Chapter 2

### Section Two: Wen Zong's Ambition

Wen Desi briefly introduced his experience of traveling alone to another time and space. The other time and space he traveled to from his bathroom was at the foot of a hill, by a small river. From the degree of land development, it was a fairly prosperous agricultural area. The terrain and vegetation were typical of southern China. Just as he was hesitating whether to venture deeper to see if there were any villages to explore, something unexpected happened:

A group of soldiers in ancient attire, led by a mounted officer, escorted more than ten villagers to the river and immediately began a massacre.

Although Wen Desi had seen some quite bloody photos online, the shock of witnessing it up close at a distance of thirty meters was incomparable.

Finally, the soldiers cut off the heads of the victims, casually threw some broken weapons around the bodies, and then left with the officer.

"Fortunately, I was wearing camouflage, or it would have been really dangerous," Wen Desi said, still feeling a bit uneasy. "The closest ones were less than ten meters away."

The first impression the other time and space left on Wen Desi was the good air, and the second impression was the precariousness of life.

Wen Desi opened his laptop and showed them the photos he had taken on the scene. The headless, bloodied corpses, captured in 9 million pixels by a single-lens reflex camera, were so realistic that they made one want to vomit.

"I also found some copper coins scattered around," Wen Desi said, taking out a plastic bag containing more than ten copper coins. "There are several types. I had someone look at them, and the latest one is the Tianqi Tongbao."

"It could also be from the Chongzhen period."

"At least it's after the second year of Tianqi," Xiao Zishan said with confidence. "Emperor Guangzong only ruled for a few months before passing away. The Tai Chang Tongbao was minted in the first year of Tianqi by his father. The Tianqi era name began to be minted in the second year. If we consider the time needed for minting and circulation, it could be as late as the third year of Tianqi."

"However, this estimation is still quite broad. The two emperors ruled for more than twenty years."

"I think it should be the Tianqi era, or at most the early Chongzhen era. The Chongzhen Tongbao was minted in large quantities in various regions and widely circulated, so it's impossible to have only the Tianqi coins."

After determining the era, what do we plan to do?

A wormhole leading to another time and space is of milestone significance to the scientific community, but the three people in the bathroom were clearly not physicists and had no chance of winning a Nobel Prize. If they were to announce it as major news, none of them were in the media industry; they could only be considered as parties involved in the news. Of course, as the discoverer, Wen Zong would be mentioned in the news. However, these people also thought quite conspiratorially that, given the potential for significant consequences, the existence of the wormhole might be completely covered up—just like how Americans have long suspected the existence of Area 51. In that case, their prospects would be very bleak.

Besides the owner of the wormhole—since unclaimed property belongs to the discoverer, Wen Desi could be considered the owner of the wormhole—the other two people clearly saw this as an opportunity. If Wen Desi really wanted to win a physics prize or pursue his "single-person, low-profile, two-way travel," he would not have posted the thread.

How big is this opportunity? As Wen Zong said, it's so big that it could mean owning a world—another 17th century in a different dimension.

Thinking about this, their breathing became heavy.

After a brief discussion, the initial executive committee was formed in Wen Desi's bathroom, and the first document was produced. In the history of the new era, this meeting was known as the "Bathroom Meeting."

The meeting adopted the program: to establish a new world!

How to create their new world? The ancients were not mindless NPCs; they were no less intelligent than modern people, and they were not lacking in courage or strength. In terms of adaptability to the environment, they were far superior to the delicate modern people. These three people, although they loved reading穿越架空 (time-travel and alternate history) novels, at least knew they didn't have any "dragon aura."

The only advantage the time travelers had over the ancients was the 300 years of accumulated civilization.

"Scale and standardization," Wang Luobin said, "are the keys to victory. An industrialized society can defeat any ancient society."

Gather a large number of modern technology and management experts, carry modern industrial equipment and technology, and travel together to that time and space to establish a base, complete basic industrialization, and form a complete industrial system, from which to dominate the world.

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. No matter how grand the goal, one must eat one bite at a time. After discussion, the group determined two short-term goals:

1. Gather time travelers and raise funds to purchase equipment and supplies.

2. Wen Desi decided to first set up a Skype chat group for communication. The original post was already very popular, and he no longer provided any further explanation, simply adding the group number and a backup email address. Then he locked the post—everyone agreed that it was not advisable to draw attention from now on.

As for the money, although these three people had some savings, they totaled less than one million yuan. One million yuan to achieve industrialization—even the industrialization of the Industrial Revolution—was too science fiction.

Of course, theoretically, subsequent participants would bring funds, but not much.

Using two-way travel to take advantage of the price differences between the two time and space dimensions to raise funds was probably a more realistic and quick way to make money.

Using modern products to make huge profits in ancient times was a foolproof method for getting rich in all time-travel novels. They immediately thought of items like glass mirrors, glass cups, matches, watches, and other time-travel treasures. Countless time travelers relied on these items to become wealthy in other time and space dimensions, dig their first pot of gold, and embark on their journey to dominance.

Xiao Zishan contributed a large number of promotional items he had accumulated over the years due to his love for small bargains:

Plastic powder boxes with mirrors, melamine bowls, spoons, and chopsticks, small fruit knives, plastic kitchen aprons, acrylic hat, scarf, and glove sets, glass mugs, plastic lunch boxes, towels... There were three or four boxes of these items. These small commodities made in Yiwu, ugly with various company logos, now shone like gold in the eyes of these few people.

17th-century Venetian glass mirrors were luxuries even in Europe, and there were none in Asia. From this perspective, mirrors were a monopoly. For example, those unbreakable bowls and transparent lunch boxes... even the empty bottles left from the purified water they had just drunk. Any of these items were new to that time and space, and theoretically, they could sell them for any price: 100 taels for a powder box, 2,000 taels for a cup, 100 taels for a bowl... many time-travel predecessors did just that...

These three people were so excited by the golden future that their blood pressure rose. Wen Desi even began to regret it—maybe he could unify the world by taking the risk of two-way travel alone.

"But if we just go like this, we'll be caught as pirates at the city gate and taken to the maritime defense office," Wang Luobin thought of the practical issues.

"Is there a maritime defense office in Guangzhou?"

"I don't know, but the maritime trade office should be there."

"Indeed, we have strange clothing and peculiar accents. Guangzhou is not a sparsely populated place. We don't have travel permits..."

"Will we be exiled to Liaodong?"

"That's unlikely, but if we are caught for our strange clothing and suspicious behavior, we'll be interrogated in the office, and even if we don't die, we'll be beaten up." Xiao Zishan recalled some memoirs of Portuguese people who came to China during the Ming Dynasty. One unfortunate Portuguese pirate detailed his entire capture process. Although he praised the Ming Dynasty's judicial system as a perfect, fair, and transparent institution, he also said it was cruel for the accused.

Thinking about the various tortures the Portuguese had endured and seen, Xiao Zishan shivered and felt a sense of fear.

"Maybe we should find some Hanfu websites? I've seen some that are very meticulous about Ming Dynasty clothing."

"Clothing is fine, but we can't learn the behavior and speech," Wang Luobin objected. "It would be even more suspicious."

"If we pretend to be foreign merchants—maybe we can say we are merchants from Borneo. Perhaps we can pretend to be tribute envoys? Emperors always like the tribute from all nations."

"The tribute trade had already stopped. Besides, the court is probably in a state of chaos and not interested." Xiao Zishan thought for a moment. "I remember that the Ming Dynasty had strict management of foreigners. Except for the Portuguese, foreign merchants could only trade in Macau, and their ships could not enter the Pearl River."

"Can the Portuguese enter Guangzhou?"

"Yes, apparently Guangzhou held trade fairs every year, where merchants from various regions would bring goods to trade with the Portuguese."

"So the Canton Fair has such a long history," Wang Luobin marveled.

The Canton Fair, which was once the main window for China's foreign trade, had its predecessor in the Ming Dynasty, but it was only open to Portuguese merchants. It was held twice a year, in summer and winter, in Haizhu Island, which is now the area around the Haizhu District Federation of Trade Unions.

"But none of us look like foreigners. I wonder if there were any Chinese with foreign nationality back then?"

"Maybe, who knows."

"Troublesome, we need to check the historical records."

Suddenly, Xiao Zishan slapped the table and laughed.

"We are so silly! Why are we always thinking about how to enter Guangzhou? We are already in Guangzhou!"

Everyone's eyes lit up. Indeed, since the wormhole's entry and exit points in both time and space were consistent, as long as they traveled within the range of the Ming Dynasty city of Guangzhou, they would directly enter the city. If any crisis occurred, they could simply open the wormhole and escape back.

The chosen travel location was Haopan Street, originally in the southern part of Guangzhou along the river. This area was already a commercial center in the Southern Song Dynasty, and commerce was even more prosperous in the early Ming Dynasty. During the Jiajing period, a new city wall was built, including this commercial area by the Pearl River. From then on, the southern city wall of Guangzhou stood directly by the Pearl River.

Haopan Street was a place where wealthy merchants from other provinces gathered and lived, and it was also a center for smugglers. These smugglers colluded with the fishermen on Yuyu Island at the mouth of the Pearl River, specializing in the transport of goods from "foreign ships." "Whenever a foreign ship arrived, they would work together with the wealthy merchants from other provinces on Haopan Street to load porcelain, silk, private money, and gunpowder, and then return fully loaded." Xiao Zishan suspected that these so-called "wealthy merchants from other provinces" were people with official backing, which is why smuggling was so rampant.

Since they were all involved in smuggling, they wouldn't care where the newcomers came from. Profit is the nature of merchants. In this sense, the merchants on Haopan Street seemed to be the most suitable to approach.