Chapter 251: Xiliang

"Go to Jinling and work with Dong An to organize this exhibition."

Zhao Xu said to Yang He.

He still attached great importance to this exhibition.

After all, after a struggle with the powerful clans, he had basically captured the entire market of Great Song.

His goods would henceforth travel unimpeded throughout Great Song.

Therefore, if this exhibition was held well, it would bring huge orders to the Prince's Mansion.

The fiscal problems of Yanzhou would be greatly alleviated.

"Yes, Your Highness." Yang He laughed, "Come to think of it, this subordinate actually misses that kid Dong An, hehe."

Zhao Xu said, "Aside from not being in Yanzhou, he is living like a fish in water in Jinling."

Now the Yan Commandery Trading Firm has been renamed the Yanzhou Trading Firm.

In order to receive news from Jinling in a timely manner, he had Xu Ke insert several members of the Flame Guard into it.

Before long, the Flame Guard's hot pot restaurant would also open in Jinling.

By then, the exchange of news between Yanzhou and Jinling would be even more frequent.

He would also be able to grasp the movements within the imperial court in a timely manner.

Precisely because of this, he was crystal clear about what Dong An was doing at the Yanzhou Trading Firm.

"That's true, Jinling is so prosperous, that kid won't let himself suffer a loss." Yang He pursed his lips.

Nodding, he said to Yang He, "You should set off in these two days. By the way, specifically prepare some to be sent to the palace, and they must be sent before the exhibition begins."

He did this naturally out of consideration for Zhao Heng.

He was the Emperor of Great Song; if good things were not given to him first, he feared it would make him unhappy.

After all, he was still his greatest backer in the imperial court, so he needed to have some scruples.

Just like maritime trade, Imperial Merchant status, and selling Artillery—such matters all required his cooperation.

After giving Yang He a few more instructions, he let Yang He go back to prepare.

Returning to the rear hall to rest for a while,

he teased Feng'er and Luan'er for a while.

He went to the Armament Department in the afternoon.

Trade was important, but the technological improvement of the Armament Department was equally important.

Last time he mentioned the matter of the Mercury Column, he had let Wang Ying prepare it.

Upon arriving at the Armament Department, he brought up this matter directly.

Wang Ying heard this and smiled proudly, "If I may be frank with Your Highness, this subordinate has ordered the craftsmen to make the first Original Ruler?"

"You made it?" Zhao Xu was greatly surprised to hear this.

Wang Ying nodded, "This subordinate saw that Your Highness has been busy lecturing at the academies these days, so I boldly tried it myself. Just as Your Highness said, after trying a few times, the heights of these Mercury Columns were almost identical."

While speaking, Wang Ying led Zhao Xu into a room.

In the middle of the room, there was a crude, thin glass tube.

Most of the volume inside the glass tube was occupied by mercury.

This was precisely a rough Mercury Column.

Then Wang Ying said something to an official.

The official left and before long came back with a straight bamboo ruler.

On the bamboo ruler were horizontal marks; the millimeter ones were short, and the centimeter positions were longer, basically no different from a contemporary ruler.

"Not bad, it is this Prince who underestimated you all." Zhao Xu was very gratified.

Ancient craftsmen were actually very intelligent.

Otherwise, they would not have created such stunning and exquisite crafts as riveting and porcelain.

In the contemporary era, they were just living under a failed system, which is why they declined in modern times for not climbing the technology tree.

In fact, as long as one points out the path for them,

they will create astonishing achievements.

The same principle applied in Great Song.

Wang Ying and the craftsmen of the Armament Department just lacked guidance.

Give them a blueprint, and they could achieve it just the same.

This Original Ruler was proof; from now on, he should trust their abilities even more.

The students of the Three Great Academies were the same; he would encourage them to tinker.

"Your Highness is too kind; actually, we failed many times." Wang Ying laughed.

After all, dividing this section of the ruler into 760 equal parts was a difficult project.

He picked ten craftsmen to specialize in carving, and they almost went crazy over seven days.

In the end, only one had uniform scales that met his requirements.

"Hmm, failure is the mother of success. From now on, you must carve this sentence on the wall of the Armament Department so that everyone in the Armament Department remembers it." Zhao Xu said.

Failure is summarizing the experience of success; with more failures, success is not far away.

"Your Highness's words deeply touch this subordinate's heart." Wang Ying heard this and immediately felt it spoke to his heart.

This was what he had always taught Wang Chong.

Zhao Xu smiled and nodded; what he appreciated was this quality of Wang Ying—resilience.

The Original Ruler had been made, and for him, it was also time to make the Vernier Caliper.

With this thing, the next step would be to let the craftsmen grind the Drill Bit.

After all, the Drill Bit still has certain requirements for precision.

So he had Wang Ying fetch paper and a brush, and he drew the Vernier Caliper on the paper.

The forging of a Vernier Caliper is actually not difficult; the difficulty lies in the scale.

But now that the Original Ruler is out, the difficulty is gone.

One only needs to take the Original Ruler and use it as a reference to engrave onto the steel bar.

Wang Ying looked at the drawing on the paper and nodded slightly.

In his view, this Vernier Caliper was just a straight ruler with a cross-blade shape at one end, plus a forged clasp that could fit onto the ruler.

Although it is a bit complex, the craftsmen can polish it out.

"Follow this to make it. Once the Vernier Caliper is made, the production of the Flintlock can be put on the schedule," Zhao Xu said.

Even though he wanted to possess everything immediately.

But in this poor and blank place, he could only establish fine handicraft industries step by step first.

And then develop more complex machinery on this foundation.

Western Liang.

Liangzhou, Wuwei.

Tuoba Hao gripped the letter in his hand and frowned deeply.

Before him stood the Prime Minister of Western Liang, Li Xin.

Since inheriting the throne of the Emperor of Western Liang, he had resisted the Northern Di and attacked the Great Song, and the territory of Western Liang had been expanded once again in his hands.

The population under the rule of Western Liang had also nearly reached three million.

The three armies under his command, the Iron Kite Army, the Foot-Climbing Army, and the Po-Xi Army, had reached a total of 450,000 troops.

It was precisely by relying on such formidable military strength that he constantly conquered cities and seized land; now, his military force pointed directly at Jinzhou of the Great Song, intending to annex this province of the Great Song into Western Liang.

"Could this be a trap?" Tuoba Hao stared at Li Xin.

The letter was signed by Cui Yan, and the content of the letter was extremely shocking.

Cui Yan claimed to be a Captain of the Imperial Guards in Jinzhou, willing to coordinate from within to open the gates of Jincheng and defect to Western Liang.

"This official has interrogated many captured Great Song Imperial Guard prisoners, and there is indeed such a person among the generals of Jincheng," Li Xin said, pondering.

This letter was delivered by a Great Song Imperial Guard soldier.

On the way to Western Liang, this Imperial Guard soldier was captured by patrolling Western Liang soldiers.

Hearing this, Tuoba Hao's eyes flickered.

Currently, among the seven commanderies of Jinzhou, the five in the west had all been captured by the Western Liang army.

There remained the three commanderies in the east, adjacent to Yanzhou.

The three commanderies formed a defensive formation, and the one at the very front blocking the Western Liang army's eastward advance was Jincheng.

This city was the administrative center of Jinzhou, with high walls and thick ramparts, and was guarded by 80,000 elite Imperial Guards, making it difficult to capture.

If the content of this letter were true.

As long as Jincheng was taken, the entire Jinzhou would truly be brought under the rule of Western Liang.