Chapter 746: The Art of Control

"This small king thanks Your Highness for your great kindness!" Chang Wei deployed troops and arranged generals, while Zhao Xu, escorted by Xu Lie and other guards, arrived at the Gaoli royal palace.

At this moment, the King of Gaoli led a group of generals and ministers to kneel before Zhao Xu.

They had followed Yan Wang all the way to Rang City, witnessing with their own eyes the might of Yan Wang's troops.

The Eastern Earth Allied Forces, which had beaten them until they had no power to fight back, were vulnerable before Yan Wang's troops.

Having seen Yan Wang's army's firearms with their own eyes, they were even more terrified.

Since ancient times, Gaoli had been unable to escape the fate of being a vassal state.

Either they were conquered by the Grassland empires of the North, or they paid tribute to the dynasties of the Central Plains.

For these past hundred years, they had revered the Northern Di as their superior state, bullying Da Song.

But now, they had been abandoned by the Northern Di.

While expelling the Eastern Earth Allied Forces, Yan Wang had also demonstrated to them the strength to annihilate Gaoli at any moment.

How could they dare not submit to the feet of Yan Wang?

Zhao Xu looked toward the King of Gaoli and the group of ministers and officials.

Letting them kneel for a while, he then lazily said the two words, "Rise from ceremony."

He would not be deceived by the superficial obedience of the King of Gaoli.

He used a famous contemporary quote to evaluate Gaoli.

"This Gaoli is a base breed of border barbarians, not worth treating with benevolence and righteousness, nor can they be held to standard etiquette. Since ancient times, they have been raised like fish and turtles; it is best to treat them with broad neglect."

The meaning was that they were too base, not worth treating with benevolence and righteousness.

One could also catch a glimpse of this from a certain contemporary stick-country.

They were simply inferior to the extreme while also being arrogant to the extreme.

If he didn't give them a good thrashing, they wouldn't feel comfortable.

Therefore, he would never trust the King of Gaoli just because of the obedience he displayed.

He would have Chai Wu establish a branch of the Four Courts in Gaoli, just like the Embroidered Uniform Guard, to monitor Gaoli.

At the same time, he would have Mi Wen's Propaganda Department establish a newspaper office in Rang City to brainwash the Gaoli people long-term.

He would also station an army of about two thousand men in Rang City.

Of course, the army's pay and provisions would be entirely borne by Gaoli.

In this way, no matter what schemes the King of Gaoli or the powerful officials of Gaoli engaged in,

he would be able to nip them in the bud at the first opportunity.

"Remember, from now on, Gaoli is this king's Gaoli, and you are only guarding this place for this king. If you harbor any ulterior motives, this king will surely ensure you have no place to be buried," Zhao Xu said slowly.

"I dare not, I dare not," the King of Gaoli waved his hands repeatedly, "Even if you gave this small king a hundred guts, this small king would not dare to betray Your Highness."

Zhao Xu nodded, "Since that is the case, from now on, execute the contract you established in Yancheng."

The King of Gaoli replied repeatedly in the affirmative.

Thinking of something, he added: "Also, this king needs three hundred thousand able-bodied men to build the Railway. They must be selected from your Gaoli commoners. You should understand what to do, right?"

Although the Steam Engine locomotive had been successfully tested, the Railway was the true major project,

and it was a long-term project.

At the same time, it required a massive amount of labor.

He was more willing to let the commoners of Da Song enter the Workshop to become skilled workers.

Laying the Railway, such pure, heavy, bitter labor, should be left to the Gaoli people.

After all, over these years, the number of Da Song commoners who died at the hands of the Gaoli people was at least eighty thousand, if not one hundred thousand.

Just like an avalanche, no snowflake is innocent.

The Gaoli commoners were naturally not innocent either.

The Gaoli soldiers who followed the Northern Di in burning, killing, and looting came precisely from the Gaoli commoners.

Now, they were simply repaying the debt they owed.

"Your Highness has the grace of rebirth toward Gaoli; this is but a small matter. This small king will conscript commoners in the name of corvée labor to head to Da Song and assist Your Highness in building the Railway," the King of Gaoli said.

Although he did not understand what a Railway was, he clearly could not refuse.

This was the first time Yan Wang had issued an order to him.

If he did not handle it properly, he feared he would not be the King of Gaoli for many more days.

Zhao Xu nodded with satisfaction upon hearing this.

Currently, apart from the Steel Workshop of the Armaments Department,

the Ministry of Works was building the Wu Tong Ironworks zone in Wu Tong County, Dai Commandery, near Jinzhou in Yanzhou, which was a hundred times the scale of the Armaments Department's Steel Workshop.

This was the largest iron mine in Yanzhou, and because it was near Jinzhou, obtaining coal was easy; it would become the largest Steel Workshop in Da Song in the future.

Besides this, there was Yuanyang County in Yan Commandery.

This location was the contemporary Tangshan area, a region rich in coal and iron ore.

In contemporary times, there were many steel mills there.

He likewise ordered the Ministry of Works to build this into a steel production zone.

Having settled this matter,

Zhao Xu stayed temporarily in Rang City.

Although Rang City had been taken, the war in Gaoli was still continuing.

Before completely defeating the Eastern Earth Allied Forces, he had to keep his heartstrings taut.

After all, in the sea south of Gaoli, the fleets of Britain and Wu were still hiding.

If the Eastern Earth Allied Forces relied on the Artillery on their Warships to build positions on the beach, it would be a trouble.

After all, if the Eastern Earth Allied Forces do not withdraw from Gaoli, the Prince's Personal Army must remain in Gaoli to fight.

Three days later.

Qin Shan and Guan Tong, who were responsible for the pursuit, sent word.

It was just as he had guessed.

After the Eastern Earth Allied Forces withdrew from Rang City, they headed south all the way, abandoning the cities along the route.

However, they stopped at Qinghe County in Zhenhai County, Gaoli, and held the area near Qinghe Wharf to the death.

"When Qin Shan and Guan Tong arrived, the warships of the Eastern Earth Allied Forces bombarded them, and because they had received news in advance, they had dug some trenches to defend themselves," Chang Wei reported to Zhao Xu.

Zhao Xu nodded.

Gaoli is but a tiny place; a fast horse can run from south to north in just one day.

The Eastern Earth Allied Forces were routed at Rang City and must have sent people by fast horse to pass the news along.

"Your Highness, the range of the artillery on the British warships is on par with our warships, which means they have mobile Forts at sea, which is very troublesome," Chang Wei frowned, "Perhaps we should let our fleet sortie and finish off these British warships."

"Hmm." Zhao Xu was also pondering this question.

In terms of the number of Sailing Warships, he had three times as many as Britain.

But this time, in addition to the British warships, the Eastern Earth Allied Forces also had over two hundred warships from Wu.

If a real fight broke out, they might not necessarily win.

However, he did not necessarily have to engage the Eastern Earth Allied Forces fleet head-on.

He only needed to have his fleet head to the nearby waters.

In this way, the twelve British Sailing Warships would inevitably have to withdraw from the coastline to guard against his fleet.

If they did not come out, he would let Zhou Yi deal with the Wu warships to force them out.

And if they came out, the Yanzhou Warships would withdraw; if they went back, the Yanzhou Warships would continue to harass them.

In this way, all their wishful thinking would come to nothing.

Thinking of this, he said to Chang Wei, "I will issue an order to Zhou Yi right now."

This time, the Eastern Earth Allied Forces swaggered into Gaoli, completely ignoring the existence of the Yanzhou Fleet.

Presumably, the commander of the British Fleet must think that he is afraid of the British Steam Warships and dare not engage them in battle.

To those with little experience, they would indeed be bluffed by their Steamships.

But he came from the modern era; what had he not seen?

He did not dare to act in Jiujiang because Sailing Warships fighting against the current are at a great disadvantage.

But at sea, one only needs to find a day with good wind conditions to reduce that disadvantage.

It would not be as they thought, that he would not even dare to touch them.