Chapter 2204

But first, the Yangshan Archipelago is large in area and its islands are scattered, and it is guarded by the Yinwei King, making a landing and suppression operation difficult; second, the most important point—Blade Edge Port, which faces the Yangshan Archipelago across the sea, is now the territory of Cangyan.

How close is the relationship between the Great Emperor of Nine Abysses and Seeing Fushan Yue? Moujun simply cannot, as before, borrow Blade Edge Port to set sail.

To take the Yangshan Archipelago, they must launch troops from Mouguo's own seaport.

Hah, even the shortest distance is over four hundred li. Once fighting breaks out, how will resupply be handled? The people of Yangshan can just turn around and grab a few more guns.

Moreover, Mouguo cannot predict Cangyan's reaction to this matter—what if Cangyan sends troops to support the Yangshan Archipelago?

The Great Emperor of Nine Abysses acts in ways that are always unexpected.

The last concern: Chiyan will not stand by and watch Yangshan be attacked. Has Mouguo prepared to open a second battlefield with Beijia?

Therefore, Mouguo has delayed taking action.

But in summary, Mouguo is quite resentful of Beijia's military ship support for Yaguo.

"Officers, soldiers, logistics, plus the civilian ships and travelers accompanying them—over six thousand people. Well, it's said civilians make up sixty percent." He Lingchuan shook his head. "Isn't that nonsense? Why would civilian ships detour to Mouguo's distant seas?"

Mouguo's coastal waters do not restrict civilian and merchant ships from coming and going.

Seeing Fushan Yue's letter also mentioned that the attackers of Beijia's fleet were a great army of sea demons, including giant whales, flat pythons, and stonehead fish, among others, but the most numerous were the yakshas.

The stonehead fish is about half the size of a sperm whale, but has a large hard bone protruding from the front of its head, resembling a giant boulder, and some even jut forward like a giant hammer.

It uses this stonehead to attack other large sea beasts, capable of inflicting severe damage.

Likewise, using its stonehead to attack ships is very effective—one blow to a wooden ship's bottom creates a large hole.

As for the yakshas, they are a general term for a sea tribe, with wildly varying appearances, similar to what He Lingchuan saw in the Inverted Sea. Later he learned that the creations of the Thousand Illusions True Person were modeled after real yaksha specimens, not fabricated from nothing.

Du Shan said: "Your Majesty, the yaksha tribe is Mouguo's naval army!"

He Lingchuan stroked his chin: "The yakshas of Ta Island?"

Actually, yakshas also have different ethnic groups, usually divided by region. Not mentioning other things, his jeweled halberd was obtained from the Yaksha King of Chao Hai.

However, the yaksha tribe in Mouguo's Ta Island region is indeed active, called the Ta Island Yakshas, tasked with patrolling Mouguo's southern waters. In the past, any vessel crossing the shipping lane would be driven away or forced to stop by them.

Thus, it appears that Beijia's military ships were indeed sunk by Mouguo.

Survivors of Beijia's military ships also said that after the yakshas and various sea demons capsized the ships, they went on a frenzy of eating people, and the nearby seawater was stained red with blood.

Indeed, the monsters also do this—whether it's Beijia or Mouguo.

"This is no small matter—Beijia was just schemed against by Mouguo, lost all face, and is now furious."

Du Shan immediately said: "Yaguo was just defeated by Mouguo; if this blows up, it will only benefit Cangyan."

He sighed: "My Cangyan truly has astonishing national fortune!"

Once the war between these two great powers escalates, Cangyan will become the object they strive to win over, and He Lingchuan will inevitably hold more bargaining chips in his hand.

"Regardless of whether their war escalates, Mouguo should recently be in contact with us." He Lingchuan said to him, "Go make some preparations."

"Yes."

After Du Shan withdrew, the Soul-Capturing Mirror asked He Lingchuan:

"For now it's not that serious, but if Beijia and Mouguo go to full-scale war, will the Yangshan Archipelago become especially dangerous?"

The Yangshan Archipelago is an important waterway connecting the Jinjin Plains and the west, and Mouguo has long disliked it, but previously avoided aggravating tensions with Beijia, so it has not acted again.

If Beijia this time goes to full-scale war with Mouguo, the latter will have no more reservations—will it not care about anything and send troops to seize the island? After all, leaving such a nail in its own rear has long been a source of resentment for Mouguo.

The process might be difficult, but in the face of a great power's resolve, can the Yangshan Archipelago be held?

The clash between Beijia and Mouguo, yet affecting Cangyan's maritime navigation, is something Cangyan does not wish to see.

He Lingchuan shook his head: "For now it's not that serious. If the war between the two countries escalates, Mouguo least wants to offend me—at this moment, blockading or seizing the Yangshan Archipelago would be making an enemy of Cangyan. Hah, Mouguo found it so difficult to conquer Yaguo; now where would it dare to fight on two fronts?"

The Dragon God Army may not currently be stronger than the Ya Army, but Cangyan's strategic depth is astonishing, and its war potential is great.

"Then, will their war really escalate?"

"Very likely." He Lingchuan gave his judgment: "Several hundred thousand elite troops lost, five great generals sacrificed, Mouguo's war losses have also severely damaged its own vital force. Beijia might seize this good opportunity to strike Mouguo hard."

Not only did he see the opportunity, but Beijia also saw Mouguo's weakened state.

"Moreover, these years have seen too much outbreaks of Imperial Flowing Paste, causing an imbalance of spiritual energy between the demon realm and the human world. After the Ya-Mou war ended, the human world probably has no more sizable wars, yet the heavenly demons still need large amounts of nightmare energy." He Lingchuan said slowly, "Before, Beijia could stir up conflicts everywhere to satisfy its master. Now that the Jinjin Plains have been unified by me, and Shen Guo is again pacifying the western states, the world's situation is actually trending toward stability. Beijia can no longer provoke others, so perhaps it can only take the field itself."

Otherwise, how could the heavenly demons be satisfied?

The mirror gasped: "If Beijia and Mouguo fight to the death, will the human world's spiritual energy be sucked dry by the heavenly demons?"

The Ya-Mou great war died and wounded over eight hundred thousand young and middle-aged people—what if Beijia and Mouguo fight to an indecisive stalemate?

Human spiritual energy has barely recovered—must it now fall back to ten years ago?

"Not necessarily." He Lingchuan was not so pessimistic: "First, no one can drain the spiritual and nightmare energy of the Jinjin Plains; the production and life of Cangyan's people are secured. Second, the Demon Emperor is also old and deep in calculation—Beijia will not lightly throw itself entirely into war, at least not initially."

Beijia only hopes others bleed and die, and does not want to use itself to fill the heavenly god's maw.

"Then, Master, do you judge that the war will escalate?"

"Because Qingyang was deposed, the Demon Emperor's power has been severely weakened." He Lingchuan laughed, "Before the No-Old-Medicine incident, the Demon Emperor had Qingyang's strong support, and in Lingxu City his word was law. Look at the past few decades—Beijia rarely launched large-scale wars, only bullied weak states, and fighting Mouguo was like an old ox pulling a broken cart. This may indeed stem from Beijia's own deep problems, but the Demon Emperor's will also manifested. He personally experienced the Yuanguo War and the Panlong City War, and knows such wars cause enormous loss to Beijia."

"But after Qingyang was exiled to Yaoguo, the original power structure was broken, the Heavenly Palace's power grew great, Nie Xiaolou's reputation fell far short of Qingyang's, and Qing Palace's position was pressed down by Autumn Palace."