The Red-Eyed Military Merit Seeks to Board Again

The terrifying speed of the demolition and construction in the southern part of the city might have been kept hidden from the common folk, but it could never be concealed from the well-connected, deeply entrenched military nobles of the Great Zhou dynasty who had held military power for generations.

As night fell, the construction site in the southern city remained brightly lit. Over twenty thousand laborers, along with thousands of martial artists, worked in three shifts, keeping the site running non-stop even as the workers rested. The bustling, ever-changing scene made the hearts of Zhang Jing, the Duke of Ying, and Xu Chengzuo, the Duke of Ding, pound like war drums as they secretly observed from a tall building on the outskirts.

"Good heavens..." Zhang Jing gripped the window frame tightly, his fingers digging deep into the wood. His old eyes widened as he stared fixedly at a massive cement plaza in the distance that had just been poured, so smooth one could ice skate on it.

"Brother Zhang, look at the speed of their road paving! Look at how fast they are laying the foundations for those buildings!" Xu Chengzuo swallowed hard, his voice as raspy as sandpaper. "How many days has it been? Such a massive ruin, yet even the underground drainage channels have already been laid with those things called 'cement pipes'! At this rate, half the southern city will be completely transformed in less than a month!"

The two men exchanged a glance, and both saw the exact same thing reflected in each other's eyes: silver coins, mountains of silver coins.

As veteran generals, they knew all too well what this terrifying infrastructural capability meant. If this technology were used to build border fortresses, the iron cavalry of the barbarians would never be able to cross the borders of the Great Zhou in their entire lifetimes!

But what drove them even crazier was the colossal profit hidden behind it!

"Those six factories in the Western Mountains only produce materials! What truly turns these materials into mountains of gold and silver is this Royal Construction Company!" Zhang Jing's beard trembled with excitement. "How many high-ranking officials and wealthy nobles are there in the capital? How many dilapidated cities across the world need rebuilding? If this house-building business could be monopolized..."

Zhang Jing didn't dare calculate any further. The tens of millions of taels of silver they had previously invested in the Western Mountains were nothing! Compared to the ruthless, insanely lucrative business of real estate development, selling coal and steel was simply child's play!

"Let's go! We're going to see the Emperor!" Zhang Jing gritted his teeth and grabbed Xu Chengzuo. "No matter the cost, our military noble faction must bite off a piece of the shares in this Royal Construction Company! We absolutely cannot let those eunuchs in the inner court eat the whole pie themselves!"

Late at night, the biting cold wind howled outside the Palace of Heavenly Purity.

Over a dozen of the top-tier military nobles of the Great Zhou—men who could make the capital tremble with a single stomp of their feet—were currently kneeling uniformly on the freezing floor tiles like wronged young wives.

"Your Majesty! Our loyalty to the Great Zhou is as clear as the sun and the heavens!"

The Marquis of Shanyang, the rascal, knelt at the very front. Hugging Wang Hao's boots, he cried with snot and tears streaming down his face, painting a picture so tragic it would make listeners weep and onlookers heartbroken. "The craftsmen of the Royal Construction Company brave the wind and dew, toiling day and night to build the very facade of our Great Zhou! Meanwhile, we sit at home enjoying fine food and drink. Whenever we think of Your Majesty losing sleep over raising the silver to build these cities and houses, it feels as if our hearts are being carved out by knives!"

"Yes, Your Majesty! Please give us old subjects a chance to show our utmost loyalty!" Zhang Jing quickly chimed in. "I am willing to smash my pots and sell my iron, even pawn my ancestral estate, just to scrape together the money to buy shares in the Royal Construction Company and share this burden for Your Majesty!"

"Me too," said Xu Chengzuo, the Duke of Ding, with his eyes wide open.

Over a dozen ruthless military leaders who wouldn't blink at murder were now crying and shouting about wanting to "give money and share the Emperor's worries." If the civil officials were to witness this comical scene, they would likely cough up blood out of sheer anger.

Wang Hao sat on the dragon throne, looking expressionlessly at the group of old foxes bursting with a desire to perform, his fingers gently stroking his jade thumb ring.

In his heart, he was already blooming with joy.

"Fat sheep delivering themselves to my door; it'd be a waste not to slaughter them. I was just worrying about the funding gap for the subsequent supporting construction in the southern city, and these filthy rich tycoons brought themselves right to me. However, if they want to board my aircraft carrier, simply having money isn't enough. They have to offer a pledge of allegiance!"

Wang Hao deliberately sighed, a look of difficulty appearing on his face. "Naturally, I know of the loyalty of my beloved subjects. It's just that this construction company is spearheaded by the Directorate of Palace Servants in the inner court, and the eunuchs have put in a great deal of effort. If you all step in out of nowhere to take a cut of the profits now, I'm afraid Sun Li and the others will have complaints."

Hearing this, the Marquis of Shanyang sprang up instantly. With bloodshot eyes, he cursed viciously, "Those unfilial bastards! As military nobles, it is our duty to serve Your Majesty with absolute loyalty. How dare he stop us from doing our duty?"

"Ah, do not cause a ruckus." Wang Hao pressed his hands down, unable to suppress the smile tugging at the corners of his mouth any longer.

Wang Hao leaned forward slightly.

"I can offer up thirty percent of the shares in the construction company, valued at thirty million taels of silver, to all of you. Not only that, but in the future, I can hand over the rights to contract the road paving and city building across all provinces in the empire to you."

Hearing "thirty million taels" and "contracting across the empire," the military generals below were so excited they almost passed out. This was practically handing them the keys to the treasury!

But Wang Hao's next words were like a basin of ice water poured directly over their burning flames of greed.

"However..." Wang Hao's gaze was as sharp as a sword, piercing Zhang Jing and Xu Chengzuo until they broke out in cold sweat. "At the next grand court assembly, I will implement a 'Local Garrison Reform'! I want to disband redundant troops, strip the local aristocratic families of their control over the military outposts, and completely consolidate military power back to the Ministry of War and the Chief Military Commissions!"

Dead silence.

The Palace of Heavenly Purity instantly fell into a deathly silence, with only the crackling of burning charcoal in the brazier to be heard.

Local Garrison Reform? Stripping the aristocratic families of their control over the military?

The hearts of Zhang Jing, Xu Chengzuo, and the others twitched violently. How was this a reform? This was clearly digging up the ancestral graves of the civil official faction and the millennium-old aristocratic families! For thousands of years in the Great Zhou, the reason local aristocratic families had grown too big to fail was that they had secretly infiltrated and controlled the local military outposts. Once this piece of the pie was touched, aristocratic families all over the world would absolutely unite to fight to the death, even going so far as to launch a mutiny!

The Emperor wanted to use their group of military nobles as the sharpest, most hatred-drawing butcher's knife to hack at the aristocratic families!

"What? You don't dare?" Wang Hao sneered, leaning back in his chair. "There is no such thing as a free lunch in this world, let alone free dividends. If you don't even have the guts to charge into battle for me, what cities are you going to build? What silver are you going to earn? You might as well go home early and hold your grandchildren!"

Zhang Jing knelt on the ground, sweating like rain. An insanely intense battle of the mind was raging within his head.

On one side were the massively powerful, deeply entrenched civil official aristocratic families; on the other side was the incoming wave of exorbitant profits that their descendants wouldn't be able to exhaust in ten lifetimes!

"We'll do it!"

After hesitating for a mere ten breaths of time, Xu Chengzuo, the Duke of Ding, slapped his thigh fiercely. His already ferocious face was now twisted like a demon's. "Those aristocratic families ain't worth a damn! As long as Your Majesty gives us this thirty percent share, whoever dares to stop Your Majesty's reform, we will cleave them in half alive!"

Zhang Jing threw caution to the wind, growling through gritted teeth, "Your Majesty! I request that Wei Jing, the Duke of Zhenguo and Commander of the Imperial Guards, attend the next grand assembly. The combined weight of the Imperial Guards and the Capital Garrison will be enough to deter the noble families from acting rashly!"

Zhang Jing was as shrewd as a fox. After all, the combat power of the 400,000-strong Capital Garrison could not compare to the 240,000 Imperial Guards held directly by the Emperor. However, the Capital Garrison controlled by the military nobility, combined with the Emperor's Imperial Guards, was more than enough to suppress the entire realm.

Looking down at the military nobility below—their eyes frenzied with greed, now firmly chained to his war chariot by the massive dividends of capital—Wang Hao smiled in satisfaction.

"Granted."

With these military leaders, who controlled the elites of the Imperial Guards and the Capital Garrison, standing at the forefront, he could ruthlessly swing his butcher's knife at the civil official faction during the next grand assembly without any scruples. The union of capital and imperial power was about to bare its most terrifying fangs in this alternate world.