……

The Huangfu Clan of Changning, a family with a history of five hundred years.

As early as the establishment of Changning, the Huangfu Clan migrated from the Monan Commandery. During the early days of pioneering, they made numerous contributions and achievements.

Of course, those who migrated were a branch of the renowned Monan Huangfu Clan, not the main clan.

The Huangfu Clan of Monan Commandery, relied on animal husbandry in the great plains as their pillar industry.

As such,

The Changning branch of the Huangfu Clan also possesses impressive breeding techniques.

This is a normal occurrence.

Many family relationships in this world are intertwined and extremely complex.

Families that truly started from scratch are not only rare in number, but usually also low in grade.

Sometimes, a seemingly insignificant small family might trace its roots back to a certain Purple Mansion noble family.

The Great Qian has been established for too long, with a history of over seven thousand years.

The migration of family branches is a complex and epic story.

Today,

The Huangfu Clan of Changning has arranged a night banquet. It is now approaching dusk, and the sky is gradually darkening. However, the lights on both sides of the street have already been lit, illuminating the area as if it were daytime.

This is also a display of the Huangfu Clan’s wealth, as the burning of these lights alone is a huge expense.

The main house of the Huangfu Clan is a grand mansion, ordinary people cannot even reach the entrance without permission.

The walls of the main house are comparable to city walls, like a city within a city.

The towering courtyard walls are built with bluestone. After five hundred years of wind and rain, the bluestone bricks have shown signs of mottling. Through these bricks, one seems to be able to vaguely glimpse the trials and tribulations of the Changning Huangfu Clan over the past five hundred years.

At the four corners of the courtyard wall stand tall watchtowers, under the eaves of which hang exquisite bronze bells.

These bronze bells have eight corners, do not ring in the wind, and are engraved with exquisite patterns on the surface, making them look very special.

The Monan Huangfu Clan initially established itself on the great plains with their superior beast taming skills. Their clan treasure, the Eight-cornered Dragon Soul Bell, is famous throughout the Great Qian.

These bronze bells are replicas of the Eight-cornered Dragon Soul Bell, symbolizing that the Changning Huangfu Clan has not forgotten the blessings of their ancestors.

Inside the main house, the lights are already brightly lit. Countless servants and stewards are bustling about, busy making final preparations, repeatedly confirming various details.

Under their bustling activity, even the buildings with a long history seem to have gained a bit more vitality, radiating new energy.

The entrance of the main house is not bustling with carriages and horses, but rather quiet.

After all, the Huangfu Clan only invited representatives from the eighth-grade noble families and some key figures from Changning.

For example, the city lord, the head of the Qian’s business, or the brains of some large commercial organizations, etc.

Only a dozen or so people are qualified to be invited.

“Lady Ji, Brother Anbang, Brother Shouzhe,” Huangfu Jin greeted the guests in formal attire. Seeing Wang Shouzhe, Xu Anbang, and Lady Ji alighting from the carriage, he showed no displeasure.

Instead, he greeted them with a full smile, very courteous.

Wang Shouzhe and Xu Anbang, of course, also politely exchanged pleasantries with Huangfu Jin, as if they were old friends, warm and friendly.

As the invited party, they also presented gifts that matched the rank of their clan.

It was as if there had never been any grudges before, and neither side had ever wrestled with each other in the business field, fighting for life and death.

This is the harmonious facade maintained among the noble families of the Great Qian.

Regardless of the private competition or even fierce battles due to certain matters,

As long as the face is not publicly torn, this facade must be maintained.

This is different from the situation between the Wang Clan and the Liu and Zhao Clans in the past. Back then, the Wang Clan had almost torn their faces with them, and there was no room for maneuver.

The location of the night banquet hosted by the Huangfu Clan is in the main hall of the front courtyard.

With the warm greetings and subtle probing of information among each other,

The guests have gradually arrived.

Among them, the city lord Xiahou Hongde, the direct disciple of the Purple Mansion, Fang You’an, were personally greeted and entertained by the ancestor of the Huangfu family – Ancestor Huaye.

This is a rule and etiquette that applies everywhere. Different cultivation levels and ranks mean different statuses. It is a courtesy and rule for Ancestor Huaye to personally greet and entertain them.

As for the core disciples of the Purple Mansion Academy, they also sat at the top seats with Fang You’an.

After all, they are all core disciples, with a great possibility of becoming Sky Human cultivators in the future, and holding a position for the Purple Mansion Academy.

The representatives of the eighth-grade noble families, including Wang Shouzhe, were arranged to sit at the secondary seats, accompanied by Huangfu Jin.

This was the first time Wang Shouzhe had seen Ancestor Huaye.

Due to his advanced cultivation of the “Red Dragon True Jue”, Ancestor Huaye’s hair was as red as fire, and he looked vigorous and naturally exuded an aura of dominance.

No wonder.

Ancestor Huaye was the third-generation Sky Human of the Huangfu Clan, and his talent had reached the middle-grade level. It was said that he had advanced to the Sky Human realm at around the age of 140.

Compared to the direct disciples of the academy, like Fang You’an, he was naturally inferior. But if placed among the core disciples, he would be among the top.

It was because of his rapid advancement that the Huangfu Clan had a peak period of nearly sixty years, with two Sky Human cultivators.

During that period, the Huangfu Clan even overshadowed the Lei Clan.

Unfortunately, good times didn’t last long.

Seventy years ago, the previous Sky Human ancestor of the Huangfu Clan passed away at the age of over 370, and the momentum of the Huangfu Clan began to slow down.

Various reasons had shaped the boldness of Ancestor Huaye.

Ancestor Huaye, who had never suffered much in his life, exuded a strong confidence in his speech and demeanor. Even when facing a genius like Fang You’an, he remained calm and composed.

“Little brother You’an,” Ancestor Huaye said with a sigh, “Your master, the Ice Wave Saint, is one of the few saints I, Huaye, admire the most. Not only is she extraordinarily powerful, but she is also one of the pillars of our Longzuo Commandery and even the entire Great Qian. Her character is also top-notch. I heard that she has hopes of further advancement.”

Fang You’an bowed politely and said, “Ancestor Huaye, you flatter her. My master often says, ‘The road ahead is long; I will search up and down.’ Compared to the vast Dao, she is but a toddler.’ and so on.”

The city lord, Xiahou Hongde, laughed heartily at this. “Little brother You’an, you’re too modest. If the famous Ice Wave Saint is just a toddler, then aren’t we not even babbling babies?”

Fang You’an smiled gently, not refuting.

Although his master’s words were modest, he knew that as a direct disciple of the academy, his future aspirations and the responsibilities he bore on his shoulders were different from those of the local powerhouses.

However, he would not underestimate any local powerhouse.

He himself was from a noble family and understood very well that the Great Qian was made up of numerous noble families.

Each family was the cornerstone of the Great Qian and a cradle of talent.

Moreover, whether it was Ancestor Huaye or City Lord Xiahou Hongde, those who had reached their current positions were by no means simple.

Then, the night banquet began.

The Huaye Clan, with “over a hundred family generals” and “over a thousand servants”, had many handpicked maids.

They served one delicious spiritual dish after another, as well as various rare spiritual wines, which immediately livened up the atmosphere.

…

Meanwhile, in a remote town in Changning Commandery called Jinsha Town.

This was a barren land, with a total population of no more than ten thousand for decades.

The town was home to a small ninth-rank clan, the Jinsha Xu Clan, which had made this their base.

Apart from the difficult task of cultivating the barren fields and producing raw silk for the Changning Xu Clan.

The biggest industry here was still panning for gold, producing a small amount of gold year after year.

Compared to its heyday.

The gold production of Jinsha Town is now very low, barely enough to sustain the lives of the local civilians and the Jinsha Xu Clan, and it is extremely difficult to develop based on this.

From this, it can be inferred.

The Jinsha Xu Clan is not a powerful family.

But it is a family that has a very close relationship with the Wang’s Clan.

In recent years, the two sides have frequently intermarried in the direct line. For example, Wang Luojing and Wang Shunuo’s mother, Xu Zhirou, a gentle and intelligent woman, came from the Jinsha Xu Clan. When Wang Shouzhe and Wang Luoyi were young, she took care of them for a long time.

Wang Shouyi’s wife, the second brother, is also a direct-line woman from the Jinsha Xu Clan. She gave birth to the little genius Wang Zongsheng, who is currently studying at the Purple Mansion Academy, as well as the young Wang Zongyao and Wang Lilian.

Wang Shouzhe’s elder sisters, Wang Luomei and Wang Luohe, also married into the Jinsha Xu Clan. In the Jinsha Xu Clan, they each have their own children, adding many nephews and nieces to Wang Shouzhe.

This situation seems like two impoverished and declining families huddling together for warmth. But because of this, the relationship between the two sides is deep, and they have frequent contact.

Fortunately, in recent years, the Jinsha Xu Clan’s days have suddenly improved a lot.

Those sands with extremely low gold content were originally useless waste, and the banks of the river and the riverbed were full of garbage.

But now, those “wastes” suddenly became useful.

With the massive use of cement in Changning Commandery, the price of river sand has risen repeatedly. Especially the Wang’s Clan, whether it is building cement roads, constructing cement river embankments, or other basic projects, all require a large amount of river sand.

Just supplying the Wang’s Clan alone has made the Jinsha Xu Clan’s days much more comfortable than before. In addition, they also supply high-quality river sand to areas like Donghai Commandery.

Jinsha Town seems to have suddenly become a real “Gold Sand Town”.

With the gradual improvement of the economy and the influx of hired workers, the total population of Jinsha Town has reached 12,000 to 13,000, and it is said that they are still absorbing refugees.

Now.

The Jinsha Xu Clan has once again welcomed a great opportunity for development.

Because of the crisscrossing waterways in Jinsha Town and the wide river beaches full of gravel beaches, there are suitable places for building hydraulic workshops everywhere.

The silk technology of Longzuo Commandery, from silkworm rearing to raw cocoon reeling, and finally weaving into plain silk, has already had a complete set of skilled processes.

But this set of processes, in the reeling and weaving, both require a lot of labor and time.

Over the years, Wang Shouzhe and his elder brother Wang Shouxin have been continuously researching and improving the reeling technology and weaving technology.

You might say that Wang Shouzhe couldn’t draw a complete blueprint even if he was beaten to death, and he only half-understood some of the principles.

But with a large amount of fragmented knowledge from his previous life and a very clear direction, combined with the wisdom of everyone, they finally managed to create a relatively primitive waterwheel-powered reeling machine and a waterwheel-powered weaving machine.

Basic invention and creation are not difficult, the main difficulty lies in a direction and thinking. As long as you explore and continuously improve along the direction and thinking, you will eventually be able to form.

(When it comes to invention, the old author has more say than other authors, after all, the old author also has his own invention patents, and has produced and profited…)The so-called waterwheel power structure seemed quite simple, it was just a miniaturized and modified version of the large-scale water dragon array.

Before this, the silk reeling technology used foot-operated silk reeling machines. One person, one machine, could reel three hammers of raw silk at the same time.

But now, the water-powered silk reeling machine could drive hundreds of spinning spindles at the same time, achieving separation of man and hammer. Only about ten silk reeling workers were needed to operate this water-powered silk reeling machine.

Compared to the foot-operated silk reeling machine, not only was the per capita output ten times higher, but the produced raw silk was also smoother and more delicate.

At the same time, the driving principle of the water-powered loom was consistent. Just that further improvements were made on the weaving structure. Although Wang Shouzhe didn’t know how much difference there was between this thing and the vague shape of the Jenny loom in his memory?

But without a doubt, its production efficiency was far greater than the current ordinary foot-operated loom.

As long as there was abundant water resources, it could operate day and night with only a small amount of manual assistance.

Setting aside the construction and manufacturing costs.

Once the water-powered loom was put into operation, the production efficiency would be terrifyingly high.

The unit labor benefit was about forty times that of the foot-operated loom.

Moreover, both the silk reeling machine and the loom were not purely wooden structures. Wang Shouzhe had the blacksmiths create many mechanical structures.

Especially some of the most critical core parts, even involved the use of artifact refiners!!

This also made these two types of mechanical structures quite stable, and as long as they were properly maintained, they could be used for a long time.

Based on these advantages.

The Clan Leader of Jinsha Xu’s Clan, Xu Anze, was so excited recently that he couldn’t sleep.

He was guarding the construction site day and night, because he knew that once it started operating, it would be the day of the rise of Jinsha Xu’s Clan. Given twenty to thirty years, they might even challenge the eighth-rank noble family.

Even if they were just the lowest level of the three-party cooperation, the original processing unit, he believed that Changning Xu’s Clan and Ping’an Wang’s Clan would not treat them unfairly.

After all, one was the main vein, and the other was a very close in-law family.

Moreover, Wang Shouzhe, the Clan Leader of Wang’s Clan, was a very generous leader to his allies.

However, Xu Anze knew even more that if they wanted to rise, they had to overcome a difficult hurdle.

Night fell!

Several gray shadows appeared on the territory of Jinsha Xu’s Clan. They stood on high ground, looking at the cement building that was taking shape from a distance, a trace of coldness and killing intent flashed in their eyes.

…