Ming Dynasty, New Rome, and Infinite Divine Machine

【???】Apollonia replied, 【Do you have a collecting habit?】

"You think I'm being lazy? No, no, no, you understand. I'm making this analysis based on the reality. The current situation is no different from the beginning of the world. This is the best time to pick up bargains, because current resources are often not allocated to reasonable places - you see, such a powerful magic weapon is only used as an artificial rainmaker in the Dragon Palace. It can be imagined that when everyone enters the path of cultivation, everyone will have a desire for magic weapons, and the cost of collecting them will be infinitely high at that time."

[What do you plan to collect next? ]

"Sword." Shang Luo replied, "In fact, my personal training is also very important - mainly martial arts. I already have enough magic weapons, but objectively speaking, my martial arts are still far from the first-line level. So what I should strengthen the most is my martial arts. And martial arts cannot be without a weapon at hand. Sun Wukong had a hard time fighting monsters without the golden hoop. Since I have chosen to practice swordsmanship, of course I have to find a good sword that can really rely on me, and then practice martial arts."

Is this a reasonable allocation of resources?

"Of course. I won't work hard all the time. When I have information, I will make judgments based on it. When I don't have a sword, I will collect magic weapons. When I have a sword, I will focus on martial arts."

Chapter 1143 Cause and Effect

"So now, Commander Li, we need the help of Master Wang."

"Wait, let me sort it out." Li Yinchang flipped through the log, "According to the plan, Shangluo, you should now lead the dragon tribe as the vanguard along the Japanese orogenic ridge, that is, advance all the way from west to east. But you seem to have encountered a problem?"

He looked at Shangluo: "Who wrote this diary? Is it to save face for the Dragon Clan? Such a crucial cause and effect is not written clearly. So what exactly happened?"

"King Ao Zang was accidentally injured, and now the mirage energy of the Dragon Palace has entered a state of ineffectiveness."

"Yes." Li Yinchang replied, "That's what's written in the diary. But how did he get hurt by mistake? I think I need to know."

"Uh," Shangluo looked outside and whispered, "It was me. But not entirely me. He himself triggered a series of mechanisms, which led to him being struck by his own lightning. Do you want to tell me the specific reason?"

"That's not necessary. I just need to know the cause and effect. The details are not important. But I still can't help but say that, as expected, Shang Tianjun, your fate is really tough."

"I didn't want this to happen. Now I feel like a sea urchin that has stabbed it. But it's really not my fault. I guess even the karma and merits can't be attributed to me. Why do I always feel a little sorry for them?"

"It's very normal to have an accidental injury," Li Yinchang replied. "It's common for this to happen on the battlefield. After all, we don't have names on our heads, so it's common for us to confuse the enemy with ourselves. Some things happen because the arrow is on the string and has to be shot - and more often, as you said, the cause and effect have nothing to do with you, but it happens anyway."

"Is this a common thing?"

"This is very common in modern warfare. Artillery shells don't have eyes, so no one can stop them once they are fired. Artillerymen themselves cannot observe data at all, and can only calibrate the muzzle according to the instructions sent from the outside. At this time, who they hit depends entirely on the weather. Even if they operate completely according to the orders, they may still hit their own people. In this case, everyone in the process is doing their own thing, but in the end someone is still injured by mistake."

"Ah, then how should this be handled?" Shangluo wanted to know how today's incident should be handled from a legal perspective. Although he could now represent the law, creatures like the Dragon King liked to file complaints, and would not be willing to accept it even if his head was hung in the city.

He was not afraid that Ao Zang would complain to anyone. But if Ao Zang kept remembering this and held a grudge, then Shang Luo would have to go to his house to talk about it later, which would be very troublesome.

"A soldier's duty is to obey orders and follow the process. If all the procedures of this matter are in compliance with regulations, then no one will be held responsible for it. As for those who were accidentally injured, that is another matter, and they will be compensated separately - so accidental injury and compensation are two different things, one for each. If you did nothing wrong, the process here is over, and there is nothing to blame yourself for."

"Is that so?"

"Yes, that's right. The existence of the system is not to ensure that problems will not occur, but to ensure that they can be solved when they occur. Under our framework, although the problem occurred, it has been solved very well. But you have to know that even if we are fully prepared, we cannot completely avoid accidents. Shangluo, you will probably encounter many other things in the future, so just think like this."

"Ah, I feel much better now that you say that."

"You don't really care, do you?" Li Yinchang asked. "I see you really don't care about the Dragon King. Are you more concerned about your own merits?"

"Ahem, I hope that merit and karma will also be handled according to our regulations."

"Oh, I hope so too." Li Yinchang nodded, "But this is also good, we can let the royal division take action. This is a good thing, the credit for the vanguard will fall on the head of the royal division, which is good for the entire court - do you know why?"

"Why?" Shangluo asked.

"Because if the credit goes to Long Gong, then the court will have nothing to reward them, and the account cannot be settled. As I said before, the court doesn't care how this matter ends, but when it ends. This unresolved situation with nothing to reward is very embarrassing for the court. Now you let Long Gong take the lead, and then replace them at the most critical moment, leaving the real credit to our own people. You..."

Li Yinchang glanced at him and said, "So you didn't do it on purpose?"

"No, no." Shangluo shook his head violently.

"Then you are simply a blessing to the court. You solved the court's troubles in a place where you didn't even notice it - this is really good luck, and you solved the troublesome things without being involved in cause and effect. I'll call you out more often next time."

"Then how will Master Wang fight?"

"That depends on what kind of assistance you provide." Li Yinchang said, "This is also the purpose of my coming here. Master Wang has his own work, but Master Wang now needs to cooperate with the extraordinary power. I need to know what you are going to do before I can decide what Master Wang will do next."

"Speaking of which, what is the tactical form of the Royal Division?" Shang Luo also asked, "I want to know what the Royal Division is like. I have seen the navy, and the Royal Division has airplanes and cannons. What about the army? What is our tradition like?"

"The tactics of the royal army have always been based on one thing - firepower. All the tactics of the royal army are based on the development of firepower, but different eras have different ways of fighting. In the era of Qi Jiguang and Yu Dayou, the core of the royal army's firepower was infantry artillery. The so-called infantry artillery is represented by the tiger squat cannon, which is a cannon that fires directly within the infantry's range. In that era, the royal army's skirmishers, line infantry, cavalry, and chariot camps were all based on infantry artillery."

"What was Master Wang thinking during this process? Why did he use infantry artillery instead of line infantry?"

"Because the important thing is how to kill people. We didn't pay much attention to muskets at that time, and things like three-barreled guns were used for a long time. The reason is simple. If you pile 100 muskets on the battlefield, you can fire 100 lead bullets. But if you send an infantry cannon, it can also fire 100 lead bullets at a time. And deploying an infantry cannon only requires space for a few people, while deploying 100 people requires a wide front.

"So, in order to bring more firepower to the enemy's head, we will give priority to tactics that can use firepower to 'kill' the enemy under limited conditions. This is still the case now. The tactics of the Wang Division also prioritize firepower, but some adjustments have been made."

Chapter 1144: The King's Tactics

"Oh~~ Is this what they teach in the military command class?"

"Yes, if you study history in school, you will be taught this. Although it is very superficial compared to specialized military academies, it can basically let you know what the king's army is thinking and doing. The firepower of different eras is manifested in different ways. In the time of Qi Jiguang and Yu Dayou, the infantry used smoothbore rifles, and the artillery also used smoothbore cannons. The artillery shells were mainly solid bullets, and grenades only appeared in a few mortars. In our era, indirect firepower has replaced direct firepower and has become the main combat form of artillery."

As he spoke, he looked outside: "I heard that many places have turned into dull and tough battles? I wonder if you, Shangluo, have heard about the Romans. I heard that they are fighting a trench war with the technological barbarians."

"Yes, that's true. So how would Master Wang fight if he were to do it?"

"The reason why it became a trench war is due to two reasons: first, the defenders relied on the railway, which made them more determined and more resilient. Second, once the attacking side penetrated deep into the enemy, it would be out of the railway supply network and unable to go any further. The Wang Division's fighting style only had two points: interspersed tactics and concentric fire strikes."

"Ah, I think I understand a little bit." Shangluo nodded, "How do we fight these two specifically?"

"There's only one point. If it turns into a trench war, it means it's a bad war for both sides. In order to prevent the war from going to this point, we must aim to kill people. So the King's Division will use mechanized clusters to break through and penetrate the enemy's line, close the battlefield from behind, and then launch concentric fire attacks on the enemy from all directions. All positions have directions, so as long as you go around the flanks and the back to bomb them, there will be no difference between the positions and the plains."

"Wait, this sounds easy, but it's actually hard to do, right?"

"Of course. Infiltration is a very dangerous action. So when we are infiltrating, we have to rely on the fighting will of the front line. Our soldiers must have confidence in victory and in their friendly forces. Everyone must know that the front line cannot retreat an inch and orders must be executed. It doesn't matter if the attack is blocked. We must fight when we need to, because friendly forces will definitely come to support us. So we must ensure that we are absolutely fast. When we see the enemy, we will come. As we fight, we will naturally get support. So-"

He concluded: "You can completely trust the Royal Division, just as we trust ourselves. Our trust is based on victory. The Royal Division will inevitably move from past victories to new victories, without exception. As we advance triumphantly, we will use our iconic 150mm heavy artillery to blast the enemy into a blank space. As for the Japanese troops here, I think you can consider using incendiary bombs."

[Wait, why does this old man in front of you seem to be more excited than you? It seems that he is particularly satisfied when he knows that the tactics are going to be implemented, the dumplings are going to be formed, and the firepower is going to be poured in. ]

"Well," Shangluo asked, "What kind of incendiary bombs do we have? Do we have white phosphorus bombs? I'm not going to use them, I'm just asking."

"We do have it, but we don't usually use it. It's not because it's against the will of Heaven like burning Meng Huo. Not using a good thing and sabotaging one's own life is against the will of Heaven. The main reason for not using it is that the smoke from this thing is too big. Whether you use an airplane or a cannon to shoot it, it will affect subsequent observation and the effectiveness of subsequent strikes. So we don't usually use it." As he said this, he glanced at Shangluo:

"So you know a lot about it. You also know about white phosphorus bombs?"

"I understand a little bit, a little bit. If we want to burn it," Shangluo thought for a while, "we set fire to scare Xu Fu out, to shock the tiger. In this case, what do we need?"

"That's easy. We should use napalm. This bomb will burn for a long time, long enough to turn an entire city into a sea of fire. We will drop thickened gasoline filled with thermite, or some other fuel mixture. In actual use, we will drop it in a concentrated manner on the same place, creating a firestorm in the urban area and further destroying the entire city."

"Yeah, sure." Shangluo nodded. "That's great. I think we should make a plan first."

"No problem." Li Yinchang replied, "We should make several plans. This final solution should be given a lower priority. You can try other methods first. However, this time we lack the full attack from the Dragon Palace, so we may need the Royal Division to lead the attack. Unless... unless that Xu Fushi comes out to die."

"I hope there is something he really cares about." Shang Luo smiled slightly, "I have already made the plan, and the arrow is on the string and has to be shot. It will be difficult for me to do it unless I find a place for me to shoot."

A few days later, Edo.

The thick fog covering Edo still did not dissipate, just like before.

Intelligence showed that Edo was shrouded in fog, which was already a certainty. However, Shangluo also knew this after close observation:

"Sure enough, it's a mirage." Through the telescope, the fog covering Edo Castle appeared colorful white, which was indeed the sign of the mirage seen before.

According to the intelligence obtained from Shimadzu, Japan is being controlled by a "mysterious" force. This force selectively closed the inside and outside of Edo Castle, blocking the original communication between the samurai class. This force also established a reign of terror through assassination and magic - however, this is no different from the past behavior of the Edo Shogunate itself, so it has little impact on the lives of ordinary people. The only ones who are really affected are the samurai class themselves. Now everyone is treated equally.

The force used to execute this power is mirage.

"So it seems that the previous illusions were also dominated by mirage?" Shang Luo put down the telescope. "Phaethon, what do you think? What was mentioned before, that there was a thing like 'the corpse of a horse carrying a dead person', can the magic on the west side do that?"

"Of course we can, but we won't use it to create terror in public, because mystery can only bring temporary terror. If we rashly expose magic, the light will spread to places where it shouldn't be."

"It seems that Xu Fu is now using this illusion in many places."

"So the potential of the mirage is actually very great." Phaethon whispered, "Your previous worries are not unreasonable. If this mirage spreads to the world, then this terror can also spread to the world. If the world is immersed in the illusion, then the boundary between illusion and reality will be blurred."

"Then we can use fire to help them purify the miasma, just like building a portal for them to get rid of the mess."

Chapter 1145 Edo

Edo, Edo facing Edo Bay, and there is a river called Edogawa in it.

This place was originally an unrenovated marshland. It was only under the order of Toyotomi Hideyoshi that Tokugawa Ieyasu, who had not yet become the shogun, was ordered to move eastward and transfer his fiefdom to Edo Castle, which was far away from the political center. However, what even Toyotomi Hideyoshi did not expect was that the Tokugawa clan showed their ability to control floods in Edo Castle.

On the plains where rivers flow, Tokugawa Ieyasu completed the renovation of the land of today's Edo Castle in just a few years. Under the governance of the third shogun Tokugawa Ujimitsu, most of the renovation work was completed, and he consolidated his own small empire in Edo.

By borrowing land from rivers and the sea, the Tokugawa clan transformed the overflowing waters into artificial and semi-artificial waterways, and carved out their own legacy from the swamps and shallows.

But what you borrow must always be returned.

"Now is the time to pay back the debt." From a distance, Shangluo saw the aerial footage. The reconnaissance plane that took off from the aircraft carrier used the recorded Tianyi nobleman to take and transmit the images back to Edo. Edo Castle was not covered by "fog" as described in the description, and it looked quite normal.

[But if you look closely, you will find that the number of faces in the model seems to be very low, and the closer you look to the center, the more perfunctory it looks. From a distance, it does look like that, but from a high altitude, you can see that this thing is actually similar to the modeling of flight simulation games. It seems that this should be an illusion created by a mirage. ]

“But this is a very large scale, right?”

[Yes. I have never seen such a large-scale use of Mirage. Is this the power of Mirage Princess? She can spit out such a big bubble by herself? ]

"I'm actually very interested in what's under this bubble. Tsk, I hope the Tokugawa family doesn't die."

[You like Tokugawa clan?]

"To be honest, the Tokugawa family is the most useful person in Japan in the past five hundred years. Putting aside the issue of flood control, Tokugawa Ieyasu himself did a very important thing - he figured out the position of Japan under the tributary system. Tokugawa Ieyasu knew clearly: don't cause trouble to the world.

"On the one hand, Tokugawa Ieyasu strengthened the trunk and weakened the branches, and passed on the country through farming and reading. He spared no effort to reduce the power of the feudal lords, encouraged agriculture and sericulture, and promoted culture and education, thus curbing the way for Japanese pirates to go to sea at the source; on the other hand, they carried out limited diplomacy within the tribute system and did not participate deeply in external affairs. On the basis of doing these two things, they also created a prosperous culture and made Edo Castle a good place for consumption to recover the administrative investment of the shogunate in various places.

"This is the most suitable path for Japan. Tokugawa Ieyasu experienced the war of aggression launched by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and he clearly knew that it was impossible to launch a war of aggression on this land. Even if Toyotomi Hideyoshi won, he would lose everything and even the country if he lost one game. They should not move, do nothing, and not torment their own people or others. The good thing about Tokugawa Ieyasu is that he knows the importance of the three words 'don't toss'. Because tossing is bound to be a dead end."

[It would be a shame if such a sensible Tokugawa clan were gone, right?]

"It's rare to find a regime with such mature political ideas and solidify them into political traditions. Maintaining isolation from the outside world is the national policy formulated by Tokugawa Ieyasu and continued by successive shoguns. As long as they do nothing, they can live peacefully on their own land. But now someone is trying to make trouble for them, so I can only burn this place to ashes with regret."

【What happens after it turns to ashes? 】

"Well, Captain Lu, what do you think?" Shangluo relayed the question to Lu Huaiyang who was standing next to him.

"You want to hear my opinion?" Lu Huaiyang asked, "What do you want to hear?"

"I want you to answer my question by considering yourself as the 'abstract court'. In other words, if you were the court, what would you do?"

"Then of course I won't care after I burn Edo to ashes - the Emperor Taizu Gao has a ancestral precept that Japan is a country that will not be conquered. This means that this place is remote and barbaric, and establishing a court here is simply giving our administrative services to foreign countries, and we can't get any tangible benefits. The court only governs the Red Country of China and will not take a single step outside, because the barbarians are not worthy of the court's rule."

"So, what if the Tokugawa family can still be found? What if the Tokugawa family members are still alive?"

"Tokugawa did nothing wrong," Lu Huaiyang replied, "at least from our point of view, let's not worry about how he governed the country. He promoted agriculture, mulberry, culture and education, and never caused trouble for the court. The court did not require tributary states to make much contribution to the emperor. As long as they stayed where they were and did not cause trouble for the court, that was enough. What Xu Fu did was essentially stealing the country. That's why the court does not support people overseas taking over the politics of other countries."

"Is this why the imperial court has never supported Zheng Siam?"

"Yes, that's right." Lu Huaiyang nodded. "Zheng seized power in Siam. The court did not object, but it did not support it either. Siam's status in the tributary system is still that of a barbarian country, and it will not change because the monarch is Han Chinese. Guoxing is the only similar example, and it will not be used as an exception. The court recognizes that Guoxing's rule over Southeast Asia is based on historical reasons, and there will not be a second Guoxing - if it really recognizes it, wouldn't it be a mess? If everyone comes with machine guns to grab other people's thrones, kill people and burn things, will the court still make them princes? His tributary country is doing well there, why are you going to steal his country?"

"Ah, so what happens after we finish dealing with this?"

"To comfort the people and punish the criminals, to revive the fallen and to continue the extinct. This was the goal of the last great war. If we can capture Xu Fu, who stole the country, and bring back the Tokugawa clan, who ruled the country steadily, then this slogan from the last era will have to return for a limited time. Shangluo, what do you think? After all, you made the plan."

"I have no objection." Shang Luo nodded, "I also hope to bring the Tokugawa family back. They have done a good job, and I am too lazy to help them replace them. You are right, I can't even take care of my own family's affairs. I think I have a lot of things to do. Why should I focus on governing other countries?"

"I didn't expect you, Shangluo, to be so conservative. Conservative and radical at the same time."

"That's the truth. Why would I occupy a foreign country? Just to color a map and enjoy it? It's fun, but once you color it, you have to spend time managing it. I want to focus on my own people."

Chapter 1146 Eat

[Shangluo, a conservative and radical person, a person who has escaped from vulgar tastes, has no interest in coloring maps, but instead finds it noisy.]

"What are you talking about here? It's like you're writing notes for an encyclopedia."

[Hello, I am the historian, and you are the history. ]

"."

[Well, to be honest, I was just recording it. But the Romans loved coloring maps. ]

"Of course the Romans like it. All the senators are equal in the Senate, so they want to fight for the territory outside the Senate, right? Only external forces can break the balance in the Senate."

"Tsk." Victoria, who had been sleeping for a long time, uttered her first sigh.

"You think so too, Victoria?"

"It would be nice if there were more people like you. Why don't you switch places with Pompey? Get rid of an ambitious person like Pompey and let a realist like you come back. Rome may not be doomed."

"You're wrong. If I were Pompey, and I looked at it from a realistic perspective, I would definitely become another ambitious person. This is because the interests of the Senate are not consistent with the interests of the empire. The top priority of the senators must be to expand their influence outside the Senate, so that they can use external means to change the situation in the Senate. If I hold the power of a country in my hands, then I naturally don't have to be equal to other senators - this is how tribal alliances often disintegrate."

"I know. That's why I said come more. If there are many of you, they will fight each other and there will be no one to torment me~"