Urban Sims

Some of the 50,000 elixirs were given to his subordinates, but Zhou Ming himself took more than half.

Returning to the central island with these elixirs, Zhou Ming took them once every two weeks. After only three or four months, the effect was extremely noticeable. As he reached middle age and his energy declined, he soon felt full of energy. I feel more energetic, as if I have returned to my youthful days in my twenties.

After taking this elixir for her mother Cui, who had half of her hair white, after a month, all the white hair on her head turned black, and a lot of wrinkles on her face also disappeared.

There are also a few wives and concubines who are over forty, with dark yellow skin and crow's feet at the corners of their eyes. After taking a few pills of elixir, they often look at the mirror and mutter to themselves: "Looking in the mirror seems to be eighteen years old again." Is the charming, snow-skinned woman really me?

Seeing Zhou Ming, including himself, and his relatives around him constantly rejuvenating, he had never had such a novel game experience. For the first time, he felt that the system in his brain, although most of the time, was very fucked up, but occasionally it would The surprise he prepared still surprised him.

For example, this Elder Elixir may be a shocking easter egg hidden by the system in this dungeon.

And this easter egg is really incredible and unbelievable.

However, Zhou Ming gradually got used to things like "Hehuan Powder" and "Guigumen", which had already taught him how powerful this copy was. It would not be surprising to have another "Elixir of Agelessness"... ...At least, this is a good thing that can greatly extend his life. He can't expect to live as long as one hundred, fifty or sixty years, but after calculation, after more than a dozen dungeon experiences, it seems that one time he will be ninety years old. He has never lived. In this game, even if he only lives to be a hundred years old, Zhou Ming is confident that he can use the extra ten or twenty years to earn tens of millions more achievement points.

…

More than ten years later, Zhou Ming began his new strategic layout:

On the one hand, he continued to intensify the development of the Penglai Immortal Territory, frantically recruiting immigrants and purchasing slaves from the mainland to populate the deserted islands.

Most of these immigrants are low-income and extremely poor people from the Tang Dynasty. Most of these immigrants left their homes and took a boat to overseas Wenguo with the purpose of having enough to eat, making a lot of money, and going to the islands to pan for gold. Since then, more than 98% have chosen Instead of returning to the mainland, I choose to live in a stable and wealthy overseas country and take root.

As for those slaves, Zhou Ming also cooperated privately with slave traders in the Tang Dynasty, exchanging the rich gold and silver resources of the overseas Wen Kingdom for foreign slaves. A strong slave could be purchased at a high price for 500-800 silver coins or 50-90 gold coins. , and slave traders, the cost of capturing these slaves is less than one-tenth of the purchase price.

Therefore, seeing the profits, the number of slave traders in the Tang Dynasty increased sharply, and they frantically arrested foreigners from home and abroad. In more than ten years, a total of six million slaves were shipped and trafficked to overseas countries. .

This evil slave trade happened under the eyes of the Tang Dynasty. The upper ruling class of the Tang Dynasty could not turn a blind eye. Especially the Queen Wu Zhao heard the official report: Many people in the country were also cut off by those slave traders. When Tongue pretended to be a foreign slave and was sold to the overseas Wen country, he became furious. He mobilized an army to search and severely beat a group of slave traders. He killed more than a thousand slave traders and announced the closure of the port and the seclusion of the country... It only worked for a period of time. To some extent, within a few days, the old man recovered, and the phenomenon of private slave trading became rampant again.

Later, it was Zhou Ming who took the initiative to send diplomatic envoys, held interviews and negotiations with Empress Wu Zhao, and put out a list of goods requirements, expressing that the overseas Wen Kingdom wanted to establish diplomatic relations of free exchange, equality and mutual benefit with the Tang Dynasty, saying that now What the overseas Wen country lacks the most is immigrants, slaves, silk and other items, while in Wenzhou, precious metals such as gold, silver, and copper are available in as much quantity as they need. If the two countries can sign a trade agreement, conduct trade exchanges, and each get what they need, The exchange of what is needed is of great benefit to the economic development of the two countries.

Regarding this proposal, Wu Mei flatly rejected it without even thinking about it at first. Overseas Wenguo is a remote and barbaric country. If you don't come to pay tribute and proclaim yourself a vassal, it would be fine if you kneel down and call yourself a barbarian. Instead, you talk in your sleep and say that you want to fight with the big people. Tang established diplomatic relations of "equality and mutual benefit"? They simply don’t know whether to live or die, and they really want to send troops to destroy them!

It's just... When I think of the invincible army and the magical weapons in Wenguo's hands, why is it so sharp? In order to solve this mystery, several far-sighted officials stood up in the Tang Dynasty and persuaded Wu Zhao that it would be better to pretend to agree to establish diplomatic relations and take this opportunity to send out capable agents to penetrate into the overseas Wen Kingdom to spy on those gods. The core secret of the soldiers!

Prime Minister Di Renjie also said: The treasury of the Tang Dynasty is empty, and there is an urgent shortage of gold, silver and copper. If it can be obtained from the overseas Wenguo, it will also be beneficial to the national economy of the Tang Dynasty.

After thinking for a while, Wu Zhao agreed that the two countries would send diplomatic envoys to each other and establish formal diplomatic relations.

Therefore, since the fifth year of Wen State, when the two countries formally established diplomatic relations, the economic and trade exchanges between Datang and overseas Wen State have experienced explosive development in just a few years. The total trade volume between the two countries is only officially According to statistics, within five years, it has increased by more than 500 times, reaching a scale of more than 60 million silver coins.

In the following years, Wu Zhao's life in her later years became increasingly luxurious and corrupt. In order to satisfy her personal enjoyment of life, she acquiesced in her family, colluded with the border generals, initiated several large-scale foreign wars, and arrested several people. Millions of foreign captives were all sold overseas to the Wen Kingdom and made a huge profit. Although Wu Zhao knew very well that this was an act to help the enemy and harm himself, he was already over eighty years old when he enjoyed the ultimate enjoyment of life. At an advanced age, Wu Zhao knew that he had less than two years to live. At this moment, he no longer wanted to think about how big the flood would be in the world after she died.

On the other hand, Wu Zhao also chose to turn a blind eye to the various actions Tian Zihua made in the Tang Dynasty using Zihua Bookstore, and even wanted to observe with interest. Look, what kind of thing is the holy way of truth that Tian Zihua explained to her in that letter: "Supreme science and education, far superior to Qu Meng"?

It is said that this thing called the "Scientific Holy Way" was created by those who had reached middle age and found that they had reached the end of the road to literature and could not go any further and could not reach the height of the two sages Qu and Meng. Tian Zihua planned to find another way, and accidentally created a holy way after making many important discoveries in the field of studying things to achieve knowledge.

After embarking on this holy path, Na Tian Zihua quickly produced a lot of results, which were published through Zihua Bookstore and the newly added "Science" journal platform.

For example, in the first issue of the journal "Science", Tian Zihua published "The Three Laws of Force", which uses three classical mechanical laws: the law of inertia, the law of acceleration, and the law of action and reaction to explain all motion phenomena in the world. , these three laws can be used for anatomical analysis.

The second issue of the "Science" journal published "Principles of Chemistry", which contained even more useful information. It introduced the phenomena of countless chemical reactions and proposed the atomic theory. Wu Zhao even saw in it that she sent The black powder ratio could not be found out in countless detailed works, but it was very clear here. Where was the reaction equation? Wu Zhao immediately ordered people to find charcoal, saltpeter and sulfur, and made it according to "Principles of Chemistry" After several experiments, the master craftsmen responsible for solving the mystery of black powder burst into tears. The mystery of black powder that had not been solved for several years was solved so effortlessly.

The third issue of the "Science" journal published "The Effects of Light". In addition to comprehensively introducing the phenomena of direct reflection, refraction, scattering and diffraction of light, it also opened up people's new understanding of the microscopic world, because using these effects of light, Telescopes and microscopes made using glass lenses can see many things that cannot be seen with the naked eye, such as the cells in animals and plants, and the billions of microorganisms in a glass of water. They are all clearly visible and vivid.

There are also extremely high-magnification astronomical telescopes for stargazing. Many mysterious celestial objects that cannot be seen clearly or distinguished with the naked eye can be seen in front of you with incomparable clarity.

Wu Zhao received only two of these, the high-power microscope and the large astronomical telescope that Tian Zihua personally gave to her. Her eyes were dim with the microscope and she couldn't see what the cells looked like. But through the astronomical telescope, she saw that it was full of holes. When the surface of the night moon, as well as other planets, became extremely desolate, Wu Zhao was horrified, and the worldview in his mind was almost completely overturned.

From then on, in every issue of "Science", not only did Wu Zhao read every issue, but she frowned and thought deeply. Even when civil and military officials went to court, they could often hear discussions, and some officials even wrote memorials to her. He said that "Science" was too novel, subverted common sense, shaken the teachings of Qu and Meng, and disturbed people's hearts. When it was completely sealed, Wu Zhao just ignored it and did not issue an order to take action.

Of course Wu Zhao knew in his heart that "Science" was harmful to the dynasty's rule. Not to mention that it directly distorted and subverted some of the ideological views of Qu and Meng, including some scientifically confirmed physical and chemical phenomena in nature. , and it has also dispelled many theistic views. The more truths it reveals, the closer it gets to the essence of the world. Some empty talk that was originally covert and conjectural, gradually becomes untenable and has loopholes. There are so many chances, and if you continue to persist, you will be seeking death and taking jujube pills.

For example, the idea of ​​"divine right of kings" is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. However, after "Science" came out, people would ask: Where is God? On that moon full of craters? Or in the red flames of the sun? Where is the Heavenly Palace? Where does God live? Why can't I see it through the telescope?

Wu Zhao understood this, and she also knew that it would be best to close the Zihua Bookstore as soon as possible, but she did not do so because she was a disciple of the Guigu Sect. For thousands of years, this hermit sect has been studying how to Fighting for dragons and how to slay dragons, they thought that the world was under their control. However, as soon as "Science" came out, Wu Zhao discovered that there were some great avenues in this world that even Guigumen did not control.

Therefore, Wu Zhao and Gui Gumen behind her want to study and learn how far the so-called "science" can dig out the essence of this world.

However, with the continuous publication of the journal "Science", especially the ninth issue of "Heliocentric Theory and the Theory of a Round Earth" and the twelfth issue of "Theory of Evolution and Heredity", they are like mushroom eggs, in the intellectual circles and the court. , it exploded into huge waves!

Many people cannot accept that the boundless land under their feet is not infinitely vast, but a sphere with a countless area; and countless people cannot accept that humans evolved from apes, close relatives of monkeys, rather than being created by gods. are the people of God.

Even though many people cannot accept these theories, they cannot categorically deny them: these inferences, which have a lot of scientific basis, are not completely unreasonable. Although they cannot accept them for a while, after thinking about them carefully and combining them with some observations around them, they can These inferences and hypotheses of Tian Zihua are not all nonsense.

Especially when the fifteenth issue of "Science" announced that explorer Yang Junsong led a steam fleet to complete a circumnavigation of the world, discovered the New World, and reached the countries in the far west, proving the "round earth theory". In the intellectual circles of the Tang Dynasty, it was as if a magnitude 10 earthquake had occurred. Countless literati and celebrities rushed to overseas literary countries to witness this steamship fleet. They interviewed countless questions from the crew members around the world and learned what they wanted to know. everything of.

In the end, most of these literati and celebrities chose to stay in the overseas literary country, because this country built a huge science city. In the science city, there is a hundred-story "Star Observation Tower" and a "book collection" with millions of books. Pavilion", as well as "museum", "zoological and botanical garden", "physical, chemical and biological laboratory", as well as the "Science Hall" that can accommodate 10,000 people, and the "ladder classroom" with more than 100 people attending lectures... Any intellectual who has met the academic qualifications wants to To learn more about science, you can become a member of this science city by completing the admission procedures without paying any fees.

"Tian Zihua, do you really want to become a saint through 'science'?"

Putting down the "Science" journal in his hand, Wu Zhao, who was frail and sick in his later years and bedridden for a long time, murmured that he was very surprised by Tian Zihua's ambition.

For thousands of years, a total of two saints have been born in this land, and no descendants can surpass them. Wu Zhao did not expect that in her lifetime, she would actually see the shadow of a third saint.

However, as the year continues, she will not live to see that day when Tian Zihua truly becomes a saint.

Especially after Prime Minister Zhang Jianzhi, his son Li Xian, and some remnants of the Li Zhou royal family took advantage of her serious illness to launch the Dragon Coup and imprisoned her in the palace, she could only lie in bed and wait for death, playing movies in her head. What I think about is that in this life, I have done all kinds of things at all costs to achieve the goal of ascending to the throne. Is it worth it in exchange for all this?

Wu Zhao remembered again that Tian Zihua gave her husband Li Zhi the four-character evaluation of "Internal Saint and External King" in "The Chronicles of the Ming Emperor". Then he compared it with himself. If she also called Na Tian Zihua, what would she do to her husband Li Zhi? If I write "The Chronicles of the Queen" by myself, will there be any good reviews?

"Your Majesty, your merits and demerits will be judged by future generations. The fact that you can ascend to the highest throne and do things that no woman has been able to do for thousands of years is enough to prove your greatness and brilliance. As for this, The darkness behind the light, the viciousness behind the greatness... people will no longer care about these processes and details, because as long as you do it, you will be able to leave your name in history."

Listening to these words that came to her ears, Tian Zihua came to her bedside without knowing when or through what channel. When she said these words, Queen Wu Zhao's body trembled, she turned her head, and her eyes There were crystal tears in her eyes, and she was speechless.

After a long time, she opened her mouth and confessed: "After my death, there is no need to inscribe on the monument. I will let future generations comment on my merits and demerits..."

After saying that, she turned to Zhou Ming and said with tears in her eyes: "I have no complaints or regrets in my life..."

Zhou Ming nodded, and when he saw her two tears finally falling away, her body relaxing, and leaving this world safely, he couldn't help but sigh softly: It's not easy for this woman.

Second update today, late, sorry!