At the same time, the eyes of the trusted aides around him turned cold. Openly stirring the anger of members within the territory and trying to force the Alliance Leader into making a choice—such behavior would not make it strange if they were executed on the spot.
"Reject their request," Ronglin said calmly. "Tell them that I already have other plans."
King of Ashil said worriedly, "But several lords have submitted a joint request. I'm afraid it won't be easy to suppress it. If we forcefully suppress them, it may cause quite an impact internally."
A sharp, icy gleam flashed from Ronglin's eyes as he looked at King of Ashil. "Am I the Alliance Leader, or are they the Alliance Leader? Must I bear the consequences of their wishes instead?"
King of Ashil was immediately startled and said tremblingly, "Yes, yes! I understand. I'll handle it right away!"
As King of Ashil hurried away, the members inside the stronghold gathered around.
At present, aside from the Fourth Fleet, which was taking turns patrolling and defending the Star Alliance's territory, and the Third Fleet, which was stationed in the Lodun Islands, all the other core members had gathered within the Ashil Kingdom.
"What countermeasure do you have?" Of everyone present, only Jinbe could ask Ronglin so directly.
"It's nothing," Ronglin said after thinking for a moment. "Let them make trouble. They're all a bunch of good-for-nothings anyway. If they make too much trouble, we'll simply drag them out and chop them down, then replace them with others. That will actually make the alliance easier to stabilize."
"What if they rebel?" Moria was especially sensitive when it came to betrayal. "Right now, half of the alliance's expenses are paid by those lords. Two-thirds of the islands in the territory are tax-exempt, and