380: Chapter 380 Zhang Liang's Whereabouts

After the stage play "the big sword slashes the water bandits of yunmengze" was performed in Xianyang, its popularity among the common people was far greater than Zhao Fusu had imagined.

It made sense; even the nobles were left lingering and forgetting to return home after watching the performance, let alone the commoners at the bottom of society who had almost no entertainment.

The number of people in the Great Qin Art Troupe was still too small.

He decided to expand the scale of the Great Qin Art Troupe.

However, the number of stage actors was too few.

Relying solely on recruitment would not satisfy the demand.

Not everyone is born with a talent for performing.

He decided to establish a Great Qin Art Academy and have Zhou Qun, Chen Le, and Zhou Lunfa serve as mentors to train actors.

This way, there would be a steady stream of stage actors to be sent to every commandery, county, and village.

Zhao Fusu was a man of action, and he moved immediately.

He had the National Assembly specifically approve a sum of funds to set up the Great Qin Art Academy and appointed Zhou Qun, Chen Le, and Zhou Lunfa as mentors.

"We can even become mentors!"

Zhou Qun, Chen Le, and Zhou Lunfa were all incredibly excited.

When they heard that it was a personal appointment from Zhao Fusu, they went wild with joy.

"Please rest assured, Your Majesty the Paramount Leader, we will certainly do our utmost to train stage actors!"

Under their efforts, batches of stage actors were sent out to various commanderies and counties.

The commandery where Zhang Liang was hiding also welcomed a performance of the stage play "the big sword slashes the water bandits of yunmengze."

As he watched the common people applauding the soldiers of Great Qin one by one, his expression became extremely grim; Zhao Fusu's methods were far more terrifying than he had imagined.

With his intellect, he saw through it at a glance: Zhao Fusu intended to use stage plays as a means of united front work.

In the play, Great Qin stood on the side of justice; naturally, in the hearts of the people of the Six Lands, Great Qin became synonymous with justice.

In this way, the people of the Six Lands would move from rejecting Great Qin to accepting it, then to developing a favorable impression, and finally to fully identifying with Great Qin.

For Zhang Liang, who wanted to revolt, this was not good news at all.

"Could it be that I, Zhang Liang, will have no possibility of revenge in this lifetime!"

Zhang Liang felt a deep sense of distress in his heart.

He could no longer see any hope for rebellion within the Six Lands.

After the abolition of corvée labor, the people of Great Qin were no longer forced into military service.

Chen Sheng and Wu Guang would not have been forced to start the anti-Qin uprising because heavy rain caused them to miss their deadline.

No one was willing to be the vanguard of an anti-Qin movement, leaving Zhang Liang with no opportunities.

Zhang Liang was unwilling to give up.

Every night when he slept, he dreamed of his family questioning him, asking why he hadn't avenged them.

They were all waiting for Zhang Liang to take revenge for them!

Zhang Liang grit his teeth.

Within the borders of Great Qin, there was no longer any chance to overthrow the empire.

He turned his gaze toward the north.

Ever since the existence of Huaxia, all threats had come from the north.

The only power left that could possibly overthrow Great Qin was the Hu people in the north.

"The one who destroys Qin shall be Hu."

Many people thought this 'Hu' referred to Hu Hai.

But Zhang Liang believed this 'Hu' meant the Hu people.

Great Qin had sent three hundred thousand troops north to strike the Xiongnu and five hundred thousand troops south to conquer the Baiyue.

With Great Qin fighting on both the northern and southern fronts, its strength was greatly dispersed, giving the Nobles of the Six Lands a chance to strike back.

If these troops were all concentrated Inside the Pass, the Nobles of the Six Lands would have no chance to counterattack at all.

In Zhang Liang's view, Great Qin would have been successfully overthrown by the Nobles of the Six Lands because its forces were spread too thin.

But what he hadn't expected was that the First Emperor would suddenly die.

After Zhao Fusu took power, he declared a general amnesty and reduced taxes, winning the hearts of the people while making it difficult for the Nobles of the Six Lands to recruit anyone to oppose Qin.

When the common people have a way to live, who would be willing to go to the battlefield?

After Zhao Fusu liberalized the grain trade, life for the people of the Six Lands returned to how it used to be, making them even less likely to revolt.

At the same time, Zhao Fusu was mass-producing steel, forging steel sabers, and even Skyfire Series weapons.

The concentrated explosion of those three thousand six hundred explosive packs had given the Nobles of the Six Lands a massive shock.

It caused their enthusiasm for rebelling against Qin to suffer an epic-level nerf.

Later, when Zhao Fusu opened factories together with the Nobles of the Six Lands, their motivation to oppose Qin became even weaker.

In such an environment, Zhang Liang had the will but not the power.

He now urgently needed to find allies he could work with.

For this candidate, Zhang Liang's gaze turned toward the north.

The current Xiongnu were divided into the Southern Xiongnu and the Northern Xiongnu.

The Southern Xiongnu were the Xiongnu in the Southern Desert, while the Northern Xiongnu were those in the Northern Desert.

Modun had been driven out of the lush pastures of the Southern Desert, but he had always been thinking about its grass and water.

Zhang Liang planned to go and join the Northern Xiongnu.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend!

Once he had a plan, Zhang Liang told the Six-Fingered Black Knight about his intentions.

"Good."

The Six-Fingered Black Knight nodded; he also felt that there was no future for development within the borders of Great Qin.

He agreed with Zhang Liang's view to head north to the Northern Xiongnu and seek refuge with the Xiongnu people.

They disguised themselves as a merchant caravan and headed for the Southern Desert.

As the Southern Desert was incorporated into the territory of Great Qin, exchanges between the Southern Desert and the Qin Region became increasingly close.

Many merchant caravans were traveling from the Qin Region to the Southern Desert.

Therefore, a merchant caravan like Zhang Liang's heading to the Southern Desert was not uncommon.

Zhang Liang decided that after reaching the Southern Desert, they would proceed from there to the Northern Desert.

The Southern Desert spanned over two thousand kilometers from east to west, and it was impossible for Great Qin's troops to be stationed everywhere.

This would allow Zhang Liang to pass through the Southern Desert and enter the Northern Desert.

Once they entered the Northern Desert, they would be safe.

However, before entering the Northern Desert from the Southern Desert, it would be best if they could learn the Xiongnu language.

Good communication can often solve many troubles.

Just as many misunderstandings are often caused by a lack of clear communication.

While Zhang Liang and the Six-Fingered Black Knight were heading toward the Northern Desert, Zhao Fusu also received good news.

That was, the anti-fouling hull paint had been successfully developed by the team at the Great Qin Academy of Sciences.

A look of joy appeared on Zhao Fusu's face.

With hull paint, he no longer had to fear that ship hulls made of steel would be corroded by seawater after being submerged for a long time.

One must not underestimate the corrosive power of seawater.

Before Zhao Fusu transmigrated, when he took his old beat-up car to the inspection station for its annual checkup, he saw those vans that transported sea fish were rusted through and falling apart everywhere.

Unless one found a middleman, such vehicles could never pass the annual inspection.

It was because Zhao Fusu knew exactly how strong the corrosive power of seawater was that he had not allowed the steam ironship to go out to sea. He waited until the hull paint was developed to coat the bottom of the steam ironship before setting off for Japan.

Now that the time was finally ripe, he immediately ordered the hull paint to be transported to the Wei River Shipyard to be applied to the steam ironship.

When Xu Fu heard that the hull paint had been successfully developed, he also looked excited.

He had long wanted to pilot the steam ironship out to sea.

The hull paint was delivered to the Wei River Shipyard.

The steam ironship was first driven into a dry dock filled with water.

After the water was drained, the steam ironship settled onto the dock's supports, and workers began applying the paint.

After intense work by the laborers, the steam ironship was finally successfully painted.

Of course, it wasn't just the bottom of the steam ironship that was painted.

The sea breeze also contained salt, which would cause steel to rust.

Therefore, Zhao Fusu had the Wei River Shipyard paint every single corner of the steam ironship.

He would rather spend more time on safety than have the steam ironship sink due to corrosion issues while sailing the ocean.

That would cause an even greater loss for him.

Naturally, Zhongli Wei and Ouyang Feng did not dare to disobey Zhao Fusu's orders.

They also agreed that what Zhao Fusu said made sense.

Ironware was inherently prone to rusting.

After a month spent on painting, the time finally came for the steam ironship to be launched again.

As water was pumped into the dock where the steam ironship was located, the ship slowly floated up and was then towed out of the dock by tugboats.

After being towed into the Wei River, the steam ironship began its startup procedures.

At the same time, Zhao Fusu had a large amount of supplies, such as steel bars, cement, and daily necessities, sent over.

In addition, strategic materials like bullets, artillery shells, and incendiary bombs were also sent along.

These things would all be packed and transported to Japan by the steam ironship.

Once the steam ironship was successfully started, it sailed toward the deep-water port.

A continuous stream of supplies was carried onto the steam ironship by dockworkers.