Volume 5 Chapter 148 Locals
The guard fleet stopped on an island that wasn’t too big for a night and continued heading south the next morning.
After around three hours, there was a black line in the horizon that represented land.
“Leslie, this seems to be even bigger than what you mentioned in your letters.” Xu Yi looked at the land in the distance with the telescope in his hand and gave a gasp, “Such a large piece of land, it simply can’t be described as just an island.”
“Actually, it is only an island.” Leslie gave a laugh and drew a semicircle in the air, “We explored the surroundings of this island and found that there was only the small island that we stopped at yesterday that was nearby. So while it does occupy this part of the sea alone, it can still be considered an island.”
“Then do you know how big it is specifically?” Xu Yi asked.
“I can’t give you an accurate measure, but if I had to, let me think…..It should be around several dozen times bigger than Masur Island.”
“Can that still be considered an island?” Xu Yi looked right at Leslie.
Masur Island was the biggest island the guard fleet had found on the southern seas, it was around twenty square kilometers.
If this island was several dozen times bigger, then didn’t that mean that it was over a thousand square kilometers?
Although this was considered an island, an island of this size had a very different meaning.
Xu Yi took the telescope to look at the approaching island again and gave a sigh, “Leslie, I suddenly regret saying that I’ll give this island to you. Such a big island, there must be very rich resources on it. I am simply giving you a gold mine.”
Leslie rolled his eyes, “This place is being treated as a colony by you, so even if it is handed to me, doesn’t it still belong to you and the Frestech Chamber of Commerce?”
Xu Yi revealed a smile. He thought that he really did have few talented people under him, he didn’t have many who he could trust like Leslie.
To learn from earth and create colonies overseas, there was no better choice than Leslie.
After telling Leslie his idea of starting a colony, the report that Leslie sent before saying that he had found an island that was incredibly big was already on Xu Yi’s mind.
When he saw Leslie again, Xu Yi had thought it through.
It was hard enough to find such a large island overseas, if he didn’t seize the chance to control it while the other countries of the Sines Continent couldn’t reach here yet, he would be wasting this natural gift.
But with the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s current strength and the lack of manpower, it was hard for them to assign people here.
Since it was like this, he might as well hand it to Leslie and let him control it.
Although the Stagg Family had been destroyed, the Stagg Family had been prospering in the Lampuri Kingdom for several hundred years. They had a very deep stash accumulated and it hadn’t completely vanished.
It could be seen when Leslie asked to buy the Magic Ships before. Leslie might still have the hidden resources of the Stagg Family and Leslie had never hidden this from Xu Yi.
So Xu Yi had always been thinking about what to do with Leslie.
It was impossible for Leslie to stay as the commander of the guard fleet, so having him be take care of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s colonies overseas was very suitable for him.
Leslie had many people from the Stagg Family that he could move and it would be hard for them to raise their heads if they stayed on the Sines Continent. If they came to this island that was far from the Sines Continent to restart, it would be a very good choice for them.
When Xu Yi had raised this arrangement to Leslie yesterday, although Leslie was a bit surprised, it only took him a bit of thinking to confirm that this was indeed the best choice for him.
But everything was unknown right now. They didn’t have much information on the island, so it was too early to talk about this. Leslie only approved of Xu Yi’s arrangements, but he didn’t agree to them yet.
Everything would have to be decided after they explored the island.
The guard fleet approached the island at quick speeds. When they could see the coast of the island, Xu Yi ordered one of the Magic Airships to start investigating the island.
“Have you gone on the island before?” Xu Yi asked Leslie.
“We have. We’ve already found a natural harbour in this place, we’ll be able to dock there later.” Leslie pointed to the right of the island.
“Oh? There’s actually a natural harbour? It seems like your luck is quite good.” Xu Yi was a bit surprised.
Leslie gave a laugh, “This isn’t just my luck, it’s yours. But it isn’t all luck. Do you know what we’ve found after we went ashore?”
Seeing Leslie’s dark look, Xu Yi asked in a curious voice, “What did you find?”
“There are locals on this island and the language they use is similar to the common language of the Sines Continent. According to my guesses, the locals on these islands should have wandered here from the Sines Continent, so they could be considered our old relatives.”
“Isn’t that better? I was worried that we wouldn’t be able to communicate with the locals, but now that we’ve solved the language problem, it should be much easier.”
“It’s good if it was that simple.” Leslie said with a bitter smile, “I don’t know why, but the locals are very hostile towards us. They immediately shouted “kill them” as soon as they saw us. We had just arrived and because you always said to handle things peacefully, we couldn’t make a move and could only retreat.”
“This means that you failed with the preliminary exploration?”
“Pretty much.”
Xu Yi knitted his brows to look at the large island’s shore that was approaching. After thinking about it, he waved his hand, “No matter what, we’ll go on the island and take a look first.”
“Then if the locals want to kill us?”
Xu Yi looked at him and said with a laugh, “They can be hostile to us outsiders, but being hostile doesn’t always make their lives better…..”
Leslie looked at the smile on Xu Yi’s face and couldn’t help shaking his head as he said with a sigh, “Xu Yi, I’ve found that you’ve become more and more like a profiteer.”
After twenty minutes, the fleet landed at the natural harbour that Leslie pointed out.
This place was near a cliff and there was a beach that wasn’t too wide by the cliff. So although this was a natural harbour, there wasn’t much space for the guard ships to anchor.
Leslie had been here once, so he was familiar with this situation.
Xu Yi watched as he commanded the fleet to stop by the coast and then sat in one of the Magic Speed Boats heading to the shore.
While feeling the soft feeling of the sand underneath him, Xu Yi looked around himself.
Although this was a natural harbour, the area was very limited and there wasn’t much room for development.
If they wanted to keep developing this island, this natural harbour wasn’t enough and they would have to find another harbour.
But that was something to consider in the future, this place could still be used for now.
Xu Yi turned back to Leslie who was ordering the guards from the guard ship and knitted his brows as he shouted, “Leslie, have them hide their weapons. At least put away the swords and bows that they have. We are here to do business, not to go to war.”
Leslie was surprised, “Didn’t I tell you just now that the locals are very hostile towards us, shouldn’t we be prepared at all?”
“Of course we should be prepared, but if you go over fully armed, even people who aren’t hostile will become hostile. Listen to me, throw away the swords and bows for me, only bring some Magic Rockets and other military magic machines with us.”
Leslie knitted his brows when he heard the first part of Xu Yi’s words, but after he heard the final part, he couldn’t help smiling.
“Good Xu Yi, I thought that you wanted to work as an envoy of peace, but you’re even more ruthless than me.”
Leslie turned to give the order to the guards after saying this and following Xu Yi’s orders, they only had a few military magic machines on them.
These things didn’t look like normal swords and bows, so the locals of the island wouldn’t be able to recognize them and would be less on their guard.
Other than having the guards put away these weapons, Xu Yi ordered everyone to bring some goods from the ship and set up on the beach.
Following Leslie’s information, their group walked around three kilometers to the southeast before they saw a small village that had around twenty houses.
Seeing this large group approaching, the villagers were clearly shocked and gathered up, looking at their group with vigilance.
Xu Yi looked over the villagers and found that they were wearing very tattered clothes, with several people just wearing patched up clothing.
Looking at their dark and thin faces, Xu Yi immediately understood.
It seems like the living conditions were quite normal. Not to mention the people of the Lampuri Kingdom and the Stantine Duchy who lived much better lives under the influence of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, they were worse off than the citizens of Banta City before the Frestech Chamber of Commerce appeared.
Thinking of this, Xu Yi revealed a warm smile. He took a bag of flour from one of the guards and walked over to these villagers.
Seeing him walk over, these villages couldn’t help taking two steps back. They all came closer together as they anxiously watched him approach.
Xu Yi had the same smile and stopped around five meters away from the villagers. Then he put the flour on the ground and opened up the sack, revealing the golden flour that was inside.
“Everyone, we are merchants from afar, we’ve come here to do some business with everyone. If you can provide anything valuable, we are willing to trade these things with you.”
The villagers looked at the flour on the ground and looked at the various other products the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s guards had before their eyes all lit up.