The World Online

The relationship between Bai Xue and Fan Li stemmed from her father, Bai Gui.

Bai Gui was a disciple of Gui Guzi, who was called the Business Ancestor. Meanwhile, Fan Li was called the Business Saint.

Although they were not born in the same generation, they were all representative figures of the business school of thought. After they appeared in the wilderness, they would naturally contact one another.

During the philosophers’ debate, members of the business school of thought did not participate. This was because people of the olden days looked down on business. Even if they participated, they would be humiliated and laughed at.

Of course, Bai Gui and Fan Li were different.

The two of them were not only merchants but also politicians and military personnel. Especially Fan Li, who helped the Yue King destroy the Wu Country. Afterward, he changed his occupation to merchant.

Bai Xue also received the news in her father’s letter that Fan Li was together with Xi Shi. This god-like couple currently secluded themselves in a famous scenic location in Jiangnan.

As such, Ouyang Shuo ordered the Black Snake Guards to go all out in their search for him.

Shanhai City, Wei Manor.

Wei Yang was still bathing in the joy and happiness of reuniting with his love. Even the creases on his forehead had disappeared.

Rumors were spreading that no matter how cold and ruthless he was, if he was not a humble gentleman in real life, he would have failed to successfully chase Bai Xue.

”Bai Xue, since you came here, why not just live here? Although Shanhai City cannot compare to Xianyang at the moment, in the future, it might even surpass it. The Bai Trading Company will also have a limitless future in the city.”

Although Wei Yang had historically helped to build up Xianyang, at the current moment, he had nothing to do with the Qin Country in his heart; he only cared about Shanhai City.

Being granted the powers of the Internal Affairs Department to form the law system, and expand the bailiff teams; all of these were significant events. Since the Lord trusted him so much, he definitely had to give it his all.

Not only Wei Yang, Han Feizi and the other Legalism greats were similarly motivated.

Bai Xue’s eyes revealed that she was touched.

”Since I came here, naturally, I should stay with you.” She laughed, ”Only, if the Bai Trading Company wants to gain a foothold here, you need to help me out.”

Wei Yang laughed with happiness, and he immediately thumped his chest and said, No problem.”

In truth, Shanhai City did not have many restrictions toward Chambers of Commerce moving in. It was an open business environment. For the Bai Trading Company, it would be like a fish entering water.

Since Bai Xue could take control of the Bai Trading Company, she evidently had her abilities.

Probably, from today onward, the imperial Chambers of Commerce in the territory would increase to three. The Cui, Song, and Bai companies would form three chariots that would lead the territory.

What kind of long-term effect would Bai Xue’s arrival have on Shanhai City? No one was sure. However, outside of Shanhai City, a huge change was brewing.

9th month, 25th day, half a month after South Alliance surrendered, a big move finally occurred.

Facing the colossal threat of Shanhai City, South Alliance experienced a considerable internal change. This change did not only affect the situation in Lingnan Province but the China region as a whole.

This day, South Alliance officially announced that they would rename themselves as the Lingnan City-State. At this point, they announced that they would use a city-state system to take root in the China region officially.

Compared to the current alliance system, the city-state system differed greatly.

Firstly, the specific meeting and discussion organizations.

After the members discussed with one another, they all agreed to have a Lords Committee. This committee would handle and solve all critical decisions.

The first head of this committee would be Yuan Ping. The head would change every half a year, and they would be in charge of chairing the meetings. Moreover, they acted as a symbol of the city-state to the outside world.

The Lords in the city-state were all members of this committee, and they had the rights to speak and vote. Each topic needed over sixty percent to agree and vote on before it could be passed.

As a result, compared to an alliance, members of the city-state were working with one another administratively. As for the territory itself, the committee would not interfere. However, for the external decisions, the power would lay in the hands of the Lords Committee.

Which meant that from today onward, to the outside world, the entire Lingnan Province three prefectures, sixty territories, were a single entity and one city-state.

Secondly, they would merge their economy.

Compared to the limited and scattered cooperation of an alliance, as a city-state, they took their collaboration a step further. Firstly, the Lords would all come out with money to build the Lingnan Bank.

The future Lingnan Bank would act as the engine that drove their economy forward. Each member of the city-state could borrow from the bank to develop their territory.

Of course, all of this came at a price.

The city-state declared that to protect the amount of gold inside, the banks in each territory must all merge into the Lingnan Bank and become its branch. With that, out of the sixty-odd territories, all the money of the people would now flow into the Lingnan Bank.

The sudden rise of the Lingnan Bank had made it the second largest player bank under the Four Seas Bank.

Apart from the bank, between members, they would also open up more frequent and free trade. All trade would be free and no tax.

Additionally, the merchants and artisans in the territory could move around as they wished.

With that, they could greatly stimulate the economy of the city-state.

Ouyang Shuo had a better understanding of this matter. This was because at the end of the year, during the third system update, there would be a considerable change to the way territories traded with one another.

The Lingnan City-State had unknowingly progressed.

Thirdly, the integration of their military.

Apart from the city protection teams of their territories, they would also build an alliance army. Its scale would be set at one hundred thousand men for a start. In the future, they might expand their army once again.

All the members would bear the expenses of the alliance army. This alliance army would be equipped with the best equipment and undergo the strictest of training.

Based on Yuan Ping’s statement, the alliance army was a trump card army, the elite of the elite.

Similarly, the alliance army would also have a commander.

As for their choice for this position, they kept it a secret and did not announce it to the public.

Although they did not announce the alliance army commander, Yuan Ping had made their base a high profile topic. The one hundred thousand troops would be based at the border between Zhaoqing Prefecture and Jiaozhou Prefecture to ensure the safety of the city-state.

Who they were defending against and warning, it was pretty obvious.

Just these three points alone could show that the Lingnan City-State would be working close with one another in terms of administrative matters, the economy, and the military. This cooperation was on a whole different level compared to an alliance.

Apart from the three points, between members, there were other cooperations, making up to a hundred points. Only because they had just created the city-state, so they had not entirely settled the details.

In addition to the above benefits, building a city-state also had another advantage—it prevented the chance of betrayal. During the Battle of Zhaoqing, a traitor had influenced the outcome of the battle profoundly.

Learning from this lesson, when building the city-state, they created a set of strict policies. For example, the members were not allowed to form alliances, and the Lords Committee would monitor their teleportation formation permissions.

If a territory did not agree, they would be viewed as an enemy.

With that one point, Yuan Ping had stabilized the Lingnan City-State.

The future Lingnan City-State would be an entity with a common goal that fate joined. No matter who it was, they could not crush them from within.

Everything was adding up, and it was undeniable that the Lingnan City-State would become a power that the China region could not overlook.

Shanhai City’s road toward the east was going to be difficult.

Luckily, Ouyang Shuo had stuck a nail in Jiaozhou Prefecture. As the city-state built up, the strategic location of Zhenhai City would grow more and more important.

Ouyang Shuo was already considering whether or not he needed to send reinforcements there.

The establishment of the Lingnan City-State had a significant impact on the various powers in the region.

Anyone with a brain could understand the purpose of them building up the city-state. Although the other local alliances had not faced a threat like Shanhai City, who was to say that in the future, such a threat would not appear? At the very least, Di Chen and his gang were going to pose a huge problem.

Looking at the bigger picture, the future regional alliances would work together even closer. Building a city-state was without a doubt a good decision.

Only then could they face up against such enormous powers. For example, the Xiangnan Province Caiyun Alliance already had such intentions.

After Shanhai Alliance took down Zhaoqing Prefecture, if they headed east, they could attack Lingnan. If they headed north, they would attack Xiangnan Province.

Hence, Xiangyun Alliance definitely had the motivation to build a city-state.

As for when and whether they could, that would depend on the ability of Caiyun Zinan, and how much influence he had in the alliance.

After all, the city-state system had its pros but also its cons.

If one joined, they could not do whatever they wanted. The city-state would control their words and actions.

Apart from the regional alliances, Shanhai Alliance, Yanhuang Alliance, and the like were affected.

Amongst the alliances, although they could work together like a city-state, having closer cooperation was sorely needed. If not, they would lag behind the times.

The era of city-states was about to arrive!