Dragon's Origin

Chapter 395: The Spoils Conference (Part 1)

On the surface, the Triumphant Kingdom was divided and destroyed by the three kingdoms under the righteous banner of punishing those who disrespected the Emperor. The Emperor himself didn't seem to gain much. Even if he did, it was just a small amount of gold coins that the three kingdoms, out of consideration for the Emperor's grievances, had specially plundered from the Triumphant Kingdom's treasury as compensation.

However, from the Emperor's perspective, this marked the beginning of warring states. From the day the Triumphant Kingdom was destroyed and divided, all the major vassal states would meticulously set their sights on the smaller ones, finding excuses to divide and annex them. Every small vassal state would live in constant anxiety, guarding against this happening.

The shattered balance would inevitably lead to chaotic warfare. But what pleased the Emperor more was that no matter how they fought, they would all do so in the Emperor's name. As long as the Emperor's territory didn't expand, the attention of the various factions wouldn't be directed towards him.

As they fought back and forth, to uphold the Emperor's name, they would inevitably offer the Emperor a certain amount of tribute in exchange for his support or silence. The Emperor's strength would grow day by day, while the vassals would exhaust their power in mutual strife.

Of course, more importantly, everyone was acting in the Emperor's name, so the Emperor's prestige among the people would be unprecedentedly high. If the fighting became intense, today a place might belong to State A, tomorrow to State B, and the day after to State C. After fighting back and forth, even the people wouldn't know which state they belonged to. In the end, everyone would only have one concept: they were subjects of the Emperor.

When that time came, the Emperor would only need to wait for the right opportunity and raise his arms in a call to action, and the unification of the world would be just around the corner. This was why the Emperor had been so happy all along.

Judging from the results of this war of annihilation, the harm to ordinary people was not great, and the harm to ordinary soldiers was not great either. The main battles were still between experts, and the decisive battles took place in the capital and palace of the Triumphant Kingdom. If this was the case, the Emperor would instead hope for more and more wars of annihilation like this, and the more people from the various families who died, the better.

The representatives of the five kingdoms who had previously disrespected the Emperor were recalled by their respective vassal states, replaced by five older, more prudent individuals who were extremely respectful when meeting the Emperor. The Emperor was well aware that they still looked down on him in their hearts, but as long as they could be respectful on the surface, it was already a qualitative leap.

Now, the Emperor was waiting for the gold coins promised by the three kingdoms to arrive, in exchange for the Duke's edicts he had prepared long ago, as well as the bestowal of Earl and Viscount titles. Only when the three kingdoms received these would the process of dismantling their powerful countries truly begin. At first, it would only be smaller Earls and Viscounts, but when the meritorious officials of those major vassal states wanted Marquis titles, there would be fun to watch.

The Emperor had not forgotten how the current situation had come about. It could be said that from the grand ceremony of enfeoffing vassals to the current promotion of the war of annihilation, it was all thanks to Wang Sheng. Now, the Emperor had also learned to be clever. Not only did he not forget to help Wang Sheng get benefits from the three kingdoms, but he would also firmly remember that no matter what happened in the future, he would resolutely stand on Wang Sheng's side, lest Wang Sheng have any dissatisfaction again.

Wang Sheng could make the Emperor rise above everyone else, and he could also easily pull the Emperor down from his pedestal. The Emperor had no doubt about this.

"Old Li, what has Marquis Changsheng been busy with recently?" In a good mood, the Emperor remembered to ask about Wang Sheng's recent whereabouts. Before, he was worried about the war of annihilation, so he didn't have time to pay attention to the things happening right under his nose.

"The Marquis bought a large piece of land opposite Runzi Workshop and is tearing down the houses, saying he plans to build a large theater there," Chief Li replied quickly, and seeing that the Emperor was in a good mood, he added, "It's in Your Majesty's name, and the expenses are being paid with the advance gold coins, saying that it will be deducted from Your Majesty's Runzi Workshop's dividends after completion."

This was what the Emperor had promised. The construction of the Royal Grand Theater was covered by the Emperor, so naturally, these expenses were paid by the Emperor. The Emperor nodded, saying nothing, at least not showing any dissatisfaction. He would soon have ten billion gold coins coming in, so why care about the cost of a mere theater?

"The Marquis's land purchase cost was about 50% higher than the average land price," Chief Li said a little more since the Emperor was not unhappy. "According to the Marquis, the extra money is compensation for those who sold their land, to compensate them for the loss of not being able to find a place to live for a period of time after selling their houses and land. It's in Your Majesty's name, so after the people in the capital heard about it, everyone praised Your Majesty's benevolence."

Wang Sheng was indeed reassuring in his work. With a casual little gesture, he could win over the people's hearts for him.

"In the future, as long as Marquis Changsheng doesn't plan to rebel, he can do whatever he wants," the Emperor immediately declared. As soon as the order came out, even Chief Li was taken aback. This was unprecedented favor!

However, Chief Li was not foolish enough to go against the Emperor. He quickly agreed and then followed the Emperor slowly to the harem to share his happiness with the Empress.

Wang Sheng had been studying the style of the grand theater with more than a dozen grandmasters, especially Master Liu, for a long time. Such a large building was something that no one had any concept of at first, and even Master Liu was unsure.

Later, Wang Sheng had no choice but to propose two suggested schemes for everyone to choose from.

Wang Sheng had seen Chinese-style grand theaters on Earth, one was the Shaanxi Grand Theater, and the other was the Dunhuang Grand Theater, both of which were traditional Chinese-style flying eaves and palace ridges, with a square and upright shape. However, the Dunhuang Grand Theater was relatively simple, while the Shaanxi Grand Theater's multi-functional hall was more complex.

Master Liu and two woodworking masters first used wood to make two reduced architectural models based on Wang Sheng's sketches, making the appearance of both grand theaters. Then, everyone began to study around the two architectural models.

Master Yu and a group of musicians were also invited to the scene. Everyone was very satisfied with the two theater models and had no constructive opinions at all. Mei'er had also seen them and also had a dilemma in choosing which one to give up.

In the end, Wang Sheng made the decision. Based on the difficulty of construction, Wang Sheng chose the Dunhuang Grand Theater, a square and upright building with a simple structure and relatively single function, without the need to divide it into multiple halls, making the construction difficulty relatively low.

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After choosing the appearance, Master Liu first combined with Master Yu and several formation masters to study the sound effects. Wang Sheng thought it would be very troublesome and require research on sound wave transmission and reverberation, but Master Yu and several formation masters easily solved it, ensuring that listeners could hear the best sound effects no matter where they were.

Only after this was completed was the structural design, which was completely different from Wang Sheng's process on Earth. Wang Sheng could only follow Master Liu's steps and adapt to local conditions.