Chapter 892

Qingzhou Province.

News from Goryeo continuously flowed into the imperial palace. As the situation stabilized, Xiao Ming grew calmer day by day.

“Ye Qingyun truly has some courage. Such drastic reforms are something ordinary officials wouldn’t dare attempt, but he does.”

In the imperial study, Pang Yukun laughed loudly. Clearly, he was very satisfied with Ye Qingyun’s actions in Goryeo.

“That is why, in extraordinary times, having military personnel handle urgent situations has some benefits. They have guns in hand and are not afraid of trouble. Now, the State of Goryeo has, in the blink of an eye, become Goryeo Prefecture. From then on, Guandong has one less threat and one more prefecture that can provide support at any time,” Xiao Ming said.

Pang Yukun nodded slightly. “However, for Goryeo to be fully integrated into the Great Yu Empire, we still need to prioritize public education. I believe that the current Goryeo people cannot completely abandon their current identity. A complete change can only occur in the next generation.”

“You’re right. Assimilation is not an overnight process; it will take at least several decades. But there’s no need to worry about that. The common people of Goryeo are not foolish either. As long as they have food and drink, the common people of Goryeo will not be foolish enough to rebel. Therefore, we cannot simply adopt cruel exploitation policies towards Goryeo; at the same time, we must also leave them room to live and not let them starve.”

Now, a fact was clear: the American War of Independence was precisely caused by Britain’s exploitative policies towards the colonial people, which differed from those in mainland Britain.

So, in Xiao Ming’s view, managing colonies was like feeding dairy cows. To get more milk, the cow had to be well-fed and watered, only then could there be greater output.

Otherwise, wanting the horse to run without feeding it grass would sooner or later lead to trouble.

Moreover, he intended to assimilate Goryeo, not just plunder and leave. This made it even more crucial to manage the situation carefully.

“Your Majesty is absolutely right. The Grand Secretariat, after discussion, also shares this view,” Pang Yukun said.

“Excellent,” Xiao Ming smiled.

After a pause, he glossed over the matter of Goryeo and said, “You, the Grand Secretariat, must prioritize the thermal power plant project. Both manpower and funds must be given priority. Also, research laboratories related to electricity products must be strongly supported, striving to produce some products when electricity achieves small-scale operation in Qingzhou, such as incandescent light bulbs.”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Pang Yukun responded.

Having finished this matter, Xiao Ming dismissed Pang Yukun. He then sat down and began compiling more advanced technical documents. The technological content of these documents would cover the period from the late 18th century to the late 19th century.

The key products among them would be machinery related to electricity, especially the lathe section. Because once electricity was available, the stability of lathes would greatly increase, which would greatly benefit the overall improvement of industry.

And while he was busy bringing one technology after another to fruition, the first batch of hand grenades arrived at the stalemated Lin’an battlefield. After over a month of full-scale production, nine thousand hand grenades were manufactured.

“Hand grenades? How do you use this thing?”

For this past month, Lu Fei had been vexed by the front-line battles. The moment the hand grenades arrived, he ran faster than a rabbit, eager to see the new weapon immediately.

Niu Ben swatted away Lu Fei’s hand that was holding the hand grenade. “This is no joke. Luo Quan and I don’t want to be blown up by you.”

Lu Fei’s heart was itching with impatience. He asked eagerly, “Old General, how exactly do I use this?”

Niu Ben himself was in high spirits. A month ago, they arrived outside Lin’an City and found the entire Lin’an surrounded by a network of trenches.

The soldiers in the trenches showed only half their heads. Once their soldiers launched a charge, they would fire at close range, inflicting considerable casualties on them.

So, the moment these hand grenades, rumored to be a weapon for trench warfare, arrived, he immediately felt invigorated.

“I will demonstrate it for you. After you understand, you can teach it to your subordinate soldiers.” Before Lu Fei arrived, he had already learned from the military machinery department’s technicians. Now, he was eager to show off.

Just then, Luo Xin also rushed over. Like Lu Fei, he was now exhausted from trench warfare.

During the northern expedition, they could still counter-charge with plate armor, but now that was impossible. The enemy’s firearms could easily penetrate plate armor, which meant they could only wear each other down in the trenches.

Niu Ben picked up a hand grenade in front of everyone, skillfully unscrewed the safety cap, pulled the string, and threw it.

“Boom!” With an explosion, dust flew up forty meters away.

Lu Fei and Luo Xin’s eyes widened. In their opinion, this hand grenade was very simple to operate and very powerful. If thrown into a trench, it could kill a large number of enemies.

“Amazing, truly amazing!” Lu Fei and Luo Xin clapped.

Niu Ben turned around. He looked at Lu Fei and Luo Xin and said, “Remember, this thing has only a five-second delay. If you don’t throw it after five seconds, you’ll blow yourselves up.”

“Yes, General,” Lu Fei and Luo Xin said in unison.

Niu Ben nodded. Only then did he let the two try using the hand grenade. After they mastered it, he allocated 4,000 hand grenades to Lu Fei and Luo Xin, respectively, for them to use in attacking the enemy’s trenches.

“Use them sparingly,” Niu Ben said, heartbroken, as the two left. He now had only a thousand left. He estimated that other army commanders would soon come to complain to him.

Returning to their respective positions, Lu Fei and Luo Xin immediately organized their soldiers for training. Throwing hand grenades was also a skill. One needed to throw far, and one needed to throw accurately.

Therefore, it was necessary to select some soldiers with strong arms and good eyesight.

They had now received intelligence that the Sima family and the powerful families who had attached themselves to them had officially submitted to the merchants’ council. Now, they no longer needed any qualms.

Because the imperial court had branded the merchants’ council as rebels colluding with the West, their actions to recover the State of Chu would be righteous.

After several days of training, a four hundred-man grenadier unit was formed. Each soldier in this unit was issued ten hand grenades. They would be responsible for bombarding the enemy’s trenches.

“Damn it! Today, we’ll let these rebels know the might of Grandfather Lu Fei!” Lu Fei cursed, observing the enemy’s trenches through his telescope.

Although the enemy’s casualties in the confrontation were much higher than theirs, the existence of the trenches seemed to give them a glimmer of hope.

Not far away, over a hundred thousand powerful family troops still held their ground in the crisscrossing trenches. Lu Fei was already tired of such a stalemate.

“Grenadiers, prepare!” Lu Fei shouted.

The distance between the two sides’ trenches was originally only fifty meters, but to make it easier to throw grenades, they had taken the opportunity last night to dig a dozen more forward trenches, shortening the distance to about thirty meters.

Now, the grenadiers had all entered these forward trenches.

“Throw!”

Following Lu Fei’s command, four hundred grenadiers picked up hand grenades and threw them into the enemy’s trenches. Immediately, successive explosions rang out, and the opposing trenches were covered in flames and smoke.

The novel has already been fully translated up to the final chapter. You can access it on my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/caleredhair