Ming Dynasty, New Rome, and Infinite Divine Machine

Although subsequent large-scale industrial construction boosted demand, the demand for tropical fruits such as durian finally exceeded Chixian Shenzhou's own supply capacity.

However, when Zheng Zhilong colonized Nanyang, the black smoke stacks had not yet risen. At that time, there was only a little spice trade, which could not support the vast reclamation movement in Nanyang. In that case, why did Zheng Zhilong gain a foothold in Nanyang? Already? Why did so many migrations to Nanyang in history fail to form a stable stronghold, yet Zheng Zhilong conquered the entire Nanyang in one fell swoop?

History books will frame all this as part of the historical process. But Shangluo knows that there is always part of the history of this world hidden under the curtain. Sometimes, what lies beneath the curtain is the key turning point that dominates historical events.

"So, what did Zheng Yiguan really find in Nanyang?" Shangluo asked. Zheng Yiguan is the nickname of Zheng Zhilong. Because his personal political status is somewhat embarrassing, Shangluo cannot directly call him Pirate King, so it is always okay to call him "Zheng Yiguan".

"I don't know. That's why I asked you to try if you could ask the old man to come out and ask - you also want to ask, right? Now Nanyang transports rubber, gasoline and durian to the interior, but none of these were available back then. In the Before all this, what kind of driving force and what kind of power drove the Zheng family's fleet to reclaim the entire Nanyang - Shang Tianjun, you also want to know, right?"

"Ah..." Shangluo covered his forehead, "I really want to know, and there seems to be some key secrets hidden in it. But our virtual philosopher king technology doesn't seem to be of any help with this secret."

"Why? Can't you drag a dead person back?"

"Essentially, it's not about bringing the dead person back, but about restoring him from the Akashic records based on everyone's common memory of the person - that's what the technology in Rome is like. So, it's not him who is restored. He is Zheng Yiguan in other people’s eyes. That’s why I say it’s great to have Prime Minister Zhuge come back. Prime Minister Zhuge is a saint who looks the same inside and out. But if Zheng Yiguan’s story is reconstructed based on the stereotype, it may be different from him. The characteristics are very different. The most important thing is that if he is secretive to others and does not even know about your own family, then of course there is no way to restore it. "

"What if I have his relics?"

[There are relics available! It’s completely different if there are relics! 】

Chapter 889 The Secret of the Imperial Court

"Do you have any relics?" With Apollonia's words, Shangluo hurriedly asked, "What relics do you have?"

"Our whole family is a relic! I am a big, big relic myself. I am his great, great, great, great grandson. Isn't that enough of a relic?"

[Hey! I almost forgot about this. In Rome, it is almost impossible to find the descendants of Aristotle or Caesar, because we don't know where Aristotle is buried. So when we used the simulated philosopher king framework, we didn't consider this at all. But here, it seems possible. ]

"Even memories can be restored?" Shangluo asked.

[Memory is essentially an event observed by a person. An event must have time, people, and cause and effect. It is not genes that can preserve these, but memes. As the descendants of Zheng Zhilong, their family must have preserved a large number of traceable meme forms. It is not impossible to find the secret of One Piece. But... it is very expensive. ]

"But it's very expensive." Shang Luo directly relayed Apollonia's words, "It's indeed possible to let your ancestor come out. But you have to explain the necessity - the treasure of the Pirate King is indeed very important, but it is your family's private property, isn't it? You won't hand over all the treasure you dig out to the court, right?"

"I think there may be some early records of the court's use of spiritual energy hidden in it. Daozu and the court at that time erased this period of history. There must be some big secret hidden in it!"

[Is this something that can be said???]

“???” Shangluo subconsciously glanced in the direction of Yuxi Palace—there was no movement there.

He glanced at Fu Yuanshan again.

"Don't look at me, I don't know either." Fu Yuanshan replied, "Broadly speaking, Elder Wen and I are of the same age. Although there is a difference in age, we are still of the same generation after all. The story of One Piece is ancient to me, and I certainly wouldn't know it if no one told me."

"Is there anyone in the court right now who has experienced that period?"

"All the generals of the imperial court grew up after that era. Although there are others, if you want me to think of one right away, it can only be that one - Lan Daoxing, the real person Lan."

"How could Master Lan tell me the secret? He and Daozu are from the same group."

"Yeah." Fu Yuanshan also nodded. "But speaking of which, I am also a little curious about that period of history. Because the logic of the court's governance lacks a key link there - hey, what was that? I didn't listen carefully in class at that time, and I guessed on the exam. Mr. Wen, you are very knowledgeable, what is the fundamental principle of the court's governance of the world?"

"Return on investment." Elder Wen gave the answer without thinking. Not only did he memorize it very well when he was in school, he has also been working on it for decades.

"Speaking of which, Shangluo," he began, "since you sit in such a crucial position, you also need to know this. I personally have no objection to the national surname, the national surname of all generations, and Zheng Yiguan, the ancestor of the national surname of all generations. So if I can make you clearly understand how critical this issue is, and in order for you to understand the motives behind many of the court's current actions, I think it is necessary to introduce it to you. After all, Zhongguo has not actually experienced this extreme situation in its entirety—"

He considered his remarks for a moment and then asked Shangluo, "Why can the Industrial Revolution bring about such a leap in national strength?"

"Uh, because of new technology?"

"Yes, but I can't give you full marks. Let me ask you the first question again. Why can the court profit from controlling the world economy?"

"Because... because of plundering the market? Or gold and silver?"

“That’s only a small part of the answer, and I still can’t give you a perfect score—the answer to both questions is the same: return on investment.”

"what?"

"You didn't realize it, did you? Because it's actually a bit counterintuitive: Are gold and silver wealth? For individuals, yes. But for a country, gold and silver, as currency, are just a medium of exchange, not wealth itself. For example, many shipbuilders don't have much cash on hand, but they are taking on upstream industries and connecting with downstream industries, and their actual value is far greater than the cash on hand - the real wealth is the production relationship established in the circulation of money.

"You can figure this out by doing a simple math problem: If I give you 100 taels to invest, and you can get your money back in one month, then that 100 taels share can be invested 12 times in 12 months of the year. You may still only have 100 taels at the end of the year after paying back the interest, but you have established 12 production relationships and obtained 12 profit streams. Then let me ask you again - if it was in ancient times, before the Industrial Revolution, what would someone do if they picked up 100 taels?"

"I think they would dig a hole and bury it. After all, in ancient times, money houses even charged fees for depositing money. 100 taels is enough to live on for a lifetime, but if you have some ideas, maybe you can buy a farm? But buying a farm is not easy, otherwise why do so many people keep silver at home?"

"That's right. In ancient times, many wealthy people would keep their money at home and build a silver vault in the cellar. This was because the return on investment in agricultural production was not high in ancient times. It might take 4 to 7 years to get your money back on a piece of land - if you can get your money back in one month, even with high interest rates, you can invest 12 times a year. If the interest is not much and you have money to make additional investments, you will soon experience what "exponential explosion" means based on the efficiency of "getting your money back in one month." But before the Industrial Revolution, a 4 to 7-year cycle meant you could only invest less than 10 times in your lifetime. If there was a natural disaster or man-made disaster in the middle, then everything would be gone - all gone, nothing would be left."

He looked at Shangluo: "In the entire ancient times before the Industrial Revolution, although there were a variety of industries, the return on investment was not much different from that of agriculture. It was not until after the Industrial Revolution that high-speed machines entered the market, and 'return on investment in one month' was no longer a joke. Because the prosperity brought about by the Industrial Revolution grew exponentially.

"The imperial court is above all other nations, ensuring that the rate of return on investment in the capital region always remains high, thus enabling us to establish more and more advanced production relations in the capital region."

"So, it's really not for the purpose of plundering silver and markets?" Shangluo asked.

"That was true in the beginning - if you consider robbing money or grabbing the market as an investment, there is indeed a rate of return. You can ask Guoxing about this, their family is quite good at this business, but this business is now outdated; whether the government troops go to grab the land or the big ships go to dump cotton cloth, it is too slow, the market is limited and the rate of return is not high enough. The court sits firmly in the central military camp and coordinates the world's major events, which is more efficient than robbing money."

Chapter 890 Shenji Camp

[Eh? So it turns out that the government didn't allow North Korea to build tractors out of kindness! Did it think the money-grabbing process was too slow? ]

Shangluo relayed Apollonia's question.

Wen Zhong was stunned for a moment - it seemed that Envoy Huiming was not very smart, and this was the first time he noticed this.

"On the issue of North Korea, letting North Korea build tractors is indeed the most suitable for investment return. We are not plundering, but giving North Korea the most suitable position for it, so that it can keep up with the pace of the court. While showing favor to North Korea, it also meets the needs of the court itself. This is a good deal that benefits both parties. I am curious, Rome also owns the other half of the world, why has it been robbing money from beginning to end? Don't you think the return on robbing money is too low?"

【Um】

"On the contrary, I heard that those technological barbarians have a thriving industry, while Rome's output is only pepper and cumin from all over the world. Does Rome have the habit of exporting raw materials and then snatching industrial products? What is the rule? In this case, Rome's need for high-tech products is not compatible with its less developed industry. Your technology seems to have come out of nowhere?"

[This is magic. I will tell Shangluo the details later.]

"It seems that both of us have some secrets. Your secrets seem to extend into the future, while our secrets are only in the past. However, secrets are secrets after all. We still don't understand how the colonization was carried out. Because it was obviously an investment with no return. There was nothing to sell, and nothing to be robbed. It's not that I don't believe it, but you really couldn't make so much money by robbing the natives of Southeast Asia. If you extend the time to several hundred years, this is certainly a long-term investment. But at that time, there was no profit at all. It was completely burning money. I don't understand-"

He touched his forehead and said, "Is the court so far-sighted? I don't even dare to make too many plans for the next five years. It is even more impossible for the court at that time to support the reclamation of Nanyang against the basic law of investment return. If it can be done, why couldn't it be done before? So I think that Nanyang must have been able to get something very important at that time. It must be very important."

"Could it be radish?" Shangluo asked, "Did we start planting fairy root radish so early?"

"It's not radish." Wen Zhong replied, "Radish planting was much later than that. I know this. Because when I was a child, there were no fairy root radishes to eat."

"Yes." Fu Yuanshan next to him answered, "When we were young, we didn't have fairy root radish, and most of the masters in the Jinyiwei practiced external martial arts. But I remember that they seemed to have eaten other things. Hey, let me say."

He looked at Wen Zhong beside him and said, "Do you remember when we were little, you gave us some candied beans to eat?"

"Oh, yes, there was that candy bean. But it seems to be gone now? After everyone started eating fairy root radish, the candy bean disappeared. But what kind of candy bean was that? I remember it seemed very delicious."

【？ ？ ？】Apollonia suddenly shuddered, 【Shangluo, did you feel it? 】

"what?"

[The Doudous are afraid. What are they afraid of? Could it be that at that time, everyone practiced by eating Tianyi Guiren? ]

"No way!"

[Look, what are beans? They are the essence of heaven and earth. If you want to cultivate immortality, isn't it most convenient to eat beans? You see, the Taoist ancestors didn't keep the history of all of you eating beans. It must be like this! Why didn't there exist Tianyi Guiren before? It's because you ate Tianyi Guiren! ]

"When a fool thinks, Daozu will laugh."

hum-

A chime sounded, but because the distance was very close, the sound was only a faint one.

"So I've already said that we're not just eating beans. But this matter is probably related to beans? It seems worth investigating. It would be great if we could get more beans. Because when it comes to the most far-reaching output of Nanyang, it would be a lot of beans and bean magic."

Shangluo still remembered that Nanyang had given him many surprises during the race. The Overlord Banana, which was covered with advertisements, had many new things all over it. This was exactly what Shangluo wanted now.

"I have made up my mind. Please help me take the surname of the country."

Wen Zhong nodded and helped him get through. After all, according to the rules, his duty was only to be the regent. After that, whether to receive Zheng Shijie was up to the emperor - or the emperor.

"Hey! Lord Shang Tian, ​​I knew you would be willing to see me."

"So, is the Pirate King's treasure a money tree, or a bean tree or something?"

"It's possible." Zheng Shijie replied, "To be honest, the Tianyi nobles in Nanyang did grow from a few small trees, just like the tea trees of Wuyi Rock Tea. Maybe the treasure contains the mother trees of those Bean Trees."

"But even if such an important thing is hidden, there must be a reason. Could it be that your ancestors are waiting for the beans to appreciate in value, so they are controlling the production?"

"I don't know about that - so how about it, Lord Shang Tian, ​​do you want to try to ask?"

"Let me make it clear first, I am not the Son of Heaven, so my way of doing things may be a little different from that of the Son of Heaven. I like to blend things a bit."

"Hey! Blending is good, blending is good. How to blend?"

"You do me a favor, and I'll do you one. Send me some beans—not much, 8 will be enough."

"8??? That much?"

"8 Tianhe navy soldiers, a lucky number. I have the beans, and if we can't reach an agreement with the Automaton Country, we'll need the beans to take action. After all, those automatons are endless, and it's impossible to pile them up with precious human lives."

[Doudou’s life is also a life—that’s what they say.]

"Why don't you just go back and read the bar? You won't really die anyway. Now that I'm in this position, I'm going to start working on the Shenji Battalion. Doudou is mass-produced intelligence, which is a hegemonic advantage. Using Doudou's intelligence hegemony, we can combine information and firepower into one, and embrace the ultimate solution of information and fire integration. All the firepower that used to belong to the campaign level or even the strategic level will be concentrated in one battalion."

[You want Doudou to ride on the cannonball and charge forward, right?]

"No matter how many automata there are, they are just powerless iron shells. How can they withstand the power of the beans that can turn into soldiers? By the way, the changes in the celestial phenomena will also cause the world to vibrate, so we should also prepare well. For Doudou's weapons, let's try the Divine Machine Cannon first. There are also the Divine Fire Flying Crow, the Five Thunder Divine Machine, the Divine Dragon Emerging from the Water, the Divine Gun, the Divine Cannon, and the Divine Rocket. You can prepare them now. You have three days to complete the equipment for my battalion."

Chapter 891 Display

"Okay, fine. I'll be right over."

Elder Wen put down the phone and turned to Shangluo: "I called the Minister of War to discuss with him when the meeting to finalize this matter should start."

[I started to feel dizzy. I didn’t learn Aurora language well. What does this mean? ]

"This means that before the formal meeting, a preliminary research meeting must be held to discuss the feasibility. If the agenda does not go smoothly, it may become a preliminary research meeting of a preliminary research meeting of a preliminary research meeting." Shangluo did not think there was anything wrong with this. It at least showed that the court operated in a systematic and rule-based manner, and that every decision maker had the qualities they should have.

If the Ministry of War decides to reform the military immediately after receiving a phone call, Shangluo will wonder if the Ministry of War has taken the wrong medicine. This is something only Romans would do.

【Okay. Although I don't want to admit it, it's true. The Roman legions are led by prestigious senators, which means that as long as they don't rebel against the city of Rome, they can do whatever they think is right. For the legions, the orders of the senators are usually more important than the orders of the Senate. If you have an agreement with the senators, then things can be decided in a "soon". As for when the decided things will be done, it depends on the efficiency of the senator. 】

"On the contrary, I think that as a modern country, Rome was able to maintain such a 'classical' system. It really took magical power to do so. Unlike here, the things inside and outside the curtain are clearly distinguished."

All along, the imperial court has tried hard to keep the news of "the existence of immortality in this world" from being leaked. Of course, the truth cannot be hidden. Based on previous understanding, Shangluo knows that the current understanding of immortality by the people in the capital is closer to "superpowers".

The so-called superpowers are different from ancient magic. They do not come from human ignorance and awe of nature, but from the expectation of science. People believe that the "human body" itself has potential that can be developed by science.

Shangluo also knew that in his time, the superpowers in the Cold War had also made similar attempts. For example, the US Navy once tried to use "extrasensory perception" on the Nautilus submarine for sympathetic communication, thus replacing traditional radio communication. The main area of ​​research by the US side was "synchronicity" proposed by Jung in 1920:

When a meaningful coincidence occurs between two events that are not causally related, it can be considered that there is synchronicity between the two events, which is called "non-causal parallelism."

In the experiment on the Nautilus submarine, the US side set up a "super-sensory tube perception communication room" on the submarine, trying to establish a connection with another communication room in the experimental building on the shore. The two "trained" communicators separated after the contact, one followed the submarine out to sea, and the other stayed on the submarine. The two would start drawing cards at the same time on the same day, the same hour, and the same second as agreed.

The experiment hopes that the telepathy between the two people can transcend the limitations of time and space, and can express the information emerging in their hearts through external objects such as cards.

——Of course, these basic applications were not a problem for the Romans. The Roman submarines could do this easily, as they had a large number of "transmitters" and "co-resonators". They could be shielded at ordinary times, but when needed, they could transmit rich information like a phone call.

Here, the application of Taoism has long since left the laboratory and become a daily routine behind the curtain.

Similar to Rome, the people of Kinai generally do not fear superpowers, but look forward to them. They generally believe that the human body can be developed, and Taoism may really exist. If Taoism exists, science itself will flourish further.

The root of this idea is not entirely everyone's expectation, but also because some "immortal traces" have been revealed.

——This is the extent of Shangluo’s understanding.

His understanding was based on his "Cold War psychic research," but he himself had yet to confirm what the people of Kinai actually thought.

"So, Shangluo," Elder Wen glanced at his phone again and said to him, "Before the meeting, the Minister of War intends to show you the basic composition of the royal army to help you make decisions. This way, we can synchronize our understanding before the meeting."

"That's good. But how do you show it?"

"We are transferring an infantry squad from the Imperial Guard for research. They are randomly selected. You don't need to keep it secret from them, because all members of the Imperial Guard have some basic understanding of supernatural powers. But you have to pay attention to-"

He reminded: "Their understanding is still a layer away from the real immortal method. They think it is kung fu, or more precisely, some kind of 'internal kung fu', internal strength. And they themselves have long been practicing external skills. Although we know that there are real immortal methods above, immortal methods and kung fu are still different after all, just like immortal heroes and martial arts are different."

"So, should I tell them right here?"

"You can make your own judgment." Elder Wen replied, "When to show the extraordinary world and how to show it, you can decide for yourself."

"If that's the case, I'll use a more indirect way for now. What would you think if I threw beans and turned them into soldiers?"

"Everyone will think that you are a great and virtuous teacher, and that you will summon the Yellow Turban Warrior or the Heavenly Thunder. This is not impossible, because there really is such a person as Zhang Jue, right?"

"Then do you want my outfit?" He looked at his current appearance. He was wearing a school uniform, which was not convincing at all, just like a kid with a schoolbag on the street.

"You don't need to change at all. With your white hair and red eyes, you don't look like a mortal. If you appeared in a martial arts novel, you must be an old monster who practiced some kind of rejuvenation technique. You are very convincing just by standing there."