Gaia sixth year, 5th February, New Year's Eve, Shanhai City.
It was another New Year's Eve. Due to the influx of players, Shanhai City was even livelier this year. It was unprecedentedly grand. The streets and alleys were filled with tourists.
There were hundreds of stages, dozens of temple fairs, countless fireworks, a dazzling array of exotic goods, and all sorts of acrobatic performances. It allowed the players who had just settled in the Great Xia to witness the heritage of the first dynasty.
"I can't even see such a stunning scene in the royal capital!" The players could not help but sigh.
In the Summer Palace, just like last year, the royal family's new year's dinner was bustling. Compared to last year, the clansmen were less reserved and more confident.
In the past year, many clansmen had successfully passed the probationary examination and entered the government offices. Some even held important positions and began to be active in the Great Xia bureaucracy.
Even so, everyone's respect for Ouyang Shuo increased instead of decreased.
Ouyang Shuo similarly treated the clansmen with kindness and authority. In the past year, there were a few 'foppish scions' who were caught by the Inspectorate and mercilessly put on the bench by Ouyang Shuo.
After the banquet ended, Ouyang Shuo invited the elders to the imperial garden for a drink. The younger generation was like a wild horse that had escaped its reins, throwing themselves into the rich nightlife of Shanhai City.
This year's New Year's Eve, Gaia did not hold any events.
In the past five years, the players had already adapted to the game world. Without Gaia joining in the fun, the players naturally had all sorts of activities to celebrate the new year.
Gaia could also be considered to have 'retired'.
…
On the first day of the first month, the Great Xia held a grand and solemn ceremony to worship the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, declaring China's orthodox status.
The entire ceremony followed the ancient rites, making those who experienced it feel like they had experienced a cultural baptism.
At the ceremony, Ouyang Shuo ultimately did not invite the various kings to attend.
The Great Xia had yet to establish absolute authority in the China region. It was not the right time to invite the various kings to attend the ceremony. It was a deliberate show of flaunting, afraid that it would incur the displeasure of the various kings.
Even so, after the end of the ceremony, Ouyang Shuo still sent envoys to deliver the sacrificial roast meat to the various dynasties. It was a declaration of the might of the Emperor and also a form of goodwill.
As for whether they appreciated it or not, it was different.
…
The following week, it was the New Year's holiday.
On February 13th, the yamen opened again, heralding the beginning of a new year.
As soon as the court opened, there were a lot of major announcements, including the promulgation of the Civil Code, Criminal Code, and Commercial Code, the comprehensive promotion of industrialization and farmland reclamation, and so on.
Spring is the start of a year's work!
Even though winter wasn't over yet, Great Xia had already woken up and was operating rapidly. With the implementation of many major strategies, Great Xia was about to usher in a new round of transformation and upgrade.
After issuing the decree, Ouyang Shuo did not stay in Shanhai City. Instead, he officially began his inspection tour that would last for a month. He planned to use this month to complete the inspection of all the field legions.
Even though it was the Spring Festival holiday, not all of the troops were on leave.
Putting everything else aside, just the monsters that were constantly emerging from the monster nests were enough to make the Great Xia army suffer. Just as Ouyang Shuo had predicted, the beast tide didn't show any signs of weakening during the Spring Festival.
On the contrary, it was getting more and more intense.
While Ouyang Shuo was patrolling, he often ran into scattered monsters in the wild. These monsters that slipped through the net were a huge hidden danger to the local public security.
The dragon-hunting beasts, which weren't very eye-catching previously, appeared and disappeared unpredictably. They specialized in attacking lone pedestrians or sneaking into villages to hunt domestic animals. They were extremely destructive.
The imperial court had already instructed the governor's office to immediately activate the reserve forces at the county level and activate the militia at the village level as an effective supplement to encircle and suppress the monsters.
As a result, the situation improved slightly.
Great Xia had 64 field legions scattered all over the empire. During this month, Ouyang Shuo could only do a cursory inspection. Even so, the soldiers were extremely excited.
In particular, the veterans who had followed Ouyang Shuo on expeditions had not seen the king for a long time. Now that they were able to shake hands with the king, have a meal, and chat, it was enough to make their eyes brim with tears.
These veterans were the true soul of the Great Xia army.
Ouyang Shuo sighed with emotion. There were indeed some things that loyalty couldn't bear.
After Gaia became 'Super God', even if they reached Hope Planet, the game world wouldn't stop operating. Instead, it would continue to evolve and improve, getting closer and closer to a real world.
Especially for the robot race, the game world was like a giant hatchery. As the game world evolved, the intelligence of the NPCs would only get higher and higher, thus achieving autonomous evolution.
By that time, to the artificial intelligence, the game world would be the real world.
Ouyang Shuo only hoped that no matter how the future changed, whether they could be materialized in the real world or not, they would be able to treat themselves as part of Great Xia. That was enough.
…
While Ouyang Shuo was inspecting the army, the Silver Hand was also quietly taking action.
After the failure of the world-destroying plan, the Silver Hand didn't give up and launched the encroachment plan. Their first target was the Moroca Province of Great Xia.
Although Great Xia had fully opened up the ports and sea routes, the arrogant Silver Hand was still unhappy that the key sea routes were controlled by Great Xia.
The continent of Europe and America had always been the exclusive territory of the Silver Hand. They really didn't allow Great Xia to have any influence in this region. To the Silver Hand, this was simply a humiliation.
Before the disintegration of the Federation, they were still worried about the academics. Now, however, the two major organizations had joined forces to kick Great Xia out of the competition.
At least on the matter of Great Xia, the two major organizations already had a considerable tacit understanding.
Coupled with the fact that the former Federation President had lost power in the organization, the Azure Emblem had gone on another "wrong path". This was really not good news for Great Xia.
Because of the existence of the teleportation array, it wasn't easy for the Silver Hand to break through the Moroca Province. They had to be fully prepared to face the crazy counterattack of Great Xia.
First and foremost, they had to eliminate the Atlantic Fleet of Great Xia.
The Atlantic Fleet was the biggest bargaining chip for Great Xia to exert influence in the Atlantic Ocean. It was also because of the existence of this fleet that the European lords didn't dare to go too far.
This time, they weren't prepared to endure it anymore.
On the 1st of March, the joint operation began.
In a month's time, the Dawson Dynasty's Dawson Fleet, the Gangdor Dynasty's Royal Fleet, the Spanish Invincible Fleet, the Gaul Dynasty's Gallic Fleet, and the Portuguese Fleet quietly assembled under the cover of the joint escort. They took advantage of the Atlantic Fleet's routine inspection to surround it in one fell swoop.
Five against one.
Even though the Atlantic Fleet was prepared and had extraordinary combat power, and even formed the first magic-powered submarine fleet of Great Xia, they still couldn't beat them.
As soon as the battle started, Alvaro used the communication compass to inform Ouyang Shuo, who was inspecting the army. Even so, Ouyang Shuo couldn't do anything.
Not only were they separated by an ocean, but it was also a naval battle, and the Great Xia army couldn't provide support at all.
The only thing Ouyang Shuo could do was to end his inspection tour in a hurry and rush back to Shanhai City to urgently discuss countermeasures. Based on Ouyang Shuo's understanding of the Silver Hand, since they had started, they definitely wouldn't give up halfway.
The first thing he thought of was the safety of the Moroccan Province.
While Great Xia was still discussing countermeasures, the fleets of both sides were engaged in an intense confrontation at sea.
Ouyang Shuo had already instructed Alvaro to allow the fleet to retreat to the port if they couldn't defeat the enemy, and then come up with a long-term plan.
There was a torpedo net at the port, and the enemy fleet wouldn't dare to trespass.
The problem was that the joint fleet had deliberately set up this trap, so how could they let the Atlantic Fleet break free so easily? The entire sea was a battlefield, and there was no way to retreat.
In Jack's words, "We have to give them a taste of their own medicine. We have to teach Great Xia a profound lesson and let Ouyang Shuo realize who has the final say in this world."
Jack had always been brooding over the destruction of the Freedom Fleet.
This was the largest naval battle in history, and it lasted for three days and three nights.
The waters near Moroccan Province were flooded with blood, and it almost became a red sea. Countless warship wreckages were washed onto the beach of the Moroccan Province, and it was a ghastly sight.
In this battle, the Silver Hand's super joint fleet finally defeated the Atlantic Fleet in one fell swoop after paying a huge price, making the fleet completely history.
Fleet Commander Alvaro and Deputy Commander Lu Meng were both killed in battle.
It was reported that the Spaniards tried to persuade Alvaro to lead the Spanish Invincible Fleet again, but Alvaro refused. He only said, "I am already a citizen of Great Xia, and I would rather die in battle!"
This was a gloomy day for the Great Xia Navy and the Great Xia Dynasty.
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