After the misunderstanding was resolved, the Golden Dragon was a little embarrassed. A pained expression flashed across its face. With a swoosh, a white stone appeared in its claws.
"Human, you have eliminated a threat for the Dragon race. The Dragon race will repay you. This is for you." The white stone landed in Ouyang Shuo's hands. With a flick of its tail, it disappeared into the horizon.
It was truly a mysterious dragon whose head was nowhere to be seen.
Ouyang Shuo took the stone and looked at its attributes.
[Contract Beast Wishing Stone (1/1)]: Use gold coins to make a wish and randomly summon a contract beast egg. Friendly Reminder: Dire beasts start at 1,000 gold coins, spiritual beasts start at 10,000 gold coins, quasi-divine beasts start at 100,000 gold coins, and mythical beasts start at 1,000,000 gold coins.
If an ordinary player obtained this wishing stone, it would be of little value. Players who could take out 100,000 gold coins were as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns, let alone 1,000,000 gold coins.
However, it was different in Ouyang Shuo's hands.
With the Dragon of Destiny, Little Green, Little White, and other quasi-divine beasts, Ouyang Shuo did not lack contract beasts. He subconsciously thought of his unborn son and daughter.
If the two little fellows were born with the protection of mythical beasts, it would be a great blessing.
Ouyang Shuo only had 2,000,000 gold coins with him, but he did not dare to use them now. It was better to wait until the global auction was over before using the wishing stone.
With this thought, Ouyang Shuo placed the wishing stone into his storage bag.
On the 11th of November, after the storm, the Royal Fleet successfully arrived at Star State County. Accompanied by Star State County Governor Gu Xiuwen, Ouyang Shuo toured Lion City with great interest.
As the former capital of Star State, Lion City had a strong foundation. Under the management of Great Xia, it had become a core node of the global ocean trade. There was an endless stream of merchant ships coming and going from the port.
Lion City was also developed with more than half of the shops that specialized in ocean trade.
Apart from the flourishing trade, the killings on the outer islands of Lion City never stopped. The bloody PK between the players of the China region and the adventurer players of the Java region took place every day, giving birth to hundreds of PK maniacs.
Java had a total of 20 million players, ranking fourth in the world after China, India, and the United States. This was equivalent to one-fifth of the total number of players in the China region.
The huge number of players was the source of Java's confidence in going against the Great Xia Dynasty and China.
Apart from Java, the ten ASEAN countries all had a relatively large player base. Except for Singapore, which had already been destroyed, the total number of players in the Annan region was eight million, the Namba region was six hundred thousand, the Chenla region was one million, the Siam region was five million, the Pyu region was four and a half million, the Luzon region was eight million, the Johor region was two and a half million, and the Mud region was at least forty thousand.
The total number of players in the nine ASEAN countries was close to 50 million, which was equivalent to half of China.
A year and a half had passed, and the ASEAN countries had undergone earth-shattering changes. What made Ouyang Shuo most uneasy was that the current nine ASEAN countries had all decided on a regional overlord.
Every country only had one lord left.
Take Johor as an example. A year ago, Johor was still dominated by Thunderbolt City and Sabah City. But now, Sundar's Thunderbolt City was the only dominant force in Johor.
Guo Yannan, who was of Chinese descent, was defeated by Sundar, and his territory, Sabah City, was incorporated into Thunderbolt City.
Behind the rapid annexation of the ASEAN countries was the shadow of the [Silver Hand]. The [Silver Hand] saw through Ouyang Shuo's strategic intention to balance the ASEAN countries, which was why they tried to muddy the waters.
Because there were only nine overlords left in the ASEAN, there were fewer constraints when making joint decisions within the ASEAN countries, and it also made Great Xia's efforts to cultivate trusted forces within the various countries go up in smoke.
Among the nine overlords, the Java Overlord Uis, the Annan Overlord Ruan Tianque, and the Luzon Overlord Martin were the three overlords, while the Siam Overlord Tirade, the Pyu Overlord Mo Angyin, and the Johor Overlord San Da were the next.
The Chenla Overlord Bi Wenlie, the South Overlord Solangon, and the Mud Overlord Abdul basically had no say in the ASEAN, and everything was done by the three overlords.
Whether it was a coincidence or not, the three overlords had a hostile relationship with Great Xia.
So far, Java, Annan, and Luzon had not established commercial relations with Great Xia.
Not to mention Java, this was a feud, and there was no room for reconciliation. Annan had been beaten up by the Great Xia fleet twice, and they were not convinced, so the resentment in their hearts was no less than that of Java.
The resentment between Luzon and Great Xia was due to the "feud" factor, as well as the conflict of interests in the game. The Great Xia Dynasty's large-scale development of the Xisha Islands, Zhongsha Islands, and Nansha Islands had greatly compressed the ocean space of Luzon.
The ASEAN was faintly divided into two factions, one was the pro-war faction, and the other was the moderate faction.
Needless to say, the three overlords were hardcore pro-war, and together with the South Overlord Kingdom, which was also bordering Great Xia, they formed one faction; the remaining five countries maintained commercial relations with Great Xia, and together they formed the moderate faction.
The two factions were originally in a balance, but with the internal unification of the countries, this balance was in danger of being broken.
It was also under such a situation, in order to break the deadlock, Ouyang Shuo took the initiative to propose to sign the "Trans-Pacific Trade Partnership Agreement" with the ASEAN overlords, as an initiative to open up trade dividends with the Mediterranean Sea.
The purpose was naturally to consolidate the relationship with Johor and other territories, and strengthen the presence of Great Xia in ASEAN.
Of course, the "Trans-Pacific Trade Partnership Agreement" could also be seen as a smokescreen or bait thrown by Ouyang Shuo, with the intention of paralyzing ASEAN.
Regardless of the considerations, it was one of Ouyang Shuo's long-term goals to destroy ASEAN and prevent it from posing a substantial threat to Great Xia's ocean trade.
In order to achieve this goal, it was impossible not to bleed.
But before he really waved the butcher's knife, Ouyang Shuo couldn't let the ASEAN overlords see through his intentions. If that was the case, the nine overlords would probably be tightly bound together in advance.
If that was really the case, Ouyang Shuo really didn't have the confidence to pry open ASEAN.
Not to mention other things, just the 50 million player base wasn't something that the Great Xia Dynasty could pry open. The only way was to break them one by one, which required superb diplomatic skills.
Before Ouyang Shuo arrived at Xing Zhou County, the Honglu Temple cooperated with the Commerce Department and had already conducted three rounds of measures with Johor, Piao, Siam, Chenla, and Thailand regarding the "Trans-Pacific Trade Partnership Agreement".
Unfortunately, the results of the negotiations weren't ideal, which was why Ouyang Shuo was personally invited.
…
Two o 'clock in the afternoon, Xing Zhou Port.
In order to show his sincerity, Ouyang Shuo specially welcomed the five overlords at the port as a host.
At the appointed time, Siam Lord Tirade, Piao Lord Mo Angyin, Johor Lord Shan Da, and Thailand Lord Abdul were invited to Lion City.
What made Ouyang Shuo frown was that Chenla Lord Bi Wenlie wasn't invited.
"This is definitely not a good sign!"
Bi Wenlie's absence was already a very clear signal. Chenla had probably already leaned towards the pro-war faction. Ouyang Shuo couldn't be sure if there was any trace of the [Silver Hand].
In any case, Bi Wenlie's sudden absence on such an occasion made Ouyang Shuo feel very embarrassed. It was equivalent to slapping Ouyang Shuo's face and the Great Xia Dynasty's face.
Before the discussion even started, it was already shrouded in a shadow.
Although his heart was filled with anger, Ouyang Shuo was still smiling on the surface. He shook hands with Shan Da and the others one by one, but outsiders couldn't see the slightest difference.
Among the four of them, Ouyang Shuo only really interacted with Shan Da.
Without exception, all four of them were first-class young talents, and each of them was born into nobility. They were either members of the royal family or the heirs of prominent families.
It was no wonder that they could quickly unify the wilderness of the country.
Such an identity was naturally compatible with the [Silver Hand]. Perhaps in reality, some of them were not qualified to join the [Silver Hand], but in view of the complex situation in the game world, the [Silver Hand] wouldn't stick to the rules and didn't mind accepting new members.
This was the terrifying part of the [Silver Hand]. In the face of external threats, these families that had existed for hundreds of years could think of ways to adapt.
While they were chatting, the gazes of Shan Da and the others, intentionally or unintentionally, drifted towards the west side of the Star Continent Harbor. There, the mighty Royal Fleet was quietly anchored on the surface of the sea, especially the Yu Emperor, which was particularly eye-catching.
Shan Da and the others didn't have any expression on their faces, but their eyes narrowed, and their hearts instantly became heavy.
The main warships of the ASEAN countries were either warships imported from the Great Xia Dynasty or sailing battleships imported from the West, but they had never seen a Z1 warship.
Without a doubt, this was a new generation of warships developed by the Great Xia Dynasty.
What the ASEAN countries feared the most was the powerful navy of the Great Xia Dynasty. Shan Da and the others originally thought that after the introduction of warships, the combat power of the territory's navy would be able to close the gap with the Great Xia Dynasty.
Who would have thought that the Great Xia Dynasty would actually develop a new type of warship?
This was indeed a big blow.
Ouyang Shuo saw this and smiled in his heart. This time, he specially came to the port to welcome them and parked the Royal Fleet in a conspicuous position. It wasn't that he didn't want to use this opportunity to secretly warn Shan Da and the others.
"Don't be fooled by the pro-war faction jumping around happily. If a war really breaks out, the Great Xia Dynasty has a lot of trump cards."
… …
Ouyang Shuo led Shan Da and the others to the Lion City County Governor's Mansion to start a new round of negotiations.
What made Ouyang Shuo frown was that even with him personally overseeing the negotiations, Shan Da and the others were still very unyielding. They put forward many unreasonable demands, and there was a faint intention of "raising the price".
Ouyang Shuo smiled coldly and thought to himself, "Do they really think that with the [Silver Hand] behind them, they can be fearless? They really are insatiable snakes trying to swallow elephants. "
Seeing this, Ouyang Shuo looked around and said with a smile, "I'd like to take this opportunity to announce a piece of news."
Shan Da's heart inexplicably trembled, and he said with a forced smile, "I'm all ears!" In this confrontation, Shan Da and the others weren't as unyielding as they appeared.
Ouyang Shuo said, "In order to continue the fight against pirates, the Great Xia Dynasty will set up sea patrol checkpoints in the Gulf of Aden to conduct routine inspections on merchant ships. Those who don't pass the inspection will not be allowed to enter the Mediterranean Sea. "
"… …"
Shan Da and the others looked at each other.
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