Chapter 888: Two-Step Strategy

Yiyang.

Zhao Xu spent over ten days here in leisure, waiting until Xu Ke returned from Ba City.

While Xu Ke was heading to Ba City, he had already learned of the assassination situation outside Songyang Pass.

Afterwards, as soldiers of the power-clans fled one after another to surrender at Songyang Pass, he learned of the personnel who had died in the assassination.

Although Ashuer was only heavily wounded and did not die, it left him feeling somewhat regretful.

But on the whole, he was very satisfied.

The evil heads of the power-clans who had brought chaos to Da Song had ultimately not escaped his grasp.

"The leader of the Mercenaries did not die, and the Commander led the remaining Liang Family troops south, furthermore supporting the third son of Liang Kai to ascend the throne," Xu Ke said. "However, even so, the hearts of the Liang Family have scattered, and a large number of soldiers have deserted; these pieces of news were also passed on by the fleeing soldiers."

Hearing this, Zhao Xu nodded. "As long as the Liang family members are not all dead, they can always find someone to be Emperor. Even if all the Liang family members were dead, they could fabricate one. Who is Emperor is not important; they just want to disgust this Prince."

Rising and walking outside the door, looking toward the azure sky of Yizhou, he said to Xu Ke, "The war within Da Song is almost over. From now on, your Four Courts must take on a new task, which is to build an intelligence network that covers the entire world."

Xu Ke nodded heavily, feeling slightly excited in his heart.

The interior of Da Song was entirely under the surveillance of the Four Courts; there were no challenges left.

And he had always disliked days without any ripples; he liked challenges.

Yan Wang's new task not only did not scare him, but instead stirred up his fighting spirit.

So he said, "Your Highness, rest assured, this subject will give Your Highness the strongest intelligence agency in the world."

"This Prince awaits that day," Zhao Xu laughed.

Currently, Britain has MI6, America has the CIA, and the Soviet Union has the KGB.

They all played important roles during wartime.

He similarly needed such a force to serve the interests of Da Song.

At the same time, this was also necessary for controlling Gaoli and Dongying.

Now,

he had already brought Gaoli and half of Dongying into his sphere of influence, and he did not want these two places to spiral out of control.

Britain wanted to integrate the Western Lands to deal with him.

He would integrate the East Land to stand together against the Western Lands.

The submissive Gaoli and Dongying were his most loyal lackeys; this was much better than the scheming Xitu Guo.

However, Gaoli and Dongying alone were clearly not enough.

In the contemporary era, the countries of the East Land Southern Region belonged to the Western camp for a long time.

It was not until the rise of the great Eastern power that they chose to be fence-sitters.

It can be seen that in some places, if one does not occupy them oneself, the enemy will occupy them.

Therefore, after the internal chaos of Da Song was quelled, his strategy was very simple.

First, through the Second Industrial Revolution, comprehensively improve the productivity of Da Song and recover from the destruction and depletion caused by the war.

This is the priority.

After all, the foundation of war is the economy.

If a country becomes poorer the more it fights, the dissatisfaction of the common people will gradually accumulate.

Transmitted to the soldiers, this means morale becomes lower and lower.

Only when life becomes increasingly affluent will the common people have a stronger desire to serve the country.

Therefore, although war cannot be avoided in this second point,

the goals of the war will be beneficial to the development of Da Song.

This is to control the East Land and establish an East Land trade system with the Song Yuan as the common currency.

In contemporary modern history, the Nanyang countries of the nineteenth century were merely synonyms for colonies.

But in fact, the Nanyang countries at this time had large populations, about fifty million people, it was just that their presence was very low.

If he took this place, plus Gaoli and Dongying, as well as Da Song itself,

he would control a market of nearly two hundred million people.

For the Second Industrial Revolution of Da Song, this market was quite important.

If he could also take Tianzhu, which was Britain's lifeline, this market would increase by another hundred million.

By then, a market of three hundred million people combined with the industry of Da Song, Da Song would truly take off.

Thinking of this, Zhao Xu could not help but feel expectant.

After chatting a few more sentences with Xu Ke, he decided to set off the next day to return to Yancheng.

Bazhou had become a complete mess, and his army could take over as soon as they arrived.

A small Yunzhou did not require him to personally oversee the battle.

Leaving it to the generals to play freely was sufficient.

His most important mission was to carry out the following two-step strategy, letting war serve the economy, rather than fighting just to fight.

Fighting a war must yield a positive return; seizing the enemy's colonies was a positive return, unlike the negative return of quelling internal chaos.

But the trees desire stillness, yet the wind will not cease.

In this process, the Westerners would not willingly lose their colonies; they would certainly fight him to the death and exhaust every means to eliminate him.

The next day.

He returned according to plan; after five days of trekking, he arrived at Zhongling Pass, then took a Steamship from Jingzhou, and after three days of sailing, arrived at Yancheng.

As soon as he stepped into Yancheng, he was immediately submerged by the cheers of the common people.

During this period, the Yanzhou Daily had been publishing the war news from Yiyang.

Every time news of victory arrived, it was a boost of confidence for the common people and merchants.

Especially after taking Yiyang and the great victory at Songyang Pass, pacifying Yizhou, Yunzhou, and Bazhou has almost become a settled matter.

The unification of the Great Song makes everyone feel joyful and inspired.

This is the reason why the common people are so enthusiastic.