Chapter 788 Qu Sheng's Breakthrough
"This time, the king asked you to come for the southward movement. You should order the royal army to prepare, and it is time to unify Dasong. Reading" Zhao Xu said slowly, looking at the Dasong Mountains and Rivers Map hanging on the wall.
He had both the timing and morality to go south this time.
First of all, the timing, the core of the East Earth Alliance is Japan.
Just like the war in Goryeo, in the entire East Earth Alliance, only Japan can send troops to support Wu.
This is why he waited until the British fleet was annihilated and Japan was crippled before deciding to go south.
First, without the British fleet, Japan was trapped by him, and it was impossible to transport soldiers to Wu or provide any other support.
Second, the Yanzhou fleet seized the maritime hegemony, which was equivalent to cutting off the trade route between Wu and Britain and cutting off their blood transfusion channel.
Although Britain was aware of this problem, it colluded with Frank and prepared to export firearms to Wu from land.
But after all, the road conditions in this era were extremely poor, and transportation was extremely inconvenient.
In the past, they could provide 100% support, but now they can provide 30%.
As for morality, he once had an agreement with Wu State to divide the river and govern separately, and neither side would offend the other.
Although this was just his delaying tactic, it was Wu State that first tore up this tacit agreement.
Therefore, he also occupied the commanding heights in morality.
Moreover, he represented the court of Dasong, which was the royal orthodoxy.
"I think it's time to take action against Jiangnan." Chang Wei heard this and laughed.
After a pause, he said: "Your Highness, to put it bluntly, Jiangnan is now the eggs of Dasong exposed outside. Anyone can pinch them. If you don't put them back in your crotch, you will continue to suffer."
Zhao Xu nodded. Chang Wei's words were rough but not unreasonable. This was also his idea.
Unlike the traditional feudal dynasty civil strife in the past, there was no interference from foreign forces.
He happened to catch up with this era of rampant powers.
So he knew that if he couldn't take Jiangnan now, it would only become more and more troublesome to take it in the future.
Because this is also a critical period from the first industrial revolution to the second industrial revolution.
With the advancement of technology, the cost of war will also increase.
"What are you waiting for? Go back and mobilize troops to take Jiangnan back for me!" Zhao Xu said loudly.
"Yes, Your Highness." Chang Wei saluted Zhao Xu and strode away.
After Chang Wei's figure disappeared, Zhao Xu ordered someone to send an order to Zhou Yi.
Before the royal army went south, he planned to slap Liang Kai in the face and take the northern part of Yizhou.
As for the south, he would depend on the attitude of the Portuguese.
If the Portuguese joined the British camp against him, he would naturally attack the city of Marka.
If he did not join the British camp, he would give them a buffer time after the British and the British won the battle in the East, so that they could withdraw from the East colony with dignity, but would allow them to continue normal trade in the East.
Of course, Zhao Xu's attitude towards the Portuguese was actually full of pessimism.
During the Opium War, no Western country supported the Qing Dynasty.
Even in modern times, Western countries tend to be consistent in curbing the Eastern powers.
After all, during the Western monarchy period, the royal families of various countries often intermarried, and there was some blood relationship.
When they had internal conflicts, they would fight each other, but when faced with completely different civilizations, they would often pair up like jackals.
Moreover, the territory of the Portuguese was in the Western Land, too far away from the Eastern Land, and I am afraid that they would not be able to withstand the pressure from other Western countries in the end.
However, it didn't matter.
In the process of his leading the rise of Dasong, he would inevitably compete with Western countries for colonies.
This is the essential contradiction, which cannot be reconciled.
He was not willing to fight with the Portuguese for the time being, but just wanted to place a chess piece in the strategy to see if this chess piece could work.
He was thinking about it, when Feng'er reported to Qu Sheng that he wanted to see him.
Hearing this, Zhao Xu was stunned. Since Qu Sheng was busy researching fulminate of mercury, he hadn't seen him for a long time.
At this moment, Qu Sheng asked for an audience, and he vaguely guessed something. He was delighted and immediately let Qu Sheng in.
Not long after, Qu Sheng came in in a blue shirt.
Although he was much thinner than before, Qu Sheng looked excited and there seemed to be light in his eyes.
When he saw Zhao Xu, he said, "I have developed fulminate of mercury, and now we can switch from the laboratory to workshop production."
"Thank you for your hard work. You have made a great contribution this time." Zhao Xu stood up and patted Qu Sheng on the shoulder.
This fulminate of mercury is the earliest detonator, which was born in 1814.
In this regard, Yanzhou is behind the West. Feiwen mentioned to him that the British army is currently equipped with a small number of percussion caps, replacing flint firing.
Because flint firing has a misfire rate, and percussion cap firing is more stable.
The main component of this percussion cap is fulminate of mercury.
With fulminate of mercury, Yanzhou can not only manufacture percussion caps, but can even go a step further and achieve a leap in muskets, such as manufacturing breech-loading percussion rifles.
In contemporary history, relying on percussion caps, the first breech-loading needle-percussion rifle was born in 1836.
Therefore, it is completely no problem to produce such rifles with Yanzhou's current industrial level.
And in the drawings he gave to Wang Ying, there is such a design drawing for a breech-loading needle-percussion rifle.
It's just that because there is no percussion cap, even if Wang Ying makes it, it is meaningless.
But now the conditions are ripe, and the Armory can start the research and development of breech-loading needle-percussion rifles.
In addition, there is another reason why he is so happy.
That is when fighting against the powerful and Japanese, the secret of the conical bullet cannot be hidden.
Whether it was the British or the Sam people, they must have obtained conical bullets.
At present, when the industrial level is comparable, in fact, the gap between the weapons of the two sides is sometimes just a whim.
Because of this, in the contemporary nineteenth century, during World War I and even World War II, once a certain weapon appeared on the other side, the other side would immediately imitate it.
Therefore, he can be sure that once they verify the benefits of tapered bullets, it will not take long for the Western and Turkish countries to initiate a revolution in firearms.
The army is equipped with a large number of rifled guns similar to those of the royal army.
By then their advantage in musketry was diminished.
In order to deal with this problem, the development of percussion guns is imperative.
"I just feel embarrassed that it took me so long to master the synthesis of mercury fulminate." Qu Sheng sighed.
He has always been competing with Wang Chong, but now he feels that he is increasingly inferior to him.
Zhao Xu saw Qu Sheng's thoughts and said: "Don't think so, you and Wang Chong are equally important. It's just that the things Wang Chong does are more eye-catching, so he seems to be famous, while the things you do are often hidden behind the scenes and appear to be... It’s just inconspicuous, but in fact, all walks of life cannot do without you.”
Hearing this, Qu Sheng nodded slowly, feeling warm in his heart.
Only King Yan understood them so well.
Zhao Xu patted Qu Sheng's shoulder again, "This time I will reward your chemistry laboratory with 10,000 taels of silver. Please keep up the good work."
Mercury, including many other chemical agents, are toxic.
It is not easy to give birth to them, and with the advancement of industry in the future, more and more places will require various chemical reagents.
We should take them seriously and give them the same treatment as physics laboratories.
After chatting with Qu Sheng for a while, Qu Sheng left.
Zhao Xu sent people to the Military Department to tell Wang Ying the news, and at the same time ordered Wang Ying to start the development of breech-loading guns.