Chapter 1043: Continuation of the Zhu Rong Plan (2)

Fantastic!

Qin Ye almost erupted into involuntary applause upon hearing this.

For all his cunning and guile, there was no way that he would be able to find the most suitable path to proceed with in such a complex affair.

In order to dominate the international market, connecting the new energy resource with the dragon jade definitely wasn’t the only thing that had to be considered. That was only the desired outcome, and countless things had to be considered in order to achieve this outcome.

Just by listening to Bai Chengzhou alone, Qin Ye could feel his thought process becoming much clearer!

“For the current underworld, television and radio technology doesn’t just constitute technological output, it also involves cultural output,” he murmured to himself in a contemplative manner as he gently tapped the armrest of his chair with his fingers.

Why was it that so many people in Cathay revered western films and culture, yet paid no heed to or even denounced their own culture?

A sense of novelty was undoubtedly a factor behind this phenomenon.

The emergence of the new energy resource heralded the arrival of a new era, and anyone would be lying if they said that they weren’t intrigued by this.

On the other hand, Usonia and Nippon did a far better job of exporting their culture to the rest of the world than Cathay did. Of course, this was something that could only be considered once the basic quality of life for all of the Cathayan Underworld’s citizens could be ensured. However, that wasn’t to say that they couldn’t work toward those two objectives simultaneously.

Where the mortal realm had failed in the past, there was a very good chance that he could succeed in the underworld!

The underworld was also run by an authoritarian system, and the new energy resource had just been developed, making this an opportunity that wouldn’t even arise once every 1,000 years, so why shouldn’t he give this a shot?

After a long while, he mused to himself, “In that case, it looks like we’ll have to start establishing unions for directors, screenwriters, actors, and other relevant personnel…”

Perhaps it would still take a few more months to iron out the technological issues at hand, but in the present day, the field that radio technology was most prevalently used in was the recreation industry! Furthermore, this technology could also be used to develop satellites in the future!

As the problems in technology were being resolved, the film industry had to be established simultaneously!

There wouldn’t even be a need to find actors for movies like Cathayan Ghost Story, The Grudge, and Ghost! Hold on, would these movies encourage netherworldly citizens to go back and haunt the mortal realm? On second thought, perhaps these movies wouldn’t be very appropriate, after all…

After setting that train of thought aside, Qin Ye cast his gaze toward the director of the propaganda department. The netherfire in the director’s eyes had already sprung up to half a meter in height, and before Qin Ye even had a chance to speak, he immediately rose to his feet as he cupped his fist in a respectful salute. “I’ve already recorded everything that’s been said here, Your Excellency. Once I get back, I’ll begin establishing central offices for radio, television, and movies right away! At the same time, I’ll prepare authorization policies and release numbers! I’ll be sure to have everything prepared within half a year!”

It was finally his time to shine!

Prior to this monumental development, the Cathayan Underworld’s propaganda department had been nothing more than dead weight.

They had no funds and nothing to do, and if it weren’t for the Hell’s Weekly newspaper that they were responsible for releasing, they would literally have no duties to speak of.

However, all of that was about to change!

From this day forth, they were going to be ranked alongside their high and mighty colleagues of the energy resource and finance departments!

He was so happy that he would’ve already burst into song and dance, if not for the fact that he was in the presence of Yanluo Qin!

Qin Ye also heaved a long internal sigh of relief.

The first step to making the dragon jade the most prevalently used currency in the world and establishing the Cathayan Underworld as the dominant global powerhouse had finally been decided.

What were they going to do next?

He turned to Bai Chengzhou with an eager expression, and the latter immediately continued, “The second step is research into the phone, computer, chip, and artificial intelligence industries. With the new energy resource ready and blueprints just waiting to be taken from the mortal realm, the underworld is going to experience a technological boom for the next decade or so. During this time, the underworld will rapidly catch up to the mortal realm, and we have to seize the initiative! In the short term, we can rely on the peak created by the rising film and recreation industries, but that peak is too insignificant, and it’ll most likely be surpassed before too long, even if we don’t reveal the constituent components of the new energy resource to the rest of the world. We’ve conducted targeted research into the international laws of the underworld, and in the case of a redevelopment of a certain energy resource, we’ll only be able to take up 30% of the patents at most. In order to surpass our competition, we have to strike from the most cutting-edge industries. In fact, we can even begin exploring other planes in the future! I’m sure Earth isn’t the only plane in all of space, where three realms are combined as one!”

This declaration immediately triggered a flurry of discussion, and even Qin Ye was extremely tempted by this prospect.

They were clearly going off-topic, but why was it that he didn’t want to return the discussion to the subject at hand?

Who said that the underworld couldn’t send out spacecrafts to explore other planes? Who was to say that the so-called dark universe wasn’t just the entrance to another world? Why couldn’t there be other gods and other civilizations in space?

Calm down, you’re getting ahead of yourself here… Qin Ye took several deep breaths in succession while reminding himself that this wasn’t the time to be considering something like this.

The top priority for them right now was to establish dominance over the rest of the world. Only then would they be able to consider sending Yin spirits into space.

After a brief pause, he sighed, “That’s most likely going to be rather difficult at the moment.”

“Your Excellency, this is very…”

“I know.” Qin Ye raised a hand to cut him off as he said, “I agree with the opinions of everyone on the panel of advisors. We’ll start by developing basic electronic equipment such as televisions and phones, but after all that is done, I think the most important thing would be to establish the education industry. We are currently standing at the starting line of what is going to be a period of rapid development for the underworld, but while it’s true that your methods may be applicable if such an opportunity were to be encountered in the mortal realm, what about the underworld? At the moment, we do not have an education system. As you all have seen, regardless of the makeup of the electricity-like energy string, it’s still essentially a Yin rune. Without Yin rune experts, making developments in these areas is a lot more difficult.”

He turned to Vice-director Li Lanzhi of the ministry of education, who was also present in the hall, and said, “In the long run, the education industry will be the key to Hell’s resurgence. It won’t take too long, all we’ll need is about 20 years, and we’ll be able to return to our former level. At the moment, it’s unrealistic to dedicate all of our scientists to new research and experiment projects.”

Right at this moment, the elderly man who had spoken earlier stood up and said, “I am A25, and I have some insights that I would like to share with you.”

“Go ahead,” Qin Ye prompted with a nod.

None of the members of the panel of elders were ordinary figures. This elderly man had a very nondescript appearance, seemingly in his fifties with a slightly portly build and a bald spot on his head. However, all of those familiar with him in the mortal realm knew that he was another important figure in the international finance circles!

He wasn’t as renowned as Bai Chengzhou, but among all of the currently active economists, around 10% to 20% of the ones who had some renown in the finance circles had been taught by him.

If he had continued on his original trajectory, he wasn’t guaranteed to overtake Bai Chengzhou, but his chances certainly weren’t negligible. However, after spending most of his life in the international finance circle, he felt as if he had understood all there was to be understood, and with no further achievements left for him to make, he switched to the international situation analysis circle.

In this circle, his latent potential was completely stimulated. All of the situations that arose on the international stage stemmed from the state of the economy, so the two circles were closely interconnected to begin with.

Ever since he entered the international situation analysis circle, he managed to accurately predict the future direction of the world time and time again. His most renowned feat came during 1998, where he was called upon by the prime minister to work with several major domestic banks to ward off the Asian financial crisis. Furthermore, he had also predicted the 2008 subprime crisis.

His name was Jin Changshou, and this was a name that was firmly ingrained in Cathay’s history in the international situation analysis circle. His uncanny knack for predicting the future and spotting obscure trends was unmatched, and he passed away in the First Military Hospital in 2021.

Qin Ye certainly wasn’t going to turn down a request to speak from someone like him! He was dying to hear Jin Changshou’s opinions!

“There’s no problem with what you’ve just said, but there’s a project that we must invest in right away!”

Jin Changshou wore a smile on his face, but his voice was very heavy as he said, “What we have to do now isn’t to release the new energy resource to the rest of the world. Instead, we should wait until our technological output passageways have matured, perhaps even after those passageways have been established across our entire nation. A significant amount of the work involved in developing this new energy resource was done for us by Xu Fu, and there’s no way another new energy resource will appear in the world within the next decade. This is a window of time that we must make use of. We’ll continue to keep the new energy resource a secret and allow them to research and develop as they please. Once they’re done, we’ll bring out our energy resource along with all of the mature passageways and products that we’ve already established, making all of their prior efforts go to waste! After that, we’ll export our technology to the rest of the world, and this is where the problem arises.”

A grim look appeared on his face as he continued, “All exports of technology require sufficient protection, and we’re not equipped to provide that at the moment. We don’t have an army, all we have is a being above the Yama-King level, and that’s not enough!”

Qin Ye was enlightened upon hearing this.

He looked down at the table, and he finally understood why this plan was a part of the Zhu Rong plan.

“You’re saying we need to develop second-generation forbidden arts?” he asked in a cautious manner.

“That’s right!” Jin Changshou replied. “In the mortal realm, Usonia’s technology output relies entirely upon their military prowess! Without sufficient military power to protect our technology, it’ll be like sending lambs into a wolves’ den! Things like movies and televisions still won’t be enough to trigger the bottom line of the three pillars, but they definitely won’t continue to stand by idly once we begin developing products such as chips, computers, and aviation equipment! If we announce our ventures into these industries but don’t have sufficient military power to protect them, then a new world war will most likely follow!”

Qin Ye nodded in response.

Jin Changshou was completely right. With electricity as a foundation, it would be a lot easier to develop nuclear energy than it would be to do so from scratch, and that wasn’t even taking into account the fact that they had the second-generation forbidden arts startup module!

Only with nuclear energy at their disposal would they be able to fend for themselves in terms of military power on the world stage, and only then would they be able to export their cutting-edge technology to the rest of the world in exchange for massive sums of dragon jade.

Both of these plans had to support one another.

After a brief moment of thought, he decided, “We’ll discuss the topic of who should undertake this project another time. During this meeting, we’ll only discuss future development possibilities and the feasibility of the options available to us. Continue.”

Jin Changshou sat back down, and Bai Chengzhou continued, “What we’ve said just now is only the prelude for what’s to come. Connecting the dragon jade with our new energy resource, developing new technology, and exporting our technology are key steps to establishing dominance on the world’s political stage, but we’re going to encounter many challenges after that.”

He continued in a grim voice, “The first challenge will be inflation and trade shock. The first thing that we have to do after we establish direct ties between our new energy resource and the dragon jade is to print massive amounts of dragon jade! Given that all new energy resource transactions are to be settled with dragon jade, once we enter the international currency and energy resource markets, other nations must use dragon jade to buy our new energy resource, so we must prepare sufficient currency reserves!”

This was very easy to understand.

Once the new energy resource entered the world stage, the entire world would be scrambling to purchase dragon jade, and if they didn’t prepare for that sharp increase in demand, then there would be a lack of currency domestically.

What would be the outcome of that?

With 100 dragon jade, one would be able to purchase a car, perhaps even two or three cars…

This seemed like a good thing, but in reality, it wasn’t.

As a result of this, salaries and wages were also going to decrease. The economy would always return to an equilibrium, and the issue that would arise from this would be chaos in the currency system.

If 100 dragon jade could purchase a car, how was change supposed to be given?

If one dragon jade could purchase 10 kilograms of rice, how many pieces of 10-cent and one-cent currency would have to be prepared?

Currency had been invented to make trading more convenient, but in this hypothetical situation, it would impede trade instead, thereby proving to be very detrimental for currency circulation.

During the dozen or so years that Qin Ye had been in power, he had learned about all of this. However, he knew that this still wasn’t the most terrifying part. Several decades down the track, the inconvenience of using the dragon jade currency could lead to the currency being scrapped altogether, thereby resulting in a degradation to a society where items were exchanged for other items. If the Cathayan Underworld hadn’t prepared sufficient dragon jade stores by the time the new energy resource entered the global market, another storm would sweep over the entire nation in just two to three years!

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