Chapter 962: Asking About Governance

In the quiet Council Hall, Zhao Xu's voice was clear and impassioned.

Upon hearing this, the ministers could not help but feel a stir in their hearts.

Wang Ying bowed and said, "Yes, Your Highness. I shall send men to deliver the bullets as soon as I return."

Zhao Xu nodded, calming the excitement that had risen within him due to the metal bullets and hand-cranked machine guns.

After discussing a few more military matters, Zhao Xu turned his gaze to Liu Fu and inquired about the progress of various projects within Da Song.

"Reporting to Your Highness, the Yanjin Railway has just been completed. After testing, the entire line can be opened to traffic. The construction of the Yan-Jin Railway extending south to Sizhou and toward Qinzhou is also underway. In addition, the railway heading south to Song City is also under construction and has currently reached Yi City..." Liu Fu spoke fluently while holding a booklet.

Since Yan Wang had returned, he would certainly ask about internal affairs, so he had naturally prepared in advance.

"Regarding water transport, after the civilian Shipyard went into production, I ordered the Commerce Department to purchase the first batch of five hundred transport Steamships from the Shipyard to establish government-run inland river and maritime transport firms, so as to strengthen the transport efficiency within Da Song and promote overseas trade."

"Regarding industry, this month, the Workshop Districts planned by another nine commanderies and eighteen counties were officially completed and put into production. This includes the specialty industries of each prefecture and commandery; for example, three counties in Jinzhou added four coal mines, and Lai County in Qizhou added one gold mine..." Liu Fu continued to recite as if counting his own family treasures.

Zhao Xu listened attentively; so-called specialty industries were industries established based on the different resource advantages of each region.

Regions rich in coal resources naturally had coal mines, and places with abundant iron ore naturally had iron mines.

Places with plenty of quartz sand established large Glass factories, and so on.

In this way, the manpower and material resources consumed during the transport of resources could be reduced.

"For the sake of the industrial construction in Jiangnan, I ordered the northern prefectures to provide one-on-one assistance to the Jiangnan prefectures to rebuild Jiangnan as quickly as possible." Having said this, Liu Fu paused and looked at Zhao Xu.

Since this was a decision he had made himself, he was unsure if Yan Wang would approve.

"Very good," Zhao Xu uttered two words.

Back when he took the commanderies of Yanzhou, he had let other commanderies emulate the model of Yan Commandery.

Liu Fu had carried this model forward.

Upon hearing this, Liu Fu let out a breath and continued to report on other matters, "Regarding education, the number of students entering Public Schools in Da Song has reached 1.6 million according to statistics, but because there are so many Public Schools, it has led to a shortage of teachers."

"To make up for this deficiency, following Your Highness's wishes, I have instructed the Education Department to urgently set up Normal Night Schools in each county to train a batch of teachers who have mastered subjects such as Mathematics, Chemistry, and Physics. Formal Normal Universities are also under construction, and the Key Universities in each commandery requested by Your Highness are also being prepared; some campuses will be completed by next summer."

Zhao Xu nodded slightly, signaling for Liu Fu to continue.

"Regarding agriculture, the promotion of Potato, Sweet Potato, Corn, and Chili Pepper in Jiangbei has gone very smoothly. Many counties have cooperated with local commoners to establish Planting Demonstration Zones, and the overall scale is considerable. As for traditional rice and wheat, because of the investment in Steam Shovels to dig trenches and provide water, poor fields have turned into fertile ones, and an increase in harvest next year is a certainty."

"Furthermore, with the assistance of steam tractors, the amount of farmland reclaimed this year has increased by thirty percent. If this can be sustained, Da Song's fields will be very abundant." When Liu Fu read to this point, his face was full of joy.

Agriculture is the foundation of the country, and he was most happy to see the growth of farmland.

Next, Liu Fu spoke about the construction of Wired Power Stations and other matters.

This presentation lasted for half an hour.

However, neither Zhao Xu nor the ministers felt bored; instead, everyone looked spirited.

Because this was the Da Song they yearned for.

"Everything is developing in a positive direction. Precisely because of this, we must firmly protect these hard-won development achievements and must not let the flames of war reignite on the soil of Da Song. In this regard, the military must shoulder the heavy responsibility!" Zhao Xu clenched his fists and looked at the generals including Chang Wei.

It was an undeniable fact that the prerequisite for development must be the guarantee of military force.

Otherwise, no matter how glorious the construction, it would be smashed to pieces by the enemy.

His implication,

was naturally the current encirclement of Da Song by foreign enemies.

"Your Highness, this general requests to personally go to Yongzhou to hold the fort; I will never let the enemy wreak havoc on Da Song and destroy the development of Da Song," Chang Wei said sternly.

To him, the only place where things might go wrong at present was Yongzhou.

He had long wanted to go, but Yan Wang had not returned, and he needed to preside over the overall situation in Yanzhou.

Now that Yan Wang had returned, he could go with peace of mind.

With Yan Wang in Yancheng, he could handle the overall coordination.

The Prince's Mansion's Wired Power Station was connected to all places.

Except for the south, which could not directly reach Jiaozhou and Yunzhou, the northern border passes could basically be commanded directly through the Wired Power Station.

"Good," Zhao Xu agreed to this matter.

Although Da Song had the upper hand over the opponent in both firearms and Artillery.

However, the military force mobilized by the opponent this time was far greater than the military force of Da Song.

According to the intelligence they currently possessed.

Jiaozhi had gathered a force of 200,000, Piaoman had gathered 300,000, and Nanzhang and Funanguo had weak national strength but had still scraped together forces of 50,000 and 80,000 respectively.

The south alone had a force of 630,000, and this did not include the Tianzhu forces that might support them at any time, nor the Western Lands Allied Forces.

As for the line from Tibet to Ningjin Dusi, the most significant ones were naturally the forces of Ashuer and Mule Hongzhen.

In order to destroy Da Song in this encirclement, Ashuer and Mule Hongzhen had gone mad.

During his recovery from injury, Ashuer conscripted a large number of Tibetan serfs, while Muleihongzhen sent the children and women of the Northern Di people onto the battlefield.

And this also allowed the Northern Di to immediately rebuild the four royal tents he had destroyed.

Together with the Ashuer Tribe, they had the capability to deploy at least fourteen royal tents' worth of troops on the Hetao Plain.

In addition to this, there was the Expeditionary Army of the Ross kingdom hidden behind them.

This army of 30,000 people would inevitably participate in this war as well.

Therefore, this war must not be taken lightly.

After chatting with the ministers about some military and political affairs, it was noon.

Zhao Xu went to Wuji Palace with the ministers to hold a banquet and dine with Zhao Heng.

In the afternoon, he returned to the Prince's Mansion again.

When he reached the bedchamber, Yang Susu was just coming out of the room and almost bumped into him.

Seeing it was Zhao Xu, Yang Susu chided, "I prepared lunch and waited for Your Highness, but I never expected Your Highness to go to Wuji Palace again; the food is cold now."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Xu grinned, "It doesn't matter; I didn't eat my fill, I can still eat some more."

Yang Susu believed it to be true, shook her head, and said to Feng'er, who was standing by, "Feng'er, go heat up some dishes for His Highness."

Hearing this, Feng'er was about to leave, but Zhao Xu suddenly stopped her, leaned into Yang Susu's ear, and said, "This Prince does not eat such mundane things; I want to eat something pleasing to the eye."

For this past month or so, he had been living the life of a monk.

"Ah." Yang Susu instantly blushed from her face down to her neck.

Before she could react, she was swept up into Zhao Xu's arms...

Half an hour later, Yang Susu's exhausted voice sounded from inside, "His Highness is as vigorous as a dragon and fierce as a tiger; this concubine cannot handle it anymore. You should go find Feng'er and Luan'er; that can be considered sharing your favors equally."

Zhao Xu's chuckling laughter suddenly came from inside the bedchamber.

A sound of footsteps arose, and the delicate whispers of Feng'er and Luan'er drifted over from the side chamber connected to the bedchamber...

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