Chapter 517: The Conversation Across Thousands of Miles
"Thank you King Chu!" Shi Hui bowed to "Xianshi Zhiwen" with some bitterness.
In Chu State, even in formal occasions, it is enough to bow and bow, but Jiaozhou is obviously still practicing the old-fashioned ceremony.
As the eldest of Shi Xie's legitimate sons, Shi Hui had always thought that the biggest obstacle to his ascension to the throne was his father's longevity gene. Unexpectedly... his father actually left no way out for him.
, so he took refuge in Chu State!
This is completely different from what I said before!
Originally, even if the Shi clan wanted to surrender, they would at least ensure their influence in Jiaozhou...
But now, Shi Xie even wants to take Shi Hui with him to Jinling.
But at this point, Shi Hui had no choice. Originally, the only thing that Shi Hui could fight against was the reputation in Jiaozhou, and this reputation... 80% of it was due to Shi Xie alone!
Now that Shi Xie directly announced in "Xian Shi Zhi Wen" that he would seek refuge with the Chu State, what could Shi Hui do?
Not to mention that his father regards him very seriously, even if he were to raise an army now, he might not get any response from Jiaozhou.
As a Marquis of Guannei, Shi Hui was only granted the title of Marquis of Guannei. Although he would have the opportunity to succeed Long Bianhou in the future, even so, it was far different from Shi's previous expectations.
Especially when you think about the King of Nanyue who was granted the title of King of Nanyue by the Emperor of Han Dynasty...
At that time, Shi Hui expected Shi Xie to change his mind, but in the end Shi Xie resolutely chose the "Long Bianhou" of Chu State.
Even in terms of actual power, there was almost no preferential treatment. He just said, "Shi Shi has valuable experience in governing Jiaozhou, and will focus on appointing him in the future, and refer to his opinions." And this is not a polite word, and indeed there is no additional private commitment!
This can be said to be quite different from Shishi's initial expectations.
Shi Hui recalled that his father's attitude suddenly changed. It was after the Minister of Rites of Wei State invited him to enter the "Signal Tower" and have a private conversation!
Shi Hui even wondered for a time whether the Chu State had found a man who looked exactly like his father, knocked him unconscious inside, took off his clothes and replaced him with someone else.
Moreover, he also secretly recruited witch barbarians from hundreds of tribes to ask if they had any magic to control people...
If not all of Dad’s habits were the same as before, Shi Hui might have truly believed it!
Shi Xie saw Shi Hui's dissatisfaction, so he strictly ordered Shi Hui to go to Jinling and not give his foolish son a chance to have his delusions.
Even if the King of Chu had not dissuaded him, Shi Xie had even planned to go to Jinling in person - yes, it was the King of Chu who "personally" dissuaded him!
Previously in the signal tower, Shi Xie heard Bai Tu's "voice" coming from Jinling thousands of miles away...
Yes, after the spiritual telegraph was trialled near Jinling, it was mainly laid on the "Jinling-Jiaozhou" line.
After Pang Tong improved the "mental telegraph", especially the mental power generation, and invented the battery, the battery could be used to a certain extent to replace part of the mental power during electrical signal transmission, greatly reducing the mental power limit for using the "mental telegraph".
Nowadays, as long as a third-rate civil servant has an official seal, has accumulated experience for several years, has relatively high qualifications, or is middle-aged, he can be qualified for ordinary relay tasks.
For this "call", Chu State also specially mobilized civil servants from various places along the way in advance to ensure that the signals from the signal towers were given priority so that the whole journey could be smooth...
Even the current improved standards are actually a bit luxurious.
After all, due to the lack of insulation and anti-corrosion wrapping materials, and the reliance on "wired" spiritual telegraphy, it needs to be relayed every dozens of miles, or even more than ten miles in some complex terrains.
Normally, even the Chu State would not be able to dedicate so many civil servants to serve as "receivers" at signal towers across the country.
To solve the problem, there is a practical method that only treats the symptoms but not the root cause. There is also a method that can solve most of the problem just by waiting, and a scalable method that can provide long-term stability.
The former is to develop a "duty" process and agree on a time every day. Even in remote places that are not hubs, a time should be agreed on every two or three days, and a clerk must be on duty during that time.
That is to say, whenever during duty hours, "mental telegram" can be transmitted.
Of course, in a prosperous place like Jinling, it is completely possible to arrange for personnel to be on duty at all times. In addition, important routes can be arranged to be unobstructed at all times during wartime...
The only way to wait is to develop suitable insulation and anti-corrosion materials. Then the distance between each signal tower will naturally be lengthened, or even only signal towers will be arranged in cities that need to process information. The number of civil servants required will be
It will also be significantly reduced.
As for the way to "long-term peace and stability", it is to develop wireless telegraphy - directly using "electromagnetic waves" propagating in the air to record and transmit information!
Even wires and signal towers are saved.
It's a pity that the latter two have not yet shown signs of development...
Even so, wired mental radio waves also greatly extend the distance for real-time command, so there will be huge changes in strategy, tactics, and even the management system of officials.
Therefore... Chu State has temporarily kept the news "semi-secret". In theory, "sound transmission across thousands of miles" and so on are just folk anecdotes, and people from some cultures don't really believe it.
During this period, middle- and high-level generals, as well as middle- and high-level administrative officials from the six ministries, will also be provided with guidance layer by layer.
And since other places are not open for the time being, it is natural to concentrate efforts on laying the spiritual telegraph from Jinling to Jiaozhou. It is not a waste, but can be regarded as an experiment!
When the road was paved, this mental telegraph line had already been paved. After Wei Teng invited Shi Xie to enter the signal tower, he explained the function of the signal tower to Shi Xie - as for the principle, Wei Teng didn't understand it very well.
As for Shi Xie, he looked like "Are you kidding me?" and he didn't believe it at first.
However, Shi Xie, who was unclear about the country's intentions, finally tried a little mental telegraphy at Wei Teng's warm invitation.
Because it carries mental power directly through radio waves, and then uses mental power to decipher it and obtain the information, Shi Xie can use it easily.
If it was just Baitu who was connected to it, Shi Xie would definitely not believe that this "information" came from Jinling. Although he was impressed by Chu's technology, he would only think that it was a signal coming from not far away, but... Shi Xie
Kuang Ke is also in Jinling!
After Tian Shixie had a "phone call" with his nephew who was far away in Jinling, he couldn't calm down.
Originally, Shi Xie's reliance in Jiaozhou was the respect given to him by the hundreds of ethnic groups and the Han people in Jiaozhou, and the greatest benefit from this respect was due to the isolation, remoteness, and rugged roads of Jiaozhou.
In a closed and united place, the general princes would not be willing to take action no matter how powerful they were without decisive interests.
However, that day in the signal tower, Shi Xie understood that Jiaozhou would no longer be closed off from now on...
Jinling, thousands of miles away, can be directly connected to the border with Jiaozhou, so why is it so isolated and remote?
Moreover, although Shi Xie did not fully understand the new changes that this new way of transmitting messages would bring, he could still make some assumptions.
Under this kind of mentality, surrendering to Chu is not a difficult decision to make!