Year 180 of the Xia Era.
Blue Star was now ablaze with lights, looking more and more like Earth.
This stirred a rare flicker of curiosity in Zhang Yang. What had happened over these 120 years?
Viewed from the sky, all of Blue Star had clearly entered the age of electricity!
He hurried to extend his senses over Blue Star, eager to discover what had happened.
The original eight competing kingdoms had become three powers standing in a tripod balance.
Blue Star now had only three kingdoms: Xia, Chu, and Qin.
The strongest of them was now the Qin Kingdom.
The Qin Kingdom?
What happened? There wasn't a Qin Kingdom among the original eight!
Nothing could escape Zhang Yang's senses. The Qin Kingdom's weapons were far superior to those of the other two kingdoms, and it was much wealthier as well.
A strategic weapon under development in the Qin Kingdom had already reached its final testing stage.
Once the tests succeeded, Blue Star's Human Race would probably be unified once again.
Blue Star's total population had surpassed 400 million, and the Dwarf Race numbered over four million.
That was despite several wars between the eight kingdoms reducing the population somewhat.
Blue Star's people had ample food and clothing, and with no natural disasters, their numbers grew very quickly.
This population growth was perfectly normal. In his previous life, the disaster-plagued Great Ming had grown from 50 million people to over 400 million in just a century.
In his previous life, a century had been enough to advance from the steam age to the electrical age.
Why would Blue Star fare any worse?
Besides, in this life, the Dwarf Race, with its talent for invention and creation, was helping them along.
Zhang Yang thought, It looks like I really do need to advance the civilization and find a way to upgrade the planet's level. Otherwise, in another century, Blue Star won't have enough land.
As the Human Race continued to multiply and develop, the space available for animals to survive kept shrinking.
The towns where humans lived looked completely different from a century ago. Three-story houses with private courtyards stood everywhere.
Very few buildings rose above three stories. Their construction clearly reflected the characteristics of Blue Star's civilization.
Partly, civilization developed so quickly that buildings were constantly being rebuilt. Another reason was the enormous size of Blue Star's species.
Warfare was another factor. The Human Race did not know when the Star War would resume, so they prepared before the storm arrived.
Across Blue Star, all manner of large machines roared as they continuously manufactured products.
Factories used assembly-line production, requiring only a few people to operate them.
White smoke rose from chimneys as steelmaking, chemical processing, smelting, and other industries operated.
Streetlights and greenery lined both sides of the streets, with traffic lights at the intersections. The layout was highly sensible, clearly planned as a whole before construction began.
People streamed endlessly through the streets. Those coming and going looked spirited, confident, and happy.
The devices people held while talking were telephones. They had even developed those?
Large numbers of cars drove through the streets, music playing inside them. Buses and subways bustled ceaselessly, while trains shuttled between cities.
Many military aircraft could be seen in the sky, but no civilian planes. Perhaps the skies were still too dangerous.
The streets were much wider than Earth's, and their surfaces appeared to use a new material.
Its inventor, Ying Si, had named it "titanium-silicon mud."
This material was extremely hard and widely used in construction, military applications, chemical processing, steelmaking, metallurgy, new materials, and other major fields.
All three kingdoms had built numerous cities with it. They looked particularly beautiful and elegant, unlike the old style of stone construction.
The material was remarkable. Normally loose and pliable, once air-dried, it possessed all the advantages of asphalt, cement, titanium, resin, and other materials from his previous life.
Most remarkable of all was its ability to repair itself. Extensive testing had proved that it could remain intact for almost ten thousand years without any subsequent maintenance.
A tank shell fired at a hardened city wall would not even leave a dent. Any marks left behind would repair themselves within minutes and disappear.
The three kingdoms had used vast quantities of this material to build cities and city walls, protecting their territories.
Large numbers of soldiers stood atop the walls, fully armed and loaded for battle. They wore matching uniforms and held steel rifles, their expressions solemn.
Numerous military weapons were mounted on the walls, and security was tight. Troops guarded every gate, allowing passage only after checking identity cards.
It seemed the three kingdoms were as incompatible as fire and water!
More precisely, Xia and Chu had allied to resist the Qin Kingdom together.
Who would have imagined that, a century later, Chiyou's descendants and the Yellow Emperor's descendants would once again join forces against a rising kingdom?
Zhang Yang smiled at Blue Star's level of development. It should take less than another eighty years to reach the technological level of his previous life.
The person who invented this material was truly a genius!
And it was the appearance of this material that had brought about the Qin Kingdom's rise. Its developer was a Qin citizen.
More precisely, it had been developed by Ying Si, the younger brother of the Qin Kingdom's second ruler, Ying Zheng.
The story had to begin further back.
Year 61 of the Xia Era.
The eight kingdoms began competing, gathering large numbers of talented people to develop new technologies, hoping to surpass the others militarily.
The kingdoms guarded against one another, and none dared act rashly. Each nation united with one heart, unleashing tremendous energy.
Weapons were constantly upgraded and modified, and projects to develop numerous new weapons were launched.
Alongside weapons development, new materials constantly emerged. Every major field blossomed like a hundred flowers, with new materials and weapons appearing every year.
Trade also began between the kingdoms. They bought and sold to one another, presenting a harmonious front.
Behind the scenes, however, they continually trained spies, hoping to steal other kingdoms' technological achievements and poach their talent to strengthen themselves.
More than thirty peaceful years passed this way. Blue Star's technology advanced noticeably, and its people lived and worked in contentment. Despite the competition between the eight kingdoms, each treated the people under its rule very well.
If a kingdom treated its people poorly, they would simply move to another.
And population was the foundation of all development.
Year 91 of the Xia Era.
Qing Province, Han Kingdom.
Qing Province was the Yan Emperor's clan's fief. Xuanyuan Huangdi had awarded it to him in gratitude for helping defeat Chiyou and unify the land to establish the Xia Dynasty.
The Yan Emperor's Lineage had managed Qing Province for decades, naturally earning the people's deep support and gaining a thorough understanding of the fief's resources.
Yan Hui, king of Han, had also been vigorously developing technology, hoping one day to restore his ancestors' glory.
His ancestor was Shennong, once king of the Human Race, who had ruled Blue Star's civilization for five hundred years.
Unfortunately, the Han Kingdom lay in a remote location with few mineral resources and had never managed to flourish.
One day, while surveying a location in Qing Province, a survey team from the Institute of Engineering suddenly discovered a substance "rather like thick lacquer, burning with great brightness, but producing dense smoke that blackened any curtains it touched."
Since they had never seen this substance before, they collected some and brought it back.
Nobody paid it much attention, since unknown substances were frequently discovered, and most proved useless.
What they did not know was how greatly the discovery of this substance would change the world.
Or how great a calamity it would bring upon the Han Kingdom.
Several months later.
After extensive experimentation, the Han Kingdom's Institute of Engineering used distillation and separation to extract many different substances from it.
Further extensive testing made them realize at once that the Han Kingdom had struck it rich!
They hurried to report the substance to the king of Han. He took it very seriously, named it "petroleum," and immediately suppressed the news while intensifying research.
Numerous substances were extracted from petroleum and rapidly put to use across major fields. The Han Kingdom's industries began developing swiftly.
Petroleum was immediately put to use as a new fuel and energy source.
Its application did not instantly make everything insanely powerful. Instead, it brought continuous changes throughout the economy and the military.
The king of Han issued a gag order, hoping to develop quietly for several decades before swallowing neighboring kingdoms in one stroke and beginning his campaign of unification.
Several years passed, and every sector in the Han Kingdom developed rapidly, just as its king had hoped.
Materials produced using petroleum's associated byproducts were highly competitive, swiftly siphoning wealth from other kingdoms. The Han Kingdom gradually grew rich.
With money came everything else. Military research achieved breakthrough after breakthrough, and weapons were frequently replaced with newer models.
If you did not want others to know what you had done, you should never have done it.
Naturally, the other kingdoms grew suspicious when the Han Kingdom suddenly began developing as though it had activated a cheat.
No wall under heaven was airtight. The other kingdoms eventually learned about petroleum.
The seven kingdoms immediately ordered large numbers of personnel to conduct domestic surveys, hoping to discover petroleum.
The results left them bitterly disappointed. One after another, they publicly announced that they had found no petroleum and demanded that the Han Kingdom disclose its petroleum-related information and technology. These belonged to the entire Human Race!
Petroleum lay underground. The Han Kingdom had merely been lucky enough to discover it exposed on the surface...
After continuous extraction, it had long since begun drilling wells to obtain underground petroleum.
The Han Kingdom had invented petroleum-surveying equipment, only to discover that this was its sole oil deposit, and its reserves were not large.
But the other kingdoms did not know that. They assumed petroleum was a surface resource found only in Han, which showed how successfully the Han Kingdom had suppressed the news.
Naturally, the Han Kingdom refused. You sneaky bastards!
Our kingdom discovered it. Why should we give it to you?
Ignoring the other kingdoms entirely, it began mass-producing weapons on assembly lines, arming its soldiers and preparing for war.
The king of Han was already prepared to negotiate. They could have it, but they would have to pay!
I'll sell it to you!
As expected, all seven kingdoms sent representatives to discuss purchasing petroleum or related technical information.
How could the king of Han let this opportunity slip? He ordered his negotiators to open their lion's mouths wide, jack up the prices, and fleece them thoroughly.
The seven kingdoms began discussing countermeasures. Did they really have to pay until they coughed blood?
Even if they paid a fortune, all they could buy would be discarded junk the Han Kingdom no longer used.
While continuing negotiations with the Han Kingdom, the seven kingdoms privately reached an agreement.
Destroy this sneaky bastard and share its resources among the seven kingdoms!
The neighboring kingdoms of Shang, Zhao, Wei, and Xia would supply troops, while the others supplied equipment and funds.
The seven kingdoms' negotiators had a fierce argument with the Han Kingdom's representatives and left in anger.
Just as the king of Han was feeling pleased with himself, large armies began assembling in the neighboring kingdoms.
More than 400,000 soldiers marched toward the Han Kingdom in a vast, imposing host, intending to surround it completely.
That night, the seven kingdoms simultaneously announced, "The Han Kingdom has selfishly appropriated resources essential to the Human Race's development. This heinous act shall be punished jointly by the seven kingdoms!"
The king of Han was dumbfounded!
This wasn't how the script was supposed to go!
He hurried to contact the seven kingdoms. Surely they could discuss this! He could lower the price!
He received no response.
"Report! Your Majesty, large numbers of enemy troops have been sighted at the border. They are numerous. Please give your orders!" A general hurried over to report, his expression grave.
"Fuck! Those sneaky bastards! Which kingdom sent troops? Shang or Zhao? Hmph! Do they think Han has no one capable? Assemble the troops. If they dare open fire, hit them hard!" The king of Han kicked a stool away, his eyes icy as he spoke coldly to the general.
The king of Han knew that, after years of development, his kingdom possessed formidable strength. If they wanted a fight, he would fight. He would show them that Han was not molded from clay.
"I-it's Shang, Zhao, Wei, and Xia together. They're closing in from three sides of the border," the general stammered, his face pale.
Crash!
The king of Han dropped to the floor. If four kingdoms were visibly involved, all seven must have united against Han.
"Negotiate! Send people to negotiate! Make the technology public!" the king of Han screamed hysterically.
"Yes!" The general hurried outside and ordered the air force to carry the documents to the seven kingdoms for negotiations.
The Steam Airship had barely crossed the border before it was shot down and crashed to the ground.
"So they won't stop until one side is dead," the king of Han murmured when the news reached him.
Yan Hui clenched his fists. After a moment's thought, he abandoned his illusions and ordered the entire kingdom to muster its forces for war.
The Han Kingdom had nearly twelve million people and more than 200,000 soldiers fit for battle.
Han's forces urgently assembled and rushed to the front. This was the first war since the Star War.
The vast army swiftly completed its assembly. The rifles and ammunition in their hands were clearly for breech-loading rifles, roughly equivalent to firearms from the Second Industrial Revolution.
That night, a fierce battle erupted between the two sides. Weapons of this period still consisted primarily of rifles, cannons, and Steam Airships.
The fighting was exceptionally brutal. Relying on favorable terrain and sturdy city walls, the Han Kingdom repelled the enemy's attacks repeatedly.
The fighting continued for three months, but in the end, the few could not withstand the many. The Han Kingdom announced its surrender.
August, Year 95 of the Xia Era.
The first large-scale war between the eight kingdoms erupted over petroleum resources. After three months of fighting, the Han Kingdom ultimately surrendered and was destroyed by the seven kingdoms.
Qing Province was partitioned among its neighbors, and numerous technologies were shared by the seven kingdoms. Blue Star's entire Human Race once again made a leap forward in energy.
After sharing extensive petroleum-exploration technology, the seven kingdoms began surveying all of Blue Star for oil deposits.
From that point on, Blue Star's human civilization had another usable energy source: petroleum.
With petroleum in hand, the kingdoms began developing rapidly, triggering chain reactions across every major field.
Thus, the Human Race enjoyed another twenty years of peaceful development, and society increasingly resembled the course of development in his previous life.
Year 116 of the Xia Era.
Another event that would reshape the continent occurred: scientists in the Chu Kingdom accidentally discovered a strange phenomenon.
They immediately realized that this planet might contain an invisible form of energy, which would only manifest when properly harnessed.
The king of Chu ultimately named this energy "electricity."
After several years of continuous research, they finally developed the first electrical generator.
Over the next few years, electrical equipment began replacing machinery, becoming a new energy source that supplemented and replaced steam-engine power.
The Chu Kingdom pursued further research, and internal combustion engines fueled by gas and gasoline were born one after another. The entire kingdom underwent earth-shaking changes.
With the earlier disaster as a warning, the Chu Kingdom did not conceal electricity.
Instead, it made the invention public and began selling generators, electrical equipment, internal combustion engines, and other products in large quantities, earning enough to fill its pots and bowls to overflowing.
Electric lights, trams, and film projectors subsequently appeared, and the Human Race entered the "electrical age."
Taking advantage of this windfall, the Chu Kingdom began developing numerous military weapons. Heavy weapons that would shock later generations emerged one after another.
And as these heavy weapons were developed, the king of Chu's ambitions soared along with them.
Looking at the map of Blue Star, he pointed with the tip of his sword.
Year 120 of the Xia Era.
The Chu Kingdom launched simultaneous wars against Zhao and Yan, shocking the continent.
The continent, which had only recently found peace, was once again plunged into bloody winds and rains of slaughter.
Amid this war, a nascent nation rapidly rose to prominence-the Qin Kingdom.
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