Chapter 29
Therefore, now that the Rebel Leader has occupied Chang'an, it feels a bit like the Qin Dynasty losing its deer (losing the throne).
If Lia develops well, when her army marches out of Chang'an to attack Luoyang, she will have a chance to conquer the world. Once Lia receives help from the talents of the hundred schools of thought, that initial chance will turn into a massive opportunity!
This is also why the Confucian School must send people over.
For these people, they never care who the ruler is; they only care whether their doctrines can bring them benefits. This is one of the reasons why Wu Zetian was able to become Empress.
It was enough that Wu Zetian could bring these people benefits; whether she was a woman was not a major issue.
It can be said that Lia's move is extremely clever. So what if you look down on me for being a woman? Won't you still obediently send people over to educate the masses?
Although these Scholars may look down on Lia, they still need to cooperate with her if they want benefits. It can be said that Lia has them completely under her control.
After finishing this matter, Lia thought about what else she could do right now.
Speaking of the Four Divine Artifacts of Transmigration: cement, Glass, steam engine, and flintlock gun.
Currently, only Glass can be produced quickly. Items like cement, steam engine, and flintlock gun are quite difficult right now, but given some time, she can still overcome the challenges.
The Four Sources of Wealth are Soap, White Sugar, Liquor, and Newspaper.
These are easier to handle. As long as she has a little time, they can quickly be put on the agenda.
Finally, there are the Four Magic Treasures: Generator, Ironclad Warship, Power Wheel, and Wireless Radio. These can be buried for now, as the cost of implementation is currently too high.
The Four Essentials to Learn—Poetry, Sketching, Advanced Mathematics, and General History—seem irrelevant to her, as she doesn't need to use academics to show off or flirt.
At least she already has one at home, and that one is extremely jealous, so it's better not to think about such unnecessary things.
Thinking about these things, Lia decided it was best to produce the Four Sources of Wealth first. Only with money could she do other things; without it, she couldn't move an inch.
However, since she is going to establish an Academy, she should first develop Movable Type Printing. This requires Gongsun Zhi, otherwise, it will be troublesome if they run out of time.
Thinking of this, Lia sent someone to call Gongsun Zhi over again.
"My Lord, may I ask why you summoned me?" Having been called by Lia, Gongsun Zhi knew that his Lord was certainly going to ask him to do something strange again today.
"Mr. Gongsun, you've come at a good time. I need you to do something," Lia said directly.
"May I ask what My Lord requires of me?" Gongsun Zhi thought, 'Just as expected.'
"I need you to find a few Scholars to write down all the characters currently used in my Land of Huaxia on some wooden boards. However, the writing must be neat, standardized, and the characters must be written backward." Lia said.
"Huh?" Gongsun Zhi couldn't help but be stunned. Find a wooden board, and write backward? What kind of operation is this?
"My Lord, don't we already have Paper now? Why do we need to write on wooden boards?"
Asking when unsure—this was Gongsun Zhi's excellent quality. Don't fear trouble; if he didn't ask clearly and made a mistake later, the fault would be his!
"Mr. Gongsun, let me ask you, how do current Books come about? Of course, I'm not asking how the Books themselves are made, but how the characters on the Books are produced?" Lia asked.
"Although this humble one cannot recognize too many scripts, I do know this: they are all copied out character by character by those literary Scholars." Gongsun Zhi replied.
"That's right. That's why I asked you to find Scholars and have them write on wooden boards." Lia nodded.
"But if we are copying Books, shouldn't we write on Paper? What does this have to do with writing on wooden boards?" Gongsun Zhi still didn't understand.
"Have you ever considered what would happen if characters were carved onto the wooden boards, and then your Artisans carved out every single character that was written, applied Ink to these characters, and then pressed white Paper onto them?" Lia explained.
"I see! I understand why My Lord asked people to write the characters backward."
Seeing that Gongsun Zhi understood, Lia smiled slightly:
"Exactly. You first carve out the individual Character Molds, then select the individual characters according to the book you need to print, arrange them in a prepared Type-case, apply Ink and print. After printing, the Character Molds can be disassembled and saved for reuse in the next typesetting."
"My Lord, once the method you described is implemented, the supply of Books will no longer be an issue. This is a great benefit for the people for a thousand generations!" As soon as Gongsun Zhi thought about it, he knew how much prestige this matter would bring Lia.
You must understand that for a Scholar today, a single book allows them to read it repeatedly. It is more precious than a Wife, just like a modern Mobile Phone—they cannot be separated from it, or they feel they cannot live.
In ancient times, these people were universally called Bookworms!
Once Lia makes Books less precious, allowing every household to own several copies of the four books and five classics, her prestige would make even Contemporary Great Confucian Scholars envious and hateful, since Lia would have solved the problem of everyone being able to read.
"It's good that you understand. Go handle this matter as quickly as possible. These things must be done before the Academy is established, understood?" Lia said.
"I will go back and arrange these matters right away." Gongsun Zhi nodded.
Since the Printing Technique has been resolved, the next step is how to accumulate wealth.
Although Glass is already in production, the more profitable businesses, the better, right?
Chapter 69: Morgan Plays Her Tricks Again
The Four Sources of Wealth are Soap, White Sugar, Liquor, and Newspaper.
Things like Newspapers are not suitable for production right now, as the common people don't have money at home, and probably no one would spend money to read the news. It will only be suitable after two or three years when every household has spare money.
Among Soap, White Sugar, and Liquor, the easiest to produce is Liquor.
Liquor doesn't need to be produced in huge quantities, but it must be pure and potent! This can be achieved through the Distillation Method.
Although many people say that distilled alcohol methods already existed during the Eastern Han Dynasty, the technique at that time wasn't very effective. At least in this era, the alcohol Lia has tasted is truly subpar.
Otherwise, she wouldn't be thinking about making Distilled Liquor.
Once this Liquor is produced, selling it directly to the High Officials and Nobles will also bring in huge profits.
However, Lia felt she needed to experiment with this herself. She had seen her family distill things when she was young, so she knew how to do it.
The method for making White Sugar is much simpler—much simpler than making Salt.
All you need to do is extract the Sugarcane Juice, boil it repeatedly over high heat a few times, and you can obtain a large amount of sugar. However, this sugar is not white; the white color is achieved through subsequent Decolorization Processing.
There are two methods: one is adding Activated Carbon, and the second is adding Yellow Mud Water. In short, both methods can turn Dark Sugar and Brown Sugar into White Sugar.
The price of White Sugar is often ten times that of ordinary sugar, making it an incredibly lucrative industry!
There was an ancient saying that gold was easy to obtain, but White Sugar was hard to find. It was simply because these ancients hadn't mastered the method.
Lia only needs to produce White Sugar and sell it to the Wealthy People.
She can skip the step of making sugar and just buy the readily available sugar. All she needs to do is process the Dark Sugar and Brown Sugar into White Sugar.
Next is Salt. Although she cannot produce Sea Salt, salt is not limited to just Sea Salt. In our country, salt is divided into many types. As long as she processes the salt into Snowflake Salt, similar to White Sugar, it will surely bring her endless wealth.
Many things that Lia originally couldn't achieve relying on current handicraft techniques might be realized with the help of her Sister's abilities after her arrival.
She can't support her for nothing, right? Since her Sister's food, drink, and lodging are all provided by her, it's reasonable for her to help out in the future, isn't it?
Lia looked at Morgan, who was sitting on a chair, reading the Books Lia had written, a trace of astonishment on her face.
The things Lia wrote were unheard of for the people of this era.
"Sister, do you know Potion Making?" Lia asked.
"Potion Making? Are you going to make some kind of potion?" Morgan put down the book she was reading and looked at Lia curiously.
"It's not exactly a potion. I want to ask if you can create various materials that taste sweet, sour, bitter, spicy, and salty? The kind that people won't get poisoned by even if they eat them."
Morgan thought for a moment and said, "Just ordinary medicine, right? That's not a problem, but what are you going to use these things for?"
"You've tasted the current food, right? It's generally bland. I was thinking of adding some flavor to these ingredients, so I want you to help me research some Seasonings that can improve the taste of food."
Morgan was speechless. She hadn't expected Lia to seek her out just to satisfy her appetite. However, what Lia said did give her some inspiration; indeed, based on the potions she developed, she could change the taste of existing food.
"Alright, give me a few days. I will create some Seasonings that are harmless to the human body and have the flavors you mentioned." Morgan nodded.
"That's wonderful!" Seeing Morgan agree, Lia immediately said happily.
Setting aside some issues, her Sister was actually very agreeable.
That night, as Lia lay in her room, thinking about what she would do tomorrow, a "ding-ding-ding" knocking sound came from outside.
Lia was slightly confused. She looked toward the door and asked, "Who is it?"
"Little Sister, it's me." Morgan's voice sounded from outside the door.
"Morgan?" Lia was puzzled. It was so late; why would she come looking for her instead of resting?
Although confused, Lia still got up from the bed, walked to the door, and opened it.
As soon as Lia opened the door, Morgan's figure suddenly flashed inside, so fast that Lia didn't even react.
"Sister, you..." Lia was just about to say Morgan's name, but the words stopped on her tongue.
Morgan was currently wearing only a Sheer Veil, her snowy white skin visible to the naked eye. Her Silver-White Long Hair was still slightly damp, suggesting she had just finished bathing and rushed over before drying her hair.
"Little Sister, I feel a bit uncomfortable in my stomach, and I wanted you to take a look." Morgan said in a soft, gentle voice. Her eyes were as bright as autumn water, and the downward curve of her eyes added a sense of innocent purity.
"Stomach discomfort? Could it be time to give birth?!" Hearing this, Lia's face showed a hint of panic. She remembered the Midwife saying that Morgan would be due to deliver around this time.
"I don't think so. I don't feel like I'm about to give birth." Seeing Lia's panicked look, a trace of sweetness flashed in Morgan's heart, and she smiled slightly.
"Is that so? But I don't know anything about childbirth, and I don't know what to do. How about we call the Midwife? Although it might inconvenience others, it's necessary for your safety and the safety of the baby inside."
Lia thought for a moment and said.
"No need, no need. It's just a little discomfort, no need for such a big fuss. All I need is for you, Little Sister, to rub it for me." Saying this, Morgan naturally sat down on Lia's bed.
At this moment, Lia still didn't realize that the hardest road she would ever walk was Morgan's Scheme!
Lia watched Morgan sitting on her bed, scratched the back of her head, and felt like something was wrong.
Lia thought about it. Since her Sister needed her to rub her stomach, she would help her rub it.
Lia walked to the bedside, sat next to Morgan, looked at Morgan's stomach, and asked, "Sister, where exactly does your stomach hurt?"
After Lia asked, Morgan proactively parted the Sheer Dress on her body, revealing her fair, tender lower abdomen. A Blue Mark was clearly visible, as well as her lower body, which was temporarily obscured by her crossed legs.
"What are you doing?!" Lia was startled by Morgan's appearance and quickly took a few steps back.
Lia's face turned crimson, and she felt her breathing quicken slightly. The shock her Sister gave her was truly overwhelming.
Chapter 70: Morgan Continues to Seduce Lia
"Of course, it's to have you, Little Sister, rub my stomach. Why are you reacting so strongly? We are both girls and Sisters. Do you think I'm going to eat you?"
Seeing Lia's extreme reaction, Morgan showed a wronged expression on her face.
Lia was speechless. Dare you say that again, considering what you did to me that night last year?
It wasn't that Lia was overly suspicious, but that Morgan had a history!
"Little Sister, stop standing there. Hurry up and come rub it for me. Or do you want me to use a more intimate address before you come over?" Seeing Lia hesitate, Morgan said.
"What address?" Lia was stunned.
"Do you prefer me to call you 'Husband' or 'Wife'?" Morgan whispered into Lia's ear in a gentle tone, like a lover's murmur.
"What Husband and Wife... Don't shout that out in front of people! I haven't fully acknowledged this!" Lia's face felt like it was burning; her entire face was bright red!
If Morgan were to shout that out in public later, where would Lia put her dignity!
"Then aren't you going to come over and rub it for me? If you keep standing there, I don't know what might happen, you know." Seeing this, Morgan spoke with a slightly coercive tone.
Lia thought about it, then walked back to the bedside. She glanced at Morgan's smooth, flat lower abdomen, feeling embarrassed, and turned her head away.
"Then I'll trouble my Husband to rub my stomach for me~" Saying this, Morgan placed both hands on Lia's shoulders and leaned her entire body closer.
Lia felt Morgan's movement, turned her head, and ended up kissing Morgan directly on the cheek.
"I'm s-sorry...!" Lia apologized, blushing.
Because of Lia's action, Morgan blinked. Although she felt a bit shy, she was generally composed and wouldn't express it obviously even if she did.
Her Little Sister seemed to have a Blockhead personality. If Morgan didn't take the initiative, the two of them wouldn't get anywhere.
"It's fine. Now, help me rub it." Morgan placed her hands on Lia's waist, and her head rested diagonally against Lia's chest.
Lia glanced at Morgan's lower abdomen and the unseen deep valley below it, unconsciously swallowed, and her heart thumped exceptionally fast.
After thinking for a moment, Lia slowly extended her hand. Seeing Lia's dawdling manner, Morgan suddenly grabbed Lia's hand and placed it on her own lower abdomen.
"Pat."
The sensation of skin-to-skin contact came from her palm. Feeling the smooth, slippery texture, Lia felt like her heart was melting. She stared blankly at Morgan's lower abdomen, feeling her face grow hotter and hotter.
"Rub it, why don't you?" Seeing Lia remain motionless for so long, Morgan said somewhat irritably. She had already demonstrated that she allowed her Little Sister to touch her freely; surely she wouldn't have to move Lia's hand herself?
Truly a Blockhead!
"Ah, oh." Hearing this, Lia quickly began gently rubbing Morgan's lower abdomen with her palm. She didn't know what expression she was making right now.
But as she continuously rubbed Morgan's lower abdomen, she could feel the Beauty in her arms breathing slightly faster, and the occasional seductive sound that escaped her lips made Lia's heart tremble.