While Laurist was wandering in the Ocean of Sadness, the pirates were wantonly commandeering all kinds of ships for their own use. In a hall of the Chick Merchant Guild in Morent City, more than ten executives of the Merchant Guild were arguing about the failure of intercepting the fleet and the implementation of the Silovas Island strategy.
"I don't understand why the Merchant Guild wants to set the Silovas Island as their territory. Apart from its large size, what benefits does it bring to the development of the Merchant Guild? Are our family going to turn into the bumpkin nobles of the empire that we look down on? Or are we going to give up the dominance of the southern sea's golden coastline? "
The one who spoke so vehemently was the second young master of the Chick Merchant Guild, Seboyev. He had always been responsible for leading the armed fleet of the Merchant Guild to kill all the pirates in the Sunshine Sea and ensure the safety of the five southern merchant fleets. Because he had been on the battlefield for a long time, he had the straightforwardness and boldness of an iron-blooded soldier, which was incompatible with the mercenary and calculating temperament of the executives of the Merchant Guild.
Second young master Seboyev was the most opposed to making Silovas Island the family's territory. He believed that it would cause the family to lose control of the southern sea and have a great impact on the coastal countries on the golden coastline. Silovas Island was located in the north. If the family made it their territory, it would be too late for the family to react when news of any changes in the southern sea reached Silovas Island.
"I hope that everyone here can see the current situation clearly. The family currently has seven fleets. Apart from the armed fleet under my command, five of the remaining six merchant fleets are responsible for the southern sea trade. They account for 80% of the Merchant Guild's income. There is only one fleet in the north, which is responsible for the spice trade of the Shaislan Kingdom and the material trade of the Haneabada Kingdom. It accounts for 20% of the total income of the Merchant Guild."
Seboyev picked up a small wooden stick and pointed at the large sea map hanging on the wall. "Although the income of the north looks slightly better than the south, please don't forget that the Merchant Guild's dominance in the southern sea was won by our ancestors in 170 years of blood and fire. Without our position as the hegemon of the southern sea, it would be impossible for us to monopolize the sea trade between the Shaislan Kingdom and the Haneabada Kingdom …"
The third young master, Murray Barker, stood up. He hated his second brother the most. In terms of talent, he was no match for his eldest brother, Serliham. As the second son, it's fine if you don't want to participate in the competition, but why do you want to help the first son become the successor of the Chamber of Commerce? The northern strategy was my suggestion, and seizing Syrovas Island was only agreed to by the upper echelons of the Chamber of Commerce. Now that something has gone wrong, you want to overturn this strategy? Ridiculous!
"Second Brother, you can't say that. We also know that the Chamber of Commerce has become the overlord of the southern seas. That's why we need to open up a trade route to the north and fight for new profits for the family. As for Silovas Island, it will become the family's territory and strategic fulcrum on the sea. Occupying Silovas Island means that the Chamber of Commerce will own the entire northern coastline of the former Crisen Empire. At that time, the increase in income will be at least half of what it is in the south. I believe that the Chamber of Commerce will need to add three more northern merchant fleets to meet the needs of expanding trade … "
Young Master Murray Barker retorted loudly. He used the future benefits of the north to strengthen the determination of the upper echelons of the Chamber of Commerce to carry out the northern strategy.
"Haha …" Young Master Seboyev laughed coldly. "No matter how beautiful a bubble looks, it's still a bubble. You only see the benefits, but have you thought about the risks and the price you have to pay? Let alone everything else, the northern seas are stormy, and there will be bad weather from time to time. Also, can the cursed coastline of the north compare to the calm and golden coastline of the southern seas? Just filling up the reefs in the shallow sea and building a port will cost a lot of money, manpower, and resources.
It's a good idea to seize Silovas Island as the family's territory, but look at the pitiful state of the two intercepting fleets. The Chamber of Commerce has spent so much over the years to nurture four great swordsmen, and one of them was sacrificed in a single interception. This is the foundation of the Chamber of Commerce's military strength that allows us to become one of the seven giants of the Trade Alliance!
I've said it before. Even though the former Chrisen Empire has collapsed and fought a long civil war, it was the result of the seven giants of the Trade Alliance's painstaking planning and plotting for more than ten years. It's not like the former Chrisen Empire, which is as rotten as a broken house that will collapse in one fell swoop.
Just like this time, the Chamber of Commerce has plotted to seize the territories of the Redelis Kingdom and the Andinac Kingdom as their own. None of them wanted to face the Andinac Kingdom's army of 300,000 head-on. Instead, they hoped that the Redelis Kingdom and the Andinac Kingdom would suffer heavy losses before jumping out to clean up the mess.
A skinny camel is still bigger than a horse. You have to understand this. The former Empire is gone, but that doesn't mean that the nobles of the former Empire don't have any power. You didn't investigate the other party's background and immediately treated them as enemies. Now, you've run into an iron plate.
Don't you think about it? The Island of Silovas was originally the territory of the second prince, but he actually gave it to someone else as a territory. With the second prince's power, there must be a reason for him to do so. Yet, you carelessly treated them as incompetent nobles and even wanted to kidnap them and force them to transfer the Island of Silovas to the Chamber of Commerce. Dream on … "
"That's enough, Seboyev. Don't say anymore …" President Chikede, who was sitting at the head of the table, interrupted him. "Your brother is only thinking about the future development of the Chamber of Commerce. It's just a temporary problem. No matter what, the Chikede Chamber of Commerce is one of the seven giants of the Trade Alliance. We can't just retreat like this. We may not have the strength and confidence to deal with a kingdom, but we should be able to deal with a noble of the former Empire. "
"Father, haven't you understood the failure of the two intercepting fleets and the sacrifice of Master Swordsman Kumori?" Young Master Seboyev argued, unconvinced. "I don't care about the future development of the business. From a military point of view, I can conclude that you've provoked a difficult enemy. The Peterson Chamber of Commerce has tried their best to persuade us. They said that we can buy the Island of Silovas from Count Norton, and they are willing to pay a price that he can't refuse.
If this count is like the greedy nobles we usually come into contact with, we could have sat down and negotiated the price a long time ago. But this count isn't even willing to negotiate. He didn't even reply to the Peterson Chamber of Commerce and left in the middle of the night. This shows that in his heart, the Island of Silovas cannot be given away. If we want this island, we must pay the price of blood and fire.
I admit that my third brother's arrangements are very thorough. Although the first intercepting fleet missed the opportunity due to the negligence of the surveillance spies, the second intercepting fleet's commander, Pan Kidd, and the third intercepting fleet's commander, Old Ali, are experienced naval veterans. I've also carefully analyzed the situation after the incident, and they didn't make a single mistake. Not to mention, the third intercepting fleet has Master Swordsman Kumori. Therefore, we have high hopes for these two fleets …
Just when we thought that Count Norton couldn't escape, he used his decisiveness and decisiveness to teach us a profound lesson. Facing Admiral Pankidd's second intercepting fleet, the Count used the excellent performance of his fast ship and the unexpected golden archer under his command to break through the intercepting fleet. We lost a medium-sized armed merchant ship's crew.
Admiral Pankidd then used a messenger petrel to report everything that happened in detail to the third intercepting fleet's commander, Old Ali. Although it was unexpected, the old Admiral Ali still made a perfect arrangement. He pulled iron chains between the ships that intercepted the fleet, and he and Master Swordsman Kumori guarded two large merchant ships respectively. This was to deal with the Golden Archer. In order to prevent Count Norton from using the same trick, Master Swordsman Kumori deliberately went to the large merchant ship on the left.
This arrangement should be foolproof, but Count Norton still hid his trump card. Who would have thought that he himself is a level three swordsman? As a result, we lost nearly 500 sailors, three experienced captains, 11 silver swordsmen, two gold swordsmen, and a master swordsman. I've killed pirates in the Sunshine sea for three years, but I didn't even suffer such a big loss! "
The second young master Seboyev angrily accused, "Now the result shows that when Murray dealt with Count Norton, he didn't investigate his opponent's background at all. He rashly treated a level three swordsman as an incompetent nobleman and caused heavy losses to the Chamber of Commerce. He must be responsible for the consequences!"
"How can you say that Count Norton is a level three swordsman?" The third young master Murray's face turned red with anger.
"Because he killed 347 people on a large merchant ship in less than half an hour!" The second young master Seboyev responded in a louder voice. He pointed at an old man with a solemn face and said, "You ask Grandpa Woody, he is a level two swordsman. Can he do all this in half an hour? It happened in front of thousands of people, there is no way to fake it! "
The old swordsman smiled bitterly and shook his head.
"You've found a great enemy for our family and the Chamber of Commerce!" Second Young Master Seboyev looked at his younger brother and said sarcastically, "Father didn't ask you to handle this matter casually. Have you carefully investigated Earl Norton's situation?"
"I, of course I have. What's the difference between Count Norton and other noblemen? It's just that his swordsmanship is better … "The third young master Murray's eyes began to flash.
"Bastard, is this how you do things? Self-righteous guesses, half-hearted! You didn't even spend some money to find someone from the Peterson Chamber of Commerce to ask about Count Norton's background! You don't know that he has a golden archer under him, you don't know that he is a great swordsman. You don't know anything and you've found an enemy for the Chamber of Commerce. You don't even know how serious the consequences are! " The second young master Seboyev scolded loudly. He came to the corner and took out a bag. There were a lot of animal skin documents inside.
The second young master Seboyev took the documents and said, "After the interception failed, I ordered people to investigate this Count Norton. None of you would have thought that this Count was a legendary figure in our Morent City. Do you still remember the challenge held by those academies seven years ago? A black iron teacher from Dawn College challenged all the silver swordsmen in Morent City. He set a record of 3000 consecutive wins and won the title of black iron Locke, the invincible silver swordsman. "
This time, everyone became lively. The incident that happened more than seven years ago was very legendary. Many silver swordsmen from the Chicant Merchant Association went to challenge him, but none of them won. When the silver swordsmen who participated in the competition came back and talked about it, they were all convinced by the swordsmanship of the iron instructor called Locke.
"This black iron teacher is the current Count Norton …" The second young master Seboyev was very satisfied to see the surprised expressions on everyone's faces. "At that time, there was a rumor that two golden swordsmen wanted to teach the black iron teacher a lesson so that their juniors could easily defeat him the next day. So the two golden swordsmen intercepted the black iron teacher that night. In the end, they became two nameless corpses in the police station the next day.
If the black iron teacher didn't have the strength to defeat the golden swordsmen, the old fox from Dawn College wouldn't have let him challenge the silver swordsmen. It was a trap in itself. Over the past seven years, Count Norton's swordsmanship had improved by leaps and bounds, as evidenced by the encounter with the intercepting fleet.
However, this Count left Morent City seven years ago to return to the North to inherit his family's territory and title. The information I obtained from the Peterson Merchant Association was that this Count was still a Baron at that time. He and some of his friends from the academy organized a caravan to return to the North and defeated the armed forces of the nobles in the Redelis Kingdom. He also pulled some strings for the Peterson Merchant Association to occupy the sea trade route there.
The information after that was a little fragmented. Our chamber of commerce didn't have any intelligence investigators in the Andinac Kingdom, so we couldn't collect complete information. However, there were signs that the second prince of the Andinac Kingdom recovered with his help and regained his power. Because of that, he was made a count. The Island of Sirovas was given to him by the second prince.
According to the Visia Chamber of Commerce, in the north, the count was called the Angry Bear of the Land. Don't provoke him, and you'll be safe. The Duke of the North was defeated by his family's armed forces and lost his territory. It was said that he allowed his family's soldiers to plunder the territory for seven days and seven nights, committing countless evil deeds. Then, the king of the Iberian Kingdom, the former second prince of the Crisen Empire, led a hundred thousand soldiers to fight against him. In the end, the hundred thousand soldiers were annihilated, and the second prince fled back to the capital. "
"Here comes the exciting part …" Second Young Master Seboyev held up a document and read, "The second prince was very angry after the defeat, so he ordered his triple-level swordsman, Jared, to assassinate Count Norton. You've all heard of Jared's reputation as a master swordsman. He's said to be half a step away from the peak. Half a year later, the soldiers of the Norton family hung Master Swordsman Jared's body on a cross and carried it on a cart. They captured the second prince and brought him back. This was revenge for the second prince's despicable act of sending assassins as the king … "
"Wait, did you get all this information from the Visia Chamber of Commerce? How does the Visia Chamber of Commerce know about Count Norton's situation? "President Chikede asked.
"Father, the Visia Chamber of Commerce has contracted the two iron mines in the Iberian Kingdom and is very concerned about the situation in the north. Right now, the queen of the Iberian Kingdom is in charge. No one cares about the king who was captured, as if he doesn't exist. Count Norton, on the other hand, has allied with three noble families to run the Northlands as one. It's very difficult for people to infiltrate his family's territory to investigate his background. I've only heard that the Count likes to develop his family's territory. Now, it seems that it's true. At the very least, he's already opened up a sea route from the Northlands to Cilovas Island. That's why he's here. "
Second Young Master Seboyev put down the document in his hand. "Now, do you know how big of a mistake you've made? My younger brother, you actually treat a Count of a family with military achievements like those useless nobles. Do you know how much the Merchant Guild will have to pay to take over his family's territory, the Silovas Island? Do you still think that the chamber of commerce will be able to dominate the northern seas in the future? Have you ever thought that this count will fight us to the death?
The northern seas will become the battlefield between us and the count. The chamber of commerce must continuously pour power into this bottomless pit. Even if we can obtain the final victory, it will shake the foundation of the chamber of commerce. We might even hand over the hegemony of the southern seas to other chambers of commerce, causing us to fall from the throne of the seven giants. We will be trampled under the feet of those second and third-rate chambers of commerce that usually look up to us. Only then will you be satisfied, right? My brother … "
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