Chapter 212: The City of Technology
The only rest Jin Sui had for the entire month of February was attending Hei Hu and Bai Baozhu’s wedding.
Hei Hu finally got his wish and brought his wife home.
Originally, everyone was in low spirits due to the Wei Assistant Secretary’s matter, so Hei Hu said they wouldn’t have a big wedding.
But Jin Sui felt that one thing was separate from another; we will avenge the Wei Assistant Secretary, but a brother’s wedding should still be held properly, and Miss Bai should not be wronged.
You must know that when Hei Hu went to the Northern Frontier, Miss Bai was an unmarried woman wearing a married woman’s attire, determined that if Hei Hu returned, she would live as a widow waiting for him for the rest of her life.
Such a good girl deserves a grand wedding.
Moreover, the border city also needed a joyous occasion to focus on. The last joyous occasion was inviting the Yandi gentry to Li Da Wu Qiong City to attend the naming ceremony of our new city.
Of course, it was mainly to receive gifts. Although the ceremony was grand and many gifts were received, everyone was attracted by the Northern Frontier trade, and as soon as the banquet ended, the discussion turned to trade.
Although we also sold a lot of machinery, especially spinning machines, we received three thousand units that day alone.
Jin Sui quietly told Yan Jiu to only focus on the wool and rabbit wool textile business and not invest too much in silk, hemp, and cotton.
Because so many gentry families ordering spinning machines meant that in the coming months, a large amount of fabric would flood the market, and prices would definitely be suppressed, making it unprofitable.
We’ll just focus on high-end, exquisite products. With Princess Tuoya here, there’s no fear of not being able to sell them.
In short, this grand event was empty and busy. The brothers of the Black Feather Camp only felt tired, not joyful.
So we needed Hei Hu’s wedding to liven things up. This time, no outsiders were invited, only those from the border city and the Yan Clan.
Yan Shiyi, who clearly belonged to the bride’s relatives, insisted on coming to Hei Hu’s side as a guest, claiming the army’s communal meals were delicious, and he wanted to get Han Xing drunk!
It was obvious that he already knew that Miss Yan liked Han Xing. Before, he respected Han Xing, but now he found him displeasing in every way.
Han Xing naturally refused. After the ceremony, the groom hadn’t even been drunk under the table, and the two of them were the first to pass out.
Jin Sui had people take Yan Shiyi and Han Xing to the same room to sober up. They needed to cultivate their relationship. It wouldn’t do for Yan Turtle to trouble Han Xing every day before Miss Yan got married.
Jin Sui drank the wedding wine, ate a quick meal, and went with Chen Yunniang, Yingniang, and a group of female guests to the bridal chamber to see Baozhu.
The little girl had clearly grown into a young lady, still with a round face and round eyes. When she smiled, she had a blessed look, and she and Hei Hu were so well-matched.
Then she instructed Gu Changxiao to look after Grandpa and Jin An, not to let Grandpa drink too much, not to let Jin An and Li Linfeng run around outside too late, and to be careful not to burn their hands with firecrackers.
Gu Changxiao, a dignified feudal king of the borderlands, transformed into a devoted husband. He took care of the elders, watched over the young ones, and all the while, he grabbed Jin Sui and asked, “Where are you going, Sui Sui?”
Jin Sui rolled up her sleeves and said, “The laboratory!” Gunpowder was in a critical stage of experimentation, and she had also completed the separation of petroleum in her space, even isolating chemical drug components.
Soon, our border city’s street lamps would use kerosene! Then the entire city would be brightly lit day and night, with no curfew.
Gu Changxiao felt ashamed and guilty. With Sui Sui working so hard, how could he be drinking here? He sent Grandpa Ling and Jin An home and went to the workshop that very night to look at catapult data.
Then he saw that Cheng Yu was also there.
When the superiors set an example, and the superiors were all busy beyond measure, how could the subordinates dare to be lazy?
Even Hei Hu only took three days of wedding leave before rejoining the team to train new recruits. Han Xing told him to stay home for a few more days, but he laughed, saying he had already accompanied Baozhu for the return visit, and at home, he would just be eating and feeling lazy.
It was better to train new recruits; he felt more energetic.
Yan Shiyi felt unworthy of staying in the border city. No matter who he looked for, they were all busy, making him seem very idle.
Because of the hot pot franchise plan proposed by Jin Sui, the first person he approached was Jin Zilin, and he also asked Jin Zilin to invest in the academy.
So he invited Jin Zilin to stay in the border city for a few days, accompanying him to look around. At the very least, he needed to know where the academy would be built and its scale before Jin Zilin would dare to invest money!
Jin Zilin came with his polo team, expecting to play for a whole month like last autumn.
To his surprise, no one in the border city was playing at all. Coming specifically for leisure and entertainment made him feel particularly out of place. There were quite a few gentry youths, but they all had tasks, responsible for Northern Frontier trade.
Jin Zilin looked at the border city people who seemed to be on steroids and whispered to Yan Shiyi, “Do you feel itchy all over? Do you feel useless here?”
Yan Shiyi slapped his thigh and said, “Exactly! It’s not just me who feels this way!
I’m telling you, this symptom disappears once you leave the border city. As soon as you arrive here, your blood seems to boil, and if you don’t do anything, you feel like a waste.”
Jin Zilin quickly had his team members change out of their team uniforms into guard uniforms. The two of them first went to see the academy and then saw Grandpa Ling, with white hair, supervising the work.
Jin Zilin was almost moved to tears: “Even the elderly in the border city are working so hard?”
Yan Shiyi pointed to the children training over there, all boys around Jin An’s age. Hei Hu took out an hour each day to train them.
Jin Zilin’s eyes widened: “Children can also join the army?”
Yan Shiyi shook his head: “No! But martial arts training must start from childhood. If they train their bodies well and join the army when they reach the age, they will be strong soldiers!”
The plump Jin Zilin shyly tucked his head in and asked Yan Shiyi, “How can you bear to stay in the border city long-term? Doesn’t it bother you?”
Yan Shiyi exaggeratedly said, “You’ll understand after staying a few more days! It’s hard to say what’s so good about this border city, but you just want to come. It feels more interesting than going to a brothel.”
“By the way, what about the brothels? I haven’t visited the brothels in the border city yet!”
Yan Shiyi quickly tried to cover his mouth: “Be careful Miss Ji hears you, she’ll beat you up! There are no brothels in the border city, no gambling dens, and gambling is only allowed during polo matches.
Let’s get down to business first. What do you think of this academy? For fifty thousand taels of silver, you can hold a position in the academy. I fought hard to get this spot for you. If you hesitate, Miss Ji will immediately find someone else.”
Jin Zilin stared with his small eyes. Although his eyes were small, they were quite spirited.
“My father always said I was neither good at academics nor martial arts. He sent me to study at an academy in Chang’an, but the rules there were too many, and the teachers were too annoying. I ran away after half a year of study, and for this, my father scolds me hundreds of times every year.
Haha, if he knew I wasn’t studying but became an academy steward, his expression would surely be very interesting!
Just to see my father’s surprised expression, this fifty thousand taels of silver is worth spending!”
Yan Shiyi remained silent. Fortunately, your father only has you as a son. If it were like your family, and you had a brother, he would have broken your legs long ago.
Thinking about it, it’s really a good thing that Eldest Brother didn’t break my legs before!
Hearing that Jin Zilin came with silver, Grandpa Ling was extremely hospitable! He took him to eat Central Plains Hodgepodge and didn’t let him stay at an inn, but directly at the Ji Clan’s residence.
Yan Shiyi felt very wronged, “You never treated me like this.”
The next day, he learned the reason: Grandpa Ling had actually tricked Jin Zilin into investing ten thousand taels of silver in the Taoist Temple as well.
Yan Shiyi quickly said he wanted to invest too, but Grandpa Ling refused.
It wasn’t until he repeatedly asked for the reason that Grandpa Ling looked at him with the expression of someone looking at a ‘foolishly obedient’ person:
“We’re not exactly family, but we’re at least relatives and friends. How could Grandpa cheat you out of your silver! This kid is different. Would his father dare to come back and ask for it?”
These words pleased Yan Shiyi, and he immediately declared that if Grandpa needed more rich young masters who were foolish and had a lot of money, he could bring a few more, guaranteeing that Grandpa would trick them into investing in the Taoist Temple.
Jin Sui had no idea about this matter. It wasn’t until two years later, when a group of Yandi young masters organized a trip to the Northern Frontier to open Taoist Temples, that she learned Grandpa had already combined the Taoist Temples with commerce and turned it into a business.
I don’t know whether to praise my Grandpa for his devotion to immortals or to money! But if we’re talking about which Taoist Temple saved the most people, Grandpa’s Taoist Temple would definitely be number one!
Later, the Han Slaves of the Northern Frontier gained their freedom, thanks in part to Grandpa’s Taoist Temple.
Continuing with Jin Zilin’s trip to the border city, after staying for seven days, he finally understood what Yan Shiyi meant. He couldn’t say what was so good about it, but once he came, he didn’t want to leave.
He took a group of bodyguards to the construction site to watch them build houses, and he could watch for a whole day.
Men seemed to be naturally fascinated by heavy machinery, with their huge pulleys, tamping machines, and siege ladders… Some of these, which should have been used on the battlefield, were used for city construction in the border city.
Jin Zilin wanted to buy a few to take home and impress his family, but when he inquired, they weren’t selling. Heavy machinery wasn’t for sale, but tools like spinning machines, basket carts, water wheels, curved-shaft plows, and four-wheeled carriages could be purchased.
However, the large machinery for city construction was not for sale! This was because it involved military use and was considered classified information.
Soon, Jin Zilin met a group of gentry youths who had come to watch the construction site. They were old acquaintances, met through playing polo.
Taking advantage of the Northern Frontier trade, they had all come from their homes to the border city to play. The current border city was like a brand new city of technology for these young noblemen.
When Jin Sui heard about this, she took the opportunity to bring out the hot air balloon. It cost one hundred taels of silver to fly once, without releasing the rope, just tethered by a rope, flying to a height of a hundred meters for half an hour each time.
The gentry youths lined up waiting to fly! The feat of flying, yearned for by people for thousands of years, was so easily achieved in the border city.
For one hundred taels of silver, one could fly once!
Jin Sui hadn’t found the fire-resistant cotton needed to make hot air balloons yet, only using materials from her space. There was only one, and it couldn’t be mass-produced for transportation.
She said to Cheng Yu, “Let these prodigal sons play. Let them play for a month, and we’ll have our startup capital. Then we can look for fire-resistant cloth and mass-produce hot air balloons for transportation.”
Cheng Yu smiled and said, “Leader Ji’s plan is excellent. The Yandi young nobles come for entertainment, and we’ll have enough money to build workshops.”
Jin Sui smiled and said, “In the future, we’ll make it a special attraction of our border city. In spring, we’ll enjoy the scenery by hot air balloon, in summer, we’ll escape the heat and play in the mountain streams, in autumn, we’ll go hunting in the borderlands and play polo, and in winter, we’ll play in the snow.
We’ll make these prodigal sons open their wallets all year round.”
The funny thing was, the hot air balloon’s takeoff point was in the borderlands. On clear days, it could be seen from afar. The people of the border city had gotten used to it, knowing that our border city had a flying artifact.
The army knew it very well; Leader Ji and the Prince had flown out from the Northern Frontier Royal Court.
However, the herdsmen in the borderlands didn’t know. No matter how many times they saw it, as soon as they saw a hot air balloon ascend, they would immediately kneel down and pray.
The prodigal sons, enjoying the scenery with telescopes, saw this situation, which greatly satisfied their vanity. Their games became more varied, scattering lucky money and candies from their space, or scattering poems, saying they wanted to see how far they could fly.
Some even wanted to bribe workers with money to cut the ropes and see if they could fly out of Yandi.
Unfortunately, the workers were all Black Feather Camp soldiers, and they were completely incorruptible. Others proposed to buy hot air balloons, no matter how much silver it cost!
Cheng Yu had to say that there were not enough materials now, and they would only open for external sales in a couple of years when there were more materials.
Hearing this, Yan Shiyi wanted to cry. His wallet was just empty; otherwise, he would immediately invest in the hot air balloon business.
In short, this March was very lively in the border city. The more lively the city was, the more steadfast the refugees’ spirits became, and the stronger their sense of belonging to the border city grew.
They hadn’t expected that the military officers here wouldn’t beat people, that the officials here wouldn’t levy exorbitant taxes, that they wouldn’t have to do forced labor, that the gentry here wouldn’t occupy good farmland, and even the young masters on the streets had changed.
They didn’t have to kneel when they saw them. It seemed like people here weren’t divided into ranks…
Following this, the Chang’an Imperial Examination gathered scholars from all over the world in Chang’an, which was Prince Yu’s time to shine. However, the Northern Frontier envoy had not yet left the capital.
The Empress’s collusion with the Left Wise King was once again brought to the forefront for discussion. There were tens of thousands of scholars in the city! The heated discussion could not be stopped for a moment.
It was the same in the Imperial Court. Prince Yu was urged to thoroughly investigate the “treason case” and give the Northern Frontier envoy an explanation, and to quickly send them away from the capital so as not to delay the Imperial Examination.
Prince Yu knew it was time to cut ties with his mother Empress. If he didn’t, he would truly be dragged down by the Empress.
Now, all that was left was for the Emperor to pass away, and he, as the Crown Prince, would be the people’s choice. But with the Empress’s dark history of colluding with the Left Wise King, and so much evidence before their eyes, even his bloodline might be questioned.
He immediately went to Duke Shen to discuss: “Dealing with King Li can only be put aside for now. We must send the Northern Frontier envoy away as soon as possible.”
“As for the Empress, let her pray for the country!”
After all, she was a blood relative, and he couldn’t bear to kill her. If she were imprisoned in the Imperial Palace, given the Empress’s temperament, she would still cause trouble.
Ultimately, the Empress was stripped of her title and sent to a national temple to pray.
The Northern Frontier envoy was not satisfied. This time, Duke Shen personally intervened, stating that deposing the Empress was the greatest sincerity. If the Northern Frontier was still not satisfied, then they would go to war!
He told them to go back and ask King Batel if he wanted to go to war with Great Xia.
The Northern Frontier envoy left the capital. The Imperial Court and the scholars were satisfied, only the Empress, like a madwoman, questioned Prince Yu why he treated her like this.
She was his own mother!
Prince Yu did not answer, watching the Empress being escorted onto a carriage and sent to the national temple.
At this moment, he felt that there was no longer any dark cloud suppressing him. The world was under his control. As soon as the Emperor closed his eyes, he would be the ruler of the nation!
He even felt that Gu Changxiao was not a threat. With tens of thousands of refugees as a burden, what could he possibly achieve?
Gu Changxiao heard about the events in Chang’an and said nothing. It was already difficult for the Northern Frontier envoy to be delayed for so long. Deposing the Empress damaged Prince Yu’s reputation and alienated the Chang’an gentry. This move was considered half successful.
Next, they would wait for the Imperial Examination to conclude, and then the border city would widely recruit talented individuals. Gu Changxiao instructed Huo Zi’an to continue lying low in Chang’an and await new tasks after the Imperial Examination.
No one noticed that since Prince Yu had people suppress or dismiss capable generals at the Northwest Borderlands last year, the Hu people had sensed the weakness of the Northwest Borderlands.
A catastrophe targeting Chang’an was about to begin.
