Chapter 942: Great Development

It seemed the three pirate factions of Yangshan Archipelago all enjoyed this lucrative side job.

He Lingchuan readily accepted it, treating it as compensation for his hard work.

After working from dawn until evening, He Lingchuan, Madam Zhu, Dong Rui, and the others finally returned to Blade Port.

As the evening breeze caressed his face again, He Lingchuan sat at the bow of the boat, feeling refreshed and invigorated.

With all the problems resolved one by one, his first territory – once considered a worthless asset by the Lu family – was about to become a hot commodity and could soon be put into vigorous development.

He could now begin recruiting and building up his forces; his future looked promising.

The mirror in his arms asked him, "Yangshan has three pirate leaders. Why did you recruit Min Tianxi and Huang Zhao, but didn't even give Yue Pinghe a chance to negotiate? Don't tell me it's because of his bad character; I don't think it's that simple."

Huang and Min were not around at the moment. He Lingchuan, with his eyes half-closed, said, "Congratulations, you guessed correctly."

The mirror was a little smug. It immediately asked again, "You killed him so decisively. Why?"

Yue Pinghe had willingly offered money for his life—thirty to fifty thousand taels of silver, equivalent to thirty to fifty million regular coins. Many people couldn't earn that much in a lifetime!

He Lingchuan had bought the Yangshan Archipelago from the Lu family for only eighty thousand.

However, this large sum of money failed to move He Lingchuan.

The mirror knew that its master was not one to treat money as dirt. So, how exactly had this Yue character offended him?

He Lingchuan propped his feet on a low stool, shifting into a more comfortable sitting position:

"When dealing with these pirates, killing is necessary to establish authority."

"You sing the song of the mountain you are on."

"If non-violent methods are used too often, others will mistake you for being soft-hearted. Look, Yue Pinghe kept thinking I would negotiate with him and allow him to bargain."

"None of the three pirate leaders are good people, and Yue Pinghe happened to be the one with the worst character. If not him, then who should I kill?" He Lingchuan chuckled. "So, who says character and credibility aren't important?"

When the power of choice is in others' hands, those with poor credibility and character are easily weeded out at critical moments of natural selection.

"Furthermore," he added, "I don't need three pirate leaders under me, and Yangshan Archipelago needs more labor."

More than a hundred pirates from the three factions were captured.

They could not yet join He Lingchuan's guard; instead, they would be sent to the islands for mining, land reclamation, or palm oil extraction.

As captives, their status was below that of hired laborers and residents, making them the most needed labor force in Yangshan Archipelago at the moment. However, He Lingchuan didn't forget to give them hope: after six months of forced labor, they could choose to leave or join paid production.

This way, the overseers guarding the captives would also be kinder, and wouldn't truly treat them as beasts of burden.

Two days later, He Lingchuan, along with his trusted aides, once again sailed deep into the Yangshan Archipelago.

The agreed-upon time with the King of Yin Hui had arrived. Starting today, he would draw out the malevolent energy from the entire archipelago, transforming it into a habitable place for humans.

From his previous conversation with the King of Yin Hui, he knew that the entire Yangshan Archipelago had a total of seven exits for malevolent energy, distributed among five islands. The main island, Dragon's Ridge Island, alone accounted for three of them.

Every time it was overcast and rainy, or during the night, the malevolent energy would disperse and drift, turning the deeper parts of the archipelago into no-man's-land.

That is to say, as long as He Lingchuan controlled the concentration of malevolent energy in these seven locations, he could control the habitability of the entire archipelago.

He had an agreement with the Yin Hui clan, and the southwestern end of Dragon's Ridge Island had already been designated for their residence. Therefore, the malevolent energy exit at the White Abyss Sinkhole didn't need to be managed; in reality, there were only six such exits to control.

He Lingchuan's strategy was to place the Dragon Punishment Pillars deep within these six fissures. The malevolent energy would be absorbed as soon as it emerged, with no chance to spread to the surface.

The amount of malevolent energy erupting from the six fissures varied, but generally speaking, each eruption could fill half a percent of a Dragon Punishment Pillar's capacity.

Considering the frequency of the malevolent energy eruptions, it would take, on average, more than four months to fill one Dragon Punishment Pillar. If He Lingchuan placed two Dragon Punishment Pillars into one fissure, they could last for more than half a year.

He had made dozens of them at once.

Once a Dragon Punishment Pillar was full, he just needed to throw it to the Divine Bone Necklace. It would drain the malevolent energy from within and return the pillar to He Lingchuan.

So, theoretically, out of the forty-two islands in Yangshan Archipelago, at most thirty-eight and a half could be safe and free of malevolent energy.

Of course, the secret of the Dragon Punishment Pillars was currently known only to He Lingchuan's trusted aides: Madam Zhu, Dong Rui, and more than ten disciples from Rongshan.

The group, each carrying a Dragon Punishment Pillar, split up to carry out their tasks.

In less than two days, the malevolent energy on fourteen islands of Yangshan Archipelago, from the center to the north and northeast, was completely cleared, making them open to all beings.

This was also He Lingchuan's deliberate design.

The fourteen outer islands were close to regular shipping lanes, forming a natural loop. Beyond this, the other twenty-odd islands were still steeped in malevolent energy.

There were three reasons for this:

First, the Yangshan Archipelago was too vast, and He Lingchuan admitted that with his current financial and material resources, he simply couldn't manage to cover it all.

Taking too big a step can easily strain one's groin, right?

Second, there weren't many islands truly vast, fertile, and suitable for farming. The others were either only suitable for gathering, or only had mines, or were simply too small and scattered to be effectively utilized.

In short, he needed to concentrate his efforts.

Finally, the outer sea south of the Yangshan waters not only frequently experienced strong winds and waves but also had sea monsters lurking. Some of these monsters particularly liked to attack ships and devour humans. Originally, the archipelago was shrouded in malevolent energy, which they deeply feared and thus dared not approach. Once the malevolent energy disappeared, who knew what large creatures might swim into the archipelago's waters?

With obstacles like malevolent energy, pirates, and Yin Hui all resolved one by one, the grand development of Yangshan Archipelago was eager to begin.

He Lingchuan asked Ding Zuodong, "What do we lack most now?"

Ding Zuodong replied without hesitation, "People!"

"Reclaiming land for farming requires people, extracting palm oil requires people, building houses and warehouses requires people, and logging and mining require people," he said with a serious expression. "Forging weapons and building ships also require people, but these two can be postponed for now."

"Recruiting and building up our forces is essential, but not an immediate priority. As for shipbuilding..." He Lingchuan pressed his forehead. "If we don't have enough manpower, we'll have to rent ships from Blade Port first."

All three pirate factions had been incorporated by him, and dozens of pirate ships, big and small, also belonged to him, but it was far from enough.

Currently, more than a dozen islands in Yangshan Archipelago were being developed, and the movement of supplies and personnel entirely depended on sea vessels, as there was no other means of transport.

"Miss Lei Ni has urged us several times," Ding Zuodong explained, detailing the grim situation. "Large quantities of palm fruit on the island are ripe, but the extraction tools, labor, warehouses, and ships have not yet caught up. If we miss this autumn's harvest, the next palm oil harvest will have to wait until next spring or summer."

That's all good money; it would be too much of a shame not to collect it.