Chapter 832: Jiangnan Signal

"Don't keep me in suspense, speak quickly," Zhao Xu urged.

Chuckling twice, Xu Ke said, "During this period, our people in the Four Courts have gone deep into Jiangnan and made contact with many Jiangnan commoners. After being coerced, these commoners have been living miserable lives; one could say they are sleeping in the open and going hungry."

"Many more commoners have been forcibly conscripted for corvée labor, transporting grain and fodder for Wu, digging trenches, and working as trackers to pull boats along both banks of the rivers. Countless commoners have died miserably during this time, and public resentment is gradually reaching a boiling point, but cowed by the military might of the Wu army, the commoners can only endure in silence."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Xu was not happy; instead, his face turned gloomy. "The commoners of Da Song suffering so much is not good news at all. These Rich Clans truly deserve to be hacked to pieces; they simply treat the commoners like livestock."

Xu Ke paused for a moment, then said, "This is naturally not good news. The good news is that the Jiangnan commoners have now suddenly awakened and have a desire to turn toward Jiangbei."

"Oh? The propaganda is working?" Zhao Xu became interested.

Xu Ke nodded heavily. Ever since the Rich Clans coerced the commoners to move inland, their Four Courts had coordinated with the Propaganda Department to infiltrate the Jiangnan commoners and mingle with them.

Once they became familiar, they publicized the policies and changes of Jiangbei to the Jiangnan commoners.

Because the Jiangnan commoners had lived for a long time on land governed by the Rich Clans, at first they did not believe it, dismissing it as boasting.

But after they were coerced by the Rich Clans into displacement and miserable living, many people suddenly stopped doubting.

Clearly, at this time, even if Jiangbei were a dream, they still yearned for it.

Who doesn't want to live a stable and peaceful life?

And just at this time, a large number of Rich Clan soldiers returned.

These soldiers were precisely those who had been captured and taken to Jiangbei and then released.

Most importantly, these soldiers brought back the true situation in Jiangbei.

Some soldiers even took the initiative to propagate this matter to the commoners.

The Rich Clan generals sensed something was wrong and punished some soldiers, but they still could not stop the spread of this news.

From then on, the commoners no longer had a shred of doubt about their propaganda.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, their Four Courts personnel formed secret societies and won over many impoverished commoners.

At present, the number of commoners participating in the secret societies is still constantly increasing.

With just a shout, these commoners could rise up in rebellion under the leadership of the Four Courts members.

Thinking of this, he told Zhao Xu about the situation in Jiangnan, "That this matter could ferment so quickly is thanks to Your Highness's strategy of using captives."

"So that's how it is," Zhao Xu smiled.

Regarding this war of unification, he was never single-mindedly focused on fighting; if he could use clever tactics, he would naturally use them.

Now, the effect of the clever tactic had emerged.

The Westerners had deluded Wu into practicing a scorched-earth policy and coercing the commoners to move west.

These commoners, cowed by the authority of the Rich Clans, followed along.

But right now, Liang Kai had fled to Ba City.

And this place, Ba City, could not support many people.

Too many commoners going to Ba City could only be a burden to Wu.

Consequently, most of the coerced commoners could only remain in Jiangzhou and Xiangzhou.

At such a time, it was already good if the Rich Clan generals and officials remaining in Jiangzhou and Xiangzhou didn't fleece the commoners, let alone consider what would happen to these commoners in the future.

It was only natural that this would provoke the wrath of heaven and the resentment of the people.

Of course, he was not saying that the scorched-earth strategy was wrong.

But clearly, the Westerners had overestimated the control the Rich Clans had over the commoners.

In Xitu Guo, due to the rise of nationalism, they could unite against a common enemy during war and sacrifice their own interests, indeed achieving the goal of a scorched-earth policy.

But the commoners here did not have such a strong identification with the Rich Clans.

"Well done. The fall of a single snowflake might be the beginning of an avalanche. This Prince wants you to organize the commoners to stir up trouble in Jiangnan as soon as possible," Zhao Xu said. "Tell them again that once they return to their hometowns, the land of the Rich Clans and the Rich Clans will be distributed to them."

"Yes, Your Highness," Xu Ke replied.

He was slightly nervous; the Four Courts had always been adept at intelligence gathering, but they had never before done the work of leading commoners to rise up in rebellion.

However, this was indeed one of the items in their Four Courts training, specifically used for creating chaos inside enemy countries.

Returning to the Supervisory Court, he immediately had someone transmit the order to Jiangnan.

At the same time, he made contact with Chang Wei to coordinate with the Prince's Personal Army for a joint operation.

This time, they would turn Jiangnan upside down, causing Wu to lose not only the land of Jiangnan but also the commoners they had coerced.

When the time came for the commoners to return, they would be able to take root in Jiangnan.

Meanwhile, just after he left, another person arrived at the Prince's mansion; it was Wang Chong.

Like him, this time he was also bringing good news to Zhao Xu.

"Your Highness, the triple-expansion steam engine has been successfully developed, and the manufacturing problem for large steamships has been solved," Wang Chong said loudly before even reaching the Prince's study.

At this moment, Zhao Xu was facing a map, contemplating the next steps after the Jiangnan commoners' uprising.

Hearing this, the hand holding his teacup shook, spilling some tea.

"Really?" Zhao Xu was overjoyed; this joy even exceeded the joy brought by the victory in war.

Due to the power limitations of the steam engine, the Prince's mansion could only build steamships under thirty meters.

But with the successful development of the triple-expansion steam engine, the power problem of the steam engine was solved, which was of great significance for the construction of Ironclad Warships.