Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Chapter 1168 – The Strong Gets Stronger, the Weak Gets Destroyed
As the world entered the 5th month, all the players would focus on one matter, which was the upcoming country war month.
Every country war month was not only a time for players of each region to settle their grievances, but it was also a chance for a refresh of the global situation. Simply put, the strong would get stronger, while the weak would get wiped out.
The complicated situation within was hard to express in words.
For example, within Silver Hand, a strong dynasty could use this chance to openly swallow up surrounding members. Meanwhile, Silver Hand and Azure Badge could use the country month to attack one another to adjust their strategies.
Similarly, the country war month was a good chance for the two organizations to organize internally. They could give up some weak regions and strengthen some others to form a more tightly connected global layout.
As for what the normal players felt about it, it did not matter.
These two organizations, including internally, both wished for different things, and even had a conflict of interests. Even to say that to fulfill their own goals, sabotaging one another was not a problem.
On the contrary, the Great Xia Dynasty that relied on the strong shield that was the China Region was a safe zone.
In the 5th month, the voting for the country war leader begun. Ouyang Shuo was the authority of the China region, so he did not need to join in the voting, automatically obtaining the position.
As for which region they should attack, it was solely up to Ouyang Shuo.
Looking around China, the opponents they could choose were the India Region, Romanov Dynasty, Persia Empire, and Java.
The others were too far away, and they would not be able to get back within the month.
The Romanov Dynasty and the Persia Empire were not good choices, as there were native powers still in play. Furthermore, if they were to attack, one was an icy plain, while the other was a high plain. In neither aspect did China have a geographical advantage.
Ouyang Shuo’s first idea was naturally to take down Java.
If China declared war on Java, Java would have no chance of surviving. It would be borrowing the hands of everyone to remove the last problem in Southeast Asia.
However, doing that had its pros and cons.
The country war month was not solely a stage for Great Xia. With the three dynasties of China participating together, the splitting of territory post war would be a problem. For example, Japan was split up into three parts last time.
If Great Zhou took a piece of Java, Ouyang Shuo would be really annoyed. Rather than that, why not let Java live for a while longer before taking them down alone?
Hence, the best country war target was India.
Helplessly, India was a super giant. For China to take it down in a short month was impossible.
If China chose to go on an expedition, under the circumstances where they were not fighting on home ground, the winner and loser would be uncertain.
However, Ouyang Shuo had no choice. Now, he had to consider how to make use of the country war month to deal a blow to India while ensuring that it did not backfire on them.
The strategies and plans involved needed the Grand Council and Administrative Mentor Court to work together.
…
5th month, the thing that Ouyang Shuo was concerned about was not the country war.
What he was worried about was agriculture. At the start of the 5th month, farming had begun in the south, and they should be able to collect their first batch of rice at the end of the 7th month.
Before the New Year, Ouyang Shuo made the judgment that there would be a grain shortage this year, spending huge resources to purchase large amounts of grain. If everything went smoothly before the 7th month harvest, it would be a huge loss for him.
At least till now, there were no calamities, which made Ouyang Shuo feel uneasy.
Before the 5th month, the 200 million mu of farmland target was completed. The various farms all over the country were spreading like wildfire, and the quick ones had already started running.
Great Xia agriculture would welcome a new round of growth.
Even in the 5th month, there were still many players who applied to rent farms. A portion of them had just migrated over from Great Zhou.
Great Zhou failed in their attempts to take down Great Xia, while Great Xia had a bountiful harvest overseas. One winning and one losing, making the players who lived under Great Zhou tremble in fear.
Even after Di Chen gave strict orders to restrict players from leaving, large amounts of players still snuck out.
Any sharp person could see that from now on, Great Zhou would not be able to start any waves in the China region. Furthermore, they might be wiped out by Great Xia at any moment.
As such, why would these players still remain there?
What made them feel depressed was that they faced strict checks and interrogation when they enter Great Xia. Based on the words of the Civil Affairs Department, the Imperial Court was controlling the number of players and were not accepting just anyone.
If one wanted to live in Great Xia, apart from being clean, one had to have talents.
Before this, it was players who chose the territory to live in. Now, the tables had turned.
Who knew that this move would instead motivate the Great Zhou players? In their eyes, Great Xia setting up requirements now meant that those requirements would only get stricter and stricter in the future.
The further back it goes, the harder it would be to move to Great Xia.
Due to such judgment, there was a new wave of migrants that could not be stopped.
People were just like that; they always saw the rise but not the fall. Like real estate in reality, the rise in prices would make more people buy. On the other hand, if the price dropped slightly, they would hesitate and start to watch from the side.
When Ouyang Shuo got the news, he did not know whether to laugh or cry.
Based on intel from the Shanhai Guards, not only the medium and large guilds, but even super guilds like Jin Yi Wei were having internal quarrels.
More and more members clamored to switch over to Great Xia.
Regarding these super guilds, if they truly wanted to go, Great Zhou could not stop them, or there would be many repercussions.
Helplessly, Di Chen could only work with the guild leaders to promise the players some good terms to calm them down and beg for them to remain in Great Zhou.
For this, the coffers of Great Zhou bleeding profusely was unavoidable.
It seemed like Di Chen had never expected there to be a day where he begged players to stay. Previously, it was people swarming into Handan City and him picking talents.
As the times changed, the situation turned around.
The huge sense of defeat was grinding away at Di Chen, making him more and more enraged. The entire Great Zhou was surrounded by a pessimistic aura, making one feel depressed.
“Everyone losing faith makes the team hard to lead.” Di Chen was filled with emotions.
The only thing that Di Chen could place his hope in was Silver Hand. As long as they still wanted to curb the rise of Great Xia, they needed Great Zhou in China.
Once Great Zhou fell, Silver Hand would lose their hand of good cards. It would be impossible for them to stop the rise of Great Xia in the future.
However, how to do that was still uncertain.
…
Apart from caring about agricultural matters, Ouyang Shuo also took the time to run to a few places. First, he made a trip to Jidian City to pay respects to the dead Atlantic Squadron soldiers, calm down the people, and have a secret meeting with Kalia.
Jidian City had the huge amounts of resources sent over from Morocco Province. With the West Africa legion corp stationed there and a navy patrolling the bay, it was a castle.
To prevent people from destroying the teleportation formation within, Ouyang Shuo ordered the movement of the people of Jidian City to Ethiopia.
The entire Jidian City would be under military rule and would be a super camp.
Ouyang Shuo coming to Jidian City was also to raise the morale of the soldiers and to motivate them to defend it well, “One day, we will take it back. I believe that day will not be too far away.”
This was his promise.
The clamor and bustle in the opposite Tangier Port was simply too eye-piercing.
Following which, he went to Ethiopia to tour to earn people sentiment while showing the officials that he had the utmost support for Mulan Yue.
The fall of Morocco obviously had some negative effect on Mulan Yue despite her having done well. Under such circumstances, as the Xia King, Ouyang Shuo naturally had to step up and make a stance.
That would also be beneficial for Mulan Yue’s work.
After leaving Ethiopia, Ouyang Shuo visited Heluo and Hetao provinces. He even took time to review the Indian Ocean Squadron to show his support for Nanjiang.
While touring Southeast Asia, Nanjiang Governor-General Bai Hua followed him all the way.
To her, taking charge of the Nanjiang Governor-General House was both an honor and a huge responsibility. Ouyang Shuo dared to let her rule such a huge region, so she obviously treated it with the utmost seriousness.
If she did not do a decent job, even if Ouyang Shuo did not say anything, the Imperial Court would.
Even someone like Ouyang Shuo could not do anything about it if that happened. The Imperial Court had its own rules and running methods. One needed to take out actual results to convince others.
If not, even if one was in a high position, one would not be able to be stable there.
5th month, 15th day, Ouyang Shuo ended his causal tour and hurried back to the Capital City. Right as he returned, he received a secret letter. Looking at the sender, Ouyang Shuo’s brows rose.
