Eternal Life as False Emperor-Chapter 120 - 88: An Alternative Work-for-Relief Program

A few days later, Zheng Yi indeed received the war report.

This war report was written by four people.

The first was Wang Anshi.

The second was Miaoo Xiu.

The third was Chen Wannian.

The fourth was a hidden Shadow Guard within the army.

Two mysterious groups were hidden beside Chen Wannian, Miaoo Xiu, and Shi Heilang.

One group was the Embroidered Uniform Guard, whose apparent task was to monitor the army's movements, but secretly they disguised the identity of the second group.

The Shadow Guard.

Each dispatched commander had one to three Shadow Guards planted under their command.

The purpose was simple, to oversee commanders fighting abroad.

If the commander showed any abnormal behavior or rebellious intent, the Shadow Guard would take action, secretly assassinate the commander, and then take over the army through the Holy Decree.

These four war reports all documented the inexplicable sudden death of the Yongzhou rebel leader, Yellow Heaven King Huang Wa'er.

As it turns out, at the time of the rebellion, Wang Anshi, serving as the Judicial Officer of Yanchang County, had long detected it and wanted to stop it.

Unfortunately, the root of the drought and civil unrest in Yanchang County was deeply entrenched, and he couldn't solve it in a short time.

Helplessly, he could only gather a batch of the Official Army for self-protection.

Sure enough, by the first of July, the rebellion had already occurred, with the mob capturing the government office and killing all the officials.

But Wang Anshi, being prepared early on, escaped from calamity.

He hid among the chaos, and when the mob besieged Chang'an Prefecture, he quietly slipped away, heading north to contact Tian Wenjing, the Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Official Personnel Affairs, who was overseeing the excavation of the Canglong River Grand Canal, and Lu Lian, the Embroidered Uniform Guard Deputy Commander.

The three of them convened and discussed, especially since Wang Anshi, having been hidden among the rebels for the past few months, had some understanding of their situation.

With his strong push, Tian Wenjing and Lu Lian gritted their teeth and agreed.

They dispatched three hundred elite soldiers and ten Embroidered Uniform Guards, led by Wang Anshi, to quietly infiltrate the rebels and return to Huang Wa'er's army.

One day.

Taking advantage of Huang Wa'er coercing his army to continue besieging Chang'an Prefecture unsuccessfully, and while the entire rebel camp was sound asleep, they directly trampled through the military camp on horseback.

Over three hundred individuals set fires throughout the rebel army camp, with the conflagration spreading over half the camp, causing the rebel army to cry out in chaos.

Taking advantage of this turmoil, Wang Anshi personally led more than thirty elite soldiers to charge into Huang Wa'er's military formation.

Huang Wa'er's personal soldiers, in their panic, were directly scattered by the elite soldiers led by Wang Anshi.

And Huang Wa'er was also personally decapitated by Wang Anshi.

It wasn't until deep into the night that the people in Chang'an Prefecture noticed the commotion here and dispatched troops to chase and beat the rebel army, completely crushing Huang Wa'er's forces, the largest rebel group in Yongzhou.

After one night, over thirty thousand were killed, with negligible own losses, along with capturing tens of thousands and countless supplies and provisions.

The bandit leader was beheaded, and the Yongzhou rebel army, which had changed its previous direction, was being pursued and suppressed by the Official Army everywhere.

The armies led by Chen Wannian, Miaoo Xiu, and Shi Heilang had already joined forces with Chang'an Prefecture's county soldiers to jointly combat the rebel forces.

After this battle, the Yongzhou rebel army was like grasshoppers after autumn, not able to last for a few more days.

"Hahaha, Wang Anshi, not bad, not bad, truly someone I had my eye on!"

Zheng Yi laughed heartily, this session of the great examination's top three showed Wang Anshi as the best performer.

Li Ziyang...had already perished among the rebel forces, truly a pity.

And Chui Xiazhao, as the top scholar, also performed commendably.

When Wang Anshi led troops to trample the rebel camp, the initial chaos was significant, but numerous officials in Chang'an Prefecture were too timid to act, fearing it might be a ploy of the rebel forces.

This made Chui Xiazhao angrily scold the numerous officials, saying the rebels were a bunch of bumpkins, what kind of strategy could they have?

Besides, even if it was a strategy, they wouldn't burn their own camp, would they! 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

Afterwards, under the coercive persuasion of Chui Xiazhao, who even mentioned his own father, he reluctantly managed to persuade the officials of Chang'an Prefecture to dispatch county soldiers to assault the rebel camp.

Otherwise, it was uncertain whether Wang Anshi and the others could have survived.

Regrettably, out of the three hundred and ten who charged into the formation, only twenty-seven survived!

Having read the war report, Zheng Yi could not help but feel a surge of emotion, highly praising these twenty-seven individuals.

He immediately ordered Liu Cheng'en to record: "To storm the rebel camp, these twenty-seven are people of great loyalty and righteousness!"

"Pass my decree, reward each of these twenty-seven with one hundred acres of land and one hundred taels of silver, with double the reward for their fallen comrades, and promote them three ranks!"

"Yes!"

"Wang Anshi's loyalty and righteousness are unparalleled, and Chui Xiazhao's courage and righteousness are without peer; they are to remain temporarily within the Yongzhou army as Left and Right Chief Historians, and after the pacification of the Yongzhou rebels, I shall bestow further honors!"

"Yes!"

Liu Cheng'en quickly went down to convey the decree, and someone from the Ministry of Industry also sought an audience.

"This humble servant, Kuang Zhengren, Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Industry, greets Your Majesty!"

"Rise, my loyal minister, what important matters do you have?"

"Reporting to Your Majesty, following Your Majesty's suggestion, our ministry's officials have developed the latest model of the Jacquard Machine, with weaving efficiency more than ten times that of the previous ordinary hand-spinning machines!"

"Moreover, it's easy to operate; a skilled person can learn it in half a day, making it very convenient."

Zheng Yi's eyes lit up, saying: "Well done, all involved shall be rewarded."

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

Amid this period, as the Yongzhou rebels were causing chaos, Zheng Yi was not idle either.

In his speculation, perhaps due to the Little Ice Age, the entire Great Yu was akin to the Great Ming of his previous life, with continual natural and manmade disasters.

The root cause, he believed, was the excessive land annexation, leaving vast numbers of people with no land to cultivate and no food to eat, forcing them onto the path of rebellion.

For the past two to three years, intelligence gathered by the Embroidered Uniform Guard throughout Great Yu showed that the environment in Great Yu had suddenly changed in many ways.

Previously drought-stricken regions like Binzhou, Qingzhou, and Yongzhou had experienced several consecutive heavy rains in the past two years, while the frequency of floods in the south had decreased.

In many places, the common people had been unable to survive, only to find food production suddenly increased slightly.

Coupled with Zheng Yi's continuous support for disaster relief, many refugees have had a meal to eat, thus ceasing to rebel.

Zheng Yi speculated it might be related to the five strands of Innate Spiritual Qi!

Under the nourishment of the Innate Spiritual Qi, not only can the Spiritual Qi content of Great Yu be increased, but it can also adjust the destiny of Great Yu, warding off the Little Ice Age.

Causing the whole world to become warmer, with abundant rainfall, a warmer climate, dramatically reducing natural disasters.

Refugees are able to survive, having food to eat, hence stopping rebellions.

Yet how to handle so many disaster victims has become a headache for Zheng Yi.

After much contemplation, he could only think of the Punishment Field and labor-for-relief methods.

Punishment Field has already been implemented, and besides the Grand Canal, Zheng Yi has set his sights on commerce for the labor-for-relief method.

Or rather, a planned economy, state-owned factories!

Zheng Yi asked again, "What about the other things?"

"To Your Majesty."

Kuang Zhengren said, "The proposals for cement, glass, soap, refined salt, and spirits that Your Majesty requested have all been successfully developed, only the perfume has not yet succeeded."

"However, we have already gained a lot of experience. At most, in half a month's time, it will be successfully developed!"

"Very good!"

Zheng Yi said with satisfaction.

These items, he has some memories of their manufacturing methods, but is not expert.

No problem, where he lacks expertise, others will fill the gap.

He only needs to outline the key steps for producing these items, and the people from the Ministry of Industry can eventually develop them through extensive research.

Zheng Yi continued, "Continue to have people build factories outside the city while recruiting refugees, teaching them the relevant production knowledge, and temporarily providing them with lodging and food."

"These refugees, will be my employees in the future, and must not be neglected."

"Understood!"

"You may go."

Cement, glass, soap, spirits, and refined salt, these were all methods he devised to 'use industry to relieve poverty.'

If he transmigrated as an ordinary person, having developed these things, sooner or later they would be taken by those in power.

But now as an Emperor, who dares to touch him?

In the 5th year of Zhengyong, on August 20th.

The Great Yu First Cement Chemical Plant was established, with an initial batch of over 1,200 employees.

The daily production capacity was 200 tons of cement.

This cement was prioritized for use in building the 'Great Yu First Special Economic Zone' factory buildings, worker accommodations, and roads.

In the 5th year of Zhengyong, on August 21st.

Great Yu Royal Chamber of Commerce was established, with Zheng Yi serving as president, and Empress Lu Lin'er, Consort Xu Qingluan, and Consort Li Changle serving as vice presidents.

On the day of its establishment, a main store for the Great Yu Royal Chamber of Commerce was set up in Yongxing Square, in the south of the Capital City, attracting countless citizens to watch.

The Great Yu Royal Chamber of Commerce was also personally founded by Zheng Yi.

The objectives are threefold.

First, to sell high-end goods produced by his own factories.

Such as soap, fine wines, perfumes, gold and silver products, etc.

He plans to develop the Great Yu Royal Chamber of Commerce into this world's high-end luxury goods chamber, catering exclusively to Royal Relatives, Noble Clans.

Only they can afford to spend money on so many luxury goods.

Initially, they might support it slightly out of respect for the Royal Family.

But over time, and with the Publicity Department's continual promotion, the Great Yu Royal Chamber of Commerce becoming synonymous with luxury goods is only a matter of time.

Second, to give the women of the harem something to do.

The constant turmoil in the harem, aside from reasons related to Zheng Yi, is mostly due to idleness!

As long as you give them something to do, their energy for secret rivalries would be greatly reduced.

Mahjong, cards, fragrances, and other forms of entertainment serve this purpose.

The Royal Chamber of Commerce also serves this purpose.

For example, Consort Xu Qingluan, after becoming the vice president of the Great Yu Royal Chamber of Commerce, Zheng Yi also gave her the position of factory director.

Of course, proper management is still handled by the eunuchs and people from the Ministry of Industry.

Every few days, she has to go out for inspection.

Everyone's interests are different; Xu Qingluan and Li Changle love their careers, while Empress Lu Lin'er prefers managing the various consorts in the harem.

He's too lazy to care, as long as they're happy.

As for Noble Consort Cui, she has always been cultivating in Jiaofang Hall, and Zheng Yi also frequently stays overnight at Jiaofang Hall.

Their cultivation levels are visibly increasing rapidly.

In the 5th year of Zhengyong, on August 25th.

The Great Yu First Glassware Factory was established, with an initial batch of over 800 employees.

In the 5th year of Zhengyong, on September 1st, Zhao Suling advanced to Innate.

Zheng Yi held a celebration for Zhao Suling at Baiyu City, with over a thousand attendees to congratulate her. This news quickly spread throughout Great Yu.

In the 5th year of Zhengyong, on September 2nd.

The Great Yu First Soap Factory was established, with an initial batch of over 700 employees.

The initial product was solely soap, but it stirred up a sensation in the Capital City, with countless people scrambling to buy soap.

Great Yu Soap, divided into three different grades.

Ordinary soap, made from ordinary fats, priced at five cents, targeting the commoners, unfortunately, sales were bleak, with only over eighty sold on the first day.

Top-grade soap, made from fats and fragrance powders, priced at one thousand coins, targeting ordinary merchants and middle-class households. Sales were decent.

Premium soap, made from fats, fragrance powders, and special essential oils, priced at three taels of silver, targeting Noble Clans and major merchants. Sales were booming.

Days later, Zheng Yi adjusted the strategy and dumped all ordinary soaps to merchant runners for sale.

While the Royal Chamber of Commerce sold only top-grade and premium soaps, catering to the wealthy and the young masters of Noble Families.

In the 5th year of Zhengyong, on September 10th.

Consort Yue Miaoo Yuesheng became pregnant, and Miaoo Xiu from Yongzhou offered five tiger skins, seventeen snow fox skins, ten thousand-year Heaven Mountain Snow Lotus, and countless gold and silver as congratulatory gifts.

In the 5th year of Zhengyong, on September 15th.

The Great Yu First Distillery was established, with an initial batch of over 1,600 employees.

The daily production capacity was 1,000 tons of spirits, which immediately swept across the Capital City.

The spirits were used in all the receptions of officials and wealthy merchants, earning the titles of 'Zhengyong Wine' and 'Royal Wine!'

Every day, the spirits produced by the distillery were snapped up by large hotels in the city, people from the Royal Family, and members of Noble Clans, leaving supply short of demand.

In the 5th year of Zhengyong, on October 1st.

The Great Yu First Textile Factory was established, with an initial batch of over 3,800 employees.

Apart from over two hundred strong transport workers, the rest of the workforce was entirely composed of female spinners.

In the 5th year of Zhengyong, on October 30th.

The Great Yu First Perfume Factory was established.

On that day, the first batch of perfume was released, causing an immediate sensation throughout the harem and the Capital City.