Volume 4 is in the ascendant Chapter 527: "Dialogue" Across Thousands of Miles
"Thank you, King Chu!" Shi Hui bowed to "Envoy Xian Zhiwen" with some bitterness.
In the State of Chu, even in formal occasions, people only needed to bow and kowtow, but Jiaozhou was apparently still following the ancient etiquette.
As the oldest surviving legitimate son of Shi Xie, Shi Hui had always believed that the biggest obstacle to his ascension to the throne was his father's longevity gene. Unexpectedly... his father did not leave him any way out and defected to the State of Chu!
This is totally different from what we agreed before!
Originally, even if the Shi clan wanted to surrender, they had to at least maintain their influence in Jiaozhou...
However, now, Shi Xie even wanted to take Shi Hui with him to Jinling.
However, at this point, Shi Hui no longer had any choice. The only thing that enabled the Shi family to fight against the State of Chu was their reputation in Jiaozhou, and this reputation... was mostly due to Shi Xie alone!
Now Shi Xie directly announced in "Let All People Know" that he would surrender to the State of Chu. What could Shi Hui do?
Not to mention that his father would keep a close eye on him, even if he were to raise an army now, he would probably not get a response from Jiaozhou.
Marquis of Guannei, Shi Hui was only granted the title of Marquis of Guannei. Although he would have the opportunity to inherit the title of Marquis of Longbian in the future, even so, it was far from what the Shi family had expected before.
Especially when you think about the King of Nanyue who was appointed by the Han Emperor...
Shi Hui was still expecting Shi Xie to change his mind, but in the end Shi Xie resolutely chose the "Longbian Hou" of Chu.
Even in terms of real power, there was almost no preferential treatment. It was just said that "Shi has valuable experience in governing Jiaozhou, and will be given more attention in the future and their opinions will be consulted." And this was not just a polite remark, there was indeed no additional private promise!
This is quite different from Shi's initial expectations.
Shi Hui recalled that his father's attitude suddenly changed after the Minister of Rites of Wei State invited him into the "signal tower" and had a private conversation!
Shi Hui even suspected at one point that the State of Chu had found a man who looked exactly like his father, knocked his father unconscious, stripped him of his clothes and replaced him with another person.
Moreover, he secretly recruited witches and barbarians from hundreds of tribes to ask if they had any evil magic to control people...
If not for the fact that all of his father's habits remained the same as before, Shi Hui might have really believed it!
Shi Xie saw that Shi Hui was unwilling to accept the result, so he ordered Shi Hui to go to Jinling and did not give his foolish son any chance to dream.
If it weren't for the King of Chu's dissuasion, Shi Xie even planned to go to Jinling in person - yes, it was the King of Chu who "personally" dissuaded him!
Earlier in the signal tower, Shi Xie heard Bai Tu's "voice" coming from Jinling, thousands of miles away...
That’s right, after the mental telegraph was tried out near Jinling, it was mainly laid on the “Jinling-Jiaozhou” line.
After Pang Tong improved the "mental telegraph", especially after the invention of mental power generation and storage batteries, it was possible to use batteries to a certain extent to replace part of the mental power when the electrical signal was transmitted, greatly reducing the mental power limitations of the "mental telegraph".
Nowadays, as long as one has an official seal and has accumulated a few years of experience, a third-rate clerk with high qualifications or who is middle-aged can perform ordinary relay tasks.
For this "call", the Chu State also specially mobilized the civil servants from all over the country in advance to give priority to ensuring the signal of the signal tower so that it could be smooth all the way...
Even by today’s improved standards, it’s still a bit extravagant.
After all, due to the lack of insulating and anti-corrosion wrapping materials, it still relies on "wired" mental telegraphs, which need to be relayed every dozens of miles, or even more than ten miles in some complex terrains.
Normally, even for the State of Chu, it would be impossible to assign so many clerks to serve as "receivers" in signal towers across the country.
To solve the problem, there is a practical but only temporary solution, a solution that will solve most of the problem after a while, and a scalable solution that can achieve long-term stability.
The former is to formulate a "duty" process, agree on a time every day, and even in remote places that are not hubs, agree on a time every two or three days, and there must be a clerk on duty during the time.
That is to say, " mental telegrams" can be transmitted whenever on duty .
Of course, in a prosperous place like Jinling, it is entirely possible to arrange for personnel to be on duty at all times, and in wartime, it is also possible to arrange for important routes to be open at all times...
The solution we need to wait for is naturally to develop suitable insulating and anti-corrosion materials. Then the distance between each signal tower will be naturally lengthened, or even signal towers will be arranged only in cities where information needs to be processed. The number of clerks required will also be greatly reduced.
As for the solution to "long-term stability", it is to develop wireless telegraphy - to record and transmit information directly by using "electromagnetic waves" that propagate through the air!
Even the wires and signal towers are saved.
Unfortunately, there is no sign of the latter two yet...
Even so, the distance of real-time command via wired mental waves is greatly extended, so there will be huge changes in strategy, tactics, and even the system of governing officials.
Therefore... the State of Chu kept the news "semi-confidential" for the time being. Theoretically, "transmitting sound over thousands of miles" was just a folk anecdote, and some educated people did not really believe it.
During this period, middle and senior generals, as well as middle and senior administrative officials from the six ministries, will also be provided with guidance on a step-by-step basis.
And since other places are not open for the time being, it is natural to concentrate efforts on laying the mental telegraph from Nanjing to Jiaozhou. It is not a waste, but can be regarded as an experiment!
When the road was paved, this mental telegram 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 quite understand it either.
As for Shi Xie, he had a look that said "Are you kidding me?" and he didn't believe it at first.
However, Shi Xie, who had no idea of Guo's intention, finally tried the mental telegram at Wei Teng's invitation.
Because it carries mental power directly through radio waves, and then uses mental power to decipher and obtain information, Shi Xie can use it easily.
If only Bai Tu was connected with it, Shi Xie would definitely not believe that this "information" came from Jinling. He would be impressed by the technology of Chu, but he would only think that this was a signal coming from not far away. However... Shi Kuangke was also in Jinling!
When Tian Shixie had a "talk" with his nephew who was far away in Jinling, he couldn't remain calm.
Originally, Shi Xie's reliance in Jiaozhou was the respect he received from the various ethnic groups and the Han people of Jiaozhou. The greatest benefit of this respect was precisely the isolation, remoteness and rugged roads of Jiaozhou.
In a closed and united place, most of the princes would not be willing to move no matter how powerful they were unless they had decisive interests.
However, in the signal tower that day, Shi Xie understood that Jiaozhou would no longer be isolated from now on...
Jinling, thousands of miles away, can be directly connected to the border of Jiaozhou. How can it be considered isolated and remote?
Although Shi Xie did not fully understand the new changes that this new way of communicating would bring, he could imagine a few of them.
With this mentality, surrendering to Chu is not a difficult decision to make!
