Wei School's Three Good Students

Chapter 42 The surplus at home, for those on long journeys.

While his family in the north chopped firewood themselves, Wu Fei, living in Yongji Pass, was extravagantly considering which pot to use for soup and meat that day.

In the early days of my transmigration, I had fantasized about gathering a large number of craftsmen to upgrade productivity, and now I can actually do it.

Things are different now. Through a war, I have successfully bound myself to many forces in the southern border region, forming a community of shared interests. Now, after the Great Yao Pass was breached, I have mobilized hundreds of thousands of troops but have been unable to reclaim the territory and repel the enemy. I am overwhelmed by the noise from both inside and outside the court, and the emperor's prestige is beginning to decline in the border regions.

The result of Da Yao's declining prestige is that many officials in Lingnan, for the sake of their own future, covered up the conflict in the southern border and simplified it into a minor issue. In the future, they will also be able to cover up the matter of private craftsmen making weapons.

It's impossible for any hothead to jump out and accuse Wu Fei of overstepping his bounds now.

…a high-ranking official…

Wu Fei's group is now rapidly processing everything. In the slave camp, various mountain monsters and other strange creatures are chained up. As food is served, the sounds of slurping rice fill the cages.

Because this food was much better for the slaves than the raw meat and tree bark they ate during their escape.

Despite the various inhumane punishments in the slave camps, there were still rules to ensure the health and well-being of the slaves, such as food and shelter. Slaves would not be presented with unwashed bowls filled with pig feed.

One of the hygiene rules of the slave camp was that food bowls must be washed and food must be of the same type, that is, bran and taro must be steamed or cooked separately, and wild vegetables must also be stored separately.

It's not that Wu Fei still has any mercy, but rather that when designing resource scheduling processes, it's essential to be able to clearly and thoroughly check each step.

Spoiled ingredients often contain maggots and rotten leaves, so cooking them all in one pot is a way to cover up this "inferior goods being passed off as superior ones".

Xuan Chong was extremely particular about the hygiene of the mess hall. If a slave felt nauseous and didn't want to eat, or if eating caused vomiting and diarrhea, it would only result in unnecessary food waste. All slaves were required to be healthy before being implanted with the "Spirit Taming Talisman" by their buyers.

After the victory at Yongji Pass, the slave market was about to open, and slave traders from Lingnan were already lining up outside. Once the market opened, the cages were filled with strong, healthy slaves, and there was no excrement on the ground. Slaves who needed to relieve themselves had three opportunities to raise their hands.

Slaves who dared to defecate in public during market hours weren't unheard of, but they were all whipped! The advantage of humanoid slaves was their ability to perform more complex tasks, such as caring for livestock and cleaning stables. If someone else had to clean up their excrement, they were no better off with the large animals in the cowshed—at least they were stronger.

Yongji Pass already has a large shortage of laborers in its workshops, not to mention the labor force needed for the current rural development.

……

This enormous demand has fostered a unique "slave trade" value system throughout southern Xinjiang. This value system did not exist in the past.

An item is only considered a "good of value" when there is demand for it; when there is no demand, people are unaware of its value. For example, during a previous pandemic, face masks became valuable items.

Now, several months after the Wu family army's great victory, other tribes from the southern border also began to arrive, bringing their small slaves in exchange for food and tools. The checkpoint guards originally intended to confiscate these items, but Wu Fei accepted them all, paying them at market price.

As for why he didn't withhold any, Wu Fei said, "If I withheld any, wouldn't that give other big merchants a business opportunity? They would buy it up and then act as middlemen to make a profit."

These merchants' acquisitions are different from their own acquisitions! Merchants are simply doing business, but these tribes in the southern border regions are handing over all the participants of the northward Black Tide as a pledge of allegiance!
Well, these tribes in southern Xinjiang probably don't even realize they're paying a price for their allegiance.

They exchanged goods and money at the foot of the city wall. While a Clawed Tribe chief gleefully counted his money with his claws, the slaves being handed over cursed in their language. But no one paid any attention. Later, the Clawed Chief seemed to have heard something offensive and made a terrible gesture towards the hanging slaves across the stone wall.

Wu Fei couldn't help but shake his head: "Barbarians fear power but do not cherish virtue; they value petty gains and disregard righteousness. A year ago, when the caravan was doing business, those tribes would shamelessly default on their debts whenever they had the chance."

So, these clawed people probably thought that the slaves they sold would be completely out of their sight and never be seen again, right? — But in reality, Wu Fei gave the slaves a certain survival rate, and some of the alien slaves would have the opportunity to become his lackeys and serve him loyally. In other words, these southern tribes that sold their slaves would eventually encounter the enemies they had created.

Of course, we can't entirely blame these local barbarians, because when the Kuroshio barbarians went north to "borrow grain" a few months ago, they didn't expect this day to come! Neither side has ever been trustworthy to the other.

On the contrary, it was the samurai families, their adversaries, who were able to uphold their principles. This is the tragedy of the barbarians.

In this way, the Wu family hardly lost a single soldier, and all the defeated soldiers of the Black Tide were sent to be enslaved within the designated sphere of influence.

……

In the underground rivers of the mountains, slaves panned for sand; in the factories, they worked as laborers. Four chimneys appeared in Yongji Pass, constantly belching smoke. Arrowheads and muskets were being forged in the workshops.

Many merchants lived directly within the Yongji Pass defense system. Near the river, clusters of trading posts and workshops formed. During peak trading periods, these settlements could reach a population of 20,000 to 30,000, with a permanent resident population of up to 10,000. Furthermore, because they were all merchants within the pass's area of ​​influence, they were completely outside the jurisdiction of the imperial court.

In feudal times, the population density of a region represented the level of its "technological" capabilities.

A simple example: building a set of pulleys and processing huge pieces of timber is not something that a single carpenter in the village can do; it requires the collaboration of dozens or even hundreds of craftsmen.

The wealthy prefectures and counties within the Great Yao region, due to the need to build temples, palaces, or have harbors where large ships dock, could maintain such teams of artisans.

Now everything is in place in southern Xinjiang. A large number of craftsmen have gathered to innovate some production equipment and create windmill-powered machinery for material processing and forging. Wu Fei also has the opportunity to pursue some of his own hobbies.

On a quiet hillside to the left of Yongji Pass, in Xuan Chong's personal laboratory, the laboratory now resembles a modern laboratory, divided into a "yang area" and a "yin area".

Yangqu: Here are rotating mechanical gears and boilers with pistons emitting steam.

In the negative area: in a test tube or beaker, under low temperature conditions, glycerol is being dissolved drop by drop into liquid.

This laboratory is quite luxurious by today's standards. Expensive silkworm silk replaces wires, jade replaces energy storage batteries, and thousand-year-old ebony serves as a hard drive for data entry and a high-quality mechanical material. Each item here is worth tens of taels of silver on the outside. If it weren't for accumulating wealth through the "colonial mode," it would have been impossible for Wu Fei to complete this with just the monthly allowance he received from his family.

Compared to the wealthy young men in the capital who spend lavishly on fine wine, luxury cars, fine horses, and famous courtesans, Wu Fei's current extravagance is no less impressive.

Cultivation requires resources. Wu Fei is now following a "side path" that seeks only supernatural powers and not immortality, so naturally he needs to accumulate resources.

Just as Xuan Chong was enthusiastically preparing to give the world a little shock with a "metal storm," the system popped up in time to educate him on relevant historical knowledge, making Xuan Chong focus on learning the erroneous idea of ​​"strange skills and tricks."

When the system described this term, it made Xuan Chong feel that it was different from the 21st-century history he was familiar with.

In 21st-century textbooks, "ingenious skills and clever tricks" is not a derogatory term. However, the literati who often used "ingenious skills and clever tricks" to criticize external technologies are now condemned as stagnant and complacent.

However, in the historical narrative of the system, the meaning of this word has changed. "Those who point out that what seems like a booming development in certain technological fields is actually a trick or a gimmick" have become whistleblowers in the development of science and technology.

After reading through the system, Xuan Chong discovered the reason for the drastic change in the historical meaning of this word. According to the new theory provided by the system, the exclusive musket he had previously used to deal with the "Sunny Day Doll," as well as the mechanical armor and the copper-patterned enchanted bullets, were all ingenious and frivolous skills! Because they were all products created by the mindset of "craftsmen," difficult to apply widely, they were not of the proper and righteous path. Only those mass-produced creations that could be widely used in important production, education, and military processes could be considered of the proper and righteous path.

In the system's documentation, the historical perspective after the 25th century answers some of Wu Fei's questions as follows:

"While both are firearms, the Qing Dynasty actually valued them highly. In the mid-Qing period, the imperial family collected a series of Western firearms through European merchants. These firearms were top-notch in terms of accuracy, power, and range, and performed exceptionally well during imperial hunting expeditions. Therefore, in the simple and unpretentious Eastern mindset of the time, they were considered mere 'strange and ingenious tricks.' This was because the Qing Dynasty never considered the mass production of firearms, and Eastern intellectuals never imagined that excellent firearms could completely replace cold weapons in widespread battlefield use. Thus, the Han Chinese scholar-officials' assessment of firearms as 'strange and ingenious tricks' was logically sound."

Similarly, at the end of the 20th century, Western robots and new energy sources were mostly considered ingenious and gimmicky.

Although the West simultaneously created various new technological concepts, none of these concepts were considered for large-scale application, and they could only become luxuries for aristocratic occasions such as golf courses. There was never a strong commitment to promote their widespread adoption.

Only after charging piles are industrialized and can be intelligently connected to ultra-high voltage power grids, along with hydropower, wind power, and solar power, will robots and other new energy sources have a realistic foundation for widespread application in production.

Xuan Chong understood: a technology with a seemingly similar name can be turned into a "strange skill" by some and into something "beneficial to the country and the people" by others.

But I still can't help but ask: "What exactly happened in history that caused the definition of history in textbooks to take such a 180-degree turn?"

The system quickly flashed past the densely packed, ant-like text, but it was gone in an instant.

Xuan Chong: "I didn't see it clearly."

System: "Stop looking, you won't pass the review at the moment."

Xuan Chong: "Hmm?"

Narrator: There have been far too many subsequent developments in history. After all, the 21st century is an era in which rulers allow so-called discourse elites to constantly hype up concepts. Many technologies do not consider the needs of the vast majority. Focusing on cutting-edge research and development is considered "unique," while catering to the novelty of a minority is considered "ingenious."

However, for Xuan Chong, 90% of the content involving information from the 21st century would not pass censorship.

System notification: Any technological upgrade consumes a large amount of resources. Please think carefully…

We now have a large workforce and capital, but the opportunity to upgrade technology only comes once.

Wu Fei had indeed thought it through carefully, abandoning his initial plan for a rifled rifle. Drilling the barrel with a cold drill would take seven or eight months and waste over 500 kilograms of steel, given the current production capabilities Wu Fei had. — With that time, he could have produced over fifty standard-sized "crane guns," and he still couldn't get the mass production mechanism for copper-enchanted bullets sorted out.

After careful investigation, Wu Fei determined that the best armor-piercing arrowheads they could currently forge weighed one ounce. When held and pierced into bricks, it was as easy as chopsticks piercing a peach pastry. As for the key material for reducing drag on the arrow shaft, "ice silkworm silk," they could mass-produce it here! After leveling a mountain and planting mulberry leaves all over it, they could recruit a hundred female workers to raise the mulberry leaves properly.

As for this kind of silk thread, it is only as thick as a hair and can hang hundreds of pounds. When taut, it can cut through flesh like a knife.

If the silk is wound tightly enough, theoretically a crossbow drawn to full strength with four stones can shoot 225 paces away, and still have strong armor-piercing ability after falling.

The role of the musket should be to fill another gap.

…Wu Fei: No rush, let's upgrade the mature technology first. …

April of the 27th year of the Tianli calendar.

At the firing range, Wu Fei watched the new crossbowmen shoot. These crossbows were equipped with iron pulleys to make it easier to cock them by foot.

As the flywheel spins, the bowstring is fully charged.

The firing whistle blew, and the crossbowmen fired in unison. The sharp arrowheads traced an unusually long arc, landing two hundred paces away.

Wu Fei walked to the shooting range, pulled out the arrow that had hit the target, and determined that carrying such an arrow was quite difficult.

Just as Wu Fei was pondering, a subordinate named He Ran reported good news: "Young General, we have discovered a large copper mine."

Wu Fei glanced at him, marked the copper mine on the map, and then gave him a reward in a lukewarm manner.

However, He Ran asked, "General, we should take this."

Wu Fei: "Yes, we should take it, but not now."

The third aunt said, "Now it's time to open the gates and head south again, my lord. Why don't you take a look when you march south this time?"

The other officers nearby agreed; they had long wanted to march further south and seize the "big market" that Wu Fei had mentioned.

Looking at these people, Wu Fei, as the one who personally built this violent machine, knew their thirst for glory.

Wu Fei took a deep breath: "The scale of this year's advance will not be expanded; it will be the same as last year."

Just as everyone was about to try to dissuade him, Wu Fei raised his hand.

After explaining the operational plan for this expedition from Nanjiang to his generals, Wu Fei took out a letter that Wu Hanluan had sent to him.

Wu Fei: "My older brother and uncle are suffering in the north right now, waiting for us to help support their family. We need to transport as much grain as possible from the granaries to the north to feed the army! We also need a large number of men to deal with the changes along the way." (If we don't prepare enough manpower, the locals will skim off our profits when transporting grain and supplies to various regional nodes.)
The crowd immediately began to discuss among themselves. Although they were very unwilling, the matter concerned the safety of the North, and they could not bring themselves to abandon their own families.

Then someone asked, "General, what exactly is happening in the north?"

Wu Fei: "It's nothing! It's just that people are less valuable when they're away from home. You have to trust the commander-in-chief; he's in charge there, so there won't be any major problems."

Wu Fei tapped the table and shouted, "Wu Mude, tell me about your intelligence gathering in the southern border region."

At this moment, Jamud (whose surname was the same as his master's), whose face had turned red and white in patches, looked at the crowd. No one recognized him, but out of respect for Wu Fei, they dared not question him. Jamud began to describe his understanding of the situation in the southern border region, but what he said was incomplete.

Jamud only spoke about the situation in the northern part of Lingjiang, while avoiding any mention of the south.

Wu Fei understood this and did not force him.

(End of this chapter)