Chapter 915: Sovereign

Blue seas and blue skies.

After three days of preparation, Zhao Xu and Yang He traveled to Jinghai by steam locomotive.

Setting off from Jinghai, they then took a steamship to Edo, Dongying.

Following his instructions, Yang He brought over a hundred officials and merchants to accompany him.

These officials and merchants were mostly traders from the former Black Shark Trading Firm.

In view of their loyalty, they had chosen to support him even during the most dire times.

Therefore, he also returned the favor by incorporating them all, allowing them to officially become the national commercial force of Da Song.

After a tedious three-day voyage, on the fourth day, Zhao Xu and his party arrived in Edo.

They had received word in advance.

On this day, Gong Ying, Pan Zhang, and the lords of the four northern domains had all arrived to welcome him at the port.

"Greetings, Your Highness." As Zhao Xu stepped off the steamship, Gong Ying and Pan Zhang immediately gave a military salute.

Beitiao Chuanqing, Ono, Oda Shanze, and Maoli Yousheng bowed at ninety degrees.

Zhao Xu nodded and returned a military salute to Gong Ying and Pan Zhang, "You have worked hard. I will record a merit for you in the book of achievements."

"Thank you, Your Highness," Gong Ying and Pan Zhang said with a smile.

Then, the two said in unison, "We subordinates only wish to charge and shatter the enemy for Your Highness, to eliminate the invading Westerners."

Having pacified Dongying, they truly did not want to stay on Wufeng Island any longer; it was too boring.

"Hahaha... do not be anxious, there will be battles for you to fight." Zhao Xu patted the two on their shoulders.

The two looked at each other, smiles appearing on their faces.

Zhao Xu then spoke a few words to Dong An and finally turned to the lords of the four northern domains, "You need not continue bowing. Has the south been completely controlled?"

The interpreter immediately translated Zhao Xu's words to the four men.

"Replying to Your Highness Yan Wang, after the news of Watanabe's capture spread, the morale of the southern domains completely collapsed. Only some remnants remain, hiding in the deep mountains and old forests as bandits; they are not a cause for concern," Beitiao Chuanqing said, beating the other three to it.

"In these past few days, we have successfully seized all the territory of the southern domains and have controlled Dongying," Ono said, unwilling to fall behind, and introduced the war situation to Zhao Xu after Beitiao Chuanqing.

Following this, Oda Shanze and Maoli Yousheng also chimed in from time to time, fearing they would be left out.

Seeing this, Dong An, Gong Ying, and Pan Zhang could not help but shake their heads.

They truly admired Yan Wang.

If he had only supported one person, that person would likely have become the next Watanabe.

But by supporting four people, they would have to constantly curry favor with Yan Wang.

After chatting for a while on the pier, the group went to the office building that had once belonged to Watanabe, the General's Mansion.

The most important purpose of his visit to Dongying this time was to divide the territory among the four families, officially splitting Dongying into four national blocks, and simultaneously signing formal contracts with the four states.

He would incorporate Dongying into the East Lands Trade Circle.

Arriving at the General's Mansion, Zhao Xu took a map from Xu Lie and spread it out on the table.

This was a map of Dongying, divided into four blocks by red lines.

He had already thought it over carefully before coming.

He needed the four domains to maintain a state of balance, so the territory divided for the four domains would keep their strength at the same level.

In this way, even if they fought, the weaker side would not be immediately swallowed up, which would leave sufficient time for Da Song to intervene.

"Your Highness is wise." The moment the map was fully revealed, the four men, including Beitiao Chuanqing,

stared fixedly at the map.

Seeing the areas Yan Wang had divided for them, they all breathed a sigh of relief.

On the map, their northern domain lands had not changed; Yan Wang had merely cut the southern domain lands into four pieces.

Unlike the single, solid continent of northern Dongying, the land of southern Dongying consisted of four interconnected island-type landmasses.

Each family was assigned one of the four islands.

Those who were assigned smaller islands were given a piece carved out of the larger islands to compensate.

Clearly, Yan Wang had not been biased toward anyone and had treated them all equally.

They least wanted to see themselves weakened or the other side becoming stronger than before.

A situation where no one could deal with anyone else was best.

"Edo will be left as a trading port between Da Song and Dongying; it will not be given to anyone and will be managed by Da Song," Zhao Xu nodded and said, pointing to the location of Edo.

Unlike Gaoli, he naturally had to keep a close eye on Dongying to prevent it from rising from the ashes.

Therefore, holding Edo in his own hands was equivalent to placing a ballast stone outside of the four states into which Dongying was divided.

At the same time, Edo would henceforth become a foothold for Da Song merchants traveling to Dongying, facilitating their commercial activities in Dongying.

Having no objections to the divided territory, Zhao Xu signaled to Yang He.

Yang He placed the four contracts on the table.

"The scope of the previous contracts was only within your northern domain lands; now, you need to sign them again," Zhao Xu said bluntly; he did not need to be evasive.

The current Dongying was nothing more than his plaything.

Beitiao Chuanqing looked at the contracts and found them to be similar to the ones signed previously, so without hesitation, they all signed the four contracts one after another.

Furthermore, they could not afford not to sign.

Yan Wang could clearly have occupied the southern domain lands, or even the entirety of Dongying, yet he was now dividing land among them instead.

Just for the sake of these domain lands, it was worth signing these contracts.

What's more, in their hearts, they had already recognized Yan Wang as their suzerain.

They would execute Yan Wang's orders unconditionally.