Flying Clouds in Another World

The reason why Liu Feiyun was greatly disappointed was that he knew that the latest Thousand Mile Boat was not driven by human or animal power, but was directly driven by the spiritual energy in the crystal through a special formation.

The spiritual energy in this world is essentially a kind of energy that can be absorbed and utilized by plants and animals. Crystal is a kind of ore that contains a lot of spiritual energy. Through some special material arrays, the spiritual energy in the crystal can also be converted into power, heat, and even light or something like electromagnetic waves.

Although the spiritual energy of this other world is wonderful, it is not as magical as in other fantasy novels, and it cannot make people immortal, immortal, or become gods or demons. The status of crystals is very similar to coal and oil in the industrial age and uranium ore in the atomic technology age.

"I told you, we haven't found a suitable formation to drive this vehicle yet. Either it's not powerful enough or it can't run for a long time. How can it be put into use so quickly?" When Liu Feiyun learned about the structure of Qianli Zhou in detail, he couldn't help but think.

Then, he asked the owner of the vehicle and boat: "How much did our Liu family spend on purchasing this vehicle and boat?"

The boat owner replied, "Last year, my wife bought ten of these thousand-mile boats. It cost her a total of one hundred thousand taels of gold."

"What do you mean by 100,000 taels of gold? This broken boat, this pile of broken wood, actually costs 10,000 taels of gold. Why don't the people from the Sky Viewing Pavilion go and rob it? When I get back, I have to tell my mother that she can't buy this kind of broken boat anymore. We in the Liu family can build better ones ourselves."

The boat owner was stunned at first, then his eyes lit up and he murmured, "Building a boat by ourselves means that the Chamber of Commerce will have another profitable business in the future!"

Qin Cheng next to him also said: "It seems that you know a lot about this Thousand Mile Express Boat."

Liu Feiyun smiled helplessly and said, "How could I not understand? The basic structure of this ship was thought up by me and several of my senior masters. Uncle Qin, have you forgotten that I am a direct disciple of the Sky-Watching Pavilion?"

Qin Cheng laughed even louder after hearing this: "Yes, yes! How could I have forgotten about this?"

The Thousand Mile Express was speeding along the Grand Canal. Although its speed was not as fast as the modern ships in another time and space, it was still incredibly fast in this alien world. The Grand Canal ran through the north and south of the empire, connecting dozens of rivers and streams. It was the most important and busiest waterway in the empire. Various types of ships were constantly shuttling back and forth on the water. Every few moments, a ship would meet the Thousand Mile Express.

Since Liu Feiyun understood the basic structure of this thousand-mile express boat, he has been staying on the deck, watching the scenery along the coast and the various ships traveling on the Grand Canal.

The countless towns and villages on both sides of the Grand Canal showed the prosperity of the empire. However, the boats filled with ragged poor people passing by from time to time seemed to reveal the decadent atmosphere behind the prosperity of the empire. Now Liu Feiyun knew that those ragged people were slaves.

In the Tianyou Empire, there is a strict hierarchy, divided into five levels from top to bottom, namely nobles, nobles, commoners, untouchables, and slaves. Although dynasties have changed, the five major hierarchies in the empire have remained unchanged for thousands of years.

In the early and heyday of a dynasty, the common people often accounted for the vast majority of the total population, while the upper class of nobles and gentry, as well as the lower class of untouchables and slaves, only accounted for a small part.

When a dynasty begins to decline, the proportion of untouchables and slaves, especially the slave class, in the total population will increase greatly, because the main source of slaves is nothing more than prisoners of war, criminals, and poor people who are sold or sell themselves for various reasons.

Today, the tenth dynasty of the Tianyou Empire, the Chen Dynasty, has been more than five hundred years since its founding by Taizu, and has gradually shown a decadent atmosphere. In the imperial court, the ministers are scheming against each other, forming cliques and fighting for power; the princes in the territories are busy expanding their own power; the local tyrants and wealthy people often collude with local officials to plunder the people's fat and blood, and make their own wealth more and more.

As for the increasingly poor people who could not survive, who would care about their lives? In order to survive, these poor people who went bankrupt due to various natural and man-made disasters could only choose three ways to survive: one is to sell themselves into slavery, or sell their children and daughters, making themselves and their families slaves; the second is to become refugees, go far away, wander around, and find a new place to survive; the third is to simply become a bandit and survive from death. In addition, being forced to sell oneself into slavery to pay off debts is also a reason why many people become slaves.

The surge in the number of slaves in recent years is already common knowledge, and many people have sensed the impending decline of the Chen Dynasty.

"Is the turbulent era of dynasty change coming again? I wonder if my Anping Liu family can survive the coming chaos!" Liu Feiyun thought wildly.

Before we knew it, it was already evening, and many ships began to slow down, and some even moored at the shore. As the night deepened, more and more ships chose to stop, and only a few ships continued to travel, but their speed was greatly reduced.

Liu Feiyun went into the cabin and fell asleep early. After an unknown amount of time, he was suddenly woken up by Liu Shihu!

"Master! Master! Wake up! Wake up, we have to abandon the boat!" Liu Shihu looked anxious.

Liu Feiyun was still a little confused and had not fully come to his senses. He asked subconsciously, "Abandon the ship, what ship?"

Liu Shihu urged repeatedly: "Young Master! You'd better hurry up, the boat will sink if you don't leave now!" As he spoke, he helped Liu Feiyun pack up the important items, and then pulled him out of the cabin.

When he reached the deck, Liu Feiyun found that there were flames burning on the bow and both sides, and many sailors and guards were trying to control the fire.

The person in charge of the vehicle and boat had a pale face and was telling something to Qin Cheng.

Liu Feiyun approached the two and asked in confusion: "Uncle Qin, what's going on?"

Qin Cheng smiled coldly and said, "Humph! You are just a bunch of restless rats, trying to block our way with a few broken fireboats!"

"Fireship!?" Liu Feiyun then noticed that the fire was caused by several burning small boats.

The boat owner worriedly thought, "The origin of these fireboats is really strange. Usually, pirates stop passing ships just to rob them, and rarely use fireboats! Obviously, these are not ordinary pirates!"

"Robbery! Humph! They are not here to rob, but to kill! Look, they are coming!" Qin Cheng said, pointing at several small boats that were approaching quickly.