Struggle in the Steam Age

The negotiations on the division of interests of the most important loot, Pine Island, actually started when the exploration and various churches declared the Viscount Pine Island to be a traitor to mankind. Of course, as a nobleman with sufficient heritage, Lawrence's subordinates naturally have suitable retainers to handle trivial matters related to negotiations, and he does not need to go to deal with these trivial matters in person.

According to Safir on the way here, Owen's deputy butler has already brought several people here from Sauer Island. In addition to them, the Holy Visby Empire's embassy in the White Eagle Federation also sent a counselor and several embassy staff members to form another part of the negotiating team.

Being able to call for assistance from the empire at this time is inseparable from Lawrence's previous series of work. Although he himself did not understand these matters, his loyal retainers helped him deal with these matters very well. Well, it is enough for him to control the general direction.

Except that the work has actually started since Lawrence came to the island. For example, whether it was the production of new medicines or the first batch of grain harvest, he would rent a merchant ship along the way to deliver these things to the emperor. According to the steward, although the empire does not collect taxes from the island, there are still some things that must be done as nobles sent by the emperor.

Of course, with these items sent to the Holy Visby Empire, there will naturally be a series of economic cooperation. For example, after the hedgehog bomb was transported to Shaw Island and tested, Lawrence and the others awarded the design drawings and manufacturing authorization of the hedgehog bomb to the Royal Arsenal of the Holy Visby Empire at a relatively low price.

In this kind of cooperation, Lawrence will naturally pay a lot of benefits. At least the new potions and newly developed weapon authorizations have brought a lot of benefits to the royal family of the Holy Visby Empire.

But correspondingly, he also improved his relationship with the royal family of the Holy Visby Empire and the empire in the process.

From the purely profit point of view, if some businesses want to grow bigger, they cannot be covered by an Earl like Lawrence. But after giving up part of the profits to the emperor of the Holy Visby Empire, the empire will naturally provide him with shelter in these businesses, and this will also facilitate Lawrence's expansion of his business.

For example, the previous lighters and mortars, as well as the alcohol used for disinfection and its derivative iodine, and the research institute that conducted detailed tests on various minerals, animals and plants according to Lawrence’s requirements and found that it can treat diarrhea drug montmorillonite powder. These things were spread to the entire Old Continent after cooperating with the royal family of the Holy Visby Empire.

With the help of the royal family of the Holy Visby Empire, these businesses spread smoothly in the Old Continent at once. Not to mention that with the help of the royal family, those lighters, which are luxury goods, have been recognized by the old continent's nobles, the largest consumer market for luxury goods. The state procurement of weapons and medicines alone has made Lawrence a lot easier financially.

This is one of the important reasons why Lawrence was able to launch a new round of construction on Shaw Island in the recent period. You must know that you want to build a settlement in an environment full of dangerous creatures. And expanding around requires a lot of resources, if it weren't for Lawrence's increasing income from these cooperations, it really wouldn't be able to support it.

More importantly, when Lawrence fulfilled the obligations of a vassal, the emperor of the empire naturally also needed to fulfill his obligations as a lord, such as protecting his vassals. This is why the Holy Visby Empire will send its own diplomats to stand for Lawrence at this time.

So now Lawrence is not worried about the next negotiation. After all, he is not the kind of risk-taker who runs a single gang and can be dismissed with a little favor. With the support of a powerful empire, Lawrence believed that he would be able to achieve what he had contributed in the subsequent negotiations.

Therefore, after asking a few simple questions and figuring out the joints inside, Lawrence immediately turned his attention to the issue of eliminating the sahuagin. For the current human beings, if they can take this opportunity to completely clean up this part of the sahuagin, then the surrounding sea area can be peaceful for a long time.

In addition, this sahuagin country is also an ancient country with hundreds of years of history. According to common sense, the power of this prince now accounts for 1/5 of the entire country. After the opponent has completely failed and been abandoned by the gods, their troops responsible for cleaning up should be able to easily defeat those left behind and get a large sum of money. wealth.

"What about the cleanup of the sahuagin settlement?" Lawrence asked Nora who was floating in front of a portable telegraph to contact the naval ship that was going to hunt down the sahuagin. "Also, has Fatina encountered any danger on the road now? If I remember correctly, there are many sahuagin superhumans who have left the front line on the main battlefield."

"Well—the situation should be better than you imagined now. The opponent lacks both command and morale. The most important thing is that the elite troops are basically all lost in the previous battle. Therefore, although the sahuagin launched I have counterattacked many times, but I am not afraid." Nora said to Lawrence after translating the code in her hand.

"The most important thing is that after losing the favor of the gods, all the priests in this group of sahuagin lost their power. In their society, the priests are the only spellcasters. So all the actions of the other party are on our side During surveillance, the battlefield is basically unilaterally transparent to our coalition forces.”

"According to Fatina, they focused their attack on those giant sea monsters last night. It is basically certain that they have completely wiped out those war crabs and more than half of the sea monsters. By the way, they killed many people who planned to take advantage of it. The elite sahuagin attacking them in the gloom."

"In other words, the next step is simple hunting and final cleanup." Lawrence looked at the little doll and said, as a person who participated in the entire battle, Lawrence naturally knew that the sahuagin in this war It can be said that the whole army is dispatched regardless of age.

Under such circumstances, as long as they can kill as many sahuagin as possible during the pursuit, they will be able to face almost zero-defense sahuagin settlements in the following time.

"Yes, the work in the navy should be much easier." Nora the little doll nodded and said. "Because after the night attack last night, this group of sahuayu have obviously lost their last force, and it is obvious that they have completely lost all kinds of counterattack capabilities during the day today."

"But it's best to remind Fatina and the others to be careful, especially at night." Lawrence signaled Nora to send a telegram to the Enterprise. "Compared with the daytime, the sahuayu people have an advantage at night. And they have shown weakness before and then suddenly launched an attack at night, so it is necessary to be vigilant."

"Fatina and the captain jointly called back, and they said they would be vigilant in the next time." A few minutes later, as the telegraph ticked for a while, Lawrence and the others received a telegram from the fleet. "And through the interrogation of the captives, they confirmed that there is a lot of wealth in the sahuagin lair."

"In short, safety is the first priority, and wealth will not escape there." Lawrence said after thinking for a while, because there would be no other intelligent creatures around the sahuagin's lair. And the only other two groups of sahuagin who can pose a threat to this lair are now fighting with humans on other islands, so it is too late to return to the army.

Therefore, for Fatina and the others, there is no need to be in a hurry, after all, even if the movement is slow, it will not hinder the next action plan.