Chapter 521: Heavy Hidden Dangers

Grand Eunuch Zhou looked completely bewildered.

What was going on?

He knelt down again: "This old servant Zhou Xiang pays respects to Longyang Princess. May the Princess live for a thousand years, a thousand years, a thousand thousand years!"

How annoying this person is!

Xie Chan's heart was still thumping away right now...

She was looking at Prefect Liu!

Why are you blocking me!

"Cough, rise."

After all, Xie Chan was once a princess of the Dayuan Kingdom; she still understood this bit of etiquette.

Grand Eunuch Zhou was weeping bitterly; hearing that Longyang Princess was indeed fine, truly fine, he knocked his head on the ground a few more times: "This old servant thanks the Princess, thanks the Princess!"

He was actually weeping with joy.

Liu Zheng shook his head slightly as he watched.

The master-servant mentality of people in this ancient era was truly strong.

"Princess, the Princess's health..."

Grand Eunuch Zhou asked cautiously while wiping away his tears.

Xie Chan said indifferently: "There is no longer any major issue."

"Good, good, good, good! Heaven has eyes, Heaven has eyes! I will immediately, immediately..."

As he spoke, he was already impatient to go write a letter.

Liu Zheng hurriedly stopped him and said with a bitter smile: "Grand Eunuch Zhou, why not go tomorrow? Would tomorrow be alright?"

Just kidding.

If you go out now, how is he supposed to carry out his own scheme?

Grand Eunuch Zhou nodded abruptly: "Yes, yes, yes. Look at this brain of mine, I almost forgot, almost forgot! But you, you all treated the Princess so unjustly, it really is, it really is..."

Xie Chan hurriedly crawled out from under the covers and glared at Grand Eunuch Zhou: "Who was treated unjustly? This Princess sleeps here every day, and it's quite comfortable. Don't go out and talk nonsense!"

Everyone held back their laughter.

Grand Eunuch Zhou was filled with trepidation: "Yes, yes, this old servant won't say anything, this old servant won't say anything."

Only then did Liu Zheng smile: "Is Grand Eunuch Zhou relieved now?"

Grand Eunuch Zhou took a deep breath.

Relieved.

But...

He followed with a bitter smile: "Prefect Liu, you are determined to drive the Third Prince to his death... This old servant will say something he shouldn't..."

"In half a month, you are to escort the Princess and set off for Jinghua."

"At a time like this, you want to hunt the Third Prince down to the last..."

"I fear this trip to Jinghua will not go so smoothly."

Xie Ling was indeed excessive and wanted to kill Liu Zheng. But he was a prince, and what were you! To put it bluntly, if the royal family wanted to get rid of you, you had to take it; this was the mindset of people in feudal society. If they didn't kill you, it was your good fortune; if they did, it was what you deserved.

However, Liu Zheng did not buy into that, laughing aloud: "Grand Eunuch Zhou, Liu Zheng has never been a man to sit and wait for death!"

"My fate is determined by me, not by Heaven!"

"Even if the trip to Jinghua is a mountain of blades and a sea of fire, I shall go!"

"But..."

"Today's matters must be finished today."

A flash of killing intent appeared in his eyes: "If Xie Ling wants to mess with me, he must be prepared to be messed with by me!"

Once these words were spoken, they were overflowing with dominance.

Seeing this, Xie Chan over there had stars in her eyes. Although the two had not spoken a word since meeting again, those cheesy pick-up lines from day to day still made her involuntarily attracted to this Prefect Liu.

"Fine, then this old servant will say no more!"

Grand Eunuch Zhou gave a bitter smile, exchanged a few more respectful pleasantries with Xie Chan, and then departed.

"Zheng..."

"Hey, hey, hey, Zheng, Zheng, why are you running?"

However, the next moment, Feng Sanniang wanted to create an opportunity for these two young people, but she didn't expect that Liu Zheng wouldn't even dare to look at Xie Chan, turning around and running away.

For a moment.

Feng Sanniang was stunned.

Liu Dahao was stunned.

Xie Chan was also stunned.

And then...

Xie Chan burst into laughter.

Pfft!

Is that all the backbone he has?

Finally back in his own room, the exhausted Liu Zheng let out a deep sigh of relief.

He rubbed his temples.

So tired.

During the trip to Liangshan, he had barely rested. Then he flew back, and without stopping, went to resolve the Blockage of the Ship. He felt as if his body was completely overdrawn.

However...

Now, his body could finally rest.

His mind, however, had been moving the entire time.

With Qingyang Shuo not by his side, many matters required him to think and handle them alone. He lay in the bathtub, letting the hot water relieve his fatigue, yet his mind kept turning incessantly.

Trend.

He was still considering this one word.

It was precisely "trend."

The direction of the Great Trend.

He discovered that his current scope was no longer the small-scale tinkering from when he had first transmigrated. Whatever the matter, everything he needed to consider would be comprehensive.

This time.

Xie Ling was certainly finished.

The money he had swindled would definitely not be taken out of Liangzhou at all.

Because of this.

His own Industrial Corridor plan could finally be truly implemented. However, in what direction would the Industrial Corridor lead Liangzhou?

First.

Abandoning agriculture to engage in industry on a massive scale.

This in itself was a very dangerous thing. Why say that? Because once Liangzhou abandoned agriculture, it would have to rely entirely on imports for food. In ancient times, this situation was quite terrifying. Once the world fell into chaos and others cut off your food supply, your combat effectiveness would be lost immediately.

Therefore, this was a problem Liu Zheng needed to solve.

Secondly.

What kind of impact would the Industrial Corridor have on the Longyan Dynasty? Just this time, he had offended the Ministry of Works quite severely. Just because of Yintan City, if the Industrial Corridor were truly built, would he have completely embarked on a path of opposition to the Longyan imperial court?

Thirdly.

This was the most important thing of all.

This time, upon returning, Liu Zheng could clearly feel it.

The social atmosphere of Liangzhou as a whole had undergone some subtle changes.

With the development of industry in Liangzhou, social customs were gradually opening up. A restless mentality was gradually emerging in society. Getting rich too quickly made the populace naturally drift a bit. This was a change in ideology that Liu Zheng could not stop.

Simply put.

It was that the current Liangzhou was already exhibiting a value system of money-worship from later generations, along with an excessive pursuit of absolute egalitarianism.

This situation was naturally caused by Liangzhou developing too quickly and a large influx of outsiders.

More and more different people were entering Liangzhou, causing the population of Liangzhou to soar from the previous five million to nearly ten million!

How many years had it been?

The population had doubled! Especially since the Household Registration System was rolled out, more people from other parts of Longyan immediately entered Liangzhou through various means—nowadays, in the Longyan Dynasty, who didn't want to possess a Liangzhou household registration and enjoy the social welfare of Liangzhou?

If the construction of the Industrial Corridor began, even more people would flock to Liangzhou. This was beyond doubt.

So many people, so many clashes of thought, so many ideologies.

How was he to control it?

This was clearly something Liu Zheng needed to consider.

Finally.

Once the construction of the Industrial Corridor began, it would be just like the Grand Canal. It would require strong military capability as protection.

But the current situation of the Liangzhou Army was...

Having just downsized, it was in a period of transition.

There was a shortage of generals and a lack of talent.

How to solve it?

Problems came one after another.

The key was that these problems were ones that people of this era had never encountered before.

Qingyang Shuo certainly couldn't help.

Those who read Sage Books at Wangbei Academy couldn't help either.

These were the hidden dangers in Liangzhou that Liu Zheng could consider at present. Although these dangers would not expand excessively in the short term and would not cause any problems, it was like a drug; as time passed, it would inevitably become incurable. By that time, trying to find a way to cure it would be beyond saving.

As he thought, he fell asleep.

When he woke up the next day.

Sure enough.

He was met with a counterattack from Jinghua.

And it directly forced out the very hidden danger he considered the most important.