Chapter 214

no names.

For all the people under heaven, these ten years have been a rare era of peace since the late Tang. Zhao Kuangyin's throne grew ever more secure; Southern Tang, Later Shu, Southern Han, Northern Han successively fell under unification, and on the map of the Great Song there was no longer any threat of division. The world seemed truly to have ushered in a brand‑new golden age.

However, in the Eastern Isles, time flowed in a completely different manner at the Wang family‑controlled Zhenbei Harbor.

Here there is no leisure of a golden age, only the roar of steel and flames shooting skyward.

Inside a massive dockyard sealed off by high walls and layers of the Wang family guard, an unprecedented iron behemoth lay silently upon the slipway.

Its entire body was forged from black steel; the hull was long and sturdy, its surface covered with countless rivets that glittered coldly in the sunlight. It lacked the towering mast and layered sails of ordinary ships; instead, a massive smokestack rose from the mid‑section, pointing straight to the sky.

This was the Wang family's first all‑steel‑keel, steam‑powered ocean‑going exploration vessel, the Qiankun, forged over ten years with countless resources by the Academy of Science and the finest artisans, who poured their heart and blood into its creation.

Wang Mai stood on the dock's high platform, gazing dreamily at the great ship. Ten years had passed; he was no longer the impetuous youth of before, his face lined by wind and frost, yet his eyes shone brighter than ever, filled with longing for distant horizons. He wore a specially made deep‑blue naval uniform, with a storm‑repeat crossbow and a short‑handed firearm strapped to his waist.

"Big brother, look how beautiful it is!" Wang Mai's voice trembled—not from fear, but from utter excitement.

Standing beside him was Wang Heng, governor of the Eastern Isles. Over the past ten years his frame had grown more massive, the harshness in his brow deepened. Unlike Wang Mai's excitement, he remained calm, merely appraising the ship.

"Beautiful?" Wang Heng growled in a deep, resonant voice. "All I see is how much iron and coal it has devoured. To build it and its nine sister ships, over these ten years at least thirty percent of the Eastern Isles' mineral output has been poured into this bottomless pit. As Brother Zhe's letter says, this is only the beginning."

"It's worth it, big brother, every bit of it!" Wang Mai turned his head, eyes blazing with fervor. "With it we can go wherever we wish! What lies beyond the sea? Is it the legendary fairy mountains or barbaric lands? Just thinking about it keeps me awake."

Wang Heng looked at his brother, whose mind was filled with adventurous thoughts, and shook his head. He could not grasp this pure desire for exploration. In his view, the ship's greatest value lay in how much cargo it could carry, how many troops it could transport, and how much silver and gold it could bring back for the family.

"Brother Zhe has entrusted you with the first oceanic fleet; your burden is not light." Wang Heng clapped him on the shoulder. "Five hundred guards aboard are the family's most elite veterans, equipped with the latest firearms and repeat crossbows. Moreover, in the hold you'll find your talisman."

The excitement on Wang Mai's face eased slightly; he understood what Wang Heng meant.

One hundred penitents from the Repentance Battalion.

For the past ten years, Wang Wenyan's "re‑education" has never ceased. Those transformed Wa people have become the Wang family's most secret and terrifying weapon.

The Wang family will provide them with ample nourishment and regularly have physicians examine their health; now they are housed in specially made ship compartments, transported like cargo, and only "activated" when needed.

"I understand," Wang Mai nodded. "I will not use them unless absolutely necessary."

Although he loved adventure, he also knew that family interests came first; he understood the value of these "penitents" better than anyone.

"The time has come!" shouted an artisan dispatched from the Academy of Science from below the platform.

Wang Mai drew a deep breath, ceased his hesitation, strode down the high platform, climbed the long gangway, and stepped onto the deck of the Qiankun.

Underfoot, the steel deck gave a sensation of unprecedented solidity. He walked to the bridge, the ship's command center, where an old captain with white‑haired head was overseeing a few young sailors as they calibrated a massive brass compass and several instruments they could not comprehend.

"The lord's order! Begin the trial voyage!" Wang Mai bellowed into a copper pipe leading to the engine room below the hull.

Soon the copper pipe echoed back: "Engine room received! Firing up the boilers!"

Moments later a thin wisp of blue smoke rose from the great smokestack, quickly thickening into rolling black smoke. The deck began to tremble slightly, and a deep, muffled roar rose from beneath their feet.

"Aoo——"

A long, resonant whistle blast echoed across the harbor—a sound unlike any horn or gale, full of power, as if it were the roar of the iron beast awakening.

Outside the dock, every onlooker—Wang family members and Wa laborers alike—felt their hearts jump at the sound.

"Boiler pressure normal!"

"Engines engaged!"

"Speed at one hundred!"

The engine room's roar continued to travel up the copper pipe.

Wang Mai felt the vibrations underfoot grow more violent; he gripped the rail before him tightly and stared fixedly at both sides of the hull.

"Whoosh——"

The massive paddle wheels on either side of the hull began to turn slowly, churning great sheets of white foam.

"It's moving! It's moving!" a young guard on deck exclaimed involuntarily.

Under the gaze of tens of thousands, this iron leviathan weighing thousands of tons, without aid of wind or manpower, glided under its own power from the slipway into deeper water.

At that moment the harbor fell utterly silent; everyone was stunned into speechlessness by the miraculous sight before them.

Wang Heng stood on the platform; his usually stern face finally showed a flicker of astonishment. He suddenly understood why Wang Zhe and Wang Mai were so obsessed with this thing.

This is no longer mere technology; it is the divine prerogative to command water and fire, to move mountains and fill seas!

……

Yangzhou, the Wang family stronghold.

In the study, Wang Zhe was no longer the carefree youth of his boyhood. Now twenty‑seven, his features were sharp, his eyes deep and calm; years of contemplation and strategic planning had given him an authority that belied his age.

Before him lay a huge world map on the desk; if it were to leak, it would drive every geographer and sailor under heaven into frenzy.

It precisely marked the coastlines of East Asia and the South Sea islands, and even beyond the endless ocean to the far east, a faint outline of a vast, unknown continent was sketched.

He did not know where this map came from; he had found it buried in the deepest layers of the Wang family warehouse.

A guard hurried in, presenting a wax‑sealed letter.

"My lord, an urgent eight‑hundred‑li dispatch from the Eastern Isles."

Wang Zhe tore it open and scanned it quickly. The letter, penned personally by Wang Heng, succinctly described the successful trial voyage of the Qiankun.

Wang Zhe's face showed little excitement, only a calm sense that his plans were proceeding smoothly. He walked to the map, picked up a charcoal stick, drew a circle over the Eastern Isles, then let his gaze sweep across the vast ocean to rest upon that unknown continent.

Ten years had passed. Zhao Kuangyin had unified the realm, believing himself secure. He did not realize that while he was still vexed over how to copy an outdated steam engine, the Wang family's leviathan was already ready to sail toward a brand‑new world.

He picked up another letter—this one Wang Mai had written before his departure, filled with longing for the unknown world and a thirst to conquer it.

At last a smile touched Wang Zhe's lips; all the Wang family's years of effort had not been in vain—they now possessed advanced technology capable of exploring the entire world.

Even they could find a fairyland overseas, a place more suitable to live in than Yangzhou, allowing the Wang Family to live there in the future.