Chapter 732: The Trade-offs of the North Territory

"We in Dongying have envoys stationed in the North Territory; this matter can be left to us." Sato Masahisa took the initiative to undertake the task of probing the attitude of the North Territory.

Following this, the seven men held another round of discussion.

They agreed that if the North Territory leaned toward Ross, the Joint Fleet—composed of the fleets of Britain and Wu—would head to Dongying, with the Xie, Wang, and Han families providing 100,000 troops to accompany them to Dongying.

Dongying would then provide 150,000 troops, for a total of 200,000, to land in Gaoli under the protection of the Joint Fleet and take Gaoli in one fell swoop.

"Actually, why not take this opportunity to wipe out the Yan Wang Fleet together? With the might of the Joint Fleet, it is absolutely achievable," Sato Masahisa said leisurely after their respective duties were set.

Xie Duan, Han Zheng, and Wang Zi'an also nodded.

Being able to participate in the signing of the alliance this time relied entirely on the support of Dongying, so all three families were deeply grateful to Dongying.

Furthermore, although they had submitted to Wu, the three families still harbored some wariness toward Wu.

Therefore, the troops of the Han and Wang families had been stationed near Jinling, huddling together with the Xie family and implicitly taking the Xie family as their leader.

After all, the grain of the world came from the Xie family, but the Xie family's grain was mainly produced in the Jiangnan region of Ningzhou.

Their troops could only rely on the Xie family for sustenance.

"Yan Wang has always been shrewd; if it is disadvantageous to him, how could he possibly take the initiative to fight us? He would only hide his warships in the inland rivers," Liang Kai's eyes darted around.

Fighting against the Yan Wang Army meant a direct conflict with Yan Wang, and he did not want to invite trouble for himself.

Sato Masahisa spoke lightly, but it would not be their Dongying warships suffering losses when the time came.

Wolf frowned slightly, "I believe we should not clash with Yan Wang's fleet at this moment. When wind conditions are good, the advantage of steamships is not significant, and as for sailing warships, Yan Wang possesses thirty-six, which is three times our number; he holds the numerical advantage."

After a pause, he continued: "Right now, Yan Wang is intimidated by our steamships and is not confident he can defeat us in the inland rivers, so he has stopped moving south. If we attack rashly and lose the naval battle, Yan Wang will lose his fear of our Joint Fleet, which would be counterproductive."

"We should let him remain in fear; that way, he will not dare to interfere with our actions at sea. It will not be too late to encircle and annihilate Yan Wang's fleet once more steamships and sailing warships arrive in Dongtu from Britain."

When it came down to it, he lacked the confidence to defeat the Yan Wang Fleet.

After all, he only had twelve sailing warships in his hands; he could attempt to deal with an enemy twice his size.

But three times was somewhat difficult.

As for the Navy of Wu, he dared not stake his chips on them.

"Hahaha... what the Lieutenant says has enlightened me," Sato Masahisa used loud laughter to mask his disappointment.

He hoped the Yan Wang Fleet would be destroyed then and there, but he clearly could not command Britain.

Fortunately, however, there was still Wolf's Gaoli plan.

This was also greatly beneficial to his Dongying.

They had long coveted Gaoli, which lay across the sea.

Over the following days, they prepared for the landing in Gaoli while investigating the movements of the North Territory.

Soon, they received news that the Yan Wang Army was moving north, intending to launch a punitive expedition against the North Territory.

Following this, the Dongying envoy stationed in the North Territory sent word that the North Territory had officially refused to join the Eastern Land Alliance.

With this confirmed, Wolf's plan was put on the agenda.

The Grassland, Khan Court.

Mule Hongzhen was leading the North Territory generals in receiving the first batch of Ross firearms.

In total, there were three thousand flintlocks and twelve field artillery pieces.

"The range of these flintlocks is one hundred and fifty meters; what Dongying gave you is nothing but trash," Ivan picked up a flintlock and showed it off in front of Mule Hongzhen.

The craftsmanship of the flintlocks Dongying gave the North Territory, although it also used the steel-drilling process.

But Dongying's level of steel smelting was clearly not up to par.

The amount of ammunition they could withstand was not even as good as the flintlocks Ross had phased out.

"One hundred and fifty meters!" Mule Hongzhen's heart jumped, his expression joyful.

He was finally relieved about the matter of refusing to join the Eastern Land Alliance.

During this period, he had been trying to strike a balance between Ross and the Eastern Land Alliance.

That was why his attitude toward joining the Eastern Land Alliance had been ambiguous.

Ivan demanded he not join the Eastern Land Alliance, and he had been dragging his feet on a reply.

But he had not expected that after occupying the entire Jiangbei, Yan Wang would suddenly march his troops north, bringing his massive army to the border.

Ross also seemed to have lost patience at this time; Ivan decided to tear up the contract with the North Territory, no longer support the North Territory, and even hinted at establishing ties with Yan Wang.

In the battle of the Ningjin Regional Military Commission, the North Territory was defeated and had yet to recover its vitality.

The plan to conquer Tibet was also underway.

If he fought to the death with Yan Wang at this time, and Ross launched an attack from the Extreme North.

Facing enemies on two fronts, the North Territory would find it difficult to hold on.

His plan to swallow Tibet, recover his strength, and use advanced firearms obtained from Ross to resist Yan Wang would fail completely.

After weighing the pros and cons, he ultimately chose to lean completely toward the North Territory and completely refuse to join the Eastern Land Alliance.

Although he knew the strength of the Eastern Land Alliance was also not to be underestimated.

But the North Territory had a long border with Ross and was directly adjacent.

The Eastern Land Alliance could pat their backsides and leave if the situation looked bad, but one could not move a neighbor in the north.

By comparison, Ross was more reliable.

"Great Khan, you have made a wise decision," Wulanba's mouth curled upward.

He had been to Ross and naturally knew that Ross hated Britain deeply.

After all, Britain had several times led the Xitu Guo to prevent Ross from gaining access to the sea.

In wars large and small, Ross had paid with the lives of hundreds of thousands of soldiers for this.

Therefore, when he returned to the North Territory and learned that Dongying had invited his father to join the Eastern Land Alliance, he had strongly opposed it.

Because once the Northern Di made such a choice, it would be equivalent to standing on the opposite side of Ross, and from then on, they would be the mortal enemies of Ross.

The most important point is that Ross is very likely to choose to cooperate with Yan Wang to contain the Eastern Land Alliance.

On this point, Ross and Yan Wang have common interests.

When that time comes, the Northern Di will become the center of the war.

At the beginning, his father still wanted to benefit from both sides.

But the northward movement of Yan Wang's troops and horses suddenly made his father see clearly, and he finally decided to lean completely toward the Northern Di.

"Hahaha..." Mule Hongzhen laughed, and he said to Ivan: "Consul Ivan, I hope that more firearms will arrive in the Northern Di next."

"That is a matter of course." A faint smile hung on Ivan's face.

Having prevented the Northern Di from joining the Eastern Land Alliance, Great Emperor Nikolai will surely praise him.

Mule Hongzhen nodded, "In that case, I can rest easy."

Although he suspected that this northward movement of Yan Wang had something to do with Ivan.

But he was helpless.

Ivan was likely just wanting to demonstrate what kind of desperate situation the Northern Di would face if Ross and Yan Wang cooperated.

This is an open conspiracy.

However, since he has finally made his choice, he will walk this path to the end.

Temporary forbearance is for the sake of one day trampling the mountains and rivers of Great Song, and then driving the people of Ross away!