Chapter 601: The State of Affairs

Yanzhou.

While Han Zheng was secretly meeting with the Eastern Japanese envoys, Zhao Xu was inspecting military affairs in the Southern Three Commanderies.

After deciding on the strategy of responding to all changes with constancy, he had Xu Ke actively gather information from all sides.

At the same time, Chang Wei also transferred the Prince's Personal Army away from Ning City, stationing them in Guangning Commandery, Dai Commandery, and Fanyang Commandery respectively, leaving only five thousand men to garrison Yancheng to prepare for the unexpected.

Just as he had planned, the Ningjin Army would be responsible for the defense of the north.

The Prince's Personal Army would deal with the chaotic situation within Da Song.

"Your Highness, during this period, this subordinate dispatched several groups of scouts to Qizhou to investigate and discovered that from the county seats to the commandery seats, all are heavily guarded; artillery has been installed on the city walls, and there are even soldiers patrolling with matchlocks."

On the ramparts of Fanyang City, Chang Wei looked toward Qizhou and said to Zhao Xu.

After a pause, he added: "While we were investigating Qizhou, the Han Family's scouts also crossed the border many times to spy on us."

Zhao Xu nodded and patted the artillery in front of him.

In addition to leading the soldiers of the Prince's Personal Army to the Southern Three Commanderies, Chang Wei had also brought along quite a few pieces of artillery.

Unlike dealing with the Northern Di, where they only needed to hold Yanguan and the Lengbao in Yanshan.

The land south of Yanzhou is flat as a pancake.

This meant that if the Han Family were to attack Yanzhou, they could come from anywhere.

They had no dangerous terrain to defend.

Therefore, they were currently heavily guarding important cities while deploying small numbers of troops with county seats as support to prevent the other side from launching a sudden attack.

"My repeated victories over the Northern Di have made them increasingly reliant on firearms," Zhao Xu said indifferently.

The powerful clans' love for firearms was both surprising and within his expectations.

In contemporary history, apart from the Qing Dynasty, which feared that the Han people—whom they defined as slaves—would master firearms and threaten their rule, thereby suppressing the development of firearms.

Any Han dynasty attached great importance to firearms.

During the Ming Dynasty, Great Ming's firearms belonged to the world's first tier.

But by the Opium War, the Qing Dynasty's firearms had not made a shred of progress and were ultimately thrashed by the British.

Moving on to the Taiping Rebellion, the Taiping Army attached great importance to firearms; not only did they purchase then-advanced muskets from Westerners, but they also spent large sums of money to hire Western craftsmen to help them manufacture firearms.

So much so that Li Hongzhang lamented that the Taiping Army's firearms were more advanced than theirs.

All of the above is enough to show that the people of the Central Plains are adept at accepting new things.

Although the powerful clans are the bloodsuckers of the Central Plains, they are, after all, a part of the Central Plains.

It is not surprising that they would rapidly equip themselves with firearms, especially since they have a threat like Yanzhou.

"Indeed, they are quite clever," Chang Wei curled his lip.

Then, thinking of something, Chang Wei said: "Your Highness, the Dou Family has established Southern Liang, and the Xie Family is supporting the First Prince in ascending the throne in Jinling. It is unknown how many more will claim the title of king or emperor next; the world will not be peaceful from now on."

"This subordinate believes that while each family has just been established,

and before they have the energy to provoke war, we should take Jinzhou and Sizhou to avoid being attacked from the west while the great war is in full swing. After all, the Ma Family's loyalty to Your Highness is open to question, and the Sixth Prince..."

Having said this, Chang Wei stopped; he understood that Yan Wang knew the stakes better than he did.

"I understand what you mean. Upon returning to Yancheng this time, I will integrate Jinzhou and Sizhou to ensure that the west of Yanzhou is secure and free from worry."

Zhao Xu's eyes narrowed; in troubled times, people's hearts are restless, and they unite or part based on interests.

What is not in one's own hands is never safe.

Now is the time for the final test of the Ma Family.

Besides that, there is Jinzhou.

The Sixth Prince has also been in Jinzhou for some time.

During this period, he has been recruiting soldiers and buying horses, appearing as if he is about to accomplish something great.

But what he does not know is that, apart from the one thousand guards he brought from Jinling, nine-tenths of his newly recruited soldiers are physically in the Cao camp but mentally with the Han.

With just one order from him, these soldiers will rise in rebellion.

Currently, with the application of the Steam Engine in various industries in Yanzhou, the consumption of coal has increased greatly; how could he possibly hand over such an important place as Jinzhou to others?

Furthermore, according to intelligence provided by Xu Ke, this Sixth Prince also has correspondence with Yuan Li.

He truly does not know how to write the word "death."

After chatting with Chang Wei for a few more sentences about the current situation, he spent the next few days with Chang Wei inspecting Guangning Commandery and Dai Commandery.

When he returned to Yancheng, he had barely sat down.

Xu Ke sent two more bombshell pieces of news to the Prince's Mansion.

"Wu?" Zhao Xu scanned the document.

This was news that had just been sent to Yancheng: Liang Kai had established a state in Lincheng.

Thus, Southern Liang, Wu, and the Pseudo-Song established by the Xie Family had appeared on the territory of Da Song.

Zhao Heng was not dead yet; he was in Yancheng, and he would never acknowledge the First Prince as a fake emperor.

"This is news sent from Qingcheng in Qizhou. Han Zheng met three Eastern Japanese in an Eastern Japanese trading house, and after returning to Lu City, Han Zheng ordered preparations for the establishment of a state," Xu Ke said.

Zhao Xu was slightly surprised; when he and Mi Zhuang analyzed the situation, they had not considered the factor of the Eastern Japanese.

But what guarantee did the Eastern Japanese give Han Zheng to make him have the guts to establish a state?

"This Eastern Japanese is truly as restless as the Wa state of the contemporary era," Zhao Xu slammed the table hard.

In the contemporary era, the historical Wa state has always been in two extreme states of arrogance and inferiority.

In the Battle of Baijiang Mouth during the Tang Dynasty, the Wa state suffered a crushing defeat; after seeing the Tang Dynasty's tall warships, they crazily sent people to the Tang Dynasty to steal techniques, and for a thousand years, they dared not harbor any covetous thoughts toward the Central Plains dynasties.

At that time, the Wa state was extremely inferior.

During the Ming Dynasty, after the Wa state mastered iron cannons, that is, matchlocks, they became inflated and dared to formulate plans to invade Chaoxian and destroy Great Ming.

In the war over Chaoxian, they were brutally slaughtered by Great Ming, and the Wa state fell silent again for more than three hundred years.

With the Meiji Restoration, and then encountering the useless Qing Dynasty, their ambitions expanded infinitely once again.

As for what happened next, there is no need to say.

Therefore, after understanding the Dongying of this world, Zhao Xu concluded that Dongying would surely exhaust the strength of their entire nation to take advantage of the decline of the Great Song and wage a war against the Great Song on the scale of gambling their national destiny.

This internal strife in the Great Song is likely the beginning of their gamble for national destiny.

However, it can only be considered Dongying's misfortune to have encountered him, Yan Wang Zhao Xu.

Next, he will certainly make Dongying understand what fear is.

"Let me go, I want to see His Highness Yan Wang, wuwu..."

As the two were speaking, a burst of crying and clamor suddenly rang out.

Hearing this, Zhao Xu frowned and called Feng'er in.

"What is going on? Who is crying and wailing in front of the Prince's Mansion?" Zhao Xu asked.

Feng'er smiled helplessly upon hearing this, "Your Highness went straight into the study as soon as you returned, so this servant hasn't had the chance to say that this person just fled from the south, was turned away by the Emperor, and then came to cause a scene at the Prince's Mansion, claiming to be some Crown Prince of the Ryukyu Kingdom, requesting Your Highness's help to restore the Ryukyu Kingdom."

"Ryukyu Kingdom." Zhao Xu thought for a moment, and his eyes brightened slightly.

He was just thinking about the matter of Dongying, and like justice descending from the heavens, an opportunity to deal with Dongying had been delivered to his doorstep.