The Martial World, Great Zou Dynasty, Imperial Court Hall.
Emperor Qingyan was roaring with fury:
"Disaster relief, disaster relief, you only know to ask朕 for silver to relieve disasters. What is the situation in the world now? Do you think朕 is blind and deaf, knowing nothing?
The empire has thirty-six states, twenty-four of which are suffering from drought, flood, earthquake, or plague. Of the remaining twelve states, several have continuous unrest and rebellion. What can we use for disaster relief? If朕 sold all your families, and dug up the bones in your ancestral graves to press oil and sell, it would still be a drop in the bucket.
From now on,朕 does not want to hear the words 'disaster relief' again. Drag them out and behead them! What朕 is doing is a great undertaking unprecedented in history. What's wrong with the common people suffering a little? Do you officials need to pretend to be saints, pretending to be compassionate?"
"Usurper! Usurper!"
"The common people of the world are suffering this calamity, is it not all because you used forbidden arts? For your own longevity, now the heavens are angry and the people are resentful. Usurper, you will surely die a terrible death!"
"When heaven unleashes its wrath, demons and monsters will arise. Usurper, in time, you will be infamous for eternity, a ruler of a fallen nation!"
In a short while, a few officials who were still roaring with anger had their tongues ripped out and were dragged out of the palace to be beheaded. A voice from the hall declared that their bodies were to be fed to the dogs, destined to die without a burial place and without a complete corpse.
As for the rest who did not have time to speak in agreement.
Who dared to say anything more?
Ultimately, more people cherished their lives. Few were willing to die generously in the face of death. Moreover, even if they were willing to die themselves, they could not disregard their parents, wives, children, and families. Thus, they could only remain silent.
After a long while, Emperor Qingyan's fury subsided somewhat:
"Director of the Celestial Observation Bureau, what is the current situation of the two realms' integration? When will the stable large-scale spatial通道 be constructed? Have the explorers who went to the alien world through the recently discovered micro-spatial通道 returned? Have they brought back any intelligence from the alien world?
Report any news quickly.
朕 said last time, I will only give you half a month. Now the time has come. If there are no results,朕 will offer all of you as sacrifices to heaven. Speak quickly!"
Upon hearing this, the Director of the Celestial Observation Bureau, who had been kneeling below, felt his legs turn to jelly as he stood up. After respectfully bowing, he hurriedly searched his mind for all the information he could recall.
He found everything in his mind and replied:
"Reporting to Your Majesty, the two realms have begun preliminary integration, and various micro-spatial通道 are also gradually increasing. The number discovered so far has exceeded sixty. If there are no accidents, and with the concerted efforts of the Celestial Observation Bureau, the first large-scale通道 should be successfully opened in half a year, and we can officially begin attacking the other side.
As for the scouts who went to the other world through the micro-spatial通道, seventeen died shortly after entering, and it is unknown what they encountered. Only eight returned after entering.
They have repeatedly entered the alien world to gather information.
Currently, the intelligence gathered mainly consists of four points: First, the currency of the opposite world is different from ours. The opposite world has abandoned metals such as gold, silver, copper, and iron as currency, and instead uses paper currency. Moreover, even the quantity of paper currency is very small. It is said that they are popularizing 'electronic currency,' where payment can be made by simply scanning with a 'mobile phone.' The scouts have not yet figured out the specific principle behind it. dafengxianxia.com
Second, in the opposite world, there are very many mortals, and none of them practice martial arts. At the same time, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth is extremely scarce, almost nonexistent, making it very unsuitable for cultivation.
However, the opposite world is extremely rich in resources and has an abundance of food. People seen in the market are generally rosy-cheeked, with hardly any beggars. At the same time, most families can afford to eat meat, and the citizens are quite prosperous.
Third, there is no imperial authority in the opposite world. They seem to follow the ancient rites of abdication, electing a leader every ten or twenty years, and relatives within three generations of the previous ruler are not allowed to participate in the next election.
Fourth, although there are basically no martial artists in that world, they also possess extremely terrifying weapons, which are said to be able to easily kill martial artists. The most terrifying ones can even destroy cities and render the land barren for a hundred years. Anyone approaching is said to fall ill and die as if cursed. However, this is only what the scouts managed to inquire about, and its truthfulness is uncertain."
After finishing his report, the Director of the Celestial Observation Bureau quickly had his scouts bring the items they had collected, including, but not limited to, some paper money, some food seeds, a few pieces of clothing, mobile phones, some household appliances, and even policy propaganda brochures.
However, the items he presented were still somewhat superficial to the ministers in the court and were not enough to be fully believed. Most importantly, many of the situations he presented were difficult for the ministers to comprehend.
Before long, everyone started arguing.
To describe it as arguing is not entirely accurate; rather, the ministers began to question the Director of the Celestial Observation Bureau one after another.
"How can paper be used as money? Paper money is clearly something burned for the dead. If paper can be used as money, then they can print as much as they want!"
"Electronic currency is even more absurd. What is 'electronic'? It's something invisible and intangible. Changing a string of numbers is enough to count as money? If this is true, then the common people in that world are too miserable.
The money in their hands can be declared useless by the court and become worthless paper, or meaningless numbers!
"Since that world is full of mortals, and the population is particularly large, how do they manage to feed everyone and even provide meat at every meal! This is simply unreasonable!"
"What about grain crops with yields of a thousand or ten thousand catties per mu? How can such absurd grain crops exist in this world? Even our world, full of spiritual energy, cannot produce grain with such high yields. How can a world as barren of spiritual energy as that produce such high-yielding grain? Haven't those scouts been fooled? Have they seen it with their own eyes?"
"If you dare to bring what you've only heard to the imperial court, Your Majesty, this minister accuses him of the crime of deceiving the emperor! Such nonsense is clearly deceiving the emperor!"
"Weapons that can destroy a city? Are you taking the nonsensical ramblings from those storybooks as truth and reporting them to His Majesty? Your Majesty, this minister believes this information is basically untrustworthy. We need to send more scouts, smarter and more capable scouts, to obtain more accurate intelligence from the opposite world."
"The idea of abdication is also very abnormal. This minister even suspects that Director Li is fabricating a prosperous and harmonious humanistic era to satirize Your Majesty!"
"I request the death penalty for Director Li!"
...
"Your Majesty, this minister is wronged. These are all reports from the scouts. This minister has not dared to add or embellish anything!"
...
(End of this chapter)