Beginning with the Ubume Bird-Chapter 235 - 72 I’m coming!

Chapter 235: Chapter 72 I’m coming!

The Malani large sailing ship, some thirty zhang in length, was wretchedly battered, like a delicately crafted toy callously crushed in someone’s hands. As onlookers watched, it sank to the bottom of the sea heralded by a few large bubbles, leaving nothing behind.

Mr. Cai twirled his ring somewhat sorrowfully; such a large ship, though old, was still worth tens of thousands of taels of silver.

Zhang He, having returned to the deck of the Tianbo Division, shook out his robe and settled back into the rosewood chair without a word.

On the Demon Thief’s side, Zhang He’s cousin, his arm newly plastered, strained his neck trying to get closer to Zhang He but was pulled back by the second in command, Qi Daoji.

Qi Daoji’s face bore a solemn expression as he shook his head, conveying that now was not the time to make things uncomfortable.

Li Yan, boarding the ship, maintained his composure and nodded at a few of his own leaders to reassure them. His glance swept across the table to land on a dish of red-and-translucent “Crispy Blast” with a pair of chopsticks placed beside it.

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Li Yan exchanged a look with Cha Xiaodao, then took his seat at the table with an air of magnanimity. With a hint of jest in his tone, he complained, “Mr. Cai is truly stingy. After sitting all night, fruit isn’t filling, is it? We even have to prepare our own meals.”

Saying so, Li Yan reached for the chopsticks, noisily munching away. No one could tell that he was actually on his last legs, even struggling to hold the chopsticks.

“Who won?”

“Don’t know…”

“Hey, if someone stays quiet, obviously they’ve lost.”

Zhang He and Li Yan came back one after the other, one with a sullen face saying nothing, the other starting to eat the moment he returned—the atmosphere was profoundly odd.

Mr. Cai covertly scrutinized the expressions of the two men. Zhang He’s robe was torn all over from sword and spear blades, and his face was frosted.

Tianbao’s armor was slightly disheveled, his expression calm, revealing nothing else. Mr. Cai pondered once more.

“This Tianbao, he looks like he didn’t exert much effort…”

Logically, someone should continue the earlier debate; with Lin Ajin having stepped down, who should take the position of Alliance Hierarch?

Especially Mr. Cai, with Zhang He keeping his head down, he should have been the first on the scene to raise this point. Unexpectedly, after observing Li Yan for a while, Mr. Cai wasn’t in a rush to speak up; instead, he ordered his servant Hu Ji, “Brother Tianbao is right. We’ve been fighting all night, and everyone is tired. Let’s have some food and drink first, we can discuss the other matters later.”

“Ah, don’t,”

Li Yan looked up, “Mr. Cai, time waits for no one. It’s better to settle the matter of the Alliance Hierarch sooner rather than later,” he said.

“Didn’t Brother Zhang He have some objections just now?”

Mr. Cai gestured to Zhang He.

Zhang He closed his eyes, his tone icy, “You all decide. I have no objections.”

Everyone looked at each other, shock in their eyes.

Zhang He hadn’t spoken like this before he left; his present nonchalant demeanor was clearly an admission of defeat, inside and out.

The Demon Thief Zhang He had truly lost to Tianbao.

Mr. Cai’s expression didn’t change: “Then let’s follow the rules. The Precious Ship Lin Clan has withdrawn from the contest, Yishi Zhufen has won one less battle, and Brother Tianbao is a little lacking in military provisions. Mr. Cai…”

“The Red Flag Gang still has military provisions to put on the table.”

Cai Qian’s face was expressionless, “However, the contest has already ended.”

“There are people here who can vouch for me. I had just gone to urinate, and to my surprise, when I returned, you all had started a commotion. I made myself clear, I wasn’t stepping down yet, I never said that Red Flag would just accept this. Mr. Cai, you declared it over. Were you perhaps a bit too hasty?”

Li Yan pressed his point home step by step. His words gained a lot of agreement from the crowd; indeed, Tianbao had been absent for quite a while earlier, and at this moment, Li Yan’s proposal to increase military preparedness seemed reasonable and justifiable.

“So…” Cai Qian tapped on the table, although Tianbao initially refused to sit at the round table with the other four pirate leaders, as things stood now, he remained one of the few with the greatest say among the pirate chiefs.

“Tianbao, is there anything else you can add?”

“Fifty new cannons, eight inches in caliber, plus a thousand kegs of black powder shells. That’s a total of two hundred thousand taels of silver, not too much, right?”

Upon hearing this, Cai Qian couldn’t help but ask, “Tianbao, if I remember correctly, you’ve already added a total of four hundred and sixty-two cannons of various calibers to the prize pot. I’m aware that Red Flag Gang is powerful, but at this point, can you still produce fifty more eight-inch cannons?”

Cannons were rare items, and among the South Seas pirates, roughly a dozen families owned cannons, but these were mostly solid shot or filled with sand. Those possessing black powder explosive shells were limited to the five major pirate forces. Only Zhang He, Cai Qian, and the Red Flag Gang had the capability to deploy explosive shells on a large scale into their warships.

“Whether I can produce them or not, time will tell. Surely, I won’t bite off more than I can chew, will I?”

Li Yan’s face remained unchanged. With the “Heavy Cannon Manufacturing Machine” at his disposal, he naturally had deeper pockets than Cai Qian could imagine.

Cai Qian nodded, “That makes sense; however, what Tianbao Dragon Head has failed to understand is that, right now… it’s hard to find an opponent for you.”

Li Yan was momentarily stunned, but he quickly caught on.

He had forgotten a critical point.

In the chaotic fight, winning based on military preparedness was just a basic condition. Understanding the rules thoroughly was more important than anything else.

Besides preying on the weak, another key point was that one’s military supplies should be completely spent while others still had money to offer!

Li Yan now faced an embarrassing situation he hadn’t anticipated; he was willing to spend the money for the contest, but the current prize pot had almost been completely drained of other people’s money. Knowing that the odds were against them, others had even less reason to compete with him!

As for Cai Qian himself, there was even less necessity to send someone to compete with Red Flag Gang. By maintaining the status quo, he could rely on having more military resources in the pot than the Five Flags Alliance to win the position of Alliance Hierarch.

After all, Cai Qian was a businessman, and he had set the rules himself. No matter how fair they seemed, he was always in a position to gain an advantage over the rest.

Immediately, Li Yan turned to Zhufen, “Boss Zhu, did you just say…”

“No!” Zhufen’s head shook like a rattle drum, “No! I’ve lost, I won’t compete anymore.”

Zhufen also saw the clear picture that amongst the five major pirate forces, he was destined to be at the bottom, and the smaller leaders had no hope of catching up. To spend more money was just throwing it away.

Li Yan fell silent for a moment, then turned his eyes to the other leaders, “Are there any other leaders who wish to step into the contest?”

Wherever Li Yan’s gaze fell, everyone averted their faces.

At this point, no one had the will to vie for victory, and seeing that even Zhang He had been defeated, who could withstand Tianbao?

There were pirate forces with good relations with Red Flag who considered stepping up to give Li Yan a win. Once Zheng Xiu’er became the Alliance Hierarch, he would surely not forget this timely favor. But one hundred thousand taels was no small sum, and now it was incredibly hard for those pirate forces to come up with that amount of money.

“I will compete with Tianbao in this round!”

The speaker was Xu Longsi of the Yellow Flag Gang!