Chapter 917: Study Abroad Matters

Night fell.

A few cold stars hung in the sky.

Gong Ying ordered people to tidy up the Dajiangjunfu for Zhao Xu to rest.

Pan Zhang personally led the marines to stand guard on the perimeter of the Dajiangjunfu.

Xu Lie commanded the guards to secure the inner mansion.

"Your Highness, Beitiao Chuanqing requests an audience, saying he has brought some gifts for you."

Just as Zhao Xu was preparing to rest, Xu Lie's voice came through.

"Gifts?" Zhao Xu paused, "What gifts are being sent so late?"

Xu Lie revealed an ambiguous smile, "Your Highness will know once you see them for yourself."

Zhao Xu was thinking about how to deal with the invading Coalition from the Western Lands, so he did not think much of it and nodded.

After a while, Beitiao Chuanqing walked in.

Following him were two Dongying women, each with skin like snow, beautiful and delicate.

Zhao Xu instantly realized what was going on. He looked at Watanabe, "I wondered what kind of gifts they were. I accept your intentions, but you should take these people back."

Naturally, he was not some man of perfect virtue, nor an ordinary person.

When he arrived in this world, he decided to live a dashing life, waking to hold the power of the world, and sleeping on the knees of beauties.

But at a time when Dongying had just been brought under control after great chaos, he could not act recklessly, lest he lose his life.

Beitiao Chuanqing seemed to see through Zhao Xu's thoughts and said, "Your Highness, do not worry. These two are my daughters. It is their honor to serve you. I only ask that you take them back to Great Song. I do not ask for them to be an Imperial Concubine in the palace, just that they be allowed to stay."

Zhao Xu smiled and said, "But if you do this, won't the other three families follow suit? You had better take them back."

"Hahaha, Your Highness, what man in the world would dislike having too many beauties?" Beitiao Chuanqing laughed.

"That may be so, but if I set this precedent for you, will Gaoli, Jiaozhi, or other nations follow suit in the future?" Zhao Xu said sternly, "Take them back. If there is someone I truly want, no one can stop me."

"This..." Beitiao Chuanqing glanced at his daughters.

"If you are uneasy, then send your eldest sons to Yancheng." Zhao Xu understood that Beitiao Chuanqing and the others wanted to maintain their relationship with the Prince's Mansion.

Since that was the case, they might as well engage in hostage diplomacy.

This was a common diplomatic strategy during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, signifying submission to a great power.

Furthermore, once the situation within their country changed in a way unfavorable to the suzerain state.

The suzerain state could send the hostage back to set things right in the name of the hostage.

Moreover, since the hostage grew up in the suzerain state, the suzerain state could directly influence the hostage's base of support and the hostage's attitude toward the suzerain state.

Simply put, one could cultivate the hostage and the officials following them into a pro-suzerain faction, thereby maintaining the suzerain state's influence over the vassal state.

"Yes, Your Highness, this is exactly what we were hoping for." Beitiao Chuanqing's gloomy mood suddenly brightened.

Having been to Great Song, he understood how astonishing Great Song was today.

He believed that if his son went to Great Song, he would surely learn many of Great Song's strengths.

After a pause, he continued, "Besides this, we hope to send more officials and the sons of generals to Great Song, and we hope Your Highness will grant this."

Hearing this, Zhao Xu frowned.

Previously, the King of Gaoli had also made a similar request to him.

It was to send the Goryeo Crown Prince and the children of high-ranking officials to Great Song to study.

In other words, to send international students.

During this time, he had been considering this matter.

Now that Beitiao Chuanqing had also made the same request, he had to weigh it again.

Overall, he believed this matter could be granted, but with restrictions.

After all, this was beneficial for Great Song's cultural infiltration of Dongying and Gaoli.

Furthermore, the most advanced knowledge of Great Song was not in the various Colleges, but in the Research Institute.

This was equivalent to the College only providing undergraduate-level knowledge.

But to master knowledge at the graduate level or higher, one had to enter the Research Institute after graduation to continue their studies.

Therefore, even if Gaoli and Dongying sent people to study abroad, they could only stop at the College.

What they could master would be nothing more than the surface.

Moreover, he would try his best to guide them toward the liberal arts departments of the College to learn things like languages and government affairs.

Of course, he could also refuse this request.

But just like blocking water, the water would spread to other places.

It was hard to guarantee they wouldn't secretly bribe people from Great Song going to Dongying, asking them to teach the knowledge from the College.

As Great Song's future demand for external exploration grew, more and more people would inevitably leave Great Song.

To say there wouldn't be a single profit-seeking person among them was impossible.

Or, they might simply send people to the Western Lands in secret, which would then give the Western Lands influence in Dongying again.

Since that was the case, it was better to generously allow them to send their children to study in Great Song, and even make them feel indebted.

Thinking of this, he said, "I agree to your request, but let me state the ugly truth first: you will cover the costs of studying abroad yourselves. If they violate the laws in Great Song, they will be punished according to the law, and I will not be lenient."

Those who could go to Great Song to study abroad would inevitably be the children of the elite in Dongying and Gaoli.

They lived extravagantly, and by paying their own expenses, they could provide Great Song with a group of big-spending consumers.

As for his warning, it was to make them tuck their tails and behave, and not cause trouble in Great Song.

"That is only natural." Beitiao Chuanqing nodded repeatedly, his heart filled with wild joy.

As the two were speaking, the sound of Ono and the other two requesting an audience came from outside.

Zhao Xu shook his head and said to Beitiao Chuanqing, "When you go out, just tell them word for word what I told you."

"Yes, Your Highness." Beitiao Chuanqing bowed and left with his two daughters.

After Beitiao Chuanqing left, Zhao Xu went to sleep.

The next day, he set off to return to Yancheng.

Yang He and the official merchants remained behind to continue discussing trade matters.

When returning to Yancheng, as Zhao Xu passed through the sea territory of Yanzhou, he ordered the Steamship to sail along the Dapu River and made a trip to the Gaoli royal capital.

Likewise, in the presence of the King of Gaoli, he granted the request to send students abroad.

"Thank you for your great grace, Your Highness." The King of Gaoli was inexplicably surprised, "I shall immediately order the Crown Prince to head to Yancheng for his studies."

Zhao Xu nodded, and then, accompanied by the King of Gaoli, he inspected the Great Song garrison in Rang City.

Afterward, he summoned the Great Song official merchants in Rang City to inquire about their business operations in Gaoli.

Naturally, the focus was on whether they had been harassed by Gaoli officials.

"Please set your heart at ease, Your Highness. We are like fish in water here. Currently, the important mineral deposits in Gaoli have all been secured by us, and the largest grain merchants, cloth merchants, salt merchants, and so on, are all our people," the official merchants said.

Upon hearing this, Zhao Xu felt relieved.

By controlling the trade of Gaoli and Dongying in this way, he would bring the enormous profits obtained from both countries back to Great Song.

In this way, both countries would lack the capital to establish their own industries, and their common people would remain in poverty.

And this was precisely a part of his plan.

The development of Great Song's industry required a massive industrial population.

Especially after entering the Second Industrial Revolution, the required industrial population would grow exponentially.

By then, Great Song would face a severe labor shortage.

However, he naturally would not bring in people from these two countries to serve as the industrial population.

Instead, he would hand the work of mining ore and building the Railway to them, allowing the people of Great Song to be liberated and enter the Workshop to participate in industrial production, thereby maximizing industrial profits.

As for the common people of Gaoli and Dongying, he would not directly enslave them; they would enter Great Song in the form of recruited laborers, receiving meager wages to replace Great Song people in mining and road paving.

After all, it would be a real waste not to utilize the combined forty million population of the two countries.