Nie Yan understood that he could never compete with the Shiji Financial Group in terms of financial resources. Competing with them to see who was richer? That was a joke!

With the financial resources of the Niuren Tribe, offering a second-tier player like Shaobing a monthly salary of 20,000 was already a very high price. Any higher, and the Niuren Tribe couldn't afford it. The Shiji Financial Group offered six times the price. That was simply throwing money around. Even a first-tier main force member was probably only worth that much. Would Shaobing be able to earn back that much money for the Shiji Financial Group if Cao Xu spent so much money to recruit him?

In other words, every time the Shiji Financial Group poached a member from the Niuren Tribe, they were essentially making a losing deal.

With that money, Nie Yan could recruit more experts from outside!

The Shiji Financial Group was simply trying to make things difficult for the Niuren Tribe. They knew it was a losing deal, but they still did it because they had money.

Wasn't the Shiji Financial Group trying to undermine the Niuren Tribe? Fine, let them dig!

Nie Yan said to Guo Huai beside him, "In my name, release a message to the entire Kalore City that the Niuren Tribe is expanding its recruitment by 40,000 people, increasing the total to 100,000. Relax the selection criteria and start the selection process now!"

After listening to Nie Yan's words, Guo Huai thought about it carefully and smiled, "This is a good move. The Shiji Financial Group can poach as many people as they want, and we'll just replenish them. Let's see how arrogant they can be."

Nie Yan understood that the strength of the newly recruited players might not be up to par with the old members of the Niuren Tribe, but there would be some players with decent strength among them. Picking out these people would be enough to replenish the Niuren Tribe's lost strength.

At the same time, Nie Yan increased some benefits for the Niuren Tribe's players. The Niuren Tribe controlled so many fortresses that the profits were quite considerable. The income from the fortresses was enough to maintain the welfare expenses of the Niuren Tribe's players.

After Shaobing and the others left, the Niuren Tribe seemed to have calmed down again for a short time.

Under the command of Qishi de Wange (Knight's Elegy), the Niuren Tribe's troops steadily advanced, demolishing two fortresses in a row before continuing towards the third fortress.

Kuang Fa could only watch helplessly as fortress after fortress was turned to ashes by the Niuren Tribe's Froststeel Siege Trebuchets. They could only abandon those fortresses and concentrate their main forces at the Aijiedun Fortress, preparing for a decisive battle with the Niuren Tribe.

However, the Niuren Tribe had no intention of fighting a decisive battle. They slowly demolished the fortresses one by one. At least a dozen second-tier guilds in Moonlight City would be happy to sit back and watch the Niuren Tribe and the Mage Alliance fight each other. But if the Niuren Tribe wanted to establish itself in Moonlight City, they would definitely unite and resist the Niuren Tribe together. It was still difficult for the Niuren Tribe to completely control Moonlight City. Being able to control a few fortresses was already quite remarkable. Therefore, Nie Yan would rather destroy these extra fortresses first and rebuild them when he had enough strength to control Moonlight City in the future.

Thus, wherever the Niuren Tribe's Froststeel Siege Trebuchets went, there were ruins everywhere.

As the battle deepened, the number of Froststeel Siege Trebuchets on the Niuren Tribe's front line continued to increase, from fifteen to nineteen. Moreover, the Niuren Tribe's mechanics were still producing them non-stop. There were also five more that were beginning to take shape.

The Mage Alliance was destined to be a tragedy. The longer it dragged on, the more passive they became. But to ask them to fight a decisive battle with the Niuren Tribe on the plains, it was estimated that they wouldn't have the courage. The Niuren Tribe had a full nineteen Froststeel Siege Trebuchets! That was no joke! On the plains, no matter how many people there were, they would only be throwing their lives away.

After seeing the power of the Niuren Tribe's nineteen Froststeel Siege Trebuchets, all the guilds in the Greenland Empire felt a strong sense of crisis. They frantically searched for ways to deal with the siege trebuchets. The Mage Alliance was also looking, but in this situation, they were also at a loss.

It would take at least two or three days to completely clear out the Mage Alliance's fortresses. As long as there were no unusual circumstances during this time, there would be no problems. Nie Yan could occasionally go out and level up.

The activities of the Shiji Financial Group in Kalore City became more and more frequent. They frequently contacted the Niuren Tribe's players, waving huge amounts of money, trying to undermine the Niuren Tribe.

Many people couldn't resist the temptation of money, and some people quietly left the Niuren Tribe. Nie Yan counted and found that a total of more than a hundred people had left the Niuren Tribe, but fortunately, none of them were first-tier players. Most of those who left didn't have deep feelings for the Niuren Tribe, had a low presence in the Niuren Tribe, and didn't have high salaries. If they went to the Shiji Financial Group, they could get better rewards, so why not?

Nie Yan didn't care too much about the departure of these people. They weren't important people and were insignificant in the Niuren Tribe.

Nie Yan suppressed the news. If this news spread, it would definitely cause panic. The Shiji Financial Group had been spreading the news that the Niuren Tribe had been poached of many people by them. The Niuren Tribe's players were a little confused, but since they hadn't received confirmation from the Niuren Tribe's high-level executives, they assumed it was fake news.

Just when Nie Yan was racking his brains over this matter, he received a message from Guo Huai that the Shiji Financial Group had contacted Li Rui. The current situation was still unknown.

"I think Li Rui is a bit unreliable. Last time he wanted to find you, I asked him what was going on, and he was hesitant. Recently, he has met with people from the Shiji Financial Group several times in a row," Guo Huai said, expressing his suspicions. He had never had a good impression of Li Rui. Li Rui, Zhai Hao, and Liu Chengxu joined the Niuren Tribe together. Zhai Hao and Liu Chengxu had already entered the core of the Niuren Tribe, and their talents were good. Li Rui was still just a small team leader, and he must be full of resentment towards the Niuren Tribe.

After listening to Guo Huai's words, Nie Yan smiled and said, "I trust Li Rui. He is definitely not the kind of person who is blinded by profit." He and Li Rui were brothers from two lifetimes. He knew Li Rui's character very well.

After listening to Nie Yan's words, Guo Huai retorted, "But, if that's really the case, he could have directly rejected the Shiji Financial Group. Why would he repeatedly contact people from the Shiji Financial Group?"

Guo Huai wanted to say something more, but was interrupted by Nie Yan. Nie Yan firmly said, "If Li Rui were to betray the Niuren Tribe, I'm afraid there wouldn't be many people in the entire Niuren Tribe who could be trusted."

Seeing Nie Yan say this, Guo Huai said helplessly, "Alright, I hope you're right."

The Enlos Tavern next to the central square of Kalore City provided many private rooms for players to conduct private conversations.

Li Rui was one of the few batches of people in the Niuren Tribe responsible for staying in Kalore City. The battle on the Moonlight City side was in full swing, but his life was still very leisurely. He could even come to the teahouse to chat and drink tea. Anyway, he was an insignificant role in the Niuren Tribe. Zhai Hao and Liu Chengxu were already important figures in the Niuren Tribe, but he was still the same as before, fooling around in the Niuren Tribe and whiling away the boring days.

He entered from the main entrance of the Enlos Tavern and scanned the entire lobby. There were only a few players drinking and chatting in the lobby. After confirming that there were no suspicious people, he walked into the private room.

"Hello, welcome, welcome." Several players in the private room stood up enthusiastically to greet Li Rui. They were all from the Shiji Financial Group. They were wearing casual clothes, without any accessories or badges. Even if ordinary people saw them, they wouldn't think that they were from the Shiji Financial Group.

"Hello," Li Rui said humbly, his eyes scanning the faces of these people.

"How have you been considering that matter? If you are willing to be our eyes and ears in the Shiji Financial Group and inquire about the information of Kuangzei Nieyan (Mad Thief Nieyan), there will definitely be no problem with paying you ten times more," said a mage wearing a gray decorative robe beside him.

"We've had several collaborations, and you've received a lot of money. What would happen if we made all these things public?" said a weasel-faced priest beside him.

"Are you threatening me!" Li Rui's face turned cold as he looked at the priest and said in a cold voice.

The priest laughed and said, "I'm just kidding. If we develop full cooperation, everyone will benefit. We won't leak the news. Everyone gets what they need. We want information, and you make a lot of money. Why not?"

"That's right, brother, you can think about it carefully," the gray-robed mage fanned the flames.

Li Rui hesitated for a long time, looked at the two people beside him, and said, "You have to guarantee my safety."

"Okay, no problem. At worst, we can just leave the Niuren Tribe then," the priest and mage exchanged glances, revealing expressions of ecstasy.

Seeing their expressions, Li Rui sneered in his heart. They were agreeing so readily now, but if he really left the Niuren Tribe, he would lose his value to the Shiji Financial Group. It was estimated that the Shiji Financial Group would unhesitatingly throw him away like a burden.

"According to the price you said, if I provide useful information, you have to pay extra," Li Rui said.

"Of course, there's absolutely no problem with that!"

Li Rui had provided them with a lot of useful information before, including Shaobing and the others, who were successfully turned over after Li Rui provided them with some useful information, so they deeply believed in Li Rui. After a while, Li Rui reached an agreement with these people. They chatted for more than ten minutes before he put on a black cloak and left. The people from the Shiji Financial Group also quietly left. The entire bar was as if nothing had happened.

After coming out of the bar, Li Rui once again dialed Guo Huai's voice call.

"What's the matter?" When Guo Huai saw that it was Li Rui, he showed a bit of impatience. He had just received news from below that Li Rui and the people from the Shiji Financial Group had just met at the Enlos Tavern.

"Executive Guild Leader, does Boss Nieyan have time? I want to see him," Li Rui said sincerely.

"He..." Guo Huai was about to say that Nie Yan was very busy, but he changed his mind and said, "Boss Nieyan is now at the central auction house in Kalore City. I'll have him contact you."

"Thank you, Executive Guild Leader," Li Rui said gratefully.