Chapter 2307 - 2047: Build 10 Ships First

"Ha, Liu Xuande invited us to watch the military parade. By the way, what is a military parade?" Sun Ce said with a peculiar expression while flipping through the invitation in his hand.

"The main purpose is probably to show off one’s strength. Let’s just send someone, I still have things to do." Zhou Yu glanced at the invitation, as he was currently organizing selections and planning to head south to check the situation. He pondered whether or not to attend Liu Bei’s military parade.

Indeed, Zhou Yu has been quite busy recently. His own sea ships cannot withstand offshore voyages and can only play near the coast, thus many issues need to be considered when selecting soldiers, such as handling conflicts or facing enemies at sea.

These matters require Zhou Yu’s consideration. He couldn’t discard his mind like Sun Ce, as he essentially serves as Sun Ce’s brain.

"In a few days, it’s Shao’er’s full moon banquet. I’m planning to hold a grand banquet for three days. Speaking of which, it’s been a while since I’ve gone out shopping with Da Qiao. This time heading south, why don’t you bring Little Qiao, and I’ll bring Da Qiao." Sun Ce said whimsically.

Zhou Yu felt unable to respond to Sun Ce’s words, so he let Sun Ce talk to himself. To prevent Sun Ce from courting death further, Zhou Yu decided not to leave Eastern Wu recently. Sending Sun Ce over to Liu Bei’s place to watch the parade and gather information isn’t a bad idea, after all knowing oneself and knowing the enemy guarantees victory in hundreds of battles.

"Participating in Liu Xuande’s military parade is advisable. After attending, we can head south and check the situation. We need to focus on basic infrastructural development soon, considering we’ve received tens of billions in support, and it’s uncouth to directly renege on it." Zhou Yu revised his earlier thoughts, thinking it’s better to get Sun Ce to attend the parade to prevent trouble in Eastern Wu.

[Let me see if we can officially purchase a few fifth-generation ships from the Lu Family. Chen Zichuan has practically given us the construction technology, so he probably wouldn’t mind the fifth-generation ships. Let’s get friendly and communicate with the Lu Family; purchasing them should be possible.] Zhou Yu thought with some resignation.

Considering the shipbuilding progress of the Zhu Family, Gu Family, and Zhang Family, Zhou Yu realized that production might only start next year. This year there’s no hope, so becoming a brokerage firm temporarily is the only option since self-manufacturing seems unrealistic for the short term.

While Zhou Yu considered purchasing some fifth-generation ships from the Lu Family, Gongsun Gong from Liaodong also received news of Liu Bei’s upcoming military parade.

Although not understanding the concept of a military parade, Gongsun Gong decided to go watch, given his position as Liu Bei’s subordinate compared to Sun Ce.

However, Gongsun Gong, always content with little, didn’t feel displeased. As a concubine’s child, unexpectedly inheriting his father’s title and estate made him quite satisfied.

Moreover, with the Northeastern development bringing narrowed authority but expanded benefits, Gongsun Gong was resolute in staying connected with Liu Bei.

Without ambition, having once been discarded by his father Gongsun Du, Gongsun Gong was extremely content inheriting the Gongsun Family unexpectedly. Apart from inherent physical issues making him unable to spread the family branches wider, he had no dissatisfaction.

Considering Gongsun Family’s first-class shipbuilding technology, if only the Northern Frontier hadn’t been unstable, wasting much time resolving the chaos; its shipbuilding readiness might not lose to the Lu Family now.

Though a slight gap exists, the Gongsun Family’s shipyard remains top-tier in the Central Plains. This ensured Gongsun Gong lived carefree, without ambition, and Liu Bei, along with others, considered his situation when arranging official positions, appointing him as Liaodong Commandery Governor.

Although many of Gongsun Family’s ministers were transferred out, new people were sent in. Gongsun Gong understood the implications but paid it no mind, since he didn’t actually work, merely holding the title as Liaodong Commandery Governor.

To be precise, Liu Bei appointed him as Liaodong Commandery Governor largely because of Gongsun Family’s illustrious reputation in Liaodong. Over the years, it accomplished substantial deeds, calming the local populace. As for executing tasks, scrubbing that idea, Gongsun Gong wasn’t the original successor. Being congenital with illnesses means he’s raised to drift along.

This attitude of merely maintaining appearance and drifting through life allowed Gongsun Gong considerable comfort.

With Northeastern development underway, Central Plains aristocratic families have migrated adjacent, naturally allotting the local power Gongsun Family a share. Achieving what generations of development hadn’t, Gongsun Gong nonchalantly enjoyed the fruits.

Apart from Gongsun Family incurring substantial damage at the hands of the Northern Huns during Northern Frontier chaos almost leading to familial extinction, and the inability to branch further under Gongsun Gong, everything else is nearly perfect. He overlooked it positively.

His father, Gongsun Du, initially just a nobody, managed to smoothly ascend as a marquis and Liaodong Commandery Governor due to, those years, Gongsun Yi losing his son and seeing resemblance in Gongsun Du, raising him as his own. Eventually, Gongsun Du successfully inherited the Gongsun Family.

Since his ancestors have encountered this situation, he can do the same in this generation. Compared to having his own son who might grow astray, Liaodong has plenty of commoner children who have endured hardships and possess tenacity and resilience.

The imaginative Gongsun Gong, knowing that he definitely could not have descendants, waved his hand, and suddenly there were many orphanages and small schools in Liaodong.

Although limited by the number of teachers, there were not many who could truly teach. However, Gongsun Gong’s purpose was not to teach literacy; his goal was simply to find a decent-looking boy to adopt as his son.

Of course, according to Gongsun Gong’s idea, it would be best to find someone with extraordinary talent. If a spiritual or legion talent could emerge, so much the better. In short, spreading the net wide everywhere — whether it succeeds or not — does not matter, since there are over a million people in Liaodong, selecting one son to inherit the Gongsun Family’s estate would suffice.

According to Gongsun Gong’s estimation, this kind of selection is far better than having a son of his own. As for what the person chosen to be his son thinks, Gongsun Gong does not care. You can either spend a lifetime in the mud with your face to the earth and back to the sky, or be my son, where I will give you a platform to display your talents.

The carefree Gongsun Gong stated that he would never force anyone. After all, orphaned children are plenty in the Great Han Dynasty. On the contrary, his opportunity is one not to be missed; for it’s not like he’s Yuan Shu, who foolishly insisted on being Sun Ce’s father. He simply wanted a fairly outstanding adopted son.

"Bofang, let’s go, join me in attending Grand Commandant Liu’s military review." Gongsun Gong called out to Liangg Mao, who had come to see him.

In terms of talent, Liangg Mao having the position of a Provincial Inspector is not an issue. However, during the Northern Frontier trouble when defending Liaodong, Gongsun Gong, despite knowing nothing, showed an air that greatly impressed Liangg Mao.

Moreover, at that time, Liaodong was nearly overtaken by the Xianbei and Northern Huns. Gongsun Gong, rather than retreat, insisted on staying and even saved Liangg Mao’s life. Therefore, after Liu Bei pacified the Northern Frontier, Liangg Mao, after much contemplation, chose to stay and help Gongsun Gong.

This is also why Gongsun Gong can now leisurely serve as Liaodong Commandery Governor without having to do anything. Liangg Mao assured that the work of such a small commandery is something he can easily manage in an orderly fashion.

"I received the news too. Aren’t you looking for an adopted son? Perhaps Ye City has even better options." Liangg Mao casually sat in front of Gongsun Gong; the two shared a life and death friendship, so no formalities were needed.

"That’s true. Are we traveling by ship or by land?" Gongsun Gong stood up and said. He didn’t have much to do in Liaodong, so a little sightseeing would not hurt; everyone knew he was just a nominal title-holder, and the actual administrative work was done by Liangg Mao.

"By ship, just in time to process the herbs and furs we collected from this side." Liangg Mao casually remarked; the furs in Liaodong are rather excellent.

Riding the Xingba Vessel, nearly possessing the combat power of a Supreme God, Taishi Ci, known as the Demon God of Great Black Heaven, arrived at Donglai Harbor of Mount Tai, having destroyed several countries along the way.

"Phew, finally back. The navy has also trained quite a bit. This time was truly unbelievable." Taishi Ci sighed, casting a glance at the cabin laden with silver and gold, a smile inevitably appeared on his face.

When first heading to Japan, Taishi Ci’s goal was indeed money. After all, the great expense of the Seventh Generation Ship was beyond what the navy could afford. Simply put, the three million allocated by Chen Xi back in the day wouldn’t buy a single Seventh Generation Ship now.

Thus, Taishi Ci’s initial purpose was to grab money. During the process of assisting Yizhima in pacifying Japan, collecting a little fee seemed no issue to Yizhima. Taishi Ci would empty a nation’s treasury every time he destroyed one.

One must say, during this period, silver and gold mines in Japan were still abundant. As time accumulated, Taishi Ci quickly became wealthy. Of course, that wasn’t very important; what was significant was that Taishi Ci unified the whole of Japan in the guise of the Demon God of Great Black Heaven.

As with any mythology outside of Chinese mythology, when a god speaks, mortals can only kneel and plead, naturally, when the Demon God of Great Black Heaven demanded gold and silver, how could Japan refuse? The entire country scoured to gather a few tons of gold and dozens of tons of silver.

It’s important to note that during this period, Central Plains silver was considered a rare metal primarily used as tribute or for ornamental treasures, its price not much lower than gold. The standard exchange rate for gold during this era was one gold for ten thousand coins, with "gold" being the unit of weight and despite also having an actual market value, a piece of gold was worth six thousand five hundred coins.

However, none of this is significant. What’s relevant is that after obtaining so much gold and silver, Taishi Ci, who previously couldn’t afford to purchase warships, once again flaunted the wealthy demeanor from back when Gan Ning was around. This time, Taishi Ci planned to build ten Seventh Generation Ships!