Chapter 1062: Reborn and Transformed

Airships in the sky, Ironclad Warships in the water.

The two moved in opposite directions, passing each other right in front of Zhao Xu, then continued on their respective paths until they disappeared from sight.

When Zhao Xu was satisfied and turned to head back, he noticed the expressions of the officials were still dazed.

The expressions of the commoners were also dazed, and the kings of the vassal states, besides being dazed, had looks of terror on their faces.

To them, the Abdication Ceremony was nothing more than a dry and boring ritual.

But the Ironclad Warships and airships had truly opened their eyes, while simultaneously planting the seed of the idea that Great Song was invincible in their hearts.

Zhao Xu felt secretly smug about this scene.

If the Western Lands currently possessed the ability to copy the Qin-series Rifle, then ever since the Machine Gun appeared, the Western Lands no longer had the ability to copy it.

Now, in addition to the Machine Gun, there were two more sharp weapons that the Western Lands could not replicate.

Unless they could break through to the Electric Power Industry, which was something they could not achieve in the short term at all.

Thinking this, Zhao Xu smiled lightly and headed toward Wuji Palace.

The procedures for the Abdication Ceremony were finished, and he had also seen the gifts prepared by Wang Chong and Chen Shou.

And as the newly enthroned Emperor of Great Song, he still had some measures that needed to be promulgated.

The group returned to the Deliberation Hall.

Zhao Xu took his seat on the Dragon Throne, facing the officials, and said, "It is often said that a new year brings a new atmosphere; as I, the New Emperor, ascend the throne, naturally there must be a new imperial atmosphere."

Pausing, he continued, "I presume all you ministers are well aware that while Great Song currently has no internal troubles, it still faces external threats, and these external threats are not just one; each one wishes to destroy Great Song with haste. Therefore, you must absolutely not think that because I have inherited the throne, there is nothing left to worry about in the world, and that you can now rest easy and indulge in pleasure."

"As the saying goes, sailing against the current, one must advance or retreat; although Great Song's various industries have achieved no small success, they are refined but not broad. The scale of the entire nation's Steam Industry is still not as good as Great Britain's; we only win by having a few industries that exceed their technology," Zhao Xu said slowly.

At this moment, he was confident, but not arrogant.

Airships and Ironclad Warships were indeed formidable, but this did not mean that Great Song's future technological development could slacken.

The Western Lands had already fully entered the modern era; if history followed its normal development, in just over thirty years, they would also be able to enter the era of the Electric Power Industry.

And with Great Song as a powerful enemy, he worried that this time span would be shortened, because Great Song's technological development direction would certainly provide them with the correct path inadvertently.

Just like crossing a river by feeling the stones, the Western Lands would certainly cross the river by feeling Great Song, avoiding detours in technology.

At the same time, they would also invest more manpower and material resources into the research and development of war Weapons.

Historically, every large-scale war in the human world would cause technology to advance rapidly.

World War I and World War II were examples.

With the competition of heterogeneous civilizations and the wealth accumulated from three hundred years of rampant global looting and plundering, the Western Lands could still burst forth with no small amount of capability.

Therefore, since he had already achieved transcendence for the moment, he must now leave them far behind, making this gap wider and wider.

Large enough that the Great Song army could treat them the way Westerners had treated the indigenous people for three hundred years.

In this way, he could toy with the Western Lands at will and thoroughly make them prostrate.

Once this thought occurred, he threw out his final decision: "To make all of Great Song's industries blossom fully, besides valuing the 'bizarre skills and ingenious devices' that were once despised, the most important thing is to let Great Song be reborn, to change its appearance from top to bottom, to let the feudal dynasty become history, and from here on, move toward a more advanced modern dynasty."

"Feudal dynasty? Modern dynasty? What are these things?" Some old officials from Jinling looked at each other, none of them understanding.

Liu Fu and the other civil officials of the Yanzhou Faction were quite calm, revealing expressions of relief; they knew in their hearts that this day would come sooner or later.

Because Yan Wang had been subtly instilling these things into them over the years.

It was only because Yan Wang had not yet ascended the throne as Emperor, and Great Song had internal and external troubles, that it was not appropriate to carry out a thorough reform, so it had been shelved until now, with only slight changes made to some things.

Now, after Yan Wang ascended the throne and mentioned this matter, it meant he was going to make a clean break with the Great Song of the past.

The new Great Song of the future would belong entirely to this new Emperor of Great Song.

"This minister has already made full preparations, waiting only for the Emperor's command," Liu Fu stepped out at this moment.

"No matter what the Emperor wants to do, this general will definitely support it with all his might," Chang Wei followed Liu Fu out.

Although the two often bickered and found each other unpleasant, they were always in agreement when it came to supporting Zhao Xu.

"And this old minister."

"And this general."

Yang Feng and his son Yang Zhen also stood out.

Yang Feng's granddaughter and Yang Zhen's daughter was currently the Empress of Great Song; how could they not support their imperial son-in-law?

After the four expressed their stance, other officials also stepped out one after another.

Some old officials, although they did not understand, could only stand out and express their stance in a muddled way upon seeing such momentum.

Since this Yan Wang was already the Emperor of Great Song, then naturally, what he said in this world was final.