Munitions Empire-Chapter 954 - 877 useless preparation

Chapter 954: 877 useless preparation Chapter 954: 877 useless preparation In Chu Country, among a stretch of mountains and forests, on a narrow path, one man followed another, taking steps forward as if without a clear direction.

“The experiments you’re conducting here make me very uneasy. No one can control the seasons, nor can anyone truly make the mountains listen to them,” the man walking behind advised the man in front.

The man speaking wore a special kind of clothing, a wide robe adorned with all sorts of silver ornaments that seemed a bit too intricate.

His clothes were colorful and paired with the somewhat worn silver ornaments, giving off an indescribably complex feeling. Dense tattoos could be seen on the man’s neck, making his skin appear somewhat darkened.

What was most interesting was that one of the man’s eyes was green. It was a prosthetic eye, crafted from a gemstone like jade.

If it were a local native, they would immediately recognize him as their most revered Great Shaman, for only the Great Shaman would use a gemstone prosthetic eye capable of communicating with the spirits to replace his real eye.

This was an ancient tradition, where those chosen to be the Great Shaman would have one eye gouged out at the age of twenty. It was their fate, and a calamity they had to accept.

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Those who died from the pain or whose wounds became infected and deteriorated were not qualified to become shamans. Only those who recovered as before could be proven to have a pure heart and the ability to communicate with the spirits.

And the man walking ahead of this Great Shaman, wore a western suit. He walked silently forward, paying no heed to the Great Shaman following him.

“I know you’re rich and willing to help our village, but the mountain spirits are sacred and must not be violated. Your experiments will yield no results, for the spirits will not allow humans to control them,” the Great Shaman continued to speak insistently.

Finally, the man walking in front spoke without turning his head, “I’ve given you plenty of food and medicine for treatment. You can relocate to a more suitable living place at any time… Your spirits have never given you these.”

“My gods teach me that all gains come with a price. We don’t want to abandon the tombs of our ancestors, nor leave our land… for it is only by staying here that we can draw on the strength of our forebears,” the Great Shaman continued to explain.

Although he disliked these foreigners, the high officials of Chu Country were very afraid of these newcomers claiming to be the Tang People.

In fact, these people also made him, the Great Shaman, feel afraid: they brought many desirable things to entice the hearts of the people, and now, the villagers were not as easy to manage as they were before they arrived.

“Strength? Excuse me for being blunt, but you know nothing about power!” The man, who deliberately came to check the experimental results, chuckled coldly and asked, “I gave you 100 Thompson Submachine Guns, 200 Mauser Rifles, allowing your people to suffer at least 30 fewer deaths in the conflicts with the Orc barbarians.”

“I know you’re formidable, but that thing you speak of doesn’t exist,” the Great Shaman could only say through grinding teeth: “You’ll never be able to make plants flourish or wither according to your demands…”

“Oh? Is that so?” The man stopped, parted the bushes in front of him, and saw the mountain opposite.

The Great Shaman halted his steps, his eyes widened, and suddenly he didn’t know what to say: in front of him, the distant mountain had almost no greenery to be seen.

The brown tree trunks were numerous but lacked the green leaves that used to shield their forms. All the plants seemed to have died overnight; it was like a real hell.

“It seems the defoliant is performing very well…” said one of the technicians in a white coat who had caught up, excitedly.

“Indeed,” another technician nodded. “Although this substance isn’t very stable, the effect is indisputable, and the toxicity… has not been detected yet. This can be concluded by observing the samples.”

“There’s no need for test results anymore; the side effects are quite clear. Your Majesty has ordered that any human experiments related to it are forbidden; we just need to handle it carefully based on the results he has provided,” the man leading them curbed his subordinates’ dangerous thoughts.

They were conducting experiments in Chu Country; the main reason was indeed the toxicity of the substance, and a secondary reason was the abundance of forests in Chu Country, which made it suitable for such experiments.

Out of humanitarian concerns, the Great Tang Empire’s subsidy for such overseas experiments was quite high. Personnel near the experimental zone had to be evacuated, and they were given substantial compensation.

However, in practice, all sorts of problems still arose: The local officials of Chu Country were quite interested in these subsidies. They would pocket most of the money and then forcefully evict civilians living near the experimental area.

Of course, some officials, to avoid any future trouble, even hinted to the experiment technicians from the Great Tang Empire that they could conceal the truth so that Great Tang could obtain more “accurate data.”

Although Tang Mo could determine the characteristics of many chemical substances, it still required local experiments to ensure their stability in action. Because the Great Tang Empire had Tang Mo’s “cheat,” related experiments only needed to be conducted once to determine their basic effects and side effects.

Compared to situations that required repeated and even dangerous experiments, this practice of conducting the experiment once or twice was already very humane.

“Devils! You are devils!” The Great Shaman standing to the side finally broke out of his shock and began to scream loudly, condemning the Tang People who had come from afar: “All devils! Devils!”

In his eyes, it was these people who brought terrifying things into the mountains. They had the power to destroy the spirits and gods of the mountain. They were heretics, the source of sin!

They were here not to take anything away but to prepare to destroy everything! They had caused an entire mountain’s worth of vegetation to lose life overnight. Other than speaking of demons, what else could explain what was happening before their eyes?

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The Chu Country officials who had also come, fearing any mishaps might befall the nobles, glanced at the Great Shaman. Their minds were full of thoughts about whether or not to kick this nonsense-spouting man down the mountain.

These bosses set fire to burn the mountain and they’re not without payment, so what the hell are you shrieking for? What’s with this ‘devil’ talk? If you don’t want to live, don’t drag me down with you!

“The agent we are experimenting with now is to help you! It can drive away the barbaric Orc tribes and help you establish a solid border with the Orcs,” a Tang Country official turned around, looked at the somewhat crazed Great Shaman, and explained, “Even the most terrible power, as long as it’s in human hands, it’s about how one uses that power. The strength of power is not the measure of justice and evil! It’s how that power is used that matters!”

He pointed toward a distant ridge and continued, “See that over there? Do you know how many years it would take for you to clear such a large area of forest? Now, you only need a couple of weeks, and then you can plant tea leaves there.”

The Great Shaman stopped his shouting. He was somewhat tempted: If these areas could be cleared quickly and planted with food or cash crops, then their villages could indeed become wealthy from this.

The officials of Chu Country were also startled. They had originally thought this was some new type of weapon from the Great Tang Empire, but they hadn’t expected that the other party actually wanted to use the concoction to clear forests for agricultural development.

That sounded… quite plausible.

It’s just… it seemed like something was being overlooked.

The chemical technicians from the Great Tang Empire who were standing nearby were a bit embarrassed to hear their leader spewing nonsense.

One of the technicians quietly asked a colleague, “Uh… this stuff we’re using, it’s toxic, right? Entering the application area within a week, isn’t that dangerous?”

“Don’t listen to the boss’s nonsense. If Chu Country really does it, do you believe that we in the Great Tang would no longer import any agricultural products from Chu Country…” another technician whispered back to his colleague.

“It’s our leader, all right, spouting nonsense without blushing.” Hearing his colleague affirm his own words, the technician who had asked the question earlier admired.

“This thing is just for effect experiments… I heard the concoction itself has no practical value! The formula has already entered a highly confidential phase,” someone else added, “It’s all being reserved to counteract the content of ‘dangerous weapons prohibition’ treaties with other countries.”

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Today, there will be one update; the other is postponed until tomorrow…