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

After resting for a few days back at the palace, Lü Bu took Jia Xu to the industrial area in the north of the city.

The industrial zone covers 3,000 acres and is surrounded by high walls. The gates are tightly closed, and soldiers stand guard at the entrance. When the emperor arrives, they all raise their hands in military salute.

Although they were just ordinary factories in later generations, they were definitely high-tech to people of this era, and were units that had to be kept secret from foreign barbarians, so they had to be protected and isolated by the military.

Lü Bu led Jia Xu and others inside, where they saw rows of chimneys and the roar of machinery.

Inside the steel plant, blast furnaces roared with flames, molten iron flowing freely. Workers, dressed in coarse cloth and wearing straw hats, toiled tirelessly. The smelted steel was used to cast rails, forged into iron plates, and hammered into cannon barrels.

Inside the textile factory, the new looms whirred rapidly, shuttles moving back and forth, producing a continuous stream of cloth. The female workers sat before the looms, their hands and feet working with practiced skill. The resulting fabric was fine-textured and brightly colored.

In the glass factory, workers use long iron pipes to scoop out a mass of molten, red-hot glass from the furnace and blow it into various shapes. Some are blown into windowpanes, some into wine glasses, and some into vases. After cooling, they are ground and polished to become crystal-clear glass products.

Inside the Arsenal, craftsmen were casting cannons, forging muskets, and sharpening bayonets. Blueprints hung on the walls, and various tools were laid out on the tables. The official in charge of the Arsenal was Pu Yuan (a top weapons forging master of the historical Shu Han dynasty). He was squatting in front of a new type of rifled cannon, carefully inspecting the rifling inside the barrel.

Upon seeing Lü Bu enter, Pu Yuan immediately rose, knelt, and kowtowed: "Your subject Pu Yuan respectfully welcomes Your Majesty."

Lü Bu helped him up and asked, "Pu Yuan, how's this rifled cannon coming along?"

Pu Yuan said, "Your Majesty, rifled cannons have twice the range and are much more accurate than smoothbore cannons. I have already built ten and are testing them. If there are no problems, they can be mass-produced."

Lü Bu nodded: "Good. Artillery is the backbone of the Han army; its quality must be guaranteed. Also, has the steam hammer I asked you to research been completed?"

Pu Yuan said, "It's done. I used a steam engine to power an iron hammer, and with one strike, the red-hot iron block can be forged even better. What used to take a dozen craftsmen a whole day to do, can now be done in an hour with a steam hammer."

Lü Bu was overjoyed: "Excellent! Steam hammers can greatly improve the output and quality of forgings. The Military Equipment Bureau should build more steam hammers to meet production needs."

Pu Yuan cupped his hands in greeting: "Your subject obeys the decree."

A few days later, Lü Bu went to the experimental farm outside the city.

The farm covers 500 acres and is surrounded by a fence. It grows a variety of crops, including wheat, rice, sorghum, millet, as well as sweet potatoes, potatoes, corn, peppers, tomatoes, onions, garlic, ginger, and so on.

Han Hao, from the Agricultural Department, was checking the growth of the crops in the field when he saw Lü Bu arrive. He quickly ran over, knelt down, and kowtowed.

Lu Bu asked, "Han Hao, how's the harvest this year?"

Han Hao said, "Your Majesty, this year the weather has been favorable, and the harvest is even better than last year. After several years of continuous seed selection and optimization, the yield of sweet potatoes is 2,500 jin per mu, potatoes are 2,000 jin per mu, corn is 500 jin per mu, wheat is 300 jin per mu, and rice is 400 jin per mu. The people all say that they have never seen such a good year in their lives."

Lu Bu asked, "How's the promotion of high-yield crops like sweet potatoes, potatoes, and corn going?"

Han Hao said, "Your Majesty, it has been promoted to all prefectures and counties across the country. The people are scrambling to grow it because it has a high yield, is not picky about the land, and can provide enough food. In particular, sweet potatoes and potatoes, when planted on hillsides, can yield one or two thousand catties per mu, enough to feed a family for half a year."

Lu Bu nodded in satisfaction: "Good. Grain is the lifeblood of the Han Dynasty. If the people are well-fed, they won't cause trouble, and the world will be at peace. First, promote sweet potatoes, potatoes, and corn to solve the problem of food and clothing. Then, select superior wheat and rice seeds. If we want the people to eat well, we must eventually return to staple foods. Tomatoes, potatoes, and corn cannot be the staple foods for a long time."

Han Hao nodded and said, "Yes, Your Majesty, the Department of Agriculture has been working on improving seed varieties for the past few years. We have used hybridization breeding methods to select several new wheat and rice varieties. These new seeds have a yield that is 10% to 20% higher than the old seeds, and they are also more resistant to lodging and pests. We have been planting them on our experimental farm for many years with excellent results, and we began to promote them nationwide a few years ago. Now, the official fields in all prefectures and counties are using the new seeds, and the people are following suit, with harvests getting better year by year."

Lü Bu nodded: "Good, agriculture is the foundation of the nation. You must continue your efforts to cultivate more and better seeds."

Han Hao cupped his hands in greeting: "Your subject obeys the decree."

Standing on the edge of the field, Lü Bu gazed at the endless fields of crops before him, his heart filled with a myriad of emotions.

In the twelve years since his ascension to the throne, he has profoundly changed the land of China.

With a powerful military, ironclad warships roam the seas, hot air balloons soar through the skies, and cannons blast away all enemies.

Commerce was thriving, merchants flocked to the area, trade flourished, and the national treasury was full.

With prosperous people, abundant food, and a peaceful and happy life, people no longer have to go hungry.

With the popularization of education, schools are everywhere, more and more people are reading, and new knowledge is becoming more and more widespread.

With industrial development, factories sprang up everywhere, machines roared, and output increased higher and higher.

This is the Great Han Empire he desired.

On the 15th day of the seventh month of the 409th year of the Han calendar (208 AD), north of Luoyang City, at the railway station.

Construction of this train station began five years ago and took five years to complete. It covers an area of ​​100 acres, with platforms paved with cement. Next to the platforms are rows of warehouses, filled with goods destined for the north. At the far end of the platform stands a tall water tower used to supply water to the locomotives.

In the morning, the platform was already crowded with people.

There were civil and military officials from the imperial court, representatives from various prefectures and counties, students from the Imperial Academy, and ordinary citizens and merchants from the city—a dense crowd of tens of thousands. In the center of the platform stood a high platform, covered with a red carpet and adorned with a dragon throne. On either side of the platform stood hundreds of imperial guards, their armor gleaming, their swords and spears like a forest.

Standing on the high platform, Lü Bu gazed at the railway tracks stretching into the distance, his heart filled with boundless pride.

This railway, called the Luoyan Railway, started from the capital Luoyang, passed through the Luoyang Yellow River Bridge, Henan Commandery, Hedong Commandery, and Taiyuan Commandery, and reached Mayi County in Yanmen Commandery. It was 700 kilometers (1,400 li) long and took five years to complete. It was the first long-distance railway in the Han Empire.