To be honest, he didn't originally intend to reveal these things. His plan was to wait until the Wu Kingdom had become powerful, or at least undergone significant development, before releasing them to shock the world and rake in huge profits.
But time waits for no one. If we don't act now, with development this slow, we probably won't have achieved much by the time the Yellow Turban Rebellion breaks out.
More importantly, once these trains, cars, and ships are revealed, they can't be kept secret. Do they really think other wealthy families are out of their minds, unable to distinguish good things from bad ones, or what's profitable?
Even in times of peace, when the rules are in place and one cannot openly imitate, one can always forge things at will when the Yellow Turban Rebellion or other times of chaos arrive.
When the time comes, just find a few immortal cultivators, get the actual objects, disassemble and reassemble them, and steam engines, trains, and cars will be a piece of cake.
In other words, even if Lin Yang wanted to monopolize the spoils, he could only do so for two or three years, since the Yellow Turban Rebellion was not far off! At that time, the curtain would be raised on a chaotic era.
"Alas, we are still too weak. We lack connections and strength. It's a tragedy to have treasures but be unable to use them. By the way, what about the Dark Gate? Should we also bring it out for display?" Guo Jia suddenly frowned and asked.
The so-called Dark Portal was actually Lin Yang's greatest discovery in the previous world, Azeroth. It was also one of the darkest and most sinister forms of black magic in the entire world of Azeroth.
Once a Dark Portal is built in a suitable location, it will be possible to directly communicate between the two worlds. Of course, these are not the most important factors. After all, methods for communicating between different worlds are not exactly commonplace, but they are certainly not rare either.
A sixth-tier powerhouse like Zhang Jiao could even wield a magical artifact and roam the chaotic ocean. He only needed to obtain the coordinates of the target world to directly enter the chaos, find the target world, and finally enter it.
Even a fifth-tier powerhouse, in a group, can wield powerful magical artifacts, traverse the chaotic ocean, and enter the target world.
Therefore, traversing the world is not difficult, nor is it something unattainable. Almost all top-tier families at the state level possess this capability. The difficulty lies in large-scale military traversal of the world.
That's right, it's about large-scale, organized world traversal, which is quite difficult. And that's also where the difficulty lies in conquering other worlds.
After all, the world is never short of intelligent people. The idea of conquering other worlds wasn't something Lin Yang was the first to have.
People have made many attempts to achieve this, but so far, only the problem of individual or small-team time travel has been solved. As for collective time travel, that has not yet been achieved.
"Sigh, there's nothing I can do. You have to understand, I wasn't the only one who experienced the last world. The Taoists of the Way of Peace, and Princess Liu Hao of the Han Dynasty, all experienced that world. And unlike me, they stayed in that world. So, the secret of the Dark Gate won't be preserved for long," Lin Yang said with a wry smile, shaking his head.
The orcs left their homeland and their original world through the Dark Portal, launching a massive invasion of Azeroth. This is evidence of their collective transmigration.
Lin Yang didn't think Liu Hao would be unaware of such crucial information. The Taiping Dao had undoubtedly already begun constructing the Dark Gate. It was simply that no one else knew. Neither the imperial court nor the powerful clans would proactively reveal the news of the Dark Gate to the world.
Of course, perhaps similar things are being done secretly among the powerful families, with everyone scheming against each other. However, this only applies to the top-tier families. At most, only a few top-tier families have this kind of power.
The vast majority of first-rate and second-rate families are willing but unable to seize the opportunity. Lin Yang refused to believe that such a perfect opportunity was lying right in front of them, and they wouldn't take advantage of it.
"So, you're going to reveal the existence of the Dark Gate, while also showcasing items like steam engines and trains?" Guo Jia asked.
In truth, he also felt that the Dark Portal was something Lin Yang couldn't possess. Even if he did manage to acquire it, he couldn't hold onto it, could he? Interdimensional wars—what enormous profits that would generate! A complete world, even if it's just the lowest-level Yellow-rank world, has at least tens of millions of people, doesn't it?
Even ignoring everything else, just the tens of millions of people alone would be a huge sum of money, right?! Add to that all sorts of other things, like achieving enlightenment, becoming the master of the world, and comprehending the principles governing the operation of the entire small world—these are all very useful resources.
Faced with such enormous benefits, the small kingdom of Wu simply couldn't withstand it! And if they actively publicized it, everything would be much better.
"Well, first we need a gimmick, a gimmick that's attractive enough, a legitimate purpose, and a reason that everyone can praise!" Lin Yang said.
Upon hearing this, Guo Jia nodded. Indeed, it wouldn't do to simply say that Wu was lacking in manpower and talent, and urge everyone to come and join them. Therefore, a grand and impressive excuse was crucial.
"Why not use the argument of population explosion and the cycle of order and chaos as our slogans?" Guo Jia's eyes darted around a few times before he came up with a plausible excuse.
"The theory of population explosion and the cycle of order and chaos? Oh, is that the theory I mentioned before?" Lin Yang thought for a moment and said.
"Yes, the amount of arable land in the world is limited. But our population is constantly increasing. The entire Han Dynasty has been free from large-scale wars, diseases, and deaths for ten thousand years. Now, we are almost at the limit of what the world can bear."
“Back then, ten thousand years ago, the population of the Han Dynasty was concentrated in the Central Plains, around Luoyang. As time passed, the entire north was filled with people. Even the grasslands were filled with Han citizens. The Western Regions were also filled with people,” Guo Jia said calmly.
Upon hearing this, Lin Yang continued, "Now, apart from the South, the entire North is incredibly crowded! But how many people can the South alone support? How many years can it last? Eventually, one day, the number of people will exceed the world's limit, and that will be the end for everything."
After a pause, Lin Yang said righteously, "Therefore, in order to save the Han Dynasty and ensure its continued existence for thousands of years, we should take the lead in invading other worlds. Let us use our swords to explore and conquer! Let us use our plows to acquire land!"
What a noble and righteous reason! Lin Yang was a little excited as if it were true.
“That’s good, that’s a good reason. With this reason, the court won’t object. The powerful families won’t object either, and the common people certainly won’t object,” Lin Yang said with a smile.
Suddenly, Lin Yang realized he was becoming increasingly shameless. But shouldn't being shameless be just the bare minimum for a king?
"By the way, let's set the first stop of this roadshow in Lujiang County. We should invite the prominent families from Jingzhou, Jiangdong, and Huainan."
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Chapter Thirty-Nine: The Circle of Teenagers
Xiangyang has held a significant position since ancient times. During the Three Kingdoms period, the kingdoms of Wu and Wei fought fiercely around this city. Later, during the Song Dynasty, the Southern Song relied on Xiangyang to hold out for many years against the Mongols.
Later, the rulers of the Southern Song Dynasty, collectively incompetent, refused to send reinforcements to Xiangyang for several years. Ultimately, their incompetence led to their own downfall. But that's all in the future.
At this time, Xiangyang was a bustling city, a place where people lived and worked in peace and contentment. It had abundant freshwater resources and a highly developed agricultural sector.
This year, in particular, according to the "Encyclopedia of Agriculture," the yield per mu (unit of land area) has seen a bumper harvest after the experiment. Coupled with a relatively small population (compared to the Central Plains), the people's lives are quite comfortable.
Meanwhile, a group of young boys and girls were standing on a high platform, observing the farmers harvesting in the distance.
This platform is very high, several dozen feet high. It is the tallest pavilion within a radius of several dozen miles.
Below the platform lay a manor. Within the manor were numerous exotic flowers and rare herbs, all still fresh and mostly green. They were clearly mutated varieties, belonging to the wealthy and powerful.
Outside the manor stretched endless fields. Rice plants were everywhere, not as tall as a person, but still shoulder-high. Farmers, bending down to harvest, were often submerged in this sea of rice.
"Roadshow, listed company, listing, are they planning to use us as investors to attract investment? This Duke of Wu is truly, truly, truly extraordinary."
The speaker was a boy of about fourteen or fifteen years old. His name was Ma Liang, courtesy name Jichang. Because of the white hair in his eyebrows, he was known as Ma Liang with white eyebrows. He was from Yicheng, Xiangyang, the elder brother of Ma Su, and an official of Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period.
All five brothers of the Ma family were talented and renowned, with Ma Liang being the most outstanding among them. Therefore, he was praised as the best of the five brothers, with white eyebrows being the most excellent. Historically, when Liu Bei served as the governor of Jingzhou, he also recruited Ma Liang as an official in the province.
At this time, Ma Liang's reputation was not as great as it would be in the future, but he had already begun to show his talent. Just like now, the group of friends here are basically the most outstanding talents of this generation in the family.