Chapter 2381: The Mighty Great Tang, Armed and Ready!
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
Far to the south, on the seemingly endless ocean…
Bang!
With a massive boom, a fleet of countless large tower ships broke through the waves, throwing out grappling hooks as they approached the shore.
“They’re coming into the harbor! They’re coming in!”
Countless people near the pier let out heaven-shaking cheers as stairs were thrown out from the tower ships and countless sailors disembarked.
Their leader had a dark, tanned face, and his body was brimming with energy and exuded the aura of a leader. If one looked carefully, one would find that this person appeared somewhat similar to Wang Chong. This person was none other than Wang Chong’s cousin, Wang Liang.
After many years at sea, Wang Liang had long ago ceased to be that immature youth. Through his countless mortal struggles with Mother Nature, Wang Liang had become the renowned ‘King of the Seas’ of the Great Tang. And the fleet of tower ships under his command was simply enormous.
More importantly, before entering seclusion, Wang Chong had passed all naval affairs of the continent to Wang Liang, including all things concerning the relations between the Great Tang and the Promised Land.
“Young Master Wang, thank you for your efforts.”
A Lingnan official, wearing court robes and a joyous expression, was waiting to welcome Wang Liang at the pier.
“Sir Governor, I have kept you waiting,” Wang Liang said, apparently familiar with this person.
This was the Governor of Lingnan, and at the same time, the representative of the great clans of Lingnan. Over the years, Wang Liang had been responsible for shipping and the training of sailors, and the great clans were responsible for building the tower ships that Wang Liang used.
Each person had their clearly defined job.
Wang Liang had never disappointed them, and he had made these clans a great deal of money, developing the navy from nothing to this prosperous sight before them.
Of course, the most important factor was that Wang Liang’s surname was Wang. He represented the Wang Clan of the Great Tang and the revered Supreme King.
“Sir Wang, you’ve brought a great deal of stone and grain this time.”
Liu Zhi came up, his face all smiles.
“Three hundred thousand dan in total. Today is the tenth batch. Together with the previous shipments, there should be enough for the Great Tang to eat for seven years,” Wang Liang said, a hint of pride on his face.
Even before the war of the northeast, the Promised Land had already begun to ship grain to the Great Tang, but the shipments from the last three years had been far greater than before.
Each time he came back with grain, he would leave with people. By now, Wang Liang had transported at least two million people over to the Promised Land.
“Wonderful!”
Liu Zhi was delighted to hear this number.
“Right. Sir Wang, I have heard that the Promised Land already has many fields with abundant harvests, six or seven crops in a year. Is that true?”
“Hahaha, where did you hear that?”
Wang Liang heartily laughed.
“Six or seven crops in a year is impossible, but four a year, one in each season, does happen. When planting crops in the Promised Land, one year is the equivalent of two, and everything that’s being grown is hybrid rice.”
“Impressive, impressive! Four crops a year is truly astonishing. The Promised Land is truly the land of hope, the land of plenty!”
Liu Zhi sighed in wonder.
Hybrid rice was already being promoted throughout the Great Tang. Even so, only two crops per year was possible, and in the north, it was only one crop per year. That the Promised Land could have four harvests per year was unthinkable for the Tang.
“Right, how is the progress on your end?”
“It’s about done. All the great clans have been working hard the last few days, and almost all the ancient trees of Lingnan deep in the mountains have been cut down. However, following His Highness’s orders, we always plant a new sapling for every tree we cut down. Not too long ago, we managed to hit one hundred thousand tower ships, but we currently lack the manpower to bring all these ships to the sea. I’ve already handed off some of the ships to the Imperial Court for it to use for military purposes,” Liu Zhi firmly said.
One hundred thousand tower ships had required almost the entire strength of the Great Tang, the mustering of countless great clans who worked day and night.
Everyone knew of the duty on their shoulders. The one hundred thousand tower ships served as the Great Tang’s lifeline in Wang Chong’s plan. If they lost the war, the Promised Land would be where they could retreat.
Consider defeat before considering victory!
Wang Chong could decide to not think about himself, but he had to consider the civilians of the Great Tang.
Wang Liang sternly nodded as he replied, “Thank you for your efforts. Our duties are of utmost importance, and everyone’s lives depend on them. Everything on our end will be done on schedule. The rest will depend on how the others are faring!”
“Yes, that’s all we can do.”
Liu Zhi sighed.
Three years ago, before entering seclusion, Wang Chong had gathered up the upper echelons of the continent and divided the world into several large regions. Each region was under the responsibility of someone else. Wang Liang and Liu Zhi had been tasked with the southern region.
For the last three years, everyone had been working hard to complete their mission so as to reduce the burden on Wang Chong so that he could focus on dealing with Heaven. But it was also because everyone wanted to do their part for the Great Tang and all of humanity.
Boom!
“Ha!”
Horns blared in the distance, drawing the attention of the pair.
Turning in the direction of the sound, they saw countless bare-chested men atop a nearby mountain, pulling along a giant tower ship that was several dozen meters tall down a slope made of round logs. With a great rumble, the ship slid down the slope and crashed into the sea, sending water flying.
And if one were able to look down from the sky, one could see numerous tower ships like this being hauled out from deep in the mountains toward the ocean.
It was a grandiose and astonishing sight that stretched into the horizon.
……
……
Farther west, all the way to the extremely famous Red Sea and then even farther west, in this distant land, just as much work was taking place.
“La!”
“Sa!”
Several thousand meters away from Baghdad, on this barren land, countless Arabs were shouting as they pulled. They were organized into five-member teams, and each team had a giant, scythe-like machine in front of it.
The scythe arms of these machines went up and down, up and down, and with this movement, thick black oil gushed out of the ground.
Arabian Kerosene!
Three years ago, following Wang Chong’s order, they had abandoned the original oil extraction sites used by the Arabian Empire and traveled to this small city in the middle of the Arabian Desert.
This place was inhabited by a nomadic people known as the Bedouins, and there was nothing but desert around. In the Arabian Empire, this was a forgotten and insignificant tribe. But it really was as Wang Chong had said: by using mining machines, they were able to dig up large amounts of kerosene, far more than had originally been extracted from the Arabian Empire’s territory. The extraction was easier and the quantities more abundant.
With the machines developed by Wang Chong, they were able to extract oil at an astonishing rate.
In the war of the northeast, even though Wang Chong had made ample preparations, he had still been lacking in kerosene for a variety of reasons. After he used it several times in battle, the kerosene had run out. But with the development of this oil-producing region, this problem had completely been resolved.
Every day, large amounts of black kerosene were transported to the capital of the Great Tang.
“Today’s shipment of kerosene has been sent off. At present, the Great Tang has already stockpiled seventy million barrels of kerosene. Even if another cold wave comes, it should be enough to sustain the Great Tang for seventy large-scale battles.”
In the garrison at the edge of the oil extraction region, Gao Xianzhi watched as those giant oil extraction machines worked.
An Sishun stood next to him, his eyes roving back and forth as he voiced his agreement. “Mm, we’ve already far surpassed the goal we agreed on three years ago. If this goes on, we can easily reach eighty million barrels. At the very least, we won’t have to worry about kerosene running out.”
‘Barrels’ were how the Arabian Empire now measured its oil output.
At the time of the cold wave, the Arabian Empire had used pottery or iron balls to store kerosene. This was done because kerosene burned easily, and this method was relatively safe. But there was a major problem, as they did not hold much and were not easy to transport.
Three years ago, during that high-level conference in the Great Tang, when the entire continent had been divided into regions, while Wang Liang and Liu Zhi had been assigned to Lingnan to build one hundred thousand ships and transport grain, Gao Xianzhi and An Sishun had been assigned as the supreme commanders of the western region. This region consisted of the entire western world and the Arabian Empire, and their job was to excavate and stockpile kerosene for the Great Tang.
For excavation and transportation, Wang Chong had designed a new storage container, the oil barrel.
The cylindrical oil barrels could hold a large amount of oil and could be sealed tight. They were also easy to transport, as they were less breakable than pottery. They could even be rolled on the ground, making them convenient to move around.
The Great Tang had summoned craftsmen from all the other countries to begin producing these iron oil barrels.
Oil excavation was now very safe and efficient.
At this moment, an Arab soldier with sharp eyes and a high nose, wearing the armor of the Great Tang, came in.
“Milord, this six hundred and twentieth camel caravan is ready. All the oil barrels have been packed. Milord, please give your orders!”
After the cold wave and the war of the empires, the Great Tang had united the world. The Arabian Empire had already completely submitted to the Great Tang.
Gao Xianzhi and An Sishun had numerous Arab soldiers under their command, and due to the Confucian schools that had been set up during the militarist-Confucian conflict, a significant number of them even knew how to speak in the Tang language.
All fell quiet as Gao Xianzhi and An Sishun turned their heads in the direction of the jingling camel bells. There, a caravan made up of several thousand camels was ready to set out.