Gaia Year 4, 26th January, Shanhai City.
It was New Year's Eve in three days, and Shanhai City was already decorated with lanterns and streamers. The victory of the Yunnan War added a sense of jubilation to the huge city. The faces of the people were brimming with pride and glory.
With the Civil Affairs Bureau's immigration plan coming to an end, Shanhai City's population was approaching the two million mark. Especially with Shanhai City's overwhelming victory in the Yunnan War, countless players applied to live in Shanhai City.
Players with a bit of foresight had already realized that the Royal City was not permanently safe. When the Lord of the Wilderness reached a certain level of strength, there was bound to be conflict between the two. War was inevitable.
Who had a better chance of winning?
Different people had different opinions.
However, one thing was clear. Compared to the Royal City, the Wilderness Territory had limitless potential for development. Take Shanhai City as an example. In a short three years, it had grown from nothing to an army of a million.
As for the Royal City, it was limited by the system's rules and had been making no progress.
When the Wilderness and the Royal City had a conflict, or even a life and death battle, the players caught between the two had to make a choice. If they were not careful, they could become sacrifices.
They had to make a decision early.
However, the opening of the Underground World was imminent, and the players' attention was firmly locked.
There was definite news that after the Lantern Festival, the Nine Great Royal City would simultaneously issue a plot mission related to the competition for the satellite cities. Before that, the Royal City was already surging with undercurrents.
When the Yunnan War broke out, there were no less than a hundred large-scale PK battles between the guilds, and countless small-scale conflicts. The guild circle of the Nine Great Royal City was undergoing a cruel reshuffle.
For the small and medium-sized guilds, they only had three choices. They could move to the Wilderness collectively and give up on the extravagant hopes of the Underground World.
Of the Thirty-Six Stratagems, fleeing was the best strategy to avoid this storm.
They could choose a faction and be "willing" to be annexed by the giants and become part of the faction, or they could completely disappear. The guild would be broken up and its members would be absorbed. In the end, it would all be for naught.
There was no other choice.
If anyone wanted to play tricks and link up with the small and medium-sized guilds, imitating the model of the Lord's city-state to form a guild alliance, they would immediately be suppressed by the large guilds without mercy.
On this point, the large guilds had a consensus.
The era of small fish in the guild circle was about to be gone forever.
This reshuffle was thorough, the ripples spread far and wide, and the number of deaths was unprecedented.
Even the newly released expansion pack [Martial World's Winds] wasn't enough to change the players' focus. The Nine Great Kings City had long since opened their martial arts dojos to the public, but there were very few people who entered the dojos to learn martial arts.
With the great war at hand, players pursued speedy methods. They all hoped to improve their personal strength in the shortest time possible in preparation for the upcoming war. It was too late to learn the sect's foundational martial arts now, it would be of no help at all.
If their martial arts clashed, their strength might even regress, and the gains would not make up for the losses.
During this period of time, the prices of weapons and equipment, healing medicines such as Gold Sore Medicine, and life-saving items such as Substitute Dolls were rising steadily. This was especially true for premium items. The price had doubled, and there was no market for them.
In order to survive the war, players would not hesitate to spend Gold Coins.
Meng Zhida reported that the Four Seas Bank's deposits for January were lower than the withdrawal amount for the first time. The bank's deposits were experiencing an unprecedented negative growth.
As a result, the Bank of the Four Seas had no choice but to reduce its loans to deal with the 'bank run'.
When Lingxi City was annexed, Lingxi City's shares and debts in the Bank of the Four Seas were all transferred to Shanhai City. For this, Ouyang Shuo paid Baihua a lump sum of 500,000 Gold Coins as compensation.
Gaia was undoubtedly a shrewd trader. The limited time exchange event previously was not for the players to deposit the Gold Coins in the bank to generate interest, but for the players to spend them.
The opening of the Underworld and the competition for the satellite cities were Gaia's first big move.
In other words, the upcoming Guild War also allowed the Overlord players to make a lot of money from this feast. This was especially so for a military giant like Shanhai City. Just the orders from the allied guilds such as Snow Rose, Breeze Pavilion, and Tingle of the Rain had already exceeded 4,000,000 Gold Coins.
Fortunately, the war in Yunnan had just ended, and the weapons and equipment in the hands of the prisoners of war had to be changed to Shanhai City's standard equipment, freeing up over 200,000 sets of equipment.
In addition to the scattered equipment collected from the battlefield, the amount was even greater.
Just this alone allowed Shanhai City to earn more than 4,000,000 Gold Coins. The territory's finances, which had been running dry at the end of the year, immediately turned for the better.
Ouyang Shuo's heroic spirit soared to the sky. He directly allocated one million and five hundred thousand gold coins for the new round of army reorganization, as well as additional rewards for the officers and soldiers who participated in the Lingnan and Yunnan battles.
The moment the news spread, the entire army was in an uproar.
Of course, Ouyang Shuo did not discriminate. He allocated another 500,000 Gold Coins to reward the civil officials of the territory. In particular, those who performed outstandingly would be rewarded handsomely.
Without the hard work of tens of thousands of civil officials, how could the territory prosper?
Two million Gold Coins was considered the year-end bonus given by the 'big boss', Ouyang Shuo. Such a large sum of money was something that the other territories could only look up to.
… …
Afternoon, Ouyang Shuo's study.
In the quiet study, Ouyang Shuo was summoning the newly appointed Industry Director Chen Bingguang, Industry and Development Planning Director Cui Yingyou, and Finance Director Gong Jian.
The Finance Department was a newly established department of the General Finance Department. It was in charge of the territory's budget and financial distribution. It was a very important department in the General Finance Department.
Gong Jian was a financial officer of the Federation in the real world, and he had a lot of experience. After being recommended by Meng Zhida and the financial expert Elder Xie, he was appointed as the Finance Director by Ouyang Shuo after a strict investigation by the Black Snake Guards.
Compared to the ancients, Gong Jian was obviously more skillful in managing the Finance Department.
Ouyang Shuo summoned the three of them to discuss the establishment of the Shushan Steel Group.
The planned Shushan Steel Group would be directly managed by the Industry Department. The Finance Department would provide financial support and supervision, and the Industry and Development Planning Department would give appropriate industrial policies.
Just yesterday, Shanhai City and Swordsman City had reached a memorandum of understanding, and the war in the southwest had subsided.
Feng Qingyue agreed to Ouyang Shuo's condition of ceding Black Iron City, but on top of that, he added another request: Swordsman City and Shanhai City would sign a trade agreement and trade with each other.
In the details, Feng Qingyue clearly stated that he hoped that Shanhai City's steel group in Black Iron City could sell high-quality steel to Swordsman City.
Ouyang Shuo was greatly surprised when he heard the news.
Compared to his brother, Feng Qingyang, Feng Qingyue's methods were much more brilliant.
Ouyang Shuo had no reason to refuse, but he set a limit on steel exports. The Shushan Steel Group would only export to Swordsman City if it could meet the demand of the territory itself.
Feng Qingyue was worried that Ouyang Shuo was playing with words, so he added a minimum export quota.
Both sides had a lot of arguments over this matter.
After four rounds of discussion, the two finally reached an agreement on the memorandum of understanding. The specific terms and details were still being discussed by the officials of both sides, so Ouyang Shuo did not need to intervene.
On the same day, Feng Qingyue ordered the second army to withdraw from Aolong Pass and Black Iron City.
The Imperial Guards naturally took over the defense of Black Iron City. When the Long Live Shi Army arrived at Black Iron City and completed the handover, the Imperial Guards would return to Shanhai City.
Black Iron City was located at the southernmost part of Jiangyang County, and there was only one pass connecting it to the north. As long as the Long Live Shi Army could guard this pass, the defense of the north could rest easy.
To the west was the Qiang County where the Qiang Tribe lived. There was a huge difference in altitude between the two places, and it was difficult for birds to fly. Only the locals could find a small path in the mountains, and it was impossible for the army to travel.
The south was connected to Dongchuan County, and the Luo Shixin Army would be stationed there, ready to reinforce at any time.
To the east of Black Iron City was the North Sichuan Province, which was also a high mountain and long road. There was also a pass guarding it, and the army needed to be stationed there. If necessary, the pass would be reinforced.
All in all, there was not much pressure on the defense of Black Iron City. With the Long Live Shi Army, there was nothing to worry about for the time being. Even if Swordsman City joined forces with the Shu Han Dynasty to attack, they would not be able to break in for a while.
Because of this, Ouyang Shuo was relieved to build the Shushan Steel Group in Black Iron City. Because of this, Ouyang Shuo simply ordered to change the name of Black Iron City to Steel City.
The Shushan Steel Group would be a pillar of the territory's industrialization, so it could not be neglected.
"The initial capital of the steel group will be 500,000 gold coins." With this unexpected fortune, Ouyang Shuo was even more confident, so he rushed to settle this matter before the Spring Festival.
If it was before, Gong Jian would probably be the first to stand up and object.
This time, the Financial Secretary gave the green light, and Gong Jian even said with a smile, "500,000 gold coins is only the initial budget. If we want to increase the investment in the future, the Financial Secretary will definitely support us, and we can still take out 300,000 to 500,000."
The words of the God of Fortune were indeed rich and overbearing.
Ouyang Shuo glanced at Chen Bingguang and said in a half-joking, half-serious tone, "Old Chen, the Ministry of Finance has given us enough funds to build the factory, but your Industry Department can't be extravagant. Good steel must be used on the blade, and money must also be calculated carefully. "
Every penny of the territory did not come from a flood, and Ouyang Shuo, as the "parent", had to keep a close eye on it.
Chen Bingguang said with a gentle expression, "Lord, please rest assured. After that, the Industry Department will set up an audit team to be responsible for monitoring the Shushan Steel Group, and we will not spend a single copper coin. "
Ouyang Shuo nodded and said, "The Industry Department also needs to keep an eye on the No. 7 research institute. The current steelmaking technology in the territory is not mature, and if we really want to make steel on a large scale, we need to achieve a breakthrough in technology."
"Understood!"
After the discussion, Ouyang Shuo took the opportunity to end the meeting.
If they really wanted to build the framework of the Shushan Steel Group, after that, the Industry Department, including the other departments of the Protectorate, had to do a lot of solid and meticulous work.
These things could not be completed in a day or two.
Just the preliminary survey, evaluation, research, and overall design, including the group's framework and related personnel arrangements, could not be completed in a month or two.
It was better to be slow in the early stage than to clean up the mess later.
The Industry Department had set up a preparatory team to be responsible for the construction of the Shushan Steel Group.
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