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Chapter 335: You Can Take Up Technical Professions

Li Daoxuan thought carefully: "Alright, I'll forgo the transformation, but you really need to nail the power and steering systems for me."

Cai Xinzhi let out a sigh of relief when he said he wouldn't need the transformation. This guy's mushrooms weren't too potent this time; he wasn't beyond saving.

Li Daoxuan pondered again. Before, with the Solar Car and the small trains, he hadn't considered installing weapons because their utility was so limited and the toys themselves were tiny. But a ship was different.

They could make ships truly massive!

Naturally, mounting large weapons on such massive vessels became a given.

"Cai, my friend," Li Daoxuan said, "I also want to install some weapons on the ship model."

"Of course we'll install them!" Cai Xinzhi exclaimed. "I'll outfit the ship with various hundreds-of-millimeter naval cannons, torpedoes, missile launchers—whatever you want, you'll get."

Li Daoxuan replied, "I'm not talking about weapons for show; I mean weapons that can actually fire."

Cai Xinzhi burst out laughing. "Pfft! I just thought your mushrooms weren't too strong, but clearly, I was mistaken. Get to bed right away; I'm calling an ambulance. You have to hold on!"

"I'm talking about toy weapons," Li Daoxuan clarified. "For example, installing a toy cannon on the bow that can shoot small plastic pellets—that should be doable, right?"

Cai Xinzhi mused, "Oh, that's easy enough. I can buy a small cannon that fires plastic pellets from an online marketplace, attach it to the ship—it won't take long. It's just... with all this, won't your ship seem a little... freakish?"

Li Daoxuan grinned. "I like freakish toys."

Cai Xinzhi sighed. "Alright, you said it yourself. In that case, I could also attach a lighter to the bow and make it a flamethrower ship—just flip a switch, and it'll spit fire."

Li Daoxuan responded enthusiastically, "That's not bad either! Add it, add it!"

Cai Xinzhi let out a long sigh. "I'm supposed to make high-end toys, so why do all my projects for you end up looking like they're for toddlers?"

The call ended, and Cai Xinzhi went off to build the river-sea vessel.

However, Li Daoxuan was thinking that relying solely on his toy weapons wouldn't be enough. He needed the little people to build their own weapons for the ships. And in the late Ming Dynasty, the weapons used on ships were, of course, Western cannons.

Li Daoxuan switched his view back to Gao Family Village's main fortress, looking for Gao Yiye to relay his message.

However, with a glance, he saw that Gao Yiye wasn't in the watchtower.

Where had the young woman gone?

Li Daoxuan began searching everywhere.

He didn't realize until he looked, but searching proved quite interesting. The box now had a field of view 1000 by 600 meters, and this area encompassed the bustling and prosperous Gao Family Village. With such a large population, the 'little people' were incredibly energetic, men and women scurrying about the entire box. It was genuinely difficult to pinpoint one specific individual.

Clearly, finding a single villager required some technique.

He had to think carefully!

If Gao Yiye wasn't in the watchtower, where would she usually be?

The Heavenly Lord Fabric Manor in the Gao Family commercial district?

Li Daoxuan immediately considered that possibility, locked his "focus" feature onto the fabric store, and lo and behold, he found her.

Gao Yiye was chatting with a group of women in the fabric store.

Most of these women were ordinary village wives, the kind who spent their entire lives confined to their homes, with limited worldly experience and outlook.

As Li Daoxuan's focus shifted to them, he overheard a village woman laughing: "Saintess, and Lady Chun Hong.

Thanks to this fabric store you've set up, I've earned a good bit of money custom-making clothes for people. My stubborn husband earns less than me now! He used to scoff and say I depended entirely on him, looking down on me, but now he wouldn't dare say that during an argument, haha."

Another woman laughed, "Mine's the same! Heh, at first he told me not to run around causing trouble, saying a woman's place was to serve her husband at home. Then the other day, I showed him a handful of silver pieces, told him I'd earned them making clothes, and his expression... Hahahaha..."

The other wives all burst into laughter. "Mine too!"

"Me too."

"Hahahaha!"

"Since I started earning money, his attitude towards me has noticeably changed."

They laughed triumphantly, but the three former courtesans didn't join in. Though more capable than these village wives, they lacked the courage to hold their heads high like ordinary women, carrying a deep sense of inferiority. At this "Women's Rights Awakening Assembly," they were unexpectedly timid.

Gao Yiye chuckled. "It's good that everyone feels this way. A few days ago, when I was chatting with the Heavenly Lord, the Venerable One told me that women can also hold up half the sky. We women shouldn't all shrink away indoors; we should boldly step out of our homes and exert our own strength. What was that called again...? Hmm? What was it? I forgot."

Li Daoxuan smiled, "It's called 'liberating women's productive forces.'"

"Ah, yes, yes, 'liberating women's productive forces,' " Gao Yiye repeated. Only after finishing her sentence did she realize the Heavenly Lord was listening, her cheeks flushing slightly. "Oh? Heavenly Lord, when did you start listening?"

Li Daoxuan smiled faintly. "Just the last few sentences."

Gao Yiye felt a little awkward. "A group of us women hiding here, chatting and speaking ill of men... it doesn't feel right."

Li Daoxuan responded, "It's fine. I don't feel you're speaking ill of men at all; what you're saying is perfectly normal. The economic base determines the superstructure. The status between men and women is actually determined by whether one 'can earn money.' If you earn more than your own men, enough to support the family, there's no problem even if you metaphorically 'ride on their heads and make them do your bidding,' just as they 'dominate and boss you around' when they're the sole providers."

The women had never heard the phrase "the economic base determines the superstructure" before; it struck them as novel. But thinking it over carefully, wasn't that precisely how the world worked?

Li Daoxuan continued, "Due to years of continuous warfare, roving bandits rebelling, and militia skirmishes, the number of men in various villages and towns has steadily dwindled, while the proportion of women has increased. In such circumstances, societal productivity is actually insufficient. Now is the time for you women to bravely step forward and undertake technical work that doesn't require as much physical strength. This will not only elevate your social status but also boost the productivity of our Gao Family Village."

The women were greatly surprised. "Oh? Besides weaving and making clothes, what other technical work can we do?"

Li Daoxuan patiently encouraged them, saying, "For example, papermaking, lamp-making, preparing Paper Cartridges for firearms, carving, printing books... there are actually many tasks you can do, and you're no worse at them than men. You need to have confidence in yourselves, be brave, step out of your homes, and sign up as apprentices at the Craftsman Well. Who knows, one day, each of you might earn just as much, if not more, than the men."