Among the kingdoms, only the Lords of the Gangbys, Borui and Rand empires intended to open up the territory of the Southern Continent, and Patriarch Tamor wanted to integrate the forces of the lords of the South, but he miscalculated the situation of the Kingdom of Gangbys, or rather, failed to accurately grasp Victor's true intentions.

The upper echelons of the Church generally believed that the exploration of the northern continent was more important than the opening of the southern continent. The northern wilderness of the Sassans and Neville is a true anointing place, with a handful of barley seeds sprinkled on the red soil for a full harvest the following year, the Wraith Forest and the Wharton Grassland, which the Kingdom of Dordor are targeting, have keel steel, forest resources, and herds of cattle and sheep, and the Dusk Forest of northern Seuss has Mithril, rare herbs, and high-quality wood.

It is still unknown what rare resources there are in the southern continent, but there is certainly no red soil that can grow green barley. The northern wilderness once supported billions of people, where the Chosen Sorcerers pioneered a glorious city-state civilization. In comparison, the Southern Continent can only be regarded as a barren and barren wilderness. Otherwise, why didn't the ancient wizards and city-state knights set foot in the land of the Southern Continent?

Moreover, the orc races occupy the rich northern wilderness, and their population size continues to expand, posing the most immediate and urgent threat to the human kingdom. The political, economic, and cultural centers of the kingdoms are all located in the Northern Continent, and recovering the homeland of the Northern Wilderness can not only enhance the strength of the human kingdom and eliminate the great threat of the orcs, but also the feelings of knights, nobles and clergy for thousands of years. From the standpoint of humanity as a whole, everyone, including the Lord of Cambys, acknowledged that the strategy of expanding south was only a retreat for the kingdoms and the Church compared to the strategy of expanding north.

Under these circumstances, Tamor was limited in his ability to mobilize priests and paladins, and he desperately hoped that the Kingdom of Nantuo could unite and smoothly open up the situation in the southern continent. The United Kingdom of Borui had suffered at the hands of the southern barbarians, and they knew that it would not be easy to open up the southern continent, and they were very willing to cooperate closely with the Kingdom of Gangbys. The overall national strength of the Kingdom of Gombis is far inferior to that of the Sassan Empire, but she has the most powerful political power.

In order to convince the Kingdom of Gombis to accept his strategic plan for southward expansion, Tamor struggled. While agitating the Church to expand the size of the Templars, he ventured to the southern shore of the Great River Bend and captured a half-orc barbarian fighter and gave it to Cambys. He was telling Gombis that the Gaogen barbarians, who were on par with the Borui Kingdom, could only occupy a corner of the Southern Continent, so how many powerful indigenous alien races were there in the Southern Continent? The difference in national strength between Gombis and Borui seemed to be that the idea of Gangbis monopolizing the right to open up the Southern Continent was unrealistic, and it was best for everyone to sit down and discuss the relevant matters related to crossing the river to the south.

No matter how much we discuss, the construction of the port of Lake Fes is an unavoidable topic.

In the long run, the geopolitical environment of Gombis is very bad, and there is no other direction to expand except to cross the river to the south. In the future, the center of the human kingdom will definitely be in the rich northern wilderness, and even if Cambis becomes a great southern empire, it will not be able to change the natural conditions of the land. There is a demographic, economic, military, and political gap between the North and the South, and this gap will only become more pronounced over time. In the end, the Gambis Empire will not be able to compete with the Northern Empire.

Victor secretly laid out the Eastern Alliance, seeking an outlet to the sea, not to build a navy, bypassing the Needham Swamp and marching on the east coast of the northern wilderness to compete with the lords of Sassan and Neville for the fertile red lands. If Victor had a large colony in the northern wilderness and controlled the sea power and the Jinshui River shipping rights, he would not dare to assert that the Gambisian Empire would definitely be able to overpower the Northern Empire, at least the balance of power between the north and the south would not be unbalanced.

Fess Lake is an important node in this strategy, and Victor is bound to win.

The Auguste family was unaware of Victor's ambitions, but they were able to see what Lake Fes meant to the Gambis Empire. The Jinshui River is an insurmountable natural hazard, and the control of Lake Fes by Gombis can not only remove the potential military threat of the Northern Lords to the Southern Empire, but also significantly increase the political influence of the Southern Empire. The material and personnel exchanges between the southern and northern continents are all controlled by the southern lords, and in the event of a great disaster in the north, the lords of the northern expansion will have to ask the southern lords for support or acceptance. In other words, in order to leave a way out for the family, the northern lord and the southern lord must exchange heirs, so as not to have an embarrassing situation where the knightly blood of the southern empire flocked to the northern empire.

This is the strategic value of the Jinshui River moat. The most important thing now is Lake Fez, and whoever can control the waters of Lake Fes will be able to grasp the initiative in the strategy of crossing the river and expanding it to the south. The western estuary of Lake Fis is located in the territory of Gombis, and its conditions for building a port are obviously better than those of the Chebman Territory and the Randall Domain, and the Kingdom of Gombis gave up the plan to build a port at the mouth of the lake, precisely because it was worried that the Lante Empire would take the opportunity to build a port on the shore of Lake Fez.

There must be a port on the shores of Lake Fes in the territory of the Rand Empire, where the Borian army is stationed on the front lines of the Dusk Forest in Seuss, where the Knights of Radiance hook up with Neowest, and where the Kingdom of Neville threads the needle for this purpose. Their soft strategy now is for fear of angering the Divine Knights, and if they directly send troops to help the Rand Empire clean up the fishmen and build a port, the Kingdom of Gombis will definitely launch a war of revenge against Neowest. But if Gambises refuses to let go, the pressure will increase until he gives in.

The United Kingdom of Borui and the Gambis belong to the same camp of the lord of the Southern Extension, and the overall interests of both sides are the same, but in the short term, the water power of the Bambis is far inferior to that of the Borui Kingdom, and both shipbuilding technology and experienced crew are much worse. It will take time for Gombis to develop the forces that can block the waters of Lake Fez.

The problem now is that if Gambis does not respond to the goodwill of the Borui and the Patriarch of Tamor, it is possible that in the future he will be left alone to bear the military risk of Nantuo. At the very least, the resentful Borui people will definitely try to drag Gangbis back.

What is the point of taking control of Lake Fes in a hurry, only to suffer a military defeat in the southern expansion, and finally having to plead with the United Kingdom of Borui to send troops and make major concessions?

Having seen the barbarian warrior captives sent by Patriarch Tamor, the four guardians of Gombis, except for Victor, Sylvia, Roland and Goron have no bottom in their hearts, and doubt whether Gambis is capable of supporting the southern expansion strategy alone.

Against the odds, Victor proposed a strategy and leapfrog tactics for the development of the Phiss Lake and Blood Valley, trying to appease the regent and the three Guardians, and strengthen their determination to resist the early establishment of a port on the north shore of Lake Fes by outside forces.

Despite the wisdom and miraculous nature of His Highness Randall, and the admission of Sylvia and the Marquis of Goron to the subtlety of his strategic and tactical ideas, the crossing of the river by Gambis was such a great thing that they could not believe whatever Victor said.

The Marquis of Goron praised Victor for his lack of experience in military command, but for his genius leapfrog jumping tactical conceptions, and on the other hand, he was implicitly questioning himself.

Will the modified battleship be able to retrograde on the River of Blood? Will the Soul Warriors who fight against the first-class brute fighters be popular? You have to come up with something real before we can accept your strategy and tactics.

Victor is full of confidence in the Source Blood Secret Method, and he is not sure about transforming the battleship. But it didn't matter, he just wanted to stall for time.

In short, the lakeside harbor must wait until the fleet of Cambys' fleet runs through Lake Fes, and then it will be built and leased by the Golden Regiment!

In the evening breeze, Victor and the others walked to the docks of Port Carlil, and in the hazy moonlight, a huge warship rowed across the quiet and deep lake, slowly heading towards the trestle.

It is semi-elliptical in shape, 35 meters long and 12 meters wide, three stories high from the water to the side of the ship, four masts stand high, and the huge sails hold the evening breeze and push the hull to break the waves, as if the legendary giant beast of Lake Basel has appeared, which is inexplicably shocking. On the bow skews stood a slender and graceful figure, she wore a spinnaker hat, only a white fine linen shirt on her upper body, tight breeches and high-top leather boots outlined a slender waist and a pair of straight legs of amazing length, and a slender stabbed sword hanging from her waist, heroic and high-spirited, it was the eldest princess of Roland.

Sylvia's beautiful face showed envy, and she exclaimed, "It's the first time I've seen such a large battleship, it's really spectacular. Turning her head to see Victor's calm face, her eyes wandered, and she asked curiously, "What? Don't you think it's very imposing?"

At most, 1,200 tons, compared to the 10,000-ton giant ship, it is far behind. It's not as pleasing to the eye as Roland...... Victor nodded quietly, "Baby, in the future, I will build a ship that belongs to you, which is more spectacular and imposing than the Golden Fleece...... Well, it's called the Dragon Slayer. ”

Sylvia felt sweet and grabbed her lover's arm. Dragon Slayer is one of her titles, and the ship named after Victor will never discredit the Dragon Slayer.

Without waiting for the ship to approach the dock, Roland jumped off the bow of the ship, holding a monocular in his hand, pacing triumphantly back and forth in front of everyone, and his deep eyes as beautiful as a blue lake examined each one by one, like a captain who was enough to select sailors at the dock.

"I am Captain Roland August of the Golden Fleece, and if you want to sail on my Golden Fleece, you must obey the captain's orders...... "She pointed to the tip of her nose, reserved and majestic.

Sylvia glanced at her, lifted the hem of her skirt, and leaped to the deck of the Golden Fleece, her movements light and fluid, and her posture graceful and elegant.

Victor grabbed Trisley's leg socket and hugged the angry female knight in her arms in the way of a princess hug, the breeze surrounded the two of them, took a step forward, and jumped on the Golden Fleece, which was nearly 9 meters high.

Even if she doesn't use her fighting spirit, she has the strength of an ordinary knight, and even if she can't jump off the side of the ship, she can avoid Victor's princess hug. Whether you can hide or not, it is to show affection in public. The shy Trisley, blushing, broke away from Victor's embrace before the Marquis of Goron and the Lord Regent jumped up, spun around and flashed into the cabin.

Roland stomped his feet on the trestle, pouted, and finally jumped on the boat, and when he saw the sailors standing solemnly in front of Sylvia, one by one they put on a respectful posture of waiting for orders, and immediately couldn't care about being angry, and hurriedly emphasized: "I am the captain of the Golden Fleece, and you can't give orders to my crew." ”

Sylvia smiled, the queen's aura turned into a spring breeze and drizzle, took Victor's arm, and said softly: "Captain Roland, I need a decent cabin, by the way, please ask your mate and designer to show my husband the Golden Sheep." ”

Roland turned his anger into joy, took off his captain's hat, and bowed gracefully, "I am happy to serve you, noble lady...... Marlena, take this beautiful lady to VIP Room One, the best room on the Golden Fleece...... Baron Highgate, First Mate Hansen, took a couple of gentlemen on a tour of my Golden Fleece, with the exception of the captain's quarters, remember. ”

The ship's designer and the co-in-command of the Golden Fleece approached, and Victor and Marquis Goron were about to follow them into the bilge, but Roland blocked their way.

Looking at the captain's hat dangling in front of him, Victor looked up blankly and asked, "What for?"

Roland squinted at Victor and Marquis Gorlon, and said with disdain: "Pay! According to the rules of the ship, guests who board the ship must pay a deposit first. When you disembark, you will pay for accommodation, food, and drinks. ”

"Roland!" said Marquis Gorlon, whose face sank, suppressed his anger.

"Old man, don't be verbose, pay first!" Roland shouted fearlessly, and her next sentence revealed her true intentions: "If you don't have money, you have to work for me on the Golden Fleece to pay the bill, this is the rule!"

Victor touched his empty trouser pocket and said helplessly: "I didn't bring any money, Your Excellency Captain, can you owe it first?"

"Don't take credit when you board the ship, and don't pay when you leave the ship. ”

Victor silently pulled a crystal clear blue diamond from his belt, put it in his hat, looked at the smiling Captain Roland, and couldn't help but remind, "It's worth 750 gold soles......" and added, "This is a deposit, remember to ask me for money." ”

The eldest princess who entered the play patted Victor on the shoulder, and said sympathetically with her eyes: "Sir, don't pay the bill when you leave the boat." Immediately, she said very generously: "This gem is even if the five of you have a boat fare." ”

The Marquis of Grond snorted coldly, raised his feet, and was just about to enter the cabin, when he heard Williams and Roland arguing:

"Don't count me...... I worked on the Golden Fleece. ”

Victor and Goron were speechless as they followed the Golden Goat's mate into the hatch.

"Sailors, don't have to dock, drop the cable and let the guest's retinue climb up on their own. ...... per person Roland, how much does each person charge for the boat fare?"

"5 gold soles per man and 15 gold soles per woman...... Hey, Uncle Williams, I'm the captain of the Golden Fleece!"

"Yes, you're the captain, and I'm working for you. ”

"Bob Sailor, give this rookie gentleman a bucket, a rag, and teach him how to polish my deck!"

"Uh...... Roland, I don't think the job of wiping the deck is worth 150 gold soles, and I can take over the captain's duties. You've sailed all day, you should find a good cabin and sleep soundly, and I'll leave the night flight to me...... Bob Boatswain, anchoring, hoisting the sails, adjusting course, we go to the town of Longbridge on the West Brinole River, with Captain Williams at the helm himself...... By the way, where is the rudder?"

“...... Uncle, I'm not tired at all. Well, I'm waiving your deposit for the boat fare, and you're now a guest on the Golden Sheep...... Hey, don't touch my rudder, you hairy newcomer!"

The sound of footsteps on the deck clearly entered the cabin on the lower floor, and Marquis Goron shook his head and said with a little embarrassment: "Victor, don't worry about those two guys, we do our thing." ”

Victor nodded silently, turned abruptly, and asked Hansen, the vice president of the Golden Fleece:

"You're from the Kamen Brotherhood?"