"Wen Liangchen, I have to explain something to you. I have appointed you as the chief military officer of the entire Takumi team, and the fourth prince is equivalent to the civil servants and supervisors in the army of the country."
Whether it is containment or checks and balances, Zhao Xi believes that Wen Liangchen can understand. Wen Liangchen was born in an old guard camp, and many of his ideas must have been deeply ingrained or imprinted in his heart after years of indoctrination.
"I obey the decree!"
"Okay. I grant you the right to read the secret reports of the Imperial City Department, the Capital Water Supervision and other related yamen. Please step aside..."
Wen Liangchen retreated, while the fourth prince was still standing there in a daze, thinking about the purpose of his father's arrangement.
"Can't figure it out?"
"Children don't dare."
"The reason why Wen Liangchen went to sea with you was because he was recommended by the old guard camp, Marshal Di, Marshal Zhong and others. Wen Liangchen is already a military commander at the level of a sixth-grade commander. He went to sea because he has experience in going to sea.
, and Wen Liangchen has the ability to take charge of the overall situation in terms of tactical literacy."
"He was following the emperor's orders, not responding to the recruitment orders of your rabble..."
The fourth son is a person who cannot clearly understand the situation and himself, but has some ideas. In Zhao Xi's opinion, the fourth son cannot be compared to the prince, or even the second son.
At the same time, such people often have room for growth due to their ambitions. As long as they accept lessons and put their minds aside, they may not be unable to achieve success.
Zhao Xi entrusted Wen Liangchen with important tasks in front of him, which was also a way to guide him to understand the situation. Of course, there was also a blow.
Zhao Xi can only do this if he can make the fourth prince realize something.
"If you are willing to cross the East China Sea and conquer Goryeo and Fusang, the prerequisite is that you have such strength."
"Dad, the child needs the support of the court!"
"Before Guochao regained Yanyun, it had no intention of getting involved beyond the East China Sea. Let me tell you, if it relies on its own efforts to establish territory outside the Guochao island chain strategy, the imperial court will implement a governor-general system to control the country.
Considerable rights.”
The princes of the dynasty do not have the authority to manage fiefdoms, and most of them are so-called remote management. The ambitions of the fourth princes are very interested in governing a territory.
Zhao Xi hoped that the experience of going to sea would help the fourth prince grow up and not kill his ambition.
Zhao Xi hopes that this nondescript team will eventually succeed in Goryeo and Fusang.
Once the second son has made some achievements in Annan, and the fourth son has also made achievements in Goryeo and Fusang, when the imperial court regains Yanyun... Zhao Xi will have no regrets about coming to this era.
······
The primary purpose of the fourth prince's expedition to the sea should be to capture Liuqiu first. This is not just a matter of revenge, but is determined by Liuqiu's geographical location.
Using Liuqiu as a base, the team has considerable advantages in going south to Nanyang, north to Goryeo, and east to Fusang... This is also the reason why Liuqiu gathers pirates.
When setting off for Liuqiu, it would be most convenient to go to sea from Mingzhou or Quanzhou, but because of the special nature of the team, it could only go to sea from Dengzhou.
Mingzhou, Quanzhou, and Guangzhou were, after all, gathering places for maritime merchants from both countries and dynasties. Such nondescript teams going to sea could easily arouse suspicion.
Even in Dengzhou, the huge fleet could only go to sea in batches, and even the styles of the warships were camouflaged.
There was no momentum or any ceremony like when the navy went out for an expedition. Dozens of warships just set out to sea scattered like that.
However, Zhao Xi seems to pay more attention to this team... Wang Zhong is coordinating everything in Dengzhou.
······
After the imperial court completed the matters of going to sea, the country entered a certain period of stable development. Except for the Imperial City Division adding some fishing boats and fishermen to explore, the imperial court had no other response.
"Zirong, what have you discovered about the distillation of stone esters?"
At the end of another meeting, Zhao Xi suddenly remembered asking Su Song to distill petroleum. During this period, the focus of affairs was on Tuohai, but he forgot about petroleum distillation.
"Back at home, I have been thinking about this matter recently. I found that after the stone ester is distilled, different oily substances will appear when cooled to different temperatures. After testing, I found that the first layer of kerosene bombs is used, or the first time.
Cooling oil...”
Zhao Xi actually doesn't understand the principle of petroleum distillation. According to Su Song, the so-called first layer should be gasoline. Zhao Xi knows that petroleum distillation will produce gasoline, kerosene, and diesel. As for whether asphalt is also distilled,
Zhao Xi doesn't know.
At this time, Zhao Xi was interested in taking a look.
"Dear elders, do you have any urgent government matters to deal with? If not, let's go to Gongfang City to have a look."
Petroleum distillation, now that the finished product of kerosene bombs has been produced, Su Song must be basically familiar with the characteristics of various oily substances after petroleum distillation.
Zhao Xi couldn't remember whether he told Su Song about the precautions for distilling petroleum...
The ministers originally thought that the materials that can make kerosene bombs should be in Gongfang City. After all, it is a new type of armament. But when they arrived in Gongfang City, they discovered that the workshop for distilling stone ester was built outside Gongfang City, near the Bianhe River.
On the sand.
"Very violent?"
Zhang Dun had seen the power of kerosene bombs, so he asked this question when he saw this situation.
"It was quite violent. The water leaked out during the first distillation. Three people died and five were seriously injured. Although these five people survived,... life is worse than death!"
Hearing what Su Song said, Zhao Xi was sure that he had never told Su Song about the characteristics of gasoline and kerosene. He felt quite ashamed.
These things can be completely avoided as long as you remind yourself a little.
"Zirong, will this thing turn into a fire if there is even a slight flame? And is it difficult to extinguish it with water?"
At this point, Zhao Xi could only pretend to understand but not understand.
"Back to the official house, it is indeed the case. It was also after Shen Tianci reminded me that I placed the distillery outside the city and set up heavy troops to guard it. After understanding the characteristics of these oily substances, I placed the guarding soldiers underground.
·······”
"Shen Tianci understands?"
"Returning to Wang Xiang, the real source is the book "Excessive Fantasy", so I read it through again. In the early years, I just found it novel when I read it. Now I read it again, but I have a lot of useful knowledge."
Mentioned in "Excessive Fantasy"? Zhao Xi was confused. It has been decades and many things cannot be remembered clearly. At that time, maybe he still remembered the original era very clearly...
Except for Wang Zhongzheng, there are few other insiders left who knew about the excessive fantasies of officials. The old captain of the Cao family is gone, and so are the old craftsmen who worked in the early days of Cuju Express when it was first published...
"Sima Zi Changgong was the first to mention the "Book of Mountains and Seas", but he thought the creatures in it were too ridiculous, so he did not use it as a reference when making history. The mention of iron in "The Book of Mountains and Seas" was not from the pre-Qin period, but now it seems that iron is just
Ordinary things.”
"Perhaps this fantasy is too much, and it is not a fantasy novel. It may also be written by strange people and spread among the people..."
Wang Anshi's explanation really left Zhao Xi helpless...