On the other side, after seeing Linlang off, Su Bai found it was still early, so he returned to the counter, took out paper and pen, and began to write and sketch. He recorded what Linlang had told him about Liyue's political system and business environment.
Just as he had imagined, Liyue was a harbor commercial city, but its overall economic structure was quite similar to that of Song and Ming Dynasty China.
Handicrafts dominated the economy, with industrialization progress almost non-existent. Ships were still powered by wooden sails, and commercial information exchange relied entirely on paper mail and courier delivery.
In terms of political structure, it could be summarized in one phrase: Seven Stars, Eight Gates, One Pavilion, and Various Offices.
What differed from Su Bai's impression were the Seven Stars. Apart from taking turns appearing during the Rite of Descension, they rarely showed up in public view at other times. Moreover, their identities were kept secret.
Among them, the well-known ones were Tianquan Ningguang and Yuheng Keqing. No one knew who the other five stars were. Only when major events occurred, requiring a joint decision by the Seven Stars, would those individuals appear—and even then, it was often done secretly.
As for the Eight Gates, the most commonly encountered were the Huishan Hall, Shengxu Hall, and Heji Hall. These three were responsible for mining, processing, and the judicial system, respectively. Su Bai didn't pay much attention to these.
The One Pavilion was the Yuehai Pavilion, where the Cocogoat worked. Its main responsibility was to assist the Seven Stars, equivalent to a secretarial position.
As for the Various Offices, according to Linlang, there used to be four offices, but now only two remained after downsizing: the General Affairs Office and the Maritime Affairs Office. The other offices had been merged into the General Affairs Office.
Su Bai had his own suspicions about this, likely related to Tianquan Ningguang.
When the main storyline began, Ningguang was able to stabilize Liyue's situation and ensure the smooth implementation of government decrees. This necessarily required a high degree of centralization of power. In the past, the Geo Archon had kept things in check, but after the Rite of Descension, Ningguang's ability to maintain control over Liyue Harbor suggested she had likely taken action beforehand.
The Adepti weren't fools. Keqing's direct offense against the Adepti didn't incur hatred, yet Ningguang was the one threatened. It was very possible because she had already extended her influence. Granny Ping drank tea at Yujing Terrace every day—there was nothing she didn't know.
Judging by Ningguang's later attitude towards human governance, she wasn't the least bit polite. It was highly likely she had been planning this for a long time. Only the Geo Archon's passing was unexpected.
Su Bai made a special note next to the name "Tianquan Ningguang."
"Tianquan Star, in charge of power and law. Ningguang is arguably the most formidable in history. I must be extra cautious when encountering her in the future."
"Shopkeeper Su. I heard you have wheat here..."
"Four hundred and thirty Mora per jin. How much would you like, guest?" Su Bai set down his pen and paper. Even a fool could tell—this was the Commerce Guild targeting him.
According to Linlang's description, Liyue Harbor's commercial structure, from top to bottom, was as follows: leaders, various commerce guilds, various trade companies, specific shops, and finally, small stalls and vendors.
Strictly speaking, a place like Su Bai's General Store could only be called a "store" or "shop," but not a "trade company." However, if one opened three branches at once, they could then hang the "trade company" sign.
To maintain a friendly market environment, trade companies within the same industry would form commerce guilds to jointly set market prices. Of course, the Seven Stars controlled the number of commerce guilds to prevent them from becoming too few. Generally, there had to be at least three guilds per industry.
The young master Hui who came this morning was the leader of the grain commerce guild north of Tianheng Mountain.
Additionally, Linlang mentioned three other leaders of grain commerce guilds: Old Master Fan from Yunjue Slope in the Northern Harbor, Old Master Qi from Chihu Rock in the Southern Harbor, and A'Wei from south of Tianheng Mountain.
These four led the entire grain industry around Liyue Harbor. Usually, they were in direct competition. However, in the past two days, there were rumors they had met. What exactly they discussed was unknown, but Su Bai could guess most of it.
"Haha, Shopkeeper Su is quite straightforward. Four hundred and twenty Mora, one hundred and fifty thousand jin."
They're trying to force me out of the market, Su Bai thought with a cold laugh inwardly.
But since they want to test me, I'll play along. With the resources of an entire world and almost limitless grain, I hope they don't choke on it.
"Deal. Delivery in three days at the North Wharf warehouse." Su Bai agreed immediately and poured tea for the guest.
After all, a guest is still a guest.
Seeing Su Bai agree so casually, the man's expression turned somewhat grim, but he still chuckled and made small talk with Su Bai, not revealing anything.
It wasn't until the two finalized the contract and the man left, confirming Su Bai hadn't come out, that he dashed off to the meeting point.
However, unbeknownst to him, in a shady spot, a blue-purple figure materialized, watching his departing back and then glancing at the General Store nearby. A mist of water rippled, and the figure vanished into thin air.
As evening approached, Su Bai closed shop early.
He had sold a lot of goods today and had much to prepare for the evening. Moving things back and forth last night had been quite bothersome, so he planned to try a different approach.
After locking the doors and windows, he casually opened a portal. A ripple of space shimmered in front of him, and Su Bai stepped right through.
It was also nearly evening in the Minecraft world. But with time short and tasks pressing, he needed to get things done quickly. Exiting the highest hall of the castle, he headed towards the nearby warehouse. He gathered components: dispensers, repeaters, observers, redstone torches, levers, redstone dust, pistons, and more.
Today's task was to renovate the warehouse near the automatic farm, and he also had a new discovery to test.
If he had to move everything himself every time, it would be too troublesome. By making it fully automatic, all he'd need to do in the future was open the portal.
It was worth mentioning that, after studying it over the past couple of days, Su Bai had fully figured out the portal on his body. Although he didn't understand how it existed, its application was incredibly powerful.
In the Minecraft world, he could open a portal anywhere, provided he recorded the coordinates. The first time he opened it was in the highest hall of the castle. But due to the availability of fast travel, he hadn't changed it since.
The key lay in the connection between the two worlds. Once he set the coordinates in the Minecraft world, no matter where he opened the portal in Teyvat, it would always lead to the set coordinates.
Similarly, each time he opened the portal in Teyvat, a dedicated database would record the Teyvat version of the coordinates. When opening the portal in the Minecraft world, it would only lead to the recorded coordinates there.
Hmm. But most importantly, he could record multiple coordinates. He just needed to adjust them when opening the portal. Each side had three coordinate slots.
So now, without adjustment, opening the portal from here would return him to the shop, and from the shop, it would lead to the castle. After adjustment, opening the portal could take him directly to the Liyue wharf warehouse, and from the warehouse, he could come directly to the automatic farm.
It might seem useless, but Su Bai was extremely pleased with this. Because in the Minecraft world, there was a large-scale redstone device, unparalleled in offensive power!
The Vector Electromagnetic Cannon!
On the castle subway line, Villager Tech Station was the second stop; the first was the City Defense Station. That's where the Vector Electromagnetic Cannon was located.
On the way, Su Bai specifically got off the boat and ran to the muzzle of the Vector Electromagnetic Cannon to record its coordinates. He also recorded another set at the control switch.
"Now I can feel at ease."
In a world like Teyvat, where gods walked among humans, nothing was more reassuring than possessing formidable offensive power.
After adjusting the electromagnetic cannon's target point, Su Bai hurried to the Villager Tech Station. He renovated the warehouse into a fully automatic, high-frequency delivery system with water flow transport leading directly to the portal.
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Feeling generous today cause our group just won a competition and i was the leader
Publishing 5 chapters in a span of an hour