“Is that the Xiguang Banner?”

In front of Li Ran was a medium-sized armed merchant ship of a small chamber of commerce. The pot-bellied steward saw the flag swaying slightly in the sea breeze against the warm sunshine. He rubbed his eyes to make sure he was not seeing things.

The fat steward reacted and saw that the sailors were still in a daze. He kicked the short sailor who was closest to him:

“What the hell are you still standing there for? Get out of the way!”

“Make way! Make way!”

The commotion at the rear of the fleet also attracted more and more people’s attention.

Just when the representatives of several large trading companies in front were extremely anxious, they suddenly received a very arrogant notice, asking them to give way to a private yacht, otherwise they would bear the consequences.

Ganoluo from the Black Gold Merchant Alliance happened to be on this ship. He was rejected by Li Ran last time, so this time he was determined to seek cooperation at all costs. This was a business opportunity he smelled.

“Who is so arrogant? If you don’t allow me to stop, stop right here.” Next to Ganoluo was a spice tycoon, Tuya Monrett, a representative of the Tuya family, a wealthy family from New England. He was holding a big cigar, and his whole body was full of the aura of nouveau riche. His tone was a bit bad:

“Where did these country bumpkins come from who dare to speak so brazenly? Someone, kick them out?”

“Butler, we dare not.” The person who reported it said with some fear.

“You useless piece of shit! Do you want me to go there myself?” Tuyamonret was a little exasperated.

Ganoluo frowned. A nouveau riche is a nouveau riche. The Tuya family became increasingly arrogant because of the sudden wealth of the spice business in recent years, which made the old man look down on them from the bottom of his heart.

The business that Ganoluo worked for was no longer limited to making money. What they wanted were various benefits on the ocean, economic benefits, social benefits, and of course the right to speak on the ocean and the right of passage on the route. These were what these old-fashioned businesses valued, so he slowly stood up from his seat:

“Sorry, I have something else to do, so I’ll take my leave now.”

Cannoli suddenly left his seat, causing many representatives of small merchants to look at each other in bewilderment and then leave.

In fact, Ganoluo left not only because he disdained to cooperate with the Tuya family, but more importantly, he was very concerned about who had such great power.

So he walked onto the deck and saw that the originally crowded caravans behind him had been separated in an orderly manner to create a road only for private yachts to pass through. He looked around and finally saw the flag.

Ganoluo’s eyes narrowed slightly, and then he shouted to the servant beside him:

“Hurry, return to the ship immediately and inform everyone to clear the way immediately. Anyone who violates this will be fired!”

The servant was a little confused, but he immediately followed Ganoluo’s steps, and then they decisively left the Tuya Trading Company’s ship.

This scene made Tuyamonret, who was originally a little unhappy, stunned. He fiercely extinguished the cigar in his hand and was about to lose his temper when he heard a strong female voice holding a radio and shouting:

“The merchant ship ahead has five minutes to clear the way, otherwise you will lose your right to pass the Death Route forever. This is the order of His Excellency Li Ran, the commander of the Xiguang Island Garrison. You guys take care of yourselves!”

“Admiral of Xiguang Island?” Tuyamonret’s hands trembled slightly. Then, as he watched the other merchant representatives who were still present say goodbye one after another, he finally understood the contemptuous look in Ganoluo’s eyes before he left.

old man!

Tuyamonlet’s face was uncertain. He was cheated, but now he still put the interests of his family first. He didn’t think it was shameful. As a businessman, those who were thin-skinned were fed to sharks in the sea. To do business in such a dangerous ocean, you need to be ruthless and shameless.

“What are you still standing there for? Pull your boats aside, you bunch of pigs!”

The servant was kicked by Monrett just now. There was a trace of resentment in his eyes, but he still left timidly to deliver the message.

Li Ran was driving a yacht at this time, and for the first time he realized how powerful the identity of admiral was. He originally thought that Helena’s words would cause disgust, but he didn’t expect that those merchants were sensible.

“It looks like Bismarck and the others have done something extraordinary!”

Chapter 265: We are family

Li Ran watched the merchant ships in front of him retreat to the sides consciously. He felt that perhaps this was the deterrent power brought by the identity of admiral.

This world is, after all, just like Earth, a world where strength is paramount. However, on Earth, he was born in a powerful country, so he did not show such nakedness.

The scene before him made him realize that this world might just be the world of the KanColle game. It made him feel for the first time that this world was not as gentle as it seemed.

The deep sea is not a weak entity as it appears in the game.

“Admiral, it seems that Bismarck and his men must have caused quite a stir. They were able to attract so many merchants in just one day. I’m afraid…”

“what do you mean?”

Li Ran frowned. He steered the private yacht forward and could clearly notice the eyes on him from the merchant ships.

“Perhaps someone deliberately leaked the information about yesterday’s battle. Should I investigate it?”

As an intelligence expert, Helena was extremely sensitive to these things. She felt a little unhappy. This was obviously a deliberate attempt to expose her garrison to the public.

“No need. Although keeping a low profile is indeed a strategy we originally developed, but now someone is using an open plot, we should accept it. This is good. It saves us from having to advertise all over the world. Since someone wants to test our strength, it’s not a bad idea to show off our strength sometimes.”

Li Ran couldn’t help but think of China, his own country, which was developing the economy while focusing on scientific research and military affairs, making a fortune in silence. The same applies to his current small garrison. However, sometimes the national strategy involves too many aspects. As for the garrison, since the established strategy has been broken, he might as well let the flag of the Xiguang Garrison be more prominent starting from today.

“Why not show off some muscles?” Helena felt that Li Ran’s words were easy to understand, but contained great strategic wisdom. Indeed, she had never understood why Li Ran wanted to open up the three islands while prohibiting Xiguang Island from communicating with the outside world. Now she roughly understood.

“Admiral, you were originally using the assassination case as an excuse to cover up the truth about our port area?”

“BIGGO!” Li Ran snapped his fingers. He didn’t intend to hide the fact about his own ship girls for too long. Moreover, he had just encountered a deep-sea attack. He had already decided to change his established policy of taking it step by step. He originally wanted to wait until all his ship girls were transformed before showing their strength, but it was obvious that Bismarck and the others’ victory this time was taken advantage of by someone with ulterior motives.

“Helena, why do you think intelligence is so important?”

“That’s because only by knowing both yourself and the enemy can you fight a hundred battles without danger. This is what Pinghai told me. It belongs to the Chinese art of war.”

“That’s right. Only by knowing both ourselves and the enemy can we win every battle. Intelligence work, to put it bluntly, is to grasp more information earlier than the enemy. This is also the purpose of my setting up the Intelligence Department. It’s just that I haven’t found the right person to help you share the work for the time being. I’m sorry for the hard work.”

Li Ran showed a bitter smile. Even after half a year, his port area was only this big. Although the rules of this world were simple, they involved games in all aspects. Although he had the identity of admiral as a shield, he had experienced the trip to the Far East war zone, witnessed the behavior of those so-called veteran admirals, and learned the means of the governors. He felt a sense of crisis.

Also, he thought about what Pachina said to him that night.

The unknown is the scariest thing.

“Helena, we still know too little about this world. I used to think about making you strong enough first, and even revealing your strength when you can stand on your own. In fact, what happened today taught me a lesson. Maybe I shouldn’t hide it anymore.”

“What does the Admiral mean?”

“We must speed up our external expansion. Although the current geographical location of the port is important, it is also awkward. We are located at the central node of the Far East War Zone and the Taipingyan War Zone. Although there is a death route and a relatively safe Far East route, our strategic depth is too small. Perhaps we should not be frightened by the so-called unknown waters. Since the seven governors have already intended to explore the unknown waters, can we take advantage of our current advantages and act first?”

“Admiral, do you want to march into uncharted waters?”

“Do we have any other options? The port area is becoming more and more prosperous, but the problems have obviously been exposed. Even though so many sea merchants are coming here, the geographical location of the port area is still too awkward.

Not every merchant has the guts to trade across thousands of miles. Although capital makes people crazy, I think many sea merchants cherish their lives. Therefore, we cannot rely too much on the outside world to bring us benefits, and our resources cannot be limited to external imports. Otherwise, once the outside world cuts off our logistical supplies, our garrison will probably be paralyzed in the first place. This is why I dare not build recklessly. “

Li Ran’s words made Helena fall into deep thought. Indeed, when she went south to the Far East War Zone and the South China Sea War Zone to gather intelligence on the Sihai Trading Company, she had already keenly realized the unique advantages of those garrisons backed by land. For a garrison like her own port area that was isolated overseas, resources were indeed a very tricky issue.

She thought for a while, then looked up at the receding scenery outside the cabin, the inquiring, questioning, jealous, and awed looks from the people on the merchant ships, and felt a little dignified in her heart, then said in a firm tone:

“No matter what the future holds, Admiral, I and everyone else in the port will be with you.”

“I know, but although we have to rely on ourselves, we can’t reject the goodwill of the merchants like we did last time. Since they are willing to discuss cooperation, it proves that the value of the three islands has gradually emerged. What we have to do is to magnify this value. However, we have to hold the gold trade rights in our hands.

We have the final say here, and I hope those people see this clearly. As I said, I hate trouble, but I don’t mind eliminating trouble.”

Li Ran’s tone was no longer as timid as before, but was filled with a faint majesty. Although he didn’t know who was targeting him, he was afraid that it was related to his previous involvement in the core fraud case. The previous assassination case made him face the reality.

In the end, strength is the key to success in this world, and his own strength is entirely based on the ship girls. Although this feeling makes him feel a little uncomfortable, he has understood why Lexington said that ship girls are sometimes just weapons.

However, Li Ran did not like this somewhat desperate statement. For a time traveler like him, the ship girls were already family members. He instinctively felt disgusted by the idea of ​​using his family members.

Helena looked at Li Ran in silence. She looked at Li Ran’s slightly darker profile. The sunlight slanting into the cabin from outside fell on her admiral, revealing a temperament that made her heart beat.

At this time, a cool sea breeze blew, making Helena’s eyes clear and her pretty face slightly red.

Helena, it’s already this time, how can you still have such thoughts?

However, she still cared about something, so she pondered for a while and then said:

“Admiral, can I ask you a question?”

“What?” Li Ran said without turning his head, his tone somewhat relaxed. As he spoke, he increased the horsepower of the yacht.

The yacht wantonly cut through a row of arrogant white waves on the sea.

In the distance, he could vaguely see the Dawn Flag flying on the shore of Island A. He squinted his eyes slightly and looked at a few seagulls resting on the masts of the merchant ships on both sides. He felt in a good mood.

This time, perhaps those who are interested can publicize it and bring themselves a lot of funds, and the repair of the construction equipment requires a lot of funds, which just fills this gap.

Even though I was targeted by an open conspiracy, maybe it was a good thing?

“What are we to the Admiral?”

Helena sometimes has nightmares, in which the sisters defend the port to the death. Although she knows that the admiral did not do it on purpose, she is still very afraid of such a scene…

Li Ran turned his head and looked at Helena, and found that her hands were trembling slightly. He felt a slight pain in his heart, but he still said in a relaxed tone:

“You are my only family in this world.”

As he spoke, Li Ran gently stretched out his hand and placed it gently on Helena’s hand, then looked straight ahead without a trace of confusion.

Helena felt the warm touch of his palm, and a hint of tenderness flashed in her eyes. Although she was sad, everyone in heaven should be able to feel it.

“Admiral, I’ll go ahead and clear the way for you, otherwise I’m afraid Bismarck and the others won’t know that the admiral is here.”

“Yeah.” Li Ran watched Helena gently pull her hand away. He looked at the beauty’s back, her long purple hair blown by the sea breeze that slipped into the cockpit.

Li Ran watched Helena jump off the sea, unfold her ship suit, and lead the way. A trace of regret flashed in his eyes:

I’m sorry, Helena, there are some things I know that apologies are useless, so I can’t make any promises to you for the time being, because I don’t know if I will return to that world one day.

Helena moved forward against the sea breeze. The light cruiser’s ship uniform was not too ostentatious, but the glittering golden light made the merchants on both sides flash a hint of surprise in their eyes. After all, although golden ship uniforms were rarely sold by admirals, some admirals would sell some of them due to their livelihoods, and each piece of golden ship uniform was very expensive.

Therefore, in the minds of these maritime merchants, the cooperation value of the Xiguang Garrison has been invisibly increased by several points.

The garrisons that are able to equip golden ships have great potential.

What’s more, the Death Route is now controlled by the mysterious admiral who is driving a private yacht.

In the minds of the sea merchants, their calculations were already working rapidly.

Those who were able to make a living in the ocean where the deep sea could appear at any time would either become food for sharks in the sea, or be torn to pieces by deep-sea naval guns, or plunder enough wealth to become rich.

But obviously no one thinks that money is too much.

The magic of capital, the huge profits of maritime trade, and the value that the future death route can create are enough for them to take a gamble.

Li Ran didn’t know that from the moment he stepped onto Island A, a path that deviated from his original intention was inevitably laid out before him…