Become a feudal king from today

"This time, I asked you to come here for the purpose of going south. After you have ordered the royal army to prepare, it's time to unify Dasong." Looking at the Dasong Mountains and Rivers map hanging on the wall, Zhao Xu said slowly .

He has taken advantage of both the timing and the morality of this trip south.

The first is timing. The core of the Eastern-Turkish Alliance is Japan.

Just like the Battle of Goryeo, in the entire Dongtu Alliance, only Japan was able to send troops to support Wu.

This is why he waited until he annihilated the British fleet and crippled Japan before deciding to go south.

First, without the British fleet, Japan was trapped by him again and could no longer transport soldiers to Wu or provide any other support.

Secondly, the Yanzhou fleet seized maritime hegemony, which was equivalent to cutting off the trade routes between Wu and Britain and cutting off their blood vessels.

Although Britain was aware of this problem, it colluded with Frank and prepared to export firearms from land to Wu.

But after all, the road conditions in this era were extremely poor and transportation was extremely inconvenient.

In the past, they could provide ten points of support, but now they can provide three points, which is pretty good.

As for morality, he once made an agreement between his private soldiers and the State of Wu to divide the river and govern without violating each other.

Although this was just his delaying strategy, it was Wu who broke this tacit understanding first.

Therefore, he also occupies the commanding heights of morality.

What's more, he represents the imperial court and is royal orthodoxy.

"The general is thinking that it's time to take action against Jiangnan." Chang Wei heard this and smiled while stroking his hands.

After a pause, he said: "Your Highness, to put it crudely, this Jiangnan is like Da Song's exposed balls. Anyone can pinch them. If you don't retract your crotch, you will continue to suffer."

Zhao Xu nodded. Chang Wei's words were rude or not, and that was what he thought.

Unlike the previous traditional civil strife in feudal dynasties, there was no interference from outside forces.

He just happened to catch up with this era of rampant foreign powers.

So he knew that he couldn't take Jiangnan now, and if he tried to take it in the future, it would only become more and more troublesome.

Because this is also a critical period from the first industrial revolution to the second industrial revolution.

As technology advances, the cost of war will also increase.

"Then what are you waiting for? Go back and mobilize your troops and bring Jiangnan back to me!" Zhao Xu said loudly.

"Yes, Your Highness." Chang Wei gave Zhao Xu a military salute and strode away.

After Chang Wei's figure disappeared, Zhao Xu ordered someone to send an order to Zhou Yi.

Before the royal army went south, he planned to slap Liang in the face and capture the northern part of Yizhou.

As for the south, he would depend on the attitude of the Francois.

If Franji joins the British camp against him, he will naturally attack the city of Marka.

Instead of joining the British camp, he would give them a buffer time after they decided the winner in the Eastern Territory, allowing them to withdraw from the Eastern Territory colony decently, but would allow them to continue normal trade in the Eastern Territory.

Of course, Zhao Xu's attitude towards Fo Langji is actually full of pessimism.

During the Opium War, no Western country supported the Qing Dynasty.

Even in contemporary times, Western countries tend to be consistent when it comes to containing Eastern powers.

After all, during the Western-Turk monarchy period, royal families from various countries often intermarried and were somewhat related by blood.

If they have internal conflicts within themselves, they will bite dogs, but when faced with a completely different civilization, they often pair up like jackals.

Furthermore, Fo Langji's territory is in the Western Territory and is too far away from the Eastern Territory. I am afraid that it will eventually be unable to withstand the pressure from other countries in the Western Territory.

But that doesn't matter anymore.

In the process of leading Dasong to rise, he will inevitably compete with the Western countries for colonies.

This is the essential contradiction and cannot be reconciled.

He was unwilling to meet Fo Lang Jibing for the time being. He just wanted to place a chess piece in his strategy to see if it would work.

Just as he was thinking about it, Feng'er reported back to Qu Sheng and asked to see him.

Hearing this, Zhao Xu was startled. He hadn't seen Qu Sheng for a long time since he was busy developing mercury chloride.

At this moment, Qu Sheng asked to see him. He vaguely guessed something. He couldn't help but feel happy and immediately let Qu Sheng in.

Not long after, Qu Sheng came in wearing a green shirt.

Although he was much thinner than before, Qu Sheng looked excited and there seemed to be a light in his eyes.

Seeing Zhao Xu, he said: "I have lived up to His Highness's expectations. I have developed mercury fulminate. Now we can switch from the laboratory to the workshop for production."

"Thank you for your hard work. You have done a great job this time." Zhao Xu stood up and patted Qu Sheng on the shoulder.

This mercury fulminate is the earliest detonating explosive and was born in 1814.

At this point, Yanzhou lags behind the Western Territory. Fei Wen mentioned to him that the British army is currently equipped with a small number of percussion rifles instead of flint percussion guns.

Because the flint firing rate is based on the misfire rate, and the flash cap firing rate is more stable.

The main component of this flash cap is mercury fulminate.

With mercury fulminate, Yanzhou can not only manufacture flash caps, but can even go one step further and achieve a leap in muskets, such as manufacturing breech-loading percussion rifles.

In contemporary history, relying on the flash cap, the first breech-loading needle-fired rifle was born in 1836.

Therefore, there is absolutely no problem in producing this kind of rifle at Yanzhou's industrial level.

Among the drawings he gave Wang Ying, there was a design for a breech-loading needle-fired rifle.

But since there is no fire cap, even if Wang Ying builds it, there is no point.

But now that the conditions are ripe, the Military Division can start the development of breech-loading needle-fired rifles.

Besides, there was another reason why he was so happy.

That is when fighting against the powerful and Japanese, the secret of the conical bullet cannot be hidden.

Whether it was the British or the Sam people, they must have obtained conical bullets.

At present, when the industrial level is comparable, in fact, the gap between the weapons of the two sides is sometimes just a random whim.

Because of this, in the contemporary nineteenth century, during World War I and even World War II, once a certain weapon appeared on the other side, the other side would immediately imitate it.

Therefore, he can be sure that once they verify the benefits of tapered bullets, it will not take long for the Western and Turkish countries to initiate a revolution in firearms.

The army is equipped with a large number of rifled guns similar to those of the royal army.

By then their advantage in musketry was diminished.

In order to deal with this problem, the development of percussion guns is imperative.

"I just feel embarrassed that it took me so long to master the synthesis of mercury fulminate." Qu Sheng sighed.

He has always been competing with Wang Chong, but now he feels that he is increasingly inferior to him.

Zhao Xu saw Qu Sheng's thoughts and said: "Don't think so. You and Wang Chong are equally important. It's just that the things Wang Chong does are more eye-catching, so he seems to be famous, while the things you do are often hidden behind the scenes and appear to be... It’s just inconspicuous, but in fact, all walks of life cannot do without you.”

Hearing this, Qu Sheng nodded slowly, feeling warm in his heart.

Only King Yan understood them so well.

Zhao Xu patted Qu Sheng's shoulder again, "This time I will reward your chemistry laboratory with 10,000 taels of silver. Please keep up the good work."

Mercury, including many other chemical agents, are toxic.

It is not easy to give birth to them, and with the advancement of industry in the future, more and more places will require various chemical reagents.

We should take them seriously and give them the same treatment as physics laboratories.

After chatting with Qu Sheng for a while, Qu Sheng left.

Zhao Xu sent people to the Military Department to tell Wang Ying the news, and at the same time ordered Wang Ying to start the development of breech-loading guns.