Chapter 386: Reclaiming Ownership of the Spirit Hunting Forests
After praising Yu Tianlin's extraordinary talent for a while, Ning Fengzhi and Chen Xin finally arrived.
Seeing that everyone who needed to be present had arrived, Emperor Xue Ye began discussing the main topic: reclaiming ownership of all Spirit Hunting Forests within the Heaven Dou Empire from Spirit Hall.
Hearing Emperor Xue Ye's words, Yu Tianlin could not help but give him an approving look.
As expected of the supreme ruler of an Empire, Emperor Xue Ye's strategic vision was very sharp.
First, he canceled the subsidy allocations, and now he wanted to reclaim the Spirit Hunting Forests. It seemed that once the issue of the Spirit Hunting Forests was resolved, Emperor Xue Ye would most likely expel every Spirit Hall branch within the Heaven Dou Empire.
This step-by-step approach weakened Spirit Hall while strengthening the Empire. It was steady, practical, and would produce excellent results.
The few people present were all experienced figures, so they quickly understood Emperor Xue Ye's plan and began to consider it carefully.
After a moment of thought, Ning Fengzhi was the first to speak.
"The Spirit Hunting Forests touch upon Spirit Hall's foundation. Spirit Hall will certainly not hand them over so easily."
"Precisely because of that, we must reclaim them even more," Yu Yuanzhen said. "As for whether Spirit Hall wants to hand them over or not, that will no longer be up to them."
If Spirit Hall was sensible and voluntarily returned the various Spirit Hunting Forests, that would naturally be best.
But if Spirit Hall refused to be sensible, then they would simply use force.
If you refuse to act decently, then we will help you act decently.
In any case, ownership of the Spirit Hunting Forests had to be recovered.
Ning Fengzhi also nodded in agreement with Yu Yuanzhen's words. Naturally, he understood this point.
At that moment, Emperor Xue Ye, Yu Yuanzhen, and Ning Fengzhi began their discussion.
Of course, Emperor Xue Ye did not overlook Yu Tianlin. He arranged for Xue Beng, the newly appointed Crown Prince, to accompany him on a walk.
Yu Tianlin already knew the general direction of what would happen next. As for the specific details, he was not particularly eager to hear them. Emperor Xue Ye's arrangement suited him perfectly. Taking a stroll around the imperial palace was not bad either.
Walking through the imperial palace with Xue Beng, Yu Tianlin felt a brief sigh of emotion.
Originally, matters like this had been handled by Qian Renxue while she was disguised as Xue Qinghe. Now that it had become Xue Beng, he felt somewhat unaccustomed to it.
He also wondered how Qian Renxue was doing now, and whether she had already begun receiving the Legacy of the god of angels.
Just as Yu Tianlin was thinking about this while touring the imperial palace, Xue Beng suddenly spoke with gratitude.
"Brother Yu, thank you very much for what happened last time. If you had not exposed Big Brother's true face, we would probably still be kept in the dark. We might not even know how we died."
When Xue Beng learned that his Big Brother had been impersonated by an outsider, every hair on his body had stood on end. He had been utterly terrified.
If that fake Big Brother had successfully poisoned his father and ascended the throne, then he would definitely have been killed next.
So, it could be said that Yu Tianlin had saved his life. If not for Yu Tianlin, he would never have become Crown Prince.
Because of this, Xue Beng was naturally very grateful to Yu Tianlin.
"Since our Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan has formed an alliance with the Heaven Dou Empire, these are things we should do," Yu Tianlin said with a smile. "We could not allow chaos to arise and give Spirit Hall an opportunity."
"However, Your Highness, I vaguely remember that our first meeting did not seem very pleasant."
It was more than just unpleasant. Yu Tianlin had beaten Xue Beng back then.
Hearing Yu Tianlin bring up the past, Xue Beng could not help breaking out in a cold sweat. He said somewhat awkwardly, "I was not very sensible back then, making Brother Yu laugh."
"Actually, I was also deliberately pretending to be a wastrel. I wanted Big Brother to think I was no threat so he would let me off. Who knew I would just happen to provoke Brother Yu?"
The two young men chatted like this, and their relationship gradually grew closer.
After all, the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan was now allied with the Heaven Dou Empire. It was very necessary for their relationship to become closer.
After touring most of the imperial palace, Xue Beng led Yu Tianlin back to Emperor Xue Ye's bedchamber.
At this time, the several important figures had already finalized the upcoming arrangements. With nothing else to do, Yu Yuanzhen returned to the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan with Yu Tianlin.
A few days later, the Heaven Dou Empire suddenly issued a statement.
If a Spirit Master wished to enter any Spirit Hunting Forest within the Empire, they had to possess a decree issued by the Heaven Dou Empire in addition to a decree issued by Spirit Hall.
In other words, no matter what, without a decree issued by the Heaven Dou Empire, entry into a Spirit Hunting Forest would not be permitted.
As for how to obtain a Heaven Dou Empire decree, that was simple. One only needed to register as a Spirit Master at an official agency that distributed subsidies within the Heaven Dou Empire. Then, after their spirit power broke through a bottleneck, they could apply for a decree.
This set of operations was actually the same as Spirit Hall's.
Cough, cough. It was called taking the essence and discarding the dross. If something worked well, then naturally, it should be used.
After the statement was issued, the Heaven Dou Empire gave orders to all troops guarding the Spirit Hunting Forests: Spirit Masters without an imperial decree were strictly forbidden from entering.
The guarding of the Spirit Hunting Forests was divided into two parts. The outer perimeter of each forest was garrisoned by the Heaven Dou Empire's army, while the interior of the forest was guarded by Spirit Hall's specialized enforcement teams.
After this order from the Heaven Dou Empire was issued, all of Spirit Hall's specialized enforcement teams inside the Spirit Hunting Forests were dumbfounded.
After all, it was impossible for them to possess decrees issued by the Heaven Dou Empire. In other words, they were now trapped inside the Spirit Hunting Forests and could not get out.
Since these enforcement teams from Spirit Hall could not exit through official channels, could they force their way out?
Obviously not.
The interior of each Spirit Hunting Forest was filled with Spirit Beasts. To prevent these Spirit Beasts from rioting, the Heaven Dou Empire had stationed a relatively strong military force around the outer perimeter of each Spirit Hunting Forest.
In addition, the outer perimeter of every Spirit Hunting Forest was basically surrounded by a massive steel fence, which the garrison used as a defensive stronghold. The Spirit Masters inside could not force their way out.
After all, how strong could Spirit Hall's enforcement teams inside the Spirit Hunting Forests be?
The enforcement teams in those low-level Spirit Hunting Forests had, at most, a Spirit Elder in charge.
Even if the Spirit Hall enforcement teams inside advanced Spirit Hunting Forests had a Spirit King present, the Heaven Dou Empire's military forces stationed around the outer perimeter of those advanced Spirit Hunting Forests would also be stronger, with Spirit Masters in command as well.
Spirit Hall's enforcement teams simply could not break out.
So, they could only stare blankly and wander aimlessly inside the Spirit Hunting Forests, waiting for Spirit Hall to receive the news and negotiate with the Heaven Dou Empire to release them.
"Damn it, is this never going to end?"
Bibi Dong rubbed her temples, feeling an immense headache.
It had not been long since the Heaven Dou Empire cut off the subsidy allocations to Spirit Hall, and now they were actually setting their sights on the Spirit Hunting Forests as well.
The subsidy allocations were a minor issue. They could simply draw blood from the various kingdoms and duchies.
But if the Spirit Hunting Forests no longer belonged to Spirit Hall, the impact would be enormous.
.....
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