Chapter 441 Internal turmoil subsides, but a sudden upheaval occurs in the East China Sea.

The Emperor's two imperial edicts were like two shots of adrenaline, quickly injected into the restless body of Shenjing City and its surroundings.

The sign for the "Technical Training Administration" was hung high in the center of the refugee camp outside the city. When officials from the Ministry of Industry announced that training was not only free but also included food, lodging, and a stipend, the entire refugee camp erupted.

The unemployed weavers, who had originally been filled with despair and thought they had no hope in this life, could hardly believe their ears.

"My Lord, are... are you telling the truth? We can learn a trade and get paid for it?" Zhang Mazi squeezed to the very front of the crowd, his voice trembling as he asked.

"Of course it is true! When has His Majesty's golden word ever been false?" The official cleared his throat and said loudly, "But let me say the ugly things first! Once you go in, you must forget all your old crafts and old ideas! You must learn arithmetic, learn to read diagrams, and learn to deal with those iron machines! If you don't learn well and fail to graduate, you won't be able to enter the new factories and earn a high salary!"

"We'll learn! We will learn!"

"As long as there is a way to survive, I will do anything!"

The crowd burst into thunderous cheers. To them, this was not just a job; it was a ray of light in the darkness, a hope for a new beginning. They scrambled toward the registration desk, fearing that if they were a step late, the opportunity would be gone.

On the other side, the recruitment manifesto for the "National Road Project" was plastered all over the streets and alleys of the Imperial Capital. The conditions of daily wages and guaranteed meals held a fatal attraction for those short-term laborers, refugees, and even the impoverished farmers from the surrounding areas who could no longer survive.

Massive construction sites were soon built in the four directions outside the Imperial Capital. Thousands of laborers, organized by officials from the Ministry of Works and military officers, began working with great enthusiasm. Cutting through mountains, leveling the ground, laying gravel, pouring cement... the scale of the scene far exceeded any project in previous dynasties.

The birth pains of reform were quickly transformed into the driving force pushing the empire forward under Emperor Liu Sheng's swift and iron-fisted rule. The labor force eliminated by the textile factories did not become a source of social instability; instead, it was efficiently absorbed into the new industrial system and the wave of infrastructure construction, becoming the cornerstone of the empire's new round of development.

In the imperial court, voices of opposition also completely died down in the face of these irrefutable facts. Grand Censor Zhang Chengyan and others even claimed illness and stayed home, not daring to attend court for several days.

The entire Great Han seemed like a giant ship that had just weathered a small storm, readjusting its course and forging ahead through the waves at an unprecedented speed.

However, just as everyone was immersed in this flourishing atmosphere, a bloody storm from the distant ocean was approaching this continent in the cruelest of ways.

The twentieth day of the twelfth lunar month, late at night.

Inside Yangxin Hall, Emperor Liu Sheng had just finished processing a batch of reports regarding the "National Road" project and was preparing to rest.

Suddenly, a burst of urgent and heavy footsteps came from outside the hall. A courier, covered in mud and dust, was supported by guards and almost rolled into the hall. On his back was an emergency letter cylinder wrapped in black oilcloth and sealed with wax.

"Eight... eight-hundred-li emergency express!" The courier used his last ounce of strength and shouted hoarsely, "East... East Sea emergency report!"

Emperor Liu Sheng's heart sank sharply. An eight-hundred-li emergency express was the highest level of military intelligence transmission. It would never be used unless there was a disaster of heaven-collapsing proportions.

Eunuch Xu An's face turned deathly pale. He hurried forward, his hands trembling as he untied the cylinder from the courier's back and presented it to Emperor Liu Sheng.

Emperor Liu Sheng took the cylinder and discovered that the wax seal on it had turned blood-red, representing the highest alert. His fingers paused slightly, then he forcefully crushed the wax seal and pulled out a scroll from inside that was more than half soaked in blood.

The report was jointly submitted by the Yangzhou Prefect and the Yangzhou Naval Superintendent, written in tears and blood.

Unfolding the report, the shocking lines of text were like sharp knives, fiercely piercing into Emperor Liu Sheng's eyes.

"...On the fifteenth day of the twelfth lunar month, a Wokou fleet of over a hundred warships launched a surprise attack on Yangzhou Port... Their ships were strong and their cannons sharp, far surpassing the past. There were even several giant ironclad warships that spat black smoke, feared no sails, and rammed through everything. Our naval warships shattered upon contact..."

"...The port docks were all burned down. Over three hundred merchant ships docked there were either burned or looted. After the Wokou landed, they wantonly slaughtered, burned, and looted in the coastal villages and towns outside the city. Thousands of residents met with tragedy, blood flowed like rivers, and corpses littered the fields..."

"...Yangzhou Naval Superintendent Zhou Xing led the fleet in a desperate fight but was defeated. This subordinate, Zhou Xing, is incompetent, causing the navy to be almost completely wiped out. I am ashamed before His Majesty and ashamed before the people. Now, with my remaining strength, I write this blood-stained report, only wishing that His Majesty's heavenly troops arrive soon to avenge our thousands of wronged souls! Your subject, kowtows and bids farewell to Your Majesty!"

At the end of the report was a large, dried, and blackened bloodstain.

"Bang!"

The blue and white porcelain teacup in Emperor Liu Sheng's hand was crushed into fragments by him. Sharp porcelain shards cut his palm, and fresh blood dripped drop by drop onto the bright yellow report, merging with the dried bloodstain.

But he seemed to feel no pain at all. A cold, bone-chilling killing intent from the depths of his soul radiated from him. The temperature of the entire Yangxin Hall seemed to drop by a dozen degrees instantly.

Eunuch Xu An and the surrounding guards were so frightened that they dared not even breathe, kneeling on the ground and trembling. They had never seen the Emperor like this. That was not ordinary anger, but a kind of earth-shattering, violent rage caused by having his reverse scale touched.

Wokou!

It was Wokou again!

And, Wokou with ironclad warships!

In Emperor Liu Sheng's mind, the secret report from the Western Depot regarding the collusion between the "Red-haired Barbarians" and the Wokou flashed instantly.

Sure enough!

This was no longer a simple pirate raid; this was a premeditated, technically supported, naked act of war provocation!

They chose to strike at Yangzhou, one of the empire's most prosperous ports and the intersection of the Grand Canal, with the goal of stabbing the empire's softest underbelly, creating maximum panic, and interrupting the Great Han's rise.

Slaughtering thousands of defenseless civilians!

Emperor Liu Sheng closed his eyes. Those lines of blood-red text seemed to transform into countless despairing, screaming faces, circling in his mind.

He remembered the oath he made when he first transmigrated here.

To let every person on this land live with dignity and not be bullied by foreign enemies.

And now, his subjects were being wantonly slaughtered by a pack of wolves from overseas on his own territory!

This is humiliation!

It is the humiliation of the entire Great Han! And even more so, a humiliation that he, as Emperor, could never wash away in his lifetime!

"Someone come."

When Emperor Liu Sheng opened his eyes again, there was no emotion left in those deep pupils, only a calmness and killing intent as cold as ten-thousand-year ice.

"Convey my decree."

His voice was hoarse, low, but carried an unquestionable majesty.

"Tomorrow's morning court will be held an hour early. All civil and military officials in the capital above the fifth rank are not permitted to be absent!"

"Additionally, order all the chief officials of the Five Military Commissions, the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Revenue, and the Ministry of Industry to enter the palace immediately. I want to see them in Yangxin Hall!"

The night was still long.

But everyone knew that the sky was about to change.

An unprecedented storm was about to sweep across the entire Eastern world under the thunderous rage of this young emperor.