Chapter 371: Thoughts and Energy

【「This…」】

【When you heard this abstract news, even you couldn't help but stare: Is this recognition from fellow villagers?】

【Regarding this, you first felt relieved: after being sprayed by yin-yang people for so long, finally someone acknowledged you!】

【Exactly, I am the savior who saves the world; why is everyone doubting me!】

【However, after the brief relief, you decisively cut ties with it……】

【"This is not my person."】

【Facing Li Ziliang, you shook your head: "This is probably those guys' tactic to sow discord between us!"】

【"Hmm, I think so too."】

【Li Ziliang nodded: "It's nothing more than the three axes of sowing discord."】

【Under the circumstance of you opening the skylight to speak frankly, this little incident, although somewhat unexpected, was quickly brushed over, and you continued discussing the related matters of aid……】

【……】

【In the following days, you continued to interact with Li Ziliang, and the aid work proceeded as usual.】

【You withstood pressure from all sides, continually deepening exchanges between West Continent and Great Shun……】

【In the 57th year of the New Heavenly Court, the 206th year of Great Shun, the Shun Dynasty finally defeated several "Prince-electors," transforming from near-total tools into an independent force!】

【That same year, the Shun Emperor ordered the opening of the seas, abolishing the "closed-door isolation" policy enacted under the interference of the "Prince-electors," and restored foreign trade that had been suspended for many years!】

【With the opening of trade, the Four Great Continents finally managed to be loosely united as a whole; many caravans seized the opportunity, loading up with products from the Three Continents and heading to Southern Jambu Continent, ready to make a big profit.】

【The Shun Dynasty's caravans had long been eager to make a fortune in the Outer Continents, so they also set sail.】

【Back and forth, regardless of whether they made money, at least the exchanges between the two sides truly increased!】

【When the two sides compared accounts, they immediately discovered the falsehoods in each other's information……】

【"What? You don't eat people? There are no souls of boys and girls on the bullets?"】

【"What? You also don't have so many heaven-defying people over there?"】

【The more everyone chatted, the more they hit it off; previous misunderstandings and barriers collapsed on their own!】

【Although due to various reasons, most people on both sides still lack understanding, and negative impressions cannot be eliminated quickly, at least the trend is good; following this trend, the future will eventually be free of barriers……】

【As the conversation went on, the Shun Dynasty merchants naturally brought up the earlier "Main=6" incident that had caused a stir in their hometown.】

【"What happened last year where we were was really fierce!"】

【The Shun Dynasty merchants sighed: "Those people claimed they wanted to destroy Great Shun and those rebel armies, and to welcome back your Lin Pasha to rule the world, saying only he is the true sun……"】

【Upon hearing this unexpected news, the West Continent merchants were very curious: "There's still such a thing?"】

【The people of the Outer Continents praised their own Pasha; this is naturally something to be proud of, after all your achievements stretch from Xiniu Hezhou to Eastern Victory Divine Continent—everyone knows, everyone is aware; for the Three Continents to enjoy today's prosperity, your merit is limitless!】

【Therefore, everyone not only admires you greatly, but also likes hearing foreigners praise you; this group of "Main=6" folks obviously hit the spot, making everyone feel completely refreshed……】

【Feeling refreshed, those who felt favorably toward them asked: "Where are they now?"】

【"If it's convenient, we'd like to meet them……"】

【"Meet? There's none left to meet!"】

【The Shun Dynasty merchants lamented: "They just started their uprising, and the court's new army crushed them, using extremely brutal methods; it's said they didn't even spare the children!"】

【"A leader surnamed Hong was beaten to death on the spot; the Hong family child… was it Hong Fugui or something? How terrible! Captured and taken to the Capital City, sentenced to death by a thousand cuts—killed after over three thousand cuts……"】

【Ah?!】

【Everyone stared at each other……】

【And this news was quickly placed on your desk.】

【Looking at it, you remained silent for a long moment……】

【What could one say?】

【Could one say Li Ziliang slighted your face? Or that Li Ziliang did something wrong? Or that you are dissatisfied with his conduct?】

【None of those can be said, because this is indeed their internal private affair; if you so much as interfered, your "alliance" would have no standing.】

【Li Ziliang's methods, from his standpoint, are also correct; after all, he has never been your lackey, and leading Shun is not your puppet regime……】

【From his internal ranks emerged a rebel claiming to welcome you to replace the Shun Dynasty; whether this rebel is an envoy sent by the enemy or genuinely thinks so, this is harmful to him, so to curb this surrender tendency he naturally had to act harshly.】【In this regard, you have no grounds to blame him……】

【Of course, you actually had no intention to blame him, but this matter truly reminded you: you and he are ultimately allies brought together by shared pressure, and no matter how good an ally, they cannot truly share your pants.】

【In short, you must admit, regardless of whether this is the gods' meddling to sow discord, it truly served this purpose……】

【……】

【After the little incident of "Main=6," you continued developing internal construction.】

【In the 58th year of the New Heavenly Court, the application of steam engines has become extremely widespread; in the major cities of the three great continents—West, North, and East—you can see their presence.】

【Steelmaking, weaving, shipping…… the power of steam drives these new machines nonstop, greatly boosting product quality and quantity, and people's lives become ever more convenient.】

【Countless people are full of hope for the future: Pasha has been in power for just over fifty years, and life has already changed day by day; what about a hundred years from now? Five hundred years from now?】

【By then, surely mortals will already be able to fly and burrow through the earth, capable of anything……】

【Everyone thinks this way; even the yin-yang people are no exception, after all your achievements are evident, and even if they are yin-yang, they are not anti-intellectual.】

【But, just as everyone eagerly anticipates the future, you repeatedly have everyone plant trees, as if deliberately tormenting them, which leaves the crowd somewhat puzzled.】

【However, the crowd's doubts didn't last long, because reality quickly proved your far-sighted vision……】

【The cause was a sudden slight increase in charcoal price in a certain city; although the increase was small, since charcoal is the main fuel for steam engines, and steam engines are notorious guzzlers, this naturally led many factories to complain about high costs and want the authorities to crack down on profiteers inflating prices.】

【But the problem is, the authorities did not crack down on profiteers as the crowd had expected……】

【Such behavior naturally aroused everyone's anger, so various complaints about official-business collusion sprang up, and some even directly filed lawsuits in your hands, begging the Sultan to uphold justice for the people and punish the wrongdoers!】

【But you shook your head: "This is a normal price increase, with no profiteers manipulating it."】

【Upon saying that, everyone was half‑believing, half‑doubting, and then went to investigate the charcoal market……】

【And without looking, you wouldn't know; but once you looked, you were shocked!】

Any charcoal maker inevitably raises prices; ask why, and it's all because output has dropped!

And this is only the beginning; in the future, charcoal will only become more expensive……

Only now did everyone finally notice the energy problem that had long been ignored.

Steam engines are certainly good, but they are a bottomless pit for energy; no amount of charcoal can fill it, and under the populace's decades-long chopping of trees and burning of charcoal, the trees available for logging in West Continent have grown ever scarcer, which is precisely why charcoal has been forced to rise in price!

Only now did everyone finally understand the purpose behind your constant urging to plant trees……

But what can planting trees do?

For trees to become usable timber, they at least need several years, while the energy crisis is staring us in the face right now—how could planting trees solve it?

Moreover, as development progresses, the application scope of steam power will only grow wider, and the demand for charcoal will only increase……

In short, the energy crisis has left nearly everyone unprepared, unable to come up with any useful solution.

West Continent is affected by this; North and East Continents haven't yet developed to this extent, but as long as they continue developing, they will inevitably face this problem!

Thus, an energy-related crisis quickly spread across the Three Continents.

With no ideas left, everyone instinctively turned their gaze to you: Sultan! Pasha! Please quickly employ Profound Skill again!

Employ Profound Skill again?

You shook your head with a light sigh: Their meaning, you of course understand—nothing more than wanting you to use divine power to help the folks…… but that is something you could never agree to.

Because in your previous life you already suffered this loss; back then your choice was to use divine power to replace charcoal, which led to the development of a 'Divine Path Civilization,' ultimately becoming top-heavy and impossible to reverse.

So in this life, you can only let them save themselves; at most you can think of a solution for them, but you must never personally intervene……

Ding! Faced with the predicament brought by the energy crisis, you, upon reflection, could not devise an effective solution, so you placed your hopes on 'another self' to devise plans…… Your choice: (?) Please answer freely!

Lin Liu's plea for help once again lay before Zhao Si.

But Zhao Si did not immediately start thinking of a solution; instead, he fell into another problem: 'This is…… I'd rather play a little management-building game in a dream than bother to think about clearing the game?'

The art style is wrong, ah; the theme of my simulation game is puzzle-solving and survival, with no exception in the first three chapters……

Brother! Wake up!

You're the protagonist! You still have to clear the game……

(End of chapter)