Chapter 918: Waves in the Southeast

"Your Highness, you have finally returned. This is intelligence sent back from Tianzhu."

The Prince's study.

Zhao Xu stayed in Gaoli for one day before returning to Yancheng.

He had just arrived at the Prince's mansion when Xu Ke arrived right on his heels.

"Tianzhu?" Zhao Xu's eyes flickered.

With the Da Song nation unified and having pacified Dongying, he was just preparing to focus on dealing with the Western Lands Allied Forces invading Dongtu.

This intelligence from Tianzhu brought by Xu Ke could not have been more timely.

"Yes. Because the Liang Family previously had frequent trade dealings with Tianzhu, there were some merchants in Tianzhu who were dependent on the Liang Family. I bribed three of them, and later dispatched agents to infiltrate Tianzhu, ordering them to work under these merchants to cover their identities," Xu Ke said.

After a pause, he continued, "While in Tianzhu, they also adopted some Tianzhu beggar children and trained them to become informants."

Zhao Xu nodded; the profession of spying was extremely dangerous.

It was already quite impressive that the Four Courts could extend their intelligence tentacles as far as Tianzhu.

"Furthermore, the agents you previously ordered me to dispatch to infiltrate the Western Lands have also made progress. Just as you said, Australia has exiled many Britain convicts. With the cooperation of the Navy, I have rounded up some and am currently training them, hoping they will be of use in the future," Xu Ke added.

"That is excellent. You, this intelligence chief, are becoming more and more qualified," Zhao Xu laughed.

Following this, he opened the intelligence Xu Ke had delivered, searching for the information he wanted.

After a long while, he closed the document and turned to look at the location of Tianzhu on the map.

The information in the intelligence was very detailed.

The number of Coalition forces that had arrived in Tianzhu this time reached as many as one hundred thousand, all stationed in Tianzhu.

This was because only Tianzhu could support these one hundred thousand troops.

In addition, there was information regarding the number of support warships.

This had greatly enhanced the naval power of the Western Lands in Dongtu, even surpassing the Great Song Navy in the number of warships.

"This intelligence was sent continuously over the last five days; this is the intelligence from within five days of the Coalition arriving in Tianzhu. The intelligence from the final day indicates that the Governor of Tianzhu, Bolt, summoned the kings of the Tianzhu native states and, in conjunction with them, delivered sixty-four Steam Engines to the workshops in Tianzhu. It is possible they are training native state troops to assist them in combat," Xu Ke analyzed.

"Very likely," Zhao Xu said, combining this with contemporary history and reaching the same conclusion as Xu Ke.

In the contemporary two Opium Wars, the figures of Indian native state troops were present.

In that preserved photograph of the Eight-Nation Alliance, there were Indians.

At that time, they participated in this war as the British collaborative force.

Precisely because of this, contemporary Indians claimed to have defeated the Great Qing and took pride in it.

During the First Opium War, there were actually two battlefields.

One was on the coast of Guangdong, and the other was in Tibet.

At that time, the Indian native state kings once invaded Tibet from three routes.

They were so proactive, firstly, to win the British people's support for their rule over the native states.

Secondly, these native states planted poppies and manufactured opium; the Great Qing's ban on smoking damaged their interests.

Thirdly, they relied on the support of the Western Lands nations, their mentality inflated, believing themselves to be members of the Great Powers.

It was precisely because of this precedent that Zhao Xu naturally believed the Tianzhu people here would also fail to recognize their own standing and dare to pluck hair from a tiger.

"If Britain is like this, then Frank, Stedan, and Folangji must have followed suit."

Zhao Xu pressed his hand over the entire East Land Southern Region.

These places were all under the control of Westerners.

Moreover, Jiaozhi and Piaoman had always had extremely poor relations with Da Song and were full of ambition for Da Song's land.

At this time, if Westerners provided them with firearms and Artillery, I fear they would immediately become the vanguard against Da Song.

Contemporary history had already fully proven this fact.

No matter how the eras changed, Jiaozhi and Piaoman only had two states.

Either they were beaten by the Central Plains dynasty until they cried for their parents, paying tribute and submitting.

Or they frequently launched wars, invading the borders of Da Song.

"It must be so. Once they are prepared, I fear Jiaozhou and Yunzhou will no longer be peaceful," Xu Ke frowned.

Hearing this, Zhao Xu suddenly smiled and patted Xu Ke on the shoulder, "When the time comes, it won't be us who are not peaceful, but them."

The barbarians fear power but do not cherish virtue.

For nations like Jiaozhi and Piaoman, if you don't give them a sound thrashing, they will not be honest.

Therefore, simply driving the Western Lands troops out of their lands would not achieve the goal of subduing them.

Only by personally beating them will it suffice.

Previously, due to being alert, he had already let the armies of Jiaozhou and Yunzhou cooperate with the Four Courts to map out the terrain and road conditions.

Even if they did not cause trouble, he was going to head south anyway.

He absolutely would not allow unstable factors at his doorstep.

This time, it was equivalent to the Westerners creating an opportunity for him.

"Your Highness is absolutely right," Xu Ke thought for a moment and felt relieved.

It seemed his worries were somewhat redundant.

Even the firearms and Artillery of the Western Lands troops were a full generation behind them.

Now they appeared to be in a defensive posture, but in reality, it was an offensive posture with room to spare.

The two were just talking.

Suddenly, Feng'er walked in and handed a slip of paper to Zhao Xu.

This was information transcribed from the Wired Telegraph, coming from Jinghai.

At present, the Wired Telegraph had long since extended to this place.

The Telegraph says that the navy is escorting a British Steamship toward Yancheng.

On this ship are the envoys sent by the British.