The Fourth Financial Crisis

Without the help of black powder, it would be difficult for the Haiya Fleet to continue to expand its achievements.

Of course, this so-called victory does not refer to capturing Tian Beixi alive, but to continuing to blackmail the remaining island lords.

Just like Han Fulai and Yang Lu never regarded the outlying island lords as their allies, the outlying island coalition forces never regarded the Haiya Fleet as one of their own. Otherwise, they would not have waited for the Haiya Fleet to win the battle before belatedly arriving. Come to help.

Although the outlying island coalition forces were very anxious in the recent battle, now that the foreign troubles in Huoyun State have been eliminated, the Haiya Fleet has become the biggest instability factor in the outlying island area. The outlying island lords who were originally frightened by Tian Beixi now They all became hardened.

They do have the confidence to be tough.

If the outlying island coalition forces had not arrived on the battlefield in time to block Tian Beixi's retreat, the Guhong Island army led by Tian Beixi might not have lost to the Haiya Fleet with a numerical advantage of more than three times.

As for the Haiya Fleet, due to the lack of continuous logistical supplies, after the war, both ammunition and supplies and the physical strength of the soldiers have been greatly reduced, making it difficult to launch a second large-scale military operation.

More importantly, the Haiya Fleet did not show any supernatural power that was difficult for mortals to match, and Han Fulai was still in the battle just now. Regardless of the alliance relationship between the two sides, he opened fire on the command center of the coalition forces on the outlying island, scaring the coalition leaders into cold sweats. , so the contradiction between the two sides naturally became acute.

In fact, after the Guhong Island army was defeated, many local conflicts occurred between the offshore coalition forces and the Haiya Fleet.

Since the main force of the Haiya Fleet was blocking the Straits of the Outlying Islands, and only a small number of landing troops were cleaning the battlefield, the Outlying Islands Allied Forces took advantage of the opportunity to snatch prisoners of war from the Haiya Fleet, and even requested to take over the prisoners of war who were already being guarded by the Haiya Fleet soldiers.

These prisoners of war are all potential contract slaves and are extremely valuable. Of course, the Haiya Fleet is not willing to give them up easily. However, due to the large number of coalition forces on the outlying islands, the soldiers of the Haiya Fleet did not take advantage.

In order to prevent the outbreak of large-scale conflicts between the two sides and to eliminate misunderstandings between the two sides, Han Fulai and the high-level officials of the outlying island coalition decided to conduct face-to-face negotiations.

Not long after Yang Lu returned to the Ruicheng after checking the gunpowder inventory, Han Fulai took the initiative to find Yang Lu and invited him to go to the base camp of the coalition forces on the outlying islands.

Although Yang Lu's combat effectiveness is far inferior to Lin Muhu, compared to Lin Muhu, the Han family and the Qingning Chamber of Commerce are a community of interests. Yang Lu is still more reliable than Lin Muhu at critical moments!

Yang Lu knew that he and Han Fulai had a mutually beneficial relationship, so he had to drink a few large cups of low-quality spiritual tea urgently, and then went to visit the lords of the outlying islands with him.

In this face-to-face meeting, the two sides were worried about two sides. The Haiya Fleet was worried that the outlying island coalition forces would turn against them, and the demoralized outlying island coalition forces were actually also worried about the Haiya Fleet against turning against them.

In order to welcome Han Fulai and Yang Lu, the great lord Huang Xuan had already set up a military formation in the camp. Hundreds of the great lord's personal guards who were from the island and were fully armed surrounded the core of the high-ranking officers of the outlying island coalition, and there were nearly 10,000 others. Troops from outlying islands with different names and banners were stationed on the periphery, with the intention of overturning the table if the negotiations failed.

It’s no wonder that the lords of the outlying islands are cautious. After all, no matter how weak Yang Lu is, he is still a cultivator. If the outlying islands do not deploy seven or eight hundred elite soldiers, they will not be able to form a balance of force deterrence with Yang Lu. It is precisely because both parties to the negotiation have the ability to eliminate each other that the top leaders of both parties have the basis to sit down and negotiate.

Ordering his guards to stand by outside, Han Fulai and Yang Lu entered the heavily guarded outlying island camp alone.

After passing through the dense military formation of the coalition forces on the outlying islands, Yang Lu finally met the senior officials of the coalition forces, as well as Huang Xuan, the administrator of the outlying islands who was appointed by the Wuliang Sword Sect but actually did not listen to the command of the Wuliang Sword Sect at all.

These high-ranking officials of the outlying island coalition, plus several lords who were absent for some reason, such as Xu Tong, the lord of Yanbo Island, and Shi Yi, the lord of Guhong Island, controlled nearly 70% of the territory and population of the outlying island area. Therefore, this negotiation can also be called An outlying island version of a mini United Nations General Assembly.

Although Han Fulai had visited the outlying islands many times on behalf of the Haiya Chamber of Commerce, wars on the outlying islands were frequent, and the major islands also had the king's flag changing on the city wall. Even the big lords who controlled the military power often encountered rebellions that "the lower ones defeated the upper ones". They were just defeated by Tian Beixi and The former lord of Guhong Island whom Shi Yi jointly overthrew is the most typical case.

Therefore, there are not many evergreen trees in the outlying island politics like Xu Tong who are good at changing the situation. Today, there are only a few outlying island lords who can recognize Han Fulai.

However, Han Fulai was indeed an experienced businessman. In just a few words, he got involved in the relationship between the two parties, and quickly found out the origins and backgrounds of these outlying island lords through pleasantries, and even found out the allies behind them.

Similar to Xu Tong and Shi Yi, these great lords have their respective allies in the cultivation world as foreign aid.

According to Han Fulai, the situation on the outlying islands is not entirely dominated by these outlying island lords. The cultivation forces behind them also have strong influence. Not only the seven major sects of Kyushu have their own spokespersons for their interests on the outlying islands, such as Huaishan in Nanman Prefecture Hong Kong and Haiyuan Island in the Arctic state, which are leaders in ocean trade that are no less powerful than the Haiya system, also have their own outlying island partners.

This is why the major lords and forces on the outlying islands are intertwined, but it has always been difficult to achieve unification, because no cultivation force wants to see a unified outlying island!

These overseas cultivation forces do not even want to see their allies unify the outlying islands. When the cultivation forces cannot directly enter the outlying islands, only divided outlying islands can facilitate foreign forces to exert influence on them.

Precisely because the outlying island lords and overseas cultivation forces have their own agendas, the interest alliance formed by the two parties is naturally extremely fragile.

As the first external mercenary force to directly land on outlying islands in the past few thousand years, the identity of the Haiya Fleet is very sensitive. After the destruction of Tian Beixi, the common enemy of both parties, it became the target of public criticism. Coupled with the absence of Haiya's ally Xu Tong, no one from the offshore coalition forces spoke to the Haiya fleet.

Although the two sides were relatively polite on the surface, they were very explosive on key topics. After fierce verbal exchanges between the two sides, Han Fulai failed to obtain the slightest concession from the other side.

The great lords of the outlying island coalition not only categorically rejected Han Fulai's proposal to return the prisoners, but also urged Han Fulai to abide by the previous agreement between the two parties and lead the Haiya Fleet to leave the outlying island area as soon as possible. There are even threats from the lords of the outlying islands. If the Sea Cliff Fleet refuses to leave, they will take necessary measures to safeguard the sovereignty of the outlying islands.

The total number of prisoners of war on Guhong Island was nearly 20,000, but less than 3,000 were snatched by the Haiya Department and put on ships. Most of the remaining prisoners of war were picked by the coalition forces out of the island.

Faced with the tough threat from the coalition forces on the outlying islands, Han Fulai almost lost his composure on the spot: We came all the way to help you win the battle, but in the end we didn't even have the right to distribute the spoils. This is simply too much!

However, he didn't want to think about it. If he hadn't ignored the rules and robbed the small lords in the northwest of the outlying island, and then brazenly opened fire on the senior officials of the outlying island coalition, this group of outlying island lords would not be so aggressive.

But the situation is stronger than the people.

After all, Han Fulai did not have the confidence to start a war with the coalition forces on the outlying islands, so he lost first in terms of momentum.

Just when Han Fulai was about to give in, Yang Lu, who was following him, suddenly stood up and suggested to the gorgeously dressed island lords: "Lords, maybe we can each take a step back! These prisoners of war on Guhong Island, we The two sides can be divided in half, and after the Haiya Fleet loads the prisoners of war onto the ship, it will ensure that it will evacuate the outlying island area immediately."