Chapter 1316 – Steampunk Era

"Thank you, your majesty. I'll do everything I can to thank you for your kindness."

Di Chen bowed solemnly with tears building up at the corner of his eyes. The feeling of being trusted was simply too precious.

From this day on, Di Chen's path would be a bright one.

Ouyang Shuo smiled and said, "Do not forget that we are all children of China; we are one family."

"Right, one family!"

Di Chen was filled with emotion. At this moment, he finally placed down the burden in his heart and fully committed to his role.

Once mortal enemies, the two now exchanged smiles.

...

10th month, autumn, the period of great harvest.

Ouyang Shuo paid attention to Beiyuan, Xijiang, Xikang, and Australia's four construction formations the most.

After a year of hard work, the four construction formations had reclaimed close to 10 million mu of farm, forest, and animal husbandry land. Many half militarized farms sprung up from the ground, bringing new life to the cold borders of the wilderness.

They were slowly starting to fill the newly built granaries.

At the same time, making use of the vast mine resources of the west region, the Privy Court constructed a batch of factories. A large amount of equipment and weapons were produced like flowing water as they prepared for the war that would occur next year.

The borders that had been quiet for close to a year was regaining the ability to start war once more.

Due to that, Ouyang Shuo instructed the Honglu Temple to send the Persian Empire a final warning to hand over Ogedai.

If the Persian Empire refused, they would have to meet on the battlefield.

Ouyang Shuo was really firm because he was determined to fight them. He wanted to use this chance to exert pressure onto the Persian Empire. At the same time, he was eyeing the oil fields in the Persian Gulf.

Ouyang Shuo had to suppress the threatening Persian Empire.

...

Persian Empire, Tehran City.

After he received the final warning from Great Xia, the Persia King felt rather awkward. Although he knew that this day would eventually arrive, he still found it tough to make a decision on the matter.

In exchange for exiling Ogedai's forces, he could receive temporary peace.

If he did not exile them, war would descend onto the Persian Empire spring next year.

Similar to Great Xia, the Persian Empire had made use of this peaceful period to focus heavily on industrialization.

A lot of the firearms the European Alliance Army used had been provided by the Persian Empire.

Once they engaged with Great Xia and war broke out, this rare situation would be broken. Their industrialization speed would swiftly drop and might even freeze up.

This was something that he could not accept.

The problem was that handing over Ogedai's forces just like that would be a huge insult to the Persian Empire. The army might find it hard to accept, which would affect their morale.

"We must think of a win-win solution."

The Persia King muttered as his eyes shone with a pondering light.

...

Imperial Capital.

As the 10th month arrived, the Great Xia Imperial Court's large-scale House removal operation finally came to an end.

The huge storm finally settled, allowing them to exert even more power.

The construction of the logistical hubs of the eight warzones were almost finished as well. A number of cities heavily focused on military works rose up around these hubs.

With these hubs constructed, the number of war laborers of the Empire dedicated to war was halved.

The expanded Martial Management Division had swiftly rose up, stretching out to the various provinces to monitor and instruct all martial artists in the Empire.

The most obvious effect was the 20% decrease in crime rate.

In conclusion, the strategies that the Imperial Court had set at the start of the year were reaching completion.

To Great Xia, the 8th year had been a year of great harvest. Although it was not that apparent, their strength had reached a new level, and everyone looked at them differently.

10th month, 20th day, Great Xia's first power plant was built on the west outskirts of the imperial capital and was officially put into use. The imperial capital had lights for the first time.

This was an era crossing moment for Great Xia.

Ouyang Shuo even personally attended the ceremony, lightning up the first light in the imperial city.

The era of electricity had arrived.

To Ouyang Shuo and the other players, these scenes were familiar yet foreign.

In the real world, incandescent light bulbs had been eliminated. For it to appear in the game world, a place where martial arts and technology coexisted, felt a little weird.

Ouyang Shuo thought of a way to describe this current situation - a steampunk era.

An era that contained both modern technologies and mysterious powers.

To the players, this should be the best era. They could enjoy the convenience brought to them by technology while walking further on the path of individual evolution.

Humans and technology worked together as one.

Unlike in the real world, where humans devolved as technology improved.

Ouyang Shuo loved this era.

...

11th month, 1st day, Imperial Capital.

At 9am, the Empire Olympics began.

Ouyang Shuo personally attended the opening ceremony and gave a fervent speech. He advocated for the entire country to be active for the first time, listing health as one of the highest priorities of the Empire.

Following which, the emperor troupe, emperor artist group, and other art groups performed a brilliant opening ceremony for the tens of thousands of spectators.

They showed off the essence of Chinese civilization perfectly.

In the next half a month, the imperial capital would be in a state of happiness and excitement due to this event. Thousands of athletes would give it their all to chase for the top.

The first athletics records of the Empire were also set and recorded in history.

Outside of Great Xia, the chaos stopped and a resting period began due to the due to the arrival of winter. The battlefields slowly fell silent.

The involved parties used this precious time to rest up and accumulate more grain and resources. For example, the Ottoman Dynasty needed to make use of this winter to recruit more troops.

The current peace was merely the calm before yet another storm.

Ouyang Shuo predicted that the 9th year of Gaia would still have war as the main topic. Once this round of wars ended, the global landscape would be renewed, and maybe they would have peace then.

A short period of peace.

In Gaia's mind, the game world would not truly have peace unless a super empire unified the world.

However, such a matter was really difficult to accomplish.

Even someone as confident as Ouyang Shuo did not think that Great Xia had the ability.

In the last week before winter, the other three dynasties replied to the Pacific Ocean trading rules proposed by Great Xia.

The four-party discussion would begin.

In the next few months, representatives from all four sides would have round after round of discussions. It would take so long because the four sides did not trust one another.

This was destined to be a negotiation path filled with holes and hurdles.

Ouyang Shuo sent Di Chen as the team leader of this negotiation team; he would be fully in charge of this matter.

From this moment on, Di Chen was fully accepted by Great Xia.