CHAPTER 829: CHAPTER 829: WEST WINDS’ "LAST EMPEROR

Just before the Weilante people celebrated their most important festival of the year, two major events occurred at Jin Galun Port on the East Coast of the Poluo Line.

The first event was that the Jin Galun Port Bank headquarters issued a message, issuing a risk warning on the trading of West Winds currency, restricting related financial tools and currency exchange channels, to strictly prevent systemic financial risks.

Simply put, those speculating in foreign exchange could no longer leverage, and private depositors holding West Winds currency were advised by their customer managers to offload it as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, the trade management department also issued a notice, suspending all export business settled in West Winds currency, though import business was not affected.

This event caused a huge stir in the upper echelons of society in Jin Galun Port, especially among those holding a significant amount of West Winds currency.

As for the vast majority of the working class, they were not affected at all.

After all, the Galloon Anchor is pegged to silver coins, not West Winds currency, so its fluctuations do not affect the local life in the short term.

By comparison, they were more interested in the second matter—

The interview with Emperor Witch Camel of West Winds by the Survivor’s Daily Jin Galun Port.

Unlike the previous serious topic, this second event was filled with comedic elements from beginning to end.

The parties met on a royal merchant ship, and before the interview, Witch Camel suddenly changed his mind, demanding that the Survivor’s Daily journalists kneel for the interview under the pretext of West Winds law.

Of course, the latter would not indulge him and cleverly hired a Weilante actor from the Grand Theatre.

As expected, when Witch Camel saw the big nose, he immediately beamed with joy, welcoming him as if he were a close relative, courteously inviting him to sit and chat.

The interview went smoothly.

On one side, the actor recited his lines from the script fluently as if it were second nature, while on the other, Witch Camel was wildly improvising, with both sides often missing each other’s points, turning the whole scene into a comedy.

After the interview, the Survivor’s Daily Jin Galun Port branch immediately published a special edition covering this "dialogue of the century."

However, perhaps due to the small interlude of "kneeling" offending the editors, the writing editor maliciously used the term "Last Emperor" in the headline.

It’s fortunate that Witch Camel only read the "special supply newspaper" sent by Duke Garava; those under him dared not present him with such a blasphemous headline, or it could have caused him internal injury from anger and sparked a diplomatic dispute.

Soon after the special edition was released, people’s curiosity was satisfied, and they gradually lost interest in this emperor.

The guy riding on the heads of the survivor settlement in the Poluo Province turned out to be just such a character.

Objectively speaking, he might indeed be slightly stronger than the average person, but not by much, perhaps not even as much as the nouveau riche in Jin Galun Port who got wealthy through demolition.

When talking about military theory, he vividly described the rules on a beast chessboard. When discussing international strategy, he used monkeys and dogs in the zoo to "simplify the complex," leaving the temporary Weilante worker interviewing him speechless.

As for the future of the Empire.

Once the battleships of the South Sea Union are delivered, everything will improve!

Some things are not afraid to be compared side by side, only afraid to be exposed to light.

Those who read the special edition were greatly disappointed and felt that the 4 gallons spent on the newspaper were a pity.

With that money, what they would hear sitting in a teahouse would be far more exciting!

But it was precisely because of this 4-gallon special edition that people finally saw the "face" of Witch Camel clearly.

No matter how those old conservatives mysteriously claimed that the Emperor of West Winds was in fact wise yet superficially foolish, unfathomable with hidden supernatural powers and a grand vision, there were hardly any normal people who believed those nonsensical stories anymore.

At this moment, Witch Camel was still unaware of the external public opinion, but he was quite satisfied that there were finally no longer so many people watching the excitement by the river.

With fewer people by the river, he finally dared to open the windows for fresh air, even setting up a dining table on the deck, hosting a banquet for the noble remnants of Jin Galun Port to win over support.

Nobles of baron rank and above throughout Jin Galun Port received his invitation; however, the response was lukewarm.

Those big nobles either had already moved away or were doing well enough to avoid showing up, even to avoid arousing suspicion or meeting him.

Such as Chief Bahari.

He wouldn’t even consider going. In fact, he wished he could flush both the invitation and his title down the sewer to utterly erase the Empire’s mark on him.

Ultimately, only some discontented nobles attended.

Most of them were people heavily left behind by the wheels of time, perhaps having some substance in their bellies but unwilling to lower themselves to work or being overly ambitious but inept, eventually going bankrupt or ending up deeply in debt, living a messed-up life.

It was precisely because of this that, when they stood on the deck of the royal merchant ship in their most expensive clothes and saw their Emperor, the great and splendid "Nihak era" seemed to resurface before them.

At that moment, almost everyone couldn’t help but shed tears, wishing they could fall to their knees.

"Your Majesty! You remembered us!"

"We’ve missed you so much, Your Majesty!"

"Please come back!"

"The Alliance is so terrible! Boo hoo hoo, you have no idea how they treated us!"

"We’re suffering so much!"

"All of you, please rise, it was my fault that you suffered." With a compassionate expression, Witch Camel stepped forward, making a gesture as if to lift everyone up with both hands.

Looking at the crying nobles, his face showed reluctance, but his heart was filled with joy.

Even if proving the Alliance was garbage didn’t prove the Empire wasn’t, he still loved hearing it.

After all, the more pitifully they cried and the more profoundly they hurt, the more it proved he was right.

After a round of tearful and sobbing greetings, Witch Camel had the servants invite them to take their seats at the banquet.

As for himself, he sat at the head of the banquet table, nodding toward the head chef hired from the Triumph Hotel, signaling to begin serving the dishes.

A series of food carts were quickly pushed onto the deck, laden with delicious dishes.

The old noble relics could only swallow saliva, eyes glued to the servants serving dishes, wishing they could just pounce and grab with their hands.

This meal made Witch Camel completely satisfied, as if he had replenished all the grievances he had endured along the way.

After three rounds of drinks, the lords all felt somewhat tipsy, with some even lying on the tables snoring.

Seeing that everyone had almost finished eating, Witch Camel suddenly rose with the guise of intoxication, lifted his cup, and said.

"Hearing you all complain makes my heart ache so much. It’s all that Arai Yang’s incompetence in defense to blame for your grievances!"

Pausing, he continued.

"How about this! When the situation calms down, would you all be willing to return to Tiandu with me? I promise to let bygones be bygones, and you will remain my most loyal servants!"

As his words fell, the deck fell silent, and even the snoring stopped.

Those who were wailing and cursing that the Alliance was worthless, now one by one, buried their heads in silence as if they were mute.

Seeing the atmosphere cooling down, Prince Dilipu immediately stepped out to mediate, awkwardly smiling as he said.

"Everyone, eat! Eat! Normally, you don’t get enough to eat, you’ve been wronged, today His Majesty is hosting, don’t be shy, eat more!"

Upon hearing this, the nobles who had their heads buried came alive again, shouting praises.

"His Majesty is generous!"

"That Alliance is really stingy! Stripped my house down, and just gave that little compensation, unlike His Majesty’s broad-mindedness!"

"Ah... I am always thinking of Archduke Nihak! I wonder how he is doing in the Barbarian Sea Territory!"

"... Please come back, Your Majesty! We miss you so much!"

The atmosphere on site was heated up again.

The down-and-out nobles once again poured their woes, crying and sniveling.

As for going with him back to Tiandu, not a single person mentioned it.

They seemed drunk, yet each was more sober than the last, all becoming shrewd individuals.

Witch Camel was not pleased, drinking alone gloomily, wanting to burst out, but not knowing where to start.

It was all compliments, who should he berate?

Unable to stand the hypocritical atmosphere, having seen enough of the warmth and coldness of human relationships, he coldly snorted, rose from his seat, and flung his sleeves as he left...

The continuous sobbing mingled with clinking glasses, sounding like joyous laughter.

And the sound of hysterical laughter was even more earsplitting and unpleasant than crying...

Finally noticing the departure of His Majesty, the completely drunk Prince Dilipu quickly wiped his mouth and raised his glass to toast around.

"His Majesty cannot handle alcohol, everyone drink to your fill, drink to your fill!"

The greasy-mouthed, full-bellied nobles didn’t mind at all, and even forgot the person they missed had left the table, burping together.

"Praise His Majesty!"

"Haha!"

"His Majesty is wise!"

...

Witch Camel hosted a grand banquet on the Everflow River, while the empire left by the emperor was in turmoil.

It wasn’t because the Heavenly King’s army had breached Tiandu’s city gates, but because no one expected that Witch Camel would pull such a "sound east strike west" maneuver.

This was the monarch of a kingdom!

How could he play his subjects like monkeys?

As the interviews were published and the special supplement of Survivor Daily was released, the news of Witch Camel being at Jinjaron Harbor spread immediately.

The Northern Three States, busy welcoming His Majesty, were the first to be stunned, especially when they saw the Crown Prince arrive, those following the royal ritual became utterly at a loss.

The military factions by Jinjaron Harbor, in Tiger State and Leopard State, were shouting, shocked of being fooled by their own emperor!

In fact, if one were to talk about rebellion, they might not have had this thought, at least not at the moment.

After all, given the empire’s current state of disrepair, anyone becoming the emperor would be put on a spit, wasn’t it better to reign as an unchallenged local emperor?

However, although they had no intention of rebelling, they had to beware that their neighboring military faction might harbor ulterior motives, using the emperor to play clever tricks.

Now with the emperor quietly slipping through their territories, the two major military factions were feeling uneasy.

The emperor no longer trusts them.

Tiandu is tightly surrounded, and expecting continued military funding seems unlikely.

For now, the Empire has no time to deal with them, but once the Empire has free hands, it’s hard to say.

Should they rebel or not?

The Tiger Army and Black Panther Army, originally focused on quietly amassing wealth, now have to face this real issue.

Meanwhile, while the entire Empire is at a loss due to Witch Camel’s chaotic actions, City of Dawn thousands of kilometers away enjoys a unique scenery.

The first Wasteland Survival Equipment Exhibition officially concluded, receiving high praise from the Waste Land Wanderers, with sales reaching 1 billion silver coins!

All survivor forces certified by the Alliance and adhering to basic conventions can procure military equipment based on diplomatic level for defense against Looter and Mutant forces.

The Alliance’s military factories can even provide professional personalized customization services based on customer coordinates and actual needs.

For example, installing fixed artillery on enclosing walls or deploying patrol drones near production facilities.

In the past, with the purchasing power of survivors around the Alliance, buying these high value-added items was nearly impossible.

Even if the Alliance Bank lent them money, they couldn’t repay it given their financial situation.

However, in the past year, the Alliance has been continuously upgrading its industries with the support of tech personnel attracted to City of Dawn.

During this process, the Alliance "transitioned" many relatively outdated production devices to relatively reliable but still underdeveloped partners.

Jin Galun Harbor is a prime example.

Earlier, though Jin Galun Harbor was poverty-stricken, it quickly received major investments with Baiyue Corporation’s support, accommodating the production lines the Alliance was migrating to Silver Moon Bay.

This included sugar production, brewing, cotton-spinning, garment-making, agricultural machinery, bicycles, and even exoskeleton components.

Although the additional value of these industries isn’t high, they suit Jin Galun Harbor well, given its labor-intensive, relatively low-educated population.

Having made money from the Alliance, Jin Galun Harbor obviously couldn’t just import without exporting, and the Alliance’s rules wouldn’t allow such behavior.

Besides repaying installment loans and purchasing Alliance Bank-issued silver coin bonds for interest, a substantial portion of this money was spent on imported commodities.

And among the high value-added products, weaponry occupied a significant proportion.

Apart from Jin Galun Harbor, other settlements like Luo Xia Province, Southern sea area, and Eastern Provinces also engage in similar currency and commodity cycles.

These survivor settlements enriched by the Alliance naturally don’t mind spending a little to upgrade their security measures, to avoid becoming targets for outside Looters.

Besides collective purchase orders, there are also some individual buyers.

After all, compared to the high-tech products hard to maintain by companies, the simple and user-friendly weapons made by the Alliance are popular among Waste Land Wanderers.

However, several corporate groups still sold plenty of good products at the exhibition.

For instance, Endpoint Group’s wearable intelligent equipment, Chang Ge Group’s military exoskeletons and prosthetics, and Kang Mao Group’s androids.

These equipments were mostly bought by the Alliance’s players, accounting for 30% of the total transaction volume at the exhibition.

As a special guest, Chu Guang also attended the exhibition, although he didn’t purchase anything.

He had no need for new equipment himself, and the Alliance’s equipment had more professional procurement channels, so there was no need to pick and choose at the exhibition.

Moreover, genuinely good items are rarely sold outside.

Such as the P-2 "Lightning" attack aircraft and the L-10 "Thunder" fighter jet, which shone in the North Island Battle.

After chatting with corporate friends at the exhibition, Chu Guang was about to see what new work Mosquito Brother had done when he suddenly received a video call request from Alliance Foreign Minister Cheng Yan, and went to the lounge next to the exhibition center.

"Xiao Qi, watch the door for me."

"Okay."

Upon hearing Chu Guang’s instruction, Xiao Qi enthusiastically replied, and then immediately connected to the exhibition center’s monitoring system to ensure no one was eavesdropping nearby.

As for Chu Guang, he skillfully took a holographic computer pen from his bosom and placed it on the coffee table, unfolding the light blue holographic image.

The exhibition center was crowded and noisy, so it’s better to be cautious.

Moreover, this matter is of great importance.

Although the video call had not yet been connected, Chu Guang roughly guessed what his foreign minister would report on...

As expected.

As soon as the call connected, Cheng Yan urgently said.

"...According to intelligence acquired via our diplomatic channels, the Empire has formally requested assistance from the Army! A ten-thousand troops contingent is onboard airships departing from Triumph City heading to West Sail Port, it’s currently uncertain which unit or army they belong to."

"Although their troop deployment was within our expectations, I worry the Army might use this as a pretext to expand the war, or even seize the entire Poluo Province... The Southern Legion differs from the Eastern Legion; the former controls Evernight Harbor, which isn’t far from West Sail Port, and they always harbored ambitions to conquer the East and have the practical conditions to dominate West Sail Port and even all of Poluo Province!"

"Currently, they face two resistances: one from opposition voices within the army group, namely, the Civil Official Group’s objections. According to Bennott’s statement, strictly speaking, West Sail Port and Poluo Province falls within Triumph City Official Group’s sphere of influence... However, their voices seem to be suppressed right now."

Chu Guang nodded.

"Obviously, considering so many people died."

"Indeed..."

Cheng Yan nodded with a bitter smile, and continued.

"The second obstacle facing the Southern Legion is that ancient contract. I shouldn’t need to elaborate, you should be aware that long ago, under the witness of the Grand Canyon and the Academy, the Legion and the companies agreed on each other’s spheres of influence, especially the limit of the Legion’s expansion... that is, under any circumstances, the Legion must not directly control the territory east of the Great Desert."

"However, as you know, the Legion’s promises are just like toilet paper, they’ve always skirted the edge of the red line. For example, Falcon Kingdom is controlled by the Eastern Legion in the form of a vassal. As for West Sail Port, although nominally the Legion has no military presence in that area, in fact, some people are stationed there, just not on a large scale."

After listening to the clues provided by Cheng Yan, Chu Guang pondered for a moment and suddenly spoke.

"I’ve been reviewing the whole issue these days, is it possible... that this is a farce directed and performed by the Weilante people themselves."

"You hit the nail on the head!"

Cheng Yan praised him with a thumbs-up, but soon restrained that inappropriate frivolity, cautiously wording his continuation.

"Actually, even Banott said something similar to me. The Civil Official Group does not have directly controlled troops. Someone always has their eyes on the cake in their hands, he always feels that things aren’t that simple, maybe someone is up to no good."

This possibility cannot be ruled out.

Moreover, it’s not low.

After all, the Civil Official Group’s strength is too weak, and the cake in their hands is itself very easily targeted, just as the Legion is in an awkward stage—that is, this giant designed for war hasn’t expanded for a long time.

For a militaristic country, this is almost unbelievable.

If the Heavenly King Army is the avalanche of the Poluo Province, then they are the avalanche that sweeps across the entire Wasteland, there’s no stopping once they start.

The expansion faction isn’t exclusive to the Eastern Legion.

The Southern Legion must have similar factions, and Evernight Harbor standing on the central axis of the Great Desert is the best evidence.

The Survivor Settlement is located right on the red line drawn by that "ancient contract," and a whole ten thousand troops are stationed there long-term.

The settlement is like the nose of the Weilante people, rejecting everything from the War Construction Committee from their bones, whether it’s the order once decided by the latter or the contracts signed under their leadership.

However, this is just Chu Guang’s speculation.

After all, that’s three thousand lives...

Without evidence, he can’t rashly attribute it all to some grand conspiracy, after all, Banott also has the motive of "making excuses for his own incompetence."

"What’s your suggestion?"

Seeing Chu Guang suddenly toss the question his way, Cheng Yan was stunned for a moment, then quickly responded.

"I suggest reinforcing Jin Galun Harbor! We must maintain the presence of two or more Armies in that region! Regardless of whether what happened in West Sail Port is the result of a Legion faction’s self-directed drama, we must be vigilant of them taking the opportunity to cross the red line."

Upon hearing his suggestion, Chu Guang nodded approvingly.

"And Jin Galun Harbor’s opinion?"

Cheng Yan smiled and replied.

"They are keen for us to go protect their safety, even willing to fully cover the military expenses of our garrison."

Military expenses are actually a minor issue.

Keeping the Legion calm is more important.

After pondering for a moment, Chu Guang nodded.

"Alright, I will dispatch two Armies there."

When he heard this, Cheng Yan breathed a sigh of relief.

"Oh, and one more thing, Witch Camel suddenly showed up in Jin Galun Harbor, and it’s causing quite a stir in Poluo Province. Jin Galun Harbor Authority is unsure how to respond, hoping to seek our opinion..."

This matter actually counts as an internal affair of the West Winds Empire. The Alliance has neither the reason nor the interest to intervene.

An emperor who has already lost control of his own empire can at best be a puppet.

He might be useful to the Legion, but the Alliance isn’t the Legion, it’s not possible to do what the Weilante people do.

Although Cheng Yan’s expression seemed to want to make use of this guy, Chu Guang didn’t particularly pay attention to him.

"Let Jin Galun Harbor decide for themselves, the Legion has already been invited by that guy, is there any point in forcing him to change his mind? Weilante people aren’t taxi drivers that stop with a wave and leave with a gesture."

At this point, it doesn’t make much difference whether he’s invited or not.

The Legion itself isn’t known for following rules, even if the Empire doesn’t ask them for help, they would come on their own.

Legitimacy?

If the Weilante people really cared about that, they wouldn’t break agreements time and again.

"That’s all true, but I think not using this opportunity is a bit of a waste." Cheng Yan said a bit regretfully.

Chu Guang smiled faintly.

"Nothing to regret."

"From the moment he left Tiandu, his era has already ended."