Transmigrating to the Three Kingdoms as Lu Bu: I Have a Pseudo-Apocalypse System

Lü Bu personally received Ma Jun, rewarded him with 100 catties of gold, granted him the title of Marquis of Guannei, appointed him as an academician of the Imperial Academy of Works, and instructed Zuo Feng to focus on cultivating him, because Lü Bu remembered that this man was a great inventor at the end of the Han Dynasty and the beginning of the Wei Dynasty, and that he would surely have other inventions and creations in the future.

Ma Jun was so moved that tears welled up in his eyes: "Your Majesty, I am but a craftsman, how could I possibly deserve such an honor?"

Lü Bu laughed and said, "Your loom allows the people of the world to wear better clothes; that is a great achievement. I appoint you because you deserve it."

Ma Jun kowtowed to express his gratitude.

Then, people presented new waterwheels, new plowshares, new windmills, new ships...

Lü Bu received them one by one and rewarded them according to their merits.

For a time, craftsmen from all over the country flocked to it, eagerly studying the new invention.

Within just one year, the industrial level of the Han Dynasty made a qualitative leap.

In the commercial sphere, the imperial court abolished all exorbitant taxes and levied only a commercial tax of one-tenth of the total tax.

Meanwhile, "Market Management Offices" were established in major cities such as Luoyang, Chang'an, Yecheng, Linzi, Xiangyang, and Chengdu to manage market order and crack down on market manipulation, extortion, and forced buying and selling.

On December 20th, Lü Bu, disguised, took Guo Jia and Dian Wei and went for a stroll in the East Market of Luoyang.

The East Market was the largest market in Luoyang, covering hundreds of acres, lined with shops and bustling with merchants. Merchants from the Western Regions, Yi people from the south, and Xianbei people from Liaodong all gathered here, making it a lively and vibrant place.

Lu Bu saw a silk merchant haggling with a Western Regions trader.

"This batch of silk is of superior quality; each bolt costs ten gold coins," said the silk merchant.

The merchant shook his head: "Too expensive, eight gold pieces."

"Nine gold pieces, that's the lowest we can go."

"make a deal."

The two made a pact by high-fiving, exchanging money for goods.

Lu Bu watched for a long time and nodded in satisfaction.

Upon leaving the market, Guo Jia said, "Your Majesty, now that trade routes are open and commercial taxes are low, the volume of transactions is large, and the court's revenue is actually higher than before."

Lü Bu laughed and said, "This is exactly what I wanted to achieve. Exorbitant taxes may seem like a lot, but they are too much for merchants to bear, and they can't do business. As a result, the court doesn't collect any taxes. Now, we only collect one-tenth of the taxes, which may seem high, but without other exorbitant taxes, merchants can make a profit at the checkpoints along the way, and their businesses will grow bigger and bigger. Naturally, the court's tax revenue will increase."

Guo Jia cupped his hands in greeting: "Your Majesty is wise."

The 29th day of the 12th month of the 399th year of the Han calendar was Lunar New Year's Eve. There is no 30th this year.

The city of Luoyang was brightly decorated with lanterns and colorful streamers, and a festive atmosphere filled the air. This was the second Lunar New Year's Eve after the country had achieved peace, and also the first year of the full implementation of the new policies.

In the palace, Lü Bu hosted a banquet for the cabinet ministers and various department heads.

After several rounds of drinks, Jia Xu rose and said, "Your Majesty, this year, the new policies have been implemented smoothly. Land reform has been completed in five prefectures, and the remaining prefectures will complete it next year. Educational reform has seen schools in various prefectures and counties gradually open, and it can be fully implemented next year. Sanitation reform has seen one hundred public toilets built in the capital, and construction is underway in the prefectural capitals. Transportation and water conservancy are progressing, with the four main official roads under construction, the Yellow River, Yangtze River, Huai River, and Ji River dredged, and twenty reservoirs built. Industry and commerce have seen the Innovation Department receive over a thousand new inventions, and the markets in various cities are thriving. Currency reform has seen the Hanli Tongbao coin circulate throughout the country, and the banking system has been initially established. Laws have been revised, and the Censorate has been expanded to all counties. Naval construction has seen Huang Zhong build shipyards in Qingzhou, Yangzhou, and Jingzhou, and the design of massive warships with a capacity of ten thousand shi is underway. We, your subjects, raise a toast to Your Majesty!"

Everyone raised their glasses: "To Your Majesty!"

Lü Bu raised his cup in response: "To the peace of the world! To all my beloved ministers!"

Everyone drank it all in one gulp.

When Lu Bu heard Huang Zhong designing and building a massive ship with a displacement of 10,000 shi, he suddenly realized that one shi was now roughly equivalent to 30 kg in later times. The so-called massive ship with a displacement of 10,000 shi would only have a displacement of 400 to 500 tons, which was far from the 10,000-ton ship he wanted.

While a displacement of 10,000 shi (a unit of volume) was indeed a massive ship for people at the end of the Han Dynasty, the description is correct. However, a displacement of only four or five hundred tons was still insufficient for ocean voyages and global domination.

Therefore, Lü Bu made a request to Jia Xu: the massive warship with a capacity of ten thousand stones was merely the foundation.

After mastering the technology of the 10,000-stone behemoth, we must continue to improve, increasing the displacement by at least tenfold to reach the level of the 100-million-stone behemoth, in order to have the foundation for venturing into the open ocean and conquering the world.

That is, a displacement of four to five thousand tons, which would exceed the displacement of the largest ships Zheng He sailed to the Western Ocean, making it safer and able to withstand the turbulence of hurricanes and giant waves in the open ocean.

Upon hearing this unit of measurement, both Jia Xu and the others were stunned. A ship with a displacement of ten thousand shi (a unit of dry measure) was already an unimaginable size for many. A super-giant ship with a displacement of over one hundred million shi was simply beyond their comprehension.

However, everyone knows that Lü Bu is protected by the gods, and it must have been a divine gift that His Majesty learned of the 10,000-stone giant ship. Therefore, although Jia Xu was shocked, he still obeyed the imperial edict and said that he would work with Huang Zhong to make the 100-million-stone giant ship available as soon as possible.

By this time, Lü Bu increasingly felt the inconvenience and inaccuracy of these units of measurement from the late Han Dynasty.

So, when the year 400 of the Han calendar (199 AD) arrived, Lü Bu summoned astronomers, calendar masters, and scientists such as Liu Hong, Zheng Xuan, Xu Yue, Ma Jun, and Zhang Shao (grandson of Zhang Heng, the seismograph expert), as well as a large number of key technical personnel from the Ministry of Works, the Ministry of Rites, and the Ministry of Revenue who were involved in the formulation of astronomy, calendar, mathematics, and weights and measures standards. He directly proposed the theory of a spherical earth, telling everyone that it was given to him by a god in his dream, just like his divine granary, and was absolutely genuine.

Then, Lü Bu proposed that a year consists of 365 days, each day is divided into 12 two-hour periods, one two-hour period is divided into 60 minutes, and one minute is divided into 60 seconds, all of which he claimed were given by the gods.

After establishing the concept of time, the concept of the speed of light was introduced, indicating that the gods told him the speed of light was 3 million meters per second, and the length of a meter was the distance light traveled in 1/3 millionth of a second. (The integer 3 million meters per second was used directly, instead of the later figure of 299792458 meters per second, which resulted in a more complex number because the meter was defined first and then the speed of light was measured.)

Now, what Liu Hong, Zheng Xuan, and others need to do is to use the theory of a spherical Earth and the theory of optical propagation, along with the changes in the position and angle of celestial bodies, to test and verify the length of light that travels in one second, and then reverse that to determine the unit of meter.

Once we have the second for time and the meter for length, it becomes much easier to deduce units such as square, cubic, and gram for weight.

This task was indeed quite difficult given the technological conditions at the end of the Han Dynasty. However, once one shifts their thinking, understands the concepts proposed by Lü Bu, and knows that they were bestowed by the gods and are absolutely correct, then by working backward from the result, the process can always be deduced.

In particular, when Lü Bu learned that Liu Hong had calculated a year to be 365.2462 days, he realized that these great Chinese ancestors had actually been ahead of foreign countries for thousands of years.

It's just that ancient China didn't value science and technology, causing some scientific achievements and theories to be buried. Now that he has arrived, bringing with him some results from later generations, it should be possible for these great ancient astronomers and scientists to deduce the process from the past.

The theories and data proposed by Lü Bu really startled Liu Hong, Zheng Xuan and others, but they also enlightened them. They said they would do their best to follow the direction indicated by His Majesty and calculate the distance (meters) that light travels in 1/3 billionth of a second as soon as possible, and then formulate a new and unchanging standard of measurement.