He Ping and Wen Fang are not happy, Zhao Zheng is not happy, and similarly, the Li family is not happy, of course, Zhao Zheng is a famous general, and the Zhao family's troops are also elite, as well as the weapons and equipment provided by He Ping, the combat effectiveness is extraordinary, so the Cook family is also very sad, but if these people's sadness is said, the Qi family will definitely cry out at this time, because no matter how you look at it, the most sad thing now is the Qi family, but they are just self-inflicted.

Why did the Qi family commit treason in the first place? The reason is simple, benefits! Long-term interests and the like, to put it bluntly, have no value, the world is changing too fast, too complicated, especially at the level of a leader, now it seems that it may be for the long-term plan, but it is estimated that it will not be long before this plan is useless, as for the long-term interests or something, it will soon change, so the family never looks at the long-term.

Grasp the greatest interests in front of you, always take this as the code of conduct, you will always be able to get the greatest benefits, even in the long run, as long as this criterion can be realized, the interests are also maximized, rather than suffering for the so-called long-term interests before, it is better to always pursue the immediate interests to enjoy happiness, it is with this idea that the Qi family chose treason and chose to take refuge in Auckland.

However, the Qi family's defection to Auckland is not an ordinary refuge in Auckland, they are considering that it is difficult to make great achievements in Tianhua, the Auckland army on the opposite side is very strong, and when it comes to Tianhua's army, there are elites like the Zhao family, so it is difficult for the Qi family to further grow in that situation. can only maintain the status quo, plus the imperial court seems to have inhibited merchants from becoming bigger and increasing merchants' taxes. There is a tendency to promote literati and military generals, so to maintain the status quo is tantamount to waiting for weakness.

The Auckland side is different, the Qi family has been fully understood, and has learned that in Auckland, the status of the nobility is quite high, and the proportion of the nobility that can be siphoned off from the taxes of the territory is also very high. Moreover, the chamber of commerce under the aristocracy occupies a lot of resources and markets, and the taxes are not high, and the Auckland royal family has not suppressed the trend of the aristocracy. Moreover, the aristocrats are often extravagant and spend lavishly, which is undoubtedly the best business object for the Qi family.

As a matter of fact. The Qi family has been doing business with the Auckland aristocracy for a long time. In the beginning, it was just some art luxury goods, which were sold to the Auckland aristocracy at a high price to make huge profits, but not long ago, even the strategic materials that were important to Tianhua, such as iron ore, coal and grain, began to be smuggled into Auckland. In these businesses, the Qi family has benefited greatly.

So. The Qi family has been thinking about taking refuge in Auckland for a long time, but they know that if they are so treasonous and then join Auckland, there is no nomination, no merit, Auckland will not trust them, and they will not give them an ideal title, the level of the title represents the level of status in Auckland, and the high-level nobles have absolute authority and advantages when facing the low-level nobles, so the Qi family must obtain at least one earl title while joining Auckland.

In order to achieve this purpose, the Pang family encroached on the Wang family, the Qi family's plan was originally to unite the Cook family, use that incident as a handle to put pressure on the Pang family, and let the Pang family join Auckland as a vassal of the Qi family, as long as the Pang family eliminated the Wang family and occupied the Wu'an Territory, in this way, the Qi family's power would be very large, and the Wu'an Domain and the Pinghua Territory, plus the Cook Province, would be equivalent to surrounding the Qingyang Domain and the Songjiang Domain, and then as long as the attack was carried out step by step, It was only a matter of time before the land was transferred to Auckland.

It is precisely because of these plans that the Auckland side also attaches great importance to the Qi family, promising that as long as they can let the Wu'an Collar and the Pinghua Collar join Auckland, then they can give the Qi family a count's title, if together with the Qingyang Collar and Songjiang Collar in the middle, because of their joining, it makes it easier to attack, and if they can be captured with a small number of troops in a short period of time, it is not a problem to give them the title of a marquis, you must know that the earl is already a high-ranking nobleman, and the marquis, In Auckland, it is already considered a top aristocracy.

If the Qi family can get the title of earl or marquis, then they will get great development after joining Auckland, first of all, the area of the territory will be greatly increased because of the Wu'an Domain, after all, the Pang family can only be regarded as a vassal of the Qi family, and the Qi family is the real master, at that time, the Wu'an Collar naturally belonged to the Qi family, and if even the Qingyang Collar and the Songjiang Collar were defeated, these territories would be connected, even if there were many to be handed over to other families in Auckland, What the Qi family got in their hands was something they had never had before.

Outside the territory, of course, the assets of the Qi family will also increase greatly, although as a new party, the Qi family's business will definitely be restrained and suppressed by other families, but the Qi family has rich experience in this regard, they are confident that they will win in such a business war, as long as the political power does not interfere too deeply, the development of the Qi family is almost inevitable, as for the population in the territory, there is no way, only to open up some immigration policies, and then expect the Auckland people to move in.

Of course, all of this is the best result after the smooth implementation of their plan, originally, the Qi family has always felt that there is no problem with their plan, whether it is the connection with the Cook family, or the control of the Pang family and the encroachment on the Wu'an Ling, it is very smooth, just hold on a little, wait for the Pang family to fully control the Wu'an Ling, you can put this matter on the table, and join Auckland in a high-profile manner, if the Emperor Auckland gives them a knighthood ceremony to announce to the world, it will be perfect.

However, all of this completely collapsed with the appearance of one person, He Ping actually disintegrated the Pang family with the power of one person, the Pang family's plan to eliminate the Wang family and encroach on the Wu'an Collar was completely bankrupt, and the Pang family was finished, on this basis, the evidence of the collusion between the Qi family and the Cook family also began to spread rapidly in Tianhua, which caught the Qi family off guard, and before they could complete the remedy, the Songjiang Ling used to remedy it also retreated because of the Zhao family's combat effectiveness, and the original plan was a large amount of credit, but in the end it was a failure.

The Pang family is gone, the Qi family has no handle and means to control other families, it is impossible for Wu'an Ling to enter their pockets, not to mention Qingyang Ling, there is no worry about the rear, Qingyang Ling's troops are definitely the most powerful in this area, the Qi family has no confidence to face it alone, Songjiang Ling is completely closed, does not contact anyone, and enters a state of complete neutrality, and at this time, the Auckland side also began to urge.

Without credit, and the evidence of treason has been widely disseminated, the Qi family has no place in Tianhua, and in this case, the only thing they can do is to take refuge in Auckland, they don't have the courage to be caught between the two countries, in this way, it is equivalent to being forced to join Auckland, which is completely different from joining Auckland with a lot of merit before, so the earl and marquis promised before are naturally gone, and after some bargaining, the Qi family got the title of viscount on the condition of immediately attacking the Li family, otherwise, There is only the lowest baron.

Viscounts and barons, this is the lowest level of titles, it can be said that there are everywhere in Auckland, there are a lot of them, and nobles like the Qi family who have such a large territory as the Pinghua Territory are just viscounts, which is also rare in Auckland, the average baron, that is, a country lord, even if it is a viscount, managing a town is the limit, and the lord of a province, in the past, the minimum must be an earl to be able to serve.

The Qi family's expectation is that at least the earl, if it goes well, get the marquis, but the result is the viscount, on this basis, they must also attack the Songjiang Territory, the Qi family is already notorious in Tianhua, and the Auckland side is pressing step by step, relying on them to be forced to join Auckland, so they have been putting forward conditions and keep calling them, so the current Qi family is caught in the middle of the two ends, to say that it is not good, the Qi family is the worst. (To be continued......)