I Have A Martial Dao World-Chapter 488 - : 488. Short of food?

Chapter 488: 488. Short of food?

The next event unfolded exactly as Li Pei had said—it was a magnificent armed procession, with prefecture governments surrendering at the sight of their approach.

By this time, three days had passed since Yuan Kaisheng’s defeat and death, and the Creation Immortal Boat had sailed to Yuezhou, the last of the major state cities on this journey.

The bigwigs in the city had long since received the news. The Prefectural Governor of Yuezhou—Ye Mingchen—organized a grand welcoming party.

It included officials of the sixth rank and above from the whole region, representatives of aristocratic clans and sectarian groups, as well as lower-ranked scholars and wealthy merchants, totaling over ten thousand people.

And in the distance, countless ordinary civilians came of their own accord, eager to catch a glimpse of the splendor of the fairy boat.

...

Everyone had been waiting in the cold, damp wind since the early morning, without a single complaint despite the long wait.

Until someone with sharp eyes shouted, “They’re coming!”

A colossal floating warship was rapidly approaching, bearing down upon them!

Even those who were prepared couldn’t help but show fear on their faces, and they quickly composed themselves, adjusting their appearances, not wanting to displease those of higher status.

In a short time, the Creation Immortal Boat stabilized its hover and 500 “Mecha Warriors” leaped down first.

They quickly arranged themselves into formation, transforming from fierce steel creatures into a tidy honor guard.

The Mecha Warriors also sported cloaks hastily made for the occasion. The bright red color billowed impressively, adding a sense of magnificent martial prowess that offset the ferocity of their tank-like appearance.

But the welcoming party was in an uproar, well aware of how dangerous these steel creatures could be!

Especially the heavy mechas that only Martial Artists of the Blood-Exchange Realm could operate, which brought fear and awe with their diamond-shaped bulletproof glass eyes and joint protective buffering structures, eliciting a sense of unfamiliar and intriguing “technological marvel.”

As everyone marveled, Li Pei descended elegantly on her Spiritual Sparrowhawk, followed by Yu Yanmei who served as her guard.

“Your servant Ye Mingchen pays homage to Your Majesty!”

The Prefectural Governor did not hesitate to bow first, even though Li Pei had not yet ascended the throne.

The other officials also imitated the gesture and kneeled en masse, and in a moment a large swath of them were prostrating themselves: “We pay our respects to Your Majesty!”

“No need for such formalities, rise.”

At that moment, Li Pei exhibited utmost grace, with the demeanor of royalty in every gesture, commanding respect and deterring close scrutiny.

She had become quite familiar with such scenes.

As the Creation Immortal Boat arrived at each locale, officials were bound to leave the city to welcome the new emperor with prostrations.

All the powerful figures also kept a low profile, daring not to speak loudly, with those from the underworld living in constant fear.

On the contrary, the common people faced no such pressures and looked up at the “Creation Immortal Boat” with faces full of shock and awe.

Some even kneeled and bowed continuously, hands clasped in prayer afterwards.

Those around took it in stride, arguing that praying to a miracle of engineering floating in the air was more practical than beseeching earthen idols in temples.

Li Pei gracefully accepted the homage of everyone present, and thus Yuezhou came under her control. From then on, there was no overt resistance throughout all of north and south Jiangnan.

Now all that was left was to wait for the coronation ceremony on the first day of the new year to officially establish The New Dynasty.

This content is taken from freёnovelkiss.com.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

With everything concluded, Lu Yao immediately piloted the fairy boat back to the Imperial City.

There were now additional passengers on board, including Lady Xiao and other officials and martial artists from the south.

These were people who had clear consciences and had resolutely thrown in their lot with Li Pei; she had granted them permission to accompany her back to the Imperial City to attend the coronation ceremony three weeks later.

At this moment, those first-time fairy boat passengers were wide-eyed with amazement and shock!

“The people on the ground are as tiny as ants!”

“We’ve just flown over Hongze Lake; that was so fast!”

“This is incredible! So flying is such a wonderful thing!”

They excitedly pointed and shouted while experiencing the grandeur of the high-altitude scenery and the sensation of clouds brushing past them.

Some even attempted to catch the clouds, but naturally came up empty-handed.

In contrast to their excitement, the soldiers who had embarked on the campaign remained calm, having seen it all before, and laughed at these “country bumpkins.”

At that moment, a few warriors from the Zhenhai Naval Fleet lifted their faceplates to chat comfortably.

Many of them were old acquaintances of Lu Yao, like Lin Zhongqing, the helmsman of the Jingyuan Ship who had once sought out massages, and Deng Boxiang, the helmsman of the Zhiyuan Ship.

And there were the chief mates and crew members from both men’s command.

These men were originally naval soldiers, yet now they wore mechas and battle armor as if part of the land forces, finding their skills had little place to be used, truly feeling somewhat at a loss.

Previously, in the naval battle against Izumo, the Zhenhai fleet was completely crippled, and as of now, not a single ship is able to set sail.

The Zhiyuan Ship of Deng Boxiang even “sank along with the enemy.”

At this moment, looking at the sunset on the horizon, he said full of hope, “I hope Lord Lu can allocate funds to reorganize the navy soon.”

Lin Zhongqing agreed, “The New Dynasty brings a new energy. I believe Lord Lu will indeed make significant achievements, and will likely rebuild the navy quickly.”

“However, money alone isn’t enough, we lack the ability to repair warships.”

“Vulcan has been sanctioned, and the Vulcan Shipyard is to be disbanded, perhaps we could get in touch.”

…

While the two harbored their hopeful thoughts, Chen Jinkui, the “helping hand” of the Zhiyuan Ship, was looking around in puzzlement.

“For some reason, the Fairy Boat always gives me a very familiar sensation.”

After observing for a while, his suspicion grew.

He decided to climb out of his battle armor, squatted on the ground, touched it, and said to his colleagues:

“It really resembles the Zhiyuan Ship, some parts are just proportionally enlarged…”

Deng Boxiang sighed and said, “I think you’ve gone mad missing the ship, you think everything looks like it.”

The others also chimed in, “Exactly, the Fairy Boat is more than 10 times bigger than your little broken ship.”

“This is clearly an ancient-looking artifact of the immortals, how did you come to that conclusion~”

…

The crowd teased him, not taking it seriously, thinking Chen Jinkui was just missing the warship.

Little did they know that the “Creation Immortal Boat” was indeed based on the Zhiyuan Ship from Blue Star, cast with the faith and willpower of the people of Xia Country, and there were indeed similarities.

Chen Jinkui’s position required him to report the status of the entire ship to the captain at any time; he was extremely familiar with it, which is why he felt doubtful.

But after being teased by his colleagues, he laughed it off without much care, simply looking forward to the New Dynasty quickly reorganizing the fleet.

As the saying goes, “Control the sea, and the country prospers.” These navy personnel with elite educations knew the importance of the sea!

~~~~~~~~~

At this time, Lu Yao had just finished his cultivation for the day and was amused by the “Willpower Golden Dragon” that had turned into a little snake.

This was the first time he had exhausted it to such a state.

The Creation Immortal Boat had a frightening consumption rate; Lu Yao drained the “Stone Lion” of its willpower and even used the Dragon Pattern Mirror to supplement it, but barely managed to keep it going.

However, it was also because of the awe-inspiring airborne warship that the mission was so smooth, and the change of dynasty was achieved with minimal losses.

But there were still some hidden dangers.

At this moment, Li Pei was practicing the ‘Art of the Dragon Slayer Manual’ to massage her husband, and at the same time, she was worried:

“The more remote areas are the more lawless, with entire Prefecture governments cultivating opium poppies.

We had plans to bring in some food from the south, but it seems they don’t have any surplus either…”

The northern region had already been invaded by the Coalition Forces of the Great Powers, leading to the underproduction of food, and there were powerful families secretly manipulating grain prices.

The issue of food scarcity was imminent!

Lu Yao lay there enjoying his wife’s service, calmly said, “After we return to the Imperial City, I will leave for a few days. When I return, I will bring back food.”

Li Pei opened her mouth as if to speak but then hesitated. The entire northern region was short on food; the amount needed was astronomical.

The husband used to bring in a million catties of grain, which was like a drop in the bucket and hardly enough for major use.

As she pondered, suddenly a large hand reached over and held her in an embrace.

Lu Yao smiled and said, “After all these years, don’t you trust me?”

As he spoke, he squeezed her hand firmly, causing Li Pei to cry out in pain, “Ow!”

Then she bit his earlobe as retaliation.

Daring to resist, Lu Yao swiftly lifted her into mid-air as a form of discipline.

Li Pei’s soul seemed to fly out of her body at that moment, and all thoughts of ascension to the throne and food shortages were cast aside.

When she came back to her senses, the Fairy Boat had already returned to the Imperial City.

From the ground came the roar of a tsunami-like cheer!