Ming Dynasty, New Rome, and Infinite Divine Machine

[For example, allowing too much information to be released? ]

"I think, yes. She saw a lot of things she shouldn't have seen. Those things have already happened, and they are useless to her now. Instead, they will make her angry. For her, this is also 'the past cannot be brought back'. I am very concerned about why she was able to see such a complete 'Istanbul', and how it worked."

[So you plan to take a break in the hyperbaric oxygen chamber? ]

"There's no rush. Where can I find so much spiritual energy to fill the entire area? I'm worried that just doing the experiment will cause problems. After all, sometimes there's no difference between spiritual energy and demonic energy. If the excess spiritual energy causes many things to become spirits, that's not what I want. But..."

He thought for a while, "In a sense, this might be a social problem in Heaven. After entering the stage of Heaven, mortal diseases are just minor ailments to us, and can be easily purified by spiritual energy. But on the other hand, Heaven also has its own problems. The Five Degenerations of Heaven limits their lifespans. The general of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, who I haven't met yet, is suffering from the Five Degenerations of Heaven. The medicine of Heaven also faces problems in this regard."

[So from this perspective, monsters have become a public security problem for the Heavenly Court, right? ]

"Well, so, these all require trade-offs. I have to make the decision on matters in Heaven, so I have to be more cautious. In short, we have to make ourselves stronger first. Only when we are strong enough can we talk about opportunities. Otherwise, even if the opportunity comes to us, I am afraid we will not be able to enjoy it - what did Guoxing say? Are you ready?"

[He said it's up to you. He's not in a hurry. He didn't sleep last night, so he's been waiting for you.]

"Huh? Why? Is he that excited about fixing a cannon?"

[I heard it was very hot last night, so I couldn’t sleep. 】

"Hot? If it's hot, turn on the air conditioner. Can a living person be killed by the heat in an air-conditioned room? It can't be that the heat is turned on by mistake."

[I'm also curious. Well, anyway, he was waiting in the car early in the morning. He said that because the car had air conditioning or something, he ate breakfast in the car.]

"Then let's go. Although he doesn't seem to be in a hurry, it's almost time."

The place they were going to was quite far away - the "Mount Chendan Baru" where the cannon was located was not in the center of the mountains of Borneo, but in the northernmost part of Borneo, more than 900 kilometers away from Pontianak in a straight line.

In fact, they could have chosen a closer place to build the cannons, but considering that the mountain was close to the sea, it was convenient to transport supplies by sea, so the cannons were built there.

"Oh, you're here?" Zheng Shijie nodded at him. Although he was bleary-eyed, he was still awake. For him, who was already a Qigong practitioner, not sleeping occasionally was not a big problem. He could make up for it later. What made him even more uncomfortable was turning on the air conditioner.

"Is your air conditioner broken? That's not right. Your house shouldn't have only one air conditioner."

"Well, forget it. This is a family matter and I am embarrassed to talk about it. Anyway, let's go to the airport now and we will be there in an hour. You can order airplane meals. The airplane meals here are not just jelly. I asked them to prepare real airplane meals."

Chapter 1068 Borneo

Although he had eaten quite a lot in the morning, Shangluo still ate a portion of the clay pot rice when it was served.

"How is it?" Zheng Shijie, who was sitting next to him, also opened a box. "When they were making it, they asked me to try a portion. I gave them some guidance on the airplane meal at the time - I asked them to add more ingredients. The food on the plane is bland to begin with, and I don't have an appetite for eating so much. It's better to have more ingredients for the clay pot rice."

"It's really enough. Half of this bowl of rice is filled with Chinese sausage and other preserved foods. I feel full right away after eating it."

"It's good to be full. After eating this, drink some more sugar water. Once your blood sugar level rises, you can lie down on the chair and fall asleep. The entire airline service will become simpler."

"You don't have any other meal options? Like Roman food?"

"Roman food? Yes, we do have it, but it usually has to be ordered in advance. We only have guests from Rome once every ten days or half a month, and they usually aren't picky about food when they come. Let me ask later - hey, it actually exists. Do you want to eat?"

"What is Roman food?"

"Some salad, jam, butter, pate, crackers, some vegetable and meat paste as a side dish, and finally a cake as a dessert. All packed in a lunch box."

"Can I have one?"

"Okay, go get it yourself, and the driver's cab will tell you where it is."

Shangluo walked to the cab, picked up the lunch box, stuffed it into his bag, and brought the meal to Victoria.

"Why, do you have guests to invite?"

"???" Shang Luo was stunned for a moment, "How did you know?"

"Hey, I can tell from your expression. There's something in your eyes, expectation? Happiness? It's the feeling of being needed. That's really great, you carry one with you."

"about this."

"Keep it a secret, keep it a secret, I know." Zheng Shijie looked out the window, "Oh, Shangluo, how about the scenery outside the window? This is my Borneo."

Shangluo also looked out the window - the plane was crossing the sky over Borneo, and the mountains and rainforests of Borneo were in full view.

There were huge, continuous mountains in the center of the island, and trucks were driving through them. Judging from the traffic, the standard of those roads seemed to be quite high.

However, I looked around again and found that there seemed to be no people here. Apart from Pontianak, there were no other larger cities to be seen.

"Is there no one living down here?"

"You mean indigenous people? Yes, there are. There are quite a few local aborigines here, and they generally live in their own villages. Sometimes they are hired as our employees, which is a lifelong goal for many of them. Some of the lucky ones are even allowed to work and live in Pontianak or other major cities in Southeast Asia. I'm really kind. Over the years, I've issued 100 or 200 residence permits."

“So that’s how it is”

"Do you have anything to ask?"

"You seem to be facing some similar problems as Rome - how to govern this land after everyone closes down. What is your policy for indigenous people? Will you allow indigenous people to establish a country?"

"Establish a country?" Zheng Shijie was stunned for a moment. "Are you kidding? Not every cat or dog in this world can establish a country. Our dynasty has its own laws. Those remote barbarians are managed according to the system of wild clothing, barbarian clothing, etc. Some places should be kept wild, and some should be built with fortresses and garrisons. And so on and so forth."

"Is that so? Did they cause any trouble?"

"Trouble? What's the trouble?"

"For example, they are causing trouble, thinking that this land should be theirs, not ours?"

"Aha." Zheng Shijie smiled, "Let me give you an example. For example, the place we are going to is the 'Zhendan Baru Mountain'. Do you know why the mountain is called this name?"

Shangluo shook his head.

"There is a local legend - it is said that a merchant from the Song Dynasty or this dynasty drifted to Borneo and married a wife here. Later, a caravan came, and the merchant followed the caravan back and never came back. The family left here went to the highest mountain closest to Kinai every day to look into the distance, but never saw their husband again. What can you hear from this story?"

"As if we are more familiar with this land than they are? We can call for help when we are in trouble, and our caravans pass by here? On the contrary, they are trapped in the land and have no way to go overseas to find us. And the name seems too casual, doesn't it? Such an important mountain is named after such a simple story?"

"This is the crux of the matter - our country does have a tradition of punishing the sinners, rejuvenating the extinct, and protecting the incense and sacrifice of all cultures. We will definitely not exterminate the incense of those who are truly indigenous. But here, these indigenous people actually came from Java Island, and they did not come earlier than us."

"Is that so?"

"Yes. You see these Nanyang natives, most of them originated from Java Island and migrated to various parts of Nanyang. So apart from Java Island, there are actually no large-scale 'indigenous people' in Nanyang. Everyone is an immigrant. The Javanese people in Borneo came later than us, so we certainly have no reason to regard them as 'indigenous people'. Their sacrifices are on Java Island, and they should stay in their own homeland."

"Ah, so you're pretty tolerant of them here?"

"That's right." Zheng Shijie nodded. "Besides, not everyone is qualified to call themselves a country. For example, the chiefdoms on Java Island have formed their own port-city states and govern themselves according to the mandala system. But the people on Luzon Island are almost completely primitive tribes. They can't even control their own lives, can't even enclose their own land, and have no ability to develop the nature around them. Their level of civilization is really too different, and now they have dissolved and dissipated in modern civilization."

"So what happens here after we leave?"

"Everything remains the same." Zheng Shijie replied, "Even if the population decreases, we will still have no problem maintaining a few large cities. But by then, the core of the company should be transferred from Pontianak to Singapore. As for Borneo, it should be handed over to the court to become a complete airport. As for the local residents——"

Zheng Shijie shook his head: "When the time comes, they should be sent back to their hometown, back to Java Island. The court doesn't need to worry about this. Lan Fang can prepare Borneo well, and then hand over a clean Borneo to the court as a spaceport."

Chapter 1069 Five Servant

As Zheng Shijie said, until the plane landed, they did not see any traces of local natives.

"I just realized how amazing you guys are." Phaethon looked around after getting off the plane.

This is the airport attached to the Mount Kinabalu Moon Cannon Facility. Although this place is far away from Pontianak, and can even be said to be a corner of the entire civilization, there is no trace of any locals here.

The Lunar Cannon is not far away, but is blocked by the nearby mountains. You can see it not far from the airport.

"I think the Romans are already very hostile to the barbarians. Except for the people of Zhendan, no one else is allowed to enter our bathhouse. But even so, the Romans still mingle with the barbarians. But you can't even see the shadow of the barbarians here. All the barbarians have been blocked out of sight. If we talk about being powerful, you are still more powerful."

"This is called expanding the territory and expelling the barbarians, and inspiring the barbarians." Zheng Shijie replied, "In short, this is how our development strategy towards the barbarians works."

"It's very strange, I really think it's very strange." Phaethon asked, "In Rome, if we advance an inch into the territory of the barbarians, they will fight back with all their might. Those without muskets will fight back even with stones and sticks, and finally many places have to use machine guns as a colony. And you have driven all the barbarians out of sight, and settled so many precious assets here. How did you do it? Did you shoot all the barbarians here with machine guns a long time ago?"

"Ah, so you didn't know that, did you?" Zheng Shijie thought for a moment, "Have you ever heard of the five mourning clothes?"

"Is it the five generations like great grandfather, grandfather, and father?"

"No, no, you are talking about the family. I am talking about the five kinds of mourning in Zhouli: Dianfu, Houfu, Suifu, Yaofu, and Huangfu. We govern the world according to the five kinds of mourning."

"How do you say that?"

"To put it simply, Dianfu is the royal capital, the two capitals and thirteen provinces governed by His Majesty the Holy Son of Heaven, and Houfu is people like me."

He pointed to himself and said: "Houfu means a vassal. He serves as a scout, waiting for the emperor's order and ready to serve the king at any time;

"Beyond the Marquisate, there are the Suifu. They are foreign vassals who 'submit to the king's politics and religion', such as countries like Siam. They have the ability to organize a national government, and the emperor has no requirements for them, they just need to obey the king's teachings.

"Besides the pacification, there is also the "must obey". 'Yao' means to restrict. We impose almost no obligations on the barbarians here. They can migrate freely and do not need to pay tribute. There is only one thing: they cannot rebel against the court. So the key here is that as long as you do not impose burdens on the barbarians, they will usually not rebel."

"The land beneath our feet is..."

"Because this land has no economic value," Zheng Shijie replied. "This is a military restricted zone developed entirely for the space program. We plan development here strictly according to the standard of 'submission' and don't impose any burden on the barbarians. That's why we can completely keep them out. In other words, we didn't drive the barbarians away. Rather, according to the standard of 'submission', we should have built these facilities where there was no barbarian activity."

"So that's how it is! Ah, so this place is just like the observatory in the nature reserve, and it's not set up on the animal migration route, right? You guys are really awesome! We just treat the barbarians as people to be driven, but you treat them as animals and provide animal welfare. I really don't know what to say. Are you open-minded, or extremely conservative?"

"Open-mindedness is conservativeness, and conservatism is open-mindedness." Zheng Shijie replied, "All of this is arranged in the Zhou Li. We just need to follow the teachings of Zhou Gong and Confucius and do the "benevolent" things. We will do whatever we want within the scope of the rules, but we will not exceed the rules. All development will stay within the boundaries of etiquette. And."

He thought for a moment and said, "We don't actually treat barbarians as non-human beings. On the contrary, we have always treated barbarians as human beings, so we strictly abide by etiquette. Etiquette is the universal justice among the human species and a collection of human collective values. If you don't provoke him, he won't provoke you unless he is tired of living."

"What if someone comes to provoke you? I mean, there are always some people who are tired of living."

"They can't be provoked." Zheng Shijie replied, "Because they have no army. Barbarians are forbidden to have organized military forces, so they can never compete with us vassal states stationed in the Eight Wastelands. If there are really those who are not afraid of death, we have to use the great law to deal with them - the key here is that we have not actually made the barbarians sign any kind of treaty called "etiquette". Etiquette is our own code of conduct, used to guide ourselves, not to guide the barbarians. Facts have proved that as long as we can manage ourselves, we can also manage these barbarians. Self-restraint is the root of all laws."

"." Phaethon shook his head. "I understand. The Romans probably haven't been able to take care of themselves for so long. They can't take care of their upper or lower bodies."

"So in general, these rules will extend to our withdrawal from Southeast Asia. However, the five ranks of mourning extend outward layer by layer. Once vassal states like us withdraw back to the capital, the surrounding barbarians will also be downgraded. Siam may be downgraded from Sui Fu to Yao Fu, and other tributary states may also be downgraded. I think they don't want us to leave. But here~~"

Zheng Shijie smiled slightly: "This place is going to be upgraded! Borneo will be upgraded as a whole to a special district and managed as a military stronghold. Its status will leap to a place comparable to the provinces in the capital. In such a place, no barbarians will be allowed to move around in the future. So I have to clean up this place and properly settle the barbarians here."

"So you're going to face some Roman problems, right?"

"We will do it according to etiquette and law. We will pay them back as much as they take away. However, under our years of governance, the civilization level of the barbarians here has been strictly controlled. After all, they just have to obey. Because they have not entered the industrial revolution, or even the agricultural revolution, their population has always remained in a primitive state of nomadic farming and hunting, and the total population is quite small. So even though Lan Fang is responsible for everything, it is not too much of a burden for us. So, you can be more comfortable here, this is completely our territory."

Chapter 1070 Zhou Li in the Frontier

Zheng Shijie looked around and said, "I actually like Borneo very much. This place has good feng shui. There are also many interesting things about the barbarians here. For example, they simply give each other gifts, just like an anthropological museum. We strictly protect the culture here, just like protecting rare species in a zoo, so that they are displayed here according to the lifestyle of their ancestors. We don't do this in Kinai."

"Tsk, that's really realistic." Shang Luo shook his head. "It may sound harsh, but sometimes it's good for them to be brought into the modern era. If we leave them where they are and keep them in their pre-modern state for people to visit, it's really no different from a museum exhibit."

"So we are not hypocritical at all." Zheng Shijie replied, "The biggest feature of the tributary system is that it is not hypocritical. We clearly tell everyone that this world has a hierarchy. The bottom line of the tributary system is to require all tributary states to recognize the existence of the 'Celestial Empire'. On this sincere basis, we can guarantee the fairness of this system, and everyone can expand their own interests within their own capabilities. Ah, Shangluo, I have seen your family's side."

"You've seen a lot of hypocrisy, haven't you?"

"You have a lot of weird 'naked heretics' there. They say that all countries are equal, but they have to patch up this flawed statement in order to interfere in other countries' internal affairs. In my opinion, if you advocate equality, then don't interfere in each other's internal affairs. If you have any problems, just discuss them. That's polite. I think it's great. On the other hand, if you want to interfere, don't shamelessly say that you respect other countries' sovereignty. That's rude. Tsk tsk, those naked heretics are really just like the old demon with yellow eyebrows, talking nonsense."

"Ah," Phaethon touched his forehead, "If I hadn't listened carefully, I would have thought you were cursing the Romans."

"Eh? How did the Romans come here?" Zheng Shijie asked, "I don't really know the rules of the Romans."

"Well, let me put it this way." Phaethon shook his head, "Roman practice is: we do not recognize the existence of any sovereignty outside of Rome."

"Is this possible? How do you calculate it?"

"It's very simple. We only deal with fragmented barbarians. Any barbarians who gather together need to be dispersed. Ah, this is a failed strategy to put it bluntly, but it has its merits. Aren't you going to receive the Roman heritage in the future? You will see it then. In fact, I was quite shocked when I saw the land here. Because Rome also has a need for confidentiality. Rome itself is even built on confidentiality. But the security around those secret facilities in Rome is much worse than yours."

[Alas, now that I think about it, if the two sides had established communication earlier, Rome might not have been destroyed now. ]

"That's impossible." Phaethon waved his hand. "Even if Rome knew that Cathay had a magic method to govern the world, it would not be able to use it - because Cathay's 'magic method' is based on self-cultivation and requires strict self-discipline. Can the Romans bear it?"

"Eh?" Zheng Shijie asked, "Could it be that you couldn't help it even once? I think there are always some people who want to govern the world properly, right?"

"No, Rome has a fundamental problem, that is, all consuls must fight against their own selfish desires. Everyone wants to leave something for themselves in the end, and everyone wants to make further progress in the Senate. In short, Rome is doomed. But you can still have a more distant future."

"Now that you mention it, I feel even more stressed." Shang Luo covered his forehead. "I will have to deal with Rome's problems later, right? I think I really need a Great Wall in the sky to properly deal with your problems."

"The Great Wall you want is behind this mountain." Zheng Shijie replied, "Once our cannons are debugged, we will be able to deliver houses to orbit in batches. If the delivered materials are connected together, we can circle the earth as many times as we want. By then, even if we throw a stone down, it will be like a meteor shower."

After leaving the airport, the military vehicle passed through the cave along with the heavy-loaded trucks. The 4095.2-meter-high "Zhendan Baru Mountain", also known as the "Mount of God", appeared in front of us. A huge red cannon was built on the broad mountain top, like a jade pillar supporting the sky and a golden beam across the sea.

The tower structure supporting the cannon was not built up layer by layer like a tall building, but was intertwined and spiraled upwards with a mysterious and complex structure, extending towards the sun like a rhinoceros looking at the moon. The structure was so complex that it didn't look like a building at all, but more like gold embroidery on a gorgeous dress. Unfolding in the clouds was a wonderful scene like a lotus flower -

"Wait, was this built by humans?" Shangluo asked in surprise. "That supporting structure, it's impossible for humans to casually build it! How could a drawing like this be approved by the design institute?"

"Well, the answer is 'yes and no'. We certainly built it, but not by hand."

"what is that?"

"We'll find out if we go a little further."

As we approached the sacred mountain, the auxiliary facilities built around the cannon appeared on both sides of the road. They were continuous blast furnaces and chimneys. Interestingly, even those chimneys were different from those elsewhere. The chimneys were made of brass and shone with golden light. There were also red lotus patterns on them, similar to the cannon on the top of the mountain. It seemed that it was the blueprint of the entire facility - or the "red" map.

"That is?"

"Cinnabar steel smelting furnace. The cinnabar steel smelted out is the raw material for building cannons. This is the highest crystallization of Lan Fang's technology, and it is the source of the technology for the 'Ba Wang Jiao' you saw in the car race before."

"Are you smelting spiritual metal?"