A victory for one side means a defeat for the other. There are those who rejoice in it, and there are many more who weep bitterly for it. Li Tianhao's resounding victory was like a bolt from the blue for Yaki.

For many years, the Dils thief army was used, but instead of being destroyed, the thief army became bigger and stronger. Especially in this war, the battle was lost and the land was lost. As the food shortage crisis in Durbans was solved by Li Tianhao's strategy of not garrisoning troops and only sending food, although Durbans was still a nominally autonomous city, it showed a clear favor for the Durbans army. If Yaki were to send troops now, it would be impossible for the undefended Dbans to contend with it, but the residents of Durbans, who had become accustomed to self-government, and their hatred for the Yaqi army that had abandoned them, made it doubtful that they would once again support Yaki's rule. The entire Yaki court was plunged into an indescribable gloom.

This negativity reached its peak when the news of the surrender of Eftans, the last city in the occupied zone, reached its climax. Unlike when the Epsommitons fell, Yaqui and Palch were nearly the same area under their control, but Yaki retained a major economic zone and had a population advantage; However, after this stop, with the loss of the region of Affotan and Durbans, not only was the territory greatly reduced, but even the advantage in population was almost negated, with nearly two million people in these two areas, almost equal to the population of the Palci, Dils, Napatis, and Epsommitons combined, after the loss of these two territories. The actual population of the Dils Army has reached more than 4.5 million, which is not much different from the current remaining population of Yaqui. In addition, the remaining area of the Yaqui country is flat, which is not conducive to defense. However, the area controlled by the Dils army occupies all the dangerous terrain, and the attack of the Yaqui army will become difficult, and as before, Yaki will have no advantage.

Of course, the main person responsible for this defeat was Vulture, although in the actual battle it was because of his keen sense of smell that greater losses were avoided, but the loss of the city and land was also an indisputable fact, so before Vulture returned to the capital city of Ashtidon, he was dismissed by Qadir III as commander of the Yaki army. And they were escorted back to the capital. Vulture had been mentally prepared for this arrangement, so when he received the king's order, he was as calm as ever, due to his previous efforts. The defense of Abdus was on the right track, and Vulture calmly handed over command to the lieutenant general Bius and followed the messenger.

Just as Vulture was on his way back to Echtiton, several things happened in Ashtiton's court.

The first is the return of Viscount Libera, who was ordered to make an inspection. Libera was undoubtedly lucky. If it weren't for the fact that Yaqui's eastern overseas trade had been severely hit by pirates. Nor would Kadir send him to inspect the severity of the situation and submit a plan of response. In that case, it is possible that he will be in charge of the war this time, and the results he can get may not be better than that of Vultures, and this bad luck will be his turn.

Of course, the news brought by Libera was not very promising, and according to the results of his inspection, the pirates who attacked the Yaqui merchant fleet were much more serious than expected. Originally, Libera thought that this might be the operation of the hostile Arubania pirates behind the operation of the Yaqui merchant fleet, or simply the good work of the Arubanian fleet, but after investigation, he found that the situation was even worse than he expected. Because according to what he knows about Arubania, let alone the pirates they support behind them. Even the Arubanian fleet did not have such a high combat efficiency. The organizational ability of this group of pirates, the way they fought. The accuracy of the sortie and the range of the hunt are breathtaking, and it can be said that the shipping in the eastern part of the subqui has been paralyzed, and the market of the subqui can still have the import of goods from the east, mainly relying on the merchant fleets of other countries. Unless the other side has a larger fleet than the Arubanian fleet, unless the other side has a larger fleet than the Arubanian fleet, it means that this is a very formidable opponent, and it is impossible to recapture Yaqui's trade routes in the east from its hands with the fleet in the east of Yaqui alone.

In response to this situation, Libera decided that the only way was to build warships as soon as possible, and to transform all large and medium-sized merchant ships into armed merchant ships, lure pirates into attack, and then concentrate their forces to annihilate them.

Looking at the size of the fleet listed in Libera's report, and the corresponding sailor recruitment and training plan, Kadir frowned. Of course, he was not unaware of the importance of protecting the eastern trade route, which was directly related to the quantity of his various oriental luxury goods, but the price of opening this trade route was too high. Now that the country has been defeated for many years, the country has been decimated, and the wounds caused by the long-term war with Arubania have not healed, but have been further expanded. Yaqui's financial situation was in obvious crisis, and the sea trade routes that could have been compensated for were threatened at this time, and the fighting in the south was tight, and the purchase of additional warships was really stretched.

"That's not easy, Libera. I am afraid that the current financial situation will not allow us to prepare for war in two directions at the same time. ”

"I know what you mean. Although it is difficult to say, I would like to allow you to make this suggestion: judging from the current situation, we have always been in a disadvantageous position in the battle against the thief army, and the most urgent task at the moment is to stabilize the front, not to rush to counterattack and regain the lost ground. It seems that it is necessary for us to be mentally prepared for a long confrontation with the thief army.

The trade routes are different, if the pirates are allowed to continue to run rampant, then their strength will gradually increase, and when their power grows stronger, then the financial resources and troops that need to be invested will be even greater, and the war against the thieves has exhausted us, and it is difficult for us to draw funds to deal with the pirates; On the other hand, if we can endure the pain of eliminating pirates, or eliminate their main force, so as to open up the trade line, then we can use the income from the trade line to support the long-term war against the thief army, and the problem of piracy should be prioritized compared to the two. ”

Kadir listened as he toyed with the gemstone ring on his finger, and he had to admit that Libera's statement had his point, but it was still a little different from what he had in mind. He hesitated for a moment before saying, "What Qing said is very true. Fighting a war, in the final analysis, is about making money. The question now is where to get the money to build a fleet of warships to deal with the pirates, while also recruiting and training sailors. On this note, I would like to introduce you to someone who has any great ideas. ”

"Yes, Your Majesty is wise."

Kadir raised a hand to signal his attendant Hader, who immediately ran outside the house. After about half a meal, Harder ushered a man in. Libera was shocked when she saw this person, this person's right sleeve was empty, and he had been scolded by himself just a year ago, he was the son of Prime Minister Usubu, the former Yaki general Tulayan! (To be continued......)