Chapter 1588
Chapter 1588 - 1584: A New Home
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8 min read
"Ancient City, it seems like I can actually make a fortune from the war?"
At this moment, Lu Ping’an feels like a wealthy boss who has got his own industry, personnel, and assets. He begins to consider doing something for his hometown.
As a member of the Official and Military high echelons, naturally, he has the resources for strategic planning. If there must be a contract, he would naturally want it to go to his hometown.
Do not underestimate this kind of "individual action". Once Lu Ping’an turns the contract into a long-term project, one major project could even energize a development zone or an entire city, directly or indirectly supporting hundreds of thousands or even millions of people.
Especially arms orders, being typically high-profit and long-term supply contracts, are premium orders... Among all arms contracts, warships are the most expensive, most stable, and most supportive.
An order for just one ship could support dozens of related enterprises for more than half a year. Once the industry is started, creating a specialized military port area is a possibility.
If this is really kicked off, it could easily reach more than ten billion in scale.
"...Looks like, I need to go back for a visit, I must choose the site myself, and also talk face-to-face with the high-level officials of the Ancient City."
Lu Ping’an pondered and looked at the map.
Here he has the technology, capital, and professional personnel; truly mass-producing "Original Wood Warships" is not a difficult task. The key priority is still the site selection.
He hesitates whether to set the Ancient City as the production base... Lu Ping’an’s Ark Warships, once put into mass production and use, have quite remarkable performance limits and cost-effectiveness. Just the cost and speed of construction alone far exceed regular steel warships.
However, to transfer things from the Exotic Realm, the prerequisite is a whole set of "environment".
Corresponding seeds and resources are not big issues, the core is actually the matching "rules"... Rules are the foundation of the environment, those who can construct their "domain" with multiple rules are what is known as the Divine Kingdom.
This actually has a more intuitive real-world example—Secret Realm.
Those who can carry with them and create designated "Rule Secret Realm" are mostly existences above eighth-tier, and if one can really have their "world"... Elder figures like Old Mr. Liu, a Quasi-God, are the baseline.
Such strongmen can construct their own world, stopping the amendments from the True World, and in reality, there’s no fundamental difference from a real Deity.
Indeed, upon calculating, Lu Ping’an surprisingly meets the prerequisites to construct a "world".
The ever-expanding Courtyard is one aspect, whether it’s the Lamp Flower or the Fusang Tree, both are his creations, his Family Clan, containing not just his power, but also deeply linked to his "Divine Kingdom."
Perhaps, if he just lifts the restrictions, allowing the Courtyard to begin corrupting the Earth, he could create a piece of "Secret Realm", a miniature Divine Kingdom of his own, perhaps, he might also need a Church....
"Lu Ping’an!!"
Big Cat’s voice broke Lu Ping’an’s train of thoughts, also making him, who suddenly became sober, break out in a cold sweat.
"Why would I think that way, why would I willingly want to make the Earth exotic..."
Lu Ping’an was a bit scared, feeling that at this moment, he was no longer himself.
But Big Cat, however, could understand.
"This is your instinct, your Divinity... If you don’t want to ascend to Godhood so inexplicably, then keep it under control."
Deities, or beings that possess a part of the World’s Reason, have inherent drives to "verify" through Dao proving to become true natural laws of the world.
Evil Gods and Quasi-Gods constantly face this impulse, or are devoured by this impulse... Rationality can only hold it back for so long; it is an "evolutionary" instinct of a "Life."
Lu Ping’an silently nodded his head; he knew this was due to him suppressing it too much. With the expansion of "certain created ethnic groups," Lu, who has already become a true Creator gathering enough tokens to reach eighth-tier or even higher, is now being tempted by these powers themselves seeking evolution and completion.
"Half of the Quasi-Gods go mad at this stage; unable to Ascend yet tormented by the impulse to prove their path, they ultimately either destroy themselves or are devoured by their own power..."
Big Cat said this seriously, truly not expecting Lu Ping’an to face what had once been her greatest trouble so soon.
In the world of professionals, one either progresses or dies. Progress too swiftly without control and one meets the same end.
"....I still need to use this power."
After some thought, Lu Ping’an still couldn’t resist this "temptation", especially at a time when the current world needed more naval power, he couldn’t refuse this power.
"Are you going to build your own Earthly Divine Kingdom?"
"No, just trying to infiltrate a ’Holy Land’...."
Lu Ping’an hesitated, pointing to the Sunan Mountain on the map... It was a suburban area of the Ancient City, also home to several large Secret Realms and military regions.
Starting from scratch to create an Exotic Realm is difficult, but with the current Lu Ping’an, just infiltrating and controlling existing Exotic Realms was doable.
Most importantly, this was one of the branches of the Yangtze River.
The shipbuilding industry is situated either along the coast or along the river. With the coastlines generally unsafe nowadays, choosing by the riverside is natural which is why both Lu Ping’an and the Eastern Country officials planned to invest in the Ancient City.
It wasn’t because the Ancient City had a unique deep-water port; contrary to this, it was precisely because of the harbour’s terrain that facilitated the docking of large vessels that the Ancient City had become an industrial hub in the past.
After all, whether in the past or present, heavy industries and equipment manufacturing heavily depend on shipping—handling those oversized cargoes is too painful and slow by land.
Flip the map, and one will discover that industrial hubs situated along the river each had very excellent port areas.
Even without considering modern heavy industry, even in the era of wooden ships and sails, regions with docks and cargo handling easily became population centres for new cities.
The site chosen by Lu Ping’an was likely one of the satellite cities of the Ancient City, located downstream of its port area. If developed well, it could be another new Development Zone... If it truly became a shipbuilding and arms base, a brief calculation shows it could easily employ a population of a million.
At this moment, Lu Ping’an deeply felt that now he truly had the power with every word and sentence to change the life and death, rise and fall of a city or region.
"What about security? As an arms production area, it’s bound to receive special attention. The Fishmen will certainly head upstream."
"It doesn’t matter... Even if it doesn’t turn into an industrial or military base, just with the current population and industries of the Ancient City, it would still be a prime target."
"Is the dock deep enough?"
"It might not be sufficient; it can’t accommodate a ten-thousand-ton cargo ship."
"Do we need to dredge the river? Can we coordinate with the Ancient City officials in time?"
"....Let’s act first and report later; I’ll dig it myself."
After some contemplation, Lu Ping’an decided to do the work himself, as clearing the river channel would bring positive outcomes regardless.
If the Ancient City really started mass-producing warships, they would still need to clear the river channel to quickly send ships to the sea. If they wait to hire people for the job later, God knows how many billion in funds and how many months it would take... whereas if he surreptitiously dug now, it might only cost the equivalent of two days and six meals.
"What a pity... The power of a high-level Transcendent could be used in production and wealth-accumulation."
"That’s because they have more urgent needs for their power—the wars never stop, and they probably wouldn’t consider this aspect."
"....I feel that even if wars stopped, they would still channel their powers towards battlefields of other worlds. They are predators; they can’t stop."
"What you said is true, but let’s not talk about this anymore; you are now a top-level Transcendent too, keep some face for yourself."
— End of Chapter 1588 —