Speaking of timber, Southeast Asia's Annam, Siam, Johor, and Java were all rich in timber. Among them, Siam and Johor had business dealings with Shanhai City.
Shanhai City even had a large shipyard in Singapore, so it had the geographical advantage.
Ying You mentioned in the memorial that the Department of Commerce had arranged for a trade negotiation team to go to the two countries to negotiate the timber trade in the near future.
If it went well, it would solve the urgent need of the shipbuilding industry.
Of course, this was not a long-term solution.
Not to mention the high cost of ocean transportation, whether it was Siam or Johor, it was impossible for them to give Shanhai City too much of a discount in the timber trade. The procurement cost was not low either.
To put it bluntly, the two countries were just the simplest trading partners. They were not even friends, let alone allies.
If there was money to be made, the two countries would not be lenient.
In history, the Southeast Asian countries were once colonies of the Western powers and became the raw material base of the Western powers. By widening the price difference between industrial products and raw materials, the Western powers exploited the colonial labor force and seized a large amount of raw materials.
The current Shanhai City was obviously unable to do this.
The ASEAN in the game was like a powder keg that could explode at any time. Once the war started, the timber trade would be affected, which would affect the territory's shipbuilding industry.
Therefore, the safest way was to completely take down one of the countries through a war. Shanhai City's first target was naturally Annam, which they had a conflict with.
There would be a war between the two sooner or later.
It was just that before the war in Yunnan ended, Shanhai City did not have the energy to start a war. The ASEAN countries were colluding with each other, so they had to consider the whole situation.
Once they started a war with Annam, Shanhai City had to be prepared to face the entire ASEAN.
Attacking Annam would be a very difficult and systematic war mission. In Gaia's third year, there was no way to put it on the agenda. At the earliest, they would have to wait until Gaia's fourth year.
Not to mention the distant war, even the war in Yunnan was not simple.
Whether it was the collaboration between Yunnan City State and Yanhuang Alliance, or the recent expansion of Xiangnan City State, Ouyang Shuo was well aware of it through the spies planted in the city-states.
Ouyang Shuo was not surprised by Yanhuang Alliance's intervention.
Ouyang Shuo also wanted to take this opportunity to compete with the [Yan Huang Alliance]. He wanted to let Di Chen and the others know what it meant to go for wool and come home shorn.
No matter what, the battle of Yunnan would be even more complicated than the battle of Lingnan.
…
In the memorial, Ying You also mentioned another pillar industry of the territory — the steel industry.
Just like the shipbuilding industry, the steel industry was also limited by materials, or more accurately, energy. Until now, there had not been a good solution to the demand for coal in the territory's steel industry.
Fallen Phoenix City was located inland, so transportation was lacking.
Recently, Ouyang Shuo had already shifted his focus from Taiyuan Province to the northern part of the capital and Ludong Province, the two second-class coal-producing regions in the country.
Compared to the Taiyuan Province where Fallen Phoenix City was located, although the coal output of the two places could not be compared, they had a natural advantage. They were both near the sea and had natural ports within their borders.
The coastline of the China region was also long. From north to south, there were more than ten large natural ports, including Binhai Port in the northern part of the capital, Haijin Port in the southern part, Jiaodong Port in Ludong Province, Haizhou Port and Shencheng Port in Donghai Province, Zhoushan Port in Jiangnan Province, Quanzhou Port in Minnan Province, and Jiaozhou Port in Lingnan Province.
In comparison, the North Sea Port of Shanhai City was nothing.
The Binhai Port in the northern part of the capital was located in the territory of Hardstone City.
Shanhai City's business department was already negotiating with Hardstone City, preparing to establish a stable coal trading channel through the sea. The premise was that Hardstone City had to increase the amount of coal mining in the territory.
Mining coal not only required a large amount of manpower, but also equipment and funds.
The Bank of the Four Seas provided a special loan of 500,000 gold coins for Hardstone City to expand their coal production. The guarantor of the loan was Shanhai City's finance department.
Before they even received a ship of coal, the finance department had already paid 100,000 gold coins in advance.
Cui Yingyou, who was in charge of the territory's industry, had even announced that Shanhai City would buy as much coal as Hardstone City mined.
In this way, it was a win-win situation between the two territories. Shanhai City obtained the coal that they urgently needed, while Hardstone City obtained precious development funds by selling the coal.
There was a saying that went, "Don't put all your eggs in one basket."
Other than Hardstone City, Shanhai City also set their sights on the Ludong Province. Compared to Hardstone City, the Ludong Province was not only larger, but it was also closer to Shanhai City.
Today, the entire Ludong Province had been occupied by West Chu.
Speaking of which, the relationship between the Hegemon of Western Chu, Xiang Yu, and Ouyang Shuo was a little complicated. During the Battle of Giant Deer, it was the army of Shanhai City that pushed Xiang Yu into the abyss.
However, a hegemon was still a hegemon.
Before Xiang Yu committed suicide, he had promised Ouyang Shuo that he owed him a favor.
Ouyang Shuo suddenly realized that it was time to make use of this favor.
Thinking of this, Ouyang Shuo immediately picked up his pen and sent a letter to Zhang Yi, the Minister of Ceremonies, asking him to arrange a diplomatic group to secretly go to West Chu. It was not only to establish a relationship, but also to open negotiations on the coal trade.
The reason why Ouyang Shuo took this matter so seriously was naturally not limited to the coal. He also hoped to use this opportunity to dissolve the estrangement between the two forces, and it would be best if they could establish a closer relationship.
For example, forming an alliance.
[Yan Huang Alliance] was always playing dirty tricks, which made Ouyang Shuo annoyed. It was time to find some 'fun' for them, so that they would not participate in the Southern Border War.
Ouyang Shuo had heard that the West Chu regime was very powerful, sweeping through the Ludong Province and swallowing the Zhang Chu regime, becoming the overlord of the Central Plains.
However, West Chu was not without weaknesses.
The biggest weakness of the West Chu regime was that the people were living in poverty and the economy was weak. The Hegemon of Western Chu, Xiang Yu, wanted to expand, but he was limited by his financial resources, so he had to give up halfway.
As such, Ouyang Shuo did not mind giving him a hand.
Ouyang Shuo believed that Xiang Yu would be very interested in the goodwill of Shanhai City.
West Chu maintained a strong position in the Central Plains, threatening Di Chen's capital city in the north, and War Wolf's East Sea Province in the south. It was an important existence.
With such a regime, Di Chen and War Wolf would not be able to run around.
Other than the West Chu regime, Ouyang Shuo also instructed the Chamberlain of Dependencies, with the cooperation of the Shanhai Guards, to make more contact with the aristocratic families in the Wannan Province.
Maintaining a chaotic Wannan Province was the most in line with Shanhai City's interests. The same logic was also applicable to the complicated Central Plains Province.
Without a doubt, with the rise of the Chamberlain of Dependencies, Shanhai City would use diplomatic means to realize their interests, to balance their enemies, and to make friends.
Sun Tzu said: 'The first is to attack the enemy, the second is to attack the enemy, the third is to attack the enemy, and the last is to attack the city.'
It could be foreseen that Shanhai City's path of 'attacking the enemy' would become more and more important in the future.
… …
By the time Ouyang Shuo finished writing the secret letter, it was already late at night, and all was silent.
The stacks of memorials on the table had all been read, and at the end of each one was Ouyang Shuo's handwriting. The next morning, these memorials would be sent back to the Southern Border Protectorate.
Ouyang Shuo put down his brush, leaned his hands back, cracked his neck, and stretched his body. Suddenly, his body let out a crackling sound. It could be seen that he had been sitting for too long.
Although it was hard, Ouyang Shuo felt very fulfilled. Seeing his territory becoming stronger step by step under his guidance, this sense of accomplishment could not be compared to anything.
After leaving the study and returning to his bedroom, Ouyang Shuo began to cultivate as usual.
As the 《Yellow Emperor's Internal Scripture》 broke through to the eleventh level, the golden True Yuan in Ouyang Shuo's body was like a surging river, surging violently. One could see how powerful the True Yuan was.
The Dantian of his abdomen had already expanded into a golden spring. The golden True Yuan was like spring water, rolling up and down in the mouth of the spring. It was a spectacular sight.
After the fortuitous encounter on the Dragon Island, the meridians in his body had become extremely tough. Under the continuous erosion of the golden True Yuan, they even had a faint golden luster.
Even the bones in his body had started to be dyed golden.
According to the records of the 《Yellow Emperor's Internal Scripture》, once the meridians in the body turned golden, it was the sign of reaching the eleventh level. After reaching the twelfth level, all the bones in the body would turn golden.
Unfortunately, it had been more than five months since the 《Yellow Emperor's Internal Scripture》 broke through to the eleventh level. Ouyang Shuo cultivated day and night, but the progress was still slow.
According to the current progress, he didn't know how long it would take for him to break through to the eleventh level.
Even so, Ouyang Shuo didn't have a trace of impatience. He cultivated step by step every day. He believed that the little bit of accumulation would eventually lead to success.
Cultivation was originally about cultivating the mind.
One had to be able to endure the loneliness, but also be able to keep calm and endure the torment.
Since he started cultivating the 《Yellow Emperor's Internal Scripture》, the first ten levels had been smooth sailing. He either had the help of natural treasures or had a fortuitous encounter.
Now that he had reached this step, it was time for him to temper himself.
Hence, Ouyang Shuo wasn't anxious at all.
To Ouyang Shuo, daily cultivation was a kind of enjoyment in itself.
The next morning, Ouyang Shuo began to pack his luggage and prepared to rush to the next county.
At this moment, a guard came to report.
"Lord, there is a strange woman outside the courtyard requesting to see you. She said she has something to report."
"Strange woman?" Ouyang Shuo frowned.
According to the rules of the wilderness, after a territory falls, the players living in the territory would be teleported to the capital. Hence, along the way, Ouyang Shuo rarely saw players.
Needless to say, there would be players who would take the initiative to look for him.
At Ouyang Shuo's position, there weren't many players who could talk to him directly.
Ouyang Shuo asked, "What's the woman's name?"
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