Chapter 1033

“Your Majesty, the Dutch have declared war on us. The Dutch garrison in Zeelandia attempted to seize our machine guns and Han-style rifles, but we thwarted them.”

At noon, Xiao Ming was awakened from his nap by Qian Dafu’s voice, and then a telegram was delivered to him.

Taking the telegram from Qian Dafu, Xiao Ming read it carefully, frowning. “The fox has finally shown its tail. Immediately send a telegram to Yue Yun, telling him to immediately lead the fleet to annihilate all Dutch warships in Southeast Asia, and at the same time, have Lei Ming attack Jakarta and Manila to completely control the Philippines and Indonesia.”

“Yes, Your Majesty!” Qian Dafu took the order and turned to leave.

Putting on his clothes in a hurry, Xiao Ming went to the Imperial Study and called Cui Shang’an over. Now that the Dutch had turned from a friend into an enemy, he needed the General Staff to formulate a detailed plan to deal with this matter.

At the same time, he also notified the Cabinet, ordering them to immediately stop all commerce with the Dutch and expel the Dutch embassy personnel.

After doing all this, Xiao Ming went to the world map hanging in the Imperial Study. His gaze fell on the Philippines and Indonesia.

This defection of the Dutch did have some impact on the Empire’s trade, but relatively speaking, the Dutch suffered greater losses, because what they lost were Manila, the capital of the Philippines, and Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia.

From now on, these two massive archipelagos would formally belong to the Empire.

According to the information in the technology crystals, the Philippines had a copper reserve of 4.8 billion tons, a nickel content of 1 billion tons, and a gold reserve of 130 million tons. These three resources were quite abundant.

In addition, the Philippines was rich in Borneo camphor resources. This spice was very popular in the West and was once monopolized by the Dutch and Spanish.

In ancient times, whether in the East or the West, Borneo camphor had always been regarded as a precious item. During the Tang and Song dynasties, envoys from Persia and the Arab Caliphate, which produced Borneo camphor, even specifically presented Borneo camphor as a tribute to the Chinese emperors.

Compared to the Philippines, Indonesia was even richer in resources, with nearly 60 billion tons of coal and nickel reserves, and about 1.5 million carats of diamond resources. In addition, there were also many rare metal resources.

By controlling these two places, the Empire would have more resources to use for its development.

Therefore, he did not feel particularly angry about the Dutchmen’s decision. Furthermore, coming from the modern era, he was used to the changes in the relationships between countries in the international community and the dramatic shifts in Western countries’ leadership.

It was precisely for this reason that he had always harbored a sense of distrust towards the Dutch, because this was a country without the potential to be a great power.

His gaze moved away from the Philippines and Manila, and Xiao Ming looked at France’s Indochina colony and Britain’s Burma colony.

This sudden reversal by the Dutch was enough to show the Europeans’ attitude towards the rise of the Chinese Empire. Since friction was unavoidable, then a full-scale war was also unavoidable. After a hundred years of decline, it was time for him to reshape the Empire’s sphere of influence during its glorious period.

Just as he was thinking, a person arrived outside the Imperial Study. It was Lu Tong.

“Your Majesty!” Lu Tong’s face was smiling, as if there was some good news.

Xiao Ming turned to look at Lu Tong. He liked it the most when people like Lu Tong came to see him, because it often meant a technological breakthrough.

Sure enough, Lu Tong entered the Imperial Study and said mysteriously, “Your Majesty, I have brought a treasure for you today.”

“Oh? Show it to me. If it’s a real treasure, I will also give you a treasure,” Xiao Ming said with a smile.

Lu Tong was so happy he couldn’t close his mouth. He then took a cylindrical object from his clothes pocket and placed it on the table.

The moment he saw this thing, Xiao Ming gave him a thumbs up. He said, “It’s indeed a treasure. I was right to pick you up from the grassland all those years ago.”

Lu Tong said with a smile, “Your Majesty truly has an eye for talent. Would Your Majesty like to try this battery?”

The thing that Lu Tong brought was a battery. After electricity was popularized in Qingzhou, he had Lu Tong work on reproducing battery technology in his spare time.

After intermittent research, he finally put the principle of the laboratory battery into this zinc cylinder.

“Hey, you’re getting more and more talkative. Come, give me the light bulb,” Xiao Ming said, reaching out to take the light bulb with two wires from Lu Tong’s hand. He connected the positive and negative terminals, and the light bulb immediately lit up.

In the faint light, Xiao Ming showed a look of relief. With the battery, many problems with using electrical equipment in the field would be solved.

While Xiao Ming was using the battery, Lu Tong explained, “Your Majesty, this is a zinc-manganese dry cell battery. At present, this battery technology is relatively easy to implement.”

Xiao Ming nodded. The so-called dry cell battery was a battery in which the electrolyte was made into a paste using sawdust or starch gelatin as a binder. This kind of battery’s electrolyte would not flow, so it was called a dry cell battery.

The batteries for flashlights and radios belonged to the dry cell category. The structure of this zinc-manganese dry cell battery was actually not complex, it was just a combination of a carbon rod, a zinc shell, manganese dioxide, and a binder. In 1860 in the modern era, this kind of dry cell battery was invented.

“Hmm, this is great. With this dry cell battery, mobile wireless communication will no longer be a problem,” Xiao Ming said with a smile.

In addition, simple mobile lighting devices like flashlights should also be manufactured and put into use for the military and the common people.

Lu Tong said when he heard this, “Your Majesty, it’s a coincidence. I passed by the physics academy’s laboratory when I came, and I heard the news that electron tubes have been successfully manufactured. It seems wireless communication should not be a problem now.”

Xiao Ming was not surprised by this. With the industrial level reached, it was not difficult for these simple items with existing technology to be manufactured.

In addition to the three technologies of telegraphy, wireless communication, and batteries, he had also included telephones in the preparation plan.

This plan was also in the plan he gave to the Cabinet. After all, telegraphy was too rigid. If wired telephones could be popularized, the transmission of information would be even more convenient.

And with the expansion of the Empire’s territory, he was also in urgent need of implementing effective supervision over every region.

“Good, good. The Empire’s technological development is truly thriving now. There is no need for me to intervene. You are all coming up with the results on your own .” Xiao Ming said with a smile.

Lu Tong said, “Your Majesty, the students in the academy have been studying for over ten years. If everything requires Your Majesty’s personal guidance, what’s the difference between us and useless people? For some simple technologies, Your Majesty can just leave them to us.”

“This is naturally what I am happy to see,” Xiao Ming said, very relieved. It was difficult at the beginning, but after the difficulty came a smooth progression.

In a little over a decade, tens of thousands of talented people had been trained by the various academies. These people then trained a new batch of technical personnel. In such a cycle, the Empire now had an ample supply of technical talent.