Chapter 963

The atmosphere was somewhat somber. A night wind blew, bringing a bone-chilling coldness

Niu Ben looked at the lights outside the palace gate and said loudly, “You all should go back early. I, Niu, believe His Majesty has a sharp eye and sees the true nature of this chaotic world.”

Everyone came to their senses, stopped discussing the current topic, and left after bidding farewell.

Niu Ben and Luo Quan walked at the very end. After everyone left, Luo Quan said, “These civil officials just love to fight among themselves. No wonder His Majesty attached so much importance to this naval battle today. It was to make these people settle down and focus more on building the Great Yu Empire.”

“This is unavoidable. Pang Yukun and Zhan Xingchang and the others are those who fought alongside His Majesty to conquer the empire. They naturally believe they deserve to hold most of the power. Fei Ji and the others came later and did not endure the most difficult period with His Majesty, so they believe this group of former officials should not have so much. And those former officials, in turn, are wary of Pang Yukun and his group. So, since His Majesty’s ascension, though His Majesty has been keeping them in check, they have cooperated closely, but they have never truly become one.” As an outsider, Niu Ben saw things very clearly.

Luo Quan nodded gently. “Yes, that’s right. But these civil officials have always loved to fight, whether under a wise or an unwise ruler. It’s not a big deal. We just shouldn’t pay them any mind.”

“You are absolutely right.” Niu Ben laughed heartily and walked towards his residence.

In fact, despite their arguments, each of them had a scale in their hearts. The Great Yu Empire was now flourishing and on an upward trajectory. With Xiao Ming at the helm, no one could cause any trouble.

As for the arguments in court due to differing political views, that was also normal. The struggle for some power was also normal. After all, officials were flesh and blood; they all had their own emotions and desires.

As everyone left, Xiao Ming returned to his bedchamber. Fei Yuer was already asleep. Xiao Yi, now seven years old, had already moved to his own separate residence and was looked after by a nanny in the palace.

Without disturbing Fei Yuer, Xiao Ming went to the main hall outside the bedchamber and sat down, having a palace maid light a candle.

He then picked up his pen and skillfully recorded the knowledge from the technology crystal. Dick’s description of Britain had indeed surprised him.

Today, when he spoke with everyone, he deliberately omitted one key point: Dick had said that a British secret society participated in Britain’s current technological research and development.

Moreover, this society also brought in some elite talents who were members of the society and came from all over Europe.

It was precisely because of this society’s help that Britain was able to verify various technologies so quickly.

He had heard about this secret society twice already: once from news from Dengzhou, and once from his campaign in the south.

Combining this with the various mysterious legends about this society from modern times, he had reason to worry about the secret society in this world. After all, the Cao family had joined it, and it was hard for him to be certain if there were other secret members of this society in the Great Yu Empire.

If there were, it would be a problem for him. So, after the war in the south ended, he had the secret guards investigate, but with minimal results.

This outcome was both good news and bad news for him. Good, in that the secret society’s infiltration of the Great Yu Empire might not have made any progress. Bad, in that their infiltration might have been so thorough that the secret guards had no way to find them.

Anything one could not control was always unsettling. So he was now eager for the Great Yu Empire to take another step forward technologically, further widening the gap with Europe.

Especially after the advent of electricity, many modern affairs that came with electricity should also follow. Only then could the Great Yu Empire be considered to have entered the age of electricity.

Correspondingly, there was also the internal combustion engine. The advent of electricity made the large-scale production of diesel and gasoline possible. With diesel and gasoline, the internal combustion engine would have a power source.

Precisely because of this, electricity and the internal combustion engine complemented each other. This was also why he did not research the internal combustion engine in advance, even though he knew its structure was not very complex.

After all, if he produced it, it would just be a decoration.

But now it was different. He had electricity. The next step was to overcome the problem of refining diesel and gasoline, which would require Lu Tong to solve a series of problems.

In addition, he had to solve the problem of the source of oil, and this was what gave him a headache.

Coming from modern times, he knew very well that the Great Yu Empire’s oil resources were scarce. The few existing oil fields were also very difficult to exploit, and with the Great Yu Empire’s current level, it was impossible to mine them.

Moreover, he was unwilling to mine them because his current policy was to plunder resources from overseas and preserve domestic mineral resources.

Based on this, the imperial court now encouraged merchants to go to Goryeo, Japan, and other places to open mines. After capturing the Philippines, he would also mobilize merchants to mine in the Philippines and even Australia, continuously transporting foreign minerals to the Great Yu Empire.

As for the mines that were not yet used up, his demand was for them to be used for land reclamation from the sea.

So, he would not mine a scarce resource like oil domestically. His target naturally turned to the Ottoman Empire.

This empire now possessed the world’s most valuable wealth without even knowing it. Taking advantage of this opportunity, exchanging industrial products, and even military hardware, for oil would be a good business.

The Ottoman Empire not only clashed with Europe but also with Tsarist Russia and the Golden Tent Khanate. He was happy to use this behemoth to cause Europe more trouble.

Of course, his most important goal was still oil. On this land, the oil field’s geological structure was simple, and free-flowing oil wells were the norm.

To put it simply, all one had to do was drill into the oil layer, and oil would spew out of the wellhead on its own, making it very easy to obtain.

What he was writing now was knowledge about oil extraction and the internal combustion engine. These two technologies would bring about earth-shattering changes to the Great Yu Empire’s transportation sector.

But before that, he still had many things to do: occupy Nanyang, seize the strongholds established by the French and British on the shipping lanes. This process could not be accomplished overnight and might take a considerable amount of time.

During this period, the establishment of the petrochemical industry and internal combustion engine technology could also proceed simultaneously. There was no need to rush.

Having thought this through, Xiao Ming turned his gaze to Nanyang. What achievements had Yue Yun made there now?

…

Malacca.

The marines, led by Liu Chen, landed on the beach under the cover of night. They met with no resistance along the way.

The combined fleet’s action had made the British soldiers in Malacca completely oblivious to any possible dangers. They had never imagined that a large fleet would arrive in Malacca under the cover of night.

“Quick! Quick! Quick!”

Liu Chen urged the soldiers to cross the beach and enter the plains. In front of them were the coastal defenses meticulously constructed by the British. Now, they had to seize these coastal defenses. The atmosphere was somewhat somber. A night wind blew, making people feel a bone-deep cold.