The General's Temple's Assets

"The industries in Lower River are all traditional ones, with little room for growth," Ling Zheng said. "I think we should build on our local strengths..." He then launched into an unbroken account of his plans for development, rattling off figures without hesitation.

He clearly had a well-developed plan. He even seemed to be treating Tang Changsheng as a superior and giving him a detailed report.

Yet everything Ling Zheng said struck Tang Changsheng as feasible, not some wild flight of fancy.

Tang Changsheng found himself seeing his prospective father-in-law in a new light. He had never guessed the man was such a capable technocrat.

It seemed he had underestimated him.

"Lower River has vast natural waters. It's an ideal place to develop emerging marine industries. I know several companies working on new energy-producing algae. I could persuade them to invest here..."

As oil and other energy sources were gradually abandoned, all kinds of new energy technologies had begun to spring up throughout the century.

The breakthrough in electric motor technology, and its complete replacement of the internal combustion engine, had turned the entire world upside down.

As technology advanced, more and more private capital had entered crewed spaceflight, a field that once only nations had the resources to pursue.

Private capital operated far more efficiently than state-run institutions, and its involvement had driven crewed spaceflight forward by leaps and bounds.

Some scientists even predicted that finding a second Earth within the century was now a reasonable hope.

These sweeping technological changes had reshuffled the balance of power across the world. Many old great powers, unable to keep pace with this technological revolution, had been knocked from the clouds.

Even Tang Changsheng, head of the ancient General's Temple and a cultivator, knew something of these trends.

The new energy-producing algae