Chapter 1042: Continuation of the Zhu Rong Plan (1)

This was a grand and majestic conference hall.

The main color scheme was black, giving it a very solemn atmosphere. Black flags with white edges were trailing down the surrounding walls, and each flag bore a huge "Qin" character. At the center of the hall was a tall stage, on either side of which was a statue of the Harken and the Pixiu Chimera, each of which was over three meters tall, with candles that were burning with white netherfire placed all over their bodies. The ground was completely paved with bluestone.

Beneath the tall stage were dozens of tables and chairs, which were already fully occupied, and Qin Ye had appeared right on the tall stage.

A thick stack of documents was placed on the table in front of him, and the documents had been made into a hardcover book with a black cover, upon which was written the words "Zhu Rong" in free-flowing text.

It was the Zhu Rong plan!

The book was over half a foot thick, and even Qin Ye couldn't help but take a deep breath as he extended a hand toward it.

The declaration of the Zhu Rong plan he had made during the conference for the re-signing of the treaty on the non-proliferation of forbidden arts hadn't been a lie. All that was needed was a right opportunity, and that opportunity had finally arrived!

During these past few years, the Yin Mountains Research Center had been working tirelessly to conquer the problems surrounding the new energy resource, and without the interference of international circumstances, the panel of advisors hadn't been slacking off, either. They were constantly adding to the Zhu Rong plan, as all of them had discovered that this plan wasn't something that could be completed in just a year or two. At the very least, it would take dozens of years, perhaps even over a century of effort.

On this day, the plan was finally going to be set into motion.

"Let's begin," Qin Ye said with a nod, and a line of Yin soldiers immediately entered the hall. They were all soldiers who had been stationed in the Yin Mountains, and they were led by Qian Duolai in person, who was wearing a suit of antiquated armor. All of the Yin soldiers had their hands resting on the hilts of their blades, and as soon as Qin Ye's voice trailed off, countless Yin runes lit up in unison around him before dimming again.

From this moment forth, only beings above the Yama-King level would be able to infiltrate this hall without being detected.

The entire hall had fallen completely silent.

For the past few years, all of the underworld emissaries had been waiting. They had drafted countless plans and backup plans for how to proceed following the development of the new energy resource, and their efforts were going to be put to the test on this day.

Together, they were going to decide the direction that history took.

After close to a minute of silence, an underworld emissary rose to his feet before extending a respectful bow. "Your Excellency, I am number A41. We've already read the report on the new energy resource, and according to our understanding, we believe that the situation is extremely similar to the one stipulated in plan A1, so we believe that would be the best plan to proceed with at the moment."

Instead of praising them for their hard work, Qin Ye asked in a cautious manner, "It's only been half a day since the new energy resource was developed, are you sure you've had sufficient time to fully understand the report?"

None of the people on the panel of advisors had names. Instead, they were referred to by their numbers. A41 was an elderly man who appeared to be around 60 to 70 years of age, and he had a refined appearance that was contributed to by the glasses on his face. He was quite thin and had a small beard, and it could be said that there was nothing remarkable at all about his appearance.

However, if anyone from the mortal realm's finance circle were present, they would definitely be able to immediately identify this elderly man as one of the honorary professors of Yenching University's finance branch, Bai Chengzhou!

He had made countless connections in the finance circle during his lifetime, and it could be said that he was among the first pioneers of university finance in Cathay. Most of the people who came into the finance circle after him had read his books, and around half of them were students that he had taught in the past. At the same time, he was also a regular guest on the CCTV Business Channel. His analyses of international finance had been hailed as masterpieces by countless investors in the stock market, as well as small and medium-sized companies.

He passed away in Jishuitan Hospital in 2023, and the national minister of finance, as well as the presidents of several major banks, including the Bank of Cathay, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of Cathay, and the Agricultural Bank of Cathay had attended his funeral in person, alongside dozens of vastly renowned figures in the finance circle.

Back when the new Hell was first established, Qin Ye was concerned that the souls of the brilliant minds that perished in the mortal realm would transform into malicious spirits, which was why he had signed the highly specialized personnel soul extradition agreement with the mortal realm.

The agreement stated that prior to the burial of any deceased person considered to be highly specialized in their respective fields, their bodies had to be taken on a lap around the city of Wuyang, and this person was one of them!

During the past 20 years in which they had been in the underworld, they hadn't been able to make much of an impact initially. After all, this was a completely different era from the one in the mortal realm. Thus, they were sent down by Qin Ye to all of the grassroots units for training, and only half a year prior to the conference for the re-signing of the treaty on the non-proliferation of forbidden arts, as the Cathayan Underworld finally decided to return to the world stage, were all of these people summoned and gathered together to form the panel of advisors.

It was important to listen to the opinions of experts and integrate their advice with his own experience to choose the most correct path forward.

As the Cathayan Underworld's King Yanluo, the load on his shoulders was very heavy, and it would certainly benefit him to share the load.

Bai Chengzhou adjusted his own glasses as he replied in a calm voice, "The report was actually very simple, in my opinion. We only had two questions: firstly, in what areas is the new energy resource different from electricity? Secondly, what is the magnitude of difference in those areas? The answers to these two questions are very obvious. The new energy resource is virtually no different from electricity at all, and its wattage is thousands of times higher than the electric particles of the mortal realm. It's incredible to think that the wattage of a particle can be measured, but perhaps this is what I should come to expect in the underworld."

The entire hall was very silent, and all of the underworld emissaries, including Qin Ye, were listening intently. This wasn't a particularly illustrious meeting, and there wasn't a big deal made out of it, but it was no exaggeration to say that its significance was on par with the founding of the nation!

"We predict that the economy of the underworld will undergo a period of exponential growth!" he declared, and his face was slightly flushed from excitement despite his calm voice. "Of course, that sounds like an obvious statement. However, what's most important is that this will be a massive bombshell to the entire world, one that's powerful enough to change the state of the entire underworld! We can allow everything to develop as normal domestically, as all of the government departments will oversee the development of all of our industries. All we have to do is ensure that all of our departments follow the laws of the mortal realm and implement measures to avoid monopolies. However, on the international stage is where we can really make our mark!"

He was feeling extremely excited. This was the first step to the rise of a powerhouse nation. Cathay in the mortal realm still hadn't reached this point yet, but here in the underworld, they were already well on their way to dictating terms on the international stage!

He slowed down the cadence of his speech as he continued, "Your Excellency, the first thing you need to know about is the mode of operation of superpower nations. An example of this is Usonia. They tied their currency directly to energy resources, then used those energy resources to create new technology to export to the rest of the world, and that's how they earn their money. After that, through a sequence of measures, they recycle their currency, then invest it into new research to create more new technology."

Qin Ye nodded in response. Even though he had been a noob in finance and economics in the past, he had since developed a good foundation in these two fields from his time serving as King Yanluo. At the very least, he would be able to stump a few finance professors in a debate with no problems.

Bai Chengzhou seemed to be of the opinion that more specific details had to be provided, and he continued, "The first thing that we have to do is apply for patents. We should be able to secure 100% of the patents for the new energy resource, but what we have to apply for are patents for products related to electricity, such as televisions and movies. These patents are all being held by scientists, and we have to secure them as soon as possible! After that, we take blueprints directly from the mortal realm and immediately begin producing these products! This is technology, and even though it's the same technology as what's already present in the mortal realm, but in the underworld, it's unique, innovative technology! Depending on whether the scientists are willing to sell, we can even consider purchasing their patents outright! Computers, phones, chips, televisions... If we can purchase any of those patents outright, then we'll have an infinite lead in that area of production! However, we're not very optimistic about this. The scientists themselves are also aware of just how much wealth their patents can create, and most importantly, many scientists holding the rights to patents pertaining to chips and phones still haven't come down to the underworld yet. After securing the technology, we'll be able to immediately declare the discovery of the new energy resource! Of course, prior to that, we have to conduct some experiments for a year or two first. We have to determine what wattage electric generators to use and how many generator sets to install in cities with different population densities and factory scales. After that, we can kick down the gates of the new era!"

His face became even more flushed with excitement as he continued, "The first step would be to establish base stations all over the world. We can construct base stations for other nations, or even give them the base station blueprints. Power plant blueprints aren't difficult to obtain, we can just take them directly from the mortal realm, and there's no need to keep these blueprints a secret. What's most important is that all units of the new energy resource provided must be settled in dragon jade!"

Qin Ye's eyes immediately lit up upon hearing this.

The new energy resource's current name was the electricity-like energy string. If it were to be settled exclusively using dragon jade, then that would be the equivalent of all the crude oil transactions in the mortal realm being settled using renminbi. [1] In fact, it would be even more significant than that! After all, electricity was far more prevalently used than crude oil! Electricity had to be used for virtually everything in the modern-day, but many people would never come into direct contact with crude oil throughout their entire lifetimes.

Crude oil wasn't just a fuel, it was also used in many chemical products and even plastic. Its presence was lurking in countless nondescript things, and its usage was second only to electricity in the mortal realm. Despite the fact that crude oil was less prevalently used than electricity, it was still enough to establish Usonia's dominance.

The USD was directly tied to crude oil, and now, the electricity-like energy resource of the underworld was going to be directly tied to the dragon jade!

He had thought long and hard about how best to play the card that was the new energy resource, but as it turned out, he had been overthinking things!

Bai Chengzhou continued, "If the world accepts the arrangement of settling new energy resource transactions exclusively using dragon jade, then our Cathayan Underworld's dragon jade will become the most prevalently used currency in the world! This is the first step to establishing dominance on the world stage. However, international economics is never that simple. We can tie our currency to this new energy resource, but in 10 years, maybe 20 years, other countries may be able to develop other new energy resources. Thus, we have to always remain ahead of the entire world, making technical breakthroughs on our electricity-like energy resource so that our competitors will never be able to truly challenge us in this field!"

Qin Ye nodded in response. Indeed, electricity wasn't all that significant. It granted the Cathayan Underworld a temporary lead, but what if another nation developed solar power or something like that?

However, if they could tie important industries such as the telecommunication, film, phone, and computer industries to the new energy resource, then unless another nation could develop solar power phones and computers to match that, the Cathayan Underworld's energy resource would always be the widely accepted number one energy resource in the world! As a result, the dragon jade, which was tied directly to it, would also be widely accepted as the number one currency in the world!

"What do you suggest?"

An elderly man replied with a smile, "Our proposal is very simple: take a break for a month, then immediately begin developing underworld computers and phones. Even if we don't develop those things, we have to at least begin developing normal electrical appliances to gain a technological lead over the rest of the world! We can take many blueprints from the mortal realm, but many substitutes will most likely be completely different. We may not be able to lead the rest of the world in all fields, but we have to at least ensure a lead in some fields!"

"What do you suggest?" Qin Ye repeated.

Bai Chengzhou and the elderly man exchanged a glance before declaring, "We suggest that we begin with radio technology! Once we've developed that, we'll be able to produce things like radios, televisions, and movies right away! At the same time as we're initiating an economic invasion, we're also launching a cultural invasion! If everything is done right, our Cathayan Underworld will become powerful beyond imagination! It wouldn't be unrealistic in the slightest to say that we could become the premier powerhouse nation in the world"

[1] [Renminbi is the name for the Chinese currency]