Food sanctions

After Isabella Belphegor visited Dark Moon and failed to convince Chen Rui to join forces with her and Prince Obsidian (around Chapter 200), the Fallen Angel capital imposed food sanctions on Shea and Dark Moon City.

Dark Moon survived by establishing trade with the western Shadow Empire's Custer Family, as well as mass-producing their own crops like Lala potatoes using Chen's Super System's Magic dust as fertilizer.

During the time, Dark Moon also took over the Mellon family's assets (Mellon Arc). Moreover, Red Spirit State offered to help provide extra food to Dark Moon as compensation for the Alan-Sergey incident.

Dark Moon tried to keep a low profile and give the illusion of internal conflict so as not to attract too much attention from the capital (so that the capital would not apply even more pressure).

Dark Moon successfully survives the sanctions, and their military and economy have even improved as well.

## Story

### Food self sufficiency

Shea had long prepared to undermine and get rid of Red Spirit Estate's control. Although almost half of the Dark Moon's commerce was controlled by Joseph, Joseph's half actually included the Mellon family's part; the other half was in the hands of the Saiful family and several old families. These forces were deeply rooted, and most of them supported Princess Royal. Besides, the Mellon family was an opportunist. They only wanted to rely on the big force, Red Spirit, but it wasn't truly loyal toward Joseph.

One of the most critical issues at the moment was food. The Dark Moon was rich in herbs and minerals, but it had always been lacking food. The demons' food was mainly crop and supplemented by meat. Due to the special soil quality of the Dark Moon Estate, the crop yield had always been difficult to increase. Even during the most prosperous time of the year, most of the food was purchased from other estates.

Through several years of hard work, the Saiful family and several other families had cultivated a large number of pigs and cows. The source of meat had been greatly alleviated, but the more important crops still couldn't be improved. They could only rely on the supply and support from the Red Spirit Estate. Chen Rui once heard Shea mentioned that as space equipment was extremely rare, and its capacity was too small; it couldn't store a large amount of food. So, she could only rely on caravan transportation. The food-purchasing caravans to the south and west that she sent were all robbed and killed by the so-called ‘thieves'; she suffered heavy losses. Thus, if the food problem could be solved, the Red Spirit's control over the Dark Moon would be greatly weakened.

### Post-Xilang

After Chen, Tim and Kagulong defeat the Red Devil Bandits in Xilang:

Joseph debated with Old Ford. As long as he could be re-elected, Red Spirit's food aid for the Dark Moon would be increased by 30% from next month.

The food problem had plagued Dark Moon for thousands of years. Although Dark Moon recently back control over Xilang, everyone understood that a trade route couldn't be established in a day or two. Moreover, the current situation in the west wasn't stable. No one can guarantee whether it could become an effective solution for food. At present, they must rely on the support from the Red Spirit Estate. If the aid could be increased by 30%, it would greatly alleviate the biggest problem of increasing food tension in the Dark Moon. Yet, in this way, the Dark Moon would even more inseparable from Red Spirit's "aid".

In fact, under the miraculous effect of Chen Rui's energy dust, the secret food base was successfully established and a large amount of food was stored. Dark Moon was already self-sufficient. However, they still had to keep it a secret. It was inappropriate to reveal their trump card. Since Joseph thought he was smart to give 30% more food, why not accept it happily?

### Shadow Empire cooperation

The Incubus Beast was swift. Three days later, the little black horse's figure appeared at Dark Moon's east city gate. Even in the evening when the light was not very bright, Chen Rui could still see that the spirit, appearance and temperament of those city gate guards had changed significantly from before. It seemed that through this period of training, there had been a tremendous boost in the overall quality.

The shops along the way were hastily preparing for the start of the night market. Since the opening of the night market organized by the Cloak Gang, it received unanimous praise from everyone in Dark Moon City. It became a favorite place for the demons who liked to hang out at night. It had effectively promoted the economy and consumption.

Currently, the night market was divided into two parts: southwest and southeast. Southwest was dominated by small merchants and hawkers, while southeast was a joint sales point for large and medium-sized merchants. Each had its own characteristics. As the controller, Cloak Gang had substantially increased their revenue. The hotpot restaurant was still very popular. It had opened three branches now, becoming the "special dish" of Dark Moon.

The businessmen also ushered in the spring that was only available in the human world. They only needed to pay taxes and Cloak Gang's protection fees to freely operate. They didn't have to consider the various "filial pieties" and extortions in the past, and their enthusiasm also greatly increased.

Chen Rui also saw a new shop selling the special products of Shadow Empire. Celine had become the heir of the Custer Family. She gradually took over the power passed over by Patriarch Croz. Under her operation, Custer Family's actions had slowly begun. The first step in the trade between Dark Moon and Dark Shadow Empire had been successfully executed.

With the Custer Family card, Dark Moon's purchase of food from the Dark Shadow Empire would be very smooth. At least on the bright side, Shea had been able to cope with the capital's food sanctions some time ago.

### Future plans

However, food sanctions were only a means of capital. If they only defended passively, then Dark Moon would be fragmented and completely broken one day under these step by step suppressions. Therefore, they must find ways to counterattack.

After the events of Moling Town, it was getting closer to the implementation of the most important plan. If the overall plan was successful, Shea was likely to become the empire's empress step by step. She would dominate the Fallen Angel Empire and make it stand equally with the other two empires.

The problem was that when the Demon Realm and the Human Realm had a large-scale war again two hundred years later, the Fallen Angel Empire would definitely participate. No matter which side won, to him as a human, even as "the prince of the human's Holy Empire," neither seemed to be a good result. Moreover, his life span was at least tens of thousands of years, so similar distresses might continue to follow.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Chapter 51 (Steambun)
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Chapter 193 (Steambun)
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Chapter 305 (Steambun)