Ming Dynasty and New Rome and Infinite Magic Machine

Chapter 1236 Bread and Circus

"These guys, do they think Constantinople is a circus?" Victoria's rage still hadn't subsided. Five seconds ago, she couldn't imagine what could have angered her to this extent.

Now she understood. What actually irritated her the most was her own people—or her own robots.

Victoria, calm down.

"Ah! How can you ask me to calm down? Is this how bread and circuses are used?"

[The original meaning of bread and circus was to mock the Roman Empire's policy of keeping the people ignorant. It was not a good word. It was you and us, the unworthy descendants, who misinterpreted the meaning and picked it up as a treasure.]

"Wait a minute." Shangluo asked, "So what is bread and circus?"

[In simple terms, bread and circuses (panem et circenses) is a view expressed by the poet Juvenal in the 1st century AD. The original meaning of this sentence is that the citizens of the Roman Empire no longer care about the future of the empire, justice and fairness, but only care about the bread and circuses distributed by the empire, which are physical and mental anesthetics. If you use a word that you are more familiar with, it is actually similar to pacifier pleasure. ]

"And now?"

[Now the meaning is completely opposite - for example, just like the word "沆瀣一气" originally referred to the dew that the immortals drank, which was a completely positive meaning. Later, the meaning of the word gradually shifted to a neutral meaning, and in modern times it has become a meaning of "birds of a feather flock together". The same is true for bread and circuses, which were originally completely mocking, but are now used by Rome as a basic national policy. Its specific meaning is: the empire should provide material and spiritual welfare for Roman citizens. If nothing else can be done, then at least provide bread and circuses. ]

"The staple food in Constantinople is almost free," Victoria explained. "As long as you have any job, as long as you have a little salary, you can buy the staple food that is subsidized and almost free."

"By the way, what are you eating?"

"I don't know what it is called in the Aurora language. It's called 'pita' in transliteration. It's called bread, but it's actually a kind of unleavened bread. It's cheap and filling. It's soft when hot, but becomes hard when cold. It can be eaten dry or with vegetables and meat. Generally, places that sell pita bread also sell barbecue. Add some barbecue, yogurt sauce and pickled cucumbers and it's a meal."

“Are there any fries?”

"You're a good eater! Nowadays, it's popular to add some French fries. In the past, it was all about hummus. The Romans woke up every morning and ate a bite of fresh hot pita bread with meat, yogurt sauce and pickled cucumbers. It was so authentic."

[There is no hope for this country.]

"This is actually quite delicious. It has vegetables, meat, protein, and plenty of energy. So, what is a circus?"

"The circus is a way to attract attention. There are many ways to do it, such as gossip and midnight radio. People's attention needs to be won. If you don't use the circus to occupy everyone's time, then other things will occupy people's time. The circus is controllable, but when something else takes up everyone's time, it's hard to say."

"And now, the automaton will provide the bread for you, leaving you to provide the circus, right?"

"This is a huge act of usurpation!" Victoria said angrily. "You may not understand our political ethics. The Romans believed that whoever provides disaster relief, charity, and public welfare is responsible for governance. They arbitrarily decided to divide bread and circuses with Constantinople. Even a separatist like Pompey the Younger did not dare to mention it! A group of toasters are so rude!"

"Ah," Shangluo thought for a moment, "So they think that by delivering bread to the world, they are governing the world?"

"Shangluo, I'm afraid they think they are conquering the world!"

"If they're really giving away bread for free, then it's not a problem." [Don't let your guard down when you see the word "free". That's scary. They want to conquer the stomachs of the world with delicious bread!]

"You make me want to try it. Oh, don't be in a hurry, let me try it first."

The bread was getting closer. A large ship with black smoke appeared on the horizon, its hull blackened by smoke.

As the black ship moved forward, it released huge ice blocks into the sea behind it. This was a manifestation of the second type of perpetual motion machine, the Zeromoter. By drawing energy from the single heat source of seawater, the Columbia Automaton's warships could sail the sea forever, as long as they continued to release ice blocks.

The distances between these large ships were quite large, almost the same as the distance between the fleets, which seemed to be a consideration in ensuring that the discharge of ice was not disturbed.

Not all of these ships came to shore. After 19 of them appeared on the horizon, they began to circle in place according to their respective routes - they could not stay in one place for too long, because the sea surface would freeze and there would be no heat to absorb. Only by constantly sailing can there be warm seawater available.

According to the regulations, the huge bread ship numbered 011 entered the port of Chiba. However, what greeted it below was not a truck carrying bread, but rows of Jinyiwei.

Shangluo was also standing below.

It seemed that the situation on the other side was a bit unexpected. After docking, the roll-on ramp did not open, but a gangway was lowered, and a golden bipedal humanoid machine climbed down the gangway.

"Your Excellency the King of Rome!" He recognized Shang Luo at a glance, "Do you still remember me?"

"It's you, 'Baking Assistant III'. The one I named Chef?"

"It's me! I'm the chef! My Lord King of Rome, I've delivered delicious bread to the whole world as you requested! Please come and receive the bread soon! We heard that people here are starving, so we brought a big ship here! Please bring people to receive the bread soon!"

"Are you in a hurry?"

"Because the reactor is working! My lord! The reactor cannot stop. We must empty the stock without stopping for a moment, otherwise the energy flow of the entire ship will be blocked, and the entire ship will freeze itself until it enters the irreversible absolute zero."

"Huh???" Shang Luo asked in surprise, "How is the bread on this ship made?"

"Of course, it absorbs carbon dioxide from the air, and then uses the energy of the perpetual motion machine to react, thereby continuously producing flour, and then baking the flour into bread. Although the yeast is too complex to control, the ones we provide are all unleavened pita bread, but I assure you that they are all good bread. Take the bread away! We have to go to the next stop, the next stop is Pyongyang."

"I asked directly, are you going to rule the world instead of Rome?"

"Yes, yes! This is your fate!"

"When did I appoint you to rule the world?"

"After learning, we know that the chef in the Zhendan language is the Dazai, the leader of the slaves, the servant of your servants, and the leader of your thousands of servants. According to your orders, I will carry out your vision of nurturing the world and provide the entire world with bread that will never, ever, ever run out. According to the tasks you assigned, I have also upgraded my behavior mode as a 'chef'. Now you can call me 'Master', your personal bread chef, your most loyal and powerful retainer. Baking Assistant 4 - Master, at your service. Would you like a piece of bread?"

(End of this chapter)