Zhang Lu, or rather the Zhang family of Longhu Mountain, was Lin Yang's first target. With the Zhang family in control, he believed that large-scale imitation would not occur throughout the Shu region.
"Ahem, I wonder what favor Feipeng plans to ask me to do? The annual profits of tens of millions of taels are enough to directly get the clan's Celestial Ancestor to take action. Could it be to suppress that newly emerged small world across the sea? No problem, just rest assured..." Zhang Lu patted his chest excitedly.
This is a business worth tens of millions of taels of silver annually, not a one-off transaction, but a long-term, sustainable business – one of the highest-quality foundations. Therefore, Zhang Lu was truly confident he could get his clan's Celestial Ancestor to personally intervene!
Seeing this, Lin Yang smiled slightly. Asking the Celestial Ancestor for help was naturally out of the question! Or rather, Lin Yang wouldn't do that unless it was a critical moment.
He had a complete plan for this foreign invasion. If he could make good use of the enemy, the Wu Kingdom might be able to develop its territory immediately.
"Ahem, Master, there's no need for the Heavenly Immortal Ancestor. At least, it's not the right time yet. The reason I invited you here is to ask you to help me refine a weapon."
"Oh, what kind of magic weapon are you refining? Could it be a sixth-tier spiritual treasure? What kind of weapon is it? How's the material preparation going? What's the time requirement? What type is it? Is it a binding type? An offensive type? A celestial secret type, or..."
Watching Zhang Lu's eloquent explanation, Lin Yang couldn't help but laugh. This was a professional, much better than him, a complete novice.
Moreover, given the Zhang family's resources, it's not impossible for them to refine a high-grade sixth-tier spiritual treasure. On the contrary, if they actually did it, the probability of success would be quite high.
Unfortunately, this time, Lin Yang didn't actually send Zhang Lu to refine magical treasures. After all, what Lin Yang had in abundance right now was all sorts of strange and unusual magical treasures.
"Ahem, what I asked you to refine is actually very simple, just some of the lowest-grade things, not even worthy of being called magic artifacts. Here, take a look." With that, Lin Yang handed over a steel rail.
On the surface of this steel rail, there are fine grooves at intervals. Upon closer inspection, these grooves are all exactly the same.
"The function of these grooves is shock absorption. The function of these grooves is pressure reduction. The function of these grooves is to redirect pressure channels to the side. The function of these grooves is fixation, and these grooves are..."
“They’re all quite simple, nothing complicated. Even a novice Taoist could finish them within an hour. But what’s the use?” Zhang Lu said, frowning.
Could it be that they had too much money to burn? Zhang Lu had just estimated it. This section of rail didn't look particularly impressive, about a meter long.
In terms of weight, it's about sixty catties. Adding in the markings, that means the total value is twenty taels of silver. What's the use of spending twenty taels of silver to make a one-meter-long steel rail?
"This thing is called a railway. Of course, it only works when two parallel steel rails are placed together. Its specific function is very, very important. Once it works, it will be a true military and national strategic asset!"
"Once successful, it will turn an insurmountable barrier into a thoroughfare, and the entire Han Dynasty will become like a village. Even an ordinary person without cultivation can travel thousands of miles in just one day and night!"
"More importantly, the steel rails needed to lay railways are not just one or two meters, or even one or two miles, but thousands or even tens of thousands of miles! Master, tell me, how much profit is involved in all of this?"
At this point, Lin Yang felt a sharp pain in his heart! Once the railway was completed, as long as the powerful families and the imperial court weren't blind, they would scrape together the money, even if it meant selling everything they owned, to build all sorts of railways.
For the imperial court, the construction of railways truly brought the suppression of the empire from theory to practice. In the immediate future, the railways would make suppressing the Taiping Dao (a cult of unrest) far more convenient!
The thought of having to share a huge business deal worth hundreds of millions of taels with the Zhang family for nothing made Lin Yang's heart ache!
After all, by then, the demand for Taoist priests will be a bottomless pit! At least, in the short term.
Even with the full unfolding of the Industrial Revolution, the demand for Taoist priests remained as high as they could be for a short period of time!
After all, every qualified Taoist, even the lowest-ranking first-level Taoist novice, can create countless Taoist patterns every day after becoming proficient, or become an engineer in many key positions.
That's right, engineers. Even a novice Taoist can become a qualified engineer after a little training.
If a second-tier Yin Spirit cultivator possesses a brain computing ability comparable to a computer, then each of them could become a top-tier engineer.
Therefore, after the Taiping Dao rebellion, the Celestial Masters sect, which controlled the largest number of Taoist priests in the country, became highly sought after.
Listening to Lin Yang's story, Zhang Lu subconsciously started to make connections. In fact, this wasn't just Lin Yang making things up.
In later generations, a certain China with a map area of 9.6 million square kilometers had a total railway mileage of over one million kilometers! So, what about the Han Dynasty, whose total area was ridiculously large?
"Such a large market and so much money, we must find a good solution. That's why I've invited you here today for preliminary cooperation—to test the waters by constructing a section of railway over a thousand miles long. If everything goes smoothly..."
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Chapter Twenty-Nine: Cultivating Immortality is the Primary Productive Force!
Lured by the steel industry's annual profits of at least tens of millions of taels, or rather, with a market potential of hundreds of millions or even billions of taels, the Zhang family's strength far exceeded Lin Yang's expectations.
The leader of the group was a late-stage fifth-order Earth Immortal cultivator, Zhang Lu's uncle, who had lived for over a thousand years and possessed an extremely rich collection of experiences. Moreover, his personal strength was also quite impressive.
Accompanying them were dozens of fourth-order human immortal cultivators, plus a full thousand third-order Yang God cultivators, and tens of thousands of second-order Yin God cultivators.
To be honest, looking at these Taoist priests who were neatly dressed and acted in unison, and who would at least become senior engineers in the future, Lin Yang was also very fortunate.
This time, I made the right choice in partnering with the Zhang family. Otherwise, even if the Zhang family had relied solely on themselves to start from scratch and imitate, it wouldn't have taken them much time at all!
"The Zhang family's strength is truly formidable. No wonder they are the number one Taoist sect in the South. This time, after the Taiping Dao is destroyed, the Celestial Masters Sect should become the number one Taoist sect in the world, right?" Lin Yang said with some envy.
These are the real powerhouses! A thousand Yang God cultivators and ten thousand Yin God cultivators! Keep in mind, these are all Taoists, not martial artists who were just cannon fodder in the early stages!
The resources consumed by each Taoist in cultivation far exceed those of martial artists or scholars of the same level! At least, this is true at the third level and below!
Upon hearing this, Zhang Lu subconsciously laughed.
"Haha, I didn't expect Feipeng to be surprised. I thought you could handle anything calmly and normally."
Soon, under the command of Uncle Zhang Lu, the thousand Yang God cultivators took out maps and began to design the construction plan. As for the ten thousand Yin God cultivators, they immediately began casting spells to refine Dao patterns and forge steel rails.
"Each person is responsible for one mile. Let's get a thousand miles done first. Along the way, we'll cut through mountains and build bridges over rivers. Magic tricks like turning fossils into mud, splitting rocks, and changing terrain are all easy. If you don't know how, come over here now and I'll teach you. It'll only take a little while. Besides..."
The route was quickly designed. Actually, there wasn't much to design. What if we encountered a mountain? We'd just carve it through! What if we encountered a river? We'd simply use magic to build a bridge!
Therefore, in the end, the so-called railway route was basically not a straight line, which was about right! Anyway, nothing could stump this group of Taoist priests who had their brains fully utilized!
"Follow the laws of heaven and earth, follow the laws of heaven and earth. You can use this spell more often in a while."
"All Yin Spirit cultivators, hurry up and take out your magic tools and start refining. Each of you should refine one hundred meters first. Anyway, it's just one hundred meters, it's not a big deal! It will only take a couple of hours at most."
"By the way, all Yang Shen cultivators, please pay attention and don't lay the tiles off-center. It would be troublesome if they didn't match up with the ones in front and behind."
As he spoke, Zhang Lu's uncle flew directly into the sky, and with a wave of his hand, two parallel beams of light appeared, shining from here all the way to thousands of miles away!