Munitions Empire

"Have you gone to watch those ugly folks build roads again?" A woman tidied up her family's stove, nagging at her dust-covered son without stopping, "Have you finished the homework your teacher assigned? That's the proper thing to do! If you end up like your old dad, you'll only live a hard life!"

She spoke without lifting her head. The young boy made a face and then walked into the next room, where there was a ladder. The ladder wasn't theirs; it was left there temporarily by the workers who came in the morning.

The roof had been repaired before, which was the family's greatest honor this past year: their ancestral home had the chance to be renovated instead of collapsing, something they never dared to dream of before.

Joking aside, do you know how expensive tiles are? The reason they could afford tiles was because a factory that could fire tiles was built in the neighboring village, allowing them to use red bricks and tiles they couldn't afford before!

Previously, their roof was made of thatch. Now, with the help of some village uncles, it was all replaced with new tiles. It no longer leaks or lets in the wind, making the house much more comfortable to live in.

And it wasn't just the tiles; their windows underwent an even more dramatic change. The window frames had been replaced with a white plastic material, something called uPVC, something they had never seen before.

They had heard of glass, but glass windows were something even the landlords in their village couldn't afford in the past! Now, every window in the whole village had been replaced with glass, making everything clear and bright.

In fact, due to these windows, a new custom of installing curtains emerged in the village. In the past, the windows were so opaque that people outside couldn't see inside, but now it's different. Many teenage boys climbed walls to peek at young women and brides bathing or changing, causing quite a few disputes.

The curtain fabric wasn't expensive, nor were the windows, roofs, or even the bricks, all subsidized by the new village chief.

Rumor has it the chief didn't use his own money but borrowed it. The village borrowed an enormous amount of money they couldn't repay in ten generations, which scared several elders in the village to tears.

The village chief used the money to buy machinery and equipment and then began building a new factory nearby to produce canned fruits. By combining this with the village's specialty fruits, they repaid the astronomical loan within months.

Now, one-third of the young women and brides in the village worked at the fruit canning factory, while the men tended to the fields and looked after the fruits. Everyone knew their lives would definitely be better next year than this year.

To get the factory up and running, the village spent a lot of money to connect a power line. The chief, who was technically savvy, gritted his teeth and installed a transformer at the village entrance, then persuaded everyone to install electric lights.

At first, the villagers were unwilling because the electricity was expensive, but out of respect for the young chief, two households grudgingly agreed.

As a result, the two households' lights shone brightly at night. Their children could study a bit longer, and it was more convenient at home after nightfall.

The chief was also smart, giving away his old radio as a gift to the first house to get electricity. Soon that family experienced the transformational changes and benefits brought by electricity.

This stirred up the others, and those who had saved some money all clamored to get connected to electricity and install electric lights.

A twisted, ropelike wire hung from the beam inside the house, with a socket dangling at the end. Inside was a reverse-thread socket for screwing in a bulb.

As this place was quite remote, and they had just recently got roads and electricity, incandescent bulbs were still the norm, as fluorescent lamps were not yet affordable here.

The boy looked up at the wire hanging overhead and glanced at the deliberately installed high switch – a pull cord with a beautiful red bead hanging from it.

"What are you looking at, boy?" A deep voice startled him from behind, making the boy jump. He quickly stepped aside as a man in an electrician's uniform squeezed into the room.

He climbed the ladder and screwed the bulb he held into the socket, then climbed down, walked to the switch, and pulled the cord.

"Click!" A crisp sound, and the bulb overhead lit up instantly. The boy stared in surprise at the electric light above, momentarily speechless.

The woman outside the house also walked in, her face full of shock as she looked at the bright electric light. She never imagined there would come a day when humans could conquer the night. To her, sunset meant the day's activities ended.

Now, with the Great Tang Empire's technology extending human activity hours, night no longer restricted people. If the extra hours were fully utilized, the world's progress and development would accelerate.

"If it breaks, find your village chief! Don't fix it yourself! It could be deadly," the electrician instructed on the so-called "precautions." People of this era didn't know much about electricity, and telling them too much would only confuse them. So, getting help from the chief became the best approach.

"Alright! Yes, yes," the woman nodded earnestly. To someone like her, death was a tremendously serious matter.

She wiped her calloused hands on her dirty apron, smiling awkwardly as she invited the "talented man," "Stay for a bowl of water before you leave..."

There wasn't a habit of drinking boiled water here before. It was the chief who insisted everyone must drink boiled water, though it wasn't clear where this "rule" came from. If anyone drank raw water, the chief would visit their house, kicking them on the butt. It wasn't very painful, but it was certainly embarrassing.

"No, thanks." When the electrician came in, he glanced at the dirty, broken bowls on the outer stove and worried a bit about his health, so he politely declined the hospitality.

On the earthy stove were colorful plastic bottles containing ingredients like soy sauce and vinegar sold by passing caravans.

These items now had national subsidies from the Great Tang Empire, making them very affordable in the Qin, Chu, and Shu territories. Merchants weren't earning commoners' money; they received subsidies from the Great Tang, so they were willing to do this trade.

The current model was still quite rudimentary, with cars selling items on the go. Marketplace gatherings would appear in the future, followed by larger commercial venues in towns, and eventually becoming permanent businesses.

Seeing the electrician about to leave, the woman asked a question she didn't dare ask the chief, a concern that had been weighing on her: "Sir... those ugly folks building roads outside, they won't harm us at night, right?"