Chapter 464 - Technology Race (2/2)
”I'll try, second brother… There go my wine sessions.”
”Don't drink too much. You're going to die pissing off your subordinate again.”
”… I know.”
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.
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February, 195 AD.
The news about the new development of neighbor countries reached the ears of Tong and his men.
Even though the threat of their new technologies and new toys could harm his men, Tong was not flustered or panic. Instead, he was delighted that his plan finally bore fruits.
So far, Tong had been pressuring all hostile forces with his military might and the overwhelming number of soldiers so that Liu Bei, Cao Cao, and Sun Ce could hasten their city development and technology.
And it worked.
Without doing anything but sitting and training his soldiers, Liu Bei and Sun Fang did the work for him by developing new war tools.
…
Throne Room, Ye Palace, Morning Assembly Meeting
As Dong Bai and Diaochan stopped harassing Tong at night, the pervert emperor's health got better. Tong's face regained color, which delighted his subordinates that this pillar of the Han Dynasty would not die any time soon.
Zhuge Liang took over Xun Yu's job and reported the finding of Liu Bei and Sun Fang's movements.
Finished listening to the report, Tong summoned Te Langpu, ”Mr. President…”
Te Langpu stepped forward, questioned Tong's motive, ”Your Majesty?”
”I think stirrup is something that I overlooked after all these years. We should add this to our current development projects and mass produce this along with horse saddles, so it can become a set.”
Te Langpu grumbled, ”So, the designer task is on me again?”
”It's an easy job, much easier than developing muskets and smooth bore drills to make cannons or muskets.”
”Fine. I'll add this to my projects this year.”
Tong turned to Lu Zhi, ”Master Lu.”
Lu Zhi grinned as he predicted that Tong was up to no good again, ”Will it be a sabotage job, assassination, or stealing someone's wife this time, disciple?”
Everyone in the throne room laughed. They were expecting that Tong might have plotted something nasty again, like how he took Wu Guotai or Cao Cao's daughters as his wives.
”I can't take in anymore concubine, or my empress and prime consort will kill me. For now, I just want to know how Gan Ning's navy fleet development is going.”
”Oh, that's a disappointment. I was hoping that you can have more children.”
All civil officers laughed again.
”That's not funny, master. Think of my children. They're going to start killing each other if I have too many successors.”
Lu Zhi shrugged, ”You can just make it clear who will your crown prince be. Write a mandate and publish it to your people. Then, no one can deny that order, or they will be charged as rebels.”
Liu Xie's secret supporters were interested in this conversation. They wondered if Tong and Liu Xie were on good terms or not after the former had two more sons.
”I'll announce it after I tested all of my sons. Back to the main topic, how is Gan Ning's navy?”
”The frigate development? We have 10 hulls completed, but our shipbuilders are confused about the mast setting and your interior design. Also, Sir Li Feihong's lumber supply isn't enough for the research because of the last winter. Our soldiers turned them into firewood and distributed them to the Xiangping, Ji, Beiping, and Pyongyang. We have to wait for Sir Li to bring out more lumbers, or we'll have to start cutting forests.”
Tong shook his head right away as he dreaded natural disasters. Cutting forests recklessly might cause landslides, floods, or irregular seasons.
”Don't cut the forests. Leave them be, so the gods won't curse us. We don't want to piss them off by destroying natural gifts.”
It was just an excuse for not cutting trees or expanding their land reclamation. Since people in this period believed in supernatural phenomenon more than science facts, using an excuse relating to gods worked better than explaining physics and natural science.
Tong continued, ”But, we won't leave Sun Fang alone. I want a special troop to infiltrate Sun Fang's city and buy the shipbuilders. Make them migrate to Beihei, so they can make ships for us.”
”Why not kidnapping them?”
”We need their heart, not their bodies. I want them to work for us willingly. Bribe those shipbuilders and entice them with our salary standard. Promise them that no slave exists in our country.”
”…Ah, an underhanded tactic, I see. I'll see to it.”
”It's not underhanded if we do it in the open. Just make it public that we want their shipbuilders, and we're paying a lot for their services. I want more people to migrate to us, so we can get more household taxes, merchant taxes, income taxes, and VAT from the merchandise they buy from us!”
”… I take that back. You're an evil capitalist emperor, disciple.”
”Their money is our salary, master.”
”… I also take that back. We should bring more people to our territory and squeeze more taxes back from their wages. Money circulation never lies!”
Listening to the absurd conversation, all civil officers sweated. Somehow, Tong and Lu Zhi's noble image was slowly degrading into sly money-grubbing officials after their kingdom's financial power improved.
Still, Tong did not allow anyone to own property or land yet, which troubled all noble clans who were waiting to buy back territories that they used to own.
One of the officials in the throne room mustered his courage and asked Tong.
”Your Majesty, when will you allow us to own lands? Now that all of your enemies are no longer a threat, shouldn't you allow us to own some assets?”
The speaker was Zhuge Liang!