Chapter 173- Weakness
Translator: TeamTWO
Editor: Jun
On the 6th day of the 6th month, when Ouyang Shuo went online, a system notification sounded in his ear.
"System notification: Congratulations player Chun Shenjun for becoming the second player in the Chinese region to upgrade to rank 1 city, rewarded 2000 merit points!"
"System notification: Congratulations player Chun Shenjun for becoming the second player in the Chinese region...."
"System notification: Congratulations player Chun Shenjun..."
After half a month, China had finally birthed its second grade 1 city.
In this period around the globe, there were already 5 grade 1 cities. Out of the top 10 territories, apart from Sanli Town, Bengalore Town, Free Town, and Handan Town who failed their test, the remaining 6 all successfully upgraded.
The other territories closed the lead of Shanhai City.
After Chun Shenjun and Pill Sun City upgraded, Ouyang Shuo ridiculed in the group. "Guys when are you all going to apply to upgrade, you can't lag behind too much."
Out of the 5 allies, Mulan Town and Black Lion Town were only grade 2 towns, a fair distance away from upgrading. Xunlong Town had just upgraded to grade 3 town so they would be that fast.
The ones with the most hope were Fallen Phoenix Town and Consonance Town that had upgraded to grade 3 town a long time ago.
"I’m prepared to wait for one more week." Bai Hua replied first.
"Then Fengwu?"
"Wuyi, I was just about to look for you." Feng Qiuhuang replied first.
"Oh?"
"I had just applied, and the 9th will be when the raider attack comes.
"That is a good thing, what do you want me to do?"
"Everything is ok. I just need to borrow your 3 bow 8 cow bed crossbow."
Ouyang Shuo didn't hesitate. "No problem. Recently, the bow and crossbow division made another set so along with the other 2 sets. I'll lend them all to you. I'll also send the major of the god machine unit to teach you how to use it."
"That's great. I was still worrying about how to train my men." Feng Qiuhuang was delighted.
"When you all apply to upgrade, tell me. I'll lend them to you too."
"Yay, chief is the best!" Mu Lanyue was fooling around again.
"He is the best +1!" That was Gong Chengshi.
"He is the best +2!"
"He is the best +3!"
……
Ouyang Shuo was a bit speechless. He didn't know that the two goddesses would join in too. The reason he did that was that he hoped everyone would successfully upgrade and raise the ability of Shanhai Alliance.
"Wuyi, let me tell you news." Feng Qiuhuang said.
"What news?"
"Including my family, the various powers older generation have all entered the game. Although they won't go into the spotlight, they will be planning and be scheming from the back. So towards Di Chen and the others, you need to be careful." Feng Qiuhuang reminded.
"Relax, I'll pay attention." These kinds of circumstances were what Ouyang Shuo had expected, and as such he was very calm.
"And also, don't think that just because the exchange platform closed that everything is good. The strength and power of the families are far more than expected. Originally, many of the elites were working and occupied with the businesses. Now they have all entered the game as well. With this group of experienced people, the territories will be run better, and their abilities might not be worse than some historical personnel. Especially in finance and business matters." As Ouyang Shuo was very casual with his reply, Feng Qinhuang became more earnest.
Others wouldn't know, but she was sure that Ouyang Shuo wasn't a descendant of some hidden power. When the reality is already so chaotic, any secret person would have no choice but to surface and who else would be like Ouyang Shuo and become more and more secretive.
Feng Qiuhuang looked up to this ally, and didn't want him to underestimate his opponents.
What Feng Qiuhuang said were all things that Ouyang Shuo already knew.
Not only that, but Ouyang Shuo also new that Zhanlang's Blood Red Town had recently surged in strength. This was because a group of military men had joined the town and formed a professional army.
These men were many times more disciplined and skilled than the original NPCs, especially regarding intelligence gathering and special warfare.
Not only that, their general's ability to command was not weaker than that of the olden generals. It could even be said to be better in some areas. Their only weakness was that they didn't have the cultivation techniques and specialties of the NPCs, and were weaker in combat power.
This was equal to Blood Red Town directly obtaining an elite force and some historical scholars and generals, so this was such a scary situation.
As for the other members of the original Six Tyrants of Handan, they all became stronger. It wouldn't take long for all of them to rise to grade 1 cities. What made Ouyang Shuo interested was that after the migration, in reality, Di Chen would have lost the upper hand over Sha Pojun. He was interested in what would happen between those two.
If it wasn't for his hard work early in the game, now Shanhai City wouldn't even have the rights to challenge them. Only because he had started producing and nurturing residents and officials since the grade 1 village could he now stand a chance.
Luckily, he still had some methods. If not, he would have to give up the throne in the Chinese region.
The weaknesses of these big powers were that no matter how strong they were, they had to conform to the rules of the game. And talking about the understanding of the game, no one could come close to Ouyang Shuo.
For example, those financial elites were entering the game, but the game didn't have a stock market and also didn't have a modern bank, only ancient ones. They didn't even have a base of capital, making it hard for them to try anything. Of course, if they were pulled over to the Four Seas bank, then the rise in management skills would be very apparent.
Another example would be the professional farmers who could naturally improve the water irrigation systems. However, if they wanted to make some mix of rice to raise the yield, then it would be impossible. As for fertilizers and pesticides, it was impossible for them to appear.
"Thank you for your reminder!" Ouyang Shuo understood her care and concern.
The topic that she raised up made the atmosphere very cold and severe. Out of the 6 members of the Shanhai Alliance, only she had a strong family background, and the rest were commoners.
Initially, all these things were topics that they didn't talk about. But today she brought out the advantages of the strong powers. It apparently made the others feel suppressed.
"Ok la, we don't need to give up. As long as we continue discovering and nurturing, there will never be a lack of talent. Even without elite players, we can make use of residents to manage the territory well. Also, the residents respect the lords and are loyal to them. This is something players couldn't do." Ouyang Shuo cheered everyone on.
"I feel that Wuyi is right. Shanhai City only has one Wuyi, and he managed to stand atop of the world. With this, we can see that the potential of the residents is enormous, the key would be how we use it and nurture them." Bai Hua agreed with his view.
"I also support brother Wuyi. Sister Mu is so good!" Mu Lanyue followed and said.
Hearing them put it that way, Gong Chengshi and Xunlong Dianxue became a lot more relaxed. What Ouyang Shuo could provide was after all, limited. After all, in order to travel far, one must still rely on themselves and walk their own paths.
"Brothers and sisters, are you all lacking money? My Mulan Town is so poor, sister Mu wants to expand the army, but we can't get enough gold to change class." Mu Lanyue was sounding depressed and revealed her situation.
Towards this smart girl, Ouyang Shuo’s heart felt very pained. "Yue Yue, if you lack money, brother can lend you some."
"I don't want it. Although you have money, Shanhai City is so big and has so many forces to feed, I don't want to take up your funds." Mu Lanyue directly rejected.
"Since that's the case I’ve got a suggestion for you to think about."
"What suggestion?"
"You all know that Shanhai City has a bank called the Four Seas bank, right?"
"En, yes I know."
"My suggestion is to open a branch in your town and provide low-interest loans. Not only would that solve your money problems and also earn profits for Shanhai City, a win-win situation. You also don't need to feel guilty. Of course, the economic power of Mulan Town will slowly be controlled by the bank." Ouyang Shuo made it very clear that there were pros and cons.
"I'll discuss with Sister Mu before I tell you."
"Of course."
Hearing the conversation between those two, the other 4 were silent. Bai Hua and Feng Qiuhuang temporarily didn't lack funds. Gong Chengshi and Xunlong Dianxue, on the other hand, were facing similar problems to Mu Lanyue.
However, just as Ouyang Shuo said, allowing the Four Seas Bank to run in your territory would be giving up the economic control of your territory, needing courage and a lot of trust.
In truth even if Gong Chengshi and Xunlong Dianxue agreed, Ouyang Shuo wouldn't allow it.
Ouyang Shuo agreed with Mulan Yue only because they were both in Lianzhou Basin, and were destined to merge. To connect the economies earlier would be beneficial to the future merge.
Additionally, he wanted to make use of the Four Seas Bank to help Mulan Town grow quickly. Only with its swift growth would it be able to defend the Zhennan Pass.