Silver Overlord

Catkins fell on the avenue, the sun shone brightly, and the weather was great today. A lot of people went on excursions in the spring, so the road was bustling with the rumbling of wheels from carts and horses. In Pingxi Prefecture’s Huanglong County, there was a place which was livelier than the public road, and it was the Gan Province Manufacturing Bureau.

In just half a year’s time, the Gan Province Manufacturing Bureau, which was previously known as the Huanglong Weaponsmiths Quarter, had completely changed. When Yan Liqiang rode the black four-wheeled carriage out from the manufacturing bureau, there were still long queues of carriages at the entrance.

There were three types of carriages queued at the manufacturing bureau’s entrance. The first type consisted of the four-wheeled ox carriages used by the villagers of Shugang Village and Pingba Village near the manufacturing bureau to deliver goods. Although they were slow, they had bigger load capacities. The four-wheeled carriages manufactured by the manufacturing bureau had already gained popularity in Huanglong County. Those ordinary four-wheeled carriages were not fitted with high-end shock absorption components such as coil springs, but they were still far more convenient than the two-wheeled carriages. Once artisans from various regions understood the principle of the four-wheeled carriage’s steering mechanism, there were more four-wheeled carriages seen on the public roads. Trends started to show that those carriages might completely replace the two-wheeled carriages.

The villagers of Shugang Village and Pingba Village delivered processed long swords and arrows as requested by the manufacturing bureau. These were the two types of weapons that the military heavily used. Today was the day when the villagers and manufacturing bureau exchanged goods once a month. Thus, there were more ox carriages coming in than usual.

The spears and arrows on the ox carriages were nicely packed together. The artisan of the manufacturing bureau was in charge of receiving and storing them in the warehouse inspected the goods. As long as the goods passed the quality check, payments were made to the villagers immediately. Once the goods were received, payments were delivered immediately without any delays or owing slips. The villagers who received their payment all smiled happily.

After Shugang Village and Pingba Village enjoyed the benefits from the manufacturing bureau over the past six months, more people joined the field of forging weapons. Every night after dinner or during time-off from farming, a home would be transformed into a small workshop. Men and women, old and young, were all involved. The whole village worked in full swing to complete the orders from the manufacturing bureau. When it was time for delivery, the young and old masters of the village would drive their carriages full of quality spears and arrows to the manufacturing bureau. Such a situation had already become a unique scene in Huanglong County.

When the manufacturing bureau received the arrows and spears from the villagers, they were stored in the warehouse but were then very quickly sold off as weapons to the Pingxi Prefecture’s garrison. Compared to long spears, arrows had the highest demand since they were the most consumed in the military. There was never a time when there was enough supply. When Lei Sitong found that the arrows manufactured by the manufacturing bureau were more durable, he immediately bought the entire stock for the Gan Province Army with the same price as the arrows the Gan Province Army procured from the other weaponsmiths quarters.

Due to this, the items that were delivered to the manufacturing bureau would immediately be sent out. They were once again loaded onto four-wheeled carriages and distributed to the military barracks throughout Gan Province as requested by the Provincial Governor.

Among the four-wheeled carriages that were outside the manufacturing bureau, those that were drawn by horses and heading outside of the bureau were the ones transporting the arrows and long spears.

There were still many traditional two-wheeled carriages outside the manufacturing bureau. Four-wheeled carriages that were drawn by rhinodrake steeds were also sighted, but those carriages were for transporting people instead of cargo. They came from all locations — the nearest were from Gan Province, slightly further were from the northwestern provinces, and the furthest were from other prefectures in the Great Han Empire. Well-dressed people with exquisite tastes rode in those carriages. Through the carriage’s window, one could see the people inside the carriage conversing and looking at the carriages lined up outside the manufacturing bureau. These carriages had come to the manufacturing bureau to place orders.

In the past six months, the four-wheeled carriage manufactured by the Gan Province Manufacturing Bureau had become very well-known, even becoming a symbol of status in the Great Han Empire. All of this started from Yan Liqiang’s ‘gift’ to the Emperor in the Imperial Capital City before he went to cultivate in seclusion last year, and this was all part of his carefully planned ‘celebrity branding’.

According to the artisans who came back from delivering the four-wheeled carriage, when Eunuch Liu brought the four-wheeled carriage that completed its final assembly at Deer Villa into the Imperial Palace, it immediately stirred up a commotion in the Imperial Capital. The Emperor was delighted upon receiving the carriage from Yan Liqiang. He organized a winter hunt with his subjects in the court on the royal hunting grounds outside the Imperial Capital City. Under the envious gazes of many, His Majesty appeared at the royal hunting grounds on the unique four-wheeled carriage that completely outshined Grand Chancellor Ling Qingtian’s carriage. From then on, the reputation of the four-wheeled carriage manufactured by the Gan Province Manufacturing Bureau had become well-known among the high-ranking officials and influential clans.

Before the artisans even returned from the Imperial Capital, orders for the luxurious four-wheeled carriage flew in from all corners of the Great Han Empire.

A carriage that cost five thousand taels of silver was a huge sum in the eyes of ordinary citizens; however, it was nothing to the influential clans and high ranking officials, as one exotic rhinodrake steed would sometimes cost tens of thousands of taels of silver. Some rare exotic rhinodrake steeds might even cost up to a few hundred thousand taels of silver. Compared to those exotic rhinodrake steeds, the four-wheeled carriage that cost below ten thousand taels of silver was not expensive, but were rather cheap to them instead. To those people, as long as the manufacturing bureau could let them have a chance to ride on the four-wheeled carriage that even the Emperor was fond of, it was well worth it even if it was priced ten times more.

After dealing with the stewards of the influential clans from all around the Great Han Empire, this was the first time that Qian Su rewrote his view of the wealthy.

It was just a special customized four-wheeled carriage that cost more than ten thousand taels of silver, and yet many people came to place silver promissory notes in front of Qian Su to order tens of those carriages. It was as if they were buying watermelons off the street.

The waiting time for a pre-ordered four-wheeled carriage was long. A lot of customers said that if they could receive their order a day earlier, they would even pay an additional one thousand taels of silver.

There were even some who sought for Qian Su, offering him more than millions taels of silver to buy the manufacturing method of the coil spring that was used in the four-wheeled carriages…

There were also those who saw the business opportunity of the four-wheeled carriage and wanted to collaborate with the manufacturing bureau.

Of course, during the time when Yan Liqiang was away to cultivate in seclusion, the four-wheeled carriage had made Yan Liqiang’s name well-known in the Great Han Empire. This time, not only across the northwestern Gan Province and the Imperial Capital, but the entire Great Han Empire also knew about the existence of the famous Qiyun Protectorate General in Gan Province’s Pingxi Prefecture.

Yan Liqiang’s past history was brought up by others, and all of a sudden, many people compared his attainment on the path of mechanics and the investigation of things to Zhang Yourong, the best engineer of the Great Han Empire. Hence, they came to refer to them as ‘Zhang of the East and Yan of the West’. With this, Yan Liqiang’s reputation in Gan Province and Pingxi Prefecture suddenly reached its peak…