Admiral Landis's intention was exactly as Xu Yi had guessed: he wanted to cooperate with the Xinfei Merchant Guild, obtain its support in military magic machinery, then invade the Sark Kingdom and seize a stretch of territory. He would then hand over the mineral resources in that territory to the Xinfei Merchant Guild as payment for the military magic machinery.
The idea was clearly far too crazy.
First, the Sark Kingdom was stronger than the Lampari Kingdom. Throughout their centuries of history, the Sark Kingdom had always held the upper hand, while the Lampari Kingdom had barely managed to hold out and keep it from invading.
Under these circumstances, Admiral Landis was telling Xu Yi that he wanted to use mineral resources within the Sark Kingdom's territory as payment. That was even more ridiculous than trying to satisfy hunger with an imaginary meal.
If the Saal Kingdom's territory were so easy to seize, how could the Lampari Kingdom have been bullied by the Sark Kingdom for so many years?
Second, even if the two kingdoms were equally strong, and the West-Garrison Army really could invade the Sark Kingdom and seize this vast stretch of territory with enough military magic machinery from the Xinfei Merchant Guild, such an action would undoubtedly cross a major line.
The Lampari Kingdom's Military Department might allow the West-Garrison Army to purchase military magic machinery from the Xinfei Merchant Guild on its own to improve its fighting strength, but it would never allow the army to invade the Sark Kingdom without authorization.
That would amount to deliberately starting a war between the two kingdoms. With the Lampari Kingdom still unstable internally and very likely to descend into civil war, neither the Military Department nor the kingdom's other senior officials would ever want to provoke the Lampari