Turn the Rock Fief into our backyard?
What an outrageous declaration!
"You want to completely dismantle the Rock Fief's defenses so the Pirate Alliance can threaten it with force at any time and keep it under our oppressive thumb?" Flint grasped Nie Yun's intent.
How is that oppression? It's called providing military protection! Nie Yun rolled his eyes.
"Exactly! We can't occupy the Rock Fief outright, but that doesn't mean we can't keep exerting influence over it!"
Nie Yun had understood from the start that the pirates could never truly occupy the Rock Fief.
By destroying the Locke Conglomerate, he had merely killed off a local powerbroker as far as the Wulf Empire was concerned. They might even applaud him for it.
But if he brazenly stayed in their territory and refused to leave, making it clear that he intended to carve out his own domain, that would be a slap straight across their face!
If the Wulf Empire still failed to respond, wouldn't that tell everyone it had grown so weak that even a band of pirates could climb onto its head and piss and shit all over it?
Then, it wouldn't just be the Second Prince, with whom they already had a blood feud. The emperor would have to send eight hundred thousand Imperial Guard troops to make an example of them.
The Rock Fief lacked the natural defenses of the Shattered Star Region. Once that massive army arrived, they would count themselves lucky just to retreat safely into the Shattered Star Region.
"Besides, after we withdraw, if a large enemy force attacks, a Rock Fief with all its defenses intact would naturally be the ideal bridgehead for an assault on the Shattered Star Region.
"But without those fortifications, they'd have to station a large force in the