Chapter 814: Linkage

Latest website: "Ba City!" Dou Wei pointed toward the direction of Yizhou, "Ba City is adjacent to my Yizhou, and it is situated among mountains; it is easy to defend and difficult to attack. If Your Majesty moves the capital here, the three countries of Wu, Southern Liang, and Nanping will be connected as one, and can provide timely support to each other."

"Ba City?" Liang Kai suddenly coughed several times.

Since joining the Eastern Land Alliance, and after Wu reached a secret contract with Yan Wang, Wu had enjoyed a period of ease.

But during this period of ease, the Wu army had not been idle.

After seizing Xiangzhou, which had once been occupied by Southern Liang, they continued their western expedition and fought their way to Bazhou, which was adjacent to Yizhou.

This Bazhou was the smallest of the twenty-one provinces of Great Song, possessing only one commandery, named Ba Jun.

Bazhou had four mountain ranges running north-south and east-west on two sides, stretching for five or six hundred li, and Ba City was located in the middle of the southern end of these four ranges.

The mountain ranges were Ba City's natural city walls.

Yet Ba City was not isolated because of this, for the Jiujiang River flowed through the four mountain ranges, passed Ba City, and continued to flow eastward; one could travel downstream via the Jiujiang River.

Therefore, although Ba City could not be called wealthy in Great Song, it could still be ranked among medium-sized cities.

Another very important point was that the banks of the Jiujiang River from within Bazhou to Xiangzhou were all steep, high mountains, and the waterway was also very narrow, with the narrowest point being no more than four or five hundred meters.

As long as one chose a section and set up Forts on both banks to fire from a commanding position, Yan Wang's fleet would also be defeated and sunk.

If one were to sink ships here to complement the Forts on both banks, it would be even more perfect.

Bazhou was so easy to defend and difficult to attack, and it was also a province under the control of the Imperial Clan.

Southern Liang naturally would not let go of such a treasure.

Therefore, after the turmoil in Jinling, Southern Liang had been attacking Bazhou continuously.

But to this day, Southern Liang had not taken Bazhou.

When Wu launched its western expedition, it naturally also wanted to attack Bazhou, but it likewise failed to take it for a long time.

Instead, after the Xie Family submitted to Wu, they borrowed an Imperial Edict from the First Prince and obtained Bazhou without any effort.

This was only because the Prefect of this Bazhou had been promoted by Xie Duan himself.

This was equivalent to Wu picking up this bargain for nothing.

"That's right, it is Ba City." Dou Wei emphasized again, "Once Your Majesty arrives here, you will not need to worry about your own safety. Even if my Southern Liang had malicious intentions, I fear we would lack the strength to take Ba City."

Liang Kai's eyes gradually brightened.

He had once considered Bazhou, but compared to Changcheng, Bazhou was both remote and not as prosperous as Changcheng.

Furthermore, at the time, he believed that under the command of Luse, the six hundred thousand troops around Jinling could at least hold off Yan Wang for a year or a year and a half.

But he had not expected that Jinling would be captured in just a few days, which left him disappointed and worried.

Now, his Changcheng was no longer safe, and the safer Ba City naturally became an object of his consideration.

"Brother Dou's thoughts truly coincide with mine." Liang Kai laughed heartily, "We only need to stockpile enough grain and fodder in this Ba City, and even if Yan Wang has heaven-reaching abilities, he will never be able to take Ba City."

Dou Wei took the opportunity to say: "The problem of grain and fodder is naturally not an issue with my Southern Liang. Yizhou has been a land of abundance since ancient times, with a thousand li of fertile fields and massive grain production. My Southern Liang is willing to sell grain to Wu at a low price."

On the road here, Brook had revealed to him that Britain was currently developing firearms identical to those of Yan Wang's army.

In order to resist Yan Wang, they, Britain, were willing to sell such firearms as well as Britain's Field Artillery to the powerful clans.

However, since it was a sale, it naturally required Silver to purchase.

According to Brook, such a firearm cost about eighty taels of Silver.

One hundred thousand firearms would cost eight million taels, and this did not include Field Artillery and auxiliary ammunition.

Although during the Jinling turmoil back then, their Dou Family had plundered massive wealth worth seventy or eighty million taels in Jinling.

But the loss of Jingzhou had also left them severely weakened, and this Silver had to be spent sparingly.

Therefore, for the time being, cooperation was cooperation, and the alliance of the three parties would not delay business.

They could not give away the grain and fodder that Wu needed for free.

After all, just as the British said, they were merely three allied countries temporarily under the banner of the British and the Ross.

The British and the Ross were the leaders of the alliance.

Wu's wealth was immeasurable; exchanging grain for Silver was a fair trade.

"I have exactly that intention." Liang Kai was delighted.

At present, his Wu had the most Gold and Silver, but this Silver was a dead object if it could not buy things.

If they could buy the supplies they needed from Southern Liang, it would naturally be a cause for celebration for all.

Following this, Dou Wei and Brook exchanged a glance, and Dou Wei then spoke of Britain imitating Yan Wang's firearms.

Liang Kai was even more ecstatic and readily agreed to purchase such firearms as well.

At present, their firearms were too inferior compared to the firearms of Yan Wang's army.

If they had new-style firearms, plus Britain's Artillery, Ba City would be even more impregnable.

"From now on, we will transport the firearms and Artillery to Nanping through Jiaozhi, which is controlled by the Frankish people, and then transport them to your Southern Liang and Wu through Nanping. Yan Wang has cut off our sea routes, but he cannot cut off this land route." Brook slammed his fist heavily on the table, his expression confident.

Selling these firearms and Artillery was something Governor Bolt had also requested.

Since Yan Wang already had such firearms, there was no need for Britain to hide or hold back.

They should export them to Yan Wang's enemies to create trouble for Yan Wang's unification process.

Of course, there was also a very important point.

The firearms and Artillery they sold to the powerful clans were all very expensive.

Normally, imitating firearms equivalent to those of Yan Wang's army would only cost twenty taels, but they insisted on selling them at the high price of eighty taels.

In this way, it was equivalent to them indirectly plundering the wealth of the Great Song powerful clans while selling the firearms and Artillery.

Even if the Great Song powerful clans failed to resist Yan Wang, they, Britain, would still make a fortune.

In short, in this Great Song civil strife, they, Britain, would not lose out in any way, and could also make a huge profit.

Tiemuta smiled without saying a word.

He was well aware of the mischief the British were causing behind the scenes.

Back when they were in Sa City of Tibet, Brook had already spoken clearly about the matter with them and the Ross people.

In addition to agreeing to the Ross people's sphere of influence, Brook also shared the secret of the Yan Wang's muskets with the Ross people to demonstrate his sincerity.

This caused Ivan to let down his last shred of guard and decide to act together with Britain.

And in order to show his sincerity, Ivan allowed them, the Northern Barbarians, to open up a trade route with Tianzhu to obtain muskets and Artillery from Britain.

On one hand, after the Ross nation imitated the muskets of the Yan King Army, they, the Northern Barbarians, could likewise obtain these muskets and Artillery from the Ross nation in the North Territory.

But unlike the powerful clans of Great Song, they only needed thirty taels of Silver to purchase one imitation musket.

Having taken such an advantage, he looked at Dou Wei and Liang Kai, naturally as if he were looking at fools.

However, he could not make it too obvious.

At present, all parties needed the powerful clans to hold back Yan Wang to win more reaction time for themselves.

Their Northern Barbarians had suffered a great loss of vitality after the Ningjin Battle.

Although they had recruited many Northern Barbarian males over the age of thirteen into various royal tents during this period, allowing their military strength to recover.

Yet they no longer dared to underestimate Yan Wang.