Iron Dynasty

Chapter 1126

“Yes, Your Majesty, we are working on it.”

Lin Wentao bowed and said. In fact, the research in the machinery research institute was not sequential but was being conducted in parallel.

With the increase in the number of researchers in the Empire, the machinery research institute was divided into many teams, each responsible for a different type of machinery. The hydraulic forging press was one of them.

Lu Tong heard this and said, “That’s exactly what I want. Some of the plastic products in our chemistry now need to be forged.”

“Plastic? What is that?” Lin Wentao asked, puzzled. He was seriously biased in his studies and had no concept of some things in chemistry.

Song Changping and Chen Qi also listened.

Xiao Ming was aware of Lu Tong’s successful manufacturing of plastic. Most of the news in the newspapers these past few years was about the Empire’s machinery industry.

However, the development of the chemical industry had also been proceeding rapidly, silently providing assistance to the machinery industry.

Unknowingly, the Empire was now able to produce chemical gases such as oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, and helium. The fertilizer industry, papermaking industry, and pharmaceutical industry had also made great progress.

“This plastic is actually a type of resin. It can be said that natural resins such as asphalt, rosin, amber, and shellac can all be used to produce plastic,” Xiao Ming explained.

In modern times, in the late nineteenth century, scientists successfully nitrated natural cellulose and used camphor as a plasticizer to make the world’s first type of plastic. Later, the first type of synthetic phenolic plastic was born.

Lu Tong could now synthesize phenolic plastic, and this plastic was already being used in the Empire’s electrical and instrument manufacturing industries.

Everyone immediately understood when they heard this. Using the topic of plastic, they all began to discuss the new things in their respective industries, and a discussion session was born.

Xiao Ming did not interrupt their heated discussion. He left the Department of Machinery with Qian Dafu and went directly to the General Staff.

With the efforts of Lin Wentao and the others, the Empire’s industrial capacity was growing stronger day by day, which also gave the Empire the strength for foreign expansion.

He was going to the General Staff now to formulate a long-term strategy for the Empire.

Upon arriving at the General Staff, Cui Shang’an immediately came forward to greet him. There was a brush in his hand, and it seemed he was writing something.

Entering the General Staff’s combat department, twenty young generals all saluted him. These were the staff officers of the General Staff, responsible for formulating operational plans in their daily work.

Xiao Ming returned the salute and looked at the huge model in the middle of the combat department. This model was a three-dimensional version of the world map.

On this model, the oceans and countries of the world were clearly laid out. Some of the important cities of the countries also had models standing on them.

The areas that had been occupied by the Empire were all marked with the Empire’s dragon flag.

“Your Majesty, this is the port that your humble official is currently planning,” Cui Shang’an said, pointing at the model. On the model, there were models of ports along the coastline. This was what Cui Shang’an was doing now.

To control the world’s trade, the Empire had to control the world’s ports. To more effectively deal with Europe and North America, the Empire also needed to have its own ports around the world.

So while transporting petroleum back from the Middle East, the Empire was also gradually establishing its own port strategy.

On the map, Cui Shang’an’s port plan went all the way around Africa. This was something that could not be helped at the moment, as the Suez Canal had not yet been dug, so they had to take the long way around Africa.

Xiao Ming frowned at this long detour. In the history of modern times, Napoleon’s France had dug the Suez Canal. After that, Britain and France jointly operated the Suez Canal, charging a fee to the merchant ships that passed through it, which made them a lot of money.

Thinking of this, he said, “This shipping lane through Africa is too long. The Empire must dig this canal to shorten the shipping lane from the Empire to Europe.”

Cui Shang’an looked at the place Xiao Ming’s finger was pointing at. This place was within the territory of the Ottoman Empire, which was the connecting point between the Middle East and Africa.

Stunned for a moment, Cui Shang’an said, “But, Your Majesty, this seems to be the territory of the Ottoman Empire. Is Your Majesty going to launch a war against the Ottoman Empire?”

“Now that Persia is fighting for the Empire, why should the Empire intervene?” Xiao Ming had his own plan. In his plan, once Persia defeated the Ottoman Empire, it would demand land from the Ottoman Empire.

At that time, the Empire would demand that Persia ask for this piece of land, and the Empire would then acquire it from Persia. In this way, the Empire would have obtained the Suez Canal region without shedding any blood.

Thinking of this, Xiao Ming told them his plan.

Cui Shang’an nodded. “This plan is feasible, but the war between Persia and the Ottoman Empire has not yet been decided. And the European nations will surely not give up their plan to cause chaos and hinder the Empire’s westward advance easily. If we want to quickly end the war, the Empire will probably have to intervene directly.”

Xiao Ming frowned. He had refused to compromise with Britain on the issue of the war between Persia and the Ottoman Empire.

After Brooke returned, the British would surely be furious and would probably incite mercenaries to fight in the Ottoman Empire.

According to the intelligence, Britain had now mastered the technology for breech-loading guns and paper cartridges. If they were to intervene by force, the war between Persia and the Ottoman Empire would surely have more variables, which was not something he wanted to see.

“Send a batch of machine guns to Persia and train a group of machine gunners for Persia. At the same time, dispatch snipers to help them shoot and kill the Ottoman officers,” Xiao Ming said.

Although they were two major countries in Central Asia, the Ottoman Empire’s overall strength was stronger than that of the Persian Empire.

This was also the reason why even with the Empire’s weapons, the war in Persia was still a stalemate.

Cui Shang’an understood that Xiao Ming was gradually losing his patience. The longer they waited, the more likely it was for Europe to dispatch mercenaries.

“I will make the arrangements now.” Cui Shang’an made a telephone call and ordered for a batch of machine guns and ammunition to be transferred from the arsenal and for machine gunners to be sent to Persia.

After hanging up the telephone, Cui Shang’an said, “Your Majesty, are you going to give this batch of machine guns to Persia for free?”

“They are on loan to Persia. After the war, they will return them to the Empire.” Xiao Ming said. After this war, Persia’s strength would surely increase greatly, while the Ottoman Empire would be in a slump for a long time.

If Persia were to still have the machine guns, the Ottoman Empire would truly be finished. At that time, who would contain this massive empire that spanned across Asia, Africa, and Europe? And at that time, it would probably not be so easy for the Empire to obtain petroleum.

Cui Shang’an agreed deeply. After all, a thing like a machine gun was a common thing in the Empire, but for the Persian Empire, it was basically a direct leap from cold weapons to firearms, and the impact would be more than just a little.