Chapter 2380: Demanding Benefits

“The information isn’t very detailed, but this person was brought by Lan Yancha.”

Zhou Mo glanced at Tang Ming. He knew well the relationship between Lan Yancha and Tang Ming.

Back then, Lan Yancha was quite helpful to Tang Ming, and later, Tang Ming and Lan Yancha’s granddaughter had even come together to West Desolation City.

However, Lan Yanyou was restless by nature. Not long after arriving in West Desolation City, she left. Tang Ming wasn’t very clear about where she went.

Before leaving, Lan Yanyou wrote a letter to Lan Yancha, and when Lan Yancha replied, he specifically sent a letter to Tang Ming, telling him not to worry about Lan Yanyou’s affairs.

Tang Ming was pleased that the demon king Lan Yanyou had left, so he did not intervene.

So much time had passed since Lan Yanyou left, and Lan Yancha hadn’t contacted Tang Ming. Suddenly, he appeared and brought someone with him, assuming the position of City Lord of West Desolation City.

The Tower Master of West Desolate Tower, Lin Hao, was known as a demon hunter. His strength was formidable, and his status was high. It was said that behind him lay the influence of the Tower Master of Thunder Tower.

Lin Hao was invited away by Lu Gou to the Demon Abyss Sea, causing the influence of Thunder Tower in West Desolation City to weaken.

So, the Tower Master of Thunder Tower simply sent a City Lord here.

“Tell me all the information you know, and everything that’s happened recently.”

Tang Ming set down the other materials and focused on this matter.

How could he allow someone who doesn’t share the same mind as him to exist near his sleeping quarters?

West Desolation City was extremely important to West Continent City, and although his relationship with Thunder God Tower was good, it was just that—only good.

When Lin Hao controlled West Desolation City, it was like his personal territory. Matters over there were also handled by West Continent City.

Suddenly, a new City Lord arrived from the other party, seemingly provoking him.

Zhou Mo nodded and briefly explained to Tang Ming.

It turned out that a month after Lin Hao left West Continent City, Lan Yancha brought a person named Li Jiuhong to West Desolation City, along with a permit personally signed by the Tower Master of Thunder Tower.

While there was chaos in the Jiulong Dynasty, the status of Jiulong Tower remained largely unchanged.

Regardless of the city, upon seeing the permit of those nine, one had to pause and reconsider whether to abide by it. After all, the power of the other party was plain to see, and provoking them wasn’t a wise choice.

At the time, Guo Cunhou discussed it with Zhou Mo, and they agreed to it.

After all, Zhou Mo knew of Tang Ming’s relationship with Thunder Tower. Lan Yancha’s relationship with Tang Ming was also good. With Lan Yancha’s mediation, there shouldn’t be any issues.

But Zhou Mo hadn’t expected that after Li Jiuhong, the City Lord, and Lan Yancha took control of West Desolation City, they began to reorganize the personnel, replacing many departmental people with their own.

Guo Cunhou was dissatisfied with Zhou Mo over this matter. He felt that if the other party truly had a good relationship with Tang Ming, they should have considered Tang Ming’s feelings and not touched the people he had appointed.

Guo Cunhou even thought that Zhou Mo was using this as a way to suppress him. So after it happened, the relationship between Guo Cunhou and Zhou Mo fell to a freezing point.

Zhou Mo was also infuriated. He personally visited Lan Yancha, only to discover that Lan Yancha had left West Desolation City and returned to Thunder Tower, intending to come back after some time.

Before Lan Yancha left, he didn’t visit Zhou Mo, making Zhou Mo feel that something was amiss.

After some simple investigation, he found out that Lan Yancha hadn’t actually left West Desolation City at all and was merely making excuses not to see him.

Zhou Mo believed there was a significant issue and directly approached Guo Cunhou, who cried that they had been deceived. The other party didn’t seem to have pure intentions of creating an alliance.

Zhou Mo was very angry and wanted to confront Lan Yancha and Li Jiuhong, but Guo Cunhou stopped him, saying that questioning them now would be futile. The priority was to minimize West Continent City’s losses.

Thus, Guo Cunhou employed some methods to begin suppressing Li Jiuhong, the City Lord of West Desolation City.

Since West Desolation City was a subordinate city of West Continent City, Guo Cunhou had heavily invested there. As the Grand Steward of West Continent City, Guo Cunhou’s methods were particularly adept.

He didn’t pressure Li Jiuhong with West Continent City but instead had the officials placed within West Desolation City start applying pressure on Li Jiuhong.

Li Jiuhong was caught off guard, and the people he had arranged couldn’t maintain control over West Desolation City at all.

As a result, West Desolation City fell into chaos. At this point, Guo Cunhou visited West Desolation City.

Standing at the City Lord Mansion, Guo Cunhou questioned Li Jiuhong, “Is this how the person recommended by the Tower Master of Thunder Tower fulfills the duties of a City Lord? West Desolation City is just a subordinate city of West Continent City, serving as a backup warehouse. With so many resources and audit personnel, you as the City Lord of West Desolation City aren’t qualified either.”

Li Jiuhong was somewhat speechless but directly raised the issue of power with Guo Cunhou.

He felt that as a City Lord, he only had administrative power, but lacked control over the spirit stone vein or the immortal rice fields, which was unreasonable. He argued that his inability to manage West Desolation City was due to the lack of resources at his disposal.

Guo Cunhou raised his eyebrows but did not refuse, knowing that Li Jiuhong’s point was valid. By right, it should indeed be this way.

However, if he actually gave these things to Li Jiuhong, would the Niu Family allow it? Would the Fox Spirit Mountain Range allow it? Would the Twin Clan and Demon Slayer Clan allow it? There were too many people who needed things. He couldn’t make the decision alone.

Therefore, he went to Zhou Mo again, hoping Zhou Mo would report everything truthfully to Tang Ming.

After all, Zhou Mo and Guo Cunhou were uncertain about Tang Ming’s relationship with Thunder Tower.

“Hmm. Let’s do this: tomorrow, call a meeting and invite City Lord Li Jiuhong and Lan Yancha to attend. I’m heading to the Engineering Department now.”

Tang Ming closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and then spoke.

“Okay. I’ll arrange it now.”

Zhou Mo nodded. He couldn’t discern Tang Ming’s thoughts, but Tang Ming’s expression showed a hint of displeasure.

Zhou Mo arranged for people to notify everyone about the meeting that was to include all forces, requiring everyone’s attendance.

Meanwhile, Tang Ming went directly to the Engineering Department.

The Engineering Department mainly consisted of demon foxes from the Fox Spirit Mountain Range, immortal craftsmen recruited from Source Stone City, and strong individuals from the Twin Clan.

For West Continent City, the Engineering Department was a very important department.

Previously, Tang Ming’s intention to come here had been mentioned by the department’s minister, Tang Ming’s father-in-law, Old Tai Mountain Hu Jiusheng, so these people had not left but were working on the design of docks and large ships.

Seeing Tang Ming come in, these people all stood up.