You have truly caused me great suffering!

News of the chaos in the southern wilderness quickly reached Jinling.

Chen Shao knew that it was no longer possible to stop it.

Whether it was Zhe Keqiu, Wang Bing, or even the commander-in-chief Wu Lin and the general Li Shiyan, all of them came from the Western Army.
Q: What is the discipline of the Western Army like?
A: There is absolutely no military discipline!
If the battle goes poorly due to poor command and the losses are heavy, they really dare to abandon their posts. In history, Tong Guan led them to attack the Liao Dynasty, but they were beaten like a grandson.

The usually arrogant Western Army dared to block Tong Guan's command tent and hurl insults at him, before spontaneously returning to the Northwest.

The Western Army and the Xia bandits had been fighting for over a hundred years, and their casualty rate was very high. Many of their soldiers didn't value their own lives at all, so how could you expect them to value the lives of others?

Even if you, Tong Guan, wield immense power, the military officers will still dare to curse you when it's time to indulge in your witty remarks.

Now that they are unified under the Great Jing Dynasty, they are naturally much stronger than before, but it is impossible to expect them to be like the Yue Family Army or the Qi Family Army.

Now that the emperor is far away and the Jing army has been suppressed for too long, once they are released, bloodshed is inevitable.

Therefore, the imperial court only ordered the recruitment and pacification of the local people as the main task, and forbade the indiscriminate killing of those who did not resist, but did not hold anyone accountable.

Furthermore, those who made meritorious contributions received additional rewards, strictly adhering to the old rules of the Dingnan Army: those who rendered meritorious service must be rewarded.

But it would take a long time for the order to be delivered, and Chen Shao thought they would continue their killing spree, but he was wrong again.

Sometimes Chen Shao would think that perhaps it wasn't really their fault. At this point, who could distinguish between the island nations in the South China Sea?

Java has 17,000 islands, most of which are similar to those in the Philippines.

If the people on the front lines insist they've admitted their mistake, there's nothing anyone can do about it.

Chen Shao knew in his heart that Zhe Keqiu was probably doing it on purpose. The Philippines was right next to Taiwan, so how could he not take it down?

But it's done now. It's better to live a good life with Da Jing in the future than to live like a primitive man.

Today, it is considered one of the most backward regions in all of Asia. How backward is it? It doesn't even have a religion.

After his initial fierce attack, Zhe Keqiu began to subdue the local natives before the imperial decree arrived.

That outburst was purely a warning to others.

In fact, he was also short of labor, especially for tasks like logging in the mountains, where the natives did a better job than the men he brought.

The timber business has become a popular trade due to the logging ban in the Central Plains.

The demand for timber is immense, and half of the development of Xiaoliuqiu relies on timber.

Once the city was built, the Han people who had moved there would reclaim land and build workshops in all arable areas, gradually squeezing out the living space of these natives and forcing them to enter farms to learn farming or to work as laborers in workshops.

Compared to this, Wang Bing and Li Shiyan's attack on Jianyili, as well as Wu Lin's main force and the Dali barbarian troops' attack on Zhenla, appeared much more organized.

The weather in the southern wilderness was still very warm, but in Jinling, winter had already arrived and the temperature had plummeted.

Looking at the military reports from the front lines, Chen Shao felt a sense of disorientation, knowing that both the north and south were at war.

After reading the military reports of the Northern Expedition and then looking at the battle situation in the Southern Wilderness, the entire map of Asia, from north to south, would occasionally appear in his mind.

This battle was destined to last a long time, and their ultimate goal was neither to defeat Isaichi nor to defeat Zhenla.

For Jingjun, defeating them, or even killing their royal family, would be a piece of cake.

Chen Shao wanted to gradually transform these places into civilized communities, which required a continuous influx of people, the construction of cities, and the establishment of interconnected roads.

From the Han Dynasty onwards, in order to maintain trade with Central Asia and Europe, that is, for the Silk Road, the Central Plains continuously attacked the Western Regions.

In almost all poetry, Loulan is portrayed as the main villain. "Having fought a hundred battles in golden armor, they will not return until Loulan is conquered."
"I am willing to draw the sword at my waist and go straight to slay the Loulan."
"They drove the horses of Ferghana and tethered them to capture the King of Loulan."

Those who don't know might think this is some heinous villain, but in history, Loulan was no match for the Tang Dynasty, and it had even perished 600 years before the Tang Dynasty!
The real reason is that Loulan was located at a crucial point on the Silk Road.

Along the Silk Road, merchants from the Central Plains were frequently robbed by the Loulan Kingdom, and there were even incidents of Han Dynasty envoys being killed.

Loulan thus became a major obstacle that seriously disrupted the Silk Road, and was thus criticized for over a thousand years.

Today, people have found a trade route that is even more profitable than the Silk Road.

To break through it and completely possess it is a matter of course.

Unless the central dynasty is as powerless as the Southern Song dynasty at this time, it will definitely have to take action.

Originally, there were no Han Chinese living in places like Hexi and the Western Regions, but due to the Silk Road, the number of Han Chinese gradually increased.

Chen Shao believed the same was true in the Southern Wilderness.

Even in later generations, without this war, there were still many Han Chinese on these islands.

The most important trade route, the Malacca Strait, is inhabited by 76% Singaporean Han Chinese and 23% Malaysians.

Inside the Funing Palace, Chen Shao still harbored concerns about the decision to launch this expedition.

The limitations of navigation technology greatly restricted the deployment of Jingjun's forces to the open ocean, increased the cost of troop deployment and losses along the way;
Previously, when only Annamese troops were used, the problem was not apparent; now that local troops have been mobilized, the issue has been quickly discovered.

This made Chen Shao realize once again that expeditions are highly dependent on technology. Because the number of troops that can be deployed is limited, they can only rely on technological superiority.

However, the progress of the engineering institute has been slow to meet Chen Shao's expectations, especially since the steam engine, which has been made for so long, can only be used for pumping water deep in the mine.

Almost all of the power machines he wanted failed to materialize.

The craftsmen of Dajing were already very skilled, especially with the invention of the steam engine. This was not the work of one person, but the result of the collective wisdom of many.

But these people are still just craftsmen, and it seems they have already used up their talents to the limit, and have made no progress in the last two years.

Chen Shao did not refuse to provide funding; from the very beginning, he allocated substantial funds and resources to support their research, but the technology remained stagnant.

Chen Shao even felt a little regretful at this moment. He should have studied hard back then and learned all the "Heavenly Rank Techniques" in his previous life's textbooks, so that he could become a hero who could drive an internal combustion engine by hand.

Thinking of this, Chen Shao stood up and called Yuwen Xuzhong, who was still handling official business.

"Uncle Tong, accompany me to the Institute of Engineering!"

Yuwen Xuzhong quickly got up and flexed his wrists inside his sleeve; he was usually very focused when he was working.

He didn't know why Chen Shao suddenly wanted to go to the engineering college, since he had been presenting him with military reports.

The emperor and his minister arrived at the workshop with a group of guards. Chen Shao immediately asked how the muskets he had requested were coming along.

Liu Peng, an official from the Engineering Institute who had also been promoted from a craftsman, tremblingly presented the diagram of the flintlock mechanism and bowed, saying, "After Your Majesty gave the order, we dared not neglect our duties and worked day and night to make new muskets. Unfortunately, we are too stupid to understand Your Majesty's ingenuity, and most of the muskets we made could not be fired."

Chen Shao patiently examined the items on the drawing, hoping to find something wrong. On this drawing, there was a strangely shaped casting and a folded spring.

Chen Shao looked around and finally came to the conclusion that he didn't understand.

Actually, they were already very skilled. This is the principle of a flintlock musket. After the reed jumps upward on one side, it changes the direction of the spring force through the iron casting. The iron casting also seems to act as a lever, causing the hammer to strike the flint inside downward, producing a spark to ignite the gunpowder.

Although Chen Shao did not know the principles, he could speak from a profound and grand perspective to guide his subordinates on how to do things, which made him seem exceptionally wise.

"Based on this blueprint, we'll divide into different teams and make it separately. Then we'll exchange ideas, summarize our experiences and lessons learned, and record every exchange."

As for the specific operations, since these technologies were beyond his knowledge, he didn't want to give unsolicited instructions, so he remained silent.

The engineering school officials nodded in agreement.

Because it was clear that His Majesty was not in a good mood, there was no one trying to flatter him; everyone stood cautiously to the side.

After leaving the engineering institute, Chen Shao did not mount his horse, but instead walked around outside for a few hours.

Yuwen Xu could sense that His Majesty was genuinely troubled.

He didn't feel bad about it; on the contrary, he felt relieved. This showed that His Majesty was also human and had problems he couldn't solve.

Yuwen Xuzhong remained silent throughout, simply because he didn't understand the blueprints for those mechanisms either.

Just then, Chen Shao suddenly stopped pacing and said, "This is no small matter; it concerns the future of Dajing."

Yuwen Xu was somewhat stunned. Did he think that this was a bit too much?

Chen Shao said, "During the Song Dynasty, there were hundreds of millions of subjects. Now that I am recuperating, the population is growing even larger."

However, craftsmanship is typically passed down from father to son, and some craftsmen's descendants simply lack the talent.

In the Song Dynasty, there was no official register for artisans, and the imperial court would not force you to become an artisan. However, true skills were still passed down only to one's own son.

Yuwen Xuzhong pondered for a while, but did not understand His Majesty's meaning.

Chen Shao continued, “Where in the world is there any return without investment? In the past, we always used craftsmen but didn’t care about them – we would only hastily invite a skilled craftsman to the government when he emerged from the countryside. But as a result, many talented children spent their whole lives farming in the fields and doing odd jobs on the street, never knowing that they were skillful and intelligent, and no one taught them any real skills.”

And yet, I was eagerly anticipating their continued surprises? What a joke!

Relying on heaven is not as good as relying on oneself. Even the best seedlings will not grow into pillars without soil! I am determined to change this and start from the root—establish artisan schools and teach crafts!

Under the supervision of the craftsmen, special artisan schools were set up to recruit bright young boys under the age of fifteen and teach them arithmetic, woodworking, iron casting, tool making, drawing, and so on, training them step by step.

We don't wait for geniuses to emerge on their own; we cultivate talent ourselves!

In Chen Shao's vision, this would become a second path for ordinary people to rise and break through social classes, just like the imperial examination.

Moreover, with technology having advanced to this point, relying solely on the talent of folk artisans is no longer sufficient.

We need to systematically develop disciplines, compile teaching materials, and fundamentally provide a direction for the talents of the Central Plains to strive for.

He wanted to transform the categories in the engineering college from 'crafts' to 'disciplines'. He believed that one should not only know what something is, but also why it is, and that theoretical research should also be taken up.

For example, once this thing is made, it's not too late. We need to thoroughly study why each step works and what the underlying principles are.

Future generations will avoid many detours as a result. (End of Chapter)