Chapter 1055: The Shock of the Kings

The sky was as blue as if it had been washed.

In March, Yancheng had already bid farewell to the cold winter and embraced the spring days.

The sunlight shining into the study was also warm.

After finalizing some details of the Abdication Ceremony with Zhu Tuo, Zhu Tuo left.

In the month that followed, Zhao Xu became even busier.

Not only did he have to coordinate with the Ministry of Rites, but he also had to receive the delegations from various countries that had come to offer congratulations and prepare to attend the Abdication Ceremony.

Among them, the Gaoli delegation led personally by the King of Gaoli arrived first, followed by the Ryukyu delegation of the King of Ryukyu, Shang Bin.

The four kings of Dongying—Beitiao Chuanqing, Ono, Zhitian Shanze, and Maoli Yousheng—also arrived, each leading their own delegations.

The kings of the Southeast Five Nations and the King of Luzon arrived last.

Since these delegations, personally led by the kings of various countries, had brought heavy gifts and traveled from afar, he naturally had to meet them.

Otherwise, it would appear he was too arrogant; even if they were vassal states, he had to treat them with courtesy.

On this day, after meeting the last to arrive, the King of Luzon, Bate'er, Zhao Xu said, "The delegations from all countries have now arrived. I will take advantage of these two days of leisure to accompany you all on a walk around Yancheng, to fulfill the duties of a host and ensure you have no regrets about this trip."

"Many thanks, Your Highness." Upon hearing this, Bate'er felt a surge of joy.

This time, he had traveled north by taking a Great Song steamship, landed at Jinghai, and then taken a steam locomotive to reach Yancheng.

Along the way, he had seen too many incredible sights, which left him shocked beyond measure.

To him, the Great Song was so mysterious and unfathomable.

If it could be said that he had previously felt fear and worship toward the Western world because he lived under the enslavement of Westerners.

Then now, the Great Song had completely destroyed the old understanding in his heart and replaced the position of the Western world.

Zhao Xu nodded.

After he had met with the delegations of the various countries, he had left them to Dong An.

Even if they arrived early, these delegations could only wander around Yancheng and see some superficial things.

He was specifically waiting for all the countries to arrive before giving them a deeper shock.

Of course, he did not simply want to show off in front of the kings of the various countries.

The most direct reason was still to eliminate the influence of Westerners on the countries of Dongtu.

After all, except for Gaoli, Dongying, Luzon, and the Southeast Five Nations had been deeply influenced by Western culture for decades or even a hundred years.

Although their bodies were currently kneeling toward the Great Song, their hearts might still be kneeling toward the West.

Therefore, it was necessary to let them see the true strength of the Great Song.

After sending Bate'er away, Zhao Xu called for Dong An and ordered him to notify the delegations of the various countries.

The next day, the kings of the various countries gathered in front of the Prince's Mansion.

Zhao Xu finished his breakfast and then left the mansion.

"Greetings, Your Highness."

Once outside the gate, the kings all bowed to Zhao Xu in unison.

Zhao Xu signaled for everyone to forgo the formalities and smiled, "I fear you all are already impatient, so let's skip the small talk; you just need to follow me."

Everyone laughed; Yan Wang had seen through their thoughts at once.

Right now, they were far too curious about the Great Song.

Not to mention the steamships and steam locomotives.

While they were traveling to Yancheng, they had also seen steam tractors puffing smoke while plowing fields and steam shovels digging trenches from the steam locomotive.

They were very eager to understand what these were and why they could move without human labor.

Harboring intense curiosity, the group followed closely behind Zhao Xu.

And behind them followed their own trusted ministers.

"The steam locomotives you rode in were produced right here."

Setting off from the Prince's Mansion, Zhao Xu led the group first to the Steam Engine Workshop.

At this moment, the sound of machinery roared inside the Steam Engine Workshop, and workers were busy manufacturing steam locomotive engines.

With the continuous expansion of railway mileage and the cargo transport problems brought about by the development of industry and commerce, the Great Song's current demand for steam locomotives was becoming increasingly vigorous.

Even though Steam Engine Workshops had been established in places like Qizhou and Ningzhou, every workshop had more orders than they could finish.

"..." The kings did not respond to Zhao Xu's words because they were already stunned.

With their level of knowledge, they could not understand the manufacturing process of the steam locomotives at all; this was truly a case of laymen watching the spectacle.

But there was one thing they were certain of.

It was so difficult for them to manufacture something like a flintlock, yet the Great Song could actually manufacture such complex things, and in mass production at that—it was simply too terrifying.

Seeing this, Zhao Xu did not look down on them; he simply explained the principles to them in simple terms.

As for whether they could understand it, that was another matter.

All he wanted was to shock them.

Leaving the steam locomotive workshop, Zhao Xu led the group to the Agricultural Machinery Workshop.

Here, the kings saw steam tractors and steam excavators.

To let them experience it, Zhao Xu even had the kings sit on them, and he drove them around himself for a lap.

"The plowing efficiency of this one steam tractor is equivalent to thirty oxen, and the efficiency of this steam excavator is equivalent to one hundred men," Zhao Xu introduced to the group.

"Too amazing," the King of Gaoli, Pu Zhengshuo, muttered, his eyes unable to move away from the two machines.

Beitiao Chuanqing and the others also nodded repeatedly, praising them endlessly.

But more than that, they wished they could take these things back with them.

"Your Highness, what is this one?" At this moment, the King of Jiaozhi, Ruan Xiong, pointed to a machine in the middle of the workshop.

"This is a Self-propelled Steam Harvester; it can harvest wheat and also rice. In just two quarter-hours, this harvester can reap one mu of land," Zhao Xu said indifferently.

After the Internal Research Institutes of the various Workshops were established, the Workshops no longer waited for Wang Chong to provide the grain, but began their own research into various types of machinery.

After the steam tractor and steam excavator, the harvester was also born.

Although the Steam Industry would gradually be phased out after the birth of the Electric Power Industry.

The Workshops had at least mastered the manufacturing principles of these machines in the early stages.

Once the Internal Combustion Engine is born, they will only need to slightly modify the power design to manufacture agricultural machinery driven by internal combustion engines.

"Incredible, incredible," the kings sighed one after another.

They truly could not find the vocabulary to describe the shock in their hearts.

Leaving the agricultural machinery Workshop, Zhao Xu led the group to the Glass Workshop and the soap Workshop.

Currently, these goods are bestsellers in all the countries of Dongtu.

The kings had seen the actual products, but had never seen the production process; witnessing it with their own eyes left them sighing once more.

These expensive items were born like flowing water in the Workshops, and these were all money.

Afterwards, the kings followed Zhao Xu to the Chemical Workshop District to witness the production of chemicals.

A day's time passed just like that.

Returning to their respective lodgings at night, the kings were silent while eating, their minds filled with the scenes they had seen during the day.

At this moment, the image of the Westerners gradually collapsed in their hearts, while the image of the Great Song grew tall, becoming an existence they could only look up to.

But this was only the first day.

On the second day, Zhao Xu took them to another place.

If yesterday they only felt shock and admiration.

Then today, what they felt was fear; even in the second half of their lives, whenever they recalled this day, none of them dared to harbor a single thought of overstepping their bounds.

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