readytorunbook Chapter 158: The Kingdom of the Sea
Chapter 158: The Kingdom of the Sea
Even though this 600-ship ocean-going fleet looks enormous, compared to the boundless ocean, this "enormous" size is nothing.
Fortunately, the fleet was not traveling very fast, which was beneficial because the ships were large, so the turbulence caused by the ocean waves was negligible, and Aya did not experience any discomfort.
In fact, the weather along the fleet's route had already been controlled by the space escort fleet dispatched by Park So-yeon.
The excellent weather during the voyage surprised the sailors and navigators, who had never seen such good weather at sea. They could only attribute this great fortune to the good luck brought by the new "Prince Consort" Zhou Yuan. Thus, the saying "The new Prince Consort is a lucky star" spread throughout the ocean fleet, and everyone held the flagship in awe and reverence.
Aya was overjoyed by the rumor and her heart was filled with excitement for seven or eight days.
Wei Shan, Lefia, and Chu Xiaolu naturally joked with Zhou Yuan about this legend to make him laugh. Anyway, the journey was long and a bit boring, and it had become common for the five of them to tease each other.
Of course, Zhou Yuan wasn't idle. Through the information relay of the space fleet above, Zhou Yuan read Park So-yeon's various reports at night, including the extraction of Gaia's memories, the development, excavation, and analysis reports of ancient civilization relics in the huge caves of the five continents.
The Earth Empire's fleet was incredibly efficient. Before the ocean fleet had even set sail for half a month, all the analysis reports on the cave ruins were completed, and the complete contents of the five "heavenly books" were also presented to Zhou Yuan.
Gaia, 26 years old, is a highly skilled tomb raider. While the Southern King obtained the "Heavenly Book" in a cave on the mainland, she acquired the "Invisibility Cloak." However, due to the advanced technology that the Southern King and Gaia couldn't overcome many of the cave's traps, Gaia didn't return to search for treasure. The Southern King later sent people to search for the treasure, but they all perished. Afterwards, the Southern King focused on collecting the entire "Heavenly Book." Gaia's trip to the Southern Heavenly Gate was naturally to obtain that "Heavenly Book."
To Zhou Yuan's surprise, after repeated exploration and analysis, the imperial scientists concluded that the ancient civilization in the cave was a carbon-based "human civilization" that appeared shortly after the Big Bang.
Imperial scientists have drawn a series of conclusions. First, this blue planet formed earlier than Aymos. Second, Gaia's DNA is somewhat similar to that of Adams and Chu Xiaolu, suggesting a sequential or similar inheritance relationship. Third, based on the fact that the radioactive heavy element in the central continent of the blue planet and the radioactive heavy element on Aymos are the same element, and considering that the heavy element content in the central continent is one-third that of Aymos, imperial scientists believe that the humans on the blue planet and the humans on Aymos share the same origin, both being descendants of the ancient human civilization of the blue planet. It seems that a branch of the ancient human civilization of the blue planet migrated to Aymos.
What shocked the scientists of the Earth Empire and Zhou Yuan and others the most was the complete content of the "heavenly book".
The "Heavenly Book" records roughly the following: Shortly after the Big Bang, four ancient civilizations emerged, one of which was the carbon-based life civilization. To compete for scarce resources and the "Heart of the Universe" (radioactive heavy elements), these four ancient civilizations waged a long war. Later, the carbon-based life civilization scattered its seeds across interstellar space, hoping to secure a place for itself in the universe. Subsequently, the carbon-based life civilization degenerated into the ancient human civilization. This ancient human civilization split and waged war, destroying its home planet into five continents. The fleet of the ancient human civilization guarding the "Heart of the Universe" also lost contact. Because the ancient carbon-based life civilization was born shortly after the Big Bang, and the Big Bang itself was relatively recent, its computational power was not extremely vast. Therefore, it could make simple predictions of major events that would occur in the universe, including the Great Wall War, the arrival of dark forces, and the human civilization led by Zhou Yuan assisting the Matrix civilization. However, as the technology of the ancient human civilization deteriorated, its predictive abilities weakened, eventually only able to predict major events on its home planet, such as Zhou Yuan helping the Southern Heavenly King unify the world and the joyous reunion of the human race. It can be said that the "heavenly book" in the hands of the Southern Heavenly King was actually the last one, and the Southern Heavenly King always believed that there were more predictable events to come.
Most surprisingly, the ancient carbon-based civilization believed that the universe in which they were born was "intelligently created".
All of these align well with what the "Matrix Civilization" describes and what the Earth Empire experienced.
Zhou Yuan suddenly remembered that scientists had discussed the CP violation problem during the "Genesis Project." At that time, everyone believed that...
The small CP disruption caused by the weak interaction resulted in a matter-antimatter difference, leaving only enough matter to form a single galaxy.
"Material from a galaxy? It's very likely that those four ancient civilizations possessed it. Could it be...?" Zhou Yuan suddenly felt that fate was playing tricks on him. "Could it be that the Capital Galaxy is the birthplace of these four ancient civilizations?" Many facts seemed to confirm this, such as the contents of the "heavenly book" of the ancient carbon-based biological civilization and the ancient human civilization, radioactive heavy elements, and the fact that the Capital Galaxy is indeed a galaxy.
Unexpectedly, the capital star system of the 28th star region is the birthplace of four ancient civilizations. The radioactive heavy element mineral deposits in the central continent of that blue planet must be mined and refined as soon as possible!
Zhou Yuan then ordered the Earth Star Fleet base, through Park So-yeon's fleet, to dispatch a fleet to mine and refine the minerals in the central continent of this blue planet. Since there were no highly intelligent civilizations on the central continent, the Empire's intelligent robots and machinery did not need to be concealed and could mine and refine minerals with confidence. Of course, to ensure safety and prevent humans from other continents from landing on the central continent, the Empire's fleet imposed an invisible energy blockade on the central continent and implemented climate control along the coastline, creating strong winds and high waves to prevent ships from approaching the blockade area. In addition, intelligent stealth drones and unmanned reconnaissance aircraft were also protecting and monitoring the central continent's coastline.
Sometimes Zhou Yuan really wanted to leave this ocean fleet behind and enjoy life on Earth or Amos. However, the "Heavenly Book" clearly stated that Zhou Yuan would assist the Southern Heavenly King in unifying the world, and Zhou Yuan dared not disobey the "will" of the ancestors of the "ancient civilization." Besides, Wei Shan and Lefia were full of excitement about the sea voyage and did not feel bored or lonely. Now that the "light speed barrier" existed and it did not interfere with the Earth Empire's fleet base, why not?
Zhou Yuan had no choice but to settle down and pretend he was the great "Zheng He." However, he secretly chuckled; he wasn't some eunuch. Now, Wei Shan and Lefia kept him company every night, enjoying life. He guessed that was what Wei Shan and Lefia valued, which was why they didn't tire of this ocean voyage. Back in the Earth Empire's fleet, with their fellow Earth Empire members present, the three of them certainly didn't have such beautiful nights for romantic entanglements.
Chu Xiaolu and Aya shared a room, and their relationship quickly blossomed into that of best friends. Chu Xiaolu, of course, didn't say certain things, such as the fact that the four of them were aliens from another planet. Whenever Zhou Yuan was mentioned, both of them would get excited; they both knew they liked each other, but neither minded the other.
Zhou Yuan also had an important matter to discuss with civil and military officials how to exchange supplies with the natives once they reached the four continents, how to negotiate and deploy troops to achieve victory if conflicts occurred with other continental armed forces, and how to avoid or destroy enemy warships if they encountered them at sea.
This ocean-going fleet can be considered a maritime nation, and Zhou Yuan is its king, responsible for managing this maritime nation. Naturally, Zhou Yuan had to adopt a militarized and centralized management style, and then promulgated a number of laws and regulations. These laws and regulations naturally benefited from the suggestions and refinements of the accompanying civil and military officials.
Because the Southern King was an unparalleled military genius, his civil and military officials were indeed all talented. Zhou Yuan had no trouble discussing matters with these fleet officials. He was even surprised that some of their suggestions and strategies were ahead of their time.
For example, managing singers, dancers, and brothel women may seem easy, but the fact that there are more men than women in the fleet is an unstable factor. Men often fight over women, and disordered relationships between men and women can also lead to epidemics.
Several officials suggested to Zhou Yuan that men must achieve merit and reach a certain rank before they are qualified to have contact with or engage in sexual relations with courtesans. Singers and dancers, who sell their art but not their bodies, are strictly forbidden to be touched by men. Those caught having illicit affairs or engaging in sexual relations will be punished with caning or execution. Courtesans will undergo monthly examinations by female medical officers, and every man will undergo a monthly physical examination by the ship's medical officer. Early detection and treatment are crucial for addressing any illnesses.
What Zhou Yuan and his companions found most interesting was the suggestion from some officials that "everyone be an inspector." This system was incredibly effective; it involved mutual supervision among acquaintances. Anyone discovering anything unusual or a violation could secretly report it to their superiors. If there was evidence to substantiate the report, the whistleblower would be rewarded, while the accused would be punished according to the severity of the offense. Furthermore, thanks to Zhou Yuan's reputation as a "lucky star" and the presence of Princess Aya, violations and misconduct were indeed rare in this ocean-going fleet. The crew was remarkably law-abiding and united.
The massive ocean-going fleet finally spotted the coastline of Sakhalin, and everyone cheered with joy.
As the fleet continued its journey, it suddenly noticed sails dotting the distant sea.
The ships of the ocean-going fleet sounded the battle horns, and the enemy fleet seemed to hear them, with the leading warships accelerating toward them.
The soldiers and civilians under the Southern Heavenly King's command were indeed different; not a single person panicked, and they all acted quickly and methodically, each doing their own thing and fulfilling their responsibilities.
The cannons were pushed to the ship's side, the shells were loaded, archers stood on the ship's side with quivers on their backs, the armored spearmen also stood to the side, and oil cannons, torchbearers, and firefighters (preparing water and sand to extinguish the fire) also joined the fray.
Twenty large warships lined up in a row and headed towards the enemy warships. After a while, rockets were launched from all twenty large warships, and then they accelerated and fell back down under the planet's gravity. A row of "fire waves" splashed onto the enemy ships, turning the sky red and making the seawater seem to be on fire.
This was the first time Zhou Yuan and his companions had witnessed such a primitive form of naval warfare. Although they had waged an extermination war against that marine race on Planet Ama, that was a naval battle with relatively advanced technology.
Zhou Yuan was currently experiencing a fierce internal struggle. He recalled the long-standing conflicts and wars waged by different human races and nations on Earth in the original solar system. This blue planet was now suffering the same fate; the different races of humans on this blue planet, all of the same origin, were now slaughtering each other. Was war the only way to unify the world? Was war truly the only way for this universe to find peace?