A scholar's rebellion never comes to fruition.

The night wind at the Palace of Heavenly Purity was as cold and hard as iron.

Wang Hao stood upon the corner watchtower, his hands clasped behind his back. His profound gaze seemed to pierce through the heavy palace walls, seeing the aristocratic families in the capital who had gone mad, as well as the poor scholars who were frantically networking in a frenzied state.

"Your Majesty," Pei Jingzhe's voice sounded from behind, carrying a lingering trace of worry. "The civil official faction is completely boiling over now. Although Zhang Wuji and Zhuge Huaijin usually fight to the death, they are surprisingly united when it comes to preserving their official positions and power. Tomorrow's grand court assembly will likely be an unprecedented storm. I worry that if the civil officials unite to strike, or even incite local officials to defy imperial decrees, this Great Zhou empire..."

"Defy decrees? Strike?" Wang Hao sneered. "Pei Jingzhe, remember this: A scholar's rebellion will not succeed in three years!"

Wang Hao slowly turned around, the golden dragon on his imperial robe seeming ready to take flight under the glow of the lanterns.

"These civil officials, though they preach benevolence, righteousness, and morality, are full of deceit and hypocrisy inside. What are they best at? Writing memorials to curse people, playing political tricks, and kidnapping my will using their ancestors' rules! But the one thing they dare not do, and have no ability to do, is truly flip the table!"

Wang Hao walked down the steps one by one, his voice echoing in the empty watchtower.

"Because they have no soldiers, no generals in their hands! All their power comes from me, from the inertia of Great Zhou's bureaucratic machine. As long as I grip the hilt of the sword and pinch the purse strings tightly, no matter how loud they bark, they are nothing more than vicious dogs in a cage. Aside from barking furiously, can they really bite my neck off?"

Pei Jingzhe shuddered, lowering his head even further. "Your Majesty is wise. However... the military officers of the capital garrison and those nobles have always had countless ties with the aristocratic families. If the civil officials launch an attack in the court tomorrow, and the nobles and military officers just watch from the sidelines, or even secretly add fuel to the fire, wouldn't Your Majesty be fighting a lone battle?"

Hearing this, not only was Wang Hao not worried, but he let out a low laugh.

"Fighting a lone battle? Pei Jingzhe, you are not thorough enough as the Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard." Wang Hao stopped in his tracks and glanced back at him. "Why do you think I secretly visited the Western Hills three days ago? Why did the nobles support the Directorate of Ceremonial at the last grand assembly?"

Pei Jingzhe was stunned, and the gathering from three days ago instantly surfaced in his mind.

Three days ago, Western Hills, Royal Cement Factory.

That was a secret meeting dubbed by historians as the activation button of Great Zhou's war machine.

At that time, the Western Hills had been surrounded so tightly by the Imperial Forest Army and the Eunuch Army that not even a fly could get in.

Led by Zhang Jing, Duke of Ying, and Xu Chengzuo, Duke of Dingguo, over three hundred leaders and heirs of Great Zhou's nobility in the capital, along with the commanding generals of the imperial guards, were all invited here in complete confusion.

At that time, Zhang Jing and Xu Chengzuo, the two veteran marshals whose words carried enormous weight in the military, exchanged bewildered and uncertain glances.

"Old Duke, what kind of medicine is His Majesty selling in his gourd?" The commander of the First Division of the Imperial Guards lowered his voice, his forehead covered in cold sweat. "Summoning us all to this barren wilderness, surrounded by murderous Eunuch Army soldiers, could it be..."

"Shut up!" Zhang Jing, Duke of Ying, shouted in a low voice, but his slightly trembling beard betrayed his inner unease.

Since this young emperor ascended the throne, his methods had been too ruthless! Executing corrupt officials, establishing the Eastern Depot, confiscating properties, and exterminating entire clans without batting an eye. Now, gathering all of them, military officers holding heavy military power, in the Western Hills... if there were axemen lying in ambush...

"No matter what, thunder and rain are all the Emperor's grace. As long as we don't rebel, His Majesty wouldn't go so far as to destroy his own Great Wall," Xu Chengzuo, Duke of Dingguo, forced himself to remain calm and comforted the crowd, but his heart was also pounding.

Just as over three hundred of Great Zhou's top military elites stood in the cold wind, anxious and feeling like lambs waiting to be slaughtered, Wang Hao walked out, surrounded by Sun Li, the Seal-holding Eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial, with a face full of spring breeze.

There were no axemen, no reprimands, not even the usual lofty imperial pressure.

Wang Hao looked at these military bosses of Great Zhou and said only one opening sentence, which left everyone stunned on the spot.

"My beloved subjects, I did not call you here today to discuss state affairs or military matters." Wang Hao rubbed his hands together, looking like an extremely approachable merchant. "I called you here to take you to develop the Western Hills, build workshops, construct new cities... and make a huge fortune!"

Make a huge fortune?!

The dignified Emperor of Great Zhou secretly brought the most combat-capable group of people in the world to a mountain ravine, just to say make a huge fortune?

At that time, the jaws of Zhang Jing and Xu Chengzuo almost dropped to the ground. They even wondered if the emperor had killed too many people recently and gone mad.

However, when the meeting truly began, and when Wang Hao presented his long-prepared dimensional strike to these nobles, all their doubts and unease instantly transformed into extremely sheer, maddening greed.

Recalling this, Wang Hao's eyes became incredibly sharp.

He said coldly to Pei Jingzhe, "Civil officials value a clean reputation and etiquette, so I use the imperial examinations and real power to divide them; but military officers and nobles are different, they want hereditary titles and real gold and silver! As long as I tie the most lucrative business in the world to them, at the grand assembly in three days, whoever dares to touch my new policies will be eaten alive by these red-eyed military nobles!"

Time pulled back to three days ago, deep in the Western Hills.

"Make a huge fortune? Your Majesty must be joking. We are all rough men who take the imperial court's salary, how would we know anything about the way of merchants." Zhang Jing, Duke of Ying, gave a dry laugh, trying to figure out the emperor's intentions.

"Do not be anxious, beloved subject Zhang, just follow me and take a look."

Wang Hao did not explain further and simply waved his hand. Sun Li immediately understood and trotted ahead to lead the way, guiding the over three hundred military officers and nobles toward the newly built Royal Industrial Park.

The first stop was a flat avenue about a hundred zhang long.

"Everyone, step on what is under your feet." Wang Hao, wearing a cloak, walked at the very front, his voice casual.

Zhang Jing looked down. Beneath his feet was a flat, grayish-white avenue without a single seam. The Marquis of Dingyuan behind him had a fiery temper; he immediately drew the hundred-refined steel saber from his waist, channeled his inner strength, and slashed fiercely at the road surface.

Clang!

Sparks flew! The Marquis of Dingyuan's webbing between his thumb and index finger was torn from the shock, and the steel saber's edge curled. Yet on that grayish-white road surface, there was only a shallow white mark!

Hiss— Over three hundred gasps of cold air merged together.

"This is called cement." Wang Hao turned around, looking at this group of dumbfounded killers, a hint of a smile flashing in his eyes. "Forged from calcined limestone, it turns to mud when it meets water, and dries as hard as iron. The cost of making it is only one-tenth of laying bluestone slabs. Used to build city walls and pave straight roads, it is invulnerable to swords and spears, and impenetrable by wind and rain."

Zhang Jing's pupils trembled violently. As a commanding marshal, he knew all too well what this meant! If all the border fortresses were built with this material... Great Zhou would possess a steel defense line that could never be breached!

But this was merely a beginning.

Following the cement road, the crowd arrived in front of a two-story building with an independent courtyard. The building was entirely grayish-white, simple in design but exceptionally sturdy.

Wang Hao pushed the door open, and a wave of warmth rushed over their faces.

"Please come in, everyone."

It was late autumn, and the wind on the Western Mountain was bitterly cold, but as soon as they entered the house, the crowd felt so hot that they wanted to take off their cloaks. In the center of the room stood a cast-iron stove with a peculiar design, inside which burned a black cylinder covered in holes. There was no choking smoke, only a stable and lasting high temperature.

"This is a heating iron stove, and it burns the honeycomb briquettes I have improved. It can be used for both cooking and heating," Wang Hao said, pointing at the iron stove. "The Western Mountain may lack other things, but it has plenty of coal, iron, and limestone. The production cost of these honeycomb briquettes is extremely low, so even ordinary commoners can afford to burn them through the winter."

Zhang Jing looked at the glowing red fire, a sharp light bursting from his old eyes. How many people froze to death in the Great Zhou Dynasty every winter? Charcoal was a luxury only the rich and powerful could afford! If this iron stove and honeycomb briquettes could be promoted in the capital... this wasn't coal; this was clearly an inexhaustible mountain of gold!

But what truly shattered the composure of these rough men was the interior furnishings.

"Old Duke, look at what that is?!" a young general pointed at the wall, his voice trembling.

It was a half-human-tall full-length mirror set in an exquisite wooden frame.

Zhang Jing walked over, looking as if he had been struck by lightning. He saw himself in the mirror: the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes, the texture of his beard, and even the scratches on his armor were visible in minute detail! This was completely incomparable to the dim and blurry bronze mirrors of the Great Zhou Dynasty!

"Demon... A celestial artifact! This is a celestial artifact!" Xu Chengzuo was so excited that his beard trembled. "If such a treasure were taken to the Western Regions, those barbarian kings would probably be willing to trade a city for it!"

"This is called a glass mirror," Wang Hao casually tapped the transparent glass window next to it. "And this glass window, it blocks the wind while letting in the light. Both are made from firing sand."

"Using sand?!" The more than three hundred military generals felt their entire understanding of the world being mercilessly crushed. Sand could be turned into such an invaluable, priceless treasure?

Just as everyone's brains were about to short-circuit, Wang Hao delivered the true killing blow.

"Sun Li, bring it up."

"Understood!" Sun Li immediately brought out a mahogany tray covered with yellow silk, upon which a stack of brand-new coins was neatly arranged.

Wang Hao picked up a silver coin and flicked it with his finger.

"Buzz—"

An extremely crisp, long, and melodious sound, like a dragon's cry, rippled through the room.

Everyone's gaze was instantly drawn to it. The silver coins were uniform in size, with exquisite anti-counterfeiting ridges on the edges, and on the front was an impressive relief carving of Wang Hao's profile wearing a crown!

"Sun Li." Wang Hao did not give them a chance to catch their breath.

"Your servant is here!" Sun Li, the Seal-holding Eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial, stepped forward with a flushed face, holding a mahogany tray, and pulled away the bright yellow silk covering it.

"Clatter—"

Several brand-new silver and gold coins were poured onto the table, colliding with each other and emitting an extremely crisp, long dragon's cry that made one's soul tremble!

The silver coins were uniform in size, with exquisite anti-counterfeiting ridges on the edges, and on the front was an impressive relief carving of Emperor Wang Hao's profile!

"These are called 'silver coins'." Wang Hao picked up a silver coin, flicked it with his finger, and listened to the melodious sound. "They are of full purity, with absolutely no shortage in weight. I have established the 'Royal Bank'. From now on, all goods produced here will not be sold for raw silver; we will only accept gold and silver coins issued by the Royal Bank!"