Chapter 677 Keep Calm
Chencang Shipyard, late at night.

Black Bear was strolling along the river bank, with two Taoist soldiers in front of him holding a heavy crystal lamp.

After walking about twenty steps along the wooden bridge, I saw Lu Bu sitting here fishing.

The black bear grabbed the fish cage and shook it. It was very heavy and he couldn’t help but curl his lips.

Lu Bu can already perform simple, repetitive tasks such as fishing on his own. Perhaps because he does not have something like the ‘fish-killing aura’, he can always enjoy the blessing of a novice protection period.

The black bear took two steps back, controlled Dian Wei to move forward, pulled the fish cage out of the water, put an empty fish cage in place, and then returned with the spoils.

At the Yuanshi battleship, guards would patrol with torches in hand from time to time.

Crystal chandeliers are difficult to imitate, and when encountering one, guards along the way will stand still and give way.

Coming to the nearby greenhouse factory, the entire factory is built with wood, the pursuit of tall and light.

Another four crystal lamps were hung here to provide lighting, and more than three hundred soldiers worked with a small steam engine to form an assembly line for processing rattan.

Preparations began two years ago, and this year all kinds of long rattan from Nanzhong and Shuzhong were finally transported to Chencang.

These vines have been screened and preliminarily processed. Black Bear will carry out more precise cutting and high-temperature steam shaping of the long vines.

Only at night can he do things he likes.

The rest of the time, he is a ruthless business processing machine, a public property.

In return, his diligence and persistence ensure that situations change according to his will.

And the real decisive battle is getting closer and closer.

The government offices of the nobles will continue to be restored. When the restoration is almost complete, the nobles and old bureaucrats will naturally come clean to him.

Either cooperate or wash the other party away.

When you expose your weaknesses to these people, how many of them can hold back?

The Yuanshi battleship’s reliance on the characteristics of the river has greatly limited its patrol range and must be upgraded as soon as possible.

There is no need to fly. The maneuverability problem can be solved by towing the Yuanshi battleship ashore.

Only through large-scale inspections can we penetrate the deceptive tactics used by bureaucrats against their superiors.

He observed the long vine processing process for a moment, and after confirming that all links were coordinated correctly, he turned around and returned to the Yuanshi battleship.

Yang Jun was still on duty at night. He was in the restaurant on the first floor of the deck, reading a travelogue about the Western Regions.

Seeing the crystal lamp rising, Yang Jun and several secretaries came to greet him: “Your Majesty.”

“General Taishi has caught some fish. You can make some fish soup.”

Black Bear raised his hand and pointed, and Dian Wei picked up the bamboo cage that had been drained of water and was filled with the smell of fish and placed it in the wooden box for food on the side.

“Thank you for your concern, sir.”

“Well, I’ll go back to the cabin and rest before midnight.”

“Here.”

Everyone bowed, and Black Bear turned and walked towards the command tower. He didn’t like the decoration style inside the cabin very much. It was too flat and the height was limited, which made him feel dull.

It was fine inside the tower. Although the shaking caused by the waves on the river would be amplified inside the tower, he had long been accustomed to this shaking.

The Taoist soldiers climbed up the tower first, carrying the crystal chandelier, and soon hung it high up in the building.

The open windows immediately began to let in light, and some flying insects gathered around, but were unable to break through the fine screen.

In the restaurant on the first floor of the deck, the chef has been awakened and started to process large and small river fish.

Lu Kai from Nanzhong, who was recommended by Wei Kang, was originally sleeping on the table, but was also awakened by the sound of frying river fish.

He stood up and rubbed his eyes. Seeing that it was still dark, he simply got up and saw a few people playing cards, so he sat down and watched.

Soon the fish soup was ready. Lu Kai also took a bowl and listened to others chatting.

Everyone was discussing the manned flying kite recently developed by the Weaving House. This kite can only take off against the wind when there is strong wind.

It can already imitate the gliding flight of birds, but it is a bit disabled.

Lu Kai was not very interested in these things. It was luck that he was chosen to be the new Lingshi.

As a native of Nanzhong and a descendant of Lu Buwei, he was very low-key and did not express his opinions casually.

Originally, many people thought that Zhang or Wang would take over the position of Lingshi, and the next would be someone like Li Hui.

Lu Kai originally studied at the Yizhou Academy. Because of his good grades, he was included in the list after being examined by Wei Kang, and was finally selected by Black Bear.

His foundation was so weak that he couldn’t even find a few people from his hometown of Nanzhong in the secretariat.

While chatting, Meng Huo, who had just been promoted to the secretary’s desk, also walked out of the cabin, along with more than a dozen people. They all received fish soup, and Meng Huo sat next to Lu Kai: “Ji Ping, why is there still fish soup?”

“General Taishi’s night fishing yielded a good harvest.”

Lu Kai responded, and Meng Huo nodded, taking a bite of the wheat cake.

Meng Huo was originally an official in charge of transporting long vines. He was noticed by the Grand Marshal and retained in the shogunate.

This was naturally a step-up to success for Meng Huo, but this experience as a “transfer student” also made it difficult for him to fit in with the secretarial team.

The vast majority of secretaries are selected in batches and then sent out. They don’t like unexpected additions, and they don’t like people who are added in this way.

However, Yang Jun maintained sufficient respect for Meng Huo and Lu Kai, even though Nanzhong was a notoriously barren land.

But Yang Jun knew very well that the shogunate was preparing for a war in Nanzhong. By that time, Lu Kai, Meng Huo and other officials from Nanzhong, Shuzhong and Bazhong would become guides and vanguards that the shogunate would rely on.

Therefore, Yang Jun also sought an official position in Nanzhong… As for the official positions in Hebei and Central Plains, Yang Jun chose to give up.

For example, the position of Shangdang County Magistrate is currently being fiercely contested, although our side actually controls one county, Shangdang.

But the future magistrate of Shangdang County will be responsible for a heavy logistical work, and doing this kind of work well will definitely be a great achievement.

While they were chatting, Black Bear fell asleep.

He decided to stay in Chencang until the winter, until the Yuanshi was converted into an amphibious vessel.

Then, during the dry season of the Yellow River in winter, he drove the Yuanshi to Shaanxi and Tianjin and directed the road soldiers to excavate dangerous shoals.

Although 10,000 people were dispatched last year to excavate the dangerous rapids downstream of Sanmenxia, ​​their work efficiency was not high due to the bulky clothing in winter.

With the completion of the transportation road on the north bank of Sanmenxia, ​​the number of workers here will be further reduced to 30,000 next year.

In another year, the number will be reduced to 20,000, retaining only skilled workers and basic logistical forces.

The excavation of the Xinmen Canal no longer required a lot of manpower, and skilled stone-breaking workers were more efficient.

By reducing the labor force in Sanmenxia, ​​more manpower can be invested in food production.

There is never enough food, and droughts and floods are still frequent.

In other words, there is no additional military expenditure in Guanzhong at present, which can ensure that the treasury has savings for one and a half years.

If a war of 100,000 men were mobilized, two-thirds of the treasury would be consumed.

Send back the people extorted from Xiahou Dun so that Xiahou Dun can restore agricultural production in the Heluo area as soon as possible. This will reduce the consumption of grain reserves in Guanzhong when the troops are deployed in Guandong next time.

Not only should Heluo be built into a grain production and storage base, but also Youzhou, Hexi and Shuzhong.

The Haihe River in Youzhou often floods. Although this place is in the north, it is very suitable for growing rice.

The agriculture and animal husbandry in Hexi and Hetao are the major granaries that support the wars in the Western Regions. Future wars should try not to touch the grain reserves in Guanzhong.

The same was true in Shuzhong. The official fields were merged into three counties and cultivated by tenant farmers, thus getting rid of the dependence on the big families in Yizhou.

If any of these four nodes accumulates enough resources, they can start a war on their own.

We don’t need to defeat the enemy in one battle, but we can use it to train troops and gather manpower in the early stages.

After the situation between the enemy and us has changed, we will launch a thundering attack.

Now we have to slow down. The more energy we accumulate, the cleaner we can clean.

As for the pseudo-dynasty in the southeast, just keep them and force them to develop Guangzhou.

The situation has developed to this point, and the people under his rule are developing according to Black Bear’s plan, and the enemy has to operate according to his baton.

To put it more bluntly, the hostile forces have become like puppets.

Under puppet governance, there will be higher efficiency, which is difficult to achieve by mobile bureaucrats.

In this state, he naturally had enough time to transform his big toy.

Within fifteen years, before his sons take up official positions, he can complete the internal purge.

You can do this kind of bloody thing yourself.

There is no need to involve children to mark the points.

The offices of officials and ministers that are now being restored one after another can serve as a marker to distinguish between the enemy and us.

But to detonate it, you need a genius.

For this kind of thing, it is obvious that my brother-in-law is perfect.

Therefore, we just need to stabilize Guanzhong, kill time, and wait for progress in all aspects.

(End of this chapter)