Family Rise: Beginning with Grandfather.

Chapter 626: Bright Sun and Moon, Mighty Celestial Empire

Yang Minghao thought thoughtfully, "It's better to kill them, so that they won't provoke us again in the future!"

Luo Jinsong said with a smile: "Island Master, the population on our Xingyue Island is increasing. I estimate that in ten or eight years, there will be no room for everyone!"

This is not alarmist talk. The population of Shenmu Island has exceeded 30,000. In another ten or eight years, it will not be difficult to exceed 50,000.

There are many problems caused by population growth, the first of which is housing. Xingyue City has been expanded several times, and the villages scattered across the island are also constantly expanding.

The second is the food problem. The arable land on the island has long been unable to meet the daily needs of the island's residents. Now Xingyue Island has to purchase 20,000 to 30,000 stones of food from outside every year.

The final problem is that the Yang family not only owns Xingyue Island, but also several nearby habitable islands. Although the population on those islands is not growing as fast as that of Xingyue Island, it has still doubled in the past sixteen years.

Therefore, the issue of Xingyue Island's expansion is imminent.

Luo Jinsong obviously wanted to occupy Shenmu Island to solve the problem of nowhere to accommodate the people caused by the population growth on Xingyue Island.

And Shenmu Island can indeed meet the needs of Xingyue Island. Apart from anything else, Shenmu Island is very large, more than thirty times the size of Xingyue Island.

There are six islands on the east and west sides of Shenmu Island, and each island is no smaller than Xingyue Island.

The seven islands are connected in a line on the vast ocean, like an emerald necklace inlaid on the sea.

If the Yang family can occupy seven islands of Shenmu Island, then eight islands will be connected in a line. However, Xingyue Island is a little far away from Huya Island, more than 300 miles away, so they can barely be connected together.

However, it is not easy to occupy the Seven Islands of Shenmu. The Shenmu Sect has five or six hundred thousand believers. If you want to make them surrender, you need to change their beliefs.

It would be difficult to destroy the Shenmu Sect unless they were all killed. Forget about trying to convince people with virtue. Those fanatics would not reason with you, and Yang Zhengshan didn't have the patience to reason with them.

Back then, Yang Zhengshan wiped out the Xingyue Island, leaving no one alive among the more than 100,000 people on the island.

Except for the lucky Lu, Wang and Li families, the people of Xingyue Island and its neighboring islands, as well as the surrounding pirate forces, totaling two or three hundred thousand people, were all thrown into the sea to feed the fish.

"The resources on the seven islands of Shenmu Island are also very rich. Let's not talk about the value of their Shenmu trees. Just look at the corals near Huya Island, the sapphires on Baolan Island, and the fertile fields on Suiyun Island and Huoyun Island, which are enough to feed a million people!"

"And Shenlin Island also has many sacred trees, and those sacred trees are also treasures."

"The worst is Guiyun Island, but Guiyun Island not only has a natural harbor, but is also on many shipping routes. To the east, you can go to the Longdan Dynasty, to the south, you can go to the Tarot Dynasty, and to the southeast, you can even reach the legendary Dazhao Dynasty!"

"The sun and the moon are shining, the Celestial Empire is majestic, that is the Holy Celestial Empire!"

Luo Jinsong couldn't help but reveal a longing look.

The Zhao Dynasty was said to be an extremely powerful dynasty, and countless warriors in the southeastern sea had an unparalleled yearning for it.

There are many legends about the Jokhang Dynasty circulating in the southeastern waters, but few people know what the Jokhang Dynasty was like in detail.

The main reason was that the distance was too far, and one had to cross a stormy sea with violent winds and raging waves.

The storm sea area is always filled with raging waves caused by violent storms. The waves in that sea area are very special. The front of the waves are like steep cliffs, while the back is like a gentle slope. The waves can be as high as five meters, and sometimes they are accompanied by rotating waves. The entire sea surface rolls like a boiling pot.

Even if Dayong's largest ship, the Dafu, entered the stormy sea, it would most likely be overturned by the waves and sink to the bottom of the sea.

It is said that only for more than two months each year will the waves in the storm sea be calm enough to allow large ships to pass.

However, the duration of the calm period is not fixed. Sometimes it comes early and sometimes it comes late.

Therefore, crossing the stormy sea is like gambling with your life.

Yang Zhengshan had also heard of the legends of the Great Zhao Dynasty and the Storm Sea, but he felt that the so-called Storm Sea was the place where ocean currents and air currents converged.

The collision of cold air and hot air will form violent storms. If a strong ocean current is added, it is not surprising that it will cause huge waves.

He also yearned for the so-called Great Zhao Dynasty and wanted to see the legendary country.

Yang Zhengshan pondered for a moment and said, "Then destroy the Shenmu Sect."

There were three reasons that drove him to destroy the Shenmu Sect. The first was that Xingyue Island needed to expand. The second was because of his yearning for the Dazhao Dynasty. If he had the chance, he also wanted to visit the Dazhao Dynasty. The third reason was that he wanted to study the sacred tree on Shenmu Island.

Although the sacred tree cannot produce magical fruits, its effects are no worse than those of magical fruits. Its leaves, flowers and fruits almost all have effects comparable to those of precious medicines.

Moreover, the aerial roots of the sacred tree can be made into strong bows. Those strong bows are just good weapons in the hands of the Shenmu Sect, but in the hands of Yang Zhengshan, they are definitely killing weapons.

Because Yang Zhengshan has enough acquired warriors under his command to use strong bows.

If there were several hundred acquired warriors at the seventh or eighth level using powerful bows, all the innate warriors would flee in panic when they encountered them.

Innate warriors can control Qi to form armor, which can greatly enhance their own defense. However, the armor has its limits, and the more attacks they receive, the more Qi they consume.

If hundreds of powerful arrows were shot at him, it would pose a great threat to the innate warriors.

In fact, the mounted crossbow can threaten innate warriors, but the attack of the mounted crossbow is too clumsy. It cannot shoot accurately, nor can it quickly adjust the shooting direction. Therefore, it is difficult for the mounted crossbow to hit the innate warriors.

But if you use a strong bow with a weight of more than ten stones, the situation will be different. Its accuracy, shooting speed and power are far superior to those of a crossbow.

Of course, the strong bow also has its flaws, which is that it must be a warrior with a strength of a thousand pounds to pull it.

Ordinary warriors can't do it, and most warriors below the sixth level of acquired realm can't do it either. Under normal circumstances, only warriors at the seventh level of acquired realm and above can continuously pull the ten-stone strong bow.

However, if we change to the warriors on Xingyue Island, warriors above the fourth level of acquired realm will almost have a strength of a thousand pounds, because the warriors on Xingyue Island have all drunk spiritual spring water, and their physique and strength surpass those of warriors of the same level.

And if Xingyue Island could obtain the sacred tree of Shenmu Island, then Xingyue Island would be able to build an extremely terrifying army of archers.

This is the main reason why Yang Zhengshan wants to take over Shenmu Island.

"But it's difficult to capture Shenmu Island with our military strength alone!" Yang Zhengshan said.

Yang Minghao said: "Then ask Tenglongwei for help!"

Yang Zhengshan nodded. Xingyue Island only had two thousand naval forces. Even with the guards of the merchant fleet, there were only seven thousand people.

It is obviously a difficult task to take over the seven islands of Shenmu with only 7,000 people.

In fact, Yang Zhengshan could also ask Dihuo Island for help, but Dihuo Island also has to deal with Jiuxing Island, so it probably cannot mobilize too much manpower.

It is much easier for Tenglong Guard. Now Tenglong Guard has 20,000 naval forces, so mobilizing 10,000 naval forces should not be a difficult task.

If the court asks about it, he can also use the reason of sea training to fool people.

"I'll write to Yu Tonghai and ask him to bring his troops here. You guys prepare the food and fodder. The Tenglong Guards will come to help. We'll pay for the food and money!" "As for the situation on Shenmu Island, send someone to investigate first so we can formulate a battle plan!"

Yang Zhengshan ordered.

Yang Mingzhi and Yang Minghao immediately agreed.

Afterwards, Yang Zhengshan arranged some specific matters and asked everyone to prepare.

He sat in his study and thought for a while before picking up a pen and writing a letter to Yu Tonghai.

……

There is only one word difference between Shenmu Island and Shenlin Island, but their status in the Shenmu Sect is worlds apart.

Shenmu Island is the holy place of Shenmu Religion. Only the most devout believers of Shenmu Religion can live on Shenmu Island. Outsiders are not allowed to enter Shenmu Island at all, except by force.

Shenlin Island is only thirty miles away from Shenmu Island, and its area is about half that of Shenmu Island.

Although the Shenmu Sect is relatively xenophobic, they are not completely cut off from external communication. They do not allow outsiders to enter Shenmu Island, and use Shenlin Island as a place to communicate with other forces.

The Shenmu Religion has a hierarchical, centralized, and managed religious system, which can also be called the clergy hierarchy. It can be roughly divided into high priests, priests, chief priests, senior deacons, middle deacons, low deacons, and believers.

The first three are priests who are specifically responsible for worshiping the sacred tree.

There is only one high priest and three priests, all of whom are the absolute high-level figures of the Shenmu Sect. Because they have the cultivation base of the Innate Realm, they can be understood as the leader and deputy leaders.

Except for the Shenmu Island, the other six islands each have a chief priest. The chief priest's duty is not to manage the people, but to perform sacrifices to the sacred tree.

Deacons are the ones who actually do the work, similar to the three-level officials of prefecture, state, and county in Darong.

The believers of theology are similar to clerks, and they are usually the followers and assistants of deacons.

As for ordinary people, they are just believers. They must maintain the most pious faith in the sacred tree, obey all religious rules, pay taxes to the religion, and be driven by the religion.

In addition, the Shenmu Sect also has a navy and merchant ships, which are generally divided into levels according to the clergy and religious ranks, but their soldiers are called tree soldiers.

The status of tree soldiers in the Shenmu Religion is higher than that of ordinary believers, but lower than that of the gods.

But ordinary believers and tree soldiers are the lowest level of the Shenmu Sect. They are a group of poor people who are exploited by the top leaders of the Shenmu Sect.

However, these poor people are not worthy of sympathy. If you want to rescue them, they will regard you as a heretic and bury you under the sacred tree to purify you.

Rule that comes from faith is the most unreasonable.

It can make all unreasonable things reasonable, and it can distort human nature into any shape.

On Shenlin Island stands a large and majestic temple, in which a sacred tree, a large banyan tree, is enshrined.

The Shenmu Sect regards all the big banyan trees as the incarnation of the sacred tree, so there are no statues of gods in their temples, only a big banyan tree.

Its architectural style is similar to that of Dayong Jiangnan, mostly based on wooden structures.

It is no exaggeration for the Shenmu believers to say that everything is a gift from the sacred tree. Their food, clothing, housing and transportation are all inseparable from the banyan tree.

Their clothing was made from plant fibers found in bark and leaves, some similar to twine.

They would make tea from the young leaves of the sacred tree, and the tea tasted pretty good.

They would use the aerial roots and branches of the sacred tree to make boats, and they would also use the branches of the sacred tree to build houses.

At this time in the temple of Shenlin Island, two old men with white hair were sitting under the sacred tree and tasting the sacred tree tea.

There were two old men, one of them was wearing a light blue shirt and his silver hair was tied up with a branch with leaves on it.

The leaves above the silver hair are extremely green and very eye-catching.

Wearing green on the head may seem unlucky, but this is the custom of the Shenmu Religion. Moreover, the wooden hairpins with leaves are exclusive to the priests of the Shenmu Religion. No priest below the chief priest is qualified to use wooden hairpins with leaves.

The other one was wearing a deep blue yisa with narrow sleeves and pleated hakama at the hem.

The old man in green is Hou Fangjin, a priest of the Shenmu Sect. The old man in blue robe is named Wen Qing, from the Tarot Dynasty. However, he is not one of those blue-robed warriors. He is a member of the royal family of the Tarot Dynasty and the uncle of the current Tarot King.

In fact, both Yang Zhengshan and Yang Mingzhi guessed wrong. The Shenmu Sect relied not on Jiuxing Island but on the Tarot Dynasty, and their goal was not to stop the Yang family business from going to the Longdan Dynasty to trade, but to promote peace through war.

To put it nicely, it is called using war to promote peace; to put it bluntly, it is to beat you into surrender.

To put it simply, they just want to get a piece of the pie in Dayong's maritime trade, but they cannot interfere with Dayong's maritime trade without the cooperation of the Yang family, so their goal is not to stop the Yang family's maritime trade, but to make the Yang family surrender and be used by them.

Shenmu Island has long been jealous of Xingyue Island's trade, and the Tarot Dynasty also wants to use Dayong's trade to make more profits in the waters further south.

The two parties hit it off and reached a cooperation.

"Now that we have intercepted the Yang Family Trading Company's fleet, can we take the initiative to attack next?" Wen Qing put down the teacup with some disgust.

This kind of sacred tree tea was not to his liking at all. It was not as good as the tea produced by their Tarot Dynasty, and even worse than the good tea from Dayong.

Hou Fangjin drank with relish and looked like he was enjoying it.

"There's no need to take the initiative. Butcher Yang Zhengshan has always been domineering. He will not swallow his anger. It won't be long before he comes in person to ask for an explanation!" Hou Fangjin said with a faint smile.

Yang Zhengshan was also given the notoriety of butcher in the southeastern waters. The reason for this was that Yang Zhengshan led Dayong's navy to wipe out the Xingyue Sect. At that time, all the civilians and pirates on Xingyue Island and surrounding islands were slaughtered.

As for the reputation of being domineering, that was naturally caused by the fact that Yang Zhengshan came to reason with the high priest of Shenmu Island.

Yang Zhengshan has always been the best at using his spear to reason.

"So as long as we can defeat him, we can make him surrender?"

Wen Qing didn't know much about Yang Zhengshan. He only knew that Yang Zhengshan was quite strong, and he knew nothing else.

"Of course not. We have to hurt Xingyue Island and let it know that this sea area is not a place for them to be arrogant!" Hou Fangjin said confidently.

The Shenmu Sect considered it a disgrace that Yang Zhengshan broke into Shenmu Island that year, and they had always wanted to avenge that shame, but they knew very well how powerful Yang Zhengshan was, so they had been enduring it all these years.

Now with the help of the Tarot Dynasty, they not only want to bite off a piece of fat from the Yang family business, but also want to avenge their previous humiliation and vent all the bad anger they have suffered in the past.

(End of this chapter)