Chapter 704

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The sky gradually darkened. The lanterns in the temporary palace were lit one by one by the eunuchs, casting a dim yellow light.

Wang Xuan and Li San were excited by Xiao Ming’s analysis. Wang Xuan’s face was flushed, “Your Majesty is absolutely right. Most of Japan’s grain and fodder reach Goryeo by sea from mainland Japan. As long as we cut off Japan’s maritime grain supply, the Japanese army in Goryeo will be trapped and starved. If Your Majesty wants to establish a trade port in Goryeo, you can negotiate this with Goryeo and Japan, thus profiting from both sides.”

Xiao Ming smiled. For him, he only needed Goryeo’s market; he had no interest in occupying Goryeo.

Because once entangled in a land war, the consumption of war would be enormous. The industrialization of the Qinzhou Province had just begun, and he did not have sufficient resources and money to occupy a country.

In fact, in the colonial wars of the Age of Sail, no Western power completely occupied a colony.

They merely established a few ports in colonial countries, signed unequal treaties, used these ports as export hubs for goods, and then used military threats to force colonial nations to adopt policies that served their interests.

During their occupation, they generally did not interfere too much in the internal affairs of the colonized nations, only fostering local elites who represented their interests to rule the colony.

Of course, there were exceptions, such as India, which completely became a British colony. But even so, Britain did not participate in too many specific national affairs, only sucking the economic resources of the region back to Britain like a vampire, while being too lazy to bother with national management.

Therefore, the fundamental purpose of colonization was to extract economic benefits from the colonized countries, not to occupy land. Once the cause and effect were inverted, perhaps getting bogged down in a country’s war would be enough to cripple a nation.

The longer Xiao Ming stayed in the position of Emperor, the more he could appreciate the limits of a nation’s power. Projecting power globally was already a very difficult task, and complete occupation was even harder. So he decided to first adopt a British style of colonization to carry out primitive capital accumulation, as nothing could be achieved without money.

After a moment of contemplation, he said to Wang Xuan, “It’s still early. Without a fight, neither Goryeo nor Japan will negotiate with the Great Yu Empire. You should have the secret guards in Goryeo keep an eye on Goryeo’s movements and send back intelligence at any time.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.” Wang Xuan nodded.

After relaying the secret guard’s news, Xiao Ming continued to ask, “How is your investigation into the Dreadnought being shelled progressing?”

“Reporting to Your Majesty, my informant in Nagasaki sent back intelligence. The day after the Dreadnought was shelled, a British warship, reportedly named the Duke, arrived in Nagasaki, Japan.”

“It really went to Japan.” Xiao Ming looked at Japan on the map. History always had astonishing similarities, and Xiao Ming deeply felt this now.

In this timeline, Japan, with the help of the Dutch, had already established a powerful firearms army. Now, the British were once again extending an olive branch to Japan, with only one goal: to use Japan to balance the power in East Asia.

“Did you find out about their specific cooperation?” Xiao Ming asked.

“No, the British went ashore directly to meet Yamada Nobunaga. We couldn’t get access,” Wang Xuan said with some regret. The informants in Japan were often sea merchants, and it was impossible for them to penetrate the higher echelons.

“Your secret guards must increase their investment in Japan, and even establish a professional spy network. You can even bribe some Japanese people to act as spies,” Xiao Ming reminded him.

In contemporary times, Japan was very adept at espionage. During every war, Japan would always send out large numbers of spies to gather intelligence.

It was said that during the Anti-Japanese War, the Japanese maps were even more detailed than the Nationalist army’s maps.

Coming from modern times, Xiao Ming naturally could not hand over this advantage to Japan, so he wanted to preemptively start a spy war to collect comprehensive intelligence on Japan.

Wang Xuan looked a bit awkward. He said, “Your Majesty, I would like to, but the silver…”

Xiao Ming immediately felt a bit awkward upon hearing this. Although he had many ideas, they couldn’t be achieved without sufficient money.

Thinking of this, his ambition to develop industry and colonize the world became even firmer.

He coughed and said to Wang Xuan, “I will try my best to allocate some silver to you.”

Wang Xuan then showed a delighted expression.

Having reassured Wang Xuan, Xiao Ming looked at Li San. He said, “Li San, the reform is about to be implemented. You keep a close eye on the several wealthy merchants in Qingzhou Province for me. If they try any tricks, you report to me immediately.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.” Li San nodded.

After reporting the intelligence, the two congratulated Xiao Ming before leaving. The news of the Empress giving birth to an imperial prince had already spread throughout Qingzhou Province.

At this moment, officials and merchants of all sizes from Qingzhou Province constantly sent people to offer congratulations, and gifts were continuously sent to the temporary palace.

After a day of busyness, Xiao Ming was also a bit tired. It was late, and he returned to the bedchamber. Fei Yuer was somewhat weak now, so he wanted to spend more time with her.

After a night’s rest, Xiao Ming rose early the next day. The reforms were to be overseen by Fei Ji and Pang Yukun, while his task was to promote the establishment of the industrial system and the development of technology.

For him, both military and civilian technology in Qingzhou Province were currently developing abnormally. This was because everything for the past five years had been serving the military, causing industrial capacity to gradually fall behind technological development.

For example, smokeless gunpowder: although Lu Tong had mastered the production method, its production was still limited to laboratory methods; true industrialized production had not yet been achieved.

Besides smokeless gunpowder, many chemical substances in laboratories currently could not be mass-produced. This reform by Xiao Ming was precisely to establish corresponding workshops one by one to achieve industrialized production under steam power.

This included not only the production of chemical materials but also the industrialized production of firearms and machinery. For him, the Great Yu Empire’s industrialization was already lagging, and now was the critical period to catch up.

After all, the West had also developed steam engines, and with the industrial foundation of Western countries, once steam engines were put into operation, the rate of their deployment would be very fast.

After a simple breakfast, Xiao Ming changed into casual clothes and went to the glass workshop. While implementing reforms, he had compiled a list of currently achievable technologies in the Great Yu Empire.

This list included technologies that Western countries possessed but the Great Yu Empire did not. Currently, Lin Wentao and others were extremely busy, so some matters had to be handled personally by him, the Emperor, and he was quite proficient in them.

The first place he went today was the glass workshop. A few days ago, he had instructed the glass workshop to produce a certain tool, and it should have been manufactured by now.

Although this item had nothing to do with war, it was very beneficial for the development of technology.