Heaven's Formula

"You are quite rational." Ning Wanjun glanced at him with interest, "But I can also understand that King Yong wants to see the door again at all costs."

"Why?"

"At his level, there is no lack of power or strength, and there is only one thing left." The princess curled her cardamom-like toes, ""Longevity".And this can be regarded as the ultimate pursuit of the emperor, and it can never be achieved by conventional means. "

"Instead of relying on the door to live forever, it's better to rely on yourself." Xia Fan curled his lips.

"Wait," Ning Wanjun was stunned for a moment, "Don't tell me, you still know the law of longevity."

"I do understand a little bit. Let's put it this way, it's not as difficult as the world thinks." He replied bluntly that the reason why people age is because oxidation is constantly eroding the cells and tissues in the body.This is a dilemma made by life during evolution. Anaerobic is not bad, but the energy obtained is limited; aerobic is vulnerable, but the energy conversion efficiency is greatly improved. In the end, the latter takes advantage of energy and takes a complex and large-scale attitude. , standing at the top of the biological chain.

But this does not mean that aerobic organisms cannot live forever. As long as those damaged cells can be replaced in time, people can live forever.It's just that this function is blocked by a series of factors, so that most of the somatic cells will cease to be active after dividing [-] or [-] times, and the appearance is irreversible aging.

As for those cells that have gained unlimited division ability because they are out of control, they are called cancers.

In other words, maintaining the constant renewal of the body is not contrary to any natural law or law, and in some cases it can even be achieved without external forces.What really limits it is life itself - the immutability of an individual means rigidity, and in order to maintain the evolution and vitality of the group, life puts a lock on itself.

It is by no means an easy task to open this lock by purely technical means, but relying on spells is different.At least in principle, it is much more intuitive than the dry technique of endowing life or the fairy technique of dragon scales. The living dead of the Fang family have essentially opened the lock of renewal.

In the past, Xia Fan always heard that all kinds of Taoism only seek longevity, but compared to those magical spells that fly to the sky and escape from the ground, longevity seems simple and unpretentious.

Chapter 323 Year-End Summary

After explaining the principle in general, Ning Wanjun's eyes lost focus for a while, and it took him a long time to come back to his senses, "You mean, after mastering the tricks, everyone can achieve longevity?"

"Not bad." Xia Fan affirmed, "As long as the research on the human body progresses to the microscopic level, I believe this alchemy will appear sooner or later."

So the key is to apply the technique to the research - the former is equivalent to a portable tool, which can greatly reduce the difficulty of searching for true knowledge.

"You can always say something amazing." Ning Wanjun took a long breath, "If this kind of magic really appears, I am afraid that those who are sensitive will suddenly become immortals, and will no longer be able to integrate into ordinary people. bingo."

This is a rather realistic problem. Xia Fan secretly thought that the unfairness of life span is undoubtedly the greatest unfairness of human beings. If people who sense Qi can live forever through magic, the existing society may really be divided.

"At least we don't have to worry about it now," Li interjected.

"That's right." Ning Wanjun stretched, "By the way, how many days do you plan to rest?"

"Uh... what do you mean?" Xia Fan suddenly felt something bad in his heart.

"You've been there for a month, and the things that have piled up in Jinxia City are superfluous, and they are all related to the plans you led. Eunuch Li and Taishou Hong can still share other things. The school and the machine building bureau They can't control it." Ning Wanjun clapped her hands up to this point, "Qiuyue!"

"Hey, the servant girl is here."

Then Xia Fan saw Qiuyue staggering in with a stack of documents nearly half a person's height in her arms.

pat.

All the paperwork was piled up in front of him.

The princess showed a sly smile, "You have worked so hard for so long, you must have a rest, but it shouldn't be a problem to approve the paperwork during the holiday. Or you can just live in the bedroom for a few days, and you can eat with Qiuyue Said, after enough rest, these reports summarize the plan for the coming year, and you can almost read it."

"Ahem...Xia Fan, I suddenly remembered that Shan Hui has been ignored for so long, I don't know if he is still alive." Li stood up, "I'll check on this guy first, and I'll see you later."

"Uh... eh, wait a minute..."

Before Xia Fan could react, the fox demon had slipped out of the bedroom.

"Then, I'll leave it to you." Ning Wanjun also put on her robe and walked out the door.

After a while, only Xia Fan was left facing the pile of documents.

He couldn't help crying for a while.

Sure enough, the princess still didn't forget that she owed half a month's contact times.

Xia Fan opened the top booklet, and the first book was written by Mo Yun as the report of the Mechanism Bureau.

……

When it was getting late outside the window, he finally read through all the documents roughly.

It has to be said that the emergency officials trained by the Bureau have begun to show their effects.At least in the summary report, specific and detailed figures are listed for all content involving quantity, increase or decrease, instead of vague expressions such as "a large amount, a little" as before.

This requires officials not only to be literate, but also to master basic arithmetic rules and calculation skills.Although from the perspective of future generations, these skills are at the elementary school level, and do not involve multiplication and division, but they are already a complete improvement compared to the past.

Among all the reports, Xia Fan was most satisfied with the population growth rate of Jinxia City.

According to a recent household census, Jinxia’s resident population has exceeded 20. Although there is no specific record from the previous government office, it is estimated to be around 30.In other words, relying on the refugee policy and the word of mouth of the local people, the population growth rate during this period can be described as an explosion. The growth rate in half a year exceeded the sum of the past [-] years, which also made Jinxia City touch The threshold of half of the total number of people in Shangyuan City.

Among these people, the refugees who escaped from Leizhou were not the mainstream, accounting for only [-]%, while the remaining [-]% were provided by the surrounding towns.In other words, after half a year of construction, Jinxia City has produced a population siphon effect, and has begun to accelerate the accumulation of surrounding resources and wealth.

This kind of attraction can not only lure the poor, but also the rich will gather here because of factors such as business opportunities and fame.If the parents and officials of these towns were also traversers, they would definitely scold Jinxia City for sucking blood, but this process will not be interrupted by protests, let alone the county officials and gentry who know nothing about it.

On the contrary, Eunuch Li and Hong Siqi raised concerns about this "abnormal" growth rate.

There is very little land in the city that can be used for housing construction, the influx of people has caused food consumption to be much higher than expected, and the silver confiscated from the Wang family has bottomed out... Various data show that Jinxia City has reached the point of "shaky". If the absorption continues, the bureau will be overwhelmed, and the current order may collapse.

Seeing this, Xia Fan couldn't help raising the corners of his mouth.

Now the two have learned to use data to provide a theoretical basis for their advice.

But he had no intention of stopping the carriage at all.

Development is the most effective way to resolve all contradictions. As long as you don't fall apart, you must run as fast as possible.

Because Xia Fan pays more attention to another column of numbers.

According to the report of the Bureau, the urban employment rate has approached the 50.00% mark!

Since no one had ever collected relevant data before, this report was placed at the bottom by Ning Wanjun. Only Xia Fan knew how amazing this number was.

The total population does not make the essential difference between one city and another. Shangyuan City with 50 residents is the best example.

But the employment rate does.

An employment rate of more than [-]% means that at least [-]% to [-]% of women have left their homes to participate in various positions provided by the Bureau.

This is progress unmatched by any other city.

Considering that business, shop opening and other industries will not be included in the Bureau's statistics, this figure can be increased by a few tenths of a percent.

Nearly half of the people in a city have their own jobs, can earn stable income and support their families, including a large number of women, which is absolutely the most healthy proof for Jinxia City.The rapidly growing population is not a burden, but a guarantee for the city's rapid development!

For example, in Mo Yun's year-end summary, it was mentioned that the Machine Building Bureau has newly opened a third factory building, and the number of employees has reached as many as [-].Among them, there are more than [-] elves, and the air rifle and the astronomical instrument have entered the stage of mass production. In terms of scale, they are no longer inferior to the Ministry of Industry's Mechanical Engineering Bureau.

Of course, the expenses during this period are quite "substantial".

There is another gold-swallowing monster school that is also progressing rapidly.

Not only is the second college area about to be put into use, but also more than [-] students come to attend classes. If the serious shortage of teachers can be solved, the two schools can accommodate [-] students.When these people go to work, it will inevitably bring a new round of leap for Jinxia City.

Chapter 324 How to turn losses into profits

As for the consequences of Eunuch Li and Hong Siqi's warning, Xia Fan is also well aware.

In the final analysis, it is still a matter of "money".

Not enough land for living in the city?Expansion to the suburbs is.

Food consumption is fast?It is possible to increase investment in beach salt fields and strive to double the harvest in the coming year.

These problems are not difficult to deal with as long as you have money on hand.

The General Affairs Bureau invests in new projects while providing a large number of jobs, all of which require a lot of money to support, but correspondingly, the Bureau does not receive much profit.Since taking over all functions of the government office, Jinxia's only stable income comes from commercial taxes.It's just that this amount of money is not enough compared to the expenses, especially after the bottomless pit of opening schools and promoting primary education, the secretariat loses tens of thousands of taels of silver every month.

From Eunuch Li's point of view, he is simply pouring his own money to the people like water.Once the money in the pocket is used up, the policies built on this system will collapse with a crash.

In his view, a balance of payments, or a financial situation in which income is slightly greater than expenditure is the most ideal situation.

This will ensure that Ning Wanjun's treasury will have a surplus every year, and the wealth will accumulate more and more.

But Xia Fan knows that this is not what a dominant government should do.

On the contrary, the expenditure of the Bureau should be greater than the income, and the expenditure should be increased every year, so that the social wealth can be moderately inflated, so as to make the economy full of vitality.

To put it simply, it is to increase the money in private circulation.

Therefore, there is no problem with the status quo of Jinxia City. The only problem is that silver taels are real objects, unlike banknotes that can be printed as much as you want.

In other words, it is precisely because of the emergence of banknotes that the shackles of currencies such as gold and silver were completely liberated, and the speed of social development took off rapidly.

Xia Fan also really wanted to do this, but unfortunately Jinxia City is still under-developed, and printing money directly is prone to a series of problems.

The most important thing is the product.

Apart from salt and houses, Jinxia had no necessities for life, which left the government with no channels other than decrees to encourage residents to convert their silver taels into banknotes, or vice versa to prevent them from exchanging banknotes for silver taels.

Out of concerns about new things, after the people get the banknotes issued as salaries, they will definitely try their best to exchange them for silver.If the established banks cannot exchange enough cash, the banknotes that do not have much credit will go bankrupt immediately.

Of course, he can also increase the selling price of salt and houses, and stipulate that transactions must be made in paper money.This will indeed allow people to hold a certain amount of banknotes for a long time, but the high prices of salt and houses will greatly reduce the willingness of migrants to move in, and the result is putting the cart before the horse.

After the large-scale harvest in Yantian, the idea of ​​printing money may be possible by using grain as an intermediate equivalent, but it is definitely a matter of doing more harm than good now.

Jinxia needs to use more direct means to solve this shortfall.

After dinner, Xia Fan directly asked the princess to call his subordinates and held a small meeting in the classroom.

"Master Xia, I haven't seen you for a month, and you are stronger than before." Eunuch Li said with a smile, "I heard that you want to solve the problem of the empty internal storage this time?"

Probably because of the rapid changes in Jinxia City recently, all the way up, even the oldest veteran in the princess team has become respectful.

"Indeed." Xia Fan said frankly, "If you don't have any money on hand, you will have less confidence in doing things, right?"

"You're right." He almost frowned and smiled. After all, he was the one who proposed this matter. If the financial crisis can be avoided, it would be a credit to the princess. "Does it need to stop which project, or add a new tax?"

"Neither." Xia Fan shook his head. "The current projects promoted by the Bureau not only cannot be stopped, but must be promoted more vigorously. It is easier to increase taxes than to reduce them, and we should not increase them hastily because of temporary difficulties."

Eunuch Li was stunned, "Then how do you reduce the deficit in the internal treasury? Could it be...you are waiting for the tribute from the Yama Kingdom?"

"That amount of money is certainly considerable, but we don't know when the ships across the sea will arrive." Staff officer He Guicai expressed concern.

"Of course I won't pin my hopes on uncertain things." Xia Fan spread out the big map of Shenzhou in front of everyone, "The silver balance should be settled from within Shenzhou."

Army Commander Xu Sanzhong's eyes lit up, "You mean... robbery?"

"——It is to take back the power to Jinxia." Xia Fan corrected, "It is foreseeable that the Privy Council will take action against Jinxia in the coming year. Our original plan was to take Shenzhou slowly, but the matter has come to this point. There is not much need either. Sending troops to take down the surrounding cities and towns and replace these local governments is the task to be completed this winter!"

Ning Wanjun stood up suddenly, "Good idea!" Her eyes were full of excitement, "These government must have collected a lot of money, if they can rob them all - gather them together, it is equivalent to being another royal family." accumulation."

For Shenzhou locals, the snow season will only cause difficulties for the army to march and supply, and it is not to the extent that it is impassable.And the only garrison in Shenzhou is far to the west, and Jinxia City is undoubtedly the overlord of the entire southeast region.

"If you count the cleanup of old accounts, there are several royal families." Xia Fan laughed, especially the squires and big landlords, there are absolutely very few who have not committed any violations of law and discipline.After taking down the government office, it is estimated that many cases can be found by searching according to the documents and decrees of the government office. "Of course, the purpose of this matter is not just to enrich the pockets."

He stretched out three fingers.

"The air rifles have been assembled in the troops, and five or six machine beasts have been built. This operation can be used as an actual combat exercise. It will not only allow the troops to familiarize themselves with the usage of these new equipment, but also an opportunity to test their actual effects."

In a sense, this is a Butan collaboration with Jinxia's characteristics. Mechanized beasts are far less flexible than horses, but their durability and load capacity are not comparable to horses.How much this kind of war equipment can play in actual combat is unknown to Xia Fan, so it is absolutely necessary to use weak enemies to practice in advance.

"Secondly, the officials prepared for these towns can also be seamlessly integrated into the new plan, so after the government is banned, these towns will not lose order. On the contrary, they can be used by Jinxia immediately to supplement our single resources and deficiencies."

"Finally, I hope that when the Privy Council takes targeted action, the front line of the war will not start near Jinxia City." Xia Fan said solemnly, "A last stand shows determination, but it is also another manifestation of the end of the road. If you want to fight with the Privy Council Confrontation, this winter we should at least take the whole of Shenzhou into our hands, and compete with them within the boundaries of Shenzhou."

Chapter 325 Wake Up

Olina felt the chill go away.

The sense of touch that had been lost came back to my mind.

She felt that someone was turning herself, and then something soft brushed her whole body bit by bit. It was a little numb, but it didn't make people feel uncomfortable.

I don't know how long this half-dream and half-awake state lasted.

Until she suddenly opened her eyes.

The scene in front of her was not like a prison cell, at least Olina had never seen such a neat and bright cell, with a floor made of vertical and horizontal purlins above her head, a brick wall around her, and a small window not far away.

She tried to move her hands and feet. Although her limbs were sore and limp, she was not imprisoned by the chains, and... the touch felt a little strange.

The dragon girl stretched out one hand from the quilt, only to find that she was tightly wrapped in bandages, with circles of fine gauze wrapped around her wrists, and Olina could smell a pungent smell of medicine through them.

The interrupted memory has now been completely connected.

Not only did Xia Fan not leave her in the wild, but he treated her injuries instead?

At the moment when she was fascinated by the drug, she even had the illusion that she was about to return to the prison.

But now... not only is she alive, but her body has basically returned to normal.

This contrast makes Olina a little lost.

No... not right.

He is the ambassador of the Holy Wing Islands, so he must have a purpose in doing so.The seemingly friendly behavior is actually to obtain intelligence and information, and then abandon it after draining his own value. This is Xia Fan's intention.

The reason why she is not shackled is because she cannot escape from this room at all. The outside of the small window must have been sealed by iron bars, or there must be guards watching, as long as she shows her head...

Olina supported her weakness and got out of bed, and walked to the window.She took a deep breath, picked out the latch, and pushed it lightly——