Prime Minister Li Jiu, Governor He Feng, Cabinet Minister Xu Huaiying, Chief of General Staff Zhao Zhifang and more than a dozen important officials of Shu were summoned.

When they saw a huge sand table placed in the palace, they knew that the matter discussed today was related to war.

When cabinet minister Xu Huaiying saw the sand table, he looked a little more relaxed and said in a slightly excited tone: "The king has finally made up his mind. This is a good thing."

People in his group believe that the Shu Kingdom is not strong enough and must wait and see first, and must not be the first to take the lead.

But they also knew that if the Shu Kingdom continued to fight among themselves, they would miss the opportunity to take sides.

Before the war, European countries all joined forces to find their allies.

No matter how powerful the Shu Kingdom is, it is impossible to fight against its neighboring countries alone. It must form alliances with countries that have no conflicts of interest.

Although they, officials from different factions, have different ideas, they are determined to serve the country.

The choices they made were all in the hope that Shu would have a better future.

If the Kingdom of Shu is really dead, ordinary people will accept the rule of other countries, and their interests will not be harmed much.

Everyone is Han Chinese, and there is no harsh policy towards ordinary people.

Because they are of the same race, ordinary people have no resistance to the rule of other countries.

For these dignitaries who are deeply bound to the Shu Kingdom, the losses will be immeasurable once the Shu Kingdom falls.

The most they can do is ensure that their lives are safe, and all their money and power will be deprived of them.

New countries will only share power with their die-hard supporters.

Because of the demise of Shu, their aristocratic status will also be banned.

Even if you escape in advance, you will just be an ordinary rich man, and it will be difficult to integrate into the local aristocratic circle.

King Qian Mingyi of Shu saw all the ministers of Shu arriving.

He then walked to the sand table, looked at these ministers and said: "Due to emergencies, Shu has to make a choice about its future strategy."

Cabinet Minister Xu Huaiying heard Shu King Qian Mingyi say this. The result was basically the same as his guess, but the reason was different.

He originally thought that King Qian Mingyi of Shu was trying to reconcile the internal conflicts in Shu.

Now it seems that there is an unexpected situation, and Shu King Qian Mingyi has to make a choice.

In this emergency situation, the confidentiality level is very high.

The cabinet was not informed in advance.

Xu Huaiying glanced at the Governor He Feng and the Chief of General Staff Zhao Zhifang. They also looked confused.

Not only the cabinet but also the Metropolitan Government knew nothing about this unexpected situation.

When Grand Governor He Feng saw this sand table, he thought that this matter was obviously related to the military.

He immediately stood up and asked: "Your Majesty, may I ask what emergencies have arisen in our country.

The Metropolitan Governor's Office will adjust the army's arrangements based on the latest situation."

King Qian Mingyi of Shu waved his hand, and immediately a yellow-haired eunuch took the information about the Hongshanling Iron Mine and handed it to these important officials of Shu.

Prime Minister Li Jiu took this information and read it carefully.

When he saw the discovery of large-scale iron mines in Shu Kingdom, he was immediately overjoyed.

As the Prime Minister of the Cabinet, he certainly knew the underlying reasons why Shu wanted to develop industry but could not.

Because of the technology transfer from the empire, vassal countries will not lack technology when developing industry.

The funds needed to develop industry can still be squeezed out of certain projects.

The most fundamental reason for the poor industrial development of Shu is the lack of raw materials, especially the iron ore needed for steelmaking.

Only the empire can conduct free trade with the major vassal states.

Trade barriers between vassal states were very serious.

Even if they have excess of high-quality iron ore, they will only sell it to the empire and never to other vassal states to enhance the strength of their competitors.

But for vassal states located elsewhere, trade barriers will not be so severe.

But the situation of Shu was not very good, so they tried to buy iron ore from Wei.

The waterway from Shu to the Atlantic Ocean was blocked by Rui and Song.

The customs of these two countries have refused to allow freighters transporting iron ore to pass through customs for various reasons.

Especially the Song Dynasty, which did not have much local iron ore, and failed to compete with the Shu Kingdom for iron ore in the colony, had a strong demand for iron ore, and directly intercepted the iron ore shipped to the Shu Kingdom.

It is precisely because of this incident that the relationship between Shu, Rui and Song has not been very good.

After reading the information, Prime Minister Li Jiu sighed: "This is good news. The only bad thing is that the Hongshanling area is relatively sensitive.

It is disputed territory between us and Switzerland.

Although this area is now controlled by our country, once the news of the large-scale iron mine is leaked.

Switzerland will definitely send troops to compete with us for ownership of this area.

This iron mine is just the icing on the cake for Switzerland.

But for our country, it goes without saying that it is important. It is related to whether our industry can rise.

Our country cannot give up on this iron mine from any angle.

Losing this iron mine would be equivalent to having our country's backbone broken, and it would be out of the European war before it breaks out."

Prime Minister Li Jiu characterized this matter in advance. He believed that there were no capitulationists among the top officials of the Shu Kingdom.

But he used words to block any possible capitulationists.

The emergence of the Hongshanling Iron Mine also forced the Shu Kingdom to implement their faction's preemptive strategy.

The news of iron ore mining could not be concealed, and the Shu Kingdom vigorously developed industry and reduced its dependence on foreign industrial products.

This action will also make the already fragile European trading system even more precarious.

The deterioration of relations between countries usually stems from conflicts of interest.

Trade conflicts are also a type of conflict of interest.

Relations between Shu and neighboring countries will further deteriorate.

After Prime Minister Li Jiu finished speaking, he saw that everyone else was immersed in shock about this incident.

This is also human nature. Even their faction wants to take a preemptive strike and expand the living space for Shu.

But I could not have predicted in advance that the war would come so quickly.

They had previously optimistically estimated that the war would break out in two or three years.

The pressure of various countries can no longer be concealed, and the internal conflicts of various countries must be resolved through the pressure relief valve of war.

This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Now it seems that the war will break out within a year, and the speed of the outbreak depends on the speed of iron ore mining in Shu.

Shu is still an agricultural country, and weapons and ammunition cannot meet the consumption of the army.

Weapons and ammunition can be purchased from the empire. They are neighboring countries and can be transported by rail and road. As long as you have money, there will be no shortage of military supplies.

What is the most outstanding thing about an agricultural country? It is poverty.

The Shu Kingdom relied on the Empire, the largest industrial country, and it had no effect.

The Shu Kingdom currently has no money in its treasury to support this war.

Prime Minister Li Jiu looked at the officials present and was shocked by this situation.

In addition to being surprised by the scale and location of the Hongshanling Iron Mine, I was even more worried that the Shu Kingdom was short of money and lost the war.

He signaled with his eyes to the Grand Governor He Feng, asking him to express his attitude as soon as possible.

With the existence of the Hongshanling Iron Mine, the only strategy the Shu Kingdom could choose was theirs.

The competition between the two factions of the Shu Kingdom for the development route is so fierce, which also involves huge interests.

The officials they sent were preparing for a large-scale war to break out in Shu.

Once this happens, because they have prepared in advance, all their subordinates will be promoted because of their outstanding performance.

On the contrary, if they make a mistake in judgment and invest resources in the wrong place, the entire faction will collapse and be at a disadvantage in the competition.

Governor He Feng received a signal from Prime Minister Li Jiu.

He put down the information in his hand, stood up and said: "Your Majesty, our motherland is indeed not as powerful as Rui.

But our Shu Kingdom also has the strength to fight.

Switzerland still doesn't know about the Hongshanling Iron Mine. We have enough time to build fortifications and mobilize the army.

Using intention to defeat unintentional and unexpected results can achieve very good results.

The armies of both countries are all composed of the backbone talents of the Imperial Royal Army as officers and trained immigrant Han recruits.

The weapons used by our two armies are also machine guns and cannons.

There is no generational difference between weapons, so it is impossible to shoot a long grass with a machine gun.
To be continued...