Lu Yuan was truly taken aback. ’What a high Multiplication Factor.’

Ever since Lu Yuan married Su Liyan, became Aunt Zhao’s sweetheart, and won over Aunt Song, these three women had allowed him to gain so much. He had gone from a few brick houses to a grand residence, from a handful of silver fragments to assets worth hundreds of thousands.

’For people who aren’t very useful to me, the Multiplication Factor is probably only one or two.’

Considering his current status—a Seventh Grade county magistrate with assets in the hundreds of thousands, well-versed in alchemy, medicine, Techniques, and more...for someone to have a [Multiplication Factor: 8] towards him upon their very first meeting...it just proved the history from his own era: this King Yan standing before him was someone absolutely worth building a good relationship with.

At the very least, it was never wrong to leave himself an escape route.

King Yan interrupted Lu Yuan’s thoughts. "I hear from my son that Magistrate Lu can build all sorts of strange contraptions?"

"Yes, Your Majesty," Lu Yuan answered truthfully. "I came here this time with the intention of setting up factories with Prince Gu."

Lu Yuan laid out his plans in detail, explaining everything from the types of goods to be produced, the scale of the factories, the number of laborers, sales channels, and projected revenue.

King Yan, his face betraying no emotion, glanced at Gu Gaoxu beside him and then at Lu Yuan.

He said, "Since you are both so determined, then go ahead and give it your all. You may borrow the necessary funds from the royal residence."

King Yan did not reveal his inner thoughts; in truth, he was an incredibly shrewd man.

It was perfectly normal for him to appear impassive before a Seventh Grade county magistrate he was meeting for the first time.

If he hadn’t already seen those curious contraptions from Gu Gaoxu and learned of Lu Yuan’s rich creativity...

...King Yan would never have even agreed to meet with a minor Seventh Grade official.

Yet, something had moved King Yan to allow Gu Gaoxu to follow this minor Seventh Grade official, spending money like water to build factories and hire refugees.

There could only be two possibilities: one, King Yan had lost his mind; or two, this Seventh Grade official possessed some skill that had caught the King’s eye.

It couldn’t just be about settling the refugees. There was no need to take such a huge financial risk by letting the historically unreliable Gu Gaoxu acquire land for factories.

Couldn’t they just set up a few more large cooking pots each day?

A factory complex for tens of thousands of people had far too many expenses; it would be impossible for Gu Gaoxu to support it with his personal funds alone.

But it had to be said that King Yan, who was usually quick to punish Gu Gaoxu, was this time being extraordinarily supportive.

Gu Gaoxu grabbed Lu Yuan’s hand and hurriedly pulled him outside. "Brother Lu, come on, let’s go! I’ll take you to see the factory grounds!"

The factories went up with incredible speed. After all, the refugees had nowhere else to go, and this work provided them with food and shelter.

And so, the factory complex shot up from the ground.

In the days to come, Lu Yuan would have his hands full.

The factory buildings were nearly complete, but the skilled labor positions still needed training, and the production lines had yet to be assembled.

Fortunately, he had brought a few core technicians from Taiping City who knew how to build bicycles and tricycles. They would train a select group of refugees.

The refugees he selected were all chosen using his system’s "reading" function. From the tens of thousands available, he picked only those with a [Multiplication Factor: 2].

Compared to the refugees with a [Multiplication Factor: 0] or [Multiplication Factor: 1], this group was far more reliable. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

After selecting the workers, Lu Yuan rushed to fabricate the production equipment.

While this equipment was certainly no match for the products of his own era, it was still a significant improvement over the basic industry of the current age.

This was all thanks to the "Alchemy" skill the system had rewarded him with.

The factory complex was divided into several workshops.

The first workshop was for bicycles—a novelty coveted by the children of rich and powerful families, offering incredible convenience for travel.

The second workshop was for tricycles. The first batch produced would be supplied to King Yan’s army for transporting provisions and heavy supplies.

The third workshop was for drum washing machines. This was a novelty for ordinary families who, unlike the wealthy, didn’t have maids to do their laundry.

The fourth workshop, smaller than the first three, was filled with a diverse array of equipment. It was dedicated to producing all sorts of miscellaneous gadgets.

In other words, if Lu Yuan wanted to invent something new, he’d have the workers in the fourth workshop produce it. These products generally had a smaller, more niche audience.

There was one more workshop, more hidden and remote than the others, dedicated to producing Flintlock Guns.

Originally, Lu Yuan had no intention of producing Flintlock Guns. While not as strictly controlled by the Empire as things like Armor,

a weapon like this ultimately pushed the Empire’s boundaries. The Empire had no idea that someone could create such a firearm.

But he couldn’t resist Gu Gaoxu’s shameless pestering, as the prince followed him around, clamoring for one.

Gu Gaoxu had an absolute blast playing with the Flintlock Gun.

He was always out either hunting pheasants or chasing wild rabbits.

In a place as large as Yandu, there were few Xingzi in the wilds.

Of course, a weapon like the Flintlock Gun could only be produced at full capacity and with such ease by Lu Yuan himself.

If left to the workshop for mass production, they could only manage to make one or two hundred per month.

Lu Yuan and his entourage had been in Yandu for seven or eight days now.

It was Su Liyan’s mother’s first time in such a large city, and she spent every day dragging Su Liyan out to explore.

Back when her family was poor, they could only afford to eat coarse flour noodles every day. But things were different now.

Su Liyan had married a good husband, and now she lived a life of luxury.

On this day, Su Liyan was accompanying her mother on a stroll through the main streets, as had become their routine.

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