27: The storm of succession struggle

“Excellent, first obtain the certification, then set up a small military factory. After that, I can enter the hot weapons industry. If I can make a name for myself, won't money come looking for me?” Long Yuan thought with a hint of smugness.

Through these past two days of reading, Long Yuan understood the situation of the Great Ming Empire much better. Even many quite secretive pieces of information were now clear to him. This was because the Heavenly Dao Eye's information retrieval was comprehensive and continuous, not only including current information but also historical data reflected in numerous ancient texts and artifacts. Any discoverable information would be recorded in its database, and as long as the Heavenly Dao Space had sufficient energy, this information retrieval would automatically continue and its scope would constantly expand.

From the information, although the Great Ming Imperial Family still controlled the Great Ming Empire, in terms of martial Dao, it was essentially just the largest martial Dao force within the Great Ming Empire. Across the vast lands of the Great Ming Empire, there were also many civilian martial Dao forces. Some of these were overt, while others were reclusive Sects. These forces outwardly obeyed the Great Ming Imperial Family's governance, but they also possessed a great deal of autonomy. Some forces even established branches throughout the country, becoming colossal entities.

These primarily included traditional forces such as Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism, as well as emerging merchant alliances, guilds, organizations, and various aristocratic Families. They all held more or less some resources, intertwined with each other, experiencing both conflicts and collaborations. A delicate balance existed between them and the Great Ming Imperial Family. In a sense, the Great Ming Imperial Family was the main representative of all forces in the martial Dao circle, the visible leader on the surface. Everyone was expected to obey the Imperial Family's management, but if the Imperial Family threatened their existence and development, intense conflicts could erupt between them. This has been verified multiple times throughout history. The Great Ming Empire experienced three "Martial Dao Calamities" several centuries ago. Since the last incident, the Great Ming Imperial Family has noticeably reined itself in, striving to coexist peacefully with all martial Dao forces and share this land of the Great Ming Empire...

However, in recent years, the situation in the Great Ming Empire has become somewhat delicate again, the cause being internal strife within the Imperial Family. The current Emperor Ming, Zhu Zhenxiang, is nearing his lifespan, so the court officials strongly demanded the establishment of a Crown Prince to prevent any unforeseen circumstances.

The establishment of a Crown Prince has always been a major event for an Empire. All legitimate Imperial Princes who could potentially become Crown Prince had long begun to openly and covertly contend, extensively buying up and expanding their influence. Court officials, in turn, chose sides. This trend erupted from the two capitals, north and south, and rapidly spread to all major base cities across the country, plunging the Great Ming regime into a storm!

Changes in the Imperial Family naturally also affected the choices of various civilian forces. Because if the Imperial Prince they supported ascended to the throne, they would undoubtedly reap the greatest benefits. Therefore, all forces also acted quickly, on one hand, assessing the character, Bloodline, strength, and political achievements of each Imperial Prince, and on the other hand, examining the intentions of court officials and other forces, in order to find the most advantageous object for their future reliance and support...

While the Great Ming Empire was in the midst of a storm of political transition internally, externally, countries like Snow Eagle Country, War Bear Country, Flying Lion Country, and Fusang Country were eyeing it covetously, eager to take advantage of the chaos to bite off a piece of the Great Ming Empire's flesh or bone. If they could even bring the Great Ming Empire under their control, they would surely be pleased...

One can imagine the immense pressure on the current Emperor Ming, Zhu Zhenxiang. But a person, even an Emperor, once approaching his lifespan, will naturally and gradually lose the vibrant vitality and powerful dominance unique to an Emperor, becoming indecisive, overly cautious, and even making compromises. It's quite tragic to think about. Zhu Zhenxiang's reign title is "Revival", and it is now the 108th year of Revival. However, under his control, the Great Ming Empire has not only failed to regain its past glory but has steadily declined. Its territory has continuously shrunk under the encroachment of exotic beasts and some surrounding countries, currently leaving only the core region, which is the Great Ming Empire's traditional two capitals and thirteen provinces, plus the three Area Commands of Nurgan, Dagan, and Ü-Tsang. For Zhu Zhenxiang, being able to preserve this core region for his descendants when he relinquishes imperial power is probably his greatest wish now!

"Zhu Zhenxiang is, after all, the grandfather of the former owner, Zhu Deyuan. He's been on the throne for 108 years, and he's already nearing his lifespan? But that makes sense. He was almost 250 years old when he ascended, and now he's nearly 358. For someone with a martial general's cultivation, this age has long exceeded the limit. He must have taken a large amount of longevity-extending medicine to prolong his life to this extent, but his natural lifespan is ultimately limited..." Long Yuan mused.

He suddenly recalled some information mentioned in the Heavenly Dao Space's data. If Zhu Zhenxiang could improve his cultivation, or cultivate Immortality, or if he could refine a Spirit Pill of longevity himself, then it might be possible to extend the life of this convenient grandfather. But why should he do that?

Or rather, is there a need to do so?

Would the Imperial Princes currently vying for the Crown Prince position allow him to do so? How would the various forces view and act on this?

Power struggles have always been an extremely dangerous affair for an Empire, so it's better to wait and see how the situation develops first...

Returning home, Long Yuan began to inventory the wealth he possessed. Besides the more than nine hundred low-grade xuan stone he had left, his main task was to organize the assets Dragon Snow had left him. After an inventory, he himself was somewhat shocked!

Regarding houses, in addition to the large duplex he currently occupied, there were actually two more. One was in Fengyang County, in the area where Xuan Practitioners were relatively concentrated, which was the core area of Fengyang County, Yuhua District. The other was even more outrageous: it was in Nanyue City, the central city of the first-tier base, Southern Yue Province, which she had secretly bought outside when she was in the Prince Fus Mansion.

There were three cars: one branded "Unicorn," one branded "Knight," and another branded "Nishang." All were high-end Great Ming models, not only excellent in performance and equipment but also possessing extremely strong protective capabilities. Even if attacked by ordinary beasts and first-tier exotic beasts, they could remain unharmed, making them a mobile safe house and thus highly sought after by many high-end elites.

However, the Unicorn was in the house in Nanyue City, the Knight was in the house in Yuhua District, and only the Nishang was here in Hengbi Garden, which was a women's model, so it was completely useless.

Those two houses contained many treasures that had flowed out from the Imperial Family, mostly gifts from Prince Fu back then. As for the items inside this large duplex, most were utensils Dragon Snow had purchased herself, predominantly jade articles, along with gold, silver, bronze, and glass ware. They were exquisitely crafted and gleamed brightly. There was a small storage room on the upper floor, filled with Dragon Snow's valuables, including xuan stones, gold, silver, copper coins, bank cards, passbooks, checkbooks, and various jewelry and trinkets. Long Yuan was surprised to find that some of the xuan stones were Medium Grade xuan stones and High Grade xuan stones, and there were even five supreme-grade mysterious stones!

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