Chapter 1156 – Saving Great Xia's Life
In the blink of an eye, it was the 25th day of the 1st month.
It was originally a pretty normal day, but Gaia suddenly announced a new system hotfix, "Regarding global alliances, regardless of whether allies are within the same continent or not, they cannot undergo cross region teleportation."
Hotfixes were normal matters, but the unusual thing was the timing.
Less than a month had passed since the 6th update, and Gaia's current update just felt rushed and randomly thought up.
If not, why was not it placed together with the update?
The details of the hotfix left a lot to be desired. Before the hotfix, global alliances only could not have cross continental teleportation, and they could still teleport within a continent like Java and Luzon from before.
Now, Gaia had totally stopped that.
This was great for Great Xia, but it would obviously be a painful setting for both Silver Hand and Azure Badge, these two super global alliances.
Even then, Ouyang Shuo did not think much about it, turning around and getting busy. What he did not know was that this seemingly unassuming hotfix had saved Great Xia's life.
...
Dawson Dynasty, Free City.
After the Federation disbanded, the city in the skies belonged solely to Gaia. The ex-Federation President and the five fingers of Silver Hand all fell from grace and returned to the home of their various powers.
Silver Hand's Number 1 naturally returned to Free City.
Listening to the system hotfix, Number 1's face turned black, and he angrily said, "Gaia, you are obviously being biased!"
After Skynet took control of the Federation authority, Silver Hand had been plotting to wipe out Great Xia. Coincidentally, this plan was exactly the same as the one Azure Badge had.
During this period of time, the two organizations had started to form up a detailed battle plan, gathering the powers of both organizations to launch an apocalyptic war on Great Xia to try to wipe it out.
And teleportation was the key element.
The Romanov Dynasty stretched from Europe to Asia. Originally, they wanted to gather strength in Europe then teleport to the Romanov Dynasty. After that, they would use this bridge to teleport to Great Zhou.
This was a perfect plan that could give Great Xia a fatal blow.
Who would have expected that Gaia would notice that and block this loophole. How could they not be angry?
"Since we cannot swallow it in one go, we can only slowly bite away!" Number 1 sighed. Currently, his eyes were shining coldly. It was obvious that he did not give up on wiping out Great Xia.
As long as the two organizations worked together, it would be hard for Great Xia to struggle out of it.
...
Shanhai City, Xia Palace.
Naturally, Ouyang Shuo did not know that he had just walked out of the gates of hell. He was meeting the Industrialization Department Director Chen Bingguang.
In just two days, the Imperial Court would go on break and officially enter the Chinese New Year break. Using this final period of time, Ouyang Shuo summoned Chen Bingguang to settle on the huge strategy for the next year.
Before the New Year, the Industrialization Department handed a report to the Cabinet to do an overall evaluation of the dynasty's industrialization. On this foundation, it raised up a suggestion to industrialize the entire dynasty.
Regarding this report, the Cabinet had done many rounds of discussions and debates, basically agreeing with the Industrialization Department. Ouyang Shuo was meeting Chen Bingguang to make the final arrangements.
After confirming this, the New Year would begin in full swing.
The so-called full-scale industrialization describe two layers, and these were both full-scale of the industry and full-scale of the region.
On the region side, it was easy to understand. Before this, Great Xia's industrialization work was mainly focused on Shanhai City, Steel City, and some other very few cities. The plan was to go all out through the entire territory.
As for the industry side, the situation was more complicated.
In the two years of industrialization, thanks to the hard work of the Industrialization Department, No.7 Research Institute, and other such organizations, with the steam engine as the basis, they engaged in a series of research and development, obtaining huge progress.
Steam hammer, drill, mechanical lathe, internal combustion engine, motor, rubber, and other symbolic products were all developed and set up a firm foundation for all round industrialization.
The next step would be to develop large-scale machines and electric systems.
It would influence each and every industry, leading to a rise in quality. For example, mining with the help of machines would have its efficiency increased by 10 times and make minefield development much easier.
The metallurgy industry would also welcome change. Apart from steel, tin, and similar metals, rarer metal making would become possible.
The appearance of machine tools would make development and creation of smaller and more precise parts as well as the assemblage of huge machines possible. Rubber would lead to a seismic shift in the raw material department.
The ones who would benefit greatly from industrialization would be the military industry.
With the support of sufficient metals, siege chariots, arrow towers, and other siege weapons would be made of metal. Not only would it be more flexible, but it would also have higher killing strength.
The production of firearms would also give rise to the adjustment of military types.
The Privy Court has already met with the Grand Council to form a military soldier type adjustment plan. The would try to complete the first equipment change of the various legion corps by the end of the 6th year of Gaia.
The focus would be the archers and archer cavalry.
The use of firearms was simple, but it was not simple to point where one could use it once one got their hands on it. One needed long-term shooting training before one could use it in battle.
On this aspect, archers had a natural advantage, and it was the easiest for them to get used to firearms.
Based on the plan, gunners would slowly replace archers and become the long-range force of Great Xia Army. As for the spearmen, heavy armored swordsmen, sword-shield soldiers, and heavy armored cavalry, they would still remain.
The appearance of beasts and the strength increase of soldiers hinted at one matter. By relying on thermal weapons alone, one would not be able to gain a stable footing on Planet Hope. Even the Federation's laser weapons would not work.
Personal strength, or rather, physical prowess, from cold weapons was the best way to face beasts. Not only could not it be weakened, but one must strengthen this aspect.
The future development of Great Xia's army would be on these two fronts.
As for the firearm forces, to lead the various legions into completing the change in soldier type, Ouyang Shuo decided to disband the fully built Household Legion Corps 1st legion and split them into the various legions corps to act as teachers.
Zuo Zongtang, Zeng Guoquan, and Oda Nobunaga would be the main teachers.
Within the Imperial Reading Room.
Ouyang Shuo spent a full morning talking to Chen Bingguang before settling on all the crucial details of the industrialization plan. It would wait till after the New Year before it was pushed out.
"During this New Year, I'll have to busy you." Ouyang Shuo smiled.
Since the details were settled, the Industrialization Department naturally needed to work overtime to make the final adjustments and ensure that nothing was missed out.
Chen Bingguang was a work maniac and smiled, "Doing this is more fun than going on holiday."
"But you cannot forget about family."
Since the start of the territory, Ouyang Shuo had placed a lot of emphasis on the family concept.
Chen Bingguang nodded his head, turning around and leaving.
...
1st month, 27th day, the day before the break.
The Imperial Court released its last decree, upgrading 3rd class Marquis Mulan Yue and Bai Hua to duchess and Gong Chengshi and Wufu to 1st class Marquis, effective immediately.
Apart from that, there were a batch of civil servants and generals who received an increase in rank, including some generals who joined in after Great Xia established its country.
This round of rank awarding was a conclusion to the year and also the warm up for the upcoming year.
After Ouyang Shuo reached the Son of Heaven rank, the restrictions on the ranks he could give to the officials was removed. Not only could he give the duke rank, but he could even directly give prince and princess ranks.
However, as the power of prince was too high, Ouyang Shuo naturally would not easily give it out.
Even so, Mulan Yue and Bai Hua upgrading to duke was shocking enough. Putting them in other territories, they could establish a dynasty.
Wufu and Gong Chengshi joined Great Xia a little later. Naturally, they would take a longer time.
The rank was based on Ouyang Shuo's preference and mostly based on the merits judged by the Imperial Court. When Gaia evaluated the achievement value, rank was an important consideration.
In the future, Ouyang Shuo would not exclude the possibility of giving Great Xia players ranks.
Xia Palace.
After sending out the last decree, Ouyang Shuo got up and left the Imperial Reading Room to go back to the Wuji Hall to sleep. He would toss aside dynasty politics for a while and spend a happy holiday with his family.
Great Xia had a vast territory, and they could go to the Xilin farm to experience the joy of farming, Maldives for a holiday, or a trip to Africa or even Europe.
While resting, they could even go offline and talk in the private room of the spaceship.
Of course, as the king of Great Xia, there were some occasions that Ouyang Shuo needed to attend like the various dinners, invites, commoner parties, and the like.
All in all, it would be a really busy holiday period.