just that he had not decided to act.

Old fox Ceng Tianyang was incredibly crafty, so he immediately understood Shi Zhenji's thoughts. Recently, Cui Tianyang had increased his meetings with Shi Zhenji.

Originally, Shi Zhenji was exceedingly close to being convinced by Ceng Tianyang.

Unexpectedly, the meeting today had entirely changed Shi Zhenji's impression of the Lord.

In truth, Shi Zhenji was extremely curious about this Lord that he had never met. He was curious about what kind of person could lead such an army and destroy the Taiping Country.

During the meeting yesterday, Shi Zhenji had only looked on from afar. At that time, Ouyang Shuo had appeared extraordinarily gentle and warm, which was not something that would appeal to generals like him.

During this close encounter today, Shi Zhenji had gained a whole new understanding of Ouyang Shuo.

Although the man who sat on the Lord seat was young, his young age was not noticeable. He sat there stable like a mountain, and he possessed a sort of aura and might that made one afraid to do anything stupid before him.

This was the case even for these generals.

Although Ouyang Shuo had not said much, the entire military meeting had remained under his control.

His two promises undoubtedly proved that he was magnanimous, and he was also an ambitious Lord with both charm and schemes.

Shi Zhenji could not help but compare him to the old king.

In this comparison, the winner and loser were instantly decided.

When he was in the military, he had heard his clan brother Shi Dakai speak about how he did not agree with some of the king's decisions. However, since the king had made his orders, Shi Dakai had no choice but to abide.

Shi Zhenji also felt that the old king was exceedingly scheming and a little fake. In truth, he was a pretender that lacked the air of a king.

Especially compared to the man in front of him, the old king's lacking points became even more apparent.

Hence, the current Shi Zhenji wavered. For his clan brother to waste his potential and future, even his dreams and ambitions, was it worth it?

That was probably not what Shi Dakai wished to see.

Shi Zhenji had a feeling that the Shanhai City Army was his ideal home.

All of these thoughts happened the instant he pledged his loyalty. At that moment, he was unable to ascertain how much of his loyalty was real and how much of it was fake.After the six generals had finished pledging their allegiance, Ouyang Shuo followed through by announcing the specific organizational matters.

The Guards Division 1st regiment would escort the thirty thousand city protection forces led by Lin Qi Rong and Yang Fuqing to Mulan Stronghold for organization.

These thirty thousand soldiers would form a garrison force, mixing in with the other Garrison Divisions.

The twenty thousand troops led by Hu Yihuang and Shi Zhenji would be split into two groups. Hu Yihuang would lead ten thousand west to meet up with the Dragon Legion that was sweeping Zhen An Prefecture.

The Guards Division 2nd regiment would escort the ten thousand led by Shi Zhenji toward the Withered Flower Stronghold that was under construction for organization.

This plan seemed casual. However, it was really well thought out.

Hu Yihuang was a general that could be trusted. Hence, he was sent to Zhen An Prefecture, which was currently in a relatively chaotic state. On the other hand, Shi Zhenji was a rather uncertain element, so he was organized into the Leopard Legion.

After all, the entire Xunzhou Prefecture was under the control of Shanhai City, so even though only one regiment escorted them, if Shi Zhenji had any weird thoughts, he would not be able to cause any waves.

And looking at Shi Zhenji's current expression, as long as Ouyang Shuo called him for a meeting alone, he might be able to completely recruit this young general.

Ouyang Shuo really cherished talents.

Similarly, Qin Ri Gang would lead 25 thousand Tianjing City troops toward Zhen An Prefecture along with Hu Yihuang to meet up with the Dragon Legion.

Likewise, Ouyang Shuo had arranged the 3rd regiment of the Guards Division to escort them.

It was not that Ouyang Shuo did not trust Qin Ri Gang, but he was afraid that the 25 thousand soldiers might cause trouble. As such, he had arranged a Guards Division regiment just in case.

As for the old fox Ceng Tianyang, he led the 25 thousand remaining Tianjing City troops to Withered Flower Stronghold for organization.

This time, Ouyang Shuo had arranged for the 4th and 5th regiments to act as escorts.

Ouyang Shuo was not ready to deal with Ceng Tianyang in Tianjing City. However, when he arrived at Withered Flower Stronghold, what happened to him would not be up to him. Ouyang Shuo believed that Han Xin would not let him down.

At this point, the one hundred thousand Taiping Army troops were moved out of Tianjing City.

Ouyang Shuo had given them two days to prepare. These two days was the time needed to gear up and prepare. It was also his last test to the rebels in the army.

After all, the moment they left Tianjing City, it would not be so easy for them to cause problems.

The various generals naturally did not have any objections toward his proposal. At this point, the military meeting had officially ended.

Looking at their fading back views, Ouyang Shuo let out a cold grin.

Today, Ceng Tianyang and the rest were so 'well-behaved' because they were afraid of exposing themselves, but more importantly, Ouyang Shuo's two promises tempted them.

They were probably thinking about using this chance to infiltrate the inner workings of Shanhai City.

Unfortunately, they did not know that it was all a bait Ouyang Shuo had set down.

The moment they bit onto it, they could never get free.

Ouyang Shuo had set out such a plan because they did not know the difference between the military system of Taiping Country and Shanhai City.

In the old Taiping Country, a commander held enormous power. They could develop trusted soldiers, appointing generals in their army, and also prepare grain for their missions.

It was the same as saying that as long as they followed the orders of the king, everything else was up to the general. His one word could send people to their graves.

In comparison, Shanhai City had a far more complete and strict military system, restricting and controlling all the generals.

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Chapter 542- Structure of Legion Corps

Translator: ryangohsf

Editor: Nora

Hence, the moment Ceng Tianyang and the others took up their roles in the military, they would feel really uncomfortable.

Needless to say, Ouyang Shuo had sole control over the duties of the generals in the military that were major general and above. Even Baiqi and Han Xin, these legion generals, could only suggest ideas.

For generals below major general rank, they would follow orders from the Military Affairs Department. Even major generals like Ceng Tianyang could only make suggestions and could not interfere in the roles and assignments of people in the military.

The Combat Logistics Department would settle the logistics of the army, including weapons and equipment. Even if one went to another location, the local Combat Logistics Department would still control the logistics.

Hence, a major general could not interfere with the logistics and could not abuse their power.

Apart from that, compared to the lax system in the Taiping Country Army, the system in Shanhai City army was stricter, and they had a full system similar to a modern day army.

There were numerous military law officers around, and they would make the major generals feel that the military law was more significant than their rank.

There were many reasons that ensured that when Ceng Tianyang and the others entered the Shanhai City Army, they would not be able to cause any waves. On the contrary, they would be forced and taught to become proper Shanhai City soldiers.

At that time, it would naturally be the moment for Ceng Tianyang to back off.

One had to say that Ouyang Shuo's move was exceedingly vicious.

Ouyang Shuo was using a huge bait to reduce the destructive ability of the Taiping Country Army to Shanhai City. Hence, he ensured the smooth transitioning of power.

Apart from that, Ouyang Shuo had arranged the one hundred thousand troops into three groups for organization. It was not something randomly thought up, and it had something to do with the new structure he was planning for the army.

Since they had gained 350 thousand Taiping Country troops, no matter how he tried to reduce it, after deducting the shortfall for the two Garrison Divisions, he could still form three new legions. This new count was double the current number of troops in the territory.

How to set up the camps and positions of these three new legions, and how to ensure the prestige and positions of Baiqi, Han Xin, and Sun Bin would pose a huge problem that Ouyang Shuo was trying to solve.

That night, Ouyang Shuo drafted a letter that contained the thoughts he had gathered up over these few days to have a considerable reorganization of the army.

This reorganization would set up a solid base for the future army of his dynasty.

Ouyang Shuo decreed that the Dragon, Tiger and Leopard Legions would be upgraded to Legion Corps, or corps for short. Each corps would have two to five legions under them.

When needed, one could adjust the number of legions in the corps based on the situation that they were facing.

The marshal of the corps must be a god general, and they must at least have the title of great general.

Compared to a legion, the establishment of a corps was a seismic change to the military. That was because when compared to a legion, the number of troops in a corps was huge.

Hence, during wartime, the Military Affairs Department could flexibly order the corps based on the different strategic needs. For example, if the further main attack direction was the west, they could first expand the Dragon Corps in charge of the west region when expanding.

Apart from that, the legion corps and war zones could perfectly coexist with one another.

With the Lingnan War Zone as an example, after the Tiger Legion became the Tiger Corps, the Lingnan War Zone command center would become the main base of the Tiger Corps.

Similarly, the future Tiger Corps marshal would be the commander of the Lingnan War Zone. During wartime, there could even be more legions or corps moved to the war zone.

With that, the entire army would be highly flexible. It would reduce the commanding red tape but result in a strong ability to adapt, scout, take the initiative, employ firepower, and use combat strength.

The future expansion of the army also did not need him to make any substantial scale changes to the structure of the military.

As for the current dangers that the territory faced, with just one legion, that is seventy thousand troops, Ouyang Shuo was worried. Only a legion corps would be able to safely defend his land.

If a corps had five legions, a total of 350 thousand troops, even if it faced an entire province, it would show no fear.

Hence, a legion corps was the most significant foundation for a safe army.

Based on their current numbers, the three corps would each have two legions under them. It was the same as saying that each corps would have an additional legion, digesting the three new legions.

With the Dragon Legion as an example, after becoming a corps, it would be called the first legion of the Dragon Corps, while the additional second legion would raise the total troop number to 140 thousand.

Commander-in-Chief Baiqi would naturally become the marshal of the Dragon Corps. At the same time, he would temporarily take up the role of general of the 1st legion of the Dragon Corps.

As for the general of the 2nd legion, Ouyang Shuo chose Shi Wanshui.

As the first historical general in the territory, Shi Wanshui was extremely loyal to Ouyang Shuo, and he had made many contributions to the territory. He was also an emperor rank general, so be it terms of ability or experience, he had enough to become a legion general.

Such an upgrade was a huge reward to this old general.

As for the major general position that was emptied out by his promotion, it would go to the deputy major general Jiang Kai.

One could see that the local talents that the territory had developed were one by one climbing up the ranks to major generals.

Similarly, Han Xin would become the marshal of the Leopard Corps, as well as remain as the general of the 1st legion. As for the legion general of the 2nd legion, Zhang Han would take charge.

After the Battle of Julu had ended, Zhang Han had pledged his allegiance to Ouyang Shuo. At that point, he could have already become a legion general, but as they had limited spots in the military, Ouyang Shuo had made him a major general.

This upgrade to Zhang Han could be considered as putting him back on the stage where he belonged.

Lastly, Sun Bin would become the marshal of the Tiger Corps, as well as temporarily the 1st legion general. At the same time, he would continue to be the commander of the Lingnan War Zone.

As for the legion general of the 2nd legion, Di Qing would take up the role.

Be it Shi Wanshui and Zhang Han, they were both promoted within their legions; this was in line with the traditions and culture within the military.

For example, the brutality of the Dragon Legion, the ferociousness of the Tiger Legion, and the adaptability of the Leopard Legion; all of these qualities were formed under the teachings and leadership of their generals.

Only Di Qing was the first legion general appointed from another legion.

Ouyang Shuo had his reasons for such an arrangement. Firstly, out of the five major generals of the Tiger Legion, only Fan Lihua, Cao Gui, and Bai Lishi were historical generals, but none of them were not up for the role.

Hence, Ouyang Shuo could only move Di Qing from the Leopard Legion to the Tiger Legion. To Di Qing, this was an opportunity for him to display his abilities.

During the Battle of Zhaoqing, his commanding ability had left a deep impression on Ouyang Shuo. Compared to Zhang Han and Shi Wanshui, Di Qing was not any bit weaker.

It was also a coincidence. His way of using troops was similar to Sun Bin; they were more calm and safe. Zhang Han was similar to Han Xin, as they liked long distance sneak attacks.

At this point, Shi Wanshui, Zhang Han, and Di Qing, these three famous generals, had stood out from the rest of the major generals. They had officially become the 2nd squad below that of Baiqi, Han Xin, and Sun Bin.

The three of them all had a commonality, which was that they were all emperor rank generals. It was apparent that the future choices of legion generals would naturally come from the emperor rank historical generals.

Er'Lai and Fan Lihua were the two next best choices.

Of course, this was not certain. For example, the young general Luo Shixin was a rarity among historical generals, as he was still improving.

Under Baiqi's personal guidance, he had a bright future ahead of him.

Furthermore, out of the generals, the elite Cavalry Division led by Luo Shixin had won battle after battle, gaining the name of 'firefighting vanguard' in the army.

Hence, Ouyang Shuo did not exclude the possibility of granting Luo Shixin a wider stage at a suitable time.

After Zhang Han and Di Qing received their promotions, their old positions as major generals were taken over by Liao Kai and Heiqi. Apart from that, the three new legions all needed fifteen new major generals.

Hu Yihuang, Qin Gang, and even Shi Zhenji were suitable choices.

Apart from that, there would be the few generals from the Taiping Army that were captured like Li Xiucheng, Chen Yucheng, Xiao Chaogui, and Feng Yun.

The only uncertain matter was their loyalty.

Apart from the seven Taiping Country generals, Ouyang Shuo had no clue about the other choices for major generals. He could only pass this headache to Du Ruhui, who would try his best to choose from the exceptional colonels.

At this point, the planned military structure had finally been completed.

As the territory continued to expand, Ouyang Shuo would lose the ability to gather the generals all together for a meeting. With Sun Bin as an example, let's not talk about rushing to Shanhai City, just rushing to Tianjing City would take half a month. To and fro would take a full month, which was a total inconvenience.

As such, the various legion corps needed a god general to take charge and lead them.

Ouyang Shuo wrote his plan into a letter and through the relay, he passed it to the Military Affairs Department. At the same time, he also sent copies to Baiqi, Han Xin, and Sun Bin; these three marshals, to inform them to make preparations to aid the Military Affairs Department.

In this plan, the only thing that Ouyang Shuo did not mention was the Guards Division, including his plans for the three mountain barbarian independent divisions.

In truth, when he defeated Chiyou earlier, Ouyang Shuo was already planning to upgrade the Guards Division to a Guards Legion.

However, this plan had little to do with the reorganization of the three hundred thousand Taiping Country Army troops, which was why he did not initiate the plan yet.

When he returned to Shanhai City, he would finally start the related changes and reorganization.

After all, the three legions all became legion corps, so the Guards Division system also needed expansion to protect the absolute might of Ouyang Shuo in the military.

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Chapter 543- Su Zhe's Choice

Translator: ryangohsf

Editor: Nora

Gaia 2nd year, 12th month, 2nd day, Tianjing City.

This was Ouyang Shuo's third day here, and the atmosphere within the city had changed entirely.

The site of the king's palace was bustling with activity. The precious materials that were torn down were stacked up on the square in front of the palace like mountains.

On the square, batch after batch of procurators appeared.

Even merchants from Xunzhou Prefecture and Zhen An Prefecture had rushed over to Tianjing City to take part in this auction.

When Ouyang Shuo heard this news, he immediately ordered the Business Division to choose some of Hong Xiuquan's personal items from the ten carriages of precious items for the auction.

"Remember, purposely choose all those secretive but not too valuable products for the auction."

Ouyang Shuo reminded the official from the Business Division.

"Yes, my Lord!"

"Also, make the starting bids higher and advertise more."

"Yes, my Lord!"

The Business Division official carefully accepted the task, while wiping off some cold sweat. He had a completely new understanding of the Lord's meticulous planning and great schemes.

Of course, Cui Yingyu would just call him greedy and black-hearted. However, this person was just a basic level official from the Business Division. Naturally, he would not dare to voice such words.

On the other side, the barracks situated at the west of the city was also exceedingly busy. One hundred thousand Taiping Army troops were using the time to pack up for their journey tomorrow to their respective areas.

As for the hidden currents in the military, after Ouyang Shuo threw out the bait, the situation calmed down.

The only exception would be last night when the city protection force general Lin Qirong actually got dead drunk in a restaurant. After which, he even went to a brothel.

As he was drunk, he 'accidentally' fell into a river and died. Only during the next morning did the road cleaner find his body floating on the river. The road cleaner immediately reported the matter.

The government office ascertained that he had died from drowning and excluded the possibility of him murder.

This matter was left just like that.

When Ceng Tianyang heard the news, he felt that something was suspicious, but there was no way he could confirm his doubts. After all, Lin Qirong did like drinking and based on his subordinates' words, they did drink together with him last night.

After they left, Lin Qirong had separated from his subordinates and left alone. The next they heard of him, they learned that he had drowned.

In the end, Ceng Tianyang could only say that this matter was a total coincidence.

"Preposterous!"

Ceng Tianyang was furious at Lin Qirong's uselessness.

Seeing a huge matter ahead of them, losing a valuable ally would obviously leave Ceng Tianyang angry. What made matters worse was that last night, he had once again tried to probe Shi Zhenji's position.

This time, Shi Zhenji had actually rejected him outright, catching Ceng Tianyang utterly off guard.

"Ungrateful idiot!"

From Ceng Tianyang's point of view, Shi Zhenji's refusal was a betrayal toward the old king.

As Ceng Tianyang cursed out at Shi Zhenji, he also started to feel an added layer of worry about the Lord. Just a simple meeting had changed the viewpoint of Shi Zhenji.

"Unfortunately, I have no way out, and I need to repay the king for his kindness."

Ceng Tianyang was alone in the room, sighing out loud. He looked unusually lonely.

Probably every bad person had a past that no one knew about. Thinking about it, from another viewpoint, wasn't Ceng Tianyang the most loyal minister of Hong Xiuquan?

One's evaluation of others would often reach an extreme for people standing on different sides.

Lin Fengxiang Residence, Ouyang Shuo's reading room.

After dealing with the two problems regarding the king's palace and the Taiping Army, Ouyang Shuo finally had time to meet the officials in the city.

Amongst which, the one he paid the most attention to was Su Zhe.

Compared to his bold brother Su Shi, Su Zhe was more calm and composed. This personality trait allowed him to walk further than his brother.

Of course, at the core, the two of them were similar.

Su Shi had once commented on his brother like this.

"Zi You is a really humble servant. If one does not know him, they would think that he has no ability. His skills are so good, but he does not want others to know about it. He is a simple person that does not like to show off."

From this, one could see Su Zhe's low profile nature.

Su Zhe's education and thinking were greatly influenced by his brother and father, and he was exceedingly good at political and history theory. It was because of this specialty that the then prime minister Wang An Shi chose him. At that time, Wang An Shi was hell-bent on pushing through reforms and moved to the division of regulations.

Su Zhe absolutely opposed the reforms that Wang An Shi suggested. Unfortunately, the ambitious Wang An Shi did not agree with his words, so they ended up on opposite ends of the revolution.

Not long after, because of his differing opinions, he was chased out of the city, and his career was affected.

After Song Shenzong fell, Song Zhezong inherited the throne. However, he was too young, so his queen mother Xuanren made the political decisions for him and removed the new reforms Wang An Shi had pushed out. Only then did Su Zhe start to be favored. In the end, he became prime minister.

After some time, Song Zhezong took over, and the reforms started to be favored once more. Hence, Su Zhe, who had opposed the reforms, was ridiculed.

From his experiences as an official, one could see the intensity of the political power struggles at that time.

Due to the official system during the Song Dynasty, the writers then had a high status. This was the golden age of politics in China. As such, they all participated actively.

The political specialty focused on fighting for power.

After Fan Zhongyan, all the famous writers were embroiled in this power struggle without exception. This decided their fates and also affected their works.

The Su brothers Su Zhe and Su Shi obviously could not exclude themselves from the situation.

Probably because of the previous harmed he had suffered from his political opponents, Su Zhe strayed far away from the politics of Taiping Country. He maintained his neutrality and dealt with matters with a low profile.

Even during the fight for power between Shi Dakai and Yang Xiuqing, Su Zhe, as the head of the civil servants, chose to keep silent. After Ouyang Shuo moved in, Su Zhe even decided to just lock his doors and not go out.

He only received the personal summon of Ouyang Shuo this morning.

Before this, when choosing the three governors, Ouyang Shuo had not considered Su Zhe. It was important to note that he did not doubt Su Zhe's abilities or made the choice out of bias.

In truth, with Su Zhe's ability to be the prime minister of the Song Dynasty, it was not hard for him to run a prefecture. During the North Song Period, the official system was perfected, and the training of officials had already reached a reasonable level.

During that time, the Yamen were really busy with matters and demanded skilled officials. Hence, compared to the civil servants of the Warring States Period, Su Zhe was around the same level.

In truth, when he found out that Su Zhe was an official of Taiping Country, Ouyang Shuo thought of a role that was really suitable for him. This was the role of director of the Science, Education, Culture, and Health Department.

Along with Fan Zhongyan becoming the Wuzhou Prefecture governor, Xiao He would become the administrative director. However, Xiao He still had to perform his previous role as the Science, Education, Culture, and Health Director.

Out of the four departments, the Administration Department was the busiest.

Having two roles was exceedingly inconvenient for Xiao He. As such, he had written letters to beseech the Lord to choose a new director.

The problem was that the Science, Education, Culture, and Health Department involved the revolution core of the territory and was exceedingly important. As such, Ouyang Shuo could not hurry this decision.

As a person that was both a writer and a prime minister, Su Zhe was a very orthodox person. Naturally, he entered Ouyang Shuo's eyes as a suitable choice for the role of director.

Apart from that, the Science, Education, Culture, and Health Department focused on public work. It had nothing to do with political powers and badly needed someone to steer it in the right direction. This was a great match with Su Zhe's personality.

As a result, Ouyang Shuo had the confidence to convince Su Zhe to work.

Ouyang Shuo chose the reading room and not the main hall to express his willingness to get close.

Their meeting could be called really calm and tranquil.

The reputation and title of a Lord did not have much of an effect on Su Zhe. The part of Shanhai City that attracted him was the presence of Fan Zhongyan.

During the North Song, be it in the official field or the debating platforms, Fan Gong had a special status. For the Lord to be able to gain the loyalty of Fan Gong, it was a tremendous recognition to Su Zhe.

Especially after he heard of the introduction of the Lord toward the Science, Education, Culture, and Health Department; his already calmed heart started to move once more. Out of all the writers that came out of North Song, none would be unwilling to throw themselves into becoming an official.

He did not want to become an official to enjoy fame and riches. Rather, he wanted to work for the people and show what he had learned.

Just like what Fan Gong wrote in Renovation of the Yueyang Tower: a leader should be first to show concern and the last to enjoy oneself.

Just that sentence was the most moving statement to describe how the North Song people were willing to care for the people and work for the future of the country.

Naturally, Su Zhe was not an exception.

Taking charge of the Science, Education, Culture, and Health Department was a good chance to work for the people.

"Greetings, my Lord!"

At this moment, Su Zhe had officially pledged his allegiance to Ouyang Shuo.

Name: Su Zhe (King Rank)

Title: Eight houses of Tang Song

Dynasty: North Song

Identity: Shanhai City official

Occupation: civil servant

Loyalty: 70

Command: 35

Force: 25

Intelligence: 75

Politics: 80

Specialty: Cultural Calmness (15% increase in territory administrative efficiency, 5% increase in cultural index, 15% increase in honesty of territory)

Evaluation: Su Zhe, also known as Zi You, a writer and prime minister from North Song.

He was an extremely talented official well-versed in Confucianism teachings. He was sensitive to issues and meticulous. Su Zhe excelled in the shi, ci, and fu forms of poetry.

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Chapter 544- Leaving Tianjing City

Translator: ryangohsf

Editor: Nora

Ouyang Shuo managing to recruit Su Zhe represented him basically gathering all the civil servants of Tianjing City.

Su Zhe did not want to involve himself in the faction struggles during his time in Taiping Country, and he just focused on doing his job well. As a result, he had formed an incredibly high-level of prestige and respect amongst the civil servants.

The real talents and scholars all started to make friends and form relationships with him.

Hence, since Su Zhe had recognized Shanhai City, a group of the civil servants would follow him along.

That afternoon, Ouyang Shuo sent out his third imperial edict after taking charge of Tianjing City.

The contents targeted the civil servants of both prefectures.

The officials of the old dynasty, apart from those the two intel organizations blacklisted, could find a position in the various prefecture offices.

Of course, all the officials in the two prefectures would follow the same procedure as Wuzhou Prefecture. All of them would be removed from their post, then the Administration Department would hire them. As for the original official environment they had set up, it would be refreshed and renewed.

The fall of Guilin Prefecture brought one benefit, which was that Xiao He did not have to make up the numbers. The one thousand officials that the Administration Department had prepared were enough to run both Xunzhou and Zhen An Prefecture.

12th month, 3rd day, the one hundred thousand Taiping Army troops left Tianjing City.

Along with the Taiping Army leaving, the situation in Tianjing City became clearer and clearer. At least on the surface, there was no one who would outright go against the orders of Shanhai City.

When Yang Xiuqing saw this happen, he knew his position, so he slowly broke away from the administrative matters of the city, passing it to the Lord. Meanwhile, he started to seclude himself in the manor, packing up his items to prepare to head for Leizhou Prefecture.

On the same day, the Dragon Legion officially completed their sweeping operation of Zhen An Prefecture. The next day, Baiqi would start to choose a place for their base. At the same time, he would help the Military Affairs Department build the Legion Corps Command Center.

At the same time, Baiqi would act as the envoy of Ouyang Shuo to contact Bai Hua's envoy Zhang Liao. They would discuss the problems both territories were facing in hope of building a long lasting relationship.

At the same time, such action aimed to reduce misunderstandings and to prevent the two sides from shooting one another at the border.

The Dragon Legion's move into Zhen An Prefecture was a huge blow to the Yunnan City-State that was building up. No one would think that the troops Shanhai City had moved into Zhen An Prefecture was to defend against Consonance City.

The direction the troops were pointing toward did not need to be stated explicitly.

Before this, Shanhai City and Consonance City had worked together. In a short three days, they changed all the flags in Kunming Prefecture. Now, after dealing with Taiping Country, these two heavyweights truly made others feel terrified.

The next day, Yunnan City-State announced their establishment. Such an efficiency truly made one's mouth gape open.

Although the fall of Guilin Prefecture had an adverse effect on the public opinion of Shanhai City, no one could deny that Shanhai City, which had swallowed two prefectures, was the most significant power in the China region. Its position was unshakeable.

You have not heard about it, right?

The Chuanbei Province had worked together with the Wannan City-State to take down Guilin Prefecture. After West Gate Big Official returned, he contacted the other Lords in the province first to discuss the establishment of a city-state.

Especially after Han Xin brought his troops into Withered Flower Stronghold, to the Chuanbei Province. Just one Guilin Prefecture was not enough to make them to feel at ease.

They needed to quickly build the Chuanbei City-State.

The moment the news got out, the China region was thrown into an uproar.

With that, around Shanhai City, from west to east, there was the Yunnan City-State, the Chuanbei City-State, the Wannan City-State, and the Lingnan City-State.

All of a sudden, the southwest region became the focus of attention of the entire China region.

How would Shanhai City break out from this encirclement? This had become the greatest focus and interest of all the players. Some experts even started to debate and discuss the matter online, describing their theories.

The most accepted solution was for Shanhai City to attack west.

Which meant that Shanhai City would work together with Consonance City to remove Yunnan Cty-State, calming down the west territory before dealing with the other city-states.

Such a theory, along with the Dragon Legion increasing their presence in the area, terrified the Yunnan City-State. In the following new year, it seems like all these Lords would not be able to feel at ease.

12th month, 4th day, the king's palace was completely torn down.

The vast king's palace had been reduced to flat land, and it was now a thing of the past. At the same time, the same place, they started the construction of the Xunzhou Prefecture prefecture office.

The new replacing the old represented the change from old to new political philosophies.

At this point, Taiping Country had officially fallen, and they had dropped out of the race for the wilderness.

That afternoon, the Business Division held a massive auction on the square in front of the old palace. In less than two hours, all the items were sold out, fetching 110 thousand gold.

Amongst them, there were some actual merchants that planned to sell the raw materials, commoners that needed to renovate their residence, and also the loyalists to Hong Xiuquan.

The Military Intelligence Division and the Black Snake Guards worked with one another, checking through all their backgrounds and trying their best to not allow anyone to slip through. They would utterly silence the influence of Taiping Country on the two prefectures.

At the same time, the Black Snake Guards had started to investigate the tens of thousands of villages in the two prefectures. They cleaned out all the people that secretly worshipped the old king and dealt with all of them heavily.

All of these actions were naturally to pave the way for the rule of Shanhai City.

As for the funds they obtained from the auction, Ouyang Shuo did not throw it into the construction of Xunzhou and Zhen An Prefectures. Instead, he directed it toward the costs of expanding the military and the compensations for those that had suffered casualties.

With that, the two newly occupied prefectures, including the Wuzhou Prefecture from before, did not cause any burden on the territory finances.

Along with the auction ending, the Black Snake Guards started to initiate a cleaning operation within the city. Those that were on the blacklist, be it officials, merchants, or those loyalist buyers during the auctions, were all sentenced to death.

In just one day, two hundred people had died.

All of a sudden, the matter caused a ruckus within Tianjing City.

Helplessly, Ouyang Shuo could only personally come out to calm the people, making it clear that they were just getting rid of the scum. Only then did Tianjing City return to normal.

12th month, 5th day, Bao Shuya finally arrived at Tianjing City.

Cui Shousi had come along with him. Cui Shousi would spend one day here to obtain the instructions for his role before moving off to Zhen An Prefecture.

Two days earlier, Mulan Yue had led five hundred odd officials to move into Zhen An Prefecture and take over the administrative matters. The 1st and 2nd divisions of the Dragon Legion protected them on the way.

Along with Mulan Yue was also her bodyguard, Li Feixue.

It was said that Li Feixue was ready to establish a sect in Zhen An Prefecture and Mulan Yue fully supported the matter.

Towards this, Ouyang Shuo naturally abided and supported it too.

The next day, under the accompaniment of a personal guards squad, Yang Xiuqing started to set off for Leizhou Prefecture.

12th month, 8th day, Ouyang Shuo started his trip and left Tianjing City.

The two independent mountain barbarian divisions left together with him. As for the others, they would temporarily remain in the city until the Xunzhou Garrison Division was established. Then, they would make their way to Shanhai City.

At this point, the Wuzhou Garrison Division had already been completed, and the 4th independent division of mountain barbarians was already en route to Shanhai City. They would reach the city in a few days.

Originally, Ouyang Shuo wanted to spend a period of time here in Tianjing City. Unfortunately, a letter from the Black Snake Guards gave him no choice; he had to leave.

Based on Black Snake Guards' report, they had finally found Fan Li and Xi Shi.

And on the same day, Bai Xue had officially informed the Business Division of their decision. She said that her father had already acknowledged moving the Bai Trading Company over to Shanhai City.

If they said that between Fan Li and Bai Gui there was not something going on, even if one beat Ouyang Shuo to death, he still would not believe it.

As for the invitation from the Black Snake Guards, Fan Li was unexpectedly casual with it, accepting it before leaving to move into Shanhai City.

Based on their words, as long as they reached the nearest imperial city, they would be able to teleport to Shanhai City quickly.

Hence, Ouyang Shuo needed to set off early on the path back home.

If one took note of the time, Ouyang Shuo had left Shanhai City for a total of two months, and it was time to return.

12th month, 12th day, Ouyang Shuo led his troops and reached Mulan Stronghold.

Inside the stronghold, Ouyang Shuo had a short one day stay. During his stay, he had an in-depth discussion with Du Ruhui about the specific military organization and related personnel changes.

As expected from this capable official, in such a short time, he was able to turn the rough plan into an over ten page, more than ten thousand words, proposal.

Of course, he had some help from the various divisions under the Military Affairs Department. Especially War Secretary Zhao Kuo, who played a considerable role. He had become Du Ruhui's most important assistant.

The next day, Ouyang Shuo led his troops and left once more.

Along with him was Li Xiucheng, Wang Yucheng, Xiao Chaogui, and Feng Yunshan. These four were really stubborn, and till date, they still were not willing to surrender.

When Ouyang Shuo saw this situation, he decided that he would rather just bring them all back to Shanhai City and deal with them there.

12th month, 15th day, Ouyang Shuo smoothly reached Shanhai City.

At the north gate of the city, Xiao He led the officials and generals out, kneeling down to welcome him. Such a majestic scene shocked the entire Shanhai City.

This officially announced the return of the king.

When he returned to Shanhai City, Ouyang Shuo allowed both mountain barbarian independent divisions to move into the imperial city barracks. Following which, he did not see anyone and just directly moved into the Governor-General Manor back hall.

After leaving his home for so long, Ouyang Shuo naturally missed his family.

The cute Bing'er, and the gentle Song Jia; he had thought of them every day and night.

Only at this moment was Ouyang Shuo able to put down the pressure and stress from his work and fully relax.

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Chapter 545- Seeking Advice from Jiang Shang

Translator: ryangohsf

Editor: Nora

Shanhai City, Martial Temple.

After a day of rest and recuperation, Ouyang Shuo directly headed to the Martial Temple to revive Wei Zhang.

Luckily, the game did not have the problem of corpses rotting, as two months had passed since Wei Zhang's body was transported to Shanhai City.

After his body reached Shanhai City, it was left in the Martial Temple.

Ouyang Shuo walked in and pressed onto a general soul. Instantly, a system notification sounded out in his ear.

"System Notification: Found a king rank general corpse, meeting resurrection requirements, will you use one king rank general soul and three thousand gold to revive him?"

"Yes!"

Ouyang Shuo did not expect that when reviving a dead general, he would need to spend gold.

"System Notification: Revival has been confirmed, taking place immediately."

With a shua! a blue light drifted out from the general soul jade pendant and entered Wei Zhang's corpse in the middle of the front hall. Then, it disappeared.

At the same time, the jade pendant broke into seven to eight pieces, ceasing to exist.

Ouyang Shuo guessed that the blue light represented the three immortal souls and the seven mortal souls. To use the soul of dead generals to replace other general's souls, this was probably something that would only happen in the game.

If this happened in reality, Taoists would definitely laugh boisterously.

As the light entered his body, Wei Zhang's pale complexion improved. After a short while, he woke up.

"Lord!"

To Wei Zhang, it was like he had just woken up from a dream. His memory still remained stuck to the battlefield.

Looking at the environment around him, he felt a little confused. Luckily, he was highly adaptive. As such, when he saw Ouyang Shuo, he reactively greeted.

"General Wei, it has been tough on you. Rest up for a few days in the city before going back to your unit!"

"Yes, my Lord!"

Wei Zhang nodded; he had already calmed down. For the remaining matters, Ouyang Shuo did not need to worry.

After he walked out of the Martial Temple, Ouyang Shuo headed for the Xinan University located in the imperial city.

Although the wilderness had just undergone a round of merciless killing, it remained business as usual in Shanhai City. Even the skies did not have a single red cloud. In fact, it was entirely blue without any clouds.

All of this was naturally due to the blessings of the territory. Additionally, they had the Yellow Emperor Temple, the Mazu Temple, and the other temples, so ordinary evil would not dare to take root here.

As a large number of students had graduated early and were sent to Xunzhou and Zhen An Prefecture, the entire university was much colder. It was not as vibrant and boisterous as usual.

However, the spring season student recruitment for the next year had already started.

During the spring season of next year, each college would recruit three thousand students. Amongst which, eight thousand would be half-year students, while the rest would be here for one year.

Ouyang Shuo came here specifically to pay Jiang Shang a visit. The territory had entered a tough period, and he needed a master to give him advice.

Hence, he thought of Jiang Shang, Jiang Taigong.

In regards to the current territorial situation, probably only Taigong could help him out.

After taking charge of Xinan University, apart from his home on the island, he had another living quarter within the university. This place made it convenient for him to deal with school matters.

It seemed like he had predicted the arrival of Ouyang Shuo, as Taigong was especially waiting for him at his home.

Both of them sat opposite to one another.

"Taigong, what should I do?"

Ouyang Shuo did not introduce the current situation in the territory. Instead, he directly went to the main topic. He believed that although Taigong was in the university, nothing in this world could escape his eyes.

As expected, he smiled and slowly said out one word, "Wait!"

"Wait?"

When Ouyang Shuo heard this advice, he fell into deep thought.

"Taigong wants me to rest and gather up strength and not do anything for now?"

"This boy is worth teaching!" Taigong laughed.

"Is there a time frame?" Ouyang Shuo asked.

Conquering in the wilderness was like traveling against the current. If one did not go forward, they would end up going backward. If one laid in wait for too long, others would definitely catch up. When that time arrived, making a move would no longer be as easy.

Hence, a grasp of timing was incredibly important.

Although Ouyang Shuo had reincarnated, he lacked the ability to grasp the time needed.

"Minimum half a year, maximum a year. There will definitely be changes in the world," Taigong said.

"Half a year to a year; is that the case?"

When Ouyang Shuo heard these words, his eyebrows furrowed tightly.

Since the game had started until now, only two years had passed. Now, Shanhai City needed to lay in wait for more than half a year; this was a tough call for Ouyang Shuo.

Half a year would lead to many different changes.

Ouyang Shuo could not be sure that the base and strength of Shanhai City could allow it to hold on for half a year.

When Taigong saw his reaction, he did not speak and allowed Ouyang Shuo to make his own decision.

"Taigong, please teach me!"

"The territory is facing two tough situations." Seeing his response, Taigong finally helped Ouyang Shuo solve his problems, "Firstly, it has a weak base due to the rapid expansion. Secondly, it has many enemies surrounding it."

Ouyang Shuo nodded; he had clearly recognized these two points already.

As for how to break the situation, he lacked a clear plan.

"One must first calm down the internal situation before dealing with the external situation." Taigong said directly, "For Shanhai City to break out of this situation, it needs to set a firm root. If one's roots are firm, one would not need to fear anything. However, what is the current situation?"

As he spoke up to this point, Taigong's appearance turned more solemn and continued, "The prefectures of Wuzhou, Xunzhou, and Zhen An are tainted by an evil religion, so one has to change the rule and win the sentiments of the people. Although Leizhou and Zhaoqing do not face any huge problems, it still has some small ones, so one can just place development as the priority for the time being."

"Qiongzhou Prefecture seems glamorous and prosperous, but it's too reliant on Yashan City, and the other regions are not developed. For a year, the Lord has been busy fighting and has not paid attention to the territory itself. The people have yearned for the care of the Lord."

When Ouyang Shuo heard these words, he could not help but break out into a sweat.

Originally, after Mulan Yue and Bao Shuya took charge, Ouyang Shuo felt great about the prefectures and thought that they were on the right path.

Who knew that just a few words from Taigong would expose so many problems with the territory.

"There's one more point. Your regime has had some small success, but let's not talk about leaving an heir, even a proper wife has not been decided. The people of your territory have already started to worry." Taigong raised up another problem.

"Song Jia is the wife that I've chosen, so why does Taigong say that it's undecided?" Ouyang Shuo did not understand the problem.

Taigong shook his head, "Since the Lord had chosen, you obviously need to announce the matter to the people. You need to share the good news with them to calm them down."

"You mean there is a need to hold a wedding to confirm her title and status?" Ouyang Shuo asked.

"That's right." Taigong nodded.

"Okay, we will hold the wedding before the end of the year. At that time, we hope that Taigong can chair it," Ouyang Shuo said.

After hearing Taigong's words, Ouyang Shuo also felt that it was time to grant her a proper title. The two of them had not met in so long. As a result, Ouyang Shuo felt that he had let Song Jia down.

The two had been separated for so long, and they had not met up much. Furthermore, Ouyang Shuo had turned colder and colder, so it was really unfair to Song Jia.

"Sure." Taigong laughed.

"How should I build up the strength of the territory?" Ouyang Shuo asked once more.

"Let nature take its course," Taigong said.

"What do you mean?"

Ouyang Shuo did not understand what he meant. Letting nature take its course did not seem to fit in with the wilderness. However, since Taigong mentioned such a method, he definitely had his reasons and had considered all possibilities.

Taigong laughed, "The one who should do nothing is not others but you alone."

"Taigong, please elaborate," Ouyang Shuo asked.

"Within the territory, be it in politics or the military, there is no lack of talent. The only regret would be that the Lord has directed the development of the entire territory and has restricted them from showing off their talent. That is a huge waste of talent. The territory does not lack a person to lead. The people lack the chance to show off their talents."

When Ouyang Shuo heard this perspective, he was shocked.

Since the village grade, Ouyang Shuo was used to using the experiences of his last life as a blueprint for the territory. Be it the administrative or military structure, Ouyang Shuo made the final decisions alone.

Be it Xiao He, Fan Zhongyan, Wei Yang, or the generals such as Baiqi and Han Xin, they were all the talents of a generation. However, under the charge of Ouyang Shuo, they took up the role of followers. They only followed and executed his orders.

In this aspect, he was not smart.

Hence, when the experiences of his past life were unable to guide him anymore, he was lost.

At the same time, a long period of taking charge and making all the decisions had made him subconsciously not give up power to his officials to let them show their ability.

It seemed that Ouyang Shuo was doing his job, but in truth, he was restricting the ability of his people.

If this carried on, the territory would be under great danger.

Long ago, Ouyang Shuo had worried about such a problem, and he had even sought ways to prevent such a situation. Who knew that now, looking back, he had committed the same mistake.

Everything was just so magical.

At this moment, Taigong had finally woken up Ouyang Shuo.

Ouyang Shuo got up once again. Then, he looked toward Taigong and respectfully bowed.

"How should I break this situation?" Ouyang Shuo asked once more.

"You do not need to do anything, and it would be broken."

Taigong continued, "The enemies are working together because they fear the invasive personality of Shanhai City. It is really unfriendly toward everyone around them and makes them feel threatened. It is like a flock of sheep suddenly meeting a wolf. To avoid being eaten, they naturally have to gather together."

"But the moment the wolf enters hibernation, would the sheep still gather together?"

"No, they won't." Ouyang Shuo's eyes brightened.

Taigong laughed, "That's right. In the wilderness, there really is not a sheep that is totally harmless. Even if they seem harmless, they still need to eat grass. Hence, the moment the wolf goes away, the harmless sheep will turn into ferocious mountain goats and fight one another. At that time, your chance will come. The Honglu Temple set up by the Lord will have a chance to show themselves."

"Thank you for your teachings!"

Ouyang Shuo was truly in awe.

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Chapter 546- Guards Legion

Translator: ryangohsf

Editor: Nora

Jiang Shang's analogy of the relationship between wolves and sheep had given a lively depiction of Shanhai City and its neighboring territories. With such advice from Taigong, things became much clearer in Ouyang Shuo's heart.

A huge plan started to slowly take shape in his mind.

Of course, everything would have to wait till the next year. Especially before the 3rd year arrived, since there was still half a month, there were still things that Ouyang Shuo needed to settle.

The first mattered concerned the creation of the Guards Legion.

When the Dragon Legion moved into Zhen An Prefecture, the two mountain barbarian generals went the opposite way, breaking away from the main force and moving back to Shanhai City because of the Military Affairs Department.

The two of them were Lei Jingtian and Shi Bao, the standout generals of the mountain barbarians. Especially Lei Jingtian. Ouyang Shuo was not the only one paying attention to him, even Lei Jingtian's boss, Er'Lai, strongly recommended him.

After leaving Xinan University, Ouyang Shuo turned around toward the barracks in the imperial city, officially announcing the establishment of the Guards Legion.

The newly established Guards Legion would not only temporarily have four divisions, but even the most important legion general position would temporarily remain empty. Ouyang Shuo would take the commander role for the time being.

Lin Yi's Guards Division would be renamed the 1st division. At the same time, his division would be defined as a pure cavalry division.

Shihu's 2nd independent mountain barbarian division would be renamed as the 2nd division, a mountain barbarian heavy armored infantry division. Making use of this chance, Ouyang Shuo officially promoted Shihu to major general.

The 3rd independent mountain barbarian division would be renamed as the 3rd division. Similarly, it would be a heavy armored infantry division. Ouyang Shuo chose Lei Jingtian to be the major general.

Likewise, the 4th independent division would become the 4th division of the Guards Legion. This was the planned iron armored beast cavalry division. Ouyang Shuo chose Shan Zhu as their major general.

Mountain barbarian general Shihu was named the deputy major general of the 4th division. With the help of Shihu, who was a mountain barbarian, it would be easier for Shan Zhu to take charge.

From the Qiongzhou Prefecture Iron Armored Beast Valley, the first batch of five thousand armored beasts had reached Shanhai City. The Armory Division had hurried the creation of their armor, and it would be completed soon.

The iron armored beast division was a new soldier type, so they lacked precedence. Hence, how to train them up was the biggest problem presented to major general Shan Zhu.

The first problem would be how to tame the iron armored beasts.

Chinese taming techniques had a long history. Hence, one would not face problems when taming war horses. Iron armored beasts, on the other hand, were an entirely different story, as they were wilder and harder to train.

Apart from that, due to their bloodline, war horses were born adaptable to the noises and killing on the battlefield. As for iron armored beast, it was all completely unknown how they would react.

Luckily, Animal Husbandry Director Xia Houying had solved the other huge problem of how to feed the iron armored beasts. The only difficulty would be how to make the iron armored beast recognize the mountain barbarian warriors.

To solve this problem, Shan Zhu took a trip to find more than thirty beast tamers to help the soldiers tame and train the iron armored beasts. Only then could they become loyal and reliable partners.

The Li Race people had lived on Qiongzhou Island for such a long time, so they obviously had a good understanding of the iron armored beasts. Amongst the tribe, there were occasionally people who tamed the iron armored beasts to replace cows to sow the fields.

Hence, there were more or less one to two people who knew how to tame these beasts in each tribe. This time, Shan Zhu had used his identity as a young master of the Li Race to move all of these people to Shanhai City.

It was a considerable honor and glory for the Li Race for Shan Zhu to possess a high position in the Shanhai City Army. Hence, when listening to his request, the various tribes were exceedingly willing.

Apart from that, one had to mention the barbarian beast taming technique that Ouyang Shuo had acquired. Ouyang Shuo had used two days to tame each and every iron armored beast.

If not, even with the Li Race beast tamers helping out, it would not be effective.

To train up the iron armored division, the Military Affairs Department had even specifically allocated land for them on the northern outskirts of the city, where they built a large training field.

In the future three months, the division would spend their time there. Ouyang Shuo even especially postponed the usual special forces base training.

As for the 5th division that was temporarily empty, it would be built when the time was right.

The most significant difference between this time and the last was that he did not make use of troops from the other legions. Instead, he just used the three mountain barbarian independent divisions.

With that, one could see how much importance he placed on the mountain barbarian warriors.

Ouyang Shuo trusted them. Moreover, his position as Barbarian King played a factor. He believed that this batch of warriors would be his most loyal soldiers that would follow him everywhere.

Making use of this chance, he could also increase the sense of belonging the mountain barbarians felt toward the territory.

From now on, the three independent mountain barbarian divisions would have an official name. Furthermore, they would become one of the core forces.

They would all enter the special forces base to undergo a month of special training.

Ouyang Shuo hoped that would learn to be smart enough, not just fearless. After all, warriors that only used brute strength would not amount to much.

Different from the other legions, the Guards Legion lacked a subordinate regiment. To them, the three thousand Divine Martial Guards were their strongest ally.

After dealing with the Guards Legion, Ouyang Shuo took the chance to meet the four Taiping Army fallen generals.

When they were captured, the four of them had made preparations to kill themselves.

However, along with their king's death and Tianjing City surrendering, Taiping Country had become a part of history. Their hearts suddenly felt empty. Abruptly, they had no goal to chase.

It suddenly seemed like an extreme foolish course of action to kill themselves.

After all, the king and dynasty they were loyal to no longer existed.

Along with Shi Dakai leaving and Yang Xiuqing taking up the job as governor of Leizhou, these four generals had no place to go.

One must know that those two were the key figures in the Taiping Country Army. However, neither showed any animosity toward Shanhai City.

If not, Shi Dakai would not have handed over control of the military so easily.

Apart from that, the four of them were not tortured during their imprisonment. Instead, they were treated well and graciously. The only matter that hit them was when they learned about what happened to Taiping Country in history from Shanhai City.

This was a massive hit to Li Xiucheng and the others.

The tragedy that happened to the country and to each of them caused their built up faith to crumble.

They were different from the people of Xunzhou Prefecture, who had come into contact with the religion when they were in the wilderness. They did not have a chance to understand the darkness behind the religion.

As a result, the people of the two prefectures still believed in Hong Xiuquan.

Li Xiucheng and the others had followed Hong Xiuquan and appeared in the wilderness. Gaia had given them the thoughts of following him to start a dynasty in the wilderness.

Hence, when they found out about the truth in history, it was hard for all of them to accept it.

It was this bit and piece of information that caused their rejection of Shanhai City to slacken bit by bit. However, for them to become truly loyal, something was still lacking.

When Ouyang Shuo passed Mulan Stronghold, he wanted to bring the four of them back to Shanhai City. They did not reject his proposition. Similarly, Ouyang Shuo did not treat them as prisoners.

They were like normal generals in the army, given total freedom to do whatever they wanted.

The only difference was a lack of specific roles.

This was a chance for let them to observe the Shanhai City military from close quarters.

This period of observation naturally allowed them to make comparisons.

After moving out from Mulan Stronghold, they passed through Mulan House and Shenjuan House. The lives of the people in these two houses shocked them greatly.

Developed businesses, efficient offices, rich people, perfect welfare system….

Every point dealt a blow to their weak minds.

It was like Shanhai City was the perfect world that Hong Xiuquan had described and was working toward.

This feeling was quite bizarre.

The goals they had wanted to achieve for their whole lives had actually appeared in the enemy territory.

When they reached Shanhai City, the shock they felt soared.

A huge and majestic city, logical city planning, even more developed businesses, much richer people, a much more efficient government system, and an extremely prosperous atmosphere.

Every aspect showed that this city was filled with life and prosperity.

In comparison, Tianjing City was lacking.

When they entered the imperial city, the splendor and beauty of the city left them mesmerized.

Hence, for Ouyang Shuo's invitation to succeed, everything seemed to be proceeding perfectly.

However, in an unexpected turn for them, Ouyang Shuo did not want to let them lead the military right away.

He wanted to send them all to the Army Military Academy to undergo three months of lessons. After the 3rd month, when the military reorganization was completed, they would return.

The four undeniably possesed great talents. If not, they could not have become such great generals despite such poor backgrounds.

The only thing they lacked was probably a proper military education. Entering the Army Military Academy would help make up for this shortfall.

Apart from the four, the Military Affairs department chose one thousand lieutenant, three hundred majors, fifty colonels, and even five major generals to enter the academy.

Ouyang Shuo wanted to use this chance to raise the standards of the generals.

This was only the 1st batch. Three months later, they would send in the second batch. Half a year later, he wanted to have all the generals in the army finish their education.

It was evident that Ouyang Shuo had accepted Jiang Shang's suggested plan to lay in wait for now.

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Chapter 547- Business School of Thought

Translator: ryangohsf

Editor: Nora

Nanjiang Governor-General House, South reading room.

On the third day that Ouyang Shuo returned to Shanhai City, he finally found some time to meet the business ancestor, Bai Gui. Along with Bai Gui was his daughter and Wei Yang's wife, Bai Xue.

Apart from the workers and managers of the Bai Trading Company that had moved over, there was also a group of exceptional people. They were the disciples of Bai Gui, a total of around a hundred people.

Bai Gui was one of the earliest people from the business school of thought to accept disciples. After an exceedingly strict selection process, he had taken in a number of disciples under his wing.

The standards of his selection criteria for disciples was exceedingly high, and some people once said, "I run agriculture and businesses at the same level as Lu Shang uses plans, Sun Bin uses troops, and Wei Yang runs the law system. His disciple must be smart but not too smart that they wants to take over power, courageous but not too bold, merciful but not so that people can climb over their head."

During the Warring States Period, merchants were ranked last during the industry segregation of , 'scholar, farmer, worker, and merchant.' Its position had always remained low in Chinese history. However, Bai Gui used the highest moral standards of society at that time, treating the economy as important as politics and the military.

Evidently, Bai Gui wanted merchants that were cultured and morally upright. This truly befit his ideals of running businesses with humanity.

As a result, he earned the great title of Business Ancestor.

"I'm really glad that Mr. Bai decided to move the Bai Trading Company over to Shanhai City." Ouyang Shuo started.

"We came for profits and our own interests."

Bai Gui was exceedingly direct and honest, as expected from a merchant.

When Ouyang Shuo heard these words, he laughed. He definitely did not believe that Bai Gui's reasons were so pure. Riches were not important to the current Bai Gui.

The position of the business school of thought worried Bai Gui.

Ouyang Shuo thought of this point after a long period of contemplation.

This was the reason behind Ouyang Shuo's confidence.

"Old mister is incredibly well-learned and has so much experience. Yet, you say you came here for interests and not to obtain talents?" Ouyang Shuo laughed.

When Bai Gui heard these words, his eyes lit up, full of thought.

It seemed like his feelings were right, the player Lord in front of him was special.

The two of them smiled, forming a tacit understanding between them.

On the contrary, Bai Xue, who was sitting at the side, felt confused.

"Have you heard of Xinan University?" Ouyang Shuo changed the topic.

"I've heard of it long ago. It is a place where even the gods visit."

The expression on Bai Gui's face became happier and happier.

On this earth, the happiest thing was to meet someone who understood you.

Bai Gui felt more and more delighted with Ouyang Shuo.

If he knew that this was the case, Fan Li and he would not have needed to do so much.

"The Xinan University has a college known as the business college that focuses on teaching the way of business. The position of dean of the college has always remained empty, are you willing to take up the position?"

Ouyang Shuo tossed out his chips.

"Definitely!" Bai Gui laughed.

A position of a dean would obviously make Bai Gui.

After all, the current Xinan University had become the saint land for philosophers in the wilderness. The principal was the ancestor of philosophers, Jiang Shang, while all the other colleges had famous philosophers as their deans.

The moment Bai Gui moved into the business college, it would represent the business school of thought entering the echelon of philosophers.

With that, how could Bai Gui not feel happy? After all, he wanted the business school of thought to prosper?

Ouyang Shuo had seen through that wish. As a result, he made such a plan.

In the afternoon, Ouyang Shuo officially appointed Bai Gui as the dean of the business college. The moment he moved in, a system notification sounded out through the entire China region.

"System Notification: Business school of thought representative figure Bai Gui has moved into Shanhai City and taken charge of the business college. The business school of thought has officially moved into Shanhai City.""System Notification: Business school of thought has officially moved into Shanhai City, awarding Shanhai City with title of Land of the Business School of Thought, congratulations Qiyue Wuyi!"Initially, the two system notifications ended just like that, but who knew that another one would soon follow.

"System Notification: Business school of thought has moved into Shanhai City. The current Land of Philosophers title has overshadowed the title, so the benefits of the title have been removed. Awarding Shanhai City the hidden building Silver Prayer House instead, congratulations player Qiyue Wuyi!"The moment the news rang out, the world was thrown into an uproar.

Other territories would be happy to obtain a single philosopher school of thought. Who knew that Shanhai City was so great that a normal title meant nothing to the territory.

Such strength was truly unbeatable.

When Ouyang Shuo heard this news, he grinned.

With such a precedence, it seems that if other philosophers move in, the system would reward him with hidden buildings in the future.

Just thinking about this aspect would make one emotional.

Along with the notification, a four-story hidden building automatically formed beside the recruitment hall. The entire building emitted a precious aura, looking exceedingly rich and awe-inspiring.

Looking at the building from the west, every detail of the building pertained to wealth. The floor was made of copper, the base of the ground was iron, while the walls were made from high-grade wood.

Every floor of the building had their own symbol.

The 1st floor had a rice valley, symbolizing the fountain of wealth.

The 2nd floor had a weighing scale to show that riches were accumulated.

The 3rd floor had a copper coin, showing that coins and items represented riches.

The 4th floor had a silver ingot, representing the growth of wealth laid in silver and money.

At the highest point of the building was a giant pot-sized gold ingot that looked exceptionally eye-catching, representing the pinnacle of wealth.

Of course, the core function of the entire building was naturally still prayers.

Name: Silver Prayer House

Type: Hidden Building

Function: One can pray every half a year

Specialty: 20% increase in attraction of merchants increased, 5% increase in territory reputation

Evaluation: A building focused on prayers. Every half a year, the Lord can spend a certain amount to pray. The gold spent will be relative to the difficulty of the prayer.

For every activated of the function, the minimum gold cost is ten thousand, while the highest is one hundred thousand. If the Lord's wish exceeds one hundred thousand, the prayer will fail. At the same time, the system will automatically deduct ten thousand gold.

At the same time, the prayer chance would also be deducted.

Hence, the silver prayer house was not godly, and it had a definite limitation.

Even so, this was a extremely overpowered hidden building, and it could easily fulfill wishes like reduced rainfall.

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Chapter 548- Prayer

Translator: ryangohsf

Editor: Nora

To find out the specific effects and functions of the Silver Prayer House, Ouyang Shuo needed to personally test it out.

Entering the Silver Prayer House, he found an interface console on the first floor hall. After he walked over and activated it, a system notification sounded out in his ear.

"System Notification: Congratulations player Qiyue Wuyi for activating the Silver Prayer House. Since it is your first time activating it, you have obtained one chance to pray, will you pray?"

"Yes!"

"System Notification: please choose the type of prayer!"

In an instant, five choices appeared on the console.

The first choice was the rice valley on the first floor, representing an agricultural type wish. Every choice below it had a clear distinction. The second layer weighing scales represented a business related wish, the third layer copper coin represented a culture related wish, and the fourth layer silver ingot represented a technology related wish. Finally, the gold ingot on the top layer represented other types of wishes.

The higher one went, the greater the difficulty, and the higher the gold cost.

Ouyang Shuo thought about it and chose the most simple agricultural type wish.

"System Notification: Prayer type confirmed, please choose the prayer mode. Friendly Reminder: there are two prayer modes, one is the self-decided prayer, while the other is a random prayer."

The self-decided prayer was easy to understand. One just needed to speak their wish. It just had to be the same as the prayer type and could not exceed the one hundred thousand gold upper limit.

For example, for the current agricultural wish type that Ouyang Shuo chose, he could pray for about the weather, the growth of his crops, fertile soil, and the like.

The good part about this system was its straightforwardness. The cons would be that if one was unable to grasp the difficulty of the wish, it might exceed the one hundred thousand threshold and cause the player to waste a prayer opportunity.

After a moment of consideration, Ouyang Shuo decided to test out the random prayer.

The good thing about the random prayer was that all the wishes had a 100% chance of coming true.

"I choose a random prayer!"

"System notification: Prayer mode confirmed, prayer has officially begun!"

The moment these words landed, Ouyang Shuo saw a familiar spinning wheel.

On the virtual spinning wheel, there were 24 wishes. Each wish had a specific gold cost that went from ten thousand all the way to one hundred thousand.

The ten thousand gold wishes were definitely the most simple ones. Ouyang Shuo took a look; there were some that raised the territory fertility by 5%, or raised the precipitation in the territory by 8%.

Further up, there were wishes for 5% increase in yield, 10% increase in sunlight, 10% increase in the anti-pest ability of crops, and 10% reduction in land reclamation difficulty.

Apart from that, each type had a different chance, reflecting the difference in gold cost.

Ouyang Shuo made some rough calculations. No matter which wish he chose, it would bring greater effects than the gold it used.

Which meant that unless the prayer failed, it would definitely bring benefit. The more gold spent, the higher the rewards.

Thinking about this point, Ouyang Shuo regretted choosing the most simple agricultural wish type.

All wishes had one similarity; they all lasted for a year. A year later, the buff would disappear.

Such a setting could be called logical. If not, it would really be too overpowered.

As the prayer started, the spinning wheel began to move.

As Ouyang Shuo looked on, the spinning wheel needle started to spin slower and slower, seemingly close to stopping. The time, Ouyang Shuo had no control over where it stopped. If not, it would not be called a random prayer anymore.

The needle wavered at a section with three wishes around it. In order, they were raise territory fertile land by 5%, with a cost of ten thousand gold, raise the anti-pest ability of crops by 15%, with a cost of thirty thousand gold, and raise territory crop production by 15%, with a cost of one hundred thousand old.

Seeing these wishes, Ouyang Shuo's heart was in his mouth.

Even an idiot would know that the third wish was the most valuable. Just one hundred thousand gold could raise the agriculture production by 15%.

With just the current scale of agriculture in the territory, it could still produce over five hundred thousand gold.

One must know that agricultural products did not only refer to items such as rice; other times such as cotton, peanuts, and potatoes were also within this range.

With the agricultural scale of the seven prefectures, a 15% raise in production was incredibly humongous.

As such, it was not hard to understand why territorial specialties would have a more substantial impact the further the game progressed.

Just when he blinked his eyes, the needle passed the first wish and spun on the second wish. However, the needle had nearly used up its momentum, and it looked like it was about to stop.

"Move some more, move some more!"

Ouyang Shuo could not help but mutter these words; it was like he was cheering on the needle.

As if a century had passed, the needle moved like an old man. Although it was hard for it to move, it still inched forward.

It seemed like the needle was going to move past the second box and enter the third one.

Ouyang Shuo raised his voice once more, "Move a bit more, a bit more!"

Unfortunately, the needle seemed to have lost all its momentum, and it stopped turning. In the end, it stopped at the intersection between the second and third box.

This sight left Ouyang Shuo stunned.

"So what's the situation now?"

Luckily, the system gave him a prompt answer.

"System Notification: Congratulations player Qiyue Wuyi, drawing the wish 'raise anti-pest ability of crops in the territory', automatically deducting thirty thousand gold. Friendly Reminder: The effective date of this wish is from Gaia 3rd year ,1st month, 1st day, to Gaia 3rd year, 12th month, 30th day."

When Ouyang Shuo heard this notification, his face instantly turned black.

"Your grandma is a freaking bear!"

Ouyang Shuo could not help but curse his own luck stat. Even if he had the buff of the luck of the entire territory, he still had such a bad stat.

If Bing'er had performed the draw, Ouyang Shuo was 100% sure that the system would choose the third wish and not the second one.

His face darkened; it was really a case of being unlucky no matter where he went.

Ouyang Shuo facepalmed and let out a sad sigh.

The next time he did a prayer, he would definitely bring along Bing'er, this 'super invincible lucky star.'

Luckily, it was already the middle of the 12th month, so based on the time regulation of the hidden buildings, he could make a wish once again on the 1st day of the 1st month.

As a result, in just half a month, Ouyang Shuo could make his second wish.

Moreover, at that time, Ouyang Shuo could also enter the recruitment hall and recruit another historical person. Who knows which great person he would obtain at that time.

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Chapter 549- Discussing Firearms Again

Translator: ryangohsf

Editor: Nora

After he walked out from the Silver Prayer House, Ouyang Shuo turned around and left the imperial city, heading toward the south city region.

The south city region was the expanding military region.

A month had passed since the Black Snake Guards found the Ming Dynasty Firearm Making Manual in the king's palace. Who knows how the research of Liu Mo and the others had progressed since then.

Since he had returned to Shanhai City, Ouyang Shuo naturally needed to go and take a look.

Firearms represented the highest level and the main direction of their future weapons technology.

The Ming Dynasty firearms had two types. Firstly, handguns and arquebuses; they had small sizes and were usually equipped with iron or lead bullets with a ten to two hundred step range.

If converted into meters, the maximum range would be around two hundred to three hundred meters.

Out of the handguns, the more famous ones included the Three Eyed Gun, Guaizi Gun, Lianzi Gun, Thunder Gun, and Wulei Shenji.

Amongst these guns, one had to mention the Guaizi Gun.

It was an arquebus with a curved handle that could be fired in bursts. It had length of 37.5 centimeters and had a reload style similar to a western gun. It could fire three shots consecutively with a range of 150 meters. The Ming Dynasty termed it as a gun that would win against the western styled guns in ten thousand battles.

The second type would be the guns fixed onto frames, the large-sized cannons. These cannons would use large rocks, iron, lead, or simply solid bullets as ammunition. A small number of them would be equipped with explosive spherical bullets. These cannons had a range of a few hundred miles to two to three thousand miles. It was mainly used for defence and sieging cities and was used in land, water, and sea battles.

Hong Xiuquan had mainly focused on the second type of firearms from before.

The cannons in Tianjing City were transported over to Shanhai City for the No.7 Research Institute to research.

The more famous types of Ming Dynasty cannons were the short barreled mortar, the western style cannon, and the Hongyi Cannon.

Amongst these cannons, the Hongyi Cannon was called the General Cannon. It was built with western technology at the end of the Ming Dynasty. It had trunnions and aiming distance. It had an adjustable range, and the cannon would last for a long time. The large ones weighed 1.6 tonnes and could shoot up to 1.9 kilometers.

Apart from handguns and cannons, there was one more type of firearms—missiles. Missiles included the Cluster Missiles, the Flying Crow, and the Fire Dragon Comes Out of the Water.

The Flying Crow had a crow-shaped body filled with explosives. The gunpowder had a connecting gunpowder line to the gunpowder box, which was in charge of sending the missile into the air.

When shot, the gunpowder string would ignite and make the middle section fly, causing the missile to fly toward the enemy. Then, the gunpowder inside the crow would explode. It was an excellent weapon for sieging and destroying enemy formations, as it would help to destroy troops and burn their horses.

As the name Fire Dragon Comes Out of the Water suggests, this weapon was exceedingly effective in water battles. It was a missile with many layers. The first layer missile was wrapped around with paper, while inside the mouth of the dragon, there was a second layer that increased the range of the missile. It was used during water attacks and had a range of up to 1.5 kilometers.

It seemed like the Ming Dynasty firearms were really advanced and could be used in real battles. However, when compared to the standards of west, they were not even on the same level.

Let us talk about the handguns.

The Three Eyed Gun was the primary handgun of the Ming Dynasty, but its real killing range failed to even reach ten meters. Only in a four meter range did it possess a higher killing ability. Moreover, it was not accurate, and it could only serve as a stick to hit the opponent if you missed.

The Guaizi Gun was a handgun taken from the west. Unfortunately, the limits of their own technology meant that they could not replicate and produce it.

Even if they could, be it in terms of safety or strength, it would be significantly reduced.

Firstly, the material.

In terms of metallurgy, the Chinese rarely used pig iron and wrought iron. However, the barrel of the handgun needed to be crafted from these materials. This made it extremely difficult for the Chinese people. It reached a point where they had to give up.

However, Shanhai City had already solved this dilemma.

Before Ouyang Shuo left Shanhai City, he had already planned the steel industry. As of right now, all ten steel factories had reached completion, and they had begun production.

The Financial Department had thrown in a large amount of gold to purchase thousands of units of iron ore and coal to support the production requirements of the factories.

Let us talk about cannons.

The so-called short barreled cannon had an exceedingly thick cannon bore because of the tragedy of the Chinese's metallurgy. Moreover, it could only could shoot a snooker ball sized stone out one hundred meters. The distance could not be adjusted, and it did not even have a wheel.

The western style cannon was a cannon that faded from use in western small merchant ships, and it was called a toy without actual fighting strength. However, this item became a great firearm when placed in the Ming Dynasty.

This firearm exceeded all the high-end technology items produced in the country during the Ming Dynasty. Without westerners teaching them, they could not produce these cannons.

The cannons the Chinese produced often blew up in the barrel. The number of Chinese killed by these cannons often exceeded the number of enemies the cannon itself killed.

This was a tragedy from head to tail.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, they brought in western technology. The Hongyi Cannon created at that time was the strongest firearm in the entire Ming Dynasty. In essence, it was no different from the western style cannon; it was just bigger and had a larger range.

The Ming Dynasty standards in terms of building large-sized cannons were appalling. The cannons were lousy in quality and all useless products. Hence, they needed westerners to succeed, but the quality still remained terrible. For example, the body of the cannon was exceedingly thick, being two meters in length. It was a giant cannon that they claimed could shoot up to ten miles, but in truth, it could only reach one mile.

In comparison, the Super Movable Cannon built during the Mogul Dynasty had a length of three meters, while the cannon barrel reached twenty meters. It weighed fifty tonnes and had a twenty kilometer range.

Between the two of them, there was completely a lack of grounds for comparison.

Hence, after Ouyang Shuo obtained the Ming Dynasty Firearm Making Technical Manual, he did not plan to build each and every firearm described the manual.

Of course, to the current Shanhai City, achieving such a feat was not difficult.

Ouyang Shuo wanted to use the technical manual as a blueprint to modify and improve the firearms.

His first goal would be to come up with a firearm at the same standard as western firearms. He also wanted a new type of cannon.

Only that.

As for other firearms like handguns and rockets, he was not interested in them at the moment.

Only like that could Ouyang Shuo lead the China region and prevent them from repeating the tragedies of history in the world wars.

And to achieve this point, Shanhai City would have to build up a perfect industry system. Building the steel factories was only one step in this system.

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Chapter 550- Industry System

Translator: ryangohsf

Editor: Nora

When Ouyang Shuo walked into the unique stone building of No.7 Research Institute, he noticed that Liu Mo and the others were waiting.

"Why, are the three divisions having an important meeting?" Ouyang Shuo joked.

Ouyang Shuo would joke around with these research personnel; he would not act as his usual Lord self.

Out of the more than ten core members of the institute, apart from the exception Liu Mo, the rest were fifty to sixty years old. As for their students and helpers, they naturally did not have the chance to attend such a meeting.

"We have been waiting for you!"

Liu Mo smiled and invited Ouyang Shuo to his seat.

Ouyang Shuo sat down, and his eyes could not help but glance at the document on the table. It seemed like Liu Mo had come here prepared.

"Speak, what difficult problem do you face that needs my help?" Ouyang Shuo knew that these research people would not beat around the bush, so he went directly for the topic.

When Liu Mo and the others heard his question, they laughed and did not feel any awkwardness.

After all, efficiency was their life.

"Take a look!"

Liu Mo stood up and passed the document on the tea table to Ouyang Shuo. At this time, Liu Mo wore a rarely seen solemn expression.

Ouyang Shuo took the document and opened it up, only to see the first page had the title of 'Future Industry System Planning Draft of Shanhai City for the Next Two Years.'

"Industry system?" Ouyang Shuo smiled and asked.

"That's right!" Liu Mo had a passionate and excited expression.

Ouyang Shuo nodded, as the strategic plan the No.7 Research Institute suggested directly aligned with his own plans. It seems like Taigong was right, Shanhai City did not lack talents. In fact, their overall intelligence was far greater than his personal ability.

In the future, Ouyang Shuo still needed to show that he was in power once in a while.

In reality, an industry system was not a strange phrase.

The so-called industry system referred to the relationship between economic and work activities of a certain industry type. They would form a cooperation in terms of workspace and items, creating a system.

The organization of the system, apart from the industry production organizations, included many other organizations such as the planning and administrative organizations, the research and development organizations, the raw material discovery organizations, the processing or mechanizing facilities, and the transport and sales organizations.

Out of these three great elements, even one could not be lacking.

A simple example would be the steel industry.

To form a complete industry, one needed to include iron ore mountains, limestone mines, iron factories, steel factories, rolling steel factories, coking factories, fireproofing factories, mechanizing factories, as well as organizations in charge of buying, transporting, and selling.

In terms of the bigger picture, one needed organizations to design, research, analyze, and obtain intel and information.

All of these organizations needed to work as a system. They must possess a direct relationship with one another to form a passage of information and goods.

Moreover, to a territory, apart from the different mines and factories, the other organizations needed to split into various factories like the steelmaking factory; the departments in the yamen like the Industry Division under the Finance Department, and the Construction Division under the Administration Department; organizations like the No.7 Research Institute, and education organizations like the Xinan University. As such, the internal relationships formed were exceedingly complicated in an industry system.

Comparing the two, Shanhai City's current system was not enough to sustain an industry system.

Firstly, the territory lacked iron ore mountains with huge reserves. Hence, there was a significant reliance on imports. As for coal, needless to say, it was an utter rarity.

Just the factor of materials alone had choked the neck of the industry. Although the Finance Department had invested a large sum into purchasing iron ore and coal recently, it only solved the problem at the surface.

Secondly, the territory technology had only developed to the level of steel making. As for the next step of rolling steel, they were only researching and testing it out. The more advanced coking and fireproofing stages were only at the starting stages of their research.

As for the last step of mechanizing the process, let us just not talk about that.

The only comforting factor had to do with the transportation of the coal and iron ore. They were under the Finance Department, which had controlled the whole process well.

Even so, the Financial Department still lacked departments under it, resulting in extremely rough and lax management.

Moreover, this was only the steel industry. A real industry system was more complicated.

It would involve many industries such as coal, oil, black metal, colored metal, food, medicine, garments, wood, chemicals, rubber, plastic, transport, and water.

Hence, for the territory to build up a perfect industry system, it was really a long-term goal, and a type of dream. After all, there were really too many elements and restrictions.

Moreover, to the researchers of the No.7 Research Institute, building a complete system in the wilderness would be an extremely great achievement.

Other than that, they also possessed a subconscious good feeling and pride toward their race. After all, the Chinese never lacked smart people, they only lacked a cultural understanding, which caused them to miss out on the industrial revolution.

If he could make up for this regret in the game, it would be completely worth it.

Luckily, Liu Mo did not reach beyond his ability.

Ouyang Shuo took a look. The so-called plan for the next two years basically referred to the industries with steel as its core. The researchers were not overly ambitious and did not try to build a complete industry system.

Even so, it was exceedingly difficult.

The first thing it needed was an enormous amount of funds.

Ouyang Shuo looked at the financial estimation at the end and was shocked and stunned silent on the spot.

Based on logic, Ouyang Shuo could be considered someone experienced. Even a few hundred thousand gold was not a significant sum in his eyes.

But this time, Ouyang Shuo was still greatly shocked.

This was because the funding requirements that they suggested was a full 1.2 million gold. As such, in the next two years, they estimated a need to spend fifty thousand gold each month.

"Can it be lower?" Ouyang Shuo asked.

"This is already a conservative estimation; it cannot be one gold less." Liu Mo was insistent.

"Okay!"

Ouyang Shuo bitterly smiled.

When they completed the three legion corps, the military expenses would definitely double.

Although attacking Wuzhou, Xunzhou, and Zhen An did not require any extra gold, Ouyang Shuo was still not that optimistic about their financial situation for the next year.

Along with Ouyang Shuo's considerable plans regarding facilities, he would need to spend money in every area. Ouyang Shuo could even imagine what kind of face Cui Yingyu would give him.

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Chapter 551- Four Beauties

Translator: ryangohsf

Editor: Nora

Apart from monetary support, to go along No.7 Research Institute's industrial plan, he also needed to make some arrangements with the Nanjiang Governor-General House structure.

Ouyang Shuo wanted to wait till after the new year to gather the officials for a discussion regarding this point. After all, it was time for them to renew the current Governor-General House.

After receiving Ouyang Shuo's promise, Liu Mo and the others were naturally delighted.

"At least I didn't waste a pot of good tea!" someone grumbled secretly.Before leaving the research institute, Ouyang Shuo gave Liu Mo a requirement to meet. He wanted the No.7 Research Institute to work together with the Beihai Shipyard to modify the Dragon Head and add cannons to it.

Liu Mo and the others wanted to build up the industrial system. One of the reasons for this desire was their firearm research and crafting process. However, to achieve that goal, they still needed a period of time.

Hence, Ouyang Shuo wanted them to equip some old style cannons on the warship.

If one talked about the Dragon Head, Ouyang Shuo had only boarded it a few times when he explored Qiongzhou Island. As for the others times, it was just docked at Beihai Harbor.

It was Old Sun who treated the Dragon Head like his old lover. Every time he had any new ideas, he would test it out on the Dragon Head, treating it as a total guinea pig.

The current Dragon Head was entirely different from before.

Now, however, Ouyang Shuo suddenly wanted to modify the ship that he had shown no concern for previously.

No matter how one looked at it, it was unusual.

"Why do I think you have other intentions?"

Liu Mo took a look at Ouyang Shuo and said with uncertainty.

Ouyang Shuo smiled and did not say anything.

"Are you thinking about going out to sea?" Liu Mo was a busybody.

Ouyang Shuo did not care about him and just left.

"Just treat it like a normal matter!" Before leaving, Ouyang Shuo was still worried, so he threw down a sentence.

"Don't worry!"

Liu Mo returned to his workplace; he was still a little depressed about not obtaining any rumors or news from Ouyang Shuo.

Who said that research personnel did not care about gossips.

They only appeared quiet to the outside world.After leaving the research institute, Ouyang Shuo did not go anywhere else. Instead, he simply returned to the Governor-General Manor where he accompanied Bing'er as she studied.

It was the 12th month, and the virtual school was not on holidays yet.

In the afternoon, it was the time for Bing'er to learn about ancient Chinese civilizations, no matter how much she hated it and did not want to.

Out of the four types of musical instruments, chess, books, and calligraphy, the little brat only liked calligraphy.

She did not have the slightest interest toward playing instruments or chess. Ouyang Shuo dissed her for not having any cultural genes.

One had to mention that her talent in calligraphy was exceedingly strong.

In just three months, her writing already possessed some standard.

In his last life, Ouyang Shuo had spent five years in the game, writing five years of brush writing. Although he could not be considered really good, he still had a little knowledge regarding the matter.

This brother and sister pair each one wrote a line and were immersed in the front.

"Brother, are you going to marry Sister Song Jia?"

While writing, the little brat suddenly raised her head and popped this question.

Ouyang Shuo was stunned, and he placed down the brush in his hand and smiled, "That's right. Why, are you unhappy?"

The two of them were simply too familiar with one another.

Any change in her tone would not be able to escape his ears.

A day ago, Ouyang Shuo had discussed with Song Jia about marriage matters.

This unexpected happiness had struck her down, and in a short while, the news had spread over the entire manor.

The entire Nanjiang Governor-General House had started to run and prepare for the marriage of the Lord. When the people of Shanhai City received the news, they were also delighted, and their joy was evident on their faces.

In just a day, the people sentiment rose by one point. Only then did Ouyang Shuo realize how important the marriage and the childbirth of the Lord was to the people.

This was a tough and personal question.

Under such a situation, Ouyang Shuo was not surprised that the smart and resourceful Bing'er obtained the news.

"A little." Bing'er seemed a little crestfallen and really pitiful.

"Why?" Ouyang Shuo asked.

"When Brother gets married, you won't be Bing'er's brother, and you won't dote on me anymore."

She grumbled; the way that she acted really made others uncontrollably adore her.

As she grew older, this little brat would not yearn for attention every day like before. She started to slowly grow independent, especially after training in the Wugou Heart Sutra.

Only at this moment did Ouyang Shuo realize that this little brat was still the little brat from before. Her reliance on her older brother had not changed a single bit.

Ouyang Shuo smiled, "Who did you hear that from? What kind of weird theories are you talking about?"

"The sisters are all saying that." Bing'er was annoyed.

"Silly girl."

Ouyang Shuo touched her little head.

If this was like last time, she would definitely feel unhappy, as she did not want her brother to treat her like a little kid. Only this time, she did not reject it.

Ouyang Shuo bent down to her eye level and said solemnly, "When brother gets married, not only will I still love you like before, you'll have the addition of a sister-in-law who loves you just as much. Didn't you know that?"

"Really?" Bing'er was a little unsure.

"Bo!"

Ouyang Shuo flicked her head, "Why? Now you don't even believe what brother says?"

"Ouch!"

The little brat pressed her head, as she stared at her brother with annoyance. However, her eyes showed a trace of bliss and happiness.

"Write your words properly, stop slacking." Ouyang Shuo got up.

"Oh!" Only then did the little brat started being honest.

Ouyang Shuo sighed in his heart, This little brat has grown up, thinking about so much.

At that moment, Ouyang Shuo really did not know what he should be feeling.

12th month, 20th day, Fan Li and his group entered Shanhai City.

The Black Guards from the Black Snake Guards had escorted him along the way. Apart from Fan Li, there was another famous person that followed him. She was one of the four beauties of olden China - Xi Shi.

Everyone knew that the four beauties of olden china were Xi Shi, Wang Zhaojun, Diao Chan, and Yang Yuhuan. They were given the title of a beauty that caused fish to sink down and geese to fall, the moon hides her face at her beauty, and the flowers feel ashamed about their appearance.

The sinking fish had to do with the story of Xi Shi washing yarn on the riverbed.

The falling geese described the story of Zhaojun leaving her home country.

The moon closing her eyes discussed the story of Diao Chan praying to the moon.

The ashamed flower talked about the story of Yang Yuhuan getting drunk while viewing flowers.

The beauties of legend had finally appeared in the wilderness for the first time, letting the ordinary people witness their beauty.

Xi Shi was a girl that washed yarn. She had distinct features, a peach-colored face, with an extraordinary appearance. When she was washing yarn by the river, the reflection of the clear water made her look a lot more beautiful. The fishes in the river felt that she was too pretty and sank down into the river, ashamed to show their faces.

This was how the story of the sunken fishes came about.

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Chapter 552- Business Saint

Translator: ryangohsf

Editor: Nora

When he really saw Xi Shi, Ouyang Shuo sort of felt like his fantasy was destroyed.

When Fan Li started his seclusion, he was already a white-haired old man. With just a little bit of thought, one could guess that Xi Shi, who had stayed by his side, would have already lost her past beauty. Her glamor and looks would not be able to escape the passage of time.

As time went on, only a merciful and quiet look was left.

Now, one could only see a slight glimpse of her past beauty from her current gentle expression.

Although the couple did not have their youthful looks anymore, one could not help but feel envious when they looked at the two of them.

This was really the definition of growing old together.

After the courteous greetings, Fan Li and Xi Shi officially moved into Shanhai City.

"Greetings, my Lord!"

Fan Li bowed toward Ouyang Shuo, confirming their Lord and servant relationship. Ouyang Shuo accepted his bow and took a look at his stats.

Name: Fan Li (Saint Rank)

Title: Business Saint

Dynasty: Spring and Autumn (Chu Country)

Identity: Shanhai City Civil Servant

Occupation: Special rank merchant

Loyalty: 70

Command: 85

Force: 45

Intelligence: 98

Politics: 95

Specialty: A Rich World (5% increase in territory's economy index, 15% increase in trading prosperity, 5% increase in tax returns, 25% increase in skill familiarity of merchants)

Book: Fan Li Two Scrolls

Evaluation: Known as Fan Li in the Yue Country, Chiyi Zipi in the Qi Country, and Tao Zhugong in the Wu Country. Loyal to his country; his intelligence allowed him to survive. He ran his business to acquire wealth, and gained fame throughout the land. In the end, he passed down his wealth and success to his future generation.

As expected from the Business Saint, his stats were solid. Not only was his intelligence and politics stat close to the maximum, but even his command stat reached 85. He was indeed an all rounded talent.

Especially his specialty, which could actually raise the tax returns of the territory. Such a matter was something unheard of.

That aspect alone was worth one hundred thousand gold.

Since he was checking stats, Ouyang Shuo also took a look at Xi Shi's stats.

Name: Xi Shi (God Rank)

Title: The Head of the Four Olden Beauties of China

Dynasty: Spring and Autumn (Yue Country)

Identity: Shanhai City resident

Occupation: imperial court dancer

Bone structure: 20

Comprehension: 15

Charm: 25

Luck: 8

Specialty: Washing Yarn (15% increase in garment production efficiency, 5% increase in cotton production, 10% increase in reputation of territory)

Evaluation: Born in Zhulo Village, as she stayed in the west of the village, she was called Xi Shi, also known as Yi Guang. Her looks were like that of a fairy. If she was a little fatter, one would think that she was too fat, and if she was a little thinner, one would say that she was too thin. She was the top beauty in olden times.

Similar to the ten famous generals in China, the four beauties were also defined as god ranked historical figures.

However, in contrast to officials and generals, her stats were similar to the stats of players, with 20 as their maximum.

However, her charm had actually broken through the max and reached a stunning 25 points. As such, one could see how beautiful she was. Regretfully, her luck stat was only 8 points, so one could see how unlucky she was in life.

A beauty always has a tough life; this was always the case.

Legends has it that after the Wu Country fell, Xi Shi was drowned in the river, showing how sad and unlucky her life was.

In the game, Gaia chose to use their love story as a blueprint, helping to rewrite a new legend for the top beauty of China.

Her specialty was one that should not be overlooked. Apart from the usual raising of efficiency and production, it actually helped to raise the reputation of the territory.

This point was quite rare among historical people specialties.

Ouyang Shuo guessed that this matter had to do with her charm and her title as the top beauty in China.

This husband and wife duo were truly living legends of their time.

Ouyang Shuo guessed that the news of Bai Gui moving into the business college had spread to his ears. Otherwise, Fan Li would not have accepted his proposal so quickly.

No matter what, he was the first Saint rank person to willing to take up a position in Shanhai City.

Xi Shi, on the other hand, did not speak a single word from start to finish.

And the moment that the two of them moved in, Ouyang Shuo received a system notification.

"System Notification: Congratulations player Qiyue Wuyi, Xi Shi has moved into Shanhai City, activating B rank storyline quest 'Four Beauties.' Will you accept the storyline quest?"

Quest Name: Four Beauties (B rank)

Quest Background: the four beauties of olden China are Xi Shi, Wang Zhaojun, Diao Chan, and Yang Yuhuan; they were given the title of a beauty that caused fish to sink down and geese to fall, the moon hides her face at her beauty, and the flowers feel ashamed about their appearance.

Quest Requirements: Obtain the recognition of at least three of the beauties, having them move in to live in Shanhai City.

Completion Time: Within three years

Quest Reward: Territory will obtain the title of Capital of Charm. At the same time, the Lord will be awarded with 8 charm stat points.

The difficulty of obtaining the recognition of three of the four beauties within three years was no less than the philosopher quest. His low luck and charm stat were truly becoming the bane of his existence.

Calculating the time, after the next battle ended, West Han would enter the game proceedings. At that time, Wang Zhaojun would also appear.

After that would be Diao Chan of East Han then Yang Yuhuan of Tang Dynasty. If everything went smoothly, there was indeed a chance of completing this quest in three years.

Long before Fan Li arrived, Ouyang Shuo had already planned his role.

Ouyang Shuo wanted him to replace Cui Yingyu as the Finance Director. As for Cui Yingyu, she would become the deputy director and the secretary of Industry Division.

In history, be it in terms of being an official or being a merchant, Fan Li had obtained excellent results. Be it his planning or his foresight, both aspects made him an excellent choice for the position.

Hence, he was definitely the best choice for the position of Finance Director.

As the territory expanded, it was becoming more and more difficult to keep Cui Yingyu at her position. The negative opinions of her in the territory, especially within Shanhai City, had not ceased at all.

As such, for her to take a step back was not a bad idea at all. In fact, it would help her instead.

Of course, before he appointed Fan Li, Ouyang Shuo needed to discuss this matter with this sister of his.

The location of choice was not the reading room but the back garden. His intentions were obvious; this was a conversation between siblings and not a Lord talking to his vassal.

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Chapter 553- Financial Budget

Translator: ryangohsf

Editor: Nora

Nanjiang Governor-General Manor, Back Garden.

It was winter, but the back garden was still brimming with life. Hundreds of flowers were in full bloom, and one could smell the scent of the flowers and hear the sounds of the birds.

At the east side of the back garden, there was a building known as the Donglin Pavilion. Ouyang Shuo would usually spend a lot of time at this place. Previously, he had welcomed Song Jia's parents at this pavilion.

"Big brother, are you looking for me regarding Fan Li?"

Cui Yingyu's thoughts were really so sharp; she could guess Ouyang Shuo's thoughts right away.

"That's right."

When talking with Cui Yingyu, Ouyang Shuo naturally would not beat around the bush, so he smiled, "If I want you to step down from the Finance Director position, could you bear to do so?"

Out of the four directors, only Cui Yingyu had not been moved.

Now, it was time to usher in a new era, a new leader.

Ouyang Shuo wanted to push Fan Li up to this role so early because of the incoming organizational changes. Hence, confirming the new ship captain of the Financial Department was critical.

"A little bit." In front of Ouyang Shuo, there was no need for Cui Yingyu to hide anything.

One must not simply look at her gentle appearance, as she was a really strong person in her bones. Although she was a person of few words, she was a truly resolute person that had dedicated herself to running the department.

Now, for Ouyang Shuo to suddenly ask her to hand over her powers to others, if it was any other person, they would not feel happy about it either.

However, rationally speaking, she was clear that such a day would come sooner or later.

Even though Ouyang Shuo had trusted and supported her so much, as the territory expanded, the other officials and the people of the territory would not allow a girl to take up such an important position.

Cui Yingyu was not a person that was greedy for fame and fortune. She just wanted to contribute.

Especially after hanging around Song Jia and Sun Xiaoyue, her female instincts had started to slowly awaken.

"Who says women were weaker than men?"

For example Mu Guiying and Fan Lihua, these two femme fatale women, had already proven their worth on the battlefield. Cui Yingyu naturally wanted to reach their level of achievement in the civil servant field.

Although Mulan Yue was a woman, she had already obtained the position of Zhen An Prefecture Governor. However, everyone knew that they were different. In this aspect, players had a particular priority.

Ouyang Shuo laughed, "Everyone should do their best no matter what position they hold. Although I'm taking you off the director position, your next job will only be more important, so do not be disappointed."

As he said these words, Ouyang Shuo introduced his plans to her. Following which, he said, "You have been the Finance Director for so long, so you should know that the potential of the Industry Division is limitless. The future industry strategy of the territory is one that the Industry Division will head; it's the core of the core."

When Cui Yingyu heard these words, her eyes brightened.

"After the new year, the entire Governor-General House structure will change. You must assist Fan Li and help him ease into his role and familiarize with the workings of the department. Moreover, I want to hear your views regarding the Industry Division changes. Do not disappoint me!" Ouyang Shuo said.

"Big brother, do not worry!" Cui Yingyu was really confident.

"Then I'll await your good news!" Ouyang Shuo smiled.

This brother and sister duo continued to talk about other causal matters before bidding farewell.

21st day, the Nanjiang Governor-General House officially announced the appointment changes of Fan Li and Cui Yingyu.

Fan Li would become the Finance Director, while Cui Yingyu would become the Industry Secretary, as well as Deputy Finance Director. As for Du Xiaolan, who was the original Industry Secretary, she will take up a role in the department.

At this point, the two representative figures of the business school of thought, Bai Gui and Fan Li, had both moved into the core of the territory operations. One worked in the university to teach the students, while the other worked in the imperial court.

The business school of thought had officially announced their arrival in the wilderness.

The so-called Bai Gui Plan had officially taken its first step and obtained excellent results.

What was next?

One could only look on in anticipation!

Along with Fan Li's appointment, the directors of the four departments formed a truly spectacular lineup. Xiao He, Wei Yang, Fan Li, and Du Ruhui; they were all famous officials of their generations, even famous prime ministers.

With such a formation, Ouyang Shuo really had no need to worry anymore.

At the same time, the Governor-General House also announced Su Zhe's duty.

Su Zhe would take over the Science, Education, Culture, and Health Department that Xiao He had temporarily helmed.

In the next few days, Ouyang Shuo started to meet the officials, especially the four directors, to discuss the reorganization of the structure.

Apart from that, there were also two more critical matters.

Firstly, they needed to discuss the financial budget for the next year.

Undeniably, this was the first time the territory had planned the budget with the year as its unit. With that, it announced that the territory finance system had finally taken shape after a period of long-term practical training and construction.

The Financial Department had recruited many professionals working in the various divisions and various prefectures. Amongst which, many officials were players, and they all had famous backgrounds and were important people in the financial sector. Some of them were even people who had worked for the federation.

It was evident that through this game, the entire society would undergo a massive reset.

In his last life, Ouyang Shuo would have never imagined a day when he recruited a large number of scientists, entrepreneurs, and other high-leveled people as their Lord.

In reality, these people were people that he worshipped and aspired to be.

In the 3rd year of Gaia, apart from the regular military expenses and the yamen expenditure, there were two huge focuses. One was naturally the industry system by the research institute, while the second would be the public utilities under the Science, Education, Culture, and Health Department.

The plan that Liu Mo and the others had set out for the industry system needed 1.2 million gold in a two year period. This sum was not given out monthly.

At the early stages, the amount of funds needed was even greater.

In just the 3rd year, they would need to inject eight hundred thousand gold.

As for the public utilities project, Xiao He made some calculations. He said that it would cost no less than six hundred thousand gold for the year.

Apart from that, there were hidden financial expenditures from the intelligence organizations.

During the 2nd year of Gaia, the three intel organizations, especially the Black Snake Guards, had performed exceptionally. Especially during the Battle of Taiping Country, the usefulness of intel had become more and more evident.

Similarly, the pros and cons of the intel organizations were really obvious. Due to the lack of funds and manpower, the range and area that the intel organizations could work in were restricted.

Hence, Ouyang Shuo set his mind to increasing his support to try and have a real intel network that covered the entire China region in just a year.

And this motion naturally needed a large amount of funds from Shanhai City.

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Chapter 554- Ou Zhizi

Translator: ryangohsf

Editor: Nora

Based on normal circumstances, the costs of the public utilities would take up a considerable part of the financial budget. Only as the yamen built up would the various prefectures carry these expenditures themselves.

As such, the Nanjiang Governor-General House needed to lead the planning of an official pathway and relay system that covered the entire territory.

Paths that linked up the prefectures, paths within the prefectures, and relays; the Governor-General House needed to pay for half of these construction costs.

Firstly, they needed to entirely open up the mountain path between Lianzhou Prefecture and Wuzhou Prefecture to strengthen their control over the Wuzhou and Zhaoqing Prefectures.

Apart from that, the Construction Division also planned to open up a mountain path near Broken Blade House Gushan County to open up a path to Leizhou Prefecture.

The current Shanhai City could only reach Leizhou Prefecture via ship. Although it was fast, generally only merchants took this path. For other people, traveling across the land would be a better choice.

Ouyang Shuo gathered all the officials together for another important matter apart from settling the financial budget. They needed to discuss the administrative standards, waste disposal standards, and the water system in the territory.

The goal was to push out the municipal administrative system of Shanhai City to the other parts of the territory.

The construction of Shanhai City could be described as the merger of olden construction techniques and modern architecture. It kept some of the essence and beauty of olden Chinese buildings, but it also incorporated modern-day city planning and municipal construction, combining the two perfectly.

As for the water irrigation system, naturally, it was for the agriculture industry. In order to increase the crop production and raise the yield of the crops, one definitely needed to perfect the water irrigation system.

The water paths of Nanjiang had many intersections, so it did not lack water but did possess a risk of flooding. Hence, the logical plan would be to change the water system and build up dams.

Ouyang Shuo stayed in his reading room and did not go out for a full four to five days.

The officials entering his reading room did not cease.

Sometimes, when he discussed the important matters, he would even forget to eat his meals.

As for late night meetings, these were something exceedingly common occurrences.

In this process, plan after plan that concerned the core of the coming year was pushed out piece by piece.

12th month, 24th day, after Fan Li and Xi Shi, the Black Snake Guards found the famous swordsmith Ou Zhizi. Moreover, they successfully invited him back to Shanhai City to help Ouyang Shuo forge swords.

Ou Zhizi was a member of the Yue Country from the end of the Spring and Autumn Period to the start of the Warring States Period. He was the ancestor of olden sword forging in China, and he had crafted the Longquan Sword and the Zhanlu Sword.

When he was young, Ou Zhizi learned metallurgy from his uncle and started to craft items such as copper and iron swords, iron axes, and work tools.

He used his brain and had extraordinary intelligence. Moreover, he had a strong body, and he was a hard worker. Ou Zhizi noticed the difference between copper and iron, forging the first into the Longxuan Iron Sword. He created the start of the cold weapons era of China.

Ou Zhizi had crafted a series of famous copper swords.

He had once crafted five prized swords for the Yue King: Zhanlu, Juque, Shenxie, Yuchang, and Chunjun. For the Chu King, he had crafted three swords: Qixing Longxuan, Taia, and Gongbu.

For the Black Snake Guards to successfully invite Ou Zhizi, it was all due to the Chixiao Sword.

Ou Zhizi had made it clear that he came to Shanhai City with no intentions of moving in. After forging the sword, he would leave Shanhai City to search for another land of sword forging.

He had no intentions of selling his art and working for kings. After appearing in the wilderness, his only wish was to find a new land of sword forging to forge another precious sword.

When Ouyang Shuo received this news, he could only helplessly accept the matter.

He could not force such matters.

Ouyang Shuo had sought Ou Zhizi to seal the Red Dragon Spirit inside the Qilin Golden Seal into the Chixiao Sword and complete the upgrade of the Chixiao Sword.

When they received the news that Ou Zhizi was coming, the happiest person was not Ouyang Shuo but Wang Hao.

Wang Hao was the first grandmaster level smith in the territory and the secretary of the Armory Division.

The Tianmo Spear was crafted by Wang Hao.

Ou Zhizi was basically an ancestor level presence to a blacksmith like Wang Hao.

If one said that blacksmiths or rather swordsmiths could form a faction or school of thought, Ou Zhizi would undoubtedly be their representative figure.

Hence, Wang Hao specially prepared the most significant and most majestic sword smithing room for Ou Zhizi to use. This room was one that the No.7 Research Institute had modified.

Besides the room was a furnace that could forge steel.

As a sword forging master, Ou Zhizi was extremely sensitive to materias. If not, he would not have been able to discover the difference between copper and iron.

Hence, steel, which was far superior to iron, would definitely attract Ou Zhizi.

After gaining a basic understanding of steel from Wang Hao, Ou Zhizi was immediately attracted.

Ouyang Shuo, who had followed behind them, grinned at this sight. He knew that to such a swordsmith, steel had an absolute attraction.

This time, even if Ouyang Shuo asked him to leave, Ou Zhizi would not be willing to do so.

Facing the further questions from Ou Zhizi, Wang Hao was placed in a tough situation.

Although the man in front of him was an ancestor-level figure, the steel making technique was a high-level secret of the territory. Even if Wang Hao was ten times bolder, he would not dare to reveal a single bit of the secret.

"Master, this..." Wang Hao paused.

When Ou Zhizi saw this reaction, he understood. He was a swordsmith master and knew that such a secret could not be revealed. Wasn't his sword smithing skills precisely the same?

Thinking about this point, he turned around, bowed to Ouyang Shuo, and said sincerely, "Lord, please accept me and allow me to learn the mysteries behind this material."

Ou Zhizi had a prediction that with this new material, he would find new sword smithing inspiration. In the future, making god weapons like Qixing Longxuan would not be impossible.

Perhaps, he could even touch the unassailable Saint weapon realm.

Since that was the case, he had no need to continue running around to search for the land of sword forging.

Wasn't the Shanhai City in front of him the best place for swordsmithing?

As for his past words, to go against them was nothing to Ou Zhizi.

A swordsmithing master was a sword idiot.

Since he was obsessed, he naturally did not care too much about life matters.

Only then could he focus on one path.

Ouyang Shuo laughed, "For master to move into Shanhai City, it's simply a blessing for the territory." He obviously did not mention Ou Zhizi's previous words.

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Chapter 555- Land of Artisan

Translator: ryangohsf

Editor: Nora

At this very moment, a system notification sounded out in his ear.

"System Notification: Congratulations player Qiyue Wuyi, God Rank Swordsmith Ou Zhizi has moved into Shanhai City, territory title Blessed Land of Artisans has upgraded into Land of Artisans, congratulations player!"The moment the notification sounded out, the entire China region was shocked once more. The players did not expect Shanhai City to even find the secretive Ou Zhizi. Moreover, they even convinced him to move in.

As expected from the best territory in China, strong!

In the global channel, people exclaimed in awe.

Of course, some people were jealous, salty….

All in all, it was impossible to not have some unhappy people.

Ouyang Shuo naturally would not bother about the bustle. He directly went to take a look at the stats of the title.

Title: Land of Artisan (God Rank)

Specialty: 20% increase in reputation of territory, 20% increase in skills familiarity speed, 20% increase in success rate for breaking through bottlenecks, 45% increase in attraction to skills talents.

Unique Specialty: Spirit of the Artisan (25% increase in beneficial effects to artisans)

Evaluation: the final title for artisans, cannot be upgraded.

Compared to the title of Blessed Land of Artisans, the various stats of Land of Artisans seemed to have doubled.

A God Rank title was truly overpowered.

With these buffs, along with the Land of Philosophers title, Ouyang Shuo felt more and more confident about the industry plan that Liu Mo had raised up.

After all, the base for developing an industry system required a large batch of trained artisans.

When he saw that Ou Zhizi was so excited about steel, Ouyang Shuo laughed. He left the Chixiao Sword and the Qilin Golden Seal before departing.

After returning to the manor, Ouyang Shuo met one person alone - Honglu Temple Zhang Yi.

Similar to the clerk office, Honglu Temple was an independent presence and under the direct control of Ouyang Shuo. After a period of construction, the structure was finally completed, and everything was roughly in place.

Based on Zhang Yi's words, they were all ready and were just waiting for the Lord to give his orders.

History really had many shocking similarities.

During the Warring States Period, after Wei Yang pushed out Legalism, the Qin Country made use of its power to become the helm of the Seven Warring States. Their strength shocked the six countries east of Tong Pass, and they did not know what to do.

Su Qin from Luoyang set out to suggest working together to fight against the Qin Country. The basis of the strategy was for the Six Warring States to work together and help one another.

333 B.C., Su Qin successfully persuaded everyone. The six countries worked together and formed the Anti Qin Alliance. The six countries agreed to an action plan to go against the Qin Country. The six countries that were connected to the Qin Country used their collective strength to survive for hundreds of years in front of the strong Qin.

After which, King Qin Huiwen used the Lianheng plan to break Su Qin's Hezong plan.

The origin of Zong and Heng was such that the north and south directions were termed as Zong, while the east and west were termed as Heng. Qin Country was located in the west, with the other six countries in the east. The six country alliance became a north-south direction alliance, hence it was called Hezong. Meanwhile, the east-west direction alliance of the six countries was called Lianheng.

In the wilderness, Shanhai City took down Chiyou City and Taiping Country in one fell swoop, suddenly becoming strong. It immediately caused the Lords of the neighbouring provinces to feel uneasy and establish their united city-states. The four provinces had formed a Lianheng situation.

Such a situation was really similar to what Qin Country faced in history.

As such, he needed Zhang Yi to appear again and show his skills.

Of course, in the wilderness, the players presented an uncertainty factor, which would make breaking the Lianheng situation numerous times harder than breaking the Hezong of the six countries in history.

Ouyang Shuo did not expect Zhang Yi to break the situation in one shot.

However, he did not have the patience to stay locked in a stalemate like Qin Country in history for so many years.

"I hope that the Honglu Temple can break a small gap out of the four province encirclement."

Ouyang Shuo looked at Zhang Yi and stated his desires.

Zhang Yi looked up and said, "Toward the four city-states, I do have some understanding. It is not hard to find their individual weaknesses if we compare them to the six countries of history."

"Oh? Please elaborate!" Ouyang Shuo was hooked.

In truth, Ouyang Shuo did not think much about these four neighbors. As for Zhang Yi, he had spent so much time in the Honglu Temple, so he definitely had some thoughts about the subject.

Hence, Ouyang Shuo was really interested in what he had to say.

"The Lingnan City-State is enemies with Shanhai City due to the Battle of Zhaoqing. It was that battle that made the Lords realize the threat Shanhai City posed. When they regained their calm, they hurriedly formed the first city-state in the wilderness," Zhang Yi said.

"Since that's the case, they should be the most united group. Where's the weakness in that?" Ouyang Shuo asked.

"Their weakness is Yuan Ping," Zhang Yi replied.

"Yuan Ping?" Ouyang Shuo did not understand.

"That's right." Zhang Yi nodded, "During the Battle of Zhaoqing, it was the disappearance of Hefu that allowed Yuan Ping to claim his current position."

"I feel that Yuan Ping is an ambitious person. However, he is also arrogant and has an agenda against you." Zhang Yi's intelligence work was truly well done, "When the city-state was just established, all the Lords would be of one mind. But as the situation stabilizes, Yuan Ping would want to obtain much more power from within."

"This would cause those Lords who were close to Hefu to feel annoyed. The old and new factions will then start to compete with one another."

"Hefu has already left, so how could his allies win against Yuan Ping?" Ouyang Shuo asked.

No matter how noob Yuan Ping was, he was still from an aristocratic family.

Compared to other Lords, his ambitions, abilities, connections, and methods were much higher. To take care of Hefu's old forces should not be a difficult matter.

The wilderness was incredibly merciless. No one would carry the flag of a loser and continue forward.

Hence, Ouyang Shuo was really doubtful about it.

"If no outside force enters, it might be as you said." Zhang Yi's expression suddenly turned hard to read, as he cupped his fists, "That's why we need the Lord to mobilize the Black Snake Guards to help us to put on a good show there."

When Ouyang Shuo heard this request, his eyes instantly lit up, and he smiled, "Let's follow what you say. On the side of the Black Snake Guards, I will personally organize and coordinate them to help you."

"Thank you, Lord!" Zhang Yi was delighted.

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Chapter 556- Zhang Yi Talks About Lianheng

Translator: ryangohsf

Editor: Nora

"Then what about the Xiangnan City-State, where is there weakness?" Ouyang Shuo asked.

The leader of the Xiangnan City-State, Caiyun Zinan, has Strategy Saint Zhang Liang helping him, and he holds an unassailable position. Along with the prestige that he built up during the Battle of Guilin, in a short while, no one could touch his position.

Even if the Black Snake Guards or the Honglu Temple wanted to try anything, Zhang Liang would easily break their attempts.

Zhang Yi remained incredibly casual, "The weakness of the Xiangnan City-State is Zhang Liang."

"Oh?"

Ouyang Shuo felt even more shocked. All of Zhang Yi's words truly surprised him.

"Lord, think about it. If your ally has a saint helping them, what would you think?" Zhang Yi did not directly explain. Instead, he just threw down a question.

If it was Ouyang Shuo, needless to say, he would naturally want to think of a way to snatch the saint over. The problem was that the ones facing the situation were normal Lords.

Ouyang Shuo thought about the matter. Using the thinking methods of normal Lords, he answered, "Are you saying that the other members will be wary of Caiyun City because of Zhang Liang?"

"That's the case." Zhang Yi nodded, "In history, Liu Bang was able to walk up step by step among so many Lords due to Zhang Liang. During the Battle of Guilin, Caiyun City did not take any benefits, so we can instead say that he is really ambitious."

"A Lord with ambition, combined with a saint level strategist. Even if we did not stir up problems, hidden currents would move and act."

"With Zhang Liang's intelligence, he would naturally notice this problem. As long as he leads the Xiangnan City-State to turn their swords outward time after time, wouldn't this cancer just remain unsolved?" Ouyang Shuo asked.

When both sides had the same interests, a hidden problem would not be a hidden problem anymore.

"Well said, Lord!" The sharpness of the Lord amazed him. He continued by changing his tone, "But Lord, think about it, what is around Xiangnan Province?"

When Ouyang Shuo heard this question, he thought back to the geography of Nanjiang.

North of Xiangnan Province was Jingchu Province, where Chun Shenjun resided. To the east was Chuanbei Province, where Black Lion City was situated. South was Lingnan Province and Chuannan Province. Meanwhile, Chuanbei Province was west, and Feng Qingyang was located there.

The north and northwest areas were the traditional strongholds of the Yanhuang Alliance.

Under the circumstances where they were enemies with Shanhai Alliance, Caiyun City naturally did not dare to provoke the Yanhuang Alliance.

The Lingnan City-State on the south and the Chuanbei City-State in the west were their allies, so they had no reason to attack them.

As for the Chuannan Province where Shanhai City was located, with Han Xin and the Leopard Legion there, Caiyun City would not have the courage to try and cross.

The only possibility would be the Chuanbei Province on the east.

Firstly, Chuanbei Province belonged to the Shanhai Alliance, so Caiyun City did not have a mental barrier when attacking it. Secondly, Black Lion City had a limited influence in the province, and it was not enough to unite the entire area.

No matter how one looked at it, Chuanbei Province would be their chance.

"Black Lion City is in trouble?" Ouyang Shuo had a somber expression.

"It's a danger and also a chance," Zhang Yi said, "If Gong Chengshi is smart enough, he can make use of the invasion to gather up the powers in the province. As the two provinces go head to head, with our support, it will not be easy for Caiyun City to succeed."

Ouyang Shuo reacted and smiled, "So you mean that Honglu Temple will focus on Chuanbei and not Xiangnan?"

"Lord is wise!" Zhang Yi bowed once more.

"That's fine. Let's treat it as planning for the future!" Ouyang Shuo nodded, seemingly recognizing and agreeing with the plan. However, his eyes contained something difficult for others to grasp.

When Zhang Yi saw that, he did not dare to speak anymore.

Ouyang Shuo did not mention it and turned to ask, "What about Chuanbei City-State? What are your thoughts."

Around the territory, the one that made him the most uncomfortable was the north.

That was because the north had two provinces working together to defend against them.

The Battle of Guilin had undoubtedly proved that the two provinces had a close understanding and were really close. Along with Guilin being such a key position of contact for both of them, it made one feel even more uncomfortable.

With the intelligence of Zhang Liang, he would only increase the cooperation between the two and would prevent any disputes.

Hence, to make the two City-states fight one another was an impossible task.

However, Zhang Yi had his own views regarding this matter, as he smiled, "The weakness of Chuanbei City-State is in the change of interests in the north and south, as they are unable to come to a consensus."

"How so?" Ouyang Shuo asked.

"Chuanbei Province, its north is connected to the Shu Lands and South Shanhai City. On both the north and the south, they have a vast border. To the Lords in Chuanbei, compared to Shanhai City, Shu poses a bigger threat." Zhang Yi said, "During the Guilin Battle, the north Lords not joining in was enough to prove that."

"Shu Lands? You mean Swordsman City?" Ouyang Shuo asked once more.

"That's right. Feng Qingyang's Swordsman City is located on the lost south part of Shu, and it is only miles away from Chuanbei Province." Zhang Yi answered, "Originally, the land that the Shu govern is bigger than two Chuanbei Provinces, so Swordsman City can expand inside Shu. Regretfully, its covered with forests and mountain ranges, so it is easy to defend and hard to attack."

"Hence, it is highly difficult for him to expand in Shu. Compared to that, Chuanbei Province is naturally a better choice."

"I see." Ouyang Shuo was enlightened, "It seems like Swordsman City is doing us a huge favor."

After such a prompt from Zhang Yi, Ouyang Shuo started to think deeper and further.

Within the Yanhuang Alliance, compared to Di Chen and the others, Feng Qingyang was relatively uninterested in fighting.

Unfortunately, he was part of an aristocratic family, so he carried the burden of his family on his shoulders. No matter how much he did not want to fight, he needed to adequately expand the territory.

If not, if it was someone like Di Chen helming Swordsman City, Chuanbei Province would have fallen into chaos long ago.

"Do you think we can form a hidden alliance with those north at Chuanbei?" Ouyang Shuo looked at Zhang Yi, smiling as he asked.

"I hope that they can be the factor that allows us to break the current situation." Zhang Yi said carefully and calmly, "As long as we have them, we can mess up the Chuanbei City-State then challenge the Xiangnan City-State. With that, the current situation would definitely be broken."

When Ouyang Shuo heard these words, he did not express his views. He neither said yes or no.

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Chapter 557- Problem with Consonance City

Translator: ryangohsf

Editor: Nora

"Let's talk about Yunnan City-State, what's its flaw?" Ouyang Shuo asked.

More than half of the prefecture's territory boundary was a border. The north side was Tibet, which was harder to access than the Shu Lands. Moreover, it was easy to defend and hard to attack. The only threat to it would be Consonance City and Shanhai City.

One could say that the Yunnan City-State did not have much to worry about.

Of course, with pros, there would definitely be cons.

Such an excellent geographic location would also definitely restrict their ability to expand.

Hence, since the establishment of the Yunnan City-State, they had the goal of protecting their own land. Similar to the other few city-states, they were formed with defensive goals in mind.

As they said, one could become austere if they lacked selfish desires.

It seemed that the only viable option to take on the Yunnan City-State was to forcefully attack it.

At this point, Ouyang Shuo had already placed the bulk of his attack focus next year on the Yunnan City-State.

"They have two weakness." Zhang Yi was still unfazed, "Firstly, they lack someone like Yuanping or West Gate Big Official to lead them. Secondly, in terms of geography, there are not connected like the other three city-states, so they are utterly alone.

Ouyang Shuo noticed that Zhang Yi chose the word weakness instead of flaw.

It was obvious that to Zhang Yi, Yunnan City-State was also a tough nut to crack.

"I actually do not feel that these two points are their weaknesses." Ouyang Shuo shook his head, as he presented a different idea, "If we looked at this individually, it might seem like a problem. But combining the two, it becomes their strength instead. An individual alliance needs to be ruled by many. Only then can they maintain stability and not change any set strategies."

"The Lord is wise!" Zhang Yi was impressed once more.

"Toward the Yunnan City-State, the Honglu Temple can increase its attention. However, we should leave the specific strategies to Consonance City. We do not need to care too much." Ouyang Shuo instructed.

Ouyang Shuo still needed to give his ally Bai Hua sufficient respect.

No matter what, Kunming Prefecture was the one that was truly connected to the Yunnan City-State. As for how to deal with them, Bai Hua had probably thought of some answers.

Hence, Shanhai City could not jump past Consonance City and directly start acting in the Yunnan Province. If that were the case, their interests would clash, and it would make it difficult for Bai Hua.

At most, both parties would work together.

As for the Dragon Legion housed on the west side, they were first there to collect intel. Secondly, during the real war, they would help Consonance City attack the Yunnan City-State.

In the future, the problem of how to deal with the Yunnan City-State would be one that both sides would definitely have issues and disagreements on.

News had spread of Shanhai City occupying Zhen An Prefecture and eating up the ninety thousand west army prisoners. Within Consonance City, there were already people that were unhappy.

After all, from their point of view, they had paid a huge price to block the west army. In the very end, they made the sacrifice but did not gain any benefits.

On the contrary, Shanhai City just made one sneak attack and plucked all the fruits from this tree.

If Luo Shixin's division did not help Consonance City swiftly take down Kunming Prefecture, giving them a peaceful home, these unhappy emotions would be much more intense.

Although Ouyang Shuo did not feel guilty about this point, it was enough to raise his wariness.

In history, many allies had ended up splitting due to interest problems.

Although Ouyang Shuo believed that Bai Hua and he could control the disputes, they were unable to stop the thoughts and wishes of their subordinates.

Thinking deeper about this, it involved the future standing of Consonance City.

Bai Hua was not Mulan Yue, and Consonance City was not the Mulan County from before. Hence, it was impossible for them to directly go under Shanhai City's rule.

After all, Consonance City did not represent Bai Hua's interest only. Instead, it served the interests of a collective group of people. Even Qingfeng Pavillion was wrapped up into this.

Dealing with this matter was going to be a massive bother.

"During the gathering next year, I should have a good discussion with Bai Hua."

Ouyang Shuo gave out a slight sigh.Zhang Yi nodded; he continued, "Apart from the four city-states, there's actually a fifth group that has been staring intently at Shanhai City from the outside, just like Qi Country during the Warring States."

"Are you referring to the Yanhuang Alliance?" Ouyang Shuo asked.

"To Shanhai City, the Yanhuang Alliance is a long term presence that we cannot neglect. Especially as we expand, the conflicts between the two groups will spread from battle maps to the wilderness. As long as Shanhai City breaks through the lock of the four city-states, we will have to fight them on the Shu Lands and the Jingchu Province. Hence, I feel that they definitely will not simply watch on and do nothing as we break this situation."

Zhang Yi's words were not said just to frighten Ouyang Shuo.

Before this, when Shanhai City wanted to take over the Lianzhou Basin, the Yanhuang Alliance had already interfere.

Cooperating with the four city-states to restrict and control the expansion of Shanhai City was a necessary move for the Yanhuang Alliance.

Following this train of thought, it was time for Shanhai City and Yanhuang Alliance to have another good battle around these four city-states. Who knows who would be laughing in the end.

To counterattack reactively was not Ouyang Shuo's style.

"Since we have noticed the threat of Yanhuang Alliance, it's time for Honglu Temple to strike. Compared to us, the Yanhuang Alliance members have many more problems in their own areas." Ouyang Shuo smiled, "There's no reason to allow them to peacefully develop and still let them butt into our matters."

"Understood!" Zhang Yi nodded.

"The main point would be Asura City and Fallen Leaf City. Try your best to spoil their relationship," Ouyang Shuo said.

Sha Pojun's Asura City and Wandering Magic's Fallen Leaf City belonged to the same province. In the middle, there was also Xianyang City and Chang An City impeding them. If they did not create problems for these enemies, it would be a dumb decision.

On the topic of this matter, the massive battle in Zhongyuan had not ended. Moreover, compared to the currently low-profile Sha Pojun, Wandering Magic was making headlines. Who knows how Sha Pojun, who loved to win, was feeling at this moment.

As the new year approached, along with Zhan Lang and Xiong Ba working together to destroy the Huangchao Army, out of the four uprising armies, only the Zhangchu Regime still stood in the wilderness.

This was a truly awkward matter for Chun Shenjun and Wandering Magic.

Unfortunately, they did not have a strong enough army, so no matter how awkward they felt, they did not dare to move lightly.

Seeing that the third year was about to arrive, even Di Chen temporarily gave up his plans to attack the Zhangchu Regime. Everything would wait till after the new year.

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Chapter 558- Gaia Year End Reward

Translator: ryangohsf

Editor: Nora

The part that made everyone feel helpless was that the cold winter up north had come as expected.

Chun Shenjun and Di Chen only had an extremely small amount of time left. Moreover, if the matter dragged on, when the winter season arrived, they definitely would not be able to use troops.

If that happened, the Zhangchu Regime could escape unscathed. Who knows what kind of changes would occur in the wilderness in the new year.

At the last part of their conversation, Ouyang Shuo looked at Zhang Yi and half-jokingly half-seriously said, "Next year, The Honglu Temple will take center stage. I expect good things from all of you."

"We will not let you down, Lord!"

Zhang Yi made a solemn promise; he was serious and emotional.Gaia 2nd year, 12th month, 29th day, a system notification sounded out in the entire China region.

"System Notification: The first information piece, Rising Up, has officially come out for a year. At this one year anniversary, the contributions of the various Lords toward wiping out the uprising armies will be collated, and rewards will be given out. For the specific details, players please take a look for yourselves!"The moment the announcement sounded out, the players started buzzing.

Only now did everyone know that apart from the reward they obtained from destroying the uprising army, there was also a chance for a year end reward. How would this matter not make other players, especially adventure gamemode players, red with envy?

Such a reward method was similar to the battle map model.

Gaia would calculate contribution values based on the contribution of the Lords in attacking the four uprising armies. After which, Gaia would turn these values into merit points to decide the final reward.

At the same time, those that had the top three values would also receive a special reward.

Gaia would directly pass the special reward to them and would not release the specifics to the public. One must know that the champion, second, and third rewards had a tier difference for each subsequent position.

Ouyang Shuo opened the rankings for the year end reward to take a look.

Position- Name- Merit Points

1st: Qiyue Wuyi - 85000 points

2nd: Di Chen - 75000 points

3rd: Zhan Lang - 68000 points

4th: Xiong Ba - 55000 points

5th: Bai Hua - 30000 points

6th: Chun Shenjun - 27000 points

7th: Wandering Magic - 25000 points

8th: Earth-shaker - 20000 points

9th: 10-tailed Dark Fox - 18000 points

10th: Yu Diao - 15000 points

As expected, since Shanhai City had basically taken down the entire Taiping Country alone, they had once again achieved the top spot.

85 thousand merit points were equivalent to the reward received from a single battle map.

Followed closely behind was Di Chen, who had led the Jingdou Region Alliance Army to destroy Huangjin. If he did not lead the alliance army, with his highly efficient method, his contribution points would definitely exceed Ouyang Shuo's.

In third place was Zhan Lang, who had led the alliance army to attack the Huangchao Uprising Army. In the end, he had worked together with Xiong Ba to destroy the Qi Country that Huangchao had built up.

And Zhan Lang's ally, Xiang Ba, had placed fourth.

As for Bai Hua, Chun Shenjun, and Piao Linghuan, they had not done a lot, so they filled up the fifth to seventh spots.

After the seventh spot, there were no more Lords from the Yanhuang Alliance or the Shanhai Alliance. Be it Feng Qiuhuang, Xunlong Dianxue, Gong Chengshi, Sha Pojun, or Feng Qingyang, they were all simply onlookers in the battle against the peasant uprising.

Three dark horses had taken the last three spots on the rankings. Ouyang Shuo guessed that these three were from Di Chen, Zhan Lang, or Xiong Ba's alliance army.

From the rankings, one could say that the Shanhai Alliance had definitely lost. Only Ouyang Shuo and Bai Hua got on the board. The Yanhuang Alliance, on the other hand, had five people, taking up half of the spots.

Apart from that, the last three were allies of the Yanhuang Alliance.

It would not be farfetched to call this a total defeat for the Shanhai Alliance.

If Ouyang Shuo did not grab the top spot, without this covering cloth, the face of the Shanhai Alliance would have been lost.

Before this, Ouyang Shuo already had an inkling. These rankings showed the weakness of the Shanhai Alliance to the rest of the world.

Toward this matter, Ouyang Shuo could only let out a long sigh.

Just at this moment, a system notification sounded out in his ear.

"System Notification: Congratulations player Qiyue Wuyi for contributing greatly toward wiping out the peasant uprising in the 2nd year of Gaia. You are given one special reward, please choose!"

Instantly, a virtual screen appeared in front of him, listing ten prizes.

1. 20000 merit points

2. 1 x special buildings blueprint

3. 50000 gold

4. 1 x king rank true cultivation method

5. 1 x extra chance to make use of a hidden building

6. 1 x technical manual

7. 1 x special item

8. 1 x dark gold equipment

9. 1 x raise reputation points by one hundred thousand

10. 1x random prize

Seeing such great rewards, Ouyang Shuo drooled.

If one did not know better, they would have thought that this was a small-scale system auction.

"When did Gaia become so generous?"

Just as Ouyang Shuo was getting drunk on the moment, a system notification suddenly sounded out.

"System Notification: Player can choose three prizes as the final reward, please choose!"Black lines instantly appeared on his face, Gaia ah, do you really have to play with people's feelings like that?

He got happy for nothing.

Human nature was truly a curse!

It seems like the second place could choose two, and the third place could only choose one. Who knows whether the ten choices they had were the same as his.

Three out of ten, Ouyang Shuo really had to give this matter some thought.

"Can I use an elimination method?" Ouyang Shuo asked.

"Yes!"

"Hmm, gold, and reputation points are useless. I'll remove them first."

It was not easy to have such a great chance, so Ouyang Shuo obviously would not choose such common items.

Instantly the third and ninth choice disappeared from the screen.

"The king rank cultivation method and the dark gold equipment are too low grade, remove them."

For him to say such words, was he really not afraid that other players would gang up on him and beat him up?

Every single one of these items were top grade existences to other players. However, in his eyes, they were just dirt.

If you compare with others, you would only grow annoyed.

Luckily, Gaia did not have such emotions, and with a shua! sound, the fourth and eighth choices disappeared.

There were only six choices remaining, and he could only choose half of them.

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Chapter 559- Zhang Tingyu

Translator: ryangohsf

Editor: Nora

"Remove number seven and number ten." Ouyang Shuo said.

Be it special items or random rewards, luck played too great a factor, which did not fit Ouyang Shuo's style. As a Lord, he focused on being calm and stable, and he did not have a gambler's mentality.

The remaining four choices included the second choice, the special building blueprints, and the fifth choice, to use a hidden building once more; these two choices were must choose ones.

Needless to say, each hidden building was extremely valuable.

As for the chance of an extra use of the hidden building, Ouyang Shuo could use it on Recruitment Hall or the Silver Prayer House. Naturally, the Recruitment Hall was more worth it.

This also meant that there were two days where Ouyang Shuo could use the Recruitment Hall consecutively. He was looking forward to what kind of historical person he would summon.

In the end, between the merit points and the technical manual, Ouyang Shuo still decided to pick the merit point reward.

Although twenty thousand merit points were not much, if Ouyang Shuo wanted to promote to duke soon, he could not give up any chances to earn merit points.

As for the technical manual, he could only bear the pain of that loss.

After Ouyang Shuo made his choices, a system notification sounded out.

"System Notification: Congratulations player Qiyue Wuyi for performing well during the Gaia 2nd year uprising army event, rewarded twenty thousand merit points, one special building blueprints, and one extra chance to use a hidden building, congratulations player!"

With a shua! sound, a building blueprint appeared in his hands.

Nautical Lighthouse: A type of building used to guide ships located at the shore or the harbor. Construction Requirements: nautical lighthouse blueprints, five thousand units of wood, ten thousand thousand units of green brick, and five thousand units stone. Construction Time: Five days.

During the Ming Dynasty, in the 10th year of Yongle Emperor's reign, they built a three hundred meter long, one hundred meter high lighthouse at the river mouth of Changjiang Liu River to guide ships in and out of the river mouth.

This was the first time the Chinese government had built a signal light.

During that period of time, Zheng He Went went to the western world. It was the pinnacle of the Ming Dynasty maritime history.

The light source of the lighthouse was called the 'light' and used an open fire method.

In the world seafaring records, they first used an open fire. Eventually, it was replaced with candles. After which, they even used whale oil, vegetable oil, pig oil, and fuel. Finally, they developed the modern day lighthouses.

Apart from the fuel source, another modern aspect of the western lighthouse was the parabolic glass reflector that helped to increase the range of the light.

A modern-day lighthouse could reach thirty nautical miles, and the strength of the light was comparable to hundreds of millions of candles.

As a special building, the nautical lighthouse naturally had some unique areas. If not, and it was only a simple lighthouse, Shanhai City could build one itself without the blueprint.

The most unique and valuable part would be the light of the lighthouse.

Based on the blueprints, as long as one built the lighthouse, Gaia would automatically spawn the light. Its range and brightness would be 80% of modern day lighthouses.

In the age of olden sea travel, this was extremely overpowered.

With this nautical lighthouse, the sailors of Shanhai City, including merchant ships, would have an increased level of safety while traveling.

Ouyang Shuo was already planning to build a series of nautical lighthouses on the Beihai Bay region and even in distant regions.

It was also a signal of the territory.

Any region that had the nautical lighthouse belonged to Shanhai Territory.

Shanhai City, Recruitment Hall.

Ouyang Shuo once again walked into the Recruitment Hall. Then, he pressed his hand onto the caved in portion, and a system notification sounded out.

"System Notification: Congratulations player Qiyue Wuyi for activating the Recruitment Hall. One extra chance to use a hidden building discovered, meeting Recruitment Hall requirements, will you use it?"

"Yes!"

Ouyang Shuo was hoping to use this chance to recruit a navy general.

"System Notification: Congratulations player Qiyue Wuyi for obtaining a chance to recruit a special talent or a historical talent, which will you recruit?"

"Historical talent!"

Ouyang Shuo paid no particular heed to special talents. Even if he recruited them, they also did not do much. He just asked Bai Nanpu to recruit the special talents every month.

"System Notification: Congratulations player Qiyue Wuyi, recruited emperor rank historical figure - Zhang Tingyu, deducting one hundred gold."

A white light flashed, and a middle-aged scholar walked out of the teleportation formation, "Greetings, my Lord!" This person had a memorable face. Especially his eyes, which were sharp. His eyes would induce fear in those that looked into them.

Interestingly, he had a long braid.

Undoubtedly, this was an official from the Qing Dynasty.

In truth, Ouyang Shuo was somewhat familiar with Zhang Tingyu from history, and he was full of worship for this figure. Hence, although Ouyang Shuo did not recruit a navy general like he wanted, he was still extremely emotional.

Zhang Tingyu was also known as Heng Chen. He was born in Tong City Anhui Province.

He passed the imperial exam as a scholar in the 39th year of Kang Xi, entering the Hanlim Academy. Later, he entered the South Reading Room. During the Kang Xi reign, he became the punishment department assistant minister, while during Yong Zheng's rule, he took the role of the minister of the Board of Rites, Minister of Revenue, and Minister of Minor Officials. He was also a member of the grand council and other important groups.

At the end of the Kang Xi reign and the start of Yong Zheng's rule, he revamped the lax system and perfected the military system.

Zhang Tingyu served Kang Xi, Yong Zheng, and Qian Long, these three generations of emperors. After death, he was granted a plaque at the Imperial Ancestral Temple. He was the only Han official to be included in it.

Just this point was enough to show the strength of Zhang Tingyu.

If he was not born in a Manchu Race ruled Qing Dynasty, he would have become a prime minister of a generation.

Ouyang Shuo took a step forward, helped him up with both hands, and said respectfully, "Mister, please rise!" As he spoke these words, he brought Zhang Tingyu out of the Recruitment Hall, taking the chance to look at his stats.

Name: Zhang Tingyu (Emperor Rank)

Dynasty: Qing Dynasty

Identity: Shanhai City Official

Occupation: Civil Servant

Loyalty: 75

Command: 55

Force: 30

Intelligence: 85

Politics: 90

Specialty: Culture Unity (35% increase in territory honesty, 30% increase in efficiency, 10% increase in cultural standards of the people, 25% increase in the territory ruling standards of minor officials)

Evaluation: Zhang Tingyu was an upstanding civil service officer, and he was highly praised for both his upright character and his principled background. Having considerable skill in literature, he compiled the History of Ming in 1739. Zhang Tingyu died of illness in 1755, and he was granted a plaque at the Imperial Ancestral Temple according to the wishes of the Yongzheng Emperor.

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Chapter 560- Third System Update

Translator: ryangohsf

Editor: Nora

As expected from a famous minister. Not only did his politics stat reach 90, even his intelligence stat reached 85. His command stat, which civil servants generally did not excel in, had also reached a solid 55 points.

Apart from that, his specialty was a huge all rounded buff for the officials in the territory. As expected from an emperor rank minister, he was a level better than Fan Zhongyan and Tian Wenjing.

The arrival of Zhang Tingyu made it much easier for Ouyang Shuo to modify the Nanjiang Governor-General House structure.

Before this, Ouyang Shuo had worried about who to appoint to take charge of the governing of officials.

Now, he had his best choice.

Xiao He, as the Administrative Director, needed to help out the various secretaries and did not have any extra energy to deal with the governing of officials. However, this was also a critical matter in the territory.

Since that was the case, he needed to choose an incredibly experienced person.

Zhang Tingyu was a genuinely suitable choice.

At the end of Kang Xi's reign, the style of governing was really relaxed, and the system was not fixed. During this time, Zhang Tingyu was appointed as the deputy minister of the officials to remove corruption and punish the immoral. He withstood various pressures and punished the immoral official Zhang Laohu, and he was termed as the deputy minister that suppressed the tiger.

Zhang Tingyu first started from the small areas, blocking up all the holes. Since he gained the deep trust of Emperor Kang Xi, he became the examiner of the imperial exam three times, which was an unprecedented matter.

Apart from settling the governing of officials, his arrival also helped perfect the memorial letter system to the king.

In truth, the letters in the territory were really casual.

Ouyang Shuo had spent a lot of time outside, and if he had commands, he would use the letters to pass his words to the relevant people through the relay. For example, the plans for the military structure.

In the middle, there were no records.

Due to this lack of records, there was no trace of Ouyang Shuo's commands to his subordinates, and it was all based on their own hunches.

The territory was not that big before, so for ordinary matters, Ouyang Shuo roughly knew what was going on. As for the officials under him, no one was the scheming and tricky type, and they would complete the tasks handed to them.

However, as the territory officially had seven prefectures of land now, he could not be so casual anymore.

The letters every day numbered more than ten.

Even if he was a god, he would probably not be able to handle it.

As such, when Ouyang Shuo returned to Shanhai City this time, he handed down an imperial edict regarding the expansion of the secretary office.

Apart from that, establishing a logical letter memorial structure was exceedingly important.

At the start of the Qing Dynasty, officials would use Tiben for work matters and Zouben for private matters. Tiben would need them to stamp, while Zouben did not. These two letter types were public and not useful for reporting the feelings of the common people to the authorities. Furthermore, the Tiben procedure was extremely complicated, and it was also easy for secrets to leak.

During Yong Zheng's rule, Zhang Tingyu changed the system. For those important matters, the officials would first make drafts of memorials to the king, only after he approved would they make it into official documents.

This system lasted all the way till the end of the Qing Dynasty.

Zhang Tingyu had also created a perfect secrecy system to ensure that the details of the memorials were not leaked. He had created an ideal memorial letter system, making it more all-encompassing.

At this point, they had set the memorial letter system, which was a part of the civil servant system. It not only affected the way orders and political decisions were made, but it also concerned the power distribution between Lord and official.

Hence, if one was not a middleman, they definitely could not lead such a revolution.

Even Xiao He would not be as professional and well-planned as Zhang Tingyu in terms of setting a memorial letter system due to the restrictions of his dynasty.

Ouyang Shuo first brought him to the Governor-General House. Ouyang Shuo was not overly eager to give Zhang TIngyu a role. Instead, Ouyang Shuo placed him in the secretary office. He would be the political advisor of the Lord, in charge of setting up the memorial letter system.

Zhang Tingyu could also use this chance to understand the structure and runnings of the Nanjiang Governor-General House. After all, it was much different from the various eras and dynasties.

Zhang Tingyu could be called a person that carried out his work with drive. That very afternoon, he started to get busy.

Ouyang Shuo instructed Bai Nanpu to help Zhang Tingyu out before getting busy with his own matters.

As the year reached its end, Gaia would make a series of big moves.

As a Lord, Ouyang Shuo needed to pay attention to the system report to understand the latest changes to the game.

Gaia 2nd year, 12th month, 30th day, a system notification sounded out around the globe.

"World Notification: At this point, Earth Online has run for two years, and the game will have its 3rd system update, effective immediately. Players, please log onto the federal website to check out the changes."

Both adventure gamemode players and Lord players would pay a lot of attention to the yearly system update. Just one small change could alter their future plans.

The 2nd system update, hidden professions, mysterious regions, as well as the adventure system all affected the way adventure gamemode players would play the game.

In a year, their positions experienced a considerable rise. The appearance of a large number of mercenary groups was evidence for this.

Making use of this chance, the guilds in the nine imperial cities all had an extremely deep reshuffling.

Who knows what interesting things would happen during this system update.

Hence, the moment the notification sounded out, Ouyang Shuo immediately logged onto the official website to check the update.

1: removal of the Super Auction Platform.

The Super Auction Platform, which had run for two years, would go offline from today onward. Trading between players, including between players and Chambers of Commerce, would only be done face to face.

Apart from that, one could use the auction houses in the various big cities and shops.

They could not send any of these items through the teleportation formation of the Super Auction Platform anymore, effective immediately.

To players, especially Lord players, this point was a huge shocker.

Ouyang Shuo had foreseen this. Hence, he was exceedingly calm.

Ouyang Shuo had a rough idea of Gaia's intentions.

Undoubtedly, at the start of the game, the Super Auction Platform's long-distance goods trading function helped Lords to take root in the wilderness.

The nine imperial cities also took up the role of system cities and even nannies.

Now, the game had already run for two years.

Even the weakest remaining Lords had made it to grade 2 county.

It was obvious that Gaia felt that the nanny role that the imperial cities played should come to an end.

It was time for the Lords in the wilderness to live independently.

After all, the role of Gaia was not to act merciful and perform charity work. It aimed to choose the strong survivors.

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Chapter 561- Strengthened Escort

Translator: ryangohsf

Editor: Nora

Apart from that, Gaia also had other reasons for removing the Super Auction Platform.

Although the territories in the wilderness were basically self-sufficient, as they were in different regions, they had different distribution of resources. Hence, each territory, including Shanhai City, needed to trade with other people.

Either to sell products, buy raw materials, or conduct other transactions.

After the Super Auction Platform went down, the Lords could only use channels to fulfill their trading needs.

The first method was to pass through the wilderness to trade with the imperial cities. However, this matter was impossible in a short period of time, since the territories were too far away from the imperial cities.

As such, the second method remained, which was to trade with other territories.

The most convenient method would be to trade with their neighbors.

However, the main point of the wilderness was the survival of the fittest.

In normal scenarios, there were basically no good neighbors. Hence, it was tough to start trades.

Gaia knew this, and it wanted to use this to tell the Lords in the wilderness that their race did not only include war, there was also trading.

After all, when they reached planet Hope, there was a chance they would need to trade with the natives there. As future leaders, they naturally needed to be prepared for such events.

Since the four city-states surrounded Shanhai City, apart from dealing with Consonance City, they had no other easy option. Luckily, Ouyang Shuo had already planned for this matter, and he had opened up the sea trade route with the Quanzhou Imperial City.

Hence, although they were not close to the imperial city, they could use the convenience of sea trade to continue trading with the Quanzhou Imperial City. They only lacked the ability to trade with the other imperial cities.

Of course, challenges still existed for Shanhai City.

Firstly, the salt trade of Shanhai City would be affected.

Quanzhou was a city located near the ocean, so it did not need to import food salt. Hence, Shanhai City would have to sell the food salt they did not consume internally to other territories.

Food salt was a huge pillar item for the territory.

Be it Beihai City at the beginning, Qiongzhou and Leizhou Prefecture, or even Zhenhai City, the profits brought from food salt marked one of the primary financial inputs of the territory.

Secondly, the channels to purchase iron ore, coal, and similar resources were limited.

Although Ouyang Shuo had already made preparations for this particular problem, it was not a long-term plan. Their ability to find a stable supply would impact the future industrialization strategy of the territory.

As for other impacts, they would need the Industry Division to perform some analysis.

All in all, the removal of the Super Auction Platform was a massive test toward all territories.

When Chun Shenjun received the news, his face instantly turned ashen white.

One must know that his family was based around business. Members of his family were running the chambers of commerce in the imperial cities. The removal of the Super Auction Platform would mean that these chambers of commerce would become independent from the main family.

This matter was huge for Pill Sun City, which relied on their support.

2: removal of the global channel, the guild channel, and the alliance channel. Communication between players will either be through the relay or through the forum.

This was another update that made the players feel uncomfortable or even pained.

This move was to make the wilderness more realistic.

Removing the global channel would make players more independent, as they could not communicate through the same channel. Regional powers would be strengthened or even solidified.

Removing the guild channel made it extremely difficult for one to run a guild. In turn, it also restricted the scale of guilds.

Obviously, Gaia wanted a simplified guild structure.

Removing the alliance channel forced members of alliances to increase face-to-face communication and interaction.

This point did not really affect Ouyang Shuo.

In his last life, he had already grown used to not having these channels.

In truth, when players slowly got used to not having such channels, it would liberate the game and make one feel much closer to the wilderness.

At the same time, the lines between players and NPCs would also grow blurrier and less defined.

3: removing player levels, replacing it with combat strength evaluation.

The evaluation levels were split into copper, black iron, silver, gold, dark gold, and god rank. Each rank was divided into three tiers.

The combat strength value was a moving value that fluctuated. It was an all round evaluation of a player's level, stats, equipment, cultivation methods, and other related elements.

Ouyang Shuo took a look, and his evaluation standard was high-silver rank.

With that, one could see how difficult it was to achieve a high combat strength value.

In his last life, the top expert in China had only reached the low dark gold rank. The further the game progressed, the harder it was for players to raise their rank and the longer it would take.

For players to break through to god rank, there were also specific quests.

Removing the player level was naturally Gaia's attempt to make the game more realistic. Ouyang Shuo also knew that in the future, even personal stats and equipment stats would be removed.

4: all round upgrade to the relay, officially opening up the carriage system.

The relay from before was only in charge of sending letters, which did not fit its name. After the update, all the relays in the city would have carriages.

Be it players or NPCs, they could sit on these carriages to head to various cities.

Naturally, it would cost gold, so the profits would be split half-half between the system and the territory. This also meant that the more prosperous the territory, the higher their income from this area.

Apart from these carriages, the relay also rented carriages and helped to transport goods.

The goods transport service was similar to an improved olden escort service.

Of course, it cost gold too.

The unique part of the relay system was the speed of the carriages. It was twenty times faster than ordinary carriages.

With that, not only did it reduce the ten times map expansion element, it even made traveling two times faster.

One could foresee how popular the various relays in each city would become. Even officials and the yamen would have to use the relay system.

Of course, to use the relay to move a large number of troops was impossible. Gaia had placed strict restrictions on such actions.

The upgrade of the relay showed that Gaia was keeping a good balance between making the game realistic and keeping it somewhat convenient for the players.

At the very least, Gaia did not go all out in chasing for realism.

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Chapter 562- Information Piece: Aristocratic Families Rise

Translator: ryangohsf

Editor: Nora

In truth, the update of the relay had plenty to do with the removal of the Super Auction Platform.

In the wilderness, even if territories wanted to trade with one another, the long distances would pose a huge problem to the size and scale of the game. Just a single trip could take half a month to a month, maybe even longer.

Such a matter was incredibly detrimental to promoting trade.

Hence, Gaia granted them the relay transport system. Merchants only needed to pay a small fee to quickly send goods to their desired destination.

In truth, this was simply a weaker version of the teleportation formation.

Of course, to the wilderness, it was still an improved escort system.

5: Removal of the outer barrier of the imperial cities so that they are completely connected to the wilderness.

Before this, the imperial cities had a natural barrier separating each city from the territories in the wilderness. This update removed this natural barrier.

With that, the imperial cities were not special presences anymore; they were simply giant cities.

At the same time, this update made it convenient for territories in the wilderness that were close to the imperial cities to trade with them. The relay system between cities would be connected.

Of course, Gaia also had a deeper reasoning behind this particular change.

From now on, the nine imperial cities would slowly stretch into the wilderness, affecting the situation either outright or in the dark.

To the Lords, this meant that they had a few more opponents to think about and plan against.

Although there were only five updates this time, every single update would have a significant influence on the wilderness.

When Ouyang Shuo saw that, many emotions filled him.

The third year of Gaia was destined to welcome many changes.That afternoon, another system notification sounded out.

"World Notification: At this point, Earth Online has run for two years, so the game will release the second information piece: Aristocratic Families Rise. Fo the specific details, players please log onto the forums to check it out."

Aristocratic families, the great and influential families related to each dynasty and era.

At the end of the West Han, a relative of Emperor Wang Mang seized the throne and founded the Xin Dynasty.

After he took the position, to lessen the conflicts between the various groups of people, he changed the system. However, this change increased the burden on the people. Moreover, many natural catastrophes occurred during his reign, which did not help the situation. Consequently, this gave rise to many large-scale peasant uprisings.

Liu Xiu, who was part of the West Han imperial lineage, joined the Lulin Uprising. He relied on the support from landowners to defeat the other uprising armies. Afterward, he established the East Han.

Those tyrannical landowners were all families of the high ranking officials. They had private land and also a large number of private troops. Liu Xiu had granted them high positions and formed familial relationships with them to recruit them. He made them the ruling pillars of the East Han Dynasty.

These people could be called the starting points of the aristocratic families.

During the East Han, the aristocratic families slowly started to control the election system of choosing officials. These elections became their personal tools to recruit scholars and form factions.

Scholars were not only loyal to their emperor but also to those who hired them, which created a situation where they had both a boss and a Lord. This set the cultural and intellectual basis for warlordism at the end of East Han.

The warlords that formed up at the end were mostly from the various aristocratic families.

The Hebei Warlord regime Yuan Shao was a four generation, huge aristocratic family. They controlled many officials and minor officials. Hence, one could say the warlordism at the end of East Han and the rise of the three kingdoms were due to the power of aristocratic families swelling up without control.

Cao Pi usurped the Zhan Dynasty and obtained the support of the aristocratic families. In order to thank them, he created a nine rank system to choose officials. Consequently, the power was gathered into the hands of the aristocratic families.

Near the end of Cao Wei's reign, the power struggle between the emperor and the aristocratic families grew more and more intense.

Later on, the aristocratic family led by Sima Yi staged a coup and obtained the highest ruling power from Cao Wei. His grandson, Sima Yan, managed to usurp the Wei Country to build Xiji. His success was also because he had obtained the support of the aristocratic families.

After Xiji destroyed Shu and Wu Country, the power of the aristocratic families increased once more. It formed a situation where if you were from an aristocratic family, you would not fall to the position of a lower ranked official. At the same time, if you were a normal person, it would be hard for you to climb to a high rank.

After Xiji established itself as a country, Cao Wei's power waned, so he had to grant titles and land to the aristocratic families to protect his rule.

Emperor Jinwu made the incorrect decision of choosing his idiotic kid Jinhui to succeed him. The kings were all ambitious. As such, they all thought each other to obtain the throne, resulting in the chaos of the eight kings of the Sima House.

After which, Sima Yue obtained victory and he and the aristocratic family of Wang from Langya Prefecture obtained the true power of government. Later on, Sima Yue died from illness and Wang Yan died in battle.

The Wang Family went east and cooperated with the Langya King Sima Rui. Wang Dao used various methods to unify the aristocratic families in the south. Moreover, under the circumstance where the West Ji was destroyed, they helped Sima Rui form up East Ji.

After East Ji was established, Sima Rui depended on Wang Dao for administrative matters, while he depended on Wang Dun for military affairs. This formed a situation where the Wang and the Ma families shared the power. When Sima Rui wanted to reduce the influence of the Wang Family, Wang Dao started a rebellion, forcing him to yield to Wang Dun. It became evident that a situation where the aristocratic family would decide the court had become an unpreventable fact.

The East Ji's power laid in the hands of the Wang Family, the Qiao Country in the hands of the Hen Family, Chen Prefecture in the hands of the Xie Family, while Yingchuan was under the Yu Family. In all these places, the emperors became puppets.

Liu Yu usurped East Ji and established the Song Country. Although he was born in a normal family, he supported the aristocratic families fully. From the backgrounds of the four ministers that helped him run the country, one could clearly see this fact.

During the Southern Dynasty, aristocratic families were still the core of the various rules.

Although the sixteen kingdoms and the northern dynasty that merged with the southern dynasty were mostly nomads, they respected the interests and powers of the aristocratic families and granted them good positions.

The northern Lu aristocratic family from Fanyang, the Li Family from Longxi, the Yang Family from Hongnong , the Suo Family from Dunhuan, the Li Family from Zhao Prefecture, the Cui Family from Qinghe, and the various other aristocratic families were all doing very well in each country and kingdom.

The North Wei Emperor Xiaowen revolutionized and restored the hereditary system of aristocracy, allowing the aristocratic families in the north to grow much stronger.

West Wei Minister Yu Wentai used the conscription system to bring troops north. Especially in the pass where the aristocratic families and the Xuanbei Clan worked together and formed the Guanlong Army Group.

During the Sui Tang Dynasty, the emperors of the two dynasties both came out from the Guanlong Army. But to win over the hearts of the Shi class of people, they established the imperial exam system to choose officials. However, this system was extremely limited and aristocratic families still mostly controlled the regime.

At the end of the Sui Tang Dynasty, many aristocratic family members took charge, while people born in normal families rarely became officials.

Huangchao, who came from a humble and poor family, was not happy about this situation. As such, he started a rebellion against the Tang, occupying Chang An. Then, he fought against the power of the aristocratic families. As a result of this clash, their power that had affected and influenced China for nine hundred years was no longer seen from that point onward, and they basically stepped off the stage of history.

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Chapter 563- Exchanging Achievement Value for Gold

Translator: ryangohsf

Editor: Nora

'Aristocratic Families Rise' was an information piece that occurred using this part of history as a backdrop.

Based on the settings from Gaia, after its release, there would be three types of aristocratic families that would appear in the wilderness.

Firstly, the dynasty aristocratic families.

An aristocratic family from the times of East Han appeared in Luoyang Imperial City, an aristocratic family from the Wei and Jin Dynasty appeared in Quanzhou Imperial City, while an aristocratic family from the Sui and Tang Dynasty appeared in Chang An Imperial City.

The other imperial cities would more or less have aristocratic families appearing.

Of course, the famous people in history from those families temporarily would not appear. They would wait for their corresponding dynasty to enter the wilderness before showing themselves in the game.

Undeniably, their appearance would bring about a different sort of change to the imperial cities.

The virtual and fake looking imperial courts in the eyes of the players, as well as the various aristocratic families in the cities, would slowly appear and show themselves, becoming more and more realistic.

The adventure gamemode players in the imperial city would have a chance to trigger more quests.

The connection and interaction between the two would also become more close knit.

Apart from that, this update removed the outer barrier of the imperial cities. Hence, there might be a chance that the imperial cities would exert some kind of influence on the wilderness.

Lord gamemode players would have more chances to recruit talented individuals.

Secondly, wilderness aristocratic families.

This type of aristocratic family would directly appear in the wilderness and engage in face-to-face competition with Lords.

In truth, Xiang Yu's West Chu was considered a type of aristocratic family, even though his family came from the end of Qin. This also meant that Gaia 2nd year was only a warm up. They would truly show their strength in the 3rd year.

As for the 2nd year, the four uprising armies were the main characters of the wilderness.

In contrast to the uprising armies, the aristocratic families in the wilderness would not appear all at once. They would wait till the battle maps of their respective dynasties were completed or some sort of quest was triggered before they appeared.

Hence, they had a huge uncertain factor about them.

Thirdly, territory aristocratic families.

The historical people that the territory had recruited, if they belonged to a certain aristocratic family, their people would appear one by one. Of course, whether you could make them work for you was another problem.

Apart from that, the various counties and prefectures in each territory would also give birth to local powerful families.

To the territories, this situation presented both pros and cons.

The pros did not need to be stated. Although the aristocratic families would restrict their rule, these families had many talents. It would be an instant solution to a territory's talent shortage problems.

The cons were similarly obvious. When these powerful families formed within the territories, they would cause a sort of restriction to the prestige and political right of the Lord.

All in all, this information piece was not as simple as the uprising one. It was not as violent; instead, it was more mysterious. It would affect the inner workings of the territories.

To the Lords of the wilderness, this was a true test.

Shortly after the release of the information piece, another world notification stunned everyone.

"World Notification: Since it's the 2nd anniversary of Gaia, we will open up a one time achievement value exchange event. For the specific details, please search on the federal website."

Achievement values was a very sensitive topic for all the players.

Their amount of achievement value would affect their permission levels on planet Hope. Players such as Ouyang Shuo were working hard in the game to obtain more achievement values and raise their permission level.

Now, however, Gaia allowed one to exchange for it.

It was an incredibly huge hit to players.

Even Ouyang Shuo was stunned.

He did not recall such an exchange event taking place in his past life.

Obviously, his revival had once again changed the course of history.

Based on what Gaia had revealed on the website, the exchange would happen between in-game gold and achievement value.

Players could use the achievement value they obtained on earth to exchange for gold, or they could exchange the in-game gold for achievement value.

The ratio was 1:200; one achievement value to two hundred gold.

During the migration, the assets that people owned greatly decreased in value due to the calculations. Especially the billionaires, where their divisor amount had reached 0.0001.

A person who owned one hundred million credits could only obtain ten thousand achievement value.

As the game had run for two years, the production of gold had greatly increased, and the exchange rate had fallen.

Hence the 1:200 ratio could be considered extremely logical.

Still, with the millionaire as an example. If he exchanged all his achievement value for gold, he would gain two million gold straight away.

The credit to gold exchange rate was 50:1.

Apart from that, one also had to consider the depreciation of gold as a result of the large amount of exchanges. In truth, the exchange ratio should have been even less.

Hence, exchanging achievement value for gold was an all out gamble.

Normal players had very little assets, and the assets divisor amount during the calculation was low, so it was actually worth it for them to make the exchange.

A normal grown man had around one thousand achievement value. If he exchanged it all, that would give him two hundred thousand gold, a sizeable fortune.

Of course, to prevent the gambler mentality of players, Gaia restricted the exchangeable achievement value to a third of their current amount.

As a result, a person with one thousand achievement value could at most exchange for 333 points and obtain 66600 thousand gold.

And to the various powers, this was truly a chance to gamble.

With Chun Shenjun as an example, he currently had an extremely awkward position in the game. Without outside help, it would be difficult for him to return to the peak. If he exchanged his huge and boundless achievement value, he could stage a comeback in the game.

If he did that, then there was really no way out for him in the game.

He could not afford to lose.

As for exchanging gold for achievement value.

At the current stage, none of the players could afford to do that.

Even the world's best Lord, Ouyang Shuo, only had two hundred thousand movable, liquidated funds. Two hundred thousand gold could only be exchanged for one thousand achievement value.

The moment one exchanged gold for achievement, it would be like quenching a thirst with poison, destroying the game balance in the process.

After all, even Ouyang Shuo was not sure how Gaia would evaluate their assets in the game after the ten year period.

Hence, exchanging early on was definitely not a wise choice.

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Chapter 564-Grandmaster Voyager

Translator: ryangohsf

Editor: Nora

The deadline for the achievement value exchange was 12 AM on the 3rd year, 1st day, 1st month.

Players only had one day to make their choice.

As for the annual system auction, it would be pushed back to the morning of the 2nd day.

Ouyang Shuo could already imagine the bloody scene of this auction. He already lacked confidence to stand out during this auction.

Out of the one hundred million Chinese players, a portion of them would definitely choose to go all in and change their achievement value for gold and take the gamble.

During this auction, the funds in the hands of the players would definitely reach a shockingly enormous sum.

Out of the 12th month income, Ouyang Shuo had only kept 150 thousand gold. This sum was all he had prepared for the auction.

With only 150 thousand gold, he could consider it fortunate if he obtained even one item.

Ouyang Shuo was not planning to join the exchange. After his bloodline awakened, his permission level had risen to C. In theory, he had one hundred thousand achievement value.

Unfortunately, Gaia was the one who had raised his permission level. Hence, a portion of this achievement value was locked and could not be exchanged.

If not, Ouyang Shuo would have also exchanged a portion of his achievement value for gold.

After all, the items at the system auctions had never disappointed him.

Gaia 3rd year, 1st, month 1st day, Shanhai City.

Last year, at this time, Ouyang Shuo had headed for the auction house.

However, this year was an exception.

Since he still had some time, Ouyang Shuo headed for the two hidden buildings and used up his chances.

Who knows what kind of surprise the Silver Prayer House and the Recruitment Hall would give him.

Firstly, Ouyang Shuo walked into the Silver Prayer House. This time, however, he brought the lucky star, Bing'er.

The activation and usage of the hidden buildings were not limited to Ouyang Shuo. As long as he granted them access, they could also use the hidden buildings.

If not, Bai Nanpu could not use the Recruitment Hall every month to recruit special talents.

Bing'er was also extremely interested and fascinated by the hidden buildings.

"Brother, which one should I choose?"

After Ouyang Shuo granted her permission, Bing'er was raring to go.

"Choose the gold ingot!"

Ouyang Shuo did not hesitate; he asked her to chose the highest rank gold ingot.

Although it represented other types and had a huge element of randomness to it, with Bing'er's luck, no matter how random the outcome, it would still grant a decent reward.

Bing'er followed his words and chose the prayer type.

Following which, he could choose the prayer mode.

If Ouyang Shuo was the one choosing, he definitely would self-choose. However, since it was Bing'er, he asked her to choose the random mode without hesitation.

Ouyang Shuo was still uncertain about the self-choosing mode. If the difficulty was too low, he would waste one good opportunity. However, if the difficulty was too high and exceeded the one hundred thousand gold upper limit, the prayer would fail.

On the other hand, the random mode was purely luck.

Only the person who activated the system could see the virtual spinning wheel.

At this moment, Ouyang Shuo could not see it, and only heard Bing'er say, "Stop!"

Following which, a system notification sounded out in his ear.

"System Notification: Congratulations player Qiyue Wuyi for drawing the wish 55% increase in territory sailor wave and wind resistance, automatically deducting one hundred thousand gold. Friendly Reminder: this wish will run from Gaia 3rd year, 1st month, 1st day to Gaia 3rd year, 12 month, 30th day."

Disgusting, truly disgusting.

Bing'er's luck had reached a state where everything always went well for her. As expected, she had drawn the highest one hundred thousand gold wish, and it was also an exceedingly valuable seafaring buff.

The Gaia 3rd year would be the developmental year of territory sailors, so this buff came at the right time. With this buff, Ouyang Shuo had more confidence in completing his plans.

As for the deducted one hundred thousand gold, Ouyang Shuo was not concerned in the least.

This buff, in conjunction with the Mazu Temple specialty, would let the sailors of Shanhai City move like there were on flat ground no matter how dangerous the sea region was.

Long distance voyaging was no longer a dream.

Ouyang Shuo now prayed that the Recruitment Hall would grant him a navy general.

"Bing'er you are amazing!"

Ouyang Shuo could not help but pinch her cheeks.

"Of course!"

This little brat remained arrogant. However, her eyes could not hide the happiness that was bursting out.

"Go, lets go to the Recruitment Hall. Help brother recruit a god general."

Ouyang Shuo led the way out of the Silver Prayer House.

"En!"

The little brat nodded her head and followed closely behind.

Within the Recruitment Hall, Bing'er placed her tender white palm into the sunken in spot.

Instantly, a system notification sounded out in her ear.

"System Notification: Congratulations Ouyang Bing for activating the Recruitment Hall, the recruitment hall has one chance to recruit a special talent and one chance to recruit a historical person, which will you recruit?"

"Recruit historical person!"

Bing'er was extremely smart. She had remembered each word that Ouyang Shuo had told her.

Instantly, a system notification sounded out in Ouyang Shuo's ear.

"System Notification: Congratulations player Qiyue Wuyi, successfully recruited god rank historical person Zheng He, deducting one hundred gold."

A white light flashed and a middle-aged men walked out, "San Bao greets the Lord!"

When Ouyang Shuo saw this situation, he felt a headache.

Was the gap between people really so huge?

Bing'er's luck was really too overpowered.

The moment she acted, she recruited a god rank historical person, who was also a rare naval talent. If it was Ouyang Shuo, he could be considered lucky if he recruited an emperor rank talent.

Zheng He, ah, a legendary figure in Chinese history.

Ouyang Shuo truly felt that even the heavens were trying to help him. He felt so emotional that he forgot to greet Zheng He and just directly checked out Zheng He's stats.

Name: Zheng He (God Rank)

Dynasty: Ming Dynasty

Identity: Shanhai City General

Occupation: Special Rank General, Grandmaster Voyager

Loyalty: 75

Command: 92

Force: 70

Intelligence: 80

Politics: 70

Specialty: Annihilation in Battle (20% increase in cannon range and power, 40% increase in warship speed, 35% increase in ship defense, 45% increase in morale of sailors)

Cultivation method: Voyager Treasure Manual

Evaluation: Zheng He, also know as San Bao, was a famous voyager and diplomat. He traveled down to the western world seven times, competing a great feat in human history. He knows the art of war, and he is brave in battle, able to command troops.

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Chapter 565- Star Guiding Technique

Translator: ryangohsf

Editor: Nora

The Nanyang Navy currently had three squadrons, the Beihai Bay Squadron housed in Beihai City, the Yashan Squadron housed in Yashan City, and the Jiaozhou Squadron housed in Zhenhai City.

Out of the three, the strongest one was the Cai Mao led Yashan Squadron. It had now expanded to three divisions. Even without mentioning his commanding ability, Ouyang Shuo had recognized Cai Mao's incredible sailor training ability. In a short period of time, he had managed to make the Yashan Squadron the strongest squadron in the territory.

Pei Donglai's Beihai Bay Squadron ranked second with two divisions.

As for the newest Jiaozhou Squadron, it only had Yanhuo Yaonie leading one squadron.

Based on the military organization, the navy was similar to a legion corps. The squadron was equivalent to a legion, while the divisions in the navy were like the divisions in the army.

Currently, the three legion corps of the army had all been formed up.

On the other hand, even though the navy had obtained their title the earliest, they were still in a mess. The three squadrons added together had six divisions, only slightly better than one army legion.

The navy in the territory was lagging behind; this was already an undeniable fact. There were three reasons behind this matter.

Firstly, a lack of navy generals.

This was the most crucial point. After all, the best navy general in the territory was only Cai Mao.

As for the earliest navy general, Pei Donglai, he had already broken through the bottleneck and upgraded to advanced general with the help of the territorial buffs. If he wanted to go up another step, it would be as difficult as ascending the heavens.

Yanhuo Yaonie, on the other hand, had immense potential. It was only a matter of time for him to become the shining star of the navy army.

In comparison, the army of the territory was littered with stars.

Secondly, it was difficult to train sailors.

In contrast to the army, the navy consisted of sailors apart from the navy soldiers. Their training period was long and their needs were huge. Naturally, this restricted the expansion of the navy.

Apart from the normal sailors, the captains, chief officers, and second officers were all extremely difficult to train. Each captain was hard to come by.

Hence, Ouyang Shuo had already especially arranged the Military Affairs Department to recruit these talents in Quanzhou. Even so, they still could not meet the expansion needs of the navy.

Thirdly, a lack of seafaring experience.

Cai Mao was a typical local navy general. Asking him to train the navy in Yashan City was already pushing it. If one asked him to head out into the ocean, it would exceed his capabilities.

However, if it was just nearby sea warfare, there was no need to possess such a huge navy army. Instead, such a navy would cause a huge burden on the territory finances.

Hence, they restricted the expansion of the navy.

Even Military Affairs Director Du Ruhui kept a conservative attitude toward this problem.

Apart from that, during the Gaia 2nd year, the numerous threats had forced Ouyang Shuo into putting all their strategic effort and resources into the army.

Now, internally, Ouyang Shuo had already decided to take a break.

The territory could use this time to develop the navy.

Recruiting Zheng He at this time was a huge lucky event for the navy.

If not, why would he call Bing'er a super invincible lucky star.

Whatever Ouyang Shuo wanted, she summoned. Along with the buff from the Silver Prayer House, it was a match made in heaven.

Zheng He was born in the 4th year of Emperor Hongwu's reign, the second son of Ma Ha.

During the winter of the 13th year of Hongwu, the Ming Dynasty troops attacked Yunnan. Ma He was just ten years old, and Ming Army Deputy Commander Lan Yu took him into Nanjing. There, he was castrated and entered Yong Le's Yanwang Manor.

In the first year of Yong Le's reign, a monk accepted Ma He as a disciple of the Bodhisattva precept. His monk name was Fu Jixiang.

During the 2nd year of Yong Le, Zheng He had achieved many victories in war. Yong Le awarded him the surname Zheng for his war contributions and called him Zheng He. Then, he was promoted to the internal official eunuch, a 4th grade official only lower in rank compared to the eunuch of the imperial ceremony office. Zheng He was intelligent and able in battle, causing the Yong Le Emperor to rely on him a lot.

From 1405 to 1433, he sailed down to the west seven times, completing an unprecedented feat. On the 8th year, 4th month of the Xuande Emperor's rule, he died in India and was buried on the Nanjiang Nushou Mountain.

Let's not mention his troop commanding ability, just his identity as a grandmaster voyager and his vast experiences in sea travel would bring about a huge change to the navy army.

His voyaging technique made use of astronomy, landmarks, compasses, and water depth measuring. As the Pacific Fanguo Records recorded, "Using chopped trees as a base, engravings as words, and a floating needle on water to direct the ship."

Amongst these techniques, the most famous one was the Star Guiding Technique.

Star Guiding Technique was not some witchery. Rather, it employed a scientific method to deduce the direction and location through stars.

This technique was groundbreaking at that time amongst voyagers.

At the same time, as the boat had stored freshwater, the stability and anti-sinking ability problems were all solved. These factors allowed him and his crew to sail on even during the harshest of conditions.

During the day, they would hang different colored flags to communicate with one another.

At night, they would use lanterns to reflect the situation. If there was poor visibility due to factors like a fog, they would use drums and horns to communicate.

All in all, Zheng He was a living voyaging treasure. With him, the territory navy would have the confidence to step into the deep oceans.

That afternoon, Nanjiang Governor-General House gave out an imperial order.

It appointed the god rank general Zheng He as the fleet admiral of the Nanyang Navy. He would obtain the title of Commander-in-Chief, similar to a marshal of the legion corps.

Zheng He had just arrived. Even without having time to grow familiar with the situation, he was directly thrown into a high ranking position.

Such a special honor was something that not even Baiqi and the others had obtained.

One could see how much importance Ouyang Shuo had placed onto him.

As a legendary voyager, although his personal martial arts skills were strong, his commanding ability could not compare with Baiqi. However, he had a strength that the other generals did not possess.

He could lead a huge, long distance traveling navy.

This was the reason why Ouyang Shuo treated him so well.

Ocean warfare, especially after the warships were equipped with cannons, totally did not need personal strength. The important factor was someone to lead them forward.

Zheng He undoubtedly had such an ability.

Ouyang Shuo had reasons to believe that under his leadership, the Nanyang Navy could truly be built up.

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Chapter 566- Third System Auction

Translator: ryangohsf

Editor: Nora

Gaia 3rd year, 1st month, 1st day, afternoon, Nanjiang Governor-General Manor.

Ouyang Shuo, the newly appointed Nanyang Navy Commander-in-Chief Zheng He, and the Military Affairs director Du Ruhui, who returned from Mulan Stronghold, held a meeting in Ouyang Shuo's reading room.

They naturally discussed the voyager plan that Ouyang Shuo had wanted to enact.

In the 1st half of the 3rd year, the territory would focus on internal affairs to form a solid foundation. They would not launch wars against their enemies for now.

During this period of time, Zhang Yi's Honglu Temple would have a chance to show off their skills.

As for Ouyang Shuo, he would turn his eyes toward the boundless oceans.

Before this, the voyager plan was all just a dream.

After obtaining the Ming Dynasty Firearm Making Technical Manual, the seafaring buff, and Zheng He, this plan could finally come into fruition.

Ouyang Shuo wanted to use this chance to extend his lead in the Chinese region. He wanted to make it so that even Di Chen and the others could not catch up. Even if they exchange all their achievement values for gold, they would still fail to surpass Shanhai City.

Zheng He had headed down the atlantic in history, but he only managed to reach Africa. However, Ouyang Shuo had turned his eyes to Europe's England.

Ouyang Shuo wanted to complete a ground breaking trade there.

One had to say that Ouyang Shuo's thoughts were exceedingly crazy. Even Zheng He felt his blood boil, and his loyalty stat rose by 10 points.

The sea was Zheng He's calling.

Ouyang Shuo only raised the idea. As for the specific plans and preparations, Zheng He would lead the matter and the Military Affairs Department would help him out.

As such, they needed Zheng He and Du Ruhui to work with one another.

Du Ruhui would pass the army organizational matters to Deputy Director Zhao Kuo. Following which, his job was to help Zheng He complete his legendary plan.

The three of them discussed the matter till deep into the night before ending the meeting.

The next day, under the accompaniment of Du Ruhui, Zheng He left Shanhai City.

He was heading toward the bases of the three squadrons to plan the voyager project and to start the early preparation work.

Voyaging, especially long distance ones, were never easy.

From the building of the warships, to the recruitment and training of the sailors, to the preparation of men and resources, and the formation of the expedition squadron; every single one of these tasks were not completed in a day.

However, since winter neared, they needed to set off as early as possible.

China was next to the ocean, so the northeast monsoon would sweep them toward the Indian Ocean. If they missed this opportunity, they would most definitely fail to make the trip.

Hence, before the invention of the steam engine, long distance voyaging adhered to extremely strict timings.At the same time, Ouyang Shuo brought one hundred thousand gold and headed toward Jingdou with his guards.

The Shadow Guards of the Shanhai Guards had already gained some control in Jingdou. Commander Cui Tianqi had personally visited Jingdou to ensure Ouyang Shuo's safety.

It was obvious that none of them wanted another assassination attempt to occur.

Meanwhile, Song Jia would remain in Shanhai City to prepare for their wedding.

Ouyang Shuo's position was special, so his wedding was naturally different from a normal commoner's. As a result, the preparations were aplenty and highly complicated.

For this, they even had to set up a Wedding Preparation Division.

Jiang Shang personally took charge, acting as its secretary.

As for the specific tasks, the Culture Division under the Science, Education, Culture, and Health department would take charge.

Jiang Shang controlled the processes of the entire wedding, while the Culture Secretary Xu Shuda left no stone unturned.

The Financial Department was also exceedingly generous, providing one hundred thousand gold to prepare for the wedding.

The day was set on the 2nd day of the Chinese New Year, the 4th day of the 2nd month.His use of the Silver Prayer House had cost him one hundred thousand gold. Helplessly, to not cause any more of a burden on the Financial Department, Ouyang Shuo had to reduce his auction funds.

One hundred thousand gold, Ouyang Shuo truly could not imagine if this amount would have any use.

Even so, he still needed to go.

This auction would be massive, so Ouyang Shuo definitely would not miss it.

Jingdou, prosperous as usual.

The only difference was a sort of scent of royalty and power that grew thicker and thicker in the city.

The information piece had slowly started to affect the atmosphere of the imperial city.

On the forums, there were already players who were claiming to have received relevant quests. Who knows whether those claims were true or false.

In contrast to the usual times, due to the removal of the Super Auction Platform, the players lacked an outlet for all the random items they received through quests and adventures.

Their intelligence was boundless. Some of the smart ones had even opened stalls in front of the auction house.

Looking out, stalls filled the entire middle street, and the sounds of people hawking their items could be heard.

During the times of the Super Auction Platform, such scenes were rarely seen.

As Ouyang Shuo walked down the street under the protection of his guards, he was reminded of his last life. During those times, he had also walked down the stall-covered streets.

At that time, he hoped that he could obtain an expensive equipment to save a little gold.

However, each and every time, he went home disappointed.

Thinking about those times, Ouyang Shuo was filled with emotion.

Ouyang Shuo looked at stall by stall, and he would occasionally shake his head. To the current Ouyang Shuo, how could normal items catch his eyes?

Even in the busy middle street, Ouyang Shuo and his group formed the most eye-catching presence. Hundreds of the strongest personal guards was enough to make the other players give way.

Quickly, there were some players who recognized him.

"It's the Lianzhou Lord!" Sharp bystander 1.

"It really is him. Is he so bored? To actually stroll the streets and look at stalls like us." Jealous bystander 2.

"So handsome~~" brainless girl.

The entire street became more excited and bustling because of his appearance.

Ouyang Shuo's face had an awkward expression.

The Chen Dameng led personal guards were enough to ensure that no one could approach him.

Hence, he could still stroll aimlessly.

However, since his identity was revealed, the sellers all looked at him differently. They picked up their items and promoted them to him desperately.

Everyone knew that he was a big spender.

Woah, no, he was a rich tycoon!

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Chapter 567- Beihai Bay Treasure Map

Translator: ryangohsf

Editor: Nora

Facing the warmth of the stall owners, Ouyang Shuo took it with a smile.

Obviously, he would not buy their 'treasures' just because they treated him nicely.

Ouyang Shuo was not a spendthrift.

Even if Ouyang Shuo did not buy anything, no one would dare to say that he was stingy.

This was the difference between god tycoons and normal players.

Just as he slowly started to lose interest and was ready to leave for the auction house, a map suddenly entered his sights and shocked him.

"Beihai Bay Treasure Map (2)!"

This map instantly reminded Ouyang Shuo of the other two pieces kept in his storage bag.

Ouyang Shuo had originally thought that he lacked fate with the treasure. The two pieces of the map had started to gather dust in the corner of his storage bag.

Who would have guessed he would find the last piece at this stall.

Fate was truly magical.

At this moment, Ouyang Shuo really thought that Bing'er's luck had rubbed off onto him.

If the Super Auction Platform was not removed, and these stalls had not made him reminisce of the past, he would not have encountered this map fragment.

Although he was shocked in his heart, his face remained calm and did not show any abnormality. After that first glance, his eyes did not sweep past that treasure map. Instead, he gazed at the other items.

The owner of the stall was a male player, and his eyes were filled with excitement. Although Ouyang Shuo did not want to take advantage of this fellow, he could not allow this stall owner to extort him.

"How is it? Have you seen anything that you like?" The stall owner said with a wide smile.

"How much for this item?"

Ouyang Shuo pointed to a territory specialty scroll and asked.

"Five thousand!" As expected, the owner wanted to rip him off.

This specialty scroll was just a basic scroll that increased rainfall by 5%. Moreover, it had a time limit of three months.

It was something that the territory did not need to have.

He actually wanted five thousand gold for such a useless scroll.

He really thought Ouyang Shuo was an idiot?

Ouyang Shuo smiled toward the stall owner in a manner that did not feel Iike a smile.

Although he did not say anything, the stall owner could feel an invisible pressure.

Ouyang Shuo was telling him a simple message, 'Do not take me for a fool.'

The stall owner awkwardly smiled, "1500 gold."

Ouyang Shuo shook his head and acted like he was about to leave.

"Sigh, one thousand, one thousand; that's the lowest price!" He had finally met a prominent Lord, so he did not want to mess up this deal.

"Okay!" Ouyang Shuo saw that he had bargained enough, so he did not waste anymore time. As such, he casually asked, "Are there any more interesting items?"

"Yes,yes, yes!"

He said excitedly, accepting the one thousand gold from Ouyang Shuo.

To normal Lords, one thousand gold was an enormous amount. When the neighbouring stall owners saw this exchange, they all looked on in envy.

This situation caused the stall owner to feel more and more delighted.

"What about this?" He picked up a Suozi Armor.

Ouyang Shuo shook his head.

"What about this?" This time, it was some random circular ball.

Ouyang Shuo once again shook his head, as his expression started to show some impatience.

"What about this treasure map? This is a treasure." In the end, the stall owner still picked up the map that Ouyang Shuo desired.

"Treasure map?" Ouyang Shuo acted like he was interested.

"That's right. This treasure is in the northern bay; that's your territory." The stall owner purposely sucked up to him, as his smile grew brighter and brighter.

"Let me see!"

Ouyang Shuo nodded and took the map, once again confirming the authenticity.

The stall owner looked on nervously at the tycoon in front of him. Only to see Ouyang Shuo's expression turn from anticipation to disappointment. In the end, he shook his head and sighed.

"A flawed map?"

When the stall owner heard these words, he laughed awkwardly. He obviously knew the weakness of this item. If it was complete, he would have sold it on the Super Auction Platform, why would he wait for today?

"No matter how flawed, it's still a rare map. Who knows, you're so lucky, so you might get the other two." The stall owner did not want to give up.

"My basic luck stat is 5…."The stall owner could not say anything, a great awkwardness hung on his face.

"How about this? Speak a suitable price, and I'll buy it as a collector's item." Ouyang Shuo's tone was so calm that one could not see any flaws in it.

The long term training in the territory was obviously something other players could not compare with.

No matter how smart the stall owner was, he could not beat Ouyang Shuo, this old fox.

"Twenty thousand!"

This guy truly wanted money and not his life.

Ouyang Shuo wanted to just leave; he felt speechless. Let us not talk about the map being flawed. Even if he found the treasure, it might not even be worth twenty thousand.

"Haiz, haiz... No, no!" When he saw that Ouyang Shuo truly wanted to leave, the stall owner blamed himself for being too greedy.

"Five thousand! Five thousand gold and you take it!" The owner panicked.

Ouyang Shuo calmly replied, his face resolute like iron, "Three thousand!"

His tone could not be doubted.

When the stall owner heard this demand, he knew that he could not rip Ouyang Shuo off, so he agreed.

Ouyang Shuo took the map and left; he was not in the mood to shop anymore. Who knows what kind of riches this lucky encounter would bring Shanhai City.

Just as Ouyang Shuo placed the map into his storage bag, a system notification sounded out in his ear.

"System Notification: Congratulations player Qiyue Wuyi for gathering the three pieces of the Beihai Bay Treasure Map. Map can be merged, will you merge it?"

"Yes!"

With a brushing sound, the three map fragments became one, turning into an old and complete treasure map.

The life riches of the most famous pirate in Behai Bay's history, Blood Slaughterer, had finally revealed itself to Ouyang Shuo.

After leaving the stall, Ouyang Shuo immediately took out the complete treasure map.

According to the description of the treasure map, the treasure was buried on a deserted island. Moreover, this island was in the Northern Bay region.

The part that made Ouyang Shuo frown was the location; it was near Annan Region. To obtain the treasure, he would have to alert the players in Annan Region.

As expected, the heavens would not grant anyone free gifts.

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Chapter 568- Another God Weapon

Translator: ryangohsf

Editor: Nora

On the topic of Annan, this region was also within Ouyang Shuo's strategic attack range.

"Why not, let's use this chance as a warm up!"

Ouyang Shuo kept this matter in mind, as he quickly walked toward the auction house. Just as he walked toward the main door, he bumped into Chun Shenjun.

"Oh, is it not Lord Wuyi?"

After eating numerous successive defeats at the hands of Ouyang Shuo, Chun Shenjun could not treat Ouyang Shuo with a false sense of courtesy anymore.

"Yes, it's me!" Ouyang Shuo was exceedingly calm.

"You are definitely going to show off your strength again during this auction, right?" Chun Shenjun winked, "Speaking of which, you're famous for buying out the auction!"

His words were true. After all, during the last two system auctions, Ouyang Shuo had used his gold advantage to buy up nearly half of the items.

Of course, when these words came from Chun Shenjun's mouth, they contained a different meaning.

Ouyang Shuo smiled. Obviously, he saw through Chun Shenjun's intentions, "It won't happen this time. I'm here to watch the battle. I think I'll be able to witness the glory of the richest tycoon in China."

"Hen, glad you know your place," Chun Shenjun said.

"Well said, someone has finally opened you up to your real place!"

Suddenly, a player behind Chun Shenjun spoke up.

When Ouyang Shuo heard these words, his eyes turned cold.

"Haha, just joking, just joking!"

Although the fellow said that he was joking, his face showed his undeniable mocking intent.

Ouyang Shuo naturally would not bother with these useless people, so he said to Chun Shenjun, "Then let me congratulate you in advance. I hope you can get what you invested this time and not end up empty handed again."

When Chun Shenjun heard this jibe, his face instantly turned black.

Obviously, his family had used the one time achievement value exchange opportunity to gather a huge sum of gold; they were willing to go all in.

Chun Shenjun had an immense amount of pressure on his shoulders.

This auction was a sign of things to come.

During the last two auctions, Chun Shenjun had obtained insider information, and he had also prepared enough funds. However, time after time, Ouyang Shuo had messed up his plans. Naturally, he was filled with hatred toward Ouyang Shuo.

Meeting him at the door, Chen Shenjun naturally wanted to mock him.

However, Ouyang Shuo saw through his intentions and did not bother, directly walking into the auction house.

Looking at his back view, the teasing smile on Chun Shenjun's face disappeared, and only seriousness remained. It was obvious that his show had failed.

"Don't tell me that guy has some secret funds?"

Having such thoughts, Chun Shenjun followed him into the auction house.

Before this auction even began, rivalries had already begun to take off.

"Wuyi, over here!"

Bai Hua had entered the auction house earlier than him, and she called out to Ouyang Shuo.

During every auction, the members of the Shanhai Alliance would gather together. This had already become a tradition.

Such a power like the Shanhai Alliance was something that even the Jingdou Auction House did not dare to offend. Hence, the number 1 suite on the 2nd floor was left for them.

Bai Hua's shout instantly alerted the entire auction house. In contrast to the previous years, a portion of the players did not look at Ouyang Shuo with fear. Instead, their eyes contained an eagerness to challenge him.

It was obvious that the achievement value exchange Gaia had pushed out was extremely popular. After all, such an event would only happen once. It seems like there was a relatively large portion of the players that had decided to go and try their luck.

Of course, a single person was not terrifying. However, an entire guild or a huge family was worthy of fear.

These groups had many members. As long as a person exchanged for one to two thousand gold, the guild or huge family could accumulate an enormous sea of funds.

Lin Jing had revealed to Ouyang Shuo that the War-Snow Rose Mercenary Group had gathered up a few million gold. There was also a large number of members that kept some funds in their own hands.

When Ouyang Shuo heard this news, his head swelled up.

In comparison, Shanhai City was a poor egg.

Of course, no one would spend all the gold that they had exchanged for all at once.

If not, they would just be drinking poison to quench their thirst.

An economist with a little knowledge would know the kind of detrimental effect an enormous amount of funds would have if they suddenly flowed into the market.

If that was the case, the gold that they had risked so much to exchange for would depreciate by ten times.

No one would be such a fool.

Normally speaking, players would store up the gold and use it over a few years.

Everyone knew that as the game went on, the amount of funds needed would turn into a huge sum. During the 1st year, Ouyang Shuo had one hundred gold and was considered rich. Now, everyone had hundreds of thousands of gold in their hands.

After all, as the production of the game gold increased, a certain amount of inflation would occur. Moreover, as the rank and grade of the items grew higher and rarer, they would naturally be more expensive.

This news caused a light bulb to light up in Ouyang Shuo's mind.

Obviously, Ouyang Shuo had picked up a business idea during this limited time exchange.

If he could attract the players to place their funds into the Four Seas Bank, this could be a huge opportunity for the bank.

For this matter, Ouyang Shuo had especially looked for Treasurer Meng Zhida to discuss.

As for the specific evaluation, Meng Zhida had already started working on it.When Ouyang Shuo walked into the suite, everyone had basically gathered.

It seems like he had used a lot of time strolling around.

After a short while, the auction officially began.

In contrast to last year, this auction did not have any warm up auctions. Instead, it went right to the ten items. Evidently, Gaia knew that many millionaires had joined this event.

Their eyes would naturally be locked onto the ten best items. As for normal items, there were many that were auctioned off in the monthly auctions, and they did not need to waste their time at such an event.

Same as the previous years, the top auctioneer of the auction house walked up confidently. Ten beauties formed up in a line behind him. Each one of them held a tray covered with a red cloth.

After a simple introduction, the auction immediately began.

"Now, let's auction the first item." The auctioneer laughed.

The first beauty walked up and pulled away the cloth, revealing a sword.

"This is one of the ten famous swords, the Taia Sword. The Sword of Might, it is ranked 4th on the list. The bottom price is 53 thousand gold, and there is no buyout price. Please make your bids." The auctioneer introduced.

The moment his words ended, the whole place was thrown into an uproar.

Gaia was determined to let all the players have a huge fight, actually not setting a buyout price. This also meant that there was no upper limit to the price.

Even Ouyang Shuo did not expect Gaia to pull such a move. Just the starting item was a god weapon.

The atmosphere started to boil up in excitement.

All the people were delighted and eager, determined to obtain this first item.

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