It has been nearly two months since the "people favored by the gods" descended on the mountain city of Chunyu with a white light (actually a white pillar of smoke).

In the first half month, almost all the people of Echigo have seen this beautiful man with Nanban's reflective glasses on the bridge of his nose, said to come from the Celestial Empire on the other side of the sea, but everyone regards this guy who wanders around all day long as a joke after dinner.

In the next half month, the topic of "the people favored by the gods" had become cold, and the useless Han scholar seemed to have fallen silent like this, and began to honestly teach "Sinology" to those nobles in the spring mountain city.

However, "Sinology" or something, and the people of Echigo have little to do with it, reading and writing are useless things that the nobles need to learn, and the common people still need to learn a skill that can make a living, such as farming, raising horses, striking iron, weaving, and so on.

The result of learning from the aristocracy and chanting poems to the autumn leaves with a gloomy face is that there is not enough food and firewood to survive the winter, so they can only starve or even starve to death.

However, no one will sympathize with such a fellow, because in Echigo, which is ruled by Kenshin-sama, as long as he is a hard-working person, he will never starve to death.

Although the winter in Echigo is a bit difficult, and sometimes the heavy snow can crush the house and crush people to death and freeze to death, compared to other countries in the city, the life of the Echigo people is quite good.

In this book, the tax system of "six public and four people" was generally practiced, and some ruthless daimyo would collect 70 or even 80 percent of the grain.

However, the Uesugi family's "Six Princes and Four People" were very tolerant of the common people, and the actual collection was often less than half of the harvest, and if it was a year of disaster, it would even only collect 40% or 30%, just to avoid criticism from other daimyo in the vicinity, and to prevent the people in the nearby areas from running to Echigo, so the "Six Princes and Four People" rule was maintained on the surface.

And a month after the "people favored by the gods" came to Echigo, the "ruined behavior" of the man from China made the people of Echigo a little worried about their future lives.

He didn't know how to move Kenshin-sama, and began to collect a large number of materials in Echigo, in addition to food, all kinds of ore, wood, and even sand, all kinds of materials piled up like hills.

The ninjas from several countries bordering Echigo were still worried about this for a while, but the Uesugi family did not hide the collection of supplies this time, and after a detailed investigation, the ninjas came to the conclusion that "it didn't look like they were preparing for war".

――But it was precisely because they were not preparing for war that the people of Echigo and the retainers of the Uesugi family were even more worried.

However, this time, the attitude of Lord Kenshin and Ayago was very resolute, and only the Uesugi family's own funds were used, and there was no apportionment to the retainers for this, and no additional taxes were levied on the people, so there was no reason to stop it except for expressing strong opposition.

Everyone said that the beautiful man from the big man had fascinated the Uesugi sisters, so he listened to his nonsense and invested all his money in those useless places.

In Kyoto, there are many such "literate people", all of whom are graceful and suave, but they do nothing but lose, and after the family property is lost, they can only live in poverty, and finally starve, sick, or freeze to death at home.

As a result, the materials as high as the mountains were turned into wooden sheds, under which lay iron lumps called "machines".

Although some people ridiculed the "people favored by the gods", believing that the strangely shaped iron bumps were his tribute to the gods in exchange for the gods' blessings, some gods soon secretly claimed that the iron bumps were artifacts given to the Uesugi family by the gods.

Those artifacts can make loud "buzz", "clacking", or "rumbling" sounds, and then create many things of the same size and shape at a very incredible speed.

For example...... Wooden, iron, copper...... Something like that.

In short, those machines are said to have many functions in addition to making sticks, and they can make many amazing things.

Subsequently, no one saw those "terrible things", and most of the people who had spent the busy agricultural season of spring ploughing built many "somewhat extraordinary" things in the form of labor or employment, following the "people favored by the gods", which are said to be called "factories".

These people do not know the difference between "factories" and "workshops" except for their size, they only know that these "brick factories", "cement factories", "timber factories", "glass factories", "ceramic factories", "textile factories", "fertilizer factories", "iron and steel factories", "chemical factories", "agricultural machinery factories" and so on, all produce in large quantities something commonly used in life.

At present, most of the "factories" do not produce anything, and some of the "factories" have only leveled the land, and have not even erected a grass hut, so they are left there.

However, the "cement factory" has produced a very useful gray powder, as long as it is mixed with sand and pebbles, mixed with water, it will soon solidify into stones, and before solidifying, it can also be smeared on the ground and walls, forming a layer of stone floors and walls.

In addition, the beautiful man from the Celestial Empire also weaved fine steel bars into a net, solidified them with cement and sand and gravel to make "reinforced concrete", and then directed the group to use these "reinforced concrete" to build a barrage dam on a tributary of the Agano River.

This barrage dam not only regulates the amount of water, but is also said to be able to drive the "hydroelectric power generators" to produce "electricity" -- the "lightning" that glows in the sky when thunder strikes, and the "machinery" given by the gods on the road to the "factory" is run by the power of electricity.

In addition, it is said that this "god-favored person" also created a sacred object called a "steam engine", which could be set running by adding fire to a large cauldron filled with water.

If there is no firewood to burn, there is another thing that allows people to ride on the "foot pedal" and constantly push the "pedal", which can also be used to drive the "machine", but only a very small "machine".

You can also add two wheels to this kind of thing, and then you can ride on it and run as fast as you can.

It's just that this novelty, called "bicycle", can only go on very smooth roads, and it has to be strapped to the seat with a thick cushion, otherwise it can simply turn a person's butt upside down.

In general, the "Favored by the Gods" have been carrying out a lot of actions for unknown reasons recently, but with the exception of a few "factories" that have been put into operation, everyone knows what they are for, and the rest can only listen to the "legends".

However, it is said that the "factories" built by the "favored people of the gods" can make fine cloth and silk, cheap porcelain, "chemical fertilizers" that can increase the yield of the land when scattered in the ground, machines that can easily sow seeds, plough the land, harvest, thresh, and grind with just a few people, and of course many bricks and cement.

Although brick and cement are not as safe as wood as building materials for the earthquake-prone people, even ordinary Echigo people can say a thing or two about their "strategic value".

―― If you use bricks and cement to build a castle, you can easily build a majestic and impregnable castle if it is used to build a dam.

With these fortified cities, the people of Echigo had another barrier as strong as a mountain, and no one could come to destroy the happy life of Echigo.

In addition, Lord Kenshin had already announced to everyone in advance that as soon as these "factories" were built and the legendary "fertilizers" and "agricultural machinery" were produced, they would lend these "artifacts" that could increase production to everyone for free.

Although farmers who use these "artifacts" need to pay an extra 10% of the rent as "rent" after harvesting, it is said that these "artifacts" can increase grain production by at least half, and even if they pay an extra 10% of the rent, there will be much more grain left than in the past.

In addition, farmers who use these "artifacts" can also choose to buy them home, and if they have enough money, they can buy them with the equivalent of three years of "rent", and if they don't have money, they can also immediately obtain the right to use these artifacts as long as they pay an additional 20% of the rent as "rent" for the next four consecutive years.

- Although Lord Kenshin said so, the old ministers such as Kakizaki Keike and Usami Joman-sama seemed to have different opinions, and they thought that there could be no such "artifact" at all, even if it was the Heavenly Empire where Chu Xuan was located.

In the entire history of the book, except for those myths that may not be very reliable in ancient times, I have never heard of a god who once gave such an artifact to the "favored person of the gods", and it seems that it is still an artifact that can be manufactured in large quantities.

Even Izumo Shrine, which is the best at dispelling disasters and praying for good fortune, is only able to guarantee good weather and a good harvest - not 100% success.

In this regard, Kenshin-sama said that she would first conduct experiments in her Uesugi family's direct domain, and retainers who did not want to use these "artifacts" could ignore the new policies she promulgated, but again, the "right of first refusal" of these "artifacts" would go to the peasants under the direct command of the Uesugi family. (To be continued.) )