Chapter 964
No Way Out
"We'll talk about this later. We'll take our leave now." Yang Xia and Kanapan left without any politeness, not wanting to waste any more words on such people.
Yang Xia and Kanapan left Ivory Coast, leaving Ruva feeling uneasy. He knew that what Yang Xia had just said was true. Tanawu would definitely not let it go and would retaliate even more fiercely. If Ivory Coast could not successfully deal with the situation, its chances of survival remained slim. Disturbed, Ruva had no choice but to summon Banro to discuss their next plan.
“Although we defeated the Moonlight Kingdom this time, we have also sown the seeds of a considerable hidden danger. Tanawu will certainly not let this go easily. If they come back again, the Ivory Kingdom will still be in great danger.” Ruwa sighed heavily, deeply worried about the future of the Ivory Kingdom.
"Your Majesty, we must also focus on developing our military strength. We have no choice but to grit our teeth and fight the Moonlight Kingdom to the bitter end." Banluo understood their current predicament. Sometimes, you have to fight on your own; you can't rely on others. Although the victory in this battle brought temporary joy, the nation's strength had been exhausted for this war, and this couldn't continue.
“We, the Ivory Kingdom, have nothing left but oil and a little money. Our military strength has always been under the protection of the Moonlight Kingdom, practically nonexistent. Developing these areas is now impossible.” Ruva was filled with despair, realizing how foolish his previous actions had been—completely entrusting his fate to the Moonlight Kingdom. Now that Tanawu of the Moonlight Kingdom had turned against them, the Ivory Kingdom was like a useless piece of trash, utterly incompetent. Banro nodded in agreement, realizing that the Ivory Kingdom was indeed in a disadvantageous position. Tanawu was an incredibly ruthless man; they had completely offended him, and he would undoubtedly retaliate fiercely. It was virtually impossible for the Ivory Kingdom to develop its military strength and win battles in a short time; they had to accept this reality. After much deliberation, the Ivory Kingdom had no way out; it was indeed a particularly troublesome situation.
"Your Majesty, there really isn't a good solution right now. Perhaps we should try to persuade Yang Xia or Kanapan to continue cooperating with the Ivory Kingdom." Banluo felt that the only way forward was to continue seeking help. Currently, only Yang Xia and Kanapan could rival the Moonlight Kingdom.
"It's no use. I've already spoken directly with both of them. We can't possibly come up with another 300 billion. Apart from this condition, nothing else is of any use." Luwa sighed heavily again. This couldn't go on. They couldn't keep coming up with 300 billion every time they wanted Yang Xia to help them fight; they didn't have the capability.
“But there’s really no other way but to ask those two for help. We can only swallow our pride and keep pestering them.” Banlu couldn’t think of a better solution, so he kept asking Luwa to persuade Yang Xia and Kanapan.
“Yang Xia is a man of his word. If I insist on arguing, the negotiations will definitely fall apart.” Luwa shook his head, not daring to take the risk. Once they also broke ties with Yang Xia, Ivory Country would have no way out. This wouldn't work, that wouldn't work, and Banluo was completely at a loss, falling silent for a moment.
Suddenly, Banro's eyes lit up, as if he had thought of another way, and he quickly continued to discuss it with Ruva. "Your Majesty, although the Kingdom of Phil is relatively strong, they are very religious and sometimes quite foolish. Perhaps we can start with them and look for another opportunity." Banro's mind was quite quick, and he could always come up with some different ideas. However, this time he was forced into a corner and only then did he start using these crooked ideas.
“That makes sense. Why don’t you go to Phil Kingdom yourself and see if there’s a suitable opportunity?” Ruva trusted Banro quite a bit. He knew this method was a bit risky, but he was willing to let him try. Ivory Kingdom was now driven to the brink of collapse, and it seemed that nothing they did could resolve the current crisis. The matter was settled; Ruva agreed to let Banro go to Phil Kingdom and see if a suitable opportunity arose.
The next day, Banro personally led a troop to the Kingdom of Phil. "Your Majesty, King of Kanapan, to express our gratitude for your previous assistance, our King of Ruva has sent me with some more ivory," Banro said, presenting the gift to Kanapan as an envoy. Although Kanapan disliked the people of the Ivory Kingdom, he couldn't be too overtly polite, so he smiled and nodded.
"Your Majesty, may we stay here for a few days and rest?" Banro asked again, seizing the opportunity. Kanapan, feeling awkward about refusing, agreed.
Banluo was very pleased; he could finally begin to implement his plan.
Kanapan is indeed a simple-minded person, easily deceived. As long as he lives in Phil, he will always find an opportunity to make a move.
Next, Banro began to wander around the country of Phil, ostensibly to see the various sights of Phil and to express the Ivory Country's admiration for Phil, but in reality, he was looking for various opportunities to take advantage of the situation.
Even now, Banro hasn't figured out how to deal with Kanapan and get him to cooperate with Ivory Coast. He can only take it one step at a time.
Before leaving, Ruva gave Banro specific instructions: he must come up with a safe way to avoid angering Kanapan, while also making sure Kanapan agreed to their cooperation.
Banro wandered around the country of Phil, trying to find out some important information, preferably enough to successfully blackmail Kanapan and make him work for Ruva.
But after wandering around Phil for half a day, they still hadn't found out anything special.
The technological strength of the Phil Kingdom is indeed formidable, which impressed Banro deeply. Their economy is also developing rapidly in all aspects, and this powerful atmosphere can be felt everywhere.
However, it seemed unlikely that they could find any special leverage over the Kingdom of Phil. Banro was even having second thoughts, feeling that he might have come for nothing and gained nothing.
Just then, Banluo suddenly heard several people talking about something, and they seemed to be very interested.
"I don't know if you've heard, but our fishermen in Phil Kingdom actually discovered a deep-sea submarine while fishing in the near sea."
"Of course I've heard. Our King Kanapan is even going to check it out himself. I wonder what this deep-sea submarine will bring to our country of Phil..."
The people kept talking about it, and they were all particularly interested in the deep-sea submarine.
Upon hearing this news, Banro raised an eyebrow. He wasn't interested in deep-sea submarines, but if Kanapan went there in person, perhaps he could take this opportunity to do something.
Sure enough, Banro heard the news in the royal palace of Phil Kingdom that Kanapan was going to see the deep-sea submarine in person the next day.
"You all need to get ready quickly. We'll go check out this deep-sea submarine tomorrow. Maybe it will bring good luck to our country, Phil."
Kanapan ordered his men to prepare a ship, as he wanted to go and see the deep-sea submarine himself.
Upon hearing the accurate news, Banluo quickly stepped forward, intending to follow along and seize the opportunity to act.
"Your Majesty, may I accompany you to see the deep-sea submarine tomorrow?"
"I've been quite bored staying in Phil these past few days. I'd like to go see the scenery along the coast, is that alright?"
Banro quickly made this request to Kanapan, his attitude so sincere that Kanapan felt embarrassed to refuse.
"Alright then, you can come along too."
Kanapan didn't think much of it and agreed immediately, but only allowed Banro to come aboard with him, and didn't like too many people following him.
Kanapan sat with Banro at the front of the ship, and Banro pretended to admire the scenery of the near sea, praising it incessantly.
"King of Kanapan, the scenery along the coast of Phil is indeed exceptionally beautiful. It's so stunning! I'm so glad I came along, otherwise I would have missed this wonderful view."
Banro pretended to be very shocked and kept praising him, which made Kanapan feel very proud.
"Of course, the coastal scenery of our country of Phil is particularly charming, second to none among the surrounding countries."
Kanapan chatted with Banro with particular pride, and they seemed to be getting along quite well as they sailed on. The ship continued its journey across the sea, and Kanapan was in high spirits. Next, he would be able to see the deep-sea submarine, and he kept imagining what it looked like in his mind.
Suddenly, their ship struck a hard object.
"Your Majesty, our ship has struck a hard object. Should we detour around it, or should we assess the situation?"
His men rushed over to ask Kanapan for instructions. They didn't know what they had hit, but it hadn't caused any damage to their ship.
"I think the ship may have collided with a deep-sea submarine. Why don't we go down and check the situation first?"
Kanapan immediately made this judgment, thinking that they had collided with a deep-sea submarine, and he was eager to go down and check the situation.
Kanapan immediately had his men change into diving suits, and he put one on himself as well, preparing to go down and check the situation.
After some preparation, everyone was ready, and under Kanapan's leadership, they all dived into the water.
Banluo did not go into the water but stayed on the ship alone.
Banro deliberately stayed on the ship alone; he was about to make some underhanded moves, and a sinister plan had already formed in his mind.
Banro quietly slipped into the boiler room, cut a small opening there, and then quickly jumped into the water. He knew that seawater would soon flood the cabin and the ship would explode.
He did this so that Kanapan would have no way out and could only struggle in the sea.
Banro had already prepared everything for what was to come, having his men meet him in the near sea, all in order to take advantage of the chaos to kidnap Kanapan and take him to Ivory Coast, forcing them to agree to cooperate with Ivory Coast.
This plan was something he came up with on a whim, without Ruva's consent. However, Banro felt that there was no better way now, and perhaps this was the only way to force Kanapan to cooperate with them.
After Kanapan and his men donned diving suits and dived underwater, they discovered it was indeed a huge deep-sea submarine, which greatly excited them.
"Great! Those fishermen were right after all; it really is a deep-sea submarine. We should have a great harvest now."
"Let's hurry up and get some equipment from the ship, and then go into the deep-sea submarine to find out what's going on."
Kanapan excitedly instructed his men to prepare to board the ship and retrieve the equipment.
"Your Majesty, something terrible has happened! Our ship has exploded!"
His men screamed loudly, and Kanapan, who also saw the scene, was particularly surprised.
"How could this happen? Our ship was perfectly fine, how could it suddenly explode? This is a real problem."
Kanapan also panicked a bit, not expecting such an unexpected situation at all, and didn't know how to deal with it for a moment.
At this time, Meng Yu was patrolling the sea. He had become a general under Yang Xia and was extremely capable in handling affairs.
In the original world, the brothers Meng Yu and Meng Yin were Yang Xia's generals. In this other world, Yang Xia is also striving to cultivate them in that direction.
General Meng Yu was patrolling the sea with his men when they suddenly discovered a ship that had exploded. After investigation, they found that it was a ship belonging to Kanapan, so they quickly reported it to Yang Xia.
"Your Majesty, we have discovered that the ship carrying King Kanapan of Phil has suddenly exploded."
Meng Yu also felt that something was amiss, so he quickly told Yang Xia, who was also startled after hearing the news.
"Quickly take your men and come with me to the rescue. We need to use our largest lifeboat. There's no time to lose, let's go now."
Yang Xia also felt that someone might be behind this, perhaps trying to frame Kanapan.
What a coincidence! Such a large ship suddenly exploded; it's clearly a very strange thing.
And so, Yang Xia immediately led the rescue boat to the sea area where Kanapan was located.
At this moment, Kanapan was struggling frantically in the seawater. He knew that this matter was very strange and that he might have been ambushed.
Before departure, they even had the ship inspected, and there was absolutely no problem with it.
"Something's wrong! Everyone, quickly find life jackets and think of a way to escape!"
In his panic, Kanapan shouted for his men to find a way to escape, because life was the most important thing.
Just as Kanapan was trying to escape, he was suddenly grabbed by the throat and dragged in the opposite direction.
Now, Kanapan fully realized that someone was trying to frame him, and the image of Banro flashed through his mind.
Because on this ship, only Banro is from Ivory Coast, and the others are his subordinates, so there shouldn't be any problems.
Now it was too late for regrets; Kanapan could only struggle desperately in the seawater, trying to break free from his opponent's grasp. (End of Chapter)