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(A/N: Don't forget to give those power stones to Skyrim everyone!)
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She turned back to face the Minister of Personnel, her father, and the Minister of Work. The fire of the roaring furnace illuminated her face, casting her in the light of a new, terrifyingly bright future. "It breathes," Huang Yue Ying declared, a fierce, triumphant smile breaking across her face. "The Emperor's Dragon breathes. Now, we must teach it how to pull the weight of the world."
She was then turned her attention back to their experiment, staring intently at the cooling iron cylinder of the Water Dragon, her mind working at a terrifying, relentless speed.
The Emperor had given them a machine that created a vacuum to pull water. He had given them the concept of using the expanding pressure to spray burning oil.
But as Huang Yue Ying watched the residual steam hissing from a loose fitting, connecting the kinetic energy of the escaping vapor with the heavy, frictionless glide of the flanged wheels she had spent the last several months perfecting... she suddenly had some sort of brilliant, world altering epiphany.
It was a conceptual leap so massive, so incredibly profound, that it made her actually gasp aloud, taking a sudden step back from the iron pump.
She turned around sharply, her eyes burning with a fierce, manic light of absolute inspiration.
"Minister Liu Ye! minister Zhuge Liang! Father!" Huang Yue Ying called out quickly, waving her hand with an urgency that immediately cut through the celebratory noise of the cavern. "Come here! Quickly!"
The three men, recognizing the tone of raw, unfiltered genius in her voice, immediately abandoned their respective conversations and hurried over to where she stood by the heavy oak barricade.
"What is it, Miss Yue Ying?" Zhuge Liang asked, stepping close to his wife, his feather fan completely still. "Have you found a critical flaw in the boiler's design?"
"No, no flaw," Huang Yue Ying replied, her words spilling out rapidly as she struggled to articulate the massive concept forming in her mind. She grabbed a piece of charcoal and practically threw herself over a blank wooden drafting table, her hands moving frantically.
"Look at this," she commanded, drawing a quick, rough sketch of the flanged iron wheels resting on the parallel iron rails. "The Emperor gave me the mandate to eradicate distance. We laid the tracks to Xiaopei, and we proved that the friction is minimal. But we are still entirely limited by the biological endurance of the draft horse. A horse tires. A horse needs grain. A horse can only pull so much weight before its heart bursts."
She then drew a massive, cylindrical boiler resting directly on top of a heavy, reinforced carriage frame, positioning it above the iron wheels.
"I was looking at the Water Dragon," Huang Yue Ying continued, her voice trembling with excitement as she looked up at the three brilliant men. She proceeded to tell them the epiphany that she had just gotten. "What if we don't just use this steam technology to pump water out of mines? What if we use this 'Qi' of fire and water that the Emperor has introduced to us... and we apply it directly to the wagonways?"
Liu Ye's brow furrowed in deep, intense concentration, trying to follow the massive leap in logic. "Apply it how, Chief Engineer? You mean build stationary pumps along the tracks to pull the carriages with ropes?"
"No, Minister," Huang Yue Ying shook her head vigorously, tapping the charcoal against the sketch of the carriage. "I mean we put the fire and the water on the wheels. We create some sort of self contained machinery where the carriage itself will be using the expanding steam pressure, driving a piston forward and backward, to physically turn the iron wheels. The carriage will use the steam to go forward on the rails, entirely under its own power!"
The cavern seemed to grow absolutely silent around them.
"A carriage that breathes fire and pulls itself..." Huang Chengyan whispered, his old eyes wide as saucers, his scholarly mind struggling to comprehend a vehicle that moved without a beast of burden.
"Think of the logistical implications!" Huang Yue Ying pressed on, her vision expanding rapidly. "If we can engineer a steam-powered engine that drives the wheels, we drastically, entirely reduce the usage of horses for civilian and commercial transportation. A single iron beast could pull fifty carriages of grain from Luoyang to Xiapi without ever stopping to rest!"
Zhuge Liang's brilliant, tactical mind instantly synthesized the secondary consequence of her invention, and the realization hit him like a physical blow.
"The military," Zhuge Liang breathed, his eyes locking with his wife's. "If the empire no longer requires tens of thousands of heavy draft horses to pull the merchant caravans and the grain carts... those freed up horses could then be heavily, exclusively used in the military."
Liu Ye let out a sharp intake of breath. "It would empower the army with far, far more horses for their cavalry. The Emperor could field an army of a million heavy cataphracts without crippling the agricultural economy. It would make Hengyuan absolutely invincible."
Hearing that, everyone was initially surprised, almost paralyzed by the sheer, terrifying scale of the vision. To build an iron horse that breathed steam and pulled the weight of the world? It sounded like the fever dream of a mad alchemist.
But then, as they looked at the rough charcoal sketch, and they looked back at the massive Water Dragon currently sitting in the center of the room... they deeply thought of her idea. They applied their unparalleled understanding of physics, mechanics, and the undeniable reality of the expanding steam pressure they had just witnessed.
"It... it would require converting the linear motion of a steam piston into the rotational motion of a wheel," Huang Yue Ying muttered, already trying to solve the mechanical hurdles. "We would need incredibly strong linkage rods. And a boiler that can sustain high pressure without exploding while moving over the tracks..."
"But the underlying theory is sound," Liu Ye said, his voice thick with awe, nodding his head slowly. He looked at Huang Yue Ying with profound respect. "It could work. By the heavens, Chief Engineer, it could definitely work."
"It is the ultimate manifestation of the Emperor's will," Zhuge Liang agreed, a rare, massive smile breaking across his usually composed features. "He asked us to eradicate distance. You have just found the weapon to do it."
"So," Huang Yue Ying said, slamming the charcoal down on the table, her face set with unyielding determination. "We have our ultimate goal. But we cannot run before we walk. What we need to do now is to perfectly execute the foundational theory first."
She pointed back toward the massive, cooling atmospheric pump in the center of the cavern.
"We must master the metallurgy and the pressure seals. We must make the initial atmospheric machineries that the Emperor has directly introduced to us functional, safe, and mass-producible," Huang Yue Ying decided, setting the roadmap for the empire's industrial future. "Once the Water Dragons are successfully established in the mines, and the Fierce Fire cabinets are mounted on the naval ships... once we fully understand the beast... then, we can fully turn our focus to this grand idea. We will build the iron horse."
The three men nodded in absolute, unified agreement. The secret Imperial Workshop had just set its sights on a future that would leave the rest of the world thousands of years behind.
Meanwhile, as this massive, world altering ambition was kept firmly in the brilliant minds of the engineers, a day passed by, and the pace of life was drastically different at the end of the iron tracks.
Back in the fortified, deeply loyal satellite city of Xiaopei, Emperor Lie Fan spent quality time with his family.
For the first time in years, the heavy, suffocating mantle of the Dragon Throne was temporarily lifted from his shoulders. He was not reviewing casualty reports or signing execution orders for corrupt bureaucrats; he was simply a father, walking through the beautiful, bustling streets of a provincial city with his children.
They toured the town in a state of relaxed, joyous wonder. Xiaopei, while not possessing the towering, overwhelming majesty of the capital, was a beautiful, historic city, filled with scenic lakes, ancient willow groves, and a thriving local market that smelled of roasted chestnuts and sweet plum wine.
Of course, the Emperor could never truly be just a man.
Their security was, naturally, very, very tight.
Zhao Yun, Zhang He, Ma Chao, and Pang De, walked just a few paces ahead of the Imperial Family, his keen eyes scanning every rooftop and alleyway. The terrifying Yellow Ghost Bodyguards formed a loose, but entirely impenetrable perimeter around the group, keeping the massive crowds at a respectful distance.
But despite the heavy military presence, the atmosphere was joyous.
The people of Xiaopei, upon seeing Lie Fan walking through their streets with his Empress and his beautiful children, reacted as if it was exactly like seeing their God descending from the heavens.
The citizens, the bakers, the weavers, the merchants, and the farmers who had come to the city for the autumn festival, immediately kowtowed upon the cobblestones. They pressed their faces to the dirt, showering him with their absolute, tearful respect and endless praises.
They remembered the dark days when Xiaopei was a battleground, constantly threatened by warlords and bandits. Now, because of the man walking before them, they were safe, prosperous, and smelling of the subsidized mint soap that had flooded their markets just days prior.
Lie Fan, dressed in elegant but understated dark silks, did not ignore them. He of course warmly smiled, raising his hands in a magnanimous, fatherly gesture.
"Stand up, my people. Stand up," Lie Fan called out, his deep, resonant voice carrying over the crowded streets. "The days of kneeling in fear are over. Continue your daily lives. Trade your goods, enjoy the autumn air, and know that the Hengyuan Dynasty protects you."
The citizens rose, their faces glowing with absolute devotion, parting like the Red Sea to allow the royal family to pass through the markets. Yaoyao clung tightly to her father's hand, looking with wide, fascinated eyes at the colorful stalls selling sugar spun treats and wooden toys, entirely insulated from the harsh realities of the world by the love of her parents and the steel of her father's guards.
Lie Fan and his family spent four incredibly peaceful, idyllic days in Xiaopei. They took small, heavily guarded boats out onto the scenic lakes, where Cai Wenji recited beautiful, ancient poetry about the changing of the seasons. Diao Chan and Zhen Ji browsed the finest local silk merchants, while Lu Lingqi spent an afternoon sparring playfully with a highly nervous but deeply honored local garrison commander.
It was a perfect, restorative reprieve for the soul of the conqueror.
But an Emperor's rest is always borrowed time.
On the morning of the fifth day, the massive mahogany carriages were loaded once more. The heavy draft horses strained against their harnesses, and the imperial convoy rode the iron rails smoothly and swiftly back to the towering walls of the capital.
However, the moment the heavy wheels screeched to a halt at the Xiapi wagonway station, the brief illusion of peace entirely evaporated.
Lie Fan stepped off the carriage, his face immediately hardening back into the cold, calculating mask of the supreme warlord. He couldn't even rest in his private quarters after the trip, nor could he take a moment to wash the dust of the road from his face.
Waiting for him at the station, looking grim, focused, and vibrating with lethal, martial energy, were the titans of his high command.
Lie Fan immediately had to meet with Grand Commandant Xun You, Minister of War Sima Yi, Deputy Grand General Zhang Liao, Grand General Huangfu Song, and the brilliant Bailiff Lu Xun.
They did not go to the leisure gardens, they marched swiftly, surrounded by guards, directly back to the Grand Military Strategy Room deep within the administrative wing of the palace.
The moment the heavy oak doors boomed shut, isolating them from the outside world, Xun You stepped forward. The massive sandbox table in the center of the room had been entirely transformed over the past four days.
The central plains were largely empty of markers, instead, the vast, northern expanse beyond the Great Wall was entirely covered in complex, interlocking webs of red and black wooden pieces, representing supply depots, cavalry vanguard routes, and estimated nomadic encampments.
The intense, grueling strategic planning for the massive northern outward expansion expedition, the campaign that would permanently break the back of the nomadic confederations outside of the Great Wall, was finally finished, and it awaited his absolute imperial review.
"Your Imperial Majesty," Xun You began, his voice dropping into the cold, clinical register of a man orchestrating the slaughter of hundreds of thousands. "We have finalized the operational blueprint for the Northern Eradication Campaign. We are prepared to present the deployment vectors."
Lie Fan stepped up to the edge of the sandbox, his dark eyes sweeping over the meticulously planned invasion routes. The peace of Xiaopei was instantly forgotten, replaced entirely by the intoxicating, heavy scent of impending war.
"Show me," Lie Fan commanded softly, his hands resting on the carved wooden frame of the table. "Show me how we burn the steppes."
Sima Yi stepped forward, using a long bamboo pointer to trace three distinct, massive logistical arteries driving straight north from the heartland.
"The fundamental challenge of a northern campaign is not the enemy cavalry, Your Majesty, it is the sheer, unforgiving vastness of the terrain and the impending winter," Sima Yi explained smoothly, his mind a flawless abacus of grain and blood. "To sustain a massive invasion force deep in the steppes, we cannot rely on a single supply line. We have established a trident formation for our logistics."
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Name: Lie Fan
Title: Founding Emperor Of Hengyuan Dynasty
Age: 36 (203 AD)
Level: 16
Next Level: 462,000
Renown: 2325
Cultivation: Yin Yang Separation (level 11)
SP: 1,121,700
ATTRIBUTE POINTS
STR: 1,010 (+20)
VIT: 659 (+20)
AGI: 653 (+10)
INT: 691
CHR: 98
WIS: 569
WILL: 436
ATR Points: 0