Struggle in the Steam Age

There are 16 islands in the Sea of ​​Stars belonging to the Algarve Empire. However, considering that those offshore islands are habitually considered part of the mainland of the empire, all parties only asked the other party to hand over the four islands and archipelagos scattered throughout the Sea of ​​Stars, and at the same time carry out a purge of the interior.

In fact, the value of the four islands themselves is not high, considering the location of these islands and the level of industry on them. It is a blessing to be able to make a little money after taking over. In most cases, it can keep the island's economy flat. If you are unlucky and encounter typhoons, you may lose money.

But for those countries, once those islands are acquired, it can be very beneficial to national security. Because of the current situation of the Algarve Empire, these islands in the far sea have actually completely lost control, and then they have become some dirty dens under the management of the warlords who control the islands.

At least according to the materials found by various forces in the meeting, these islands and archipelagos have basically been completely reduced to the largest black market and pirate dens in the surrounding area. For example, the information submitted by the governor of Vieques Island shows that if the pirate dens on Pine Tree Island can be solved, the number of pirate attacks in the surrounding area can be reduced by at least 2/3.

And the Republic of New Island also said that another small archipelago belonging to the Algarve Empire to the east of their enclave in the middle of the New World has become the biggest cancer on the communication line. At least 70 pirate ships are in that archipelago as their home port. Activities on the route. And the Republic's navy was unable to completely wipe out these enemies every time because of the territorial issues of these islands.

"To be honest, I feel that the Algarve Empire is completely rotten now, no matter which aspect it is." After Lawrence talked about the content of the negotiations, Safiel, who had been working in the reception of new immigrants before, whispered. .

"The immigrants told me that if they don't flee, the local warlords will confiscate all their wealth, and even force them to serve as soldiers or as civilians in the army."

"So, changing the owners of these islands is at least a good thing for the ordinary people on the islands." Lawrence said after changing his position on the deck chair. "And according to my information from the negotiation site, the Algarve Empire handed over these islands very easily."

The reason why the other party gave up the islands so quickly is also very simple, that is because their government can no longer control those islands. So the Algarve Empire just tried to find a way to use these islands as an excuse to borrow a sum of money, and then chose to admit it completely and publicly issued a statement to abandon those islands

"But the reason why everyone is still negotiating is because of the distribution of these islands." Nora, who had been helping Lawrence receive those telegrams before, said, "Because every country hopes that the newly acquired islands will be closer to their own. other territories, so there are a series of issues of territorial exchange.”

According to the information from the negotiating team, this kind of territorial exchange even involved the Elysion Empire, a third party that did not participate in the matter. Under such circumstances, even if there are various churches doing their best to mediate among them, it is still extremely complicated to re-divide these territories.

"Then what kind of remuneration can we get this time?" Safir asked curiously, because she is now mainly in charge of the construction of people's livelihood on the island, so she doesn't know much about these diplomacy-related contents. "Have you received more rewards from the sahuagin settlement after the last battle?"

"It's not easy to say." Lawrence shook his head and said, "But considering that the lord of Pine Tree Island betrayed the civilized world at first, we were the ones who opened it up, and we also have the Holy Visby Empire and various churches behind us." As a support. So at least publicly, they should pay me the most.”

In the next few days, Lawrence and the others took a good rest. For example, they spent a lot of time fishing, basking on the beach, or going for picnics in the jungle. It is clear that taking a break after a bout of intense work is good for one's physical as well as mental health.

But a week later, a telegram from the capital of the Holy Visby Empire brought their vacation to an end. The telegram came from the Imperial Mint of the Holy Visby Empire, and it told Lawrence that the coins commissioned by them had been printed and minted, and that they had now been shipped to the island of New Shaw by a ship.

"It seems that their actions are quite fast." After receiving the telegram, Lawrence was very satisfied with the actions of the Imperial Mint, and then raised his head to ask Nora, who was sitting on the cabinet and writing and drawing on a piece of paper. "By the way, is the underground vault that Fatina and the others built for us completed now?"

"Not yet, but it's been two or three days." Nora rolled up the document in her hand and said. "Actually, yesterday the Ratmen's engineering team dug out a vault located 10m below the surface of the city's bank, but their alchemists need to cast spells to add some protection to our vault. Spell."

Rat people are very good at digging holes, and many of them are also good at alchemy. Therefore, the construction of the bank's vault on the island was naturally entrusted to the Ratmen, so that they could complete the construction of this important bank's underground vault without having to find a large group of people to do it.

After all, the fewer people involved in the construction of a place like a bank vault, the better, so that it can be kept as confidential as possible.

In addition to digging holes, Lawrence also ordered a batch of metal armor plates from the White Eagle Federation and a series of necessary facilities such as armored doors for vaults. Moreover, the ship loaded with these equipments had departed from the port of Fort Eagle three days ago, and if there were no accidents, the ship would enter the port of New Sauer the day after tomorrow.

"Oh, that's right! Fatina asked me to tell you that this project will require extra money." Nora took out a list from her arms, flew it down from the cabinet, and handed it to Lawrence, saying at the same time. "Because we chose the area of ​​the port where there is only two meters of soil on the surface, and the bottom is very hard rock. It is not easy to dig a hole in this kind of place."

"Let me see - 155 spellcastings!" Lawrence's eyes widened at the first glance after seeing the list. As a spellcaster, he certainly knew how expensive spellcasting was. Fortunately, after looking at the list carefully, he found that these spells were mainly the result of some low-level magic props, so they were still within the expected range.

"In addition to these spells, the rat people also used a lot of potions that can dissolve rocks to loosen rocks. And these potions are not cheap at all." Nora shook her head and said, "Otherwise, what do you think they did?" Only with so few hands can we dig such a large underground space in such a short period of time.”

As a result, the quotation that Lawrence and the others got now is 50% higher than what they expected before, but considering that they just dug a hole in the rock that can accommodate the entire vault and a series of auxiliary facilities, so the offer Such a price can be said to be very kind.

"There is also good news, that is, Fatina said that the rat people don't need much cash." Nora added. "They hope to use the money for purchasing supplies, because some rat people immigrated to the island recently and they expanded the space inside the mountain a while ago, so they consume a lot of things, and the supplies are indeed a bit lacking recently hand."

"Let me see, oil lamps, fish oil, picks suitable for ratmen, shovels—no problem, these islands can be produced. After they settle the bill, they can go directly to the factory to get these things." Lawrence clicked Nodded, "But the steam engine may have to wait, and needs to be ordered from the White Eagle Federation."