Novels online

Chapter 970: Funds Depleted

The bustling, dreamlike Puzhou City utterly captivated Bin Sheng and his team.

Every street teemed with shops and bustling snack stalls, and everything was both cheap and plentiful. Interspersed among them were strange delicacies bestowed by the Heavenly Lord, their flavors exquisitely delicious.

Bin Sheng and his companions simply couldn't resist. Unable to withstand the allure of these novelties, they pulled out the "spy operation funds" Huang Taiji had entrusted to them. They bought this to eat, that to play with, spending a little here, a little there.

Spending freely as they wandered, they soon found themselves in front of the Puzhou Grand Theater.

They asked around and learned that a peculiar novelty called a "movie" was shown here. Tonight, a new film was premiering, titled "The Heartless Scholar and the Sentimental Lady."

Bin Sheng checked their remaining funds. Operating on the principle of "reconnoitering" the Great Ming, anything they hadn't seen before naturally warranted investigation. So, he bought tickets for himself and the ten members of his support team, and they slipped into the cinema.

The movie's plot was simple. It told of a poor scholar who journeyed to the capital for the imperial examinations, collapsing from hunger by the roadside. He was found and rescued by a merchant's daughter. She saved him, fed him well, fell in love, and secretly pledged her life to him.

The impoverished scholar swore he would return to marry her once he achieved fame and success in the exams.

Unexpectedly, the scholar truly did achieve success. He then married the Prime Minister's daughter, completely forgetting the merchant's lady.

Meanwhile, the heartless scholar rose to become a marquis and a prime minister.

The plot was bitingly satirical, a classic example of critical realism cinema.

Despite being spies, Bin Sheng and his team couldn't help but curse the heartless scholar during the screening. Throughout the entire cinema, angry shouts echoed.

"That heartless scholar, I know the bastard!"

"He's Xiao Tianzuo from Mu Guiying, and Zu Dashou from Dalinghe!"

"Right, right, right! That guy also played Huang Taiji."

"All the wickedness in the world, he's done it all by himself."

The mention of "playing Huang Taiji" immediately grabbed Bin Sheng and his team's attention. Their hearts jolted. "What is this? These Han people are using our Jin Emperor to make movies for entertainment?"

"Unacceptable. This must be recorded."

"We need to watch a few more films to understand what this is all about."

Bin Sheng and his team decided not to leave Puzhou for the time being. They found the cinema's ticket seller and questioned them for a long time, eventually getting their hands on a movie schedule for the next few days.

After much effort, they finally figured it out. The movie featuring Huang Taiji was titled "The Xuan-Da Defense." It recounted the story of the Manchu invasion of Xuanfu and Datong a few years prior, and the Han people's defense.

Bin Sheng and his team were quite interested in this. They spent three days in Puzhou, indulging in food, drink, and entertainment, until "The Xuan-Da Defense" was finally re-broadcast.

They had expected it to be a film that demonized the Jin people, portraying them all as clowns. To their surprise, however, the movie did not deliberately disparage the Jin. Instead, it prominently depicted the powerful aspects of the Jin soldiers.

The Jin people in the film were highly skilled in martial arts, ferocious in battle, and extremely difficult to contend with.

When the Ming army from Xuan-Da and the village militias engaged the Jin soldiers, they were consistently at a disadvantage, suffering heavy losses.

The film almost constantly reminded the audience: "The Jin soldiers are incredibly strong. Everyone must be wary of them; do not dismiss them as mere barbarians."

Bin Sheng was secretly startled. He said to his support team, "These Han people here genuinely respect our Jin nation. Unlike some other Han people, they don't treat us as barbarians or dismiss us entirely."

The support team members all nodded. "Indeed!"

Near the film's climax, reinforcements from Gao Family Village arrived. In a battle beneath the walls of Daizhou, they repelled the Jin soldiers with flintlock rifles and cannons, saving the protagonist. The protagonist, with unwavering resolve, then joined the Gao Family Village Militia...

The End.

Bin Sheng pointed at the screen. "Ah! There!"

A member of the support team whispered, "I know this scene. The troops attacking Daizhou were badly beaten. We all thought it was the Ming army's Divine Machine Regiment who did it. Never expected it to be the Gao Family Village Militia."

"This intelligence is extremely important. Remember it well."

The spies hadn't anticipated that watching a mere movie would yield such crucial intelligence. It seemed their spy funds hadn't been wasted after all.

They continued to linger in Puzhou City, indulging in food, drink, and entertainment, watching movies daily to gather "intelligence." As a result, they accumulated a pile of rather baffling information, such as "Dao Xuan Tian Zun: Demon Slayer - The Movie," "Summer at the Chang'an Factory," and "A Gao Family Village Love Story"—all quite odd titles.

Lao Nanfeng's Flower World Star Agency now frequently produced its own motley assortment of films. They used clunky video editing software installed on tablet computers to haphazardly cut and paste; the special effects were laughably cheap, mere "five-cent filter" quality.

But even so, these movies were immensely popular with the common people.

Bin Sheng and his team found themselves increasingly engrossed, watching one after another.

They couldn't say how many days they'd spent lingering in Puzhou, when suddenly, a support team member announced, "Boss Bin, our funds have run out."

"What? The funds are gone so soon?" Bin Sheng was greatly alarmed. "We brought a large sack of silver with us!"

The support team member replied, "There's so much to enjoy here, so many delicious things, and the movie tickets cost a fortune. We just... lost track of it all."

Bin Sheng groaned, a headache blooming. "What are we going to do now? These funds were meant to bribe Han craftsmen, to create opportunities to steal the blueprints for those great iron vehicles. Now that it's all gone, how can we proceed with our mission?"

Returning now to request more funds was certainly out of the question.

Bin Sheng pondered, considering every angle. "We'll simply have to earn the funds back ourselves. Listen to me, everyone. We've been here for several days now, and we've learned a bit about the local customs and ways. Here, as long as you work hard, you can earn a good income. We need to earn back our funds, and we also need to infiltrate the Chang'an Automobile Factory to uncover the methods for producing these great iron vehicles. So, why don't we all apply for jobs as workers at the Chang'an Automobile Factory, just like the worker in the movie 'Summer at the Chang'an Factory'? We can earn our expenses there while secretly learning the technology for those great iron vehicles. Wouldn't that be a brilliant plan?"

The support team members agreed that the plan was sound.

So, they pooled their last remaining coins, bought eleven train tickets, and boarded the train from Puzhou to Xi'an.

Upon arriving at the Chang'an Automobile Factory gates, they immediately noticed a hiring sign.

The Chang'an Automobile Factory was currently grappling with severe production shortages. Both its ordinary trucks and its combat armored cars suffered from insufficient output. As a result, they were constantly and frantically recruiting workers.

Bin Sheng and his subordinates discussed their strategy. Each would infiltrate a different workshop department, starting with the most basic odd jobs. They would earn money while diligently trying to steal technological secrets.