Damn it, I'm in the garbage book I wrote

Chapter 835 That's enough, more than enough.
The Nanzhao Kingdom, strictly speaking, can't even be considered a kingdom anymore; it's more like an alliance of a dozen or so tribes. Their harassment of this area is really just out of jealousy of its development. What else could they possibly want? The girls dancing naked here?

They don't even wear clothes when they dance.

"How many people did Second Brother take with him this time?"

“Around three thousand men.” Xu Shiji put on a confident expression. “But don’t worry, your second brother-in-law is no saint.”

“I know that, I’m just worried he’ll get taken advantage of.”

Upon hearing Xia Lin's words, Xu Shiji simply smiled without saying a word. Seeing his expression, Xia Lin realized that the person in front of him was Xu Shiji, the former leader of the Four Young Masters. In terms of military ability alone, he was basically only slightly inferior to Li Jing, and even slightly superior to Li Shimin.

With such a commander and a fierce general like his second brother, taking down that lousy and hopeless Nanzhao would be a piece of cake.

"Understood, please don't be offended, Lao Xu."

"You, after all these years, you still haven't changed your arrogant nature. I know you are unparalleled in the world, but there are heroes and great men in this world. Your second brother is not capable of conquering Nanzhao so easily. I originally planned to tell you after the great success, but I didn't expect you to come ahead of time."

Xu Shiji certainly wouldn't claim that he was one of the heroes of the world, as that would be too arrogant. So he brought up his second brother instead.

But the two men present knew perfectly well that while the second brother was indeed brave, he was just a pure military general, and in the end, they would still have to rely on Xu Shiji to win the battle against Nanzhao.

However, judging from his expression, he seemed very confident, so Xia Lin didn't say anything more. Saying more would only make it seem like he didn't trust Brother Xu.

"By the way, you just said you would give me a chance, tell me about it."

Seeing that Xu Shiji had changed the subject, Xia Lin didn't dwell on the Nanzhao issue any further. Instead, he said, "Here's the thing: I'm leading the advance party, and His Majesty will arrive shortly after. Besides His Majesty, there will also be a delegation of nearly a thousand merchants from Fuliang, Jinling, Ningbo, and other places. We'll be forming trade routes with various regions along the way. Brother Xu, don't you think this is a great opportunity?"

Xu Shiji rolled his eyes and laughed, "I was wondering why you suddenly came to this remote and impoverished place. Back then, you said you would hand this land over to me and your second brother, and then we never heard from you again. We thought you had forgotten about us."

"No, no," Xia Lin waved his hand and said, "If I had really forgotten about you, why would I have come all this way?"

Xu Shiji was naturally overjoyed upon receiving the news. After all, this place was too remote and nestled in the mountains. Although a road had indeed been built in the past two years, it still faced the situation where outside merchants were unwilling to come in, and it was inconvenient for goods inside to be taken out.

To put it bluntly, it's all about poverty. If a place becomes impoverished, it's truly a case of "even a skilled cook can't cook without rice." It was already quite remarkable that Xu Shiji was able to relocate the tribes from the mountains together over a few years. Development... that would be extremely difficult.

"My idea is that it would be too difficult to develop agriculture or industry here. My plan is to turn this place into a tourist base."

Xu Shiji raised an eyebrow: "Explain in detail."

Xia Lin is actually quite concerned about the development of this area, but there are really no better options in the mountainous region. It's not feasible to implement the "Cloud Guizhou" strategy right now, and farming isn't suitable here either. The only two industries are mining and tourism, but the problem is that mining is a large-scale business, and it's not worth the effort due to transportation constraints. Therefore, tourism has become the only way for this area to move from solving basic needs to achieving a basic level of prosperity.

Don't underestimate the cost of tourism; development takes time and must be tailored to local conditions. At the very least, we need to get this place noticed, right?
Breaking down stereotypes is more important than anything else.

"So where do you see the potential for development here?"

Xu Shiji naturally asked sincerely. When it came to leading troops in battle, he was indeed no less capable than Xia Lin, but when it came to governing the country, even a proud and arrogant hero like himself had to admire Xia Lin wholeheartedly.

So when Xia Lin asked, he was naturally full of anticipation.

“Spectacular sights, unique scenery, extraordinary mountains, and extraordinary waters.”

"Just this?"

"Delicious food, fine wine, sweet words, and beautiful women."

Xu Shiji was taken aback upon hearing this, and couldn't help but raise his voice and hum in agreement: "The first four wonders are not hard to understand, but how do you explain the last four beauties?"

"Haha, let me keep you in suspense for a moment, I'm still hungry."

Xu Shiji called for someone to serve them food and wine. Xia Lin glanced at the Miao girl serving them, then said to Xu Shiji, "Actually, the core of these four beauties is beautiful words. What we need to do is actually very simple: to tell the story of this vast mountain region well. Aren't there still many unorganized ethnic groups among the local people here?"

"um, yes."

“We’ll plan their ethnic groups and create a story for each group, with corresponding elements for each story. For example, this girl is clearly from the Jiuli tribe, but she’s beautiful, right? So we’ll gather all these beautiful brothers and sisters together and make them a new tribe, using the advantages of this group to tell the story of this place. The wine we brew is the best in the world, the food is the best in the world, and the women are the best in the world—that’s all good news. When it gets out, some people will not believe it, and some will be indignant. But as long as people come, are willing to drink a sip of your wine, eat a bite of your meat, and whistle a flirtatious tune at the girls in the mountains, you’ve won.”

Xia Lin dipped his finger in the sour wine and drew a circle on the table: "Then I'll bring in some literati to sing praises to this place, write poems, lyrics, and operas, creating a timeless masterpiece that will be remembered in history. This place will naturally take off. In any case, shouldn't we first solve the problem of whether we have it or not?"

Xu Shiji's eyes had been darting around the whole time, then his brows suddenly relaxed: "That's not right. If it were just that, would you have made a special trip? You could have just found someone to say a few words. It's so simple, do you think I wouldn't understand?"

Xia Lin was speechless. Couldn't all these smart people just die? Ideally, they would wake up one day to find that everyone else's IQ had dropped a hundredfold while his remained unchanged.

"Sigh...let's eat first." After a haphazard meal, Xia Lin led Xu Shiji slowly to his carriage and dragged a box out of it: "The secrets are all in here."

"Oh? I'd like to see for myself."

Then Xia Lin wagged his finger and said with a smile, "It's not that simple. Bring three strong men to me tonight."

The keywords "heavy box" and "three burly men" instantly activated certain special senses in Xu Shiji. He had finally managed to completely abolish human sacrifice over the years, and he didn't want Xia Lin to bring this outdated custom back to life...

"What are you..."

"You'll know then."

In the evening, Xia Lin did not eat with him. Instead, she found a relatively flat place, set up a smooth white silk cloth, and then placed three things with foot pedals on the back of it. In front of the foot pedals, there was a box-like thing placed there.

When Xu Shiji arrived with his men, Xia Lin gave them no other instructions but to step on the pedal-equipped device and stomp on it hard. As soon as they stepped on it, a very bright light bulb appeared on the outside of the box.

Xu Shiji and the three muscular men he brought around marveled at the "box" that emitted a blinding light. The light was steady and intense, far superior to that of an oil lamp or candle, illuminating the makeshift area as bright as day.

"Don't stop, keep pedaling, keep this speed." Xia Lin directed the three burly men, who were covered in sweat. Then he carefully opened the heavy box and took out a roll of something tightly wrapped in oil paper.

He peeled back the oil paper, revealing a black, cylindrical metal object with shiny glass inlaid at both ends. "This is called film."

As Xia Lin skillfully installed the cylinder into the slot at the front of the box, he explained to Xu Shiji, "Thousands upon thousands of small images have been printed on it using a special solution."

After adjusting the angle, Xia Lin took a deep breath and smiled mysteriously at Xu Shiji: "Third Brother Xu, are you ready? What you're about to see is the spectacle I'm going to give you, a spectacle that can truly shake the future of this mountain."

After saying that, he flipped a switch and began to rhythmically shake the handle. A series of subtle, rhythmic "clicks" came from inside the box, and the blinding beam of light instantly pierced through the glass in front of the cylinder, projecting onto the white silk curtain.

At first, the screen only displayed a flickering white light and some scattered black shadows. Xu Shiji frowned, puzzled. But soon, with Xia Lin's subtle adjustments, the light and shadow stabilized, and a miracle occurred—moving images appeared on the screen!

The scene depicts Fuliang County, which Xu Shiji had not returned to for a long time. There, Xu Shiji sees his master, the old immortal Sun Simiao, sitting in a rattan chair talking about something. However, the sound cannot be heard; it can only be read from his lips that he is discussing medical texts with someone.

There was also the scene of thousands of sails passing by on the Fuliang Bridge, a vivid and memorable landscape that seemed to have been transported right before Xu Shiji's eyes...

This seasoned veteran, accustomed to all storms and carnage, was now frozen in shock, mouth agape, eyes wide, staring intently at the white cloth, almost forgetting to breathe. The three burly men behind him also forgot to press the pedals, causing the screen to flicker. Xia Lin quickly shouted, "Don't stop! Keep pressing!"

Xu Shiji suddenly snapped out of his daze, took a deep breath, pointed at the curtain, and said in a trembling voice, "What...what kind of sorcery is this? Or is it magic?! This mountain, this water...why can they move? My master...has your soul been captured? This..."

Xia Lin smiled smugly: "This is neither sorcery nor magic, it's called 'movie.' It's recording real scenes using special methods and then showing them out like a comic strip. It's just that the speed of the comic strip is so fast that your eyes can't distinguish it, so it becomes a continuous action."

He pointed to a particularly precipitous canyon in the picture and said, "Look, if we used it to make a film about this place, to record all its beauty, the mountains, the water, the emotions, and so on, Brother Xu, do you think those literati and curious wealthy businessmen would be eager to come and see it?"

Xu Shiji was an exceptionally intelligent man, and he instantly understood Xia Lin's entire intention. The "four wonders and four beauties" mentioned earlier were the content and story, while this "movie" was the most powerful evidence and propaganda tool! It could break through the limitations of space and present the most extreme beauty deep in the mountains to potential tourists thousands of miles away in the most direct and breathtaking way.

This is no longer about "telling" a story; it's about weaving an irresistible dream for people.

Xu Shiji slapped his thigh excitedly and paced back and forth in the open space, his eyes never leaving the landscape of light and shadow on the screen: "Wonderful! Absolutely wonderful! Daosheng, what are you thinking about! With this, how can we not accomplish great things! This is not just a chance encounter, this is clearly the power to turn stone into gold!"

He stopped, his eyes shining brighter than the projector bulb, and said resolutely, "I understand! I understand completely! What do you want me to do? How much manpower and resources do you need? Just tell me! We must tell the whole world the story of these mountains!"

Seeing the fighting spirit burning in the eyes of this top-notch genius, Xia Lin knew that the fire had been completely ignited. He smiled and pointed to the burly man who was still struggling to pedal: "First of all, we need to find more strong laborers like this. We need to make this 'spectacle' play on a loop on our own turf."

Under the cover of night, that small white cloth seemed to truly become a window to the future, reflecting infinite possibilities.

That night, five groups of strong men came and went. To outsiders, it might seem that Master Xu was practicing yin-yang cultivation, but in reality, Xu Shiji had watched the video repeatedly, and was naturally conceiving his own vision of a majestic landscape.

The next morning, Xia Lin was still fast asleep in the high-rise building when Xu Shiji's footsteps came pounding up the stairs. He didn't care whether Xia Lin had slept well or not, and started shaking him as soon as he got to his side: "Daosheng, Daosheng. Get up, get up quickly. I have an idea for you to hear."

Xia Lin was already exhausted from the journey, and he had been up until midnight last night. He groggily got up, yawning, and said, "Third Brother, let me sleep for a while. I haven't slept for long."

But Xu Shiji was full of inspiration, and he didn't care about anything else. He just sat there and started rambling: "I have an idea. A down-on-his-luck scholar came here because he was ostracized in his hometown. He met a woman from the mountains and rebuilt his life. After returning home, he passed the imperial examination and became a scholar. He didn't forget his original intention and came back to marry the woman from the mountains, but he found that she had passed away due to overwork. The scholar was extremely sad and died in front of the woman's grave after a night of depression. How about that?"

"You...you shouldn't be so cruel. You might as well let them turn into butterflies and disappear into these vast mountains."

"Good, good! Great idea! Let's do it this way. I'll refine it a bit more. Just wait for my good news."

"Hey, you still have important things to do, don't get carried away!" Xia Lin shouted from the window to Xu Shiji, who had already slipped downstairs. "Important things come first!"

(End of this chapter)