Chapter 547

After expanding without restraint, Ye Xiaotian had already decided on a strategy to stop expansion and consolidate his current position. As a result, it made perfect sense for him to frequently appoint and dismiss subordinates and send people to govern the territory he occupied.

Following Yang Yinglong's list of names, Ye Xiaotian continued to appoint and dismiss the various leaders. Although he promoted new people and demoted the old, displeasing many people, Ye Xiaotian's supreme status and influence in the Crouching Bull Ridge ensured that his orders were carried out.

Of course, the demoted people could not all be transferred elsewhere. Just how many places did Ye Xiaotian have for them? As a result, most of them remained where they were, except they now had a new superior that Venerable had just promoted.

Tian Tianyou also understood that giving these leaders a new superior due to their lack of ability was barely justifiable, but it would be very difficult to remove them from their posts without any reason. At the same time, he guessed that Ye Xiaoan was trying to protect himself. He wanted to keep these people. Once the traitors in Bozhou all took their positions, Yang Tianwang would still have to rely on him to a certain extent, but he could not push him too hard.

The old organisations of the Crouching Bull Ridge were all demoted, while the people that Tian Miaowen had brought with her were placed in important positions. However, the people that Tian Miaowen had brought with her were all "technical talents". They were responsible for managing finances, managing estates, managing internal affairs … It did not clash with the administrative and military authority that the traitors in Bozhou wanted.

Time passed day by day, and the Crouching Bull Ridge changed day by day. The final objective of the traitors that had been promoted was to take over the Crouching Bull Ridge, not to destroy or destroy it. As a result, they did not do anything destructive after taking their positions. Instead, they did everything they could to help the Crouching Bull Ridge expand its influence and consolidate its foundation. They did an outstanding job.

The more powerful the Crouching Bull Ridge became, the more useful it would be to the heavenly kings in the future. Only then would their individual futures be brighter. Due to this reason, they worked very hard after taking their positions. Of course, during this process, they constantly roped in and promoted a few people.

They showed kindness to others and established their own subordinates. With Ye Xiaotian as their spiritual and political leader, he remained supreme. Even if the Crouching Bull Ridge joined Yang Tianwang one day, it would still be a wise choice for the "Venerable". Then, they would lead their subordinates to wave the flag and cheer for him, and everything would fall into place.

This kind of control method and process, even if only one important leader was a spy, it would still be very dangerous, let alone so many people. Therefore, this plan of "beating them at their own game" was actually quite dangerous. One careless move would cause one to be playing with fire and get burned.

It was exactly because of the uniqueness of the organisation of the Crouching Bull Ridge that Ye Xiaotian dared to play this "risky game".

Currently, these two modes of governance were in a process of decline and decline, and the influence of religion was still quite strong. To completely erase this influence, it was simply not something that this generation could accomplish, because this generation had completely transitioned from the rule of religious authority.

It was only because Ye Xiaotian himself happened to be the highest leader of religious authority that his reforms would be relatively smooth. To his devout followers, their simple minds would never realise what this reform meant. They only believed this was a new model that the Venerable had designed for them to adapt to life outside the mountains. They would have to wait for the next generation to grow up at the very least if they wanted this model to completely replace the influence of the old model of governance.

Everything was going according to Yang Yinglong's plan, and it was going perfectly. Afterwards, according to Yang Yinglong's plan, it was time for Ye Xiaotian to befriend Bozhou.

Ye Xiaotian befriending Bozhou sounded rather strange, but it was actually very normal. It was just like how Ye Xiaotian had once trapped Yu Junting, but in the blink of an eye, the two of them had turned from enemies to friends. It was far too common for the chieftains to fight and reconcile, even for the four heavenly kings who possessed the most exalted status.

The An family and the Yang family had separated and reconciled countless times over the past millennia. They had even become in-laws many times. Yang Yinglong's grandfather, the prime minister, doted on his bastard son, Yang Xu. He wanted to make him the legitimate heir. His wife, the Zhang clan, and his son, Yang Lie, rebelled. When the prime minister fled from Bozhou, he had fled to the territory of the Shuixi clan to seek refuge.

As for the various chieftains around the Mercury Silver mountain, the melodramatic scenes of marriage alliances and falling out at other times rose and fell without a break. Yang Yinglong had arranged for Ye Xiao 'an to come into contact with him to send a signal, giving the people of the Crouching Bull Ridge a buffer.

Moreover, the contest of strength between Yang Yinglong and Ye Xiaotian had always been like hitting a bull across a mountain. The two sides had never directly clashed. Ye Xiaotian, who was growing stronger by the day and needed to attach himself to a ruler, chose the Yang clan of Bozhou, who was the most famous of the four heavenly kings, as an ally. This made perfect sense.

In the past, Ye Xiaotian was closer to the Shuixi clan and the governor of Guizhou, Ye Mengxiong, but it was not strange for him to choose a new partner. Perhaps the Shuixi clan and Ye Mengxiong would take countermeasures, but in Yang Yinglong's eyes, the current Ye Xiaotian was actually Ye Xiao 'an, who was under his control. Ye Xiao' an could only bow his head obediently to him, so he obviously did not care.

The entire plan to control the Crouching Bull Ridge was both bold and meticulous. It was being completed step by step. It could be described as flawless — if the current master of the Crouching Bull Ridge really was Ye Xiao 'an and not Ye Xiaotian.

… …

Bozhou, Yang Yinglong.

Ye Xiaotian's fate with Bozhou had actually begun from the moment he sent a letter to the Huguang path's Jing province and took Yang Yao away. However, only today did he truly set foot on the soil of Bozhou. Somehow, everything seemed to be fated. The entanglement between Ye Xiaotian and Yang Yinglong also grew closer and closer.

Hailongtun, Heavenly King's pavilion.

Yang Yinglong personally received Ye Xiaotian, the chief magistrate of the Crouching Bull Ridge who had "taken the initiative to pay a visit and express their closeness", and held a great banquet for him. He was obviously putting on such an act for the world to see, as well as for the people of the Crouching Bull Ridge. "Look, I treat your chieftain with great courtesy."

Everyone gathered in the Heavenly King's pavilion. Yang Yinglong's second brother Yang Zhaolong, his cousin Yang Daqi, his eldest son Yang Chaodong, his second son Yang Kedong, his eldest brother Chen Xiao, the great director of the military, Tian Yipeng, Tian Feipeng, and the housekeeper Zhao Wenyuan were all present. The beautiful third wife Tian Xiufeng sat beside Yang Yinglong, smiling sweetly.

This beauty had been viciously taught a lesson by the Palm Seal Madam Zhang using the clan's laws. She had been spanked until her bottom bloomed, but she had already recovered by now.

Yang Yinglong said proudly, "Chieftain Ye, what do you think of my Sea Dragon Village?"

Ye Xiaotian said in admiration, "The dragon coils and the tiger crouches, dominating the southwest!"

Yang Yinglong laughed aloud and added to himself, "In the future, I will dominate the entire world!"

However, not everyone present knew about Yang Yinglong's rebellion at such a grand banquet, and the people Ye Xiaotian had brought with him were not just Tian Binfei, Tian Tianyou, and Tian Wenbo, so it was obviously inconvenient for him to say this out loud.

Tian Xiufeng said sweetly, "The reason why my Sea Dragon Village is what it is today is because of the heavenly king's great strategy and millennia of heritage. Chieftain Ye's rapid rise to power is worthy of being called a hero of the world. In the future, our two clans should be closer. I believe this will bring great benefits to both my Sea Dragon Village and your Crouching Bull Ridge. "

The woman spoke to Ye Xiaotian at ease and natural. It was impossible to tell that something like that had happened between the two of them in the quiet room at night. Ye Xiaotian was currently pretending to be his elder brother. Thinking about his elder brother's nature and temper, he nodded repeatedly in agreement while feeling slightly uneasy.

Tian Xiufeng saw this and knew that he was thinking about how he had offended her that day. She scoffed inside, "Perverted but cowardly trash!" She then looked at the tall and handsome Yang Yinglong who sat majestically on the seat of honor beside her. She increasingly felt that only a hero like him was worthy of being her man.

Her eyes flickered slightly, and she looked away from Ye Xiaotian. She took the opportunity to shoot a glance at Tian Feipeng, who was sitting beside Ye Xiaotian, who was eagerly trying to get him to drink. Tian Feipeng understood. After a while, he stood up and left, pretending to go to the toilet. When he arrived outside, he called someone over and whispered something into his ear.

This person was Tian Xiufeng's trusted bodyguard, the expert from Mount Longhu, Li Tianxiong. Li Tianxiong nodded and left after receiving Tian Feipeng's permission. Tian Feipeng cleaned his hands and returned to the main hall. He continued to drink, not revealing the slightest bit of abnormality.

Dragon Claw Village was separated from Cloud Sea Village by a large river. Yaoyao was opposite. Mist lingered around the mountainside, making the buildings on the mountain look like heavenly palaces. And in front of the two villages, at the end of the large river, there was a majestic mountain peak that pierced through the clouds. That was Sea Dragon Village.

Dragon Claw Village was Song Shichen's encampment. At the moment, Madam Zhang was living in Dragon Claw Village. She hadn't returned to Dabei Temple yet. Since she already knew of her husband's ambition, and she didn't believe that her husband could succeed, how could she stand by and watch as his actions would bring disaster to the thousand-year foundation of Bozhou?

However, because she had beaten Tian Xiufeng, she had angered Yang Yinglong. These days, she had repeatedly asked to see him, but Yang Yinglong refused to see her. Madam Zhang was in a dilemma. She discussed with Song Shichen and the others, but couldn't come up with a solution. She could only stay here for the time being.

Today, Song Shichen went down to Dragon Claw Village. According to Madam Zhang's orders, he and He En went to see Zhang Shizhao. Zhang Shizhao was Madam Zhang's uncle and the abbot of a famous Taoist temple in Bozhou. Moreover, Yang Yinglong worshipped Taoism the most. Seeing that her husband was ignoring her, Madam Zhang decided to take a roundabout way. She wanted Zhang Shizhao to contact a few Taoist spiritual masters to go to Dragon Claw Village together. She hoped that they could use their influence to dispel Yang Yinglong's ambition.

However, it was not appropriate to say that her husband was plotting a rebellion. Therefore, only Zhang Shizhao could know the truth. As for how the other Taoist spiritual masters would use their influence, she couldn't tell them. Madam Zhang hadn't thought it through yet, so she could only invite them first.

At this time, in a lush and verdant forest below Dragon Claw Village, a woman in her thirties was looking around with a slightly panicked expression. She seemed to be waiting for someone. The withered leaves rustled under the tree, and Li Tianxiong's figure appeared.

"Tianxiong!" The young woman cried out anxiously and rushed into his arms. This young woman was Madam Zhang's dowry maid. Li Tianxiong was originally Madam Zhang's personal guard. The two of them had an unusual relationship when they were young. However, this relationship was not known to outsiders, so no one knew that the two of them were secretly having an affair.

"Duo Li, don't be afraid! Don't worry, as long as you're willing to come forward, the Heavenly King will definitely pardon you. " Li Tianxiong called the young woman's maiden name and said softly. The young woman, Duo Li, shed tears and said, "I'm not afraid, it's just that … Madam is kind-hearted. To betray her like this, I …"

Li Tianxiong said, "Silly Li 'er, this is the Heavenly King who wants her dead. She won't be able to escape this disaster. Even if you don't come forward, she will still die! At that time, no one around her will be able to live. I only came up with this plan to save you! "

"But …"

"Alright, alright, no buts. You're not young anymore. Don't you want to marry me and be my wife? This is a great opportunity for us. Let's go! The Heavenly King is still waiting, let's go up the mountain immediately! "

Li Tianxiong said as he pulled Duo Li up. Duo Li struggled in her heart and was dragged by Li Tianxiong to Sea Dragon Village.