Clan Rise: Starting as a Grandfather

Chapter 851: Chapter 628: Blockading the Sea Route (Part 2)

These fleets, wanting to trade with the East, all need to take the route north of Star Moon Island, then follow it all the way east into the seas of Divine Wood Island, and then proceed to the seas of the Longdan Dynasty.

Although Divine Wood Island also engages in some maritime trade, their main income comes from collecting tolls and port docking fees.

Now that Star Moon Island has blocked the route, no ships can reach the seas of Divine Wood Island, and Divine Wood Island is no longer able to collect transit fees, causing the port of Guiyun Island to become desolate.

At the same time, it forced a large number of vessels into the port of North Ring Island.

There’s no choice, merchant ships unable to transit can only dock at North Ring Island and wait for the route to open.

North Ring Island port, as the largest port open to the outside from Star Moon Island, still has very complete facilities.

The port not only has several taverns and inns, but also many shops established by merchants from various places.

Star Moon Island has four surrounding islands, the other three primarily focus on farming, with only North Ring Island being a prosperous commercial district.

Star Moon Island also collects transit fees and ship docking fees, but the fees are much less than those on Divine Wood Island.

However, the route blockade still affects many sea merchants’ businesses, so there is a clamor on North Ring Island.

Sato Ken is a sea merchant from the Desheng Dynasty.

Speaking of the maritime trade of the Desheng Dynasty, it’s quite ridiculous.

When the Tenglong Guard initially developed maritime trade, they first opened a trade route with the Desheng Dynasty, but at that time, the Tenglong Guard only collaborated with a daimyo from the Desheng Dynasty.

The cooperation was very pleasant, and that daimyo continued to grow strong thanks to maritime trade, which caught the attention of the Shogunate of the Desheng Dynasty.

The result was that the daimyo was placed under house arrest, and the Tenglong Guard’s maritime trade with the Desheng Dynasty ended, as the Shogunate implemented maritime bans that prohibited any merchant ships from going to sea and any foreign merchant ships from entering.

Therefore, the Tenglong Guard’s maritime trade with the Desheng Dynasty stalled for three years.

Later, when the Tenglong Guard Navy grew stronger, Yu Tonghai led the Tenglong Guard Navy to circle around the royal port of the Desheng Dynasty several times, forcing the Shogunate to reopen maritime trade.

However, at that time the Shogunate designated only one port for trade, and all trade had to be led by the Shogunate.

Yu Tonghai could not really attack the Desheng Dynasty, as nominally the Desheng Dynasty was still a vassal state of Da Rong, although this vassal state had some treacherous attributes.

The Shogunate limited the scope and volume of maritime trade, but smuggling within the Desheng Dynasty became increasingly rampant.

Then, until a few years ago, the Shogunate once again enforced strict maritime bans, strictly cracked down on smuggling, intercepted many smuggling ships, and killed many sea merchants.

They even intercepted and killed the Yang family’s fleet, slaughtering over two hundred of the four hundred guards and sailors on board, with the remaining hundred being taken to mine.

This was done extremely secretly by the Desheng Dynasty, and the Yang family and the Tenglong Guard took two years to investigate.

The result was that the Star Moon Navy patrolled the seas near the Desheng Dynasty for over a year.

Aren’t you banning ships from maritime trade?

Fine, I’ll help you with the maritime ban; anyone daring to venture to sea gets thrown into the sea to feed the fish.

With the help of the Star Moon Navy, the Desheng Dynasty’s ten thousand navy men were all thrown into the sea to feed the fish.

Finally, the Shogunate had no choice but to sign a treaty with Star Moon Island, allowing the Yang family and Tenglong Guard’s merchant ships to trade at all ports of the Desheng Dynasty.

Subsequently, over the next few years, the maritime trade of the Desheng Dynasty developed, with countless sea merchants emerging, following the Yang family and Tenglong Guard’s fleets to trade overseas.

The consequence was that the strength of many coastal daimyo of the Desheng Dynasty grew increasingly strong, reducing the Shogunate’s control over the Desheng Dynasty to a minimum.

Internal strife began in the Desheng Dynasty, initially as coastal daimyo resisting the Shogunate, then with the Shogunate allying with inland daimyo against the coastal daimyo.

As of now, the Shogunate can only stay in the capital with a few followers getting by, while those coastal daimyo start fighting among themselves.

Sato Ken came from the Sakamoto Domain, which is now the most powerful domain of the Desheng Dynasty, and Sato Ken is not only a sea merchant but also a confidant of the Sakamoto Domain’s daimyo Shimazu Takashima, essentially the sea merchant agent for Shimazu Takashima.

Sato Ken’s main duty is to manage Shimazu Takashima’s business on North Ring Island, while also representing Shimazu Takashima in maintaining good relations with Star Moon Island.

At this moment, Sato Ken stood on the street outside the port of North Ring Island, looking at those clamoring sea merchants with a furrowed brow.

The route was blocked, and their Sakamoto Domain fleets were unable to transit; several major sea merchants from the Sakamoto Domain had already approached him, wanting him to inquire about the situation with Star Moon Island.

To be honest, Sato Ken is a proud person; he really doesn’t want to deal with the people of Star Moon Island, because they have no confidence when facing the people of Star Moon Island, whether in speaking or handling affairs, they must be servile and obsequious.

But he couldn’t ignore the requests of those major sea merchants, because their interests were the interests of his master Shimazu Takashima.

His duty here was to maintain good relations with Star Moon Island, handle their Sakamoto Domain’s conflicts and troubles with Star Moon Island.

The trouble before him was his responsibility.

Sato Ken let out a long sigh, ultimately walking with a somewhat helpless expression towards the government office of North Ring Island.

The government office on North Ring Island, like that on Star Moon Island, has one member of the council, one military officer, similar to the setup of a county government.

But the main duty of the North Ring Island government office is to manage the port, with its main fiscal sources being port ship docking fees, transit fees, and island commercial taxes.

As for land taxes, North Ring Island is originally small, and after constructing the port and township, there are only less than ten thousand acres of farmland, which yields less tax in a year than one month’s ship docking fees from the port.

The council member of North Ring Island is Yang Jide; from the name, it’s apparent that he’s a descendant of the Yang family, a great-grandchild of Yang Zhenshan.

However, Yang Jide is already twenty-five or twenty-six years old this year; his grandfather is none other than Yang Mingwu.

Yang Mingwu, while not residing on Star Moon Island, sent his two sons, four grandsons, and three granddaughters all to Star Moon Island, leaving him only with his eldest son, who also spent five years on Star Moon Island.

At this time, Yang Jide also faced considerable headaches; with the route blocked, the impact was not only on Divine Wood Island but also caused a slew of troubles on North Ring Island.

”Sir, Sato Ken from the Sakamoto Domain requests to meet!”

”Have him wait!” Yang Jide said somewhat impatiently.

He can barely manage people from the Sakamoto Domain; just the sea merchants from Da Rong are enough for him to handle.

Knowing that the sea merchants from Da Rong all have intricate connections with the Yang family or the Tenglong Guard, if not for this connection, they wouldn’t dare to travel thousands of miles to North Ring Island.

But since there is a connection, Star Moon Island naturally ought to offer some support and certainly can’t neglect these partners.

Yang Jide first went to the tea room to meet with the Xue family’s manager; the Xue family is the family of Marquis Haichang, Xue Chang’an, which is an in-law to the Yang family.

Then he went to meet with the captain from the Zhu family, a different Zhu family from the Earth Fire Island’s Zhu family, being from Uncle Anshun Zhu Rong’s Zhu family, also an in-law of the Yang family.

Uncle Anshun’s Mansion previously had no maritime business, but after connecting with the Yang family, Uncle Anshun’s Mansion began to prosper.

Initially, they only provided goods to the Yang family, later beginning to dabble in maritime trade.

However, their scale is relatively small; ten years have passed, and they’ve barely assembled a fleet, which now is stuck at North Ring Island.

If Uncle Anshun’s Mansion’s fleet remains blocked for one or two years, it would greatly impact Uncle Anshun’s Mansion.

After all, Uncle Anshun’s Mansion isn’t like Marquis Haichang’s Mansion, which has been conducting maritime trade for over twenty years, becoming immensely wealthy; even with some losses, they can bear it.

But Uncle Anshun’s Mansion’s assets are still small and can’t withstand the turmoil.