Chapter 7122: Guo Lao

Chapter 7122: Guo Lao
Originally, the reason for holding the wedding of Lady Kou and Lady Huangfu at the end of the year was to allow the major clans to sit down together and have a good chat and summarize their experiences. After all, the major clans are either working hard to develop their own families or trying to undermine the Han Dynasty throughout the year, so it is not easy for them to gather together like this.

Frankly speaking, only Huangfu Song, who lived for more than a decade and whose legacy became increasingly profound, could have such influence.

As for the others, such as Liu Bei and Chen Xi, if there's nothing going on, directly summoning these people would inevitably make them overthink things. Therefore, the Kou family's main hall is a place for these aristocratic families to communicate.

But before they'd even taken a few bites of the meal, all sorts of scheming and sabotage had already begun. Chen Xi was somewhat helpless; these people were so cunning and unpredictable, it was really unpleasant.

Chen Xi knew how things would develop from what Wang Rou had said before. She didn't expect to put pressure on the Wan family, but instead asked several other families with good relations with the Wan family to ask for help from them.

To reiterate, those families that could seek help from the Wan family were all those with deep ties to them. And the powerful families in Central Asia were all influential figures in Chang'an and Luoyang back in the day. In other words, they must have been humiliated by the Xiliang mad dogs led by Dong Zhuo.

One or two families might be fine, but if there are too many, these families will definitely try to persuade the Wan family. After all, there's a limit to helping others. Why risk your life? For the sake of our more than 100-year-old friendship and the fact that you built the Leiji Terrace for us, we don't need you to give us a definite answer. We don't know what you signed with the Congling side, but if that day ever comes and your family can't hold on, just speak up, and we'll at least help you stop the other side.

It seems like he didn't say anything, and even seemed to reassure the Wan family, but in reality, with this statement as a safety net, when things really get dangerous, there's a way out. And when you're risking your life, having a way out makes it less like risking your life.

The three kings did not want to fall out with the Wan family. The two families had no enmity. Even though the Wan family's current position blocked their family's future route to attack the Pamir Mountains, it was not a problem. Blocking them did not harm the three kings at present, but rather brought them more benefits.

Simply preventing the Pamir Mountains from directly spying on us is a huge benefit.

After all, with the Wan family in the way, no matter how unscrupulous the people on the Congling Mountains are, they cannot easily bypass the Wan family to spy on the Three Kings. Under such circumstances, being able to spy on the Three Kings at will means that the people on the Congling Mountains know what the Wan family is doing.

This is impossible to achieve, even if the two sides actually sign a blood oath, even if they are close family friends.

Ultimately, there are some things that cannot be coveted by outsiders within the clan, let alone by other clans.

Even within the same family, there are things the eldest branch doesn't want the second branch to know; this is the true nature of human nature.

The things the three kings kept rambling on about were actually things for the future, not things for the present. It's just that because they've heard it so many times, everyone subconsciously thinks that the three kings are already certain of success, but that's not actually the case.

Even Chen Xi acknowledged the brilliance of this method. Despite not achieving any of the goals, it was like a spring rain, allowing seeds that were originally frozen in the soil to naturally take root and sprout.

That's right. It wasn't that the Wang family used some tricks on Wan Zhen, but rather that it was an innate self-awareness of the noble families. Essentially, if Wan Zhen didn't think about it, this wouldn't be a problem at all, but it's impossible for Wan Zhen not to think about it.

"The timing of the Wang family's arrest was indeed excellent, and they're quite capable," Fa Zheng said with a hint of sarcasm.

"It's all about skill, and the other party didn't go too far," Chen Xi said calmly. He didn't care about this kind of verbal sparring or trying to win people over, and the Wang family certainly had good reason to do so.

"Tsk." Fa Zheng looked at the person opposite him with a hint of sarcasm. He was not born into a humble family, but he still had some dissatisfaction with these truly powerful families. Especially when he stood higher and had a longer-term perspective, his dissatisfaction increased. However, he had no choice but to work with these people to govern the world.

"Let's wait and see. Wan Zhen isn't so easy to deal with." Chen Xi chuckled twice and said, "Xiao Zhi, you need to understand one thing: in this world, besides the means of distributing benefits, there are also means of creating benefits, and Wan Zhen himself is very close to the latter."

Fa Zheng raised an eyebrow upon hearing this. Why was Chen Xi so formidable? Because Chen Xi's methods weren't about redistribution; they were simply about making the pie bigger. In terms of distribution methods, Chen Xi's weren't particularly sophisticated, at least not to the point of leaving people speechless.

In reality, if you observe other families taking the opportunity to curry favor with Chen Xi and see if they can find a loophole to ask for more benefits, you'll realize that Chen Xi's distribution methods and ability to expand the pie are somewhat mismatched.

Wan Zhen had someone bring over the contraption he had recently developed from his car frame. Chen Xi was completely bewildered when he saw it.
"A hydroelectric generator?" Chen Xi got up from his seat, walked over and circled around twice, finally looking at Wan Zhen with a somewhat strange expression and asking.

“Yes, wind power works too. Look, this is a turbine I made.” Wan Zhen didn’t seem to be surprised that Chen Xi recognized what it was. He even pointed to the two things he made that looked like spiral fan blades and explained them to Chen Xi.

"How did you come up with the idea to do this?" Chen Xi looked at Wan Zhen with a strange expression. In terms of difficulty, this thing was basically no longer difficult. The Wang family of Kuaiji had already figured out things like magnetic poles, cutting magnetic field lines, potential differences, etc. Including Li Yuan's creation of the etched plate made of the essence of heaven and earth, electricity generates magnetism, and magnetism generates electricity. They were just one step away from the final step.

However, this final step might take decades. Chen Xi had been ignoring it until Wan Zhen pulled out this thing today, leaving Chen Xi quite bewildered.

"Let me demonstrate for you." Wan Zhen activated the spiral force field to start stirring the turbine, which then caused the rotor to start rotating, cutting the magnetic field lines. Then, what looked like an etched light-emitting panel optimized by Wan Zhen began to emit pure white light.

This scene left Chen Xi speechless. To be honest, Wan Zhen really is a cheater!

"How about it? Not bad, right? This thing is quite interesting, isn't it? What's even more interesting is that I don't actually need to turn it. I can build a dam on a mountain stream and use the water flow as power, so this thing can run indefinitely. Of course, it's only theoretically indefinite. Over time, the materials might not be able to withstand the strain, and turning it too fast will also cause problems. But these can all be solved through subsequent optimizations. Pretty good, right?" Wan Zhen said with a hint of pride.

At this moment, Xiangli Mi, who was squatting in the corner eating and drinking, stopped eating and walked over. Looking at this thing, countless ideas flashed through her mind.

Wang Liang, who also understood electricity and was practically one step away from creating this thing, rushed over and his eyes lit up when he saw the mechanical structure that Wan Zhen had created.

At first, no one present understood what this thing was, but as Wan Zhen operated it, the etched light-emitting panel began to emit pure white light, and the group of people instantly understood what this thing was used for.

Especially the Yong family, who had already started building an underground palace and planned to live there instead of living on the surface, were ecstatic when they saw the pure white light. Wasn't this exactly what the Yong family needed most: to provide light for their underground palace, and even to grow vegetables and provide sunlight for them?

"Is it really that simple?" Wang Liang looked it over carefully and understood how it worked. After all, his family already knew what they needed to know, and they were just one step away from mastering it.

"It's really quite simple. I just pieced together your family's semi-finished product and Madam Zhuge's etched plate of the essence of heaven and earth, and that's how I made this thing," Wan Zhen said calmly. He never thought that he could create something magical from existing materials that was something others couldn't do.

"This thing can not only connect to the etched plate of the essence of heaven and earth, but also provide energy for the electric motor, right?" Xiangli Mi rubbed his hands together like a fly, wishing he could conjure up an electric motor on the spot and let this thing run it. This thing seemed to have solved a problem that the Xiangli clan had been unable to solve before.

The early changes caused problems with etching-related components, which served as a wake-up call for Xiangli. When developing machinery, they opted for compatibility in power supply, using the essence of heaven and earth when available and steam power when not. However, Xiangli Mi immediately recognized that the device Wan Zhen created was compatible with electric motors.

Xianglishi's electric motors are currently its flagship products. Although the electricity used actually comes from the crystallization and etching furnace of the essence of heaven and earth, they are very easy to use.

The relatively high-end large-scale textile industry that Chen Xi is currently developing actually uses electric motors provided by Xianglishi for the power source of its machinery and equipment. Of course, the power source of the electric motors was originally the Tiandi Jingqi etching plate. Later, after the development of a better Tiandi Jingqi crystallization combustion furnace and the achievement of more stable results, this was used as the power source.

Of course, Chen Xi was also worried that the essence of heaven and earth might cause a disturbance and become unstable, so he made relevant designs. Therefore, this kind of large-scale textile industry is mostly located in the Yangtze River region. If that doesn't work, the power source will be water power. If that still doesn't work, then Chen Xi can only manually build a prototype generator and then let others conduct research.

To be honest, Chen Xi doesn't really like the approach of giving answers directly. This can easily discourage researchers and eliminate the trial-and-error process, which is not a good thing for science.

Therefore, Chen Xi knew that electric motors were the best choice at this stage, especially since Li Yuan, that crazy woman, had somehow come up with something like the Heaven and Earth Essence Etching Plate, whose principle Chen Xi couldn't understand, but which could store electricity to a certain extent and release light energy instead of heat energy. Electric motors were definitely a leapfrog technology.

That's right. Li Yuan's Heaven and Earth Essence Etching Plate, logically speaking, converts the Heaven and Earth Essence into electricity through the etching plate, and then the electricity flows through the etching plate to produce light. This is also the origin of the various streetlights in Chang'an for a period of time.

But when you think about it carefully, this thing is actually quite absurd. It doesn't generate heat at all!
This is also why Chen Xi felt there was a big problem from the first time he saw this thing. Because lamps should evolve step by step from incandescent lamps to fluorescent lamps to LED lamps, but Li Yuan produced the final product in the first step.

This is actually quite outrageous, but people in this era are unable to recognize this problem. Although they are amazed and admire streetlights, no one can understand that this thing is actually incredibly amazing.

But it was precisely because of this incredible device that Chen Xi realized it was actually a super black technology that combined energy storage and light energy conversion. Sooner or later, someone would discover just how incredible this thing Li Yuan had created really was.

As a result, no one has been able to develop a generator, so no one has realized how excessive the etched plate that Li Yuan created is as an energy storage component.

Of course, later, when Xianglishi developed the electric motor and used the etched plate as an energy storage element and capacitor, he was somewhat aware that this thing was a bit outrageous. But it is hard for people to imagine things beyond their understanding, so he used it as a normal thing.

However, now that Wan Zhen has developed a real generator, the most important function of the etched plate that Li Yuan created and used as a street lamp will probably be discovered soon.

But it doesn't matter. As long as the things are integrated and pieced together by people of this era, Chen Xi really doesn't care about the explosive technological advancements that have progressed through several stages.

Chen Xi's biggest worry is that if he leads the way in many technologies, then there will be big trouble. The current technology is very good, very good. In the future, large-scale production lines can use electromechanical equipment.

After all, the relevant machinery and equipment already existed, including large textile machinery, large food processing machinery, and large hardware processing machinery. The Han Dynasty already had the relevant reserves, but it needed to wait for the power source to appear.

This is actually quite unbelievable and doesn't conform to the logic of technological development, but the Dongnae Shipyard in Qingzhou developed a series of new machines when building the seventh-generation warships. After optimization and adjustment, these new machines could be converted for civilian use.

This is also why Chen Xi thought that even if the Han Dynasty mechanical researchers, led by Lu Jun, Zheng Hun, and Ma Jun, devoted their entire lives to developing the Seven Generations, they still allocated over 10 billion yuan to the Donglai Shipyard every year.

At the time, Chen Xi wasn't aiming for any seventh-generation warships; he was purely interested in the mechanical equipment that was being developed from time to time in preparation for those warships. Back then, Chen Xi didn't treat Donglai Shipyard as a shipyard, but rather as an industrial park for the development and production of advanced mechanical equipment.

Who would have thought that this group of people would actually build the seventh-generation warship? To be honest, Chen Xi felt a little regretful when it was built. But this was a battleship-level thing. What did it mean to be able to build it?
Remember when the Soviet Union collapsed while building its aircraft carrier? Looking at the half-finished carrier, someone asked Makarov how he could finish building the Varyag, which was only half-built when the Soviet Union collapsed. Makarov replied: "I need the Soviet Union, the Central Committee of the Communist Party, the State Planning Committee, the Military-Industrial Committee and nine defense industry ministries, 600 related specialties, and 8000 supporting manufacturers. In short, I need a great country to complete it."

If other things are created by industry, then for the top-tier shipbuilding industry, it is the shipbuilding industry that forcibly pulls industrial products to develop towards the required level.

Therefore, large-scale construction projects can drive the comprehensive improvement of a country's industrial products. Even if the final product is not built, many by-products are still very valuable industrial masterpieces.

For example, ultra-large hydraulic presses, gantry cranes, portal cranes, and folding boom cranes, etc., can be used not only in the shipbuilding industry, but also in other fields.

The seventh-generation warships built by the Han Dynasty were indeed not as extravagant in terms of scale as those of later generations, nor were the manpower and resources required. Of course, the technology that could be developed to support these warships was certainly not as advanced as the large-scale construction of later generations. However, in this era, the new technologies developed to build these things, along with the accompanying blueprints written on paper, could fill several warehouses.

That's right. The shipbuilding blueprints are stored in several warehouses, and the new technologies developed are also written on the blueprints and stored in several warehouses.

The main reason why the Han Dynasty has been slow in developing the secret techniques of the essence of heaven and earth in recent years is that Chen Xi has focused his energy on the technical blueprints in these warehouses. He has thoroughly mastered these things, which are enough to piece together a rudimentary industrial system. Sometimes Chen Xi wonders how these people managed to integrate these technologies; it's simply outrageous.

Incidentally, Chen Xi privately asked Lu Jun how he made some obviously outrageous devices, because some of these things were simply oddly shaped parts that were basically impossible to make under normal circumstances.

Then Lu Jun said that this thing was easy to make. He sent it to a family that made bronze tripods, and they took care of it. Anyway, no matter what shape it was, as long as you gave them the requirements and a blueprint, they would make it for you.

Chen Xi was speechless. Which family's technology was so outrageous? So he found the family Lu Jun had mentioned and had them create an asymmetrical internal spiral structure. The next day, they produced the mold for making the thing.

After careful investigation, Chen Xi finally understood why history students were complaining. The Central Plains region, around the time of the Western Zhou Dynasty, actually possessed the foundation for manufacturing mechanical assembly lines and all weapon parts before World War II. The only problem was that no one could gather all these technologies together, nor could anyone piece them together.

They could only slowly suffocate.

The last point is actually true. Mechanical casting of structural components was already fully mastered by the late Shang to Western Zhou dynasties. Aerospace-grade, irregularly shaped mechanical casting was also developed around that time. The only difference from modern methods is material strength, but the technological path was indeed the same. In other words, if a time traveler were to inhabit the body of a nobleman during that period, integrate the existing technology, and possess gun parts blueprints, they could indeed manufacture bronze post-World War II firearms. It's simply absurd.