Fortunately, there was Lu Qing's husband, Xu Xie, the leader of the Mohist school. He had spent three years studying the design blueprints for a hydroelectric power station and managed to create electricity for his office. However, that little bit of electricity could only power the station for half an hour, yet it required hundreds of waterwheels to turn.
It was through this small unlocking process that Xu Xie discovered that increasing water pressure could extend the battery's lifespan.
It was at this moment that Si Xitong saw electricity for the first time.
Xie Lanzhi said, "We can get rid of kerosene lamps from now on."
Si Xitong asked with a face full of curiosity, "Lanzhi, I heard that the lights over there seem to be able to turn into all sorts of colors, which is dazzling."
Xie Lanzhi said, "Indeed, you can see it just by changing the color of the light bulb."
Since Anluo Kingdom brought many raw materials and technologies to the Western Jin Dynasty in order to enter the market, such as glass and Western clocks and many other exquisite items.
Because the Western Jin emperor loved novelties from abroad, the merchants in the country kept expanding overseas, and in just ten years they thoroughly understood the system, customs, and traditions of Anluo.
The people of the Western Jin Dynasty who ventured abroad became even more patriotic. If they encountered something that their homeland lacked, they would do everything in their power to bring it back for research.
Through these people, many technologies in the Western Jin Dynasty accumulated to a rudimentary form.
For example, when the Kingdom of Anlu sent a bell, many ministers were so angry that they detained Anlu's warships, forcing Anlu to send a prince to persuade them to lift the ban.
Later, the Kingdom of Anluo dared not be arrogant and disrespectful. They would thoroughly study all the traditional customs and etiquette of the Western Jin Dynasty before sending gifts. Over time, the Kingdom of Anluo established academies specifically for understanding the Western Jin Dynasty.
Si Xitong also opened a marine college, specifically to send exchange students to study there.
Xu Xie had been silent like a mute ever since he arrived in the Western Jin Dynasty. He had pretended to be mute for a total of half a year before fleeing from the Northern Hu and Xiongnu to Tianjing, and he almost lost his ability to speak.
His daughter, Qianqian, has already sailed a warship to visit Anluo. As a father, he naturally doesn't want to fall behind, so he put all his effort into researching how to install a light on his daughter's warship.
Today, Xie Lanzhi broadened Xu Xie's horizons again, telling him about the technologies she had seen in modern times in the form of stories.
Xu Xie was always quite surprised after hearing this, but he didn't ask any further questions. The two tacitly received useful information from each other.
After completing the handover today, Xie Lanzhi returned to the palace with Little Phoenix in a happy mood.
Seeing that she was particularly happy, Si Xitong didn't say anything.
Back at the palace, Si Xitong heard that something had happened at the Golden Palace, so she had to go and deal with it first.
Before leaving, she promised, "I'll go back for lunch today."
Xie Lanzhi released her hand: "Those pedantic ministers of the past either followed in your footsteps and kept pace with the times, or they were eliminated by you. The ministers who remained after ten years are now the backbone of the Western Jin Dynasty."
“I think you don’t need to be in such a hurry. No matter how many flaws you discover in the present era, as long as the system hasn’t reached the point of being unsustainable, you shouldn’t try to change it easily.”
Her tone gradually became serious: "Being too ahead of its time will only lead to misunderstanding and even resistance."
"This goes against the open future we dream of. We just need to lay a good foundation, and then let future generations build on it. This is what we should be doing right now!"
“We make them struggle in adversity from the start, and then force them to go through countless hardships and suffer heavy losses before they can seize a chance to turn their lives around.”
We must all avoid such a future!
Si Xitong looked at her deeply, and finally stood on tiptoe, tilting her head back to peck Xie Lanzhi with her lips: "It's good that you're here to stop me in time and prevent me from being too ambitious."
She boarded the palanquin and was carried on the shoulders of a group of people to the Golden Palace.
Xie Lanzhi was filled with relief. She turned and went back to Lanzhang Palace to have the imperial chef prepare lunch. Meanwhile, Xiao Xiu had already left the palace to get married. She married Xie Ergou, a guard at Jianzhang Palace.
Grandma Xie also retired early and returned to the southern region to enjoy her children and grandchildren. Qianqian also went to sea and has not returned for two years.
Lu Qing and Xu Xie are together every day, and the couple is quite sweet together.
Only Si Xinian and Xie Shangguang's marriage has been repeatedly mentioned by their elders, but unfortunately, neither of them seems enthusiastic about marriage.
Si Xinian was clearly more interested in raising pigs and growing potatoes. Ever since potatoes were discovered in the Western Jin Dynasty, Si Xinian had been specifically taking them to barren places to plant. Later, he discovered black soil in foreign lands, but unfortunately it was permafrost. If it had happened ten years earlier, perhaps the Western Jin Dynasty would still have been helpless against permafrost. Now, the Ministry of Agriculture had evolved to the point that even greenhouse vegetables were no problem.
So last year, Si Xinian led half of the agricultural officials to the black soil region of the outer lands, and it is said that the development there is going well.
Then there's Xie Shangguang, who was supposed to return to the Southern Region to get married. Before even seeing his bride, he fled back to Tianjing, packed his bags, and headed straight to the Outer Regions. He said he was going to plant potatoes for Xie Zhusi Qi Nian.
They had already developed a tacit understanding during the time they were growing sweet potatoes and raising pigs. He used the excuse that Si Xinian couldn't live without him.
As a result, Xie Shangguang was deliberately tricked into going to the outer sea by Si Xinian as soon as he arrived in the foreign lands. Xie Shangguang traveled abroad for three months and brought back a handsome Western man. It is said that the handsome man was always sticking to Xie Shangguang and wanted to pursue him.
Xie Shangguang had never seen such a scene before, and he immediately fled back to the Southern Region. In the end, it was Si Xinian who managed to get rid of the handsome Western man. Seeing how miserable Xie Shangguang was, he allowed him to stay in the outer region. However, he could not step out of his sight, otherwise he would not be responsible for any accidents that might happen.
It has only been five years since the outer regions submitted to the Western Jin Dynasty, and there is still much unrest. There are also many savages in the outer regions who are unwilling to submit to agriculture and cause trouble every day.
Xie Shangguang also found something to do: suppressing bandits in the outer regions. One person planted potatoes, and the other guarded him; they worked together quite well.
The Si clan in the court once asked Si Xi Nian whether he wanted to have an heir, but Si Xi Tong dismissed him.
After that, the Si imperial family rarely appeared before Si Xitong. The imperial children were no longer as carefree as they had been ten years prior; each family was required to send one person to serve the Western Jin Dynasty, or they would lose their imperial status. As a result, the Si family became a major force in the academy.
Xie Guang, Xie Ji, Xie Xia, and others were all doing well. The Xie clan in the north had taken root and flourished over the past ten years.
Xie Lanzhi remarked that everyone had a happy ending, except for Li Li.
Lunch was ready. Xie Lanzhi had been waiting for an hour and was getting a little hungry.
She had no choice but to set aside some meat to stave off her hunger, and to her surprise, the mutton and beef tasted even better than usual. Perhaps it was because she was hungry. Before she knew it, she had eaten an extra plateful.
The newly arrived palace maid stood anxiously beside Xie Lanzhi, wanting to remind her that eating less meat was bad for her health.
Just as Xie Lanzhi was devouring the meat, someone placed a plate of bok choy in front of her as soon as she opened her mouth.
Xie Lanzhi naturally frowned at anything green, and she pushed it away, saying, "I don't want to eat vegetables today, so take it away from me right now."
This was the only thing she insisted on when she came into this world. Having finally gained a healthy body, she was determined to eat meat until she vomited.
The palace maid trembled and whispered, "But the physician said with great distress that you haven't urinated for three days..." "Your health is paramount."
"Get out, get out." Just as she put down her chopsticks, picked up a plate of meat, took a bite of a chicken leg in one hand and a bite of a goose leg in the other, the palace maid retreated in a panic.
Suddenly, a pale white hand pinched a piece of vegetable bun and stuffed it into her mouth.
"How dare you!" Xie Lanzhi said fiercely.
Upon seeing Si Xitong returning from court, she immediately swallowed the vegetable bun with a "gulp": "Little, little wife, the dishes you make yourself are always delicious."
Looking at the boiled vegetables on the plate, Si Xitong smiled and said, "I'm glad Lanzhi likes them. For the next month, I will personally cook them for you."
Xie Lanzhi's face immediately turned pale: "This, wife, there's no need..."
Si Xitong glared at him sideways, then laughed and said, "I didn't hear you clearly just now. Did you say something?"
Xie Lanzhi immediately backed down: "I said I love Chinese cabbage."
The guards and palace maids stationed at Lanzhang Palace all lowered their heads and smiled, feeling a sense of warmth at their masters' daily routine.
Today is another beautiful day.
Many years later, the Western Jin Dynasty welcomed its second emperor, Si Fengyao, a cousin of Emperor Wu of Jin. He was the son of Prince Luping and Xie Cuicui.
The Western Jin Dynasty officially began the Tianyuan era, marking another prosperous period following the reign of Emperor Zhao of Jin.
This was the most outstanding descendant chosen by Si Xitong from among the many members of the Si clan. Si Fengyao came from a private school from a young age, not because he couldn't afford to attend a noble school. Rather, it was because Lu Qianqian, known as Lu Ban (a legendary carpenter), opened a private school. He concealed his identity and entered the private school, mingling with the poor students. After experiencing promotions and demotions, it took him a full twenty years to become the Director of General Affairs of the Customs Department.
It wasn't until he was twenty-one that his colleagues and superiors learned he was a member of the royal family and, moreover, the next emperor.
Over the years, Si Fengyao has climbed up from the grassroots level, accumulating a considerable network of connections and experience, which has exposed the hidden problems beneath the glorious prosperity of the Western Jin Dynasty over the past thirty years.
That is land annexation and the increasingly intense class conflict. Although this exists all over the world, and the world is still ruled by emperors and aristocratic families, sooner or later these unambitious aristocratic families and royal families will be overthrown.
To prevent the Western Jin Dynasty from being shaken by class differences, Si Fengyao took the initiative to establish the Bureau of Land Administration and, within three years of ascending the throne, brought the entire court to a state of turmoil.
There were signs of decline at one point. In particular, in the four Southeast Asian countries, Si Xitong allowed Si Fengyao to take action against the Gongsun family.
Xie Lanzhi knew about this but did not stop it, and neither did Si Xitong.
They had already abandoned everything from the Western Jin Dynasty and boarded a warship that had been equipped with electric lights to set sail.
As captains, Xie Lanzhi and Si Xitong sat in the cockpit drinking coconut juice and eating grilled fish, then directed the crew to change course and travel to the four Southeast Asian countries.
Next came the Kingdom of Anluo. Another major news event shook the world: the Kingdom of Dixi, overthrown by peasants due to internal strife, announced its dissolution yesterday. Taking advantage of this, the Great Kingdom of Anluo invaded Dixi, annexing it as one of its states. Furthermore, it carried out a large-scale purge of the Jin people within Dixi.
The people of Jin were once persecuted. Later, Jin warships sailed beyond the first island chain and bombarded an illegally garrisoned island of Anluo for a day and a night. Anluo's garrison withdrew from the vicinity of the four Nanyang kingdoms, daring not to advance further. On the same day, the four Nanyang kingdoms invited the Jin navy to establish a presence there, offering to become autonomous prefectures of the Jin, but Si Fengyao refused. This was because Si Fengyao pursued a policy of non-expansion and maintaining hegemony.
Because of the fear of the power of the Western Jin Dynasty, Emperor George II of Anluo was forced to formally announce the release of the Jin people and the return of all their property in the capital.
Since then, the Jin people have become the only force that the powerful Anluo Kingdom dares not invade overseas!
—End of article.
A note from the author:
Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants with nutrient solution between 16:37:52 on March 9, 2022 and 17:25:52 on March 10, 2022!
Thank you to the little angel who threw the landmine: Xiao Moqing An (1);
Thank you to the little angels who watered the nutrient solution: Jiuyan and Lu Cong Jinyebai (5 bottles each); slowly and Qizong (1 bottle each);
Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!
Chapter 238 Xie Ying
The cold place was shrouded in darkness.
No one expected that a high fever would drag her into an abyss of desolation. It was initially thought that she was trapped by those "not innocent" wronged souls and could not wake up.
She was shaken awake after hearing a bell ringing. What she saw was not her father's ugly, grotesque face, but the head matriarch.
She saw the matriarch at the entrance of the ancestral hall repeatedly talking to herself for someone's sake.
Perhaps the matriarch had already realized that the person wasn't her, and the old woman could only go along with the mistake.
Today, the old woman started nagging again: "No matter who it is, dust to dust, people go home, don't wander around on the road."
Xie Ying smiled almost imperceptibly.
Foolish old woman. She actually believed in superstition.
Even when she was possessed, she had never mocked him like this. Xie Ying crossed her arms and leaned against the entrance of the ancestral hall, quietly watching the matriarch hypnotize herself for a long time before finally drawing her knife.
The matriarch seemed unable to bring herself to do it. The chicken kept dodging, managing to escape slaughter each time, as if it were incredibly agile.
Looking at how firmly the matriarch was holding the chicken's wings, it was clear that she wasn't so old and blind that she couldn't kill a chicken.
She hesitated.
Xie Ying walked to the head matriarch's side, the sound of chains rattling. The chains were tightly bound to her, as if afraid she would run away.
While the matriarch was still hesitating, Xie Ying squatted down and smiled disdainfully: "Old woman, even now you're still putting on a show that nobody wants to watch. Didn't you choose her long ago?"