Mythic version of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 7109 Large-scale fraud scene
Wang Liang spoke with curiosity, but none of the family leaders around him found it strange. In fact, many of them scoffed inwardly. Academic research was the way families survived in the past; now they had a better way to survive.

The advantages of establishing a nation abroad are obvious!

We should first establish the fiefdom, and then pursue academic studies later. After all, the thoughts of our ancestors and our family's scholarship are still there. Even if we don't pursue them now, we can still do them later. But establishing a nation is different. Once this opportunity is gone, it will never come again.

Wang Liang naturally got a faux pas, but he didn't think too much about it. To be honest, everyone has their own ambitions. At least the Kuaiji Wang clan didn't envy the fiefdom. Now, the endless construction of Leiji Terrace was tiring, but the sense of fulfillment, satisfaction, and that their knowledge had finally been put to good use made them very content.

As for the border closure, life in China is pretty good. If there's no border closure, then there's no border closure. If you really want something, you can ask for it. I don't need a big one, but a small one is still possible.

"Congratulations, congratulations." While Wang Liang and the others were chatting idly, Gan Bao and Shi Tao also came together. In a similar situation to Wang Liang, they bowed to Huangfu Jianshou, presented him with a jade disc, and then, led by Huangfu Jianshou, arrived at the main hall.

When these two appeared at the entrance of the main hall, the heads of the aristocratic families immediately shut up and turned to look at Gan Bao and Shi Tao. After all, this year, the aristocratic families in Central Asia died tragically one after another. If they had to find someone to take the blame, it would definitely be the Gan and Shi families. Although the Gan and Shi families also felt wronged, they were the ones who really knew astronomy, meteorology, and calendar. They had to take the blame for the natural disaster!
When Yang Xin saw Gan Bao and Shi Tao, he actually wanted to be sarcastic, but he held back in the end. Even though these two families had been eating their offerings for four hundred years and had almost ruined their family this year, it was better not to say anything for the sake of needing these two families next year.

Similarly, the surrounding Cui, Yuan, Wang, Wei, and others all wanted to curse Gan Bao and Shi Tao, but in the end they all chose to hold back. There was nothing they could do; cursing these two wouldn't solve the problem, and their ecological niche was truly irreplaceable, which made things very difficult.

Huangfu Jianshou sensed the strange atmosphere in the main hall and didn't know what to say. After all, everyone knew about the locust plague, and Huangfu Jianshou also knew how great the losses were for the Central Asian aristocratic families. So he could only lead the two of them to their seats first.

However, once they were seated, the heads of those aristocratic families who were visibly frustrated but unable to cause trouble naturally gathered around. After all, on the issue of the locust plague, all the aristocratic families in Central Asia were on the same side. Even though they had great conflicts with each other, compared to the huge and obvious conflict of the locust plague, they could generally put aside their past grievances and gather around the Gan and Shi families.

Gan Bao and Shi Tao were also helpless. They watched as the various powerful families surrounded them, and they had no good solutions. In particular, the group of people were like a pride of lions, surrounding the two of them. They were even more helpless, but the locust plague really wasn't their fault.

"Gentlemen, what will the climate be like next year? Will the weather be favorable?" Deng Tong spoke first, because the Deng family had not suffered any disasters. The Yuan family being forced to submit by Rome was the Yuan family's business and had little to do with the Deng family, which was parasitic on the Yuan family. As for the other Central Asian aristocratic families, to be honest, it was difficult to have a peaceful exchange with the Gan and Shi families.

"What is the general climate like?" Gan Bao looked at Deng Tong with a headache. "The area involved is too large to explain in a few simple words, but I know what kind of answer you want, which is to ask whether next year's overall climate will lean towards a disaster year or a normal year?"

The heads of the powerful families, who had been gathered in a circle, were now clenching their fists. "Damn it! What do you mean by 'next year's overall climate leans towards a year of disaster' or 'a year of normalcy'? What about a bumper year? Holy crap, where's the bumper year we're hoping for?"
"Next year's harvest will still not be very good," Shi Tao said sincerely. "The climate effects caused by the joint use of the Blazing Sky Ring by the three great empires are still ongoing and will likely not be eliminated until the year after next. The super-large-scale Yin-Yang Mysterious Vessel used in North Africa this year has also affected the climate in Africa to some extent. Although it is not significant in terms of planetary scale, we still need to consider whether the previous effects will be superimposed."

“According to our predictions, the average temperature next year will be lower than this year. Due to the abnormal climate this year, we have compared all the hydrological and climate data from the Spring and Autumn Period to the present and finally determined that we are probably in a relatively cold era.” Gan Bao looked at the heads of the aristocratic families around him, who were gritting their teeth and looking like they wanted to beat him up, and sighed, “That’s the reality. Beating me up won’t solve the problem.”

"The overall climate is like this. It will be slightly better than this year, but it will still be within the range of a disastrous year. Disastrous weather events will occur relatively frequently, and the temperature may be out of balance," Shi Tao concluded. "Then our two families discussed it, and if the major families are willing to contribute an extra amount of funds each year, we can invest more manpower and resources to create a three-dimensional model of the planetary climate, which can prevent the kind of sudden accidents that happened this year to a certain extent."

The fists are really hard. The younger generation, represented by Yang Xin and Wang Rou, really want to beat someone up now. Damn it, you bunch of bastards, you've created such a huge mess, and now you want us to keep sending money, and even more money. I really want to beat someone up.

"How much do you need?" Yuan Huan forced a smile onto his stiff face after listening to what the two bastards had to say.

No matter how much he wanted to tear these two guys to shreds, considering that there really couldn't be a third professional in the world, Yuan Huan felt that paying them was still an acceptable option.

After all, Rome suffered even more horrific losses, and their ability to analyze and predict climate and celestial phenomena was far inferior. Although the Gan and Shi families had their major problems, they were still the best choice in the world, right? Besides, it's just a matter of money, isn't it? They still have the money.

"We sought financing from the Roman Empire, and they were willing to support us, giving us ten million silver coins and indicating their willingness to provide manpower support in the future. Marquis Chen gave us two hundred thousand old silver coins and indicated that they would continue to support us in the future, including supporting our astronomical and geodetic surveys next year." Shi Tao played his cards first, determined to intimidate the bastards around him. How could they be blamed for what happened this year?

The reason why the Roman Empire was willing to provide support was actually quite simple. On the one hand, the locust plague in East Africa served as a wake-up call for the Roman Empire. On the other hand, the Gan and Shi families had indeed demonstrated their value during this locust plague. In addition, the agricultural calendars of the Gan and Shi families were very effective. Therefore, when the Gan and Shi families expressed their desire to create a so-called three-dimensional map of planetary climate afterward, the Roman Empire, with a "better safe than sorry" attitude, provided them with ten million silver coins.

After all, this amount of money is nothing compared to the losses caused by not discovering the locust plague in advance. Just think, if the Gan and Shi families were in Rome, they would have definitely developed the Roman agricultural calendar over the decades, and they would certainly have been able to prevent the locust plague in East Africa in advance.

These two items alone mean that ten million silver coins are nothing.

Consider this: the Roman Empire is currently embroiled in a civil war due to the aftermath of the locust plague in East Africa. Although there are significant differences in consensus and ideology at this point, without the locust plague, this conflict would not have erupted. Pompiñus is genuinely pushing the Roman Empire to acquire the Claudius family.

If it weren't for the locust plague, and Pompiñus had proceeded step by step, the internal ideological and consensus-building issues in Rome certainly wouldn't have been ignited.

So when the Roman Empire heard that the Gan and Shi families wanted to create a three-dimensional map of planetary climate, they gave the two families a sum of money out of gratitude for their efforts during the last locust plague. They said that once the three-dimensional map of planetary climate was completed, they could share it with the Roman Empire. If they could also create something like the Roman agricultural calendar, they would be rewarded handsomely!

After all, the Roman Empire has finally realized the value of the agricultural calendar and finally wants to develop it. However, this is something that takes a group of astronomers and climatologists decades to develop and requires continuous optimization. So when they heard that the so-called three-dimensional planetary climate configuration map could accelerate this process, the Roman Empire was naturally willing to invest some money to see the effect.

Besides, even if it's useless, the Roman Empire wouldn't care about such a small amount of money; consider it a token of gratitude to the Gan and Shi families, right?

As for Chen Xi, he fully supports the Gan and Shi families in doing this, because the three-dimensional planetary climate configuration map can largely explain the problem of climate change, and the demonstration will be clearer and more explicit. Of course, the prerequisite for doing this is astronomical geodesy.

Incidentally, Chen Xi previously thought that the Gan and Shi families were only going to conduct astronomical geodesy to refine basic astronomical and geographical data. Later, he learned that these two families, after being severely criticized by the Han family, were preparing to create a three-dimensional model of planetary climate based on the data from astronomical geodesy and the ocean current map that Chen Xi had roughly drawn, in order to fundamentally solve the problem of climate prediction.

Chen Xi fully supports this action, because regardless of the era, climate and even weather forecasts have a significant positive impact on agricultural production and daily life.

Although once the Gan and Shi families start using this thing, the already insufficient supercomputers will be snatched up by another group of people, and the reasons for this group to snatch them up are very solid. At least, the reasons for someone like Li You to monopolize a supercomputer are not enough for this group to argue.

Just like when the Han Dynasty cut steel quotas, they cut Li You's steel quota. After all, it didn't matter much if Li You's quota was reduced, since the system could still operate. But if the people's quota was reduced, they would really lose their means of livelihood. So the choice was obvious.

Therefore, Chen Xi silently encouraged the Gan and Shi families to pursue this project, and was prepared to cut Li You's current quota if they failed to develop a new supercomputer in the future.

Anyway, Li You's work can be done without a supercomputer, at most it will be less efficient. But here, it is obviously more important for production and life in an agricultural society, right?

Therefore, according to the allocation quota from Rome, Chen Xi allocated 200,000 old silver coins to the Gan and Shi families. These were the coins that Chen Xi called weight money, but were actually credit money.

Moreover, this is only an initial allocation. According to Chen Xi's estimate, this amount of investment is simply not enough for what the Gan and Shi families want to do. However, considering that the existence of this thing can create something similar to a weather forecast after the Han Empire no longer has him, it is honestly very valuable. In addition, it is also the foundation for the birth of a large-scale discipline.

From this perspective, Chen Xi figured it was okay to burn some money now and then, since there might not be another opportunity to do so in the future. After all, not every researcher has this kind of awareness and belief.

However, it seems that the Gan and Shi families also want to extract some money from the Central Asian aristocratic families.

After all, the Central Asians were looking at the Gan and Shi families with a strange attitude. Taking some money from them to calm them down and make them realize their importance was also a way to solve the problem.

So after the leaders of the Central Asian aristocratic families surrounded the two like a pride of lions, Gan Bao and Shi Tao took the initiative without even exchanging words.

"We have raised a large sum of money so far, but to complete this project, we will need to invest a lot more in the future. The final three-dimensional model of the planetary climate will be shared with everyone. Even if you don't understand climate, you can still see the situation in your local area from this work." Shi Tao licked his dry lips, his expression stern and serious.

The group of aristocratic representatives around them were somewhat annoyed upon hearing this, but no matter how annoyed they were, they were still excited just by hearing it. After all, everyone understood the impact of climate and celestial phenomena on agricultural life in this day and age.

So after Shi Tao spoke, the eyes of this group of people flickered. After all, if this matter could be accomplished, spending some money, no, spending a lot of money, was acceptable. This was a long-term investment, and it would also generate long-term profits.

Relying on the weather for sustenance is inevitable for all non-interstellar civilizations, and the third century was clearly not an interstellar civilization.

“Our family can contribute some money to this, but I don’t want a repeat of the disasters we’ve already experienced. The weather has already happened, but we didn’t even realize the potential for secondary disasters,” Zhang Zhao said through gritted teeth. The fact that they could grow sugarcane there had been exposed, and things had now reached a very dangerous point. Under these circumstances, food reserves were extremely important.

After all, it's possible that various bastions and Rome might actually be needed to create a stalemate, and for this kind of warfare, food is undoubtedly a very important resource.

It's true that I want to beat up these two families, but it's also true that I can hold back. Besides, beating up these two families would only be a way to vent my emotions. We're all adults. While emotions are important, those of us standing here probably know that they're not as important as financial gain.

The reluctance to choose profit is merely an emotional hurdle, but once someone steps forward and makes a choice, others will understand how to choose as well.

"We can only say we'll do our best. The area is too big and there are too few people. We're also trying to train people to observe the climate in different places and record data, but these people need to have certain professional knowledge, and we haven't trained many over the years." At this point, Gan Bao didn't dare to speak too confidently. After all, in the current situation, there must be some unreliable device recording audio, or even some secret mirror recording video.

Before the existence of the Secret Mirror, people could sometimes break their promises and get away with it. But since the Secret Mirror came into being, recording videos and audios, people are less willing to talk nonsense as long as morality and credibility haven't collapsed.

“Essentially, my family’s situation is the same,” Wang Liang interjected from the side. It’s not that the Wang family of Kuaiji doesn’t work hard, but that there are only so few people who can come to learn.

"Hey, Lord Wang, the people that Marquis Chen transferred from our household to learn from you haven't even finished their training yet, and we haven't said anything about it," Bai Ying said, quite speechless.

Chen Xi sent a group of people from various aristocratic families to study under the Wang family of Kuaiji, but to be honest, the results were mediocre. In comparison, it was like a liberal arts student studying electricity; for most liberal arts students, it was like reading a book written in a foreign language, leaving them completely bewildered by the left-hand and right-hand laws.

The problem is that the people that the major families are sending are mostly liberal arts students. These days, there are hardly any science students. Do they even need to know a little arithmetic?
In short, this is very uncomfortable.

"That's what we mean too. You each provide manpower, and we'll help you train them and record your local climate data, which we'll then input," Shi Tao said, glancing at Bai Ying before addressing the heads of the surrounding aristocratic families.

However, the major families are quite resistant to this matter, not because they don't want to learn, but because this is a field where there is no easy way to learn. The people they sent to the Wang family are not useless, but as it stands, the earliest they can complete their training and build the Leiji Platform will not be until next year.

This forced the major families to inevitably come up with other solutions.

If we were to send another group of people to study astronomy and climatology now, it would probably be another disaster. The major families are well aware of their own limitations. If this stuff were really that easy to learn, they would have already overthrown the Gan and Shi families. Why would they need to pay tribute every year and have them make agricultural calendars?

This thing doesn't look like something easy to learn. Do you really think everyone is a god like Luo Xia Hong, Tang Du, or Zhang Heng who can learn this kind of heaven-defying thing by self-studying for a few decades?
The problem is that even immortals need decades of self-study!

This is even more dangerous!

The rain in Xi'an never seems to stop; paleoclimatology theories might just be coming true.