Protect Our Clan Leader

But on second thought, it made perfect sense. If Jiaolong Business Bank weren’t strong enough, how could it monopolize the entire business along the Peace River?

The annual revenue thus generated must surely reach astronomical figures.

With such enormous revenue, recruiting and nurturing talents would naturally fall into place.

This is the so-called principle that the stronger one is, the more money one has, and the more money one has, the stronger one is. This concept applies universally across all worlds.

The boat made swift progress along the river. In small-talk conversation between Wang Shouzhe and Sixth Uncle Wang Dinghai, they soon left the exclusive territory of the Wang family. To their left was the Chaotic Stone Beach and to their right, a steep cliff.

The forthcoming water area was the territory of the Zhao Clan in Ping’an Town. In Wang Shouzhe’s understanding, this was an exclusive economic zone divided up after protracted wrestling among various powers.

After another ten miles along the waterway, the right bank was the Shanyang area, where the Gongsun Clan’s stronghold resided. Compared to the small area of Ping’an Town where three prominent families compete, only two prominent families resided in Shanyang Town. Among them, the comprehensive strength of the Gongsun clan in Shanyang far exceeded that of the Cao Family.

Marriage alliances were very important among the Profound Martial families. Not only did they need to ensure the continuation of their bloodlines, but they also provided a means for alliances and diplomacy. As a rule, families from the same area didn’t intermarry.

Just like the Wang family, Liu Clan and Zhao Clan in Ping’an Town, they didn’t intermarry among each other. This signified an unspoken understanding that one hill cannot accommodate two tigers, and that they would eventually have to merge.

Similarly, when forming an external marital alliance, one could not choose to form an alliance with two families in the same area. As the Wang family and the Gongsun family of Shanyang were in an alliance through marriage, they absolutely couldn’t form an alliance with Shanyang. This is considered a big taboo. In return, the Gongsun Clan of Shanyang naturally wouldn’t form alliances with the Zhao Clan or Liu Clan in Ping’an.

Thus, the dozens of prominent families in Changning, though seemingly complicated, were actually divided into five or six factions through marriage alliances.

Wang Shouzhe admired the picturesque scenery along the way while sorting out his thoughts. The future development of his family necessitated consideration of factions formed through marital alliances.

Take the Xu Family of Changning as an example. The Xu family currently had three members in the Spirit Platform Realm, their strongest old ancestor had already reached the advanced stage of the Spirit Platform Realm, barely inferior to the peak strength of the Wang family.

However, the two families, being in-laws, still maintained a direct marriage alliance. The main business of Xinmao Silkworm Farm was silkworm rearing, and it relied on the Xu Family for survival. The Xu family, for example, bought silk cocoons at a price 20% higher than others, showing that they still regarded the Wang family with affection.

If one day he, Wang Shouzhe, attained the Spirit Platform Realm, wouldn’t he remember the kindness of the Gongsun clan, the Lu Family, and others? Everyone could face adversity at some point. Remembering the once-mighty Wang family, hadn’t it also fallen from grace?

“Shouzhe, look, that’s the Zhao Clan’s fishing fleet.” Wang Dinghai suddenly called out.

Wang Shouzhe glanced over the river surface and spotted a fishing fleet operating in the distance. Among them, two were medium-sized fishing boats. The dozen or so fishing boats spread out impressively, indicating that they were more advanced than the Wang family in terms of the scale of their fishing boats.

No wonder, out of the three prominent families in the small Ping’an Town, the Wang family was the weakest. Firstly, the Wang family had always had a tough fate. Secondly, the Zhao Clan and Liu Clan had deliberately joined hands to suppress them.

However, both the Zhao Clan and Liu Clan knew that once the Wang family collapsed and disappeared, Ping’an Town would become their battleground. From the fact that the Zhao Clan and Liu Clan did not intermarry, it was clear that there was an unspoken understanding between them.

“Haha, they are still using the outdated fishing method of casting the net from a fleet of boats.” Wang Dinghai sneered as he steered the boat. A sense of superiority arose in his heart.

It was no wonder. Since Wang Shouzhe had introduced the fixed lift net technology, Wang Dinghai had secretly erected 30 fixed lift nets at various hidden spots along both shores. At those fishing points, he had erected simple and crude huts for two fishermen to alternate between work and rest.

Moreover, fishing with these fixed lift nets, which used a seesaw mechanism, was extremely simple and easy. Even an ordinary underage person could easily handle it without much effort.

Fishing at night on the river was risky, and boats seldom went out unless necessary, usually returning to the port before nightfall. However, lift nets could be used to fish without light at night, and it was much safer on the shore than on the river.

Fish tend to move closer to the shore as evening falls and night comes, as there’s more opportunity for food near the shore, and the darkness gives them a sense of security.

During this fishing season, a fixed lift net could catch up to one or two thousand pounds in a single night, if luck was on their side. Even if not, they could easily get four or five hundred pounds.

With thirty lift nets, they’ve been catching an average of twenty thousand pounds every day in the past two days! That’s two hundred loads of various types of fish…

For the sake of secrecy, Wang Dinghai had already ceased daytime operation of the lift nets. He disassembled the nets during the day, flattened the frames, and covered them with grass. Then, quickly reassembled them as the evening fell, making the most of the night to fish.

After all, daytime catch rates were much lower than nighttime, so it was better to increase the level of secrecy.

During the day, to avoid attracting attention, the fishing fleets had to go out unless there was anything else important. The daily catch of tens of pounds during the fish season gradually didn’t meet Wang Dinghai’s expectations. He was contemplating catching more with a scoop net.

When Wang Dinghai reported these matters in a soft voice to Wang Shouzhe, Wang Shouzhe felt deeply moved. The natural resources of this world are indeed abundant. Even the European and American countries known for their rich natural aquatic resources could not compare to this world.

“Sixth Uncle, try to preserve the resources as much as possible,” Wang Shouzhe said with both joy and worry. “In the future, we should release the small fish of the same species.”

“How could we do that?” Wang Dinghai widened his eyes. “These are money. We make several tenfold daily. Besides, if we don’t fish, other families will.” After a pause, he couldn’t stand Wang Shouzhe’s gaze, and had to say awkwardly, “If you really object, let the boatmen gather the small fish and throw them all into the Peace River, as if we are breeding them ourselves. I will just have to add a few more scoop nets and catch more big fish.”

“That works too.” Wang Shouzhe knew that the older generation’s thinking was strictly based around poverty. He understood that the progressive thinking of protecting natural resources wouldn’t be accepted immediately.

The boat quickly passed the Zhao Clan’s boats, keeping a distance of two miles, and gradually moved away from them.

The journey from the entrance of Fenggu Sluice to Donggang is about 120 miles. With the current, it would only take two and a half hours to reach Donggang.

The river here was wider, shaped like a large trumpet mouth, and the current was slower. On the left side of the trumpet, the Liu Ping Mountain Range stretched without end.

The Liu Ping Mountain Range and the areas behind it were dangerous and belonged to one of the uncultivated wild areas. The beasts became more formidable the deeper one went, and even ancestors of the Spirit Platform Realm could perish randomly.

On the right side of the river was a vast plain. From the maps and on-the-spot observations, Wang Shouzhe deduced that it was an alluvial plain.

This fertile land was home to the prominent Donghaei District of Longzuo County.

Donggang Town was the furthest eastern extension of the Changning District, bordering the Donghaei District.

Donggang’s geographical location was excellent, with a natural deep-water port providing shelter from the wind. Over time, it became a prosperous port with developed transportation and concentrated commercial trade.

The Chen Clan of Donggang, who were related to the Wang family by marriage, were one of the prominent families here.

The Chen clan was a family that had primarily operated a shipping business for generations. Despite being established less than a hundred years ago, the family was relatively young, and its pioneering ancestor had already passed away. Despite appearing to lack a strong background, in reality, the clan currently had two ancestors in the Spirit Platform Realm.

The elder ancestor was just over a hundred years old, while the younger one was in his seventies.

Besides, the Chen Clan’s current leader, Chen Dewei, had reached the peak of the Qi Refinement at the young age of forty- two. He was now polishing his skills and preparing resources, ready to attempt to advance to the Spirit Platform Realm in six months to a year, or two years at most.

Once the Clan Leader Chen Dewei successfully advanced, the Chen clan of Donggang would become a three-Spirit Platform family, which would further solidify the clan’s foundation.

Producing a Spirit Platform Stage cultivator every thirty years showed the considerable wealth and destiny of the Chen Clan of Donggang.

As Wang Shouzhe looked at the thriving buildings of Donggang from a distance, he felt deeply moved. Compared to the Chen clan, the destiny of the Wang family of Ping’an had been quite poor.

Fortunately, they now had him, Wang Shouzhe.

Suddenly!

A ship sailed out from the inner harbour. It was unique because it hoisted a large clan flag which depicted a golden flag bird flying over the sea.

On the lookout tower, a flag signalman was waving the flag.

“Shouzhe,” Wang Dinghai said joyfully, “That’s the Chen Clan of Donggang’s ship. They’re using flag signals to ask if we are visitors from the Wang Family. It looks like they’ve sent someone to welcome us.”

“Hmm.” Wang Shouzhe nodded. He had previously sent a steward to notify the Chen Clan of their journey. It was accepted etiquette for the Chen Clan to send someone to welcome visitors.

Wang Shouzhe guessed that it was the Young Clan Leader, Chen Fangjie because this person was soon to become his brother-in-law…