Iron Dynasty

“Hmph, this Tibet has a good plan. The Empire has not settled old scores with them yet, but they have delivered themselves to our doorstep.”

Fei Ji said angrily.

Due to the former Great Yu Empire’s decline, Tibet, a plateau tribe that had once submitted to the Great Yu Empire, had long harbored disloyal intentions. During the reign of Xiao Wenxuan, it had invaded the Songzhou region many times and even directly threatened the security of Chang’an.

However, compared to the barbarians, Tibet’s strength was weaker. Although the Great Yu Empire was unable to deal with the barbarians, it was more than capable of dealing with Tibet at that time, so the two sides kept fighting back and forth.

Fei Ji had experienced many of Tibet’s raids on the Great Yu Empire’s borders, so he hated Tibet deeply.

Pang Yukun nodded. He said, “Does Your Majesty remember the disaster of Bashu? If Tibet had not allowed the barbarians to pass, such a tragedy would not have happened. For the stability of Bashu, I believe it is time to pacify Tibet.”

Although Fei Ji and Pang Yukun had some conflicts of interest in their daily lives, they were united on the common interests of the Empire.

Xiao Ming was satisfied with this. He said, “In that case, I will give Luo Xin an order. From this day forward, have him send troops to Songzhou and teach the Tibetans a lesson.”

“Your Majesty is mighty!” Fei Ji and Pang Yukun bowed and said.

After finalizing the plan to attack Tibet, the ruler and his two officials discussed the content of the plan in detail. In Xiao Ming’s opinion, this five-year plan was more important than taking Tibet, because it was related to the Empire’s global strategy. Only by establishing a strong industrial system could he maintain global hegemony.

After the two left, Xiao Ming drafted a telegram and had Qian Dafu send it to Qi Guangyi.

The general meaning was the same as what they had just discussed, with the only additional part being about Gubat.

Now that Gubat was willing to submit to the Empire, he also hoped to use Gubat to manage the grassland well. So in the telegram, he hinted at the idea of establishing the Western Regions Protectorate, where Gubat would be given a position and be under the jurisdiction of the Empire from then on.

After dealing with this matter, he called Qian Dafu and went to the medical academy together. In the past decade, the fastest developing field in the Empire was actually medicine.

The reason was simple: many things in medicine relied on clinical experience, and the technology crystals had no shortage of clinical experience. So for more than ten years, the medical academy had been studying books and applying the medical knowledge they learned to reality, combined with actual cases.

“Your Majesty, I am now practicing medicine in this teaching hospital of Qingzhou Medical University. When I’m free, I go to the medical academy to give lectures. Now that I am old, I can no longer learn as fast as the young people, so it’s time to step down.”

Upon arriving at the medical academy, Huang Tingzhi said, pointing to the modern building opposite the medical academy.

Following the direction of Huang Tingzhi’s finger, Xiao Ming looked at a place not far away that resembled a community. This place was the teaching hospital that Huang Tingzhi mentioned, and it was also the hospital with the highest medical standards in the Empire.

Looking at the concrete building complex, Xiao Ming suddenly had the illusion of traveling back to modern times, after all, this building was basically no different from modern ones. The rise of civil engineering in the academy was also changing the Empire’s architectural structure. The formerly exquisite wooden ancient buildings were confined to gardens, and important buildings in the city were gradually being replaced by new modern buildings.

However, this trend was not actively promoted by Xiao Ming. The reason for this acceleration was the increase in fires in Qingzhou City after it was electrified. Wooden structures were very vulnerable to electrical leaks.

Of course, this did not mean that the quaint wooden buildings were to be eliminated. In fact, most of the nobles and wealthy households in Qingzhou City now chose to live in steel and concrete houses in the city and build private, villa-style recreational residences in the countryside. This way, they could enjoy the benefits of development while also maintaining the elegant mood of the past.

Coming back to his senses, Xiao Ming said, “Elder Huang, for all these years, you have worked tirelessly to train medical talents for the Empire. Now, your excellent students are all over the Empire, eradicating stubborn diseases and restoring health to the people of the Empire. And for all these merits, Elder Huang has never asked me for a reward, which truly makes me feel uneasy.”

Huang Tingzhi stroked his beard and laughed. He said, “Your Majesty, some people seek power, some seek wealth, and some only seek endless knowledge. I am the latter. Ever since Your Majesty brought me from Jinling City to this Qingzhou, it is as if you have given me endless rewards. After all, here, I have realized that I was just a frog in a well, and that it is impossible to exhaust the all-encompassing knowledge of medicine in a lifetime.”

“It is precisely for this reason that I want Elder Huang to widely accept apprentices and spread the medical knowledge to benefit the people,” Xiao Ming said with a smile.

Huang Tingzhi nodded slightly. He then looked at Xiao Ming meaningfully and said, “It’s just that I’m afraid I won’t live long enough to help Your Majesty extend your life.”

When this was mentioned, Xiao Ming’s expression changed slightly. He said, “So Elder Huang has known all along.”

“Hahaha…” Huang Tingzhi laughed heartily. “In fact, why does Your Majesty have to hide it? Which emperor in history has not sought the method of eternal life? It is unprecedented that Your Majesty does not believe in alchemy but believes in medicine, but this is precisely where Your Majesty is wise.”

After a pause, he continued, “However, it is precisely because of Your Majesty’s thought that medicine in Qingzhou is now flourishing. Your Majesty is still young, and there are infinite possibilities in the future.”

Xiao Ming sighed softly. In fact, he had been paying no less attention to medicine than to mathematics, physics, and chemistry all these years. In modern times, the advancement of medicine has greatly increased the average human lifespan, and he naturally wanted to live longer himself, after all, the content of the technology crystals in his mind was not something he could exhaust in this lifetime.

If possible, he wanted to turn all the content of the technology crystals into reality in his lifetime, and to achieve this, he would need genetics, a science that surpassed the technology of this era. This was not just the knowledge contained in the technology crystals. In fact, in his modern research field, he had already touched upon this area, where biologists were already researching how to extend human life by extending the life of cells.

After all, the process of human death and aging was the process of cell death and aging.

“With Elder Huang’s auspicious words, I will definitely live to see that day. However, I hope Elder Huang can pay more attention to the laboratory for this project.” Xiao Ming said. Inaction was not in his nature. So, after discovering that Qingzhou’s medicine had made sufficient progress, he had Huang Tingzhi specially establish a biology laboratory.

This laboratory gathered the most outstanding talents. They would study deeper knowledge from generation to generation, but the biggest limitation of this laboratory now was the equipment problem. The reality was that even the cleverest housewife could not make a meal without rice.

And there was no use in him being anxious about this, because the progress of all industries was holistic, and one discipline could not get ahead of others by itself. So he could only wait for the progress of industry to achieve it little by little.

“Your Majesty, rest assured. I will do my best. After all, Your Majesty is the most precious treasure of the Empire.” Huang Tingzhi’s eyes were firm.