Chapter 232: Zhao Xu's Cunning Plot

A chilly wind blew across the plum blossoms in the courtyard.

Petals fell onto the table as Dou Wei pondered aloud: "Gentlemen, the trade shall cease here, but we cannot let Yan Wang be so comfortable. These days, the Emperor has become increasingly dismissive of us, repeatedly rejecting our memorials. If this continues, will we not once again be reduced to mere appendages of the Imperial Clan?"

Slamming his hand heavily on the table, Dou Wei said in a deep voice: "One day, are you not afraid that the blades of the Imperial Guards will fall upon your necks?"

Once these words were spoken, Xiao Cheng scoffed: "The Prime Minister is right. We finally managed to make the Imperial Clan rule the world together with our Eight Great Clans; how can we let the Imperial Clan dominate alone again?"

During this time, the case of Mo Di had been causing an increasing stir in the Imperial Court.

Mi Yan, the Grand Court of Revision Minister, and Ma Yuan, of the Censorate, both demanded a thorough investigation of the case.

Yang Feng and other veteran generals cheered them on, forcing the Xiao Family to hand over Xiao Yuanshan.

He feigned deafness and dumbness, wishing to ignore it, but Mi Yan and the others demanded that the Imperial Guards be dispatched to Yizhou to make the arrest.

He had no choice but to stall, claiming he would order the Xiao Family to pursue Xiao Yuanshan.

He was filled with resentment over this matter.

If it were in the past, no minister would have been so rude to his Xiao Family.

Thinking of this, he cupped his hands toward Dou Wei, "I wonder what brilliant plan the Prime Minister has?"

The expressions of Han Zheng and the others also darkened.

He said: "We are not giving up on containing Yan Wang, it is just that there is truly no need to do so through trade. Whatever strategy the Prime Minister has, we will still follow and execute it."

Dou Wei revealed a satisfied smile and said: "At present, the Imperial Court and the Northern Di are in a truce, and the Northern Di seems unwilling to engage in battle with Great Song. Furthermore, with Yanguan there, it is impossible to exhaust Yan Wang's strength. Thus, the only thing that can give Yan Wang a headache now is Xiliang."

"Xiliang?" The group suddenly realized.

Dou Wei said: "Recently, Xiliang has repeatedly raided Jinzhou, and the Ma Family and the Imperial Guards there have been defeated time and again. If we could divert the disaster, causing Xiliang and Yan Wang to fight each other, it would be a wonderful thing."

"The Prime Minister's thoughts coincide with mine." Han Zheng laughed, "Compared to trade, this is what will truly give Yan Wang a headache."

The Ma Family had always been unwilling to participate in containing Yan Wang precisely because they wanted to defend against Xiliang together with him.

"But how can we divert the disaster?" Wang Zi'an asked.

Hearing this, the corners of Dou Wei's mouth lifted into a smile, "I have my own plan for this. When the time comes, I only need everyone to work with me in unison to make the Emperor order Yan Wang to send troops to Jinzhou. By then, whether Yan Wang wins or loses, he will inevitably suffer losses in men and generals."

"The Prime Minister is indeed brilliant." Xiao Cheng laughed loudly, "Prime Minister, rest assured, when the time comes, I, Xiao Cheng, will be the first to support you."

The others nodded one after another.

Liang Kai held his teacup, seemingly deep in thought, his eyes carrying a trace of gloom.

He had not been willing to allow Yan Wang to open the seas this time.

His goal was merely to obtain Yan Wang's Artillery.

He knew that Dou Wei and the others all thought the Liang Family possessed Artillery.

They were right, but they had also guessed wrong.

The Liang Family had indeed obtained thirty pieces of Artillery from the Stedan people.

After witnessing the ships of the Angsa and Stedan people rampaging on the sea, and seeing the immense power of the Artillery on those ships, the Liang Family had long yearned to obtain such Artillery.

But according to the Stedan merchants, it took them nearly a year to travel from their homeland to here.

Moreover, Artillery was military materiel, and their country did not allow it to be sold.

Before their ships departed, they were not allowed to carry extra Artillery.

Therefore, they could only dismantle the Artillery directly from the ships to sell to them.

But even so, they had to take huge risks.

The shipping routes were filled with Privateer Ships from enemy nations.

Armed Merchant Ships without Artillery would become targets for hunting.

However, after the Liang Family paid a high price, the Stedan merchant still sold half of the Artillery on his ship to them.

For one piece of Artillery, they paid ten thousand taels of silver.

But unfortunately, while the Artillery was being transported to Zhezhou, the Liang Family's ship encountered sea pirates, and the ship carrying the Artillery sank to the bottom of the sea.

Afterward, the Liang Family had been trying to purchase Artillery again.

But they had never encountered a merchant willing to sell Artillery.

So, he did indeed understand the power of Artillery, but the Liang Family truly did not have any Artillery now.

It was precisely for this reason that he had set his heart on Yan Wang's Artillery.

If he could obtain Yan Wang's Artillery, he would have the Liang Family replicate it.

Once they mastered the casting technique of the Artillery, their Liang Family would be able to stand tall on the sea.

By then, their Liang Family would certainly make Yan Wang understand how dangerous the sea could be.

After all, the Great Song First Navy was none other than the Liang Family's Navy.

As the few were talking, a person who looked like a servant walked over and whispered a few words in Dou Wei's ear.

Upon hearing this, Dou Wei's expression became slightly unpleasant.

"What is it, Prime Minister?" Han Zheng and the others were curious.

"The Minister of the Court of State Ceremonial was beaten by the Northern Di envoy," Dou Wei said indifferently.

Hearing this, Han Zheng and the others looked dejected.

When it came to dealing with the Northern Di people, none of them dared to be tough.

How the Great Song empire was divided was a matter between the Influential Clans and the Imperial Clan.

It was best not to provoke the Northern Di into crossing the pass.

Otherwise, they would no longer be able to live as comfortably as they did now.

The Northern Di people would not care about what Eight Great Influential Clans they were.

"If he was beaten, then so be it. After a few days of causing trouble, they will leave," Wang Zi'an shrank his neck.

Han Zheng and the others deeply agreed.

……

Yancheng.

Directorate of Weapons.

Zhao Xu was discussing the casting of Artillery with Wang Ying.

He had sent out the memorial; since he had promised to send Artillery to Jingshi, this naturally had to be accomplished, otherwise, it would be the crime of deceiving the Emperor.

"Casting with iron?" Wang Ying confirmed once more.

"It is iron." Zhao Xu laughed.

In fact, the extravagant practice of casting Artillery with steel did not appear until the mid-nineteenth century.

Before that, iron had always been used to cast Artillery.

Of course, if one were a local tycoon, one could also use copper alloys.

However, the Artillery produced this way would be quite expensive, making it impossible to equip them in large quantities.

It could be said that the cost-performance ratio was extremely low.

Therefore, between the fifteenth and nineteenth centuries, the competition was about whose family could use iron to build the best Artillery.

Thus, there were two types of Iron Cannon during this period.

One was the White Cast Iron Cannon of the Qing Dynasty, and the other was the Grey Cast Iron Cannon of the Western powers.

In the Opium War, the Qing Dynasty's White Cast Iron Cannon had a very high rate of barrel explosions, and both in terms of power and range, they were completely crushed by the Western Grey Cast Iron Cannon.

It is evident that in the matter of Artillery casting, the Qing Dynasty really made no progress, and was even inferior to the Ming Dynasty.

But from this point of view, even Iron Cannon had two grades.

Therefore, he only needed to adjust the process to produce two different qualities of Artillery.

By doing this, he had his own purpose.

After expanding the army to 150,000 men, his monthly military pay alone required 450,000 taels of Silver, which was immense pressure.

Therefore, he prepared to give the Grey Cast Iron Cannon to the Imperial Court's Forbidden Army.

And he wanted to sell the White Cast Iron Cannon to the powerful clans.

In any case, these powerful clans would certainly imitate the cannon-making.

He would simply sell them, making them feel that it was better to buy than to build, thus abandoning their desire for self-research.

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