"What's your name, sir? This great lord is eager to make your acquaintance."
As he spoke, Ye Tiancheng's face was filled with an expression of admiration. Seeing this person was like seeing his past self.
This person had darkness hidden in his heart, and he always would. Therefore, no matter how much he was whitewashed, he could never be bleached. There's a saying that mountains and rivers can be changed, but a person's nature is hard to alter. This saying was made for people like Ye Tiancheng.
"My name is Hong Hu."
He had thought that the man would not easily tell him his name, but he readily told Ye Tiancheng his name, which made Ye Tiancheng feel extremely surprised.
"You are such a boring person. Why can't you be more reserved?"
"People without awareness always speak directly, so their words are often disliked because these words have no emotional intelligence at all. So-called words without emotional intelligence are those that do not consider others' feelings. Do people in this world live for face? I clearly feel that it is not the case, because so-called face is nothing more than vain things deliberately concocted by some people."
"This world is very complicated, and it cannot be generalized. To hell with all those damn theories. As long as you live happily today, that's all that matters. So what you think of yourself is the most important thing."
Ye Tiancheng found this fellow both pathetic and ridiculous. Pathetic because he could never understand the frameworks set by others.
After this person revealed his name, Ye Tiancheng did not believe he was called that at all, because the name made him feel that he was lying. However, he had no intention of exposing him. If he didn't want to say it, it meant he had his own reasons for not wanting to. Since he had his own reasons, there was no need to ask so many questions.
"I want to find someone proficient in chemistry to help me do something earth-shattering."
Ye Tiancheng said directly to this person. His purpose was straightforward and direct. The other party heard this and chuckled, looking at Ye Tiancheng as if he were an idiot.
The important thing was that he had stated his goal, but in his eyes, this goal was something only a madman or a fool would undertake.
"Hello, hello. If what you want to do will cost too much, you are simply a devil."
"Thank you for your compliment. I think so too. As a very ferocious fellow, one doesn't necessarily need to gain others' appreciation, but one must achieve the goals they desire and complete them with disdain."
Ye Tiancheng had always been unconventional in his previous world, so he remained unchanged after arriving in this world. Although he wanted to be a slacker upon arriving in the Holy Spirit, this thought was quickly erased from his mind.
In this dark and realistic world, he could not live like that, because people like that would sooner or later become food on someone else's table.
"So I call you a madman and a fool."
"Don't just keep scolding me. Are you willing to help me do that thing that you consider both mad and foolish?"
After all, time was a factor. To take over Quarry City, an offensive operation was necessary. Even with a sharp weapon like *nt, what good was it? Because the forest of swords and blades was extremely dangerous.
Hello, it is said that there is a natural barrier in that place, because it is a slope, and the giant stones rolling down from above could easily crush the faces of the people below. Therefore, the quarry was very dangerous and difficult to attack and defend. Even with an absolute weapon like t*nt, it was impossible to fly 500 meters to blow up the defenders on the city.
Therefore, unless Ye Tiancheng possessed something like a Tai Chi cannon or a three-pounder, such things were clearly impossible for him to produce at the moment. However, if he used a primitive cannon like a fire cannon for shooting, it would be impossible to blast through the stone layers.
Various methods had no absolute effect, so the only effective method was to research weapons with a large explosion radius, so that they could achieve victory through surprise. At the very least, a single bomb could blow a huge opening in the quarry.
This way, they would have a chance to charge in and throw his specially made grenades while charging, which would annihilate all the defenders of Quarry City.
"I can help you research that kind of thing, but I want you to understand that making the people of Duogong and the city-states prosperous is the most important thing."
Speaking of these, Ye Tiancheng felt very strange because, to him, these common people were nothing more than ants in his eyes.
But on the surface, he still had to say things like "love you like my own children," and other such nonsense. Saying these words required no effort. Whether he could do it or not was another matter.
The superficial work still had to be done.
So, although he showed an unwillingness to do it, once he took this position, he had no choice but to do it.
If he didn't want to end immediately, he had to persevere in his work, even if it was just to strike a pose, with behind-the-scenes people helping him to publicize these words.
Therefore, being a puppet to give speeches everywhere with these unrealistic words was necessary.
This meant that he had a clone to do things for him, while his true self was elsewhere enjoying the sunshine and holidays.
Hong Hu was helping him with chemistry-related matters. He was also a fellow who had transmigrated from Ye Tiancheng's world, a person with a very dark heart. The reason they hit it off was mainly because they shared a common goal.
That was to completely subvert the things in books and restore the world to its most realistic state.
People would no longer strive to live for those false and unrealistic things, but would genuinely and powerfully do whatever they wanted to do, pursuing the principles and values that existed in reality, rather than those flashy and impractical nonsense that had nothing to do with their lives.
Because in their time, they were forced to say things they didn't want to say and do things they didn't want to do, living lives as tiring as dogs.
They had had enough of their original world. Perhaps because of this, God had sent them to this world to change it, to become a world of history. It seemed they had arrived in a very ancient era, but in reality, they had gone back to the primitive era of their lives.
However, they did not realize that they had transmigrated into the history of ancient people, and were still smugly thinking that they had obtained what they desired, constantly wanting to reclaim what they had lost for a long time.
Soon, another week passed for Ye Tiancheng.
Hong Hu had helped him develop the first batch of tin cans.
These tin cans contained * tubes, wrapped with yellow gunpowder on the outside.
The first batch of wages came out, over a thousand pieces, with a defect rate of over a hundred. If they were made using the most primitive working methods, such a success rate could be considered a good military product, because in their era, the defect rate of military products also reached 5%.
"So, the first step of the plan has been successful. What about the next step, how to take Quarry City with the least cost and least loss..."
"I think it would be great if you could research a tank. Then we could just charge up and crush them."
"Why are you so unrealistic? If you could build a tank, would there still be a need for war? Wouldn't they surrender without a fight?"
In Ye Tiancheng's mind, he was mocking this fellow's foolish words. Let alone a tank, even if they could research a rifled gun or a three-pounder, they could take down the stone city. To go back ten thousand steps, being able to research a 98k or a carbine rifle would be a miraculous existence.
"Even to build guns and cannons, you need lathes, milling machines, and grinding machines. How could such primitive craftsmen make modern weapons?"
"Alright, I know. I was just joking. Don't be so serious or so agitated, okay?" Hong Hu felt that Ye Tiancheng was not fun at all.
This fellow had no idea what it meant.
"Using these modern weapons to fight is simply bullying." At this moment, Sister Si arrived. She had not seen Ye Tiancheng for about half a month and missed him very much. She didn't know how her younger brother was doing. She had a terrifying feeling these past few days that this fellow had encountered danger and was in a life-or-death situation.
Although she had a nightmare, her concern for him did not diminish, so she came here to check on him.
Sister Si's villa had many guards, who were brave warriors she had carefully selected.
These people were very loyal to Ye Tiancheng. As long as it was something Ye Tiancheng announced or ordered, they would carry it out without any discount. That was why Ye Tiancheng had them guard Sister Si's villa and ensure they were not threatened by anyone.
Before, Sister Si was a very free-spirited girl, but unexpectedly, one day she lived like a canary, which was not the life she wanted. In this world, whatever you gain, you will lose something, and you can never have everything.
"So you came just to see if I can still take Quarry City?"
"Why would you say such strange things? Of course, I came to see you because I missed you." Sister Si was very angry. She did not expect Ye Tiancheng to say such unreasonable things. She came out of concern, not for any damn worldly reasons.
The feelings between them could not be expressed in words. Many things existed in the mutual understanding of hearts, just like the well-known poetic line, "hearts are connected, and understanding dawns."
"Indeed, our relationship is very failed."
Ye Tiancheng sighed helplessly.
Sister Si also did not expect that one day she would fall out with Ye Tiancheng. The development of their relationship to this point was entirely due to his own thoughts. He wanted to sever all ties, just like the Monkey King, free from all worries. No one was his father or mother, and he had no siblings, so he didn't even care about the Jade Emperor.
Therefore, to get by in the world, it's best to be a bachelor. If you have no relatives or friends, you can go and deal with anyone you dislike. Living as you please is the most beautiful state. Once a person has many attachments, they will be bound by this secular world, living a very stifled and unhappy life.
In Ye Tiancheng's opinion, he was like this before, and he remained the same after transmigrating.
It was indeed too terrifying. How could there be such a dark mentality in this world?
It had to be said that he liked this state very much. Even if his social status changed, his mentality remained the same. However, the harm caused by different social statuses was different. Since he had now become a lord of a city, the destinies of others he could influence were more than the influence of three or four city-states. This meant that he would use the power of his city-state to attack other city-states.
Once this mode was activated, it meant that the land would be plunged into a state of constant warfare.
Warfare would mercilessly destroy everything.
Whether Ye Tiancheng wanted to stop or not, it was too late, because Quarry City had already received the news that Ye Tiancheng would attack them soon.