Douluo: Yu Hao Pan Tang San

Chapter 460, 479. Just block it up, isn't that enough?
Eternal Temple
"Rakshasa greets the Eternal God," the Rakshasa God said respectfully.

Huo Yuhao glanced at Rakshasa God and asked, "What do you want?"

The Rakshasa God said, "Eternal God, the Black-Headed Chieftain you entrusted to me to cultivate is now only one step away from becoming a god. I need to pass on my divine position to his mother?"

Huo Yuhao said, "You're feeding him too fast. My green-haired general isn't fully developed yet."

Huo Yuhao thought for a moment and said, "How about this, you can restrict his time in the God Realm for a few days and then let him become a god when the time is right."

The Rakshasa God said, "As you command, Eternal God."

In preparation for war, the Divine Order Alliance, under the orders of Yu Xiaogang, increased taxes, expanded its army, and conscripted labor to build fortified cities and strongholds.

This caused immense suffering for the people of various countries on the continent. However, people in feudal times were very resilient to hardship.

To paraphrase Dai Tianfeng's famous saying: "Making the people live a life of half-death is the key to political success."

Unless they are driven to the brink of starvation, they will not consider rebelling.

However, as fate would have it, a rare locust plague broke out within the Tiandou Empire, sweeping across several provinces and devastating local crops.

Without food, the entire Tiandou Empire was filled with famine victims and starving people. People ate everything they could find, and eventually even made cakes out of mud and ate them. Tragic acts of cannibalism occurred one after another.

However, in order to achieve the KPIs of the Divine Order Alliance, the Heavenly Dou Empire continued to levy exorbitant taxes and levies on various regions.

The Spirit Hall opened its warehouses to provide relief to the starving victims.

Over time, the Heavenly Dou Empire also realized the seriousness of the problem.

Does that mean public opinion is important?

In the past, the hearts of the people were not important to those in high positions. They only needed to pass on their martial spirits and control feudal resources such as land. In their eyes, these lowly people were just mules and horses, agricultural tools used to plow the land and generate taxes. They could simply replace them with another batch after they died. They could not overturn the world. Only the Spirit Hall would think about discovering talented people among the lowly people.

But now the situation has changed. The Spirit Hall is using this method to win people's hearts. Only the higher-ups of the Divine Order Alliance know that the supposedly destroyed Starfire Academy has simply disappeared, not been eliminated. The Starfire forces possess the technology to bestow martial spirits upon people, and they also specifically train the lower-class commoners who are dissatisfied with the current order.

After the disaster, many people who hate the Heavenly Dou Empire will emerge from among the victims. If they are used by the vanished Starfire Academy, the consequences will be unimaginable.

The wise men of the Heavenly Dou Empire realized that if they continued to ignore the lives of the people, the Heavenly Dou Empire would face a great catastrophe in the future.

Therefore, the Heavenly Dou Empire was divided into two factions. One faction was the Alliance Faction, represented by Xue Qinghe, who advocated implementing Yu Xiaogang's instructions and policies and actively preparing for war.

The other faction is the local faction represented by Prince Xuexing. His argument is that if things continue like this, the disappearing starlight could very well cultivate a force among the disaster victims that is enough to overthrow the Heavenly Dou Empire. We should distribute some of the food to help the disaster victims.

Two factions were locked in a standoff within the Heaven Dou Empire, and this time Emperor Xue Ye sided with Prince Xue Xing. He earnestly said to Xue Qinghe, "Qinghe, maintaining relations with the alliance is important, but don't forget that the Heaven Dou Empire is the foundation of our Xue family. You really need to learn this from your uncle."

Therefore, the Heavenly Dou Empire used the pretext of famine to reduce the amount of supplies it paid to the Divine Order Alliance.

Yu Xiaogang, in his capacity as the leader of the alliance, directly ordered the Tiandou Empire to pay the outstanding amount of supplies, but this unreasonable demand was rejected by Emperor Xueye.

Thus, this struggle became a battle between Yu Xiaogang, the leader of the Divine Order Alliance, and Xue Qinghe, the crown prince of the Heavenly Dou Empire.

"This alliance is really starting to disregard me more and more. Today, the Tiandou Empire refuses to pay tribute under the pretext of famine. So tomorrow, will the various families of the Xingluo Empire refuse to pay tribute under various pretexts?" Yu Xiaogang said angrily while chewing on a thousand-year-old Ganoderma lucidum.

As Gangzi's rank continued to drop, Yu Xiaogang became more sensitive. He could always notice that people within the alliance were outwardly respectful and friendly towards him, but they couldn't hide their contempt for him.

This dealt a heavy blow to Yu Xiaogang, whose self-esteem was extremely fragile.

Yu Xiaogang felt it was necessary to establish his authority within the alliance; otherwise, if everyone paid lip service to him while secretly resisting, who would provide him with tribute and resources to maintain his cultivation?

Afterwards, Yu Xiaogang probed Xue Qinghe, a member of the alliance faction within the Heaven Dou Empire, and learned of Xue Qinghe's intentions. He then secretly reached an agreement with Xue Qinghe.

Therefore, Yu Xiaogang instructed Xue Qinghe to poison and kill Emperor Xue Ye of the Tiandou Empire, and ambushed Prince Xue Xing's faction in the Emerald Gate, killing Prince Xue Xing, Ge Long and a series of other important officials. He seized power and ascended the throne of the Tiandou Empire. Everything was done perfectly. The only imperfection was that Prince Xue Beng, who was originally on the assassination list, had disappeared. However, the matter was already settled, and Xue Beng could not cause any more trouble.

After ascending the throne, Xue Qinghe almost resolutely implemented the orders of Alliance Leader Yu Xiaogang, treating every word Yu Xiaogang said as gospel. Yu Xiaogang was very pleased with Xue Qinghe's attitude, and his fragile self-esteem was greatly satisfied.

Therefore, Gangzi would often have private conversations with Xue Qinghe in the Tiandou Empire, giving him guidance on matters of governance to satisfy his vanity.

"Locust plagues and famines are just minor ailments. Let the people suffer a little longer and tighten their belts to endure it. Once this period is over, the Spirit Hall and Starfire Academy will be the real threats. We must concentrate all our resources to deal with their threat. This is also to create a better future for the Douluo Continent. I believe the people will understand the predicament of the Heaven Dou Empire," Yu Xiaogang said sanctimoniously.

"Alliance Leader Xiao Gang, what you said makes a lot of sense, but..." Xue Qinghe said.

"But what?" Yu Xiaogang asked.

"The Spirit Hall is opening its granaries to provide relief to disaster victims. I'm worried that some people won't understand your good intentions and will side with the Spirit Hall," Xue Qinghe said with concern.

Upon hearing this, Yu Xiaogang angrily cursed and said, "In this world, there are still more foolish and lowly people than anything else."

As he spoke, Yu Xiaogang paced back and forth, pondering how to resolve the problem of the Spirit Hall. Suddenly, he raised his short hair, a wise glint in his eyes, and said, "The Alliance has been preparing for war for so long, it's time to launch the war. Qinghe, aren't you afraid that the Spirit Hall's relief efforts for the disaster victims will induce some of the common people to side with the Spirit Hall? It's simple, just plug that loophole, isn't that enough?"

"The Alliance Leader's insight is truly remarkable." Xue Qinghe gave Yu Xiaogang a thumbs up.

(End of this chapter)