Chapter 1181: Discarded Pawn

Kending South faces Lusong across the sea.

Since last month, the country led by Yingjiang completed economic negotiations with the Big Building and surrendered completely.

Lusong's position has become rather awkward.

They have always been willing to act as lackeys, jumping to and fro.

Now that their master has surrendered, it has become a discarded pawn.

Moreover, over the past few years, having offended Yang Shaohao, and under his scheming, the already estranged Lusong finally encountered a serious problem.

It broke apart, splitting into several independent entities.

A nationwide referendum was held to secede from Lusong.

Now Lusong is left with hardly more than a single large island.

Yang Shaohao had long been colluding with these places.

After these places broke away, he quickly increased his investment.

He immediately switched the partners of the flammable ice mine and its associated offshore city to local entities.

He outright ignored the existence of Lusong's main island.

Lusong has practically become an isolated island at sea.

To the north, Yizhou is unfriendly toward it; after years of turmoil, the Big Building is also unfriendly.

To the south lie the defectors who have turned traitor, and they are even less friendly.

To Yingjiang, it has lost all value; at this point, they still wish to improve relations with the Big Building to gain benefits, so they certainly won't pay it any attention.

Yingjiang's surrender allowed the Big Building to become the official world leader; neighboring countries dare not provoke its wrath.

Xiaoma is now abandoned by all.

Even the situation on the big island is far from good.

"Can we wipe out these traitors?"

Xiaoma still harbors a sliver of hope in his heart.

But the military personnel bluntly shattered his imagination.

"Sorry, Your Excellency of the capital, you cannot assume that because we hold the main military force, we can do as we please."

"The nature of warfare has long changed, yet what we now possess are outdated weapons from the last century."

"The traitors still have ties with the Yang Family; they surely have access to purchase new-style weapons."

"We have none; don't count on Yingjiang—even if it had them, it would not dare sell them to us."

"Haven't you seen them flee? They didn't even bother to take much of their dilapidated equipment."

"Why? Because they are now worthless."

"What we should do now is contract our forces and hold onto this island."

"Not to punish the traitors."

"Who will be a traitor in the future, who can say for sure?"

Xiaoma is very unwilling, mainly because he feels compelled to show his unwillingness; he has temporarily shown a hint of compromise, for fear these people might dare to seize him and hand him over.

His only possible value now may be to protect their wealth.

At this dangerous moment, they need his presence to unite them.

If he is temporarily absent, they will instantly fall apart.

Otherwise all is well, but if he, their leader, were suddenly gone, the whole of Lusong would likely descend into chaos.

That is not what they want to see.

This is also his value in existing.

"What you say is correct; we indeed need to stabilize the island first."

"We must guard against some locals with ulterior motives."

"If we let them find an opportunity, we all may suffer huge losses."

"Especially those people have long been hostile toward us, who monopolize various resources and possess great wealth."

"Therefore, for everyone's safety, we must indeed now gather all our strength to guard against possible unrest."

"Moreover, we must guard against the Big Building people, who are likely to treat us as they do small countries."

What happened to those people? Some mysteriously disappeared, and then the Big Building people were pushed into power.

Those who disappeared also lost their wealth.

"Jingmen—this is all about money and power—how can that be acceptable?"

After threatening those people, Xiaoma felt more at ease.

Those present, however, began to feel anxious and uneasy.

"How can this be? How can this be allowed?"

"The Yang Family is too overbearing."

"Jingmen, Jingmen—they are like the Red Flower Society here."

"Then should we act against them as we did before?"

"No, you're crazy—now the Yang Family and Jingmen are not something we can provoke."

"Furthermore, do you think that if such things were to happen now, the Big Building would still pretend not to see, as it did before?"

"Would they wipe us out?"

"What then? Let them nibble away at us bit by bit?"

………

Everyone argued incessantly, each feeling that their own words made sense.

Little Ma stepped forward then.

Everyone, don't rush; the matter is easily resolved.

Send troops to protect them well; this way we can show friendliness to the Big Building and also prevent them from causing trouble.

Moreover……

He hesitated a moment, then made up his mind.

Moreover, fully open the market to the Yang Family, open the seaport docks, and exchange benefits for them not causing trouble for us.

He looked at the people around him.

Seeing many people dissatisfied.

It's fine if they're dissatisfied; if they're satisfied, how can I use them to protect my safety?

I know you feel terrible inside; I feel terrible too.

But there's no way around it; we are now surrounded by enemies, and now the island's online public opinion is even more unfavorable to us.

At this time, everything should prioritize stability.

Only when we stabilize will we have security.

Then we can talk slowly.

As long as we still have power and guns in our hands, we can take back what we lost.

But in his heart he was saying, once you all relax your guard, I'll run away.

At the very least, Yingjiang should provide him with a safe residence.

Seeing him say that, the others eventually tentatively accepted his plan.

After the meeting ended.

These people also began strategic contraction, temporarily settling down considerably, while secretly strengthening many defenses.

The Big Building residents' gathering area was also placed under military protection.

The pretext is also justifiable, to prevent past tragedies.

Inside the gathering area, countless Big Building residents had already rolled up their sleeves, ready to fight.

They were just waiting for another round.

They wanted to take the opportunity to exact revenge.

You have us protected so tightly; how can we find an excuse?

"Contact our partners; given how things have developed, shouldn't they express some dissatisfaction?"

"The other side using troops to soft‑detain us here conveniently eliminates our suspicion."

"It can also divert some of their strength."

"Public opinion has risen; various people wanting to take advantage to cause trouble will naturally emerge."

"We don't expect them to do anything big, but taking out or toppling a few obstacles in our plans isn't too much, is it?"

"Now we have 12 million people on this island, plus another 20 million of blood relation, giving us nearly 30 million."

"They account for 39% of the population and dominate half of the island's economy."

"If it weren't for those people acting specially, we could occupy seventy percent of the economy."

"Here, if we don't take the lead, who will?"