Under One Person: The Sea Emperor Who Shattered Heaven and Earth

No one spoke. The only sound in the office was the thud of knees hitting the ground, one after another, like drumbeats pounding on Jiang Zhen's heart.

Finally, Master Feng spoke.

"Boss, you know how many years we've followed you."

He paused, as if recalling something. In his cloudy old eyes was a light that Jiang Zhen had never seen before—not fanaticism, not calculation, but something akin to piety.

"We are not ungrateful people. Nor are we greedy people."

He paused, raised his head, and a light in his cloudy old eyes that Jiang Zhen had never seen before appeared.

"But Chief, have you thought about this—how many people are there in our Canal Gang now? One hundred thousand? Two hundred thousand? If you include their families, and the merchants, boatmen, and dockworkers who depend on us for their livelihood, there are at least several hundred thousand people."

"These hundreds of thousands of people have tied their lives to our canal gang. Whether they live well or not depends entirely on whether we can stand firm."

"We were able to stand firm before because we had a strong fist. But things are different now; the world is about to change."

“You say the tide cannot be turned. Yes, we agree. But the tide is also fought for. You have extraordinary abilities, and the brothers have the courage to risk their lives, so why can't we fight for it?!”

By the end, Master Feng's voice was trembling with sobs, but he gritted his teeth and refused to let the tears fall.

“We don’t want to be heroes. We just want these hundreds of thousands of brothers to be able to stand tall and live with their heads held high from now on. We don’t want to be subservient to anyone or beg anyone for a meal.”

He kowtowed heavily, his forehead hitting the floor tiles with a dull thud.

"Boss, if you don't agree—we'll kneel here and die."

Inside and outside the house, there was complete silence.

Jiang Zhen stood by the window.

Ahead, there was a dark mass of people kneeling on the ground in the courtyard.

Behind him were the core members of the Canal Gang kneeling all over the room.

He was trapped in the middle, as if squeezed between two walls, unable to move.

The night breeze blowing in from the window rustled the map on the floor.

Jiang Zhen slowly closed his eyes and fell into thought.

Seeing this scene, he suddenly realized that what happened today was not simply the madness of these few old guys, but the collective will of the entire canal gang.

When an organization expands to a certain extent, when its power and force are sufficient to challenge existing rules, when it holds the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of people in its hands, the entire Yangtze River's water transport, the world's only penicillin production line, and weapons workshops more sophisticated than those of a regular army—

This organization will then develop its own "ideas".

It is not content with the status quo.

It wants to fight.

To secure a foundation for ourselves and our hundreds of thousands of people.

In their view, only Jiang Zhen could provide this foundation.

As for whether Jiang Zhen is willing or not?

You have to agree whether you want to or not.

Even if we have to push, we have to push it up.

Jiang Zhen opened his eyes, looked at the sea of ​​people outside the window, and his lips moved.

He didn't utter a single word.

Chapter 90: I Want to Be Friends with Chief Jiang

Jiang Zhen was overwhelmed by the group of old guys when he suddenly caught a glimpse of a figure in the corner. The person was huddled in an extremely awkward position, as if he wanted to curl up into a ball and squeeze into a crack in the wall. He was taking stealthy, furtive steps as he slowly made his way toward the door.

"A grotto-heaven?"

Fang Dongtian was stunned as if struck by lightning, his face turning deathly pale.

He felt that his luck had run out today. He had just finished eating and was taking a walk to digest when he saw a lot of people with sullen faces heading towards Jiang Zhen.

I was just thinking of joining in the fun, seeing what was going on, and also checking out how Jiang Zhen's studies were going lately.

Guess what happened?

He had just reached the doorway and hadn't even had a chance to peek in when he heard Fifth Master Feng's booming voice explode inside: "Chief, that seat has to be occupied, why can't it be you!"

Fang Dongtian's first reaction was to run.

But as soon as he turned around, he bumped into several people who had come from behind, and was then unwittingly dragged into the office. By the time he tried to leave, it was too late.

Then he heard one piece of news after another that made his scalp tingle: hundreds of thousands of brothers, river defense, weapons production, that location. Even if he was slow to understand, he could tell what it meant.

Fang Dongtian felt his heart was about to jump out of his throat, and his palms were covered in cold sweat.

Is this something he should know? Is this something he should know?

Although he called Jiang Zhen his senior uncle, since ancient times, when it comes to secrets at this level, not even a nephew or a son is safe.

That's why he put all his effort into moving towards the door. He was just one step away, his fingers almost touching the door frame, when Jiang Zhen called him back.

Fang Dongtian turned around stiffly, his facial muscles twitching a few times, forcing a smile that looked more like a grimace.

"Master... Uncle-Master..."

Jiang Zhen glared at Master Feng and the others, then turned to Fang Dongtian and said, "Dongtian, you heard that too, what's your opinion?"

……

"Dongtian?" Seeing that Fang Dongtian did not react for a long time and stood there blankly as if he had lost his soul, Jiang Zhen waved his hand in front of his eyes.

"Huh? Uncle-Master, what did you say?"

Fang Dongtian rubbed his ear, a troubled expression on his face: "I recently messed up my Qi circulation during my cultivation, and now my ears are really acting up. I can't hear anything lately. What did you just say, Uncle-Master? Speak louder, I can't hear you!"

Jiang Zhen: ...

"Then go back to sleep."

"Alright!" Fang Dongtian burst forth with unprecedented speed and took off running.

I ran as fast as I could, and was about to go into my room when I thought better of it. I should go to Lin Zhu's laboratory first.

the other side.

Jiang Zhen returned to his seat and sat down, watching the group of people in front of him from evening until morning.

"Aren't your legs numb?" Jiang Zhen suddenly asked, his tone tinged with helplessness.

No one answered.

"Haha, how about we stop here for today? I heard there's been a great harvest of seafood lately, so let's all have a taste."

"By the way, Mr. Du just sent over a few new movies. Shall we all take a look?"

……

No one answered.

The smile on Jiang Zhen's face gradually disappeared, and he slammed his hand on the table.

"Damn it, don't push your luck!"

Master Feng raised his head.

"Boss, we won't get up if you don't agree."

"And whether you agree or not, we will do it."

Jiang Zhen stood up, exuding a murderous aura: "Let's see who dares!"

“Unless you kill us! Kill all the brothers of the Canal Gang!” Zhao Yuan also raised his head.

"Don't tell me you really think you're so capable, so powerful? All you do is fight and kill, and you can't even read or do basic math..."

Jiang Zhen was interrupted before he could finish his rant.

"That's something that happened later."

Master Feng said, enunciating each word clearly: "I'll say it again, that position always has to be occupied, why can't it be you!"

"Boss, the brothers really want to fight you for a future!"

Looking at these faces, Jiang Zhen realized he was certain: these guys were completely obsessed.

He knew that if he forced his way through today, these people would outwardly obey, but behind his back they would definitely cause trouble. Hundreds of thousands of people were scattered across hundreds and thousands of docks along the Yangtze River; he couldn't possibly keep an eye on them all.

As for following their lead, Jiang Zhen never even dared to consider it.

"call--"

Jiang Zhen turned around, his eyes becoming clearer than ever before.

"I will absolutely not fight for it."

Seeing the disappointed looks on everyone's faces, Jiang Zhen changed the subject: "However, our hundreds of thousands of brothers really need a way to survive."

"If you still acknowledge me as your leader, then get up first!"

The group looked at each other, hesitantly rising slowly.

Jiang Zhen walked to the map and looked in the direction of the Yangtze River estuary.

"Gang leader? What kind of life is that?"

"I just have an idea right now, I'll let you know in a while."

Upon hearing this, everyone felt that the words were vague and ambiguous, as if they hadn't said anything at all.

Master Feng and Zhao Yuan exchanged a glance, then looked at the others, and after exchanging a few more glances, their knees began to bend again.

Jiang Zhen panicked immediately upon seeing this.

"Six months, just six months. Let me think it over carefully. During this time, no one is allowed to take any action!"

"Zhao Yuan, maintain the production of those weapons, but stop deploying defenses along the Yangtze River. Everyone, withdraw to your respective divisions."

"And those people outside, tell them to disperse immediately. Anyone still kneeling can collect their wages tomorrow and doesn't need to come back."

Just as everyone was about to press for more information, a specially made walkie-talkie in Bai Fu's arms suddenly rang.

"Report... Mr. Bai, there's a group of people at the gate... quite a big group."