"Your Highness, believe me, you will surely become one of the greatest emperors in the history of the Sun Moon Empire! I will swear my life to Your Highness and devote myself to the future of the Sun Moon Empire!" Ye Xingyun had realized profoundly that the arrival of the Soul Guidance Steam Engine would greatly improve the Sun Moon Empire's insufficient labor productivity, bringing a qualitative leap in the output of its industries and agriculture.
The change this would bring to the Sun Moon Empire was by no means as simple as adding one or two new machines. What it would usher in was an entirely new era—an era of rapid development in Soul Guidance machinery!
"Senior Ye, please get up first. The future of the empire cannot be made glorious by me alone. I'll need everyone's help, too." Xu Mochen stepped forward to help the old premier to his feet, his eyes growing slightly moist.
There was no doubt that Ye Xingyun was utterly devoted to the Sun Moon Empire and conscientious in carrying out his duties. Even Xu Mochen, who had lived two lives, couldn't help but feel genuine admiration for Ye Xingyun's loyalty.
After reminding Ye Xingyun to keep everything confidential and seeing him off, Xu Mochen began thinking over his plans alone. As things stood, developing finance, industry, and commerce wasn't enough. To secure his own position and stabilize the Sun Moon Empire, he absolutely had to build a powerful army.
However, from what he had learned so far, the Sun Moon Empire's military system and weapons still had plenty of problems. And after such a long period of peace, with no unrest at home and no foreign enemies abroad, the empire's military readiness had grown alarmingly lax.
The Sun Moon Empire had a population of 150 million, yet its standing army numbered only 800,000. Its weapons and equipment hadn't been updated in a long time, and many officers' military thinking, as well as the tactics taught in the Military Academy's command courses, was still stuck in the same rut as a thousand years ago. There had been no progress at all.
On top of that, the National Congress believed all was peaceful under heaven and saw no real need to spend heavily on the military. Military funding was naturally cut again and again, and troop numbers were slashed repeatedly until the army dwindled to its present size.
Of those 800,000 troops, 500,000 served in the internal security forces responsible for maintaining order in the empire's cities, and another 100,000 served in the navy, patrolling and garrisoning the nearby seas and islands. The Sun Moon Empire's actual land army numbered a pitiful 200,000, and most of them were officers or members of the so-called elite units.
The main reason the Sun Moon Empire's land army was so small and made up mostly of officers was that the National Congress believed recruiting and training land forces was easy. In peacetime, with no foreign threats, there was simply no need to maintain a massive standing army.
As a result, the vast majority of rank-and-file soldiers in the land army existed as reservists. In wartime, the 200,000 officers could rapidly gather and organize a large number of reservists, assembling a massive land force of over a million troops in the shortest possible time.
At first glance, this system seemed to have no problems. It solved the awkward predicament of having no troops available in an emergency while greatly reducing military spending, leaving more surplus funds to improve people's livelihoods and develop industry and commerce.
Put simply, the National Congress had always worried that other countries and civilizations might exist beyond the Sun Moon Empire's distant oceans. But technological limitations, combined with the abundance of supplies at home, had dampened people's enthusiasm for long-distance exploration. They had never discovered any foreign enemies, and the Sun Moon Empire had gradually let down its guard. Some people even firmly believed that no other nations existed beyond the Sun Moon Continent.
But Xu Mochen knew full well that far across the vast seas east of the Sun Moon Empire lay the Douluo Continent, a land far more terrifying in scale than the Sun Moon Continent! Though its people were behind the Sun Moon Continent in all kinds of systems, its territory, population, natural resources, and the number and quality of its Soul Masters were likely beyond anything the Sun Moon Continent could match.
Xu Mochen even knew that a few thousand years from now, the Sun Moon Continent would likely be set adrift by shifting continental plates, manipulated by the selfish schemes of a certain deity, until it connected with the Douluo Continent. Then, all sorts of conflicts between the two different civilizations would immediately erupt into war.
Though the Sun Moon Continent was superior to the Douluo Continent in technology, industry and commerce, economics, and its systems, its military training had fallen into such disrepair that discipline was lax. Most of its soldiers were reservists, and the army hadn't fought a decent battle in a long time.
On top of that, the National Congress had spent years pinching pennies on military funding because there had been no large-scale wars. As a result, the army's equipment had gone without upgrades for years, while its officers' thinking had grown overly conservative and outdated.
So when they encountered the Douluo Continent, which was mired in division and war and therefore had countless battle-hardened soldiers, as well as far greater territory, population, and powerful Soul Masters, they were caught completely off guard and routed. In the end, they had no choice but to surrender territory and pay reparations, and even change the continent's name.
Even the schemers hiding within the Sun Moon Continent took advantage of the opportunity to launch rebellions and seize vast swathes of the Sun Moon Empire's territory, with support from the nations of the Douluo Continent!
In the end, the emperor and National Congress of the Sun Moon Empire had no choice but to compromise. They even had to ennoble these people as dukes, marquises, and other high-ranking officials, allowing them to openly carve away a great deal of the Sun Moon Empire's territory.
Fortunately, after the war, the various factions of the Douluo Continent decided that the Sun Moon Continent posed no further threat and grew complacent, turning their attention back to internal strife.
Meanwhile, the people of the Sun Moon Empire endured their humiliation and worked together to develop their nation. In this atmosphere of unity, the empire's national strength surged at breakneck speed. Under Xu Tianran's rule, it first swept away the various separatist forces within its borders—for example, the Brilliant Duke Zhao Yang, who died at Huo Yuhao's hands—and then launched a war that sent the nations of the Douluo Continent fleeing in every direction, bringing them to the brink of extinction.
If the chosen child of fate, Huo Yuhao, and that Tang fellow from the Divine Realm hadn't interfered, the Douluo Continent would long since have fallen into the Sun Moon Empire's hands. Though the Sun Moon Empire later occupied the Douluo Continent again, for some reason it turned into the bizarre Federation!
This bizarre Federation, which had Sun Moon at the front of its name and Douluo at the end, was controlled by the Tang Sect, the Spirit Pagoda, the War God Temple, and Shrek. The Tang Sect, Shrek, and the Spirit Pagoda were native powers of the Douluo Continent, while the War God Temple's master, Chen Xinjie, and vice-master, Guan Yue, were respectively that Tang fellow's subordinate and the Shrek Pavilion Master's junior fellow disciple! It was obvious which people held real power in the Federation. As for the pitiful imperial family of the Sun Moon Empire, its whereabouts became unknown, and it was never mentioned again in the original story.
Of course, since Xu Mochen had transmigrated to the Sun Moon Continent, he would never allow that to happen. He was definitely going to the Douluo Continent. As for that Tang fellow? He had to be eliminated, no matter when! There was no other way!
Xu Mochen naturally had his own plan for dealing with the Douluo Continent. If it could be carried out successfully, it would absolutely allow the Sun Moon Continent to dismantle the various powers of the Douluo Continent at the lowest possible cost.
But for that plan to succeed, it would rely not only on the Sun Moon Empire's powerful economy, technology, industry, and commerce, its superior ideology and systems, and its natural geographical advantages, but also on a powerful army. Without one, putting the plan into action would be playing with fire and getting burned.
After all, dignity could only be found at the edge of a blade, and truth only within the range of a cannon. Without a powerful army to back you up, if you failed to outplay the other side in other ways, they could simply flip the table, stop playing, and put a blade to your throat to force you into submission. All you could do was meekly give in and cough up every hard-won benefit.
So, over the following several dozen days, Xu Mochen oversaw the establishment of the Soul Guidance Steam Engine production line and the development of its attachments. At the same time, he held further discussions with several Soul Tool designers who specialized in other Soul Guidance Weapons.
Although the Sun Moon Empire's military budget cuts had reduced the profits from arms sales considerably, the empire still had a sizeable army. It wasn't huge, but it certainly wasn't small, so the profits to be made were still substantial.
What's more, Xu Mochen assured the military Soul Tool experts at the Sun Moon Royal Research Institute that he would persuade the National Congress to expand the military's arsenal. At last, the experts agreed to his request and began developing a new batch of Soul Guidance Weapons according to his plans.
Xu Mochen also brought together some of Blue Star's ideas for weapon development, the direction of Soul Guidance Weapon research in Douluo Continent II, and the Sun Moon Empire's actual circumstances. With the Soul Guidance Weapon experts, he drew up a military-industrial path suited to the Sun Moon Empire's military development.
Of course, Xu Mochen didn't forget to carefully learn about the state of the Sun Moon Empire's army. But he hadn't known what he'd find until he looked; the problems within the empire's military were too numerous to describe.
The Sun Moon Empire's army was currently divided among nine military districts, based on the empire's thirty-six provinces and the Ming Capital Special Administrative Region. The Central Military District alone had the additional jurisdiction of the Ming Capital Special Administrative Region; each of the other military districts was made up of troops from four provinces. The Sun Moon Empire had only 800,000 troops in total, divided among nine military districts, so it was easy to imagine how few soldiers each one had.
In addition, the land army and internal security forces mainly equipped ordinary soldiers and Soul Masters below level 30 with long- and short-barreled Soul Gunpowder flintlocks. Soul Master soldiers above level 30 were equipped primarily with Soul Guidance Ray pistols and rifles. Heavy weapons included large quantities of Soul Gunpowder cannons, which used primitive Soul Gunpowder as ammunition, along with a small number of Soul Guidance Energy Gathering Cannons.
There was also a certain number of cavalry, armed with the light weapons listed above, as well as specially made sabers and lances—don't misunderstand, lances like the kind used by knights! The navy's sailors, meanwhile, mostly used paddle sailing ships with iron-plated hulls, fitted with some light and heavy Soul Gunpowder cannons and a small number of Soul Guidance Energy Gathering Cannons!
Of course, there was also a tiny number of powerful Soul Master officers equipped with custom-made individual Soul Guidance Weapons of their own! But these were specially made by Soul Guidance Weapon designers at enormous expense. Compared with the size of the Sun Moon Empire's army, there were far too few of them!
This situation wasn't just because Soul Guidance Ray pistols and rifles—proper Soul Guidance Weapons—were too expensive to produce. It was also because only Soul Masters could use them, and each shot consumed a considerable amount of Soul Power. As a result, even low-level Soul Masters would rather choose Soul Gunpowder guns, which were less powerful but didn't consume Soul Power, than use Soul Guidance Ray Guns.
Needless to say, Soul Guidance Energy Gathering Cannons were even worse. They focused Soul Power through a cannon to form a projectile and fire it, and a single shot consumed at least as much Soul Power as a level-forty-something powerhouse possessed in total! So these things were even rarer.
Compared with a thousand years ago, then, the Sun Moon Empire's weapons and equipment had hardly changed at all—except that at last, every soldier had a gun!
Of course, this didn't include the tiny number of officers equipped with custom-made Soul Guidance Weapons. These weapons were specially designed and built by high-level Soul Tool designers, requiring strict standards for the creator's skill and the materials used. Naturally, they cost an outrageous amount and took a very long time to make, so they were completely unsuitable for mass production and widespread use. This wasn't just a major problem for the Sun Moon Empire's Soul Guidance Weapons; it was a huge problem for the development of the entire Soul Tool system!
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