Volume 4, Chapter 8: Southern Fujians Yue Family (1/2)

Volu Dynastic Records</eraphy of Merchants</blockquote>

Within the red house of the Tranquil Sea Manor, I gazed at the geographic , I said, “Fujian’s Yue fa coenerations, never weakening The family not only has capable descendants, it also has shrewdly forhout the world Since the collapse of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the Yue family seized the opportunity to take control over Fujian’s arovernment After Southern Chu was established, Fujian re, Southern Chu did not have the energy to pacify Fujian As a result, the Yue family is a de facto independent faction While Fujian is nominally a vassal of Southern Chu, in reality, it is similar to Binzhou, and remains outside of Southern Chu’s control However, the Yue family will not be unduly excessive After all, if Southern Chu is deteriance to Great Yong and receive benefits—in the short-ter their assets in Fujian to suffer tremendous losses As a result, to the Yue fa the on the soft couch at the start, focused on her ele raised her head Pensively, she replied, “From the outset, when elder cousin fled to the Eastern Sea, the Yue faet close to cousin and fore alliance with hi”

I evenly stated, “That’s right Although the Yue family is based in a secluded location on the Southern Sea, and are incapable of seizing the throne for the up an independent regiet tipsy and drunk in the hall; a glint of steel earns twelve prefectures’² This is a fae The twelve provinces refer to Fuzhou, Jianzhou,³ Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, Tingzhou,⁴ Nanjianzhou,⁵ and Shaowu of Fujian; Xinghua of Jiangsu; Meizhou, Jieyang, Yuedong, and Nan’ao of Guangdong⁶ Although Nan’ao can’t be considered as a prefecture, that location has always been acclai Merchant shi+ps converge there Its thriving surpasses even Binzhou As a result, that is why there are twelve prefectures Although the Yue fa, and Nan’ao, all of these locations are iic locations with their backs to thethe sea Southern Chu is powerless to do anything, while it is beyond Great Yong’s reach

“Although the Yue fa themselves as a monarch to build a personal fiefdoet tipsy and drunk in the hall,’ that the Yue family has thousands of retainers in its service In order to maintain its position, and then beco, they e between the Jiang and Yue families was done on the Yue fahtly, Princess Changle replied, “It is truly awful that the Yue fa of the conificant Suiyun, since that is the case, why are you watching the h? With this, wouldn’t their desire be fulfilled? Moreover, at present, the Hai fa trade Binzhou has already become a harbor second only to Fujian’s Quanzhou In addition, cousin places heavy iht now, the Yue fa to muscle their way in on the ocean trade If they obtain the Hai fay, wouldn’t their power be a like a tiger gaining the power of flight? From this factor alone, they cannot be allowed to succeed with their plan of for fah the Yue faood, it is my desire to have them beco with the jade paperweight in my hands “The matters of this world are like this: Aside from the Imperial Throne, which can only be occupied by one person, everything else, regardless of what,any ht now, the ocean trade is reen with envy? At present, it is fine because the world is not yet united Once the world has been unified and peace falls upon these lands, the first person to target the Hai family will likely be the Son of Heaven Even if he teainst the Hai family out of respect for me, once I have passed on, the Hai family will be exterminated Since that is the case, it is best to allow the Yue fah there will still be those who seek to attack and suppress the as they are capable, they will be able to survive”

When Changle heard et the Hai family will likely be the Son of Heaven,” her hands shook, causing her eer As she continued listening, she gradually calh Imperial Brother is wise and brilliant, he can’t pretend that he doesn’t see so like this Since you have such intentions, there is no need to worry about theand Yue families It is only that the Yue fa towards Southern Chu, and is unwilling to swear allegiance to Great Yong For Husband to allow the to foster their strength?”

In a profound voice, I replied, “Hoill there be such a good thing? Although the Yue family can participate, it is not presently If the Yue family is not weakened, not only will I not be at ease, even elder brother Hai will not rest easy I have made preparations to strike a critical blow at the Yue fa them to participate in the ocean trade”

With concern, Princess Changle asked, “But since the Yue family is the overlord of the Southern Sea, how can Husband strike a critical blow at them? After all, at present, Fujian is still the territory of Southern Chu Wouldn’t it be even more bothersome if the Yue family becomes infuriated and cosht now, the Yue faenerations and is already weighed down by layers of private worries Especially proble is the Yue faainst their business rivals, they frequently use all methods available to suppress them All those who comply with them thrive, while those who do not, perish Theand Fujian only work under the Yue fa has spoken of offending a er of the Yue family in the past Later, when he set sail, he ran into pirates All of his assets were lost Afterwards, Zhongying suspected that all of this was the Yue fah he didn’t have any proof, the Yue fa should have been able to continue to do business His debtors originally did not have any intentions of forcing hi that he could continue and repay the enormous suh Zhongying ultimately used up all of his assets, he could not repay everything that he owed Unable to stay in Fujian, he could only wander to Great Yong It was a co the Pavilion of Heavenly Secrets, Wuji took a fancy to Zhongying’s ability, helping hiying was his paternal uncle And since I had retired into seclusion here to the Eastern Sea, I used all my efforts to help the Hai fa was also quite dissatisfied with the Yue fa to today’s situation where the upstart Hai family has outstripped the Yue faained them many enemies Under normal circumstances, it would be impossible to tell But at the crucial juncture, they will be assaulted from all sides In addition, the Yue family itself has many worries The conflict over the position of the head of the family is as unstoppable as wildfire This is the perfect tihed “The succession struggle in the imperial clan is admittedly extremely bloody For aristocratic and influential fale for the position of the head is also a catastrophe”

In a soft voice, I asked, “Zhen’er, are you re Palace?”

Sorroed on Princess Changle’s face “How can I forget so like that? Eldest brother committed treason and was forced to coize for her sins Her Imperial Majesty, the Empress, also died from suicide Zhen’er does not want to remember such a calahtly pulling her into s They got what they deserved In addition, e our love to the tur else, for this alone, you should not feel such grief”

Princess Changle could not help but blush Although she had beenwhat had happened in the Hunting Palace—co her self-control publicly in front of everyone—would still cause her to be unable to hide her bashfulness Only after seeing that she was no longer sad, I continued, “Since you do not want to hear about the domestic matters of the Yue faht about now, Shen’er should wake Go take a look I still need to look over so up her ele complained, “These last two years, on the surface you’ve left the court, relaxing and convalescing, and yet you are still unable to let these things go If one had known earlier that things would be like this, it would have been better not leaving Even your hair has grayed Why are you going to such lengths?”

“Zhen’er, I’ve told you long ago that there is no helping my hair,” I replied, unable to help but sh the Nine Revolutions Heart Protection Pill preserved ently nursed my health e arrived at the Eastern Sea, themy hair to become like this These last few years, I have cal As for the triflingto the Hai and Yue fas that I have handled to alleviate my boredom Have you seen me completely wrapped up in le rolled her eyes “Fine … I’ll believe you At the ti second brother, you would not have nearly lost your life in Chang’an In the future, I won’t permit you to work as if your life depended on it Do you think that I do not know about what happened after second brother’s letter arrived? You iot to work It see to an end I won’t stop you It is only that all tense things need relaxation It will be good as long as you don’t shed your blood, sweat, and tears as before”

I promptly consented, “Definitely, definitely How could I refuse to obey ether to see Shen’er?”

“Don’t le “Do you think that I don’t know that if you go to see hie when he likes to sleep I don’t know this temperament of yours … Before, I heard second brother speak of your constant bullying and teasing of Lan’er And now, you won’t even let Shen’er off You truly don’t act like a father”

I could not help but shrink intothat I dared to refute On several occasions, I had teased ht by her

After the princess’s figure disappeared, I retracted aze I walked over and took a look at the e the bloodstain upon it I could not help but feel sad These last few years, although we lived in uilt around That day when the princess and I eloped and ran away to the Eastern Sea, our et about the many and complicated etiquette and rites required for a princess’scustoms In addition, the number of witnesses could be counted on one hand⁸ Aside frole outsider

After ereby takingthat period, the Princess was le co care of e for Roulan Although she had the help of Dong Que and Head Maid Zhou, it took a lot for the pahter of the Son of Heaven to be able to handle the trifling domestic matters It was only in these last two years that h our reat, the joys of the bed chamber were quite restrained She continued as always, carefully taking care ofme with nourishment In order to help nurse my body, she took out the rare iuidance froht now, all ofcould only admire the princess’s ability

But even in the face of the princess’s affection, I was still intent upon returning, abandoning this ordinary, peaceful, and happy life, returning to that storar world I had no alternative A few days ago, E the current situation, indirectly asking for race towards le’s face alone, I had no choice but to becorave ’s imperial clan, the princess would likely be unable to bear it Further, this was the perfect opportunity to allow Princess Changle reunite with the Eer Whatever was going to happen, the princess’s elopement had infuriated Li Yuan Now that I had received Li Zhi’s ihter to reconcile In all likelihood, the princess would be delighted In addition, I understood clearly, as a son-in-law of Great Yong’s imperial clan, that my destiny was already inti If Great Yong failed to unify the world, then it would be impossible forat the docuain A frozen smile appeared on my face, as I softly radually acquired a somber and desolate intent

Concurrently, in the harbor of the island where the Marquis of the Eastern Sea was holding his beloved son’s wedding, inside of an extre the bride, a refined and exquisite looking young h some documents The less cabin was only illu upon this ht, the handso intent

“Eastern Sea, Yue fa in his eyes Setting down the docu man picked up the candle and walked to a corner of the cabin On the as hung an exquisite map that showed the limits of the Eastern Jin Dynasty The territory controlled by Great Yong, Northern Han, and Southern Chu were all displayed with different colors The young aze fell upon Binzhou in the north and Quanzhou in the south After revealing an icy grin, his eyes fell upon Jinyang and Zezhou, where the Northern Han and Great Yong ar to himself, he muttered, “Northern Han will seize the opportunity to attack Great Yong They will surely not h the loss of the Eastern Sea isn’t a fatal blow to Great Yong, the da control over the Eastern Sea has another benefit … Iof thatZhe! Li Zhen! I will definitely not let you off! Li Zhen, under the pretext of chastity, you refused toBut, you actually eloped with Jiang Zhe! How does such an impure and corrupt woman have the face to continue to live in this world?”

Just as the young man revealed a cruel and sinister expression, someone outside of the cabin reported, “Chief, all the preparations have beenthat Chief not act if there aren’t anyman’s face, as he replied, “Come in”