In the imperial study room, the emperor quietly looked at the image on the wall and frowned deeply.
Next to them, Prime Minister Ouyang Si, Zhongshu Ling Guan Zhengqing, and Imperial Censor Zhao Duo stood quietly.
After a while, the emperor turned around and sighed: "Do you think I'm being motivated?"
At this time, the emperor seemed a little tired, and he did not call himself "I".
Zhao Duo was the first to speak: "Your Majesty, although Wei Zirong wants to get something from us, he is right. This is indeed our opportunity, an opportunity to break through the eastern blockade."
The emperor took a deep breath and shook his head: "Guan Zhengqing, you say."
Guan Zhengqing came to Zhao Duo and pointed to the Kuo Di image on the wall: "Master Zhao, have you seen the location of our Qixia Kingdom? We are in the far west.
If this Eastern Expedition is really successful, it will be very bad news for us. Because at that time, the Kingdom of Jinyang and the Kingdom of Danyang were our "East". What do you think of these two countries?
Will it make us feel better?"
"This..." Zhao Duo was stunned for a moment.
Guan Zhengqing's tone was a bit serious: "For us, maintaining the current situation is the greatest victory."
Zhao Duo was stunned for a while, and finally asked tremblingly: "Then...then...how can we break through the blockade?"
Guan Zhengqing did not speak, but his eyes turned to the west. Zhang Hao's words finally slowly spread in the court, and aroused the "thinking" of some determined, brave and keen-eyed people.
Perhaps Guan Zhengqing, Ouyang Si and others do not 'agree' with Zhang Hao's point of view yet; but at least they have begun to think about this issue.
Expanding eastwards and towards the land is obviously impossible.
Ouyang Si continued to add: "Also, I don't think this Eastern Expedition can be successful, even if Langya and Qingyun are included.
To be more precise, Langya and Qingyun may win, but our six western countries may not win."
Zhao Duo was even more confused, "Isn't the Kingdom of Jinyang planning to unite Qingyun and Langya? Then how can Victory be separated?"
Ouyang Si slowly explained: "First of all, I think that the Kingdom of Canglan and the Kingdom of Taihua have dominated the trade routes for thousands of years, and their national power is strong. Their hidden power is by no means easy.
The Langya Kingdom and the Qingyun Kingdom have absolutely no ability to defeat Canglan and Taihua. Their approach should be to temporarily suppress the development momentum of Canglan and Taihua to buy time for themselves, or to obtain it through war.
some own interests.
And we, the Western countries, are just tools they use to contain the power of Canglan and Taihua.
After the war, Western countries will inevitably be subjected to more severe and retaliatory exploitation by Canglan and Taiwan and China!"
"That's impossible!" Zhao Duo made his own analysis, "It's impossible for countries such as the Kingdom of Jinyang to not think of this. Also, if Qingyun and Langya are willing to kill the donkey, they will not be afraid of Canglan and Taihua.
Will the two countries take unbridled revenge afterwards?"
Ouyang Si nodded: "But the Kingdom of Qingyun and the Kingdom of Langya are not weak countries. They don't need victory. They just need to fight a fierce war and beat Canglan and Taihua painfully. Then Canglan and Taihua will
In China, you can only lick your wounds for a short period of time.
However, I am afraid that Canglan and Taihua will not be willing to be frustrated, and they definitely need to vent.
Where do you think they will vent their anger?"
Zhao Duo's mouth trembled and he said in a hoarse voice: "West...West! And their best trick is to continue to block trade routes!"
Ouyang Si nodded: "So, whether it is from the geographical location or the current politics, we should withdraw our troops, retain our strength, and prevent the worst from happening."
…………
"The Kingdom of Qixia!" Wei Zirong quickly left the Kingdom of Qixia with an angry look on his face, "A bunch of short-sighted rats! A bunch of rats who live in an ignoble existence! Hmm, there will be times when you will regret it!"
In the evening, Wu Fanghai received the order to withdraw his troops. Wu Fanghai immediately led the troops to leave without saying a word.
Of course, the coalition forces from other countries were "furious", and the crown prince of the Kingdom of Jinyang looked even more stern. Then he pointed at the Eastern Legion stationed outside the capital and sent his "blessings": I hope you can leave safely.
Without saying a word, Wu Fanghai led everyone to leave Anqing, the imperial capital of the Kingdom of Jinyang, and headed to the west.
The actions here certainly attracted the attention of the more than 300,000 troops from the east.
However, Wu Fanghai's more than 50,000 people, all of whom were in the foundation-building stage, ran away. By the time the army of more than 300,000 people from the east began to move, Wu Fanghai and others had already broken out of the encirclement and headed west.
Seeing this, Sima Tao, the general of the Shangzhu Kingdom of the Canglan Kingdom, thought thoughtfully: "Could it be said that there is a civil war among the six Western countries? Ha... interesting!"
…………
Zhang Hao is completely unaware of the changes in the country's form. Now Zhang Hao, Huang Mingshan and others, are working overtime to study 'steel'.
Although after the division of labor, Yue Yun and Zhao Baishi were specifically responsible for steel, the Zhang family's technical system was still weak at this time and required full investment.
The research and development of scientific theories spearheaded by Huang Mingshan is extremely important, especially the recent research on the heat treatment of steel.
The properties of steel are related to two parts: composition and heat treatment.
Both of these require repeated research, and there is no simple rule. We are still exploring.
Under Zhang Hao's command, everyone used their brains to carburize, forge, quench, temper, and even cover and quench, etc. Everyone was busy without touching the ground.
It was late that night, and Huang Mingshan wiped the sweat from his face indiscriminately, leaving gray and black marks on his face.
"Master, according to our current research, each ton of black iron with a purity of 99% can absorb the spiritual energy of about 20 million low-grade spiritual stones at most.
But as long as one million low-grade spiritual stones are absorbed, the comprehensive performance in all aspects can reach 90% of the peak. Absorbing too much is useless."
“In terms of steel processing, the steel that has been folded and forged seven times, carburized, quenched, and tempered is the best.
Its hardness can reach the hardness of top magic weapons, and it has strong toughness, and its ability to conduct spiritual energy can reach more than 90% of black iron of the same purity."
"However, such a process is complicated and is only suitable for the production of small batches of weapons. If it is mass production, it can be extruded, carburized, quenched, and tempered.
The hardness of such steel can reach the level of a top-grade magic weapon."
"Based on the current experimental results, the cost to produce one ton of excellent, 99% pure steel is approximately 1.2 million spiritual stones. The contract price is 1,200 low-grade spiritual stones per kilogram.
This price is still very expensive. If a large ship of 10,000 tons is built at this price, the cost of materials alone will be as high as 1.2 million high-grade spiritual stones. Taking into account the investment in all aspects, the final price may exceed 2 million high-grade spiritual stones.
stone.
This... the whole country cannot afford so much wealth now!"
Zhang Hao was not shocked. The high cost was completely expected. Moreover, a 10,000-ton ship does not equal 10,000 tons of steel. About two to three thousand tons of steel is enough.
Zhang Hao did not explain this, but thought for a moment and asked: "Most of the cost comes from spiritual stones, right?"
Huang Mingshan nodded and looked at Zhang Hao expectantly: Does the young master have a solution?
Zhang Hao said slowly: "What if I can save this piece of spiritual stone?"
"Really?!" Zhang Shengye, who had been listening for a while, jumped up.
But at this moment, Zhang Shengde suddenly came in, with shock on his face: "Xiaohao, Xinglin Hall has sent you an invitation letter. It is an autographed letter from Master Zhou Shuhai."