Demoness, where are you Fleeing to?
Chapter 975 - 805: The Troops are Strong and the Horses are Healthy

Chapter 975: Chapter 805: The Troops are Strong and the Horses are Healthy

This Kunpeng warship left Li Xuan dissatisfied due to its rough workmanship, somewhat reminiscent of the style of the old Russians in a later era.

What satisfied him, however, was that Leng Yurou had realized watertight bulkheads within the hull.

As a result, even if one part of the hull was damaged, it would not affect the rest.

Li Xuan then transformed into a beam of light and thunder, inspecting the twin-barreled electromagnetic guns outside the warship.

Since this warship was mainly used for combat in the high skies and against the Taixu of the Outer Void, these electromagnetic guns could be arranged on both the upper and lower surfaces of the warship.

There were twelve gun turrets on each side, totaling twenty-four twelve-inch caliber electromagnetic guns.

The electromagnetic gun technology of the Shenqi Union had advanced again. The caliber was larger, the muzzle velocity increased, and the electromagnetic projectiles used by these guns were as tall as a person.

"Father Shang, what is this?"

While Li Xuan caressed the barrel of the gun, Yu Youlong asked curiously, like a child full of wonder.

Li Xuan smiled, "This is a twelve-inch electromagnetic gun, the breadwinner that your dad relies on for a living. In the future, if I become rich and earn private money for your mom, it will all depend on this toy."

Yu Youlong hadn’t learned many words and didn’t understand a thing he said; he just giggled above Li Xuan’s head, slapping his head vigorously with his little hands.

"Actually, it’s possible to replace them all with fourteen-inch electromagnetic guns!"

Leng Yurou spoke with some dissatisfaction, "Inside the ship’s body, there is still redundant space for three Solar Furnaces. They can support the Kunpeng warship’s full-speed navigation, with a total of fifty-six fourteen-inch twin-barreled electromagnetic guns, and its power hasn’t been fully tapped yet."

Li Xuan thought to himself that Leng Yurou’s design was good, but he simply didn’t have the money.

According to her plan, this warship would cost three hundred million silver yuan.

Moreover, those Solar Furnaces and the enlarged turrets would also occupy a lot of the ship’s material storage space, making the cost-effectiveness ratio not high.

With that money, he would rather build more Yunzhong warships.

Li Xuan then turned his gaze towards a huge fleet in the distance.

A total of thirty-six Yunzhong warships were hovering about three hundred zhang from the Kunpeng warship.

Some of these warships were still undergoing fitting-out and testing.

Two of them belonged to Master Zhongliu, two to Lord Tushan, and another five to the East Sea Dragon Clan.

The rest belonged to Li Xuan. Because the construction time of the Kunpeng warship was greatly delayed to ten months, he placed an additional order with the Shenqi Union for ten more Yunzhong warships and upgraded the existing ones.

All of these warships, without exception, were fitted with twelve-inch caliber twin-barreled electromagnetic guns.

A hint of headache appeared in Li Xuan’s eyes, "You need to speed up the miniaturization of the Solar Furnaces; otherwise, I won’t be placing any more orders for Yunzhong warships."

These Yunzhong warships required a lot of fuel. Their primary source was a ’Flame Stone’ similar to flammable ice, supplemented with top-grade Spirit Stones and some special materials to aid combustion.

But the output of ’Flame Stone’ had always been low, as it was a byproduct found with well salt in Chuanshu.

There, they dug seven hundred zhang into the earth and accidentally discovered two Flame Stone veins. But the reserves of the Flame Stone deposits were hard to determine and challenging to extract, making them expensive.

In the past two years, Li Xuan also had people searching everywhere, but they only found one Flame Stone vein near the coast of Qiongzhou. And due to its proximity to water, the extraction was even more difficult.

Yet the current output of Flame Stones, could only support these thirty-six Yunzhong warships at most.

Leng Yurou also felt the headache, but how could shrinking the Solar Furnace be simple?

At this moment, among the Shenqi Union, only she and a few master craftsmen from the Mo clan had the capabilities to engage in research and development, but there was no one to follow in their footsteps.

Although the Shenqi Union and the Mo clan had built six technical schools with Li Xuan’s support, based on the factories in Tianjin and Nanjing, it was still uncertain when these people would be of use.

Leng Yurou couldn’t help but click her tongue, "Why don’t you bring over the bones of those nine sons of Dijun? I guarantee they’d be more useful than the Solar Furnaces."

Li Xuan thought to himself that he would like to, but the problem was, their mother and brother were powerful beings from the Outer Void.

Goddess Xihe, although merged with Dari, could still bring her Mana down to the mortal realm; and the Crow Prince Jinwu, despite being quietly influential, had foundations accumulated in secret that were no less than any Emperor according to Lv Qiluo.

"If you can’t figure out how to shrink the volume of the Solar Furnaces, then you’ll have to make an effort in the materials area."

Li Xuan could only shake his head, "Didn’t I bring back many ores before? You research those first; I’ll also try to bring you even more new materials."

After saying this, he carried Yu Youlong on his shoulders and went to the front of the palace.

In that instant, the thousands of Heavenly Soldiers and Generals stationed there all kneeled halfway towards Li Xuan.

"We greet the Emperor!"

This mountainous roar slightly startled Yu Youlong.

But he was a child accustomed to grandeur; during every First Hope Dachao, Yu Hongchang would hold him to attend the court, receiving the worship of thousands of courtiers.

Therefore, such a small scene couldn’t shake him.

He was just curious about these soldiers, towering two zhang tall and radiating dark golden halos, who were a bit different from his family’s guards.

Li Xuan nodded slightly and continued to walk deeper into the palace.

In April this year, Li Xuan had ennobled two more Divine Generals.

One was Zheng He, and the other was Yu Tonghai.

The former had ventured to Nanyang seven times during the Taizong Era, with illustrious renown.

Li Xuan had originally thought that this three-treasure eunuch had died of illness, but in fact, he had gone to the Outer Void.

It was only this year that he chanced upon the news that Zheng He had indeed died of illness. This man, who had made seven voyages to Nanyang, had been involved in fierce naval battles and had clashed with the pirates of Nanyang like Chen Zuyi and several others of the heavenly level multiple times.

Even though Zheng He possessed great talent in Martial Law, he still couldn’t match a few of the great generals under Taizong. During Taizong’s reign, Zheng He’s cultivation had only reached the middle heaven level, and he died overseas due to a sudden eruption of old wounds.

In the locality, many Han people were grateful for his kindness and built temples to worship him, hence the three-treasure eunuch’s True Spirit did not extinguish.

Upon learning of this, Li Xuan traveled thousands of miles to invite him to his own Heavenly Court.

What Li Xuan wanted to rely on was Zheng He’s experience in integrating large-scale fleets. Zheng He, skilled in both letters and arms, took up the role of ’Central Army Judge’ under the title of ’Three-Treasure Divine General’ in the Heavenly Court, assisting Master Zhongliu in military governance, thus bringing order to the Heavenly Court’s army that had swelled to eighty thousand heavenly soldiers.

Military regulations had gradually been established as well.

For instance, the heavenly soldiers guarding the palace gates were all arranged by Zheng He personally.

Yu Tonghai, on the other hand, was the foremost naval general during the Taizu Era, and later historical texts dedicated a separate biography to him.

This man died in the Peach Blossom Dock battlement, not only was he worshipped generation after generation in that locality, but he was also conferred honors by the Grand Temple of Great Jin, so his True Spirit also remained undying.

However, due to his lack of prominence, he had never been elevated to the honor of a Divinity.

After testing the waters once, Li Xuan recruited him and ennobled him as ’Divine General Zhenhai.’

Li Xuan also ennobled some civil officials, considering that his Heavenly Court was in its early days and not large in scale. The faith and incense offerings he controlled still needed to mainly enhance military power.

Thus, Li Xuan only sought some scholars proficient in divination to manage the trivial affairs of the Heavenly Court for him.

Out of them, only one could be deemed a notable chancellor, Li ShanChang from the founding days of Great Jin.

This man was Taizu’s first scholar during the uprising, extraordinarily wise, adept at governance, accompanying him in campaigns, risking life and limb, his meritorious service ranking first.

Taizu once said, ’Compared with Li ShanChang, even Xiao He may not surpass him.’

Unfortunately, Li ShanChang was implicated in the Hu Weiyong conspiracy shortly after the establishment of Great Jin and condemned to death.

The year after he died, Wang Guoyong, Langzhong of the Ministry of Works, presented a memorial stating, ’Even if Li ShanChang had succeeded in helping Hu Weiyong’s rebellion, he would only be the foremost among the meritorious servants, merely a Taishi, a Duke, an ennobled king at most, and marry a princess or a royal consort at most. Could it be better than today?’

Taizu, perhaps feeling guilty, did not punish Wang Guoyong for this statement.

Although Li ShanChang’s entire family was executed, his sons born from Princess Lin’an were spared from the blame.

And the people of Huaiwest, feeling injustice for Li ShanChang, also secretly built temples to worship him.

Because the incense offering was scarce, when Li Xuan found him, Li ShanChang’s True Spirit was already on the verge of dispersal.

With ease, he recruited this sage of governance, on par with Xiao He, into his service, and ennobled him as ’Grand Scholar of Lingguan Hall.’

This man had followed Taizu from the start of his rise, wholly responsible for managing the Jin Army’s funds and provisions, especially adept at optimizing resources.

After Li ShanChang joined Li Xuan’s command, the effects were immediate. The various expenditures of the Heavenly Court were reduced by nearly fifteen percent.

Deeming the weaponry and armor too expensive, he personally got involved with the Shenqi Union, helping Leng Yurou streamline the supply chain. This led to a 300-silver-yuan drop in the manufacturing cost of Black Gold Divine Armor and rifles.

Considering the Ministry of Works’ efficiency too low, Li ShanChang personally took charge. After integration and streamlining, the production of various items there increased by fifty percent.

Li Xuan even managed to hand over many of the Great Jin Dynasty Court’s tedious affairs directly to Li ShanChang, letting him assist in handling them.

The majority of Li ShanChang’s comments on official documents aligned with Li Xuan’s wishes, reducing Li Xuan’s workload by nearly half.

The two female secretaries could thus spend more time on their personal cultivation.

This had pros and cons, the advantage was that it was beneficial for the future of Bilo and Qianqian. The downside was that Li Xuan’s time to meet the two female secretaries greatly diminished.

Just as Li Xuan was thinking about Li ShanChang, he saw an elder in a red official robe with white hair striding over from the opposite direction.

"Your Majesty! You’ve arrived at just the right time. The land records of south Zhili that you asked me to organize have all been sorted out," he said.

Following behind Li ShanChang were several heavenly soldiers serving as guards, each of them carrying a large amount of documents.

At that moment, Li ShanChang’s steps halted as he looked up at Yu Youlong above Li Xuan’s head.

Seeing Yu Youlong, his face etched with lines like carved knife marks, exhibited a complex expression; "Is this the Emperor of Great Jin?" he asked.

Yu Youlong, feeling the old man’s stern gaze, immediately shrank behind Li Xuan: "Father Shang, I’m scared!"

Li ShanChang had already put away the venom and hatred in his eyes, noticing the similarity between Yu Youlong’s and Li Xuan’s features, his lips curled up slightly: "So that’s how it is! The imperial lineage of Great Jin has been overtaken by Your Majesty’s bloodline today; it’s only right. What a pity—"

What a pity it wasn’t the change of dynasties; he thought that if the Jin Dynasty now bore Li Xuan’s surname, it would have been best.