It doesn't matter what the lord is.

"Ouch, my chest hurts a little..."

"…Are you okay?"

Shiloh went forward to check, and I grabbed her wrist and pulled her over to my bed. Then, regardless of her struggle, I grabbed her legs and dragged her in front of me, sneering and saying:

"Sure, Hiro, you've learned to lie at such a young age, right? You said you'd wait for me under the bridge, but when I got there, you were gone. Do you know what I was thinking at the time? I was thinking, when I bring you back, I'm going to give you a good beating. This thought supported me and got me through the gates of hell. Now, it's time to take my revenge!"

Shiloh twisted her little body desperately, but I had no intention of showing her any mercy.

He raised his hand and slapped him without thinking.

With a "pop" sound, I suddenly found that the feel was unexpectedly good.

Although she is young, she is not as thin on the ground as one might imagine.

This fucking...this feel, it feels like it's almost as good as Alayya.

What would Alaya think if she knew this? ? I have to teach her a lesson! If you want to blame someone, blame yourself for growing up too well!

I could feel the elastic tactile feedback in the palm of my hand, so I raised my hand and clapped it again.

Shiloh said nothing at first, but then she started to twist more and more. But I obviously didn't intend to let her go, so I twisted her arms behind her back, and Shiloh was at the mercy of others, with no way to get away.

I had a kind smile on my face, but my hands never stopped.

"Do you still dare to lie?"

"..."

Snapped!

"Hmm? I'm asking you a question."

"..."

Snapped!

"You won't tell me. I want to see how long you can hold on."

"..."

Snapped!

After a series of slaps, my palms were a little red and swollen. Shiloh kicked his legs everywhere, and when there was no hope of escaping, he said breathlessly:

"I don't dare anymore... um..."

"louder!"

"I won't dare to do it again... Let me go... Ouch! It hurts, please don't... I won't dare to do it again!"

I let her go. Xiluo immediately took two steps at a time and distanced herself from me. Her eyes were still dim and misty, and her pitiful appearance was also filled with anger. She covered her hands behind her back and argued:

"You just lied, too."

I thought about it and it seemed to be true. I had just pretended to have chest pain to catch her back, but for someone as thick-skinned as me, this was obviously nothing. I coughed calmly and said seriously:

"No. My chest did hurt just now. But after beating you up and letting out my anger, I feel much better now. Not only does it not hurt anymore, I even feel a little happy."

Without saying anything, Xi Luo turned his head to the side and snorted softly.

She put one hand on her back and rubbed the place where she was hurt by me, and with the other hand she grabbed the rope and climbed up in a rather weird posture, and soon disappeared into the room.

To be honest, I wanted to do this the last time Bai Huang stood me up, but she is the daughter of Lord Yunhai after all, and I was afraid that if I hurt her, she would go to Lord Yunhai or Bai Feng and tell them about me. Although I was a little angry this time, I finally got rid of my anger.

I don't need to worry about the affairs of the Anbu organization anymore. I'll just meet Shuang again in a few days and chat with her for a few minutes.

But this incident made me understand something.

Yuxi City is still too weak now, just like a lone boat in a torrent, it can be easily smashed into pieces by a wave. This is not really a peaceful life, it can only be said to be living in fear.

I rubbed my eyebrows.

Let’s go find He Yue again tomorrow.

Some resources should be used.

3. Pros and cons of industrial transfer

The next morning, I put on gloves and dressed warmly to go see He Yue.

To my surprise, He Yue had already gotten up and started to deal with various documents. Seeing me coming, He Yue smiled and stood up to greet me, pulled me to sit down beside him, and asked:

"How did things go with Miss Fang Shisan yesterday?"

I smiled bitterly and shook my head:

"What progress can be made? She went to bed very early. I guess she is really tired during this period."

He Yue also restrained his smile, ran his fingertips across the documents on the table, and said with some emotion:

"In fact, I have felt a little guilty during this period. If I had considered the immigration of the three cities more carefully, Miss Fang Shisan wouldn't have to work so hard. I thought I could lead Yuxi City to great success, but I didn't expect that in the blink of an eye I would have to hand over a heavy burden to someone I had conflicts with... Let's not talk about this, take a look at this."

He Yue handed me a letter. To be more precise, it was a threatening letter.

This letter was written by my cheap father, Lord Yunyang. Basically, it said that I was no longer a member of Yunyang Territory, and that sending troops to attack Lineng's land was a declaration of war on the entire Yunyang Territory. However, considering that we were once father and son, he was unwilling to care too much about this matter. But in the eyes of outsiders, this was after all a matter that hurt the harmony between brothers, and he hoped that I could return the four cities to show the friendly relationship between us.

I almost choked on my saliva:

"He really dares to write that. He's talking about friendly relations. He expelled me from Yunyang Territory with an official document. How dare he talk about brotherly harmony now?"

He Yue put the letter aside and said:

"Let's not talk about what he is planning for now, but we must not return these four cities. Yunyang is a big city, and without the ten cities of Zhaochen in the north, we can't fight against the Lord of Yunyang with just this little family property. But if we return these four cities, we will be trapped in Yuxi City and have no other way to go."

I had some plans in mind, but I still asked He Yue:

"What are you going to do?"

He Yue held the pen and said without hesitation:

"Tell him not to even think about it. Originally, [Rivet City] was also in our hands. That city is a big city with many treasures hidden inside for profit and enjoyment. The value of the wealth alone is even greater than the sum of the four cities of [Demon Suppression], [Iron Wall], [Fire Sun], and [Apocalypse]. But because Lord Yunyang stayed there, we also lost the best opportunity to attack Rivet City. Just tell him that Rivet City is our gift to him. If he wants to take back the rest, he can bring his army and meet us on the battlefield."

He Yue said with a smile, and said with certainty:

"He wouldn't dare. There are undercurrents in Yongtian Kingdom right now, and any sober lord would not want to expose too obvious evidence. So far, there has not been a case of a lord openly leading troops to attack his own son, and he won't be the first to do so. I guess at most he will quietly lend some troops to Lineng and let Lineng take revenge himself. But as long as Lord Yunyang and his most loyal troops don't go out in person, we can remain invincible."

He Yue put the pen on the table, his beautiful eyes were full of grace. He was obviously in a good mood, and his previous dejection was swept away. He said:

"There is still a lot of uncultivated land around the four cities including [Demon Suppression]. Our current excess population can be put to good use. The army can be expanded once or twice next year. I will also deliver the food and fodder to Fang Shisan on time. As long as we handle it with caution, it won't be too difficult to deal with Li Neng's comeback. I am only worried about two things now... No, let's just say one thing."

I asked:

"what?"

He Yue frowned, picked up a document with her fair fingers, handed it to me, and said:

"That's it."

I took a look and found that it was a letter signed by the people. Since He Yue came to power, he not only interacted with the nobles, but also with the people. If there was anything they wanted to report, as long as more than 50 people signed it, it could be sent directly to He Yue. The document was filled with names at the end. I took a closer look and found that it was a complaint about the demon breeding farm. It basically said that the environment around the demon breeding farm was very poor, the noise was not small, and the air was smelly, which caused great trouble to the normal living and travel of the surrounding residents.

This letter is not written in a very literary style, nor does it use fancy words. It simply records this incident in the hope that it can be resolved.

He Yue said helplessly:

"I took Alayya to the site for investigation. But Hantu and his men seemed to have known about the complaints from the public and had rectified the situation in advance, so we didn't find anything there. But I tend to believe what the public says. In fact, the demon breeding farm has been expanded several times in just a few months, and the number of demons inside is no longer the same. The amount of swill they eat and the amount of feces they excrete every day is unimaginable. There is another expansion plan next month, and if it is expanded again this time, it will really stink."

I took over his words and said:

"But Yuxi City cannot do without the demon breeding farm now."

He Yue gave a bitter smile:

"Yes. Unless we don't expand the army next year, the weapons, armor, military pay, etc. will be an additional expense. We know that continuing to expand the demon breeding farm is not a good thing, but we have to do it now."

I thought for a while and said:

"He Yue, have you ever heard of [Industry Transfer]?"

He Yue was stunned for a moment and asked:

"Industrial transfer? It's not difficult to understand the literal meaning, but I have never heard of this concept before."

I said:

"Ah... this. I only heard people talking about it by chance when I was in Lingyun City. To put it simply, some industries in developed areas are gradually transferred to developing areas due to factors such as labor costs, markets, policies, and the environment. For example, continuing to develop the demon breeding industry in Yuxi City will cause environmental pollution. In addition, the economic development of Yuxi City is getting better and better, and the land is becoming more and more expensive. The benefits of expanding the demon breeding farm in Yuxi City are getting lower and lower, and there may even be a negative return one day. At this time, we need to transfer the demon breeding farm to the nearby city, such as the four newly conquered cities, to make room for the development of more advanced industries."

He Yue bit the pen and thought for a while, then nodded:

"That's true. I have actually thought about this, but the problem is that demon breeding farms are now our relatively cutting-edge technology, and our people have already figured out a mature breeding method. But as demon breeding farms gradually move away from Yuxi City and away from this power center, without our supervision, these technologies are likely to spread out. In fact, many people of unknown origin have come to poach talents, but I put a lot of pressure on Hantu, and he did a good job, so those guys didn't succeed."

He Yue said this with a sigh and a distressed look.

4. Scientific Alchemy

I waited for a while. He Yue adjusted her mood much faster than I expected. She soon regained her smile and said to me:

"This model existed before, but everyone just took it for granted. I didn't expect to hear some professional theories one day. Yuxi City should also follow this model in the future, but... it's not possible now."

I changed to a more comfortable sitting position and said:

"Tell me about the difficulties."

He Yue answered pointedly:

"Two points. First, Yuxi City doesn't have a more profitable industry to develop. There are no mineral veins around the five cities we have now, and the soil is worse than those fertile lands. Second, in the long run, the industrial transfer you mentioned requires continuous industrial replacement as the core driving force, which means that we can always find more profitable industries and then spread the original factories to the surrounding cities. But at present, we don't have such ability."

He Yue patiently explained to me:

"To achieve this virtuous cycle, education plays a very important role. We need a large number of creative young people to do this, and the education in Yuxi City is a mess now. According to my plan, it will take about five years for Yuxi City to establish a complete education system. Because first of all, we have to get rid of poverty. Only when a family has spare money, is not starving, and does not need so much labor, will they consider sending their children to school. Now the people in Yuxi City can only be considered to have enough food and clothing, even if we give them educational resources, they will not consider it."

After listening to this, I didn't say anything, just nodded.

Compared to me, He Yue's biggest disadvantage is that she has no past life and does not know enough about a lot of knowledge. It is different from our era of information explosion, where we can get a lot of knowledge that has been summarized by just typing a few times on the computer. Imagine that if you want to summarize some rules, you have to pile up countless books and read them. This efficiency is terribly low.

But He Yue has her smart side. As long as I tell her something about domestic affairs, she can see through it very clearly. And her greatest advantage is that she is down-to-earth and considers every step carefully.

I tapped the table with my fingers, thought for a while, and said:

"When I was in Lingyun City, someone once said something to me that I half understood. Later, I followed what he said and drew some sketches. I gave them to you and asked you to help make them. Now it is in the north of the city, in a small factory."

He Yue nodded and said with a smile:

"Yes, it happened. There was a lot of expenses there, mainly for some parts that were unheard of by the craftsmen in Yuxi City. Especially the [bearing]. No one knew how to make it at the beginning, and a lot of raw materials were wasted in the process of trial and error. But it was finally made. I wonder if it meets your standards."

"I've seen it. Although it's not particularly durable, it's good enough for the current stage. I've also been to the factory a few times during this period, and it can be regarded as verifying some of the guesses I heard from others before. Come, come with me and take a look."

I stood up and took He Yue to the northern industrial base.

Although the name is quite impressive, it is actually just a small factory that is not much bigger than a workshop. It even looks so shabby that thieves would not come in to patronize it.

However, although the sparrow is small, it has all the necessary things.

What I intend to show He Yue today is just the tip of the iceberg of this little sparrow...

I brought Heyue into the house, lit a candle, placed a sealed medicine bottle in front of him, and said:

"He Yue, do you know how to make medicine?"

"The pills that rich kids take when they practice martial arts? I know that. Alchemy and alchemy both involve knowledge in this area. In human history, the status of alchemists and alchemists is not much different. It just depends on which one the king at the time trusts more. Both have claimed that they can make elixirs of immortality, but neither has succeeded. Isn't the Lord Zhaochen in the north praying for immortality every day? I think these are all illusory things... But it is recognized that alchemists and alchemists can extract medicinal properties and create some auxiliary medicines that are beneficial to improving cultivation. It's just that the prices of those medicinal materials are high, and ordinary people can't afford them."

I asked:

"Then have you ever thought about why the medicine they refine can be sold at such a high price?"

He Yue said:

"Although I'm not very proficient in this, I know a little bit about it. There are two purposes of refining medicine, one is to extract the medicinal properties, and the other is to remove toxins. For example, outside of Yuxi City, there is actually a wild vegetable called [Blue Flower Leaf], which has certain medicinal properties. But if you want to rely on eating this to improve your strength, you have to eat at least a thousand kilograms to see the effect. But no one will eat that much... Alchemists can collect a large number of these plants with low medicinal properties and finally refine a pill. This pill can be said to be the essence of thousands of kilograms of blue flower leaves. Eating a small pill is equivalent to absorbing the medicinal properties of thousands of kilograms of blue flower leaves."

"In addition, if you take those natural treasures that have strong medicinal properties directly, although they can improve your strength, they will also backfire. Whether it is alchemy or alchemy, they are actually all for making the medicinal properties of these drugs milder. All medicines are three-quarters poisonous, and the so-called refining is to refine the toxins inside."

After He Yue finished speaking, he turned and looked at me.

I nodded, as a sign of approval for his answer.

Then, I pushed the medicine bottle in front of him and said:

"open to take a look."

He Yue pulled out the bottle cork in confusion, and a refreshing medicinal fragrance immediately filled the small room. He Yue was startled and quickly put the cork back on the bottle, saying:

"Is this the [Blue Flower Pill]? I remember it wasn't cheap. Did you buy it for Alayya? It's better to take it sooner rather than later. If you leave it like this, the medicinal properties will slowly dissipate."

I shook my head: