Chapter 626: Vertical and Horizontal

"Your Highness, Master Xu would like to see you. Read"

Zhao Xu and Dong An were discussing their mission when Feng'er appeared at the door of the study.

Zhao Xu nodded and motioned for Xu Hark to come in.

Not long after, Xu Ke arrived at the study, bowed and said: "Your Highness, I have just received the news that Qi State, Xie Family, Nanliang State, Wu State, and Nanping State have agreed to meet in Lu on the 29th of this month. City Alliance."

"Moreover, I also got the key reason for the success of Qi's alliance. They promised to sell flintlock guns to other powerful tribes, and promised to teach them the manufacturing skills of flintlock guns after jointly sending troops to attack Yanzhou."

Hearing this, Zhao Xu frowned. During this period, he had been asking Xu Hark to keep an eye on the Qi State's unification.

He still felt a little bit strange that Qi Guo could conclude treaties with other powerful tribes so smoothly.

After all, if they really shared the same hatred, they wouldn't have been fighting independently and watching indifferently for so long.

Now, the information provided by Tsui Hark suddenly made him realize.

"It turns out that the flintlock gun made the powerful people excited." Zhao Xu's eyes narrowed.

Dong An said: "Japan is really willing to spend a lot of money. I think that the frame-up of the Black Shark pirates is almost entirely done by Japan. Japan simply wants to kill us all more than Beidi."

"This is because they, like Beidi, want to destroy Dasong and invade our territory." Zhao Xu pointed out the key points directly.

Many Yanzhou officials cannot understand why an island country separated from Dasong by the vast sea wants to fight with Yanzhou desperately.

This is because they have little information and do not understand the cruel world outside Dasong.

"How arrogant." Tsui Hark snorted, "Your Highness, in this case, we cannot let the Japanese people's plan succeed."

"This is natural. The king asked Dong An to come here just to deal with this matter." Zhao Xu said.

Xu Ke was delighted, "Has your Highness found a way to break the alliance between powerful families?"

Zhao Xu smiled and nodded, "I didn't originally, but the news you sent gave me an idea."

After a pause, he continued: "In my opinion, Japan and Qi are carrying out two alliances at the same time. The first is to unite the powerful clans, and the second is to unite the Western countries. Dong An, you are still I am responsible for resolving the alliance at sea and the alliance between the powerful clans."

After that, he asked Dong An to go back and prepare, leaving Xu Hark alone.

After pondering for a while, he said: "I want you to create some chaos in the Bing Zhang Division and leak the manufacturing blueprints of the flintlock gun."

Of course, when he said creating chaos, he didn't really create chaos, but put on a show for the powerful informants in Yancheng.

After all, they have been keeping an eye on Bingzhangsi, hoping to obtain the manufacturing process of firearms.

And this is his way to resolve the alliance between the powerful clans. It is obvious that the fragile relationship between the powerful clans this time relies on flintlock guns.

In this case, he simply told the world about the process of making flintlock guns.

In this way, other powerful tribes who get flintlock guns will not be led by Qi and Japan.

Because their bargaining chip has lost its effect.

By then, even if the alliance between the powerful tribes can still be maintained, other powerful tribes will no longer be restrained by Qi and Japan because of the flintlock.

Once a war breaks out, they will be like the six countries attacking Qin, fighting on their own and vulnerable.

When Tsui Hark heard this, he was stunned for a while and immediately figured out the connection.

He said: "Although it is a pity, it is still a good idea."

At this moment, the rifled guns of the royal army were more than a little higher than the flintlock guns.

Not only the royal family's soldiers, but also the muskets given to the Ma family are now rifled guns.

Smoothbore breaking guns are basically eliminated.

It is still cost-effective to use this obsolete method of making firearms to break up the alliance between the powerful tribes.

After all, even if they don't leak it intentionally, Japan and Qi will give it to them, and Japan even wants to take advantage of the opportunity to make a profit.

After deciding on this matter, Zhao Xu gave Xu Ke a handwriting order asking him to go see Wang Ying.

Without his orders, no one can mess around in Bingzhangsi, and Tsui Hark is no exception.

But that night, Bingzhangsi suddenly burst into flames.

A carriage broke through the guards' obstruction and escaped from the military commander's office.

In the dark night, the carriage sped along, and due to the bumps, many drawings were scattered on the carriage.

As if eager to escape, the carriage did not stop and headed west.

At this moment, several people suddenly rushed out from different alleys.

They each picked up the drawings on the ground and suddenly disappeared into the alley before the chasing cavalry arrived.

The next day.

The government office posted an arrest warrant early in the morning to arrest the enemy.

Upon seeing this, Xizuo, a powerful clan member, quickly fled Yancheng with the blueprints.

"Your Highness, it's done." When Xi Zuo, a powerful clan member, fled with the drawings, Tsui Hark came to the palace.

"Well, next, I want to see how these powerful clans can form an alliance!" Zhao Xu sneered.

When Tsui Hark discovered these details, he originally wanted to kill them all.

But he stopped Tsui Hark.

The reason is very simple. If these craftsmen die, the powerful clan will still send them.

And it will be more secretive then, and it will take a lot of effort to check it out.

Therefore, it is better to control than to kill.

Furthermore, you can also use them to achieve your own goals at any time, such as this incident.

He can even pass false information to these agents in the future.

"By the way, as the saying goes, don't reciprocate. Now that they have made a move, I have to show my sword. During this period, I need you to spread Japan's wolf ambitions towards Da Song and cause the powerful people to be wary and dissatisfied with them. trust."

"At the same time, the Liang family once wanted to take over the Yizhou area controlled by Japan. Obviously, they have many conflicts with Japan. This king wants you to provoke conflicts between the two families and try to cause conflicts between them." Zhao Xu said.

At present, he is not on good terms with the powerful families, but it does not mean that he has no common interests with any powerful family.

Among them, the Liang family hates Japan as much as he does. Perhaps, he can use this matter to further divide the powerful families.

And the Liang family is quite far away from Yanzhou, which also conforms to the basic geopolitical strategy of making friends with distant countries and attacking nearby countries.

"Yes, Your Highness." Xu Ke's eyes flashed with a cold light.

The Fourth Court originally provided intelligence to the King of Yan and did dirty work.

In the past two years, as the Fourth Court grew stronger, he believed that he could fully undertake this task at the moment.

After discussing some details, Xu Ke got up and left.

As soon as he left, Wang Chong came over.

"Your Highness, I have good news for you." Wang Chong said.

Since the Yanzhou government system and the court system were integrated, Wang Chong also called himself a minister.

Seeing Wang Chong, Zhao Xu felt much better.

At least he always brings good news.

"Oh? Tell me about it." Zhao Xu said. Wang Chong has many projects at hand, and he doesn't know which one has made a breakthrough.

Wang Chong chuckled and said, "After I used the steam engine to blow air, the quality of both the iron and steel has improved a lot. I think we can try the converter steelmaking method. After all, the most important thing about this method is the amount of oxygen. Now the amount of air is large, and the oxygen is sufficient."

Zhao Xu smiled with satisfaction.

If this step can be successful, the steel production in Yanzhou will increase explosively.

It will greatly alleviate the surge in steel demand with the emergence of steam engines.

In the future, it will be no problem to manufacture steam locomotives and lay railways.