Chapter 174.3 – Remorse Outside The Country

Their days went on as usual.

Zhao Jinge helped Jiang Zhen with the various political affairs that should be handled by the Prime Minister as usual, while also worrying about Zhao Mingzhu’s potential marriage.

Zhao Jinge was quite worried about Zhao Mingzhu continuing to postpone getting married, but he was also afraid of pressuring her. He couldn’t talk to her about it, and only spoke of his worries in front of Jiang Zhen.

“Our daughter can have a good life even if she doesn’t get married. If she marries and she has a bad life, what is the point of her marriage?” Jiang Zhen said. He was not going to care about his children’s marriages. They were adults, so why should he have to find lovers for them?

This would be too useless!

Zhao Jinge also thought like this.

The Republic of China was doing very well. No man was allowed to take concubines, while women were allowed to work. There was still a lot of work in the family that was pushed to women, like child care. It was the women’s responsibility to bring them up.

If his Mingzhu was mistreated…

Zhao Jinge decided never to rush his daughter.

Two days after this decision, the emissaries from Daqi arrived in the capital of China.

The three representatives from Daqi had already learned a lot about the Republic of China and the more they knew, the more amazed they were.

If nothing else, they traveled in horse drawn carriage.

In Daqi, the roads outside the city were basically all mud roads while the roads in the city were paved with stones, making them bumpy. However, the Republic of China’s roads were smooth and clean!

They didn’t even feel bumps on the way over!

Also, they could see various flat rice fields, smiling people and happily playing children.

They also heard that the Republic of China wouldn’t collect taxes from farmers for the first few years!

Originally, since the Republic of China has been established for only five or six years, they thought this place would still be in chaos, but the reality? The whole place was actually pretty calm.

The people of Daqi and the former Toyo people were all living together in a mix, with nothing bad happening!

Qi Qing was amazed, and Zheng Yi couldn’t help but admire it from the bottom of his heart. Even so, he also knew that behind this peace, there was actually bloodshed.

As far as he knows, two years ago a group of Toyo pirates, who had been burning and looting in Daqi for a long time, and gradually growing in size, tried to steal back their country from Jiang Zhen but ended up being killed by him.

Moreover, although the country of China was established only five or six years ago, Jiang Zhen has been operating here for ten years before that.

Of course, the reason Jiang Zhen was able to do it was mainly because the country was not large.

Jiang Zhen has always been in business, and by making money from it and collecting taxes on business, he has been able to maintain the operation of this country. This being the case, he naturally didn’t need to bother people who cultivated the land.

At first, Zhou Maohe couldn’t help criticizing Jiang Zhen, but later he became silent.When they finally arrived at the capital of the Republic and discovered that Jiang Zhen and Zhao Jinge still didn’t come to meet them, Zhou Maohe became angry again.

But it was useless for him to be angry.

“His Majesty and the Lord Prime Minister are now at the Research Institute, please come over.” The person who came to greet them was Wang Daniu, Wang Haisheng’s son. He was smiling and didn’t care about Zhou Maohe’s ugly expression.

It wasn’t only because he wasn’t afraid of Zhao Maohe, but also because he didn’t take him seriously.

When Zhao Maohe sensed that, he became even angrier but Wang Daniu had already turned around and left.

Also, he had actually changed his name, so he was no longer called Wang Daniu but Wang Zhenhua.

In the whole Republic of China, there were many people with the same name as him.

In the past, when they lived in Hexi Village, if someone shouted “Daniu” several people would respond, but now if you shouted “Zhenhua” in China there were many people who would respond.

Although Zhou Maohe was reluctant, he still followed Wang Daniu to the research institute with the others.

The research institute covered a very, very large area, so even after traveling by carriage it was a long time before it finally stopped by the fence.

Zheng Yi and the others got off the carriage and were led through the gate of the fence to go inside, but just as they entered a sudden loud noise startled them.

Where did such a loud noise come from? What the hell is going on?

Zheng Yi was so scared that his heart started to beat faster as he looked forward and saw dust and smoke coming from the distance.

Was this artillery?

Zheng Yi was thinking this when he heard another loud bang, followed by another cannon explosion right in front of them.

The ground trembled and a heat wave rushed toward them making them retreat. They controlled their urge to turn around and run away. As the smoke cleared, they saw the place where the artillery exploded now had a big crater.

Daqi also had artillery so Zheng Yi had seen a lot of artillery before, but this was the first time he saw such powerful artillery.

Was Jiang Zhen going to give them a hard time?

Zheng Yi felt some amusement as he turned to look at Zhou Maohe and Qi Qing. He found that Zhou Maohe was stunned, while Qi Qing’s face showed even more remorse than before.

If Daqi had such powerful artillery, they wouldn’t have to fear the Rong army, let alone rebels.

However, now this artillery was not in the hands of Daqi but Jiang Zhen. If Jiang Zhen turned against Daqi…. Zhou Maohe and Qi Qing’s expressions changed a little.

“Please come inside.” Wang Zhenhua spoke again.

Wang Zhenhua led these three people as he continued to walk inside, bypassing the place where the artillery was tested, and eventually came to a green lawn.

The grass here was very lush so there should be nothing dangerous, but not far away there was some connected iron construction put together, while people came in and out of it. They didn’t know what these people were doing.

Zheng Yi and others were still wondering when they saw some people standing on a high platform not far away, and the people surrounded in the middle were Jiang Zhen and Zhao Jinge.

They went there, and just as they approached the high platform, they suddenly heard a strange noise.

They looked over and saw smoke coming out of the head of the front section of that strange iron construction.

What was that? Zheng Yi and others wondered as the iron construction that was linked together suddenly moved.

What the hell was that?

It didn’t have horses to move it, so how could this iron construction move on its own?

What else did Jiang Zhen come up with? Zheng Yi started to wonder.

What kind of demonic magic did Jiang Zhen use? Zhou Maohe and Qi Qing standing under bright sun suddenly felt cold.

Jiang Zhen, who stood on the high platform suddenly looked at them but then moved his gaze to the train.

After three years of hard work, the steam engine research was finally successful and the first train was constructed.

The craftsmen of China were always very smart, and with him giving the direction of research, the result came out very fast.

Jiang Zhen made a long, round railway track here.

This train was in fact much smaller than a real train and it drove forward on the tracks at a very slow speed, but as it started its second circle, it started to go faster.

After it raced around for some time it slowly stopped.

It slowly stopped, but Zheng Yi and his companions’ heartbeat did not stop.

They saw clearly that this iron construction was moving without horses and cattle pulling it and without anyone pushing it. There was also nothing under it except some wheels.

How on earth did Jiang Zhen do it? Why did he come up with such a thing?

Was this a threat to Daqi?

Qi Qing looked at Jiang Zhen and decided to approach Jiang Zhen first, but was stopped before he could get close.

“Jiang Zhen, what happened at that time was my fault. Today I am here to apologize!” Qi Qing said, kneeling on the ground.

Jiang Zhen stood on the high platform and looked at Qi Qing from his high position.

When he left Daqi, he knew that Qi Qing would regret it.

At that time, thinking that Qi Qing would regret it one day made him happy, so he always wanted to meet Qi Qing in person once again. Yet now that Qi Qing was kneeling in front of him, he suddenly felt that it was no longer necessary.

However, even if Jiang Zhen didn’t care about Qi Qing anymore Zhao Jinge did.

Stepping down from the platform, Zhao Jinge walked towards Qi Qing. “Since this is a plea for punishment, how can there be no punishment? Someone, find some thorns for Marquis Qi.”

“Yes!” Someone answered, and then quickly brought the thorns that Zhao Jinge had already prepared before.

After the thorns were brought, Zhao Jinge asked someone to tie them to Qi Qing’s back.

Seeing that he was already so old but still making trouble for others like this, Jiang Zhen felt it was very interesting and cute.

However, others obviously didn’t think so.

“You bully people too much!” Zhou Maohe exclaimed, looking angrily at Zhao Jinge.

However, Zhao Jinge just ignored him just like Wang Zhenhua did before, not putting him in his eyes at all.

Zhou Maohe hated when people ignored him and wanted to say something, but a guard came over and covered his mouth.

He was no longer able to speak.

Zhou Maohe had always thought that what he was going to do this time was very simple. He thought that in order to get the approval of the imperial court, Jiang Zhen and Zhao Jinge would definitely accept the imperial court decree, and then help the imperial court stop the rebellion, but now it seems…

Zhou Maohe suddenly panicked.

Jiang Zhen and Zhao Jinge did not say much to them. Zhao Jinge just watched Qi Qing carry thorns on his back as he left.

Zheng Yi and Zhou were not sent back until an hour later. Qi Qing, who was no longer young but knelt for a long time, fell ill. Zhou Maohe also fell ill but from anger.

A doctor was sent to them, but Jiang Zhen and Zhao Jinge never saw them again.

“What do they mean by this?” Zhou Maohe asked.

What else could they mean? They didn’t plan to help Daqi.

If Zheng Yi was Jiang Zhen, he would certainly not let the people under him help others at the risk of their own lives.

What’s more, even if they did, they might not be able to save Daqi.

However, he could not say this to Zhou Maohe directly so he simply just stopped talking and gave him a wry smile.

It made Zhou Maohe even angrier.

Zheng Yi comforted him and then returned to his room to read the newspaper again.

After another day, Zheng Yi met with Jiang Zhen.

“I never thought that our meeting would be like this.” Seeing Jiang Zhen, Zheng Yi became a bit emotional.

“Yes.” Jiang Zhen said. More than ten years have passed and a lot has changed. Zheng Yi, who was was once a handsome young master was now a slightly obese middle-aged man.

“China is developing very well.” Zheng Yi added.

“So, do you want to come?” Jiang Zhen asked. “What I lack most now is people. But if you want to live in the Republic of China you must abide by the laws of China.”

“Show me.” Zheng Yi said.

Jiang Zhen had already prepared for this and gave Zheng Yi several thick books.

It was printed in traditional Chinese characters so Zheng Yi could read it without any obstacles, and after he read it for a while, he said: “I need to study it.” He has already made up his mind to come to here, but if he wanted to live here permanently he needed to know more about China.

“Alright.” Jiang Zhen said.

The laws of China, in some places, were something that would make the privileged class in Daqi uncomfortable, but Daqi was at war now so staying there could cost one’s life at any time.

He believed that Zheng Yi would definitely choose to come to the Republic of China but he was also afraid that some other people would also choose to come to China.

Of course, China would not accept everyone. People like Zhou Maohe were not welcome. If he wanted to stay here he would need to carry out an ideological reform first.

Zheng Yi and others stayed in the Republic of China for a month, gained nothing and eventually could only return back in disappointment.

A few months later, the Zheng family came to the Republic of China together with the Hu family and several other families.

Even the Second Master Zheng came.

It was then that Jiang Zhen became aware that the last reliance of the Imperial Family of Daqi, a general from the south side of the Yangtze River, unexpectedly stood up as a king and no longer followed imperial court orders!

Today, Daqi was in complete chaos, because the current Emperor of Daqi liked to blame his defeat in the war on the uselessness of the military generals.

From the beginning of the siege of the rebels to now, he cut off the heads of not yet of a hundred generals, but eighty. It was no wonder that the generals rebelled.

By now Daqi basically could no longer be saved, so Second Master Zheng had to find a way out.

Of course, he didn’t want to come, but Zheng Yi wanted to go. If he was left alone, he could only await his death so he finally decided to also come to China.

After the first group of people came, one after another many more from Daqi came to China.

Once here, they had to comply with the laws, so many people were dissatisfied, but people knew how to bow their heads when they looked for shelter so they gradually got used to it.

Moreover, it’s actually quite nice here, with many new and exciting things.

The spacious roads were not the rarest thing now. There was a train that moved without horses and could transport a lot of goods which was loved the most by people.

The Republic of China’s first railroad led from the capital to the port of Wangxiang. Thanks to such a railway, it took only one day to travel between the two places, and the transportation of goods become much easier and faster.

The train would make a rumbling sound and sitting inside would be unpleasant but people still loved it.

The first train left in front of Jiang Zhen.

With roar it moved.

The Republic of China would also certainly develop.