Zhao Laoshi was able to be awarded the title of nobility because they modified the cannon barrel. They no longer had to worry about the barrel exploding when used. Although it would still explode, the chance of it exploding was greatly reduced!

If a little care is taken when using it, there will be no casualties among the soldiers.

As for a more perfect gun barrel that won't explode, we can only wait and study it slowly and improve it step by step in the future.

But for now, this barrel is enough.

With gunpowder and cannon barrels, An Jingzhi would be doing himself a disservice if he didn't expand the territory!

You have to know that there were very few iron mines in those days. He invested a huge amount of money and grain in studying cannon barrels and improving the living conditions of craftsmen. Of course, he had to earn back this money from outside, otherwise why would he study these things?

As luck would have it, when he got the map of this country, he discovered that there was also a small island country to the east of them. He planned to use the small island country as a training ground for his troops. He heard that there were many silver and iron mines on it, so he would be a waste not to take it.

First, he promoted the status of craftsmen despite the dissuasion of court officials, then he secretly drove out the officials of the Ministry of Works, spent all day hanging out with craftsmen, and finally promoted a chief craftsman to a nobleman for no reason. When asked the reason, An Jingzhi said it was a secret.

He portrayed the role of a foolish and willful emperor vividly.

Now he wants to start a war again. He just announced in the court that he wants to take over the small island country, and unsurprisingly, the whole court opposes it.

But if they oppose An Jingzhi, will they not do it? How is that possible?

Anyway, the military command is in his hands, he has grassroots officials placed in various places, and he has supervisory guards to help him supervise the civil and military officials, so these people can only satisfy their desires with their mouths.

But there was one person who caused him some trouble. Grand Tutor Zhou insisted on not agreeing to his sending troops and even threatened to resign.

Although Grand Tutor Zhou is stubborn, he does have real abilities.

Of course, the court is not stuck without him, but the other party is threatening to resign. If he agrees to let the other party resign all of a sudden, it will inevitably make him seem a little heartless.

He didn't care about his reputation, but Grand Tutor Zhou was indeed a good man who truly cared about the country, and he didn't want to hurt the feelings of an upright old man.

In order to persuade Grand Tutor Zhou, An Jingzhi specially asked someone to call him over after leaving the court, and then took him to visit the craftsmen's workshop, which was under strict security.

After seeing the artillery and explosives, Grand Tutor Zhou was a little dazed.

"Is this your Majesty's confidence?"

An Jingzhi smiled and said, "That's right. With the help of these artillery and explosives, I believe this expedition will be a great victory."

Grand Tutor Zhou hesitated and said, "But we are a great country. Sending troops to the neighboring small countries for no reason..."

"There are many silver and iron mines on that island."

After An Jingzhi finished speaking, Grand Tutor Zhou immediately shut up.

He said in a clear tone, "Send troops! We must send troops! How can a small country with so few people have such resources? It's a complete waste!"

Grand Tutor Zhou is indeed an upright and stubborn person, but his integrity varies from person to person!

He works for his country and his people, and what he does for his country and his people is what the people of other countries have to do with him?!

An Jingzhi's eyes turned red with greed when he saw Grand Tutor Zhou.

If I had known earlier, I would have told him there was a mine there.

Unexpectedly, Grand Tutor Zhou had such a side to him. An Jingzhi originally wanted to persuade him that there were silver mines and iron mines there, and they had artillery to pave the way, so this war would not be a waste of money and labor, but would make a fortune instead.

But as soon as he said that, the other party immediately supported him in sending troops, which was completely contrary to the previous statement that he was a waste of money and manpower to launch a war and was not a benevolent monarch.

On the morning of the second day, after discussing other important matters, Grand Tutor Zhou was the first to stand up and say that he supported sending troops. He even thought of the reasons for sending troops. After all, they were an army of justice, and the attackers must be bad people who would not bully the weak for no reason.

The reason for sending troops was that the soldiers of the small island country robbed and harassed fishermen at sea. They sent troops to show their great power and punish them.

This reason was not made up by Grand Tutor Zhou; it was indeed true. The people of that small island country often went out to sea on ships, and when they saw their own fishermen and common people, they robbed them and even killed many people. Sometimes they even dared to run to the villages on land to kill people. They were good at hiding and escaping at sea, and when their own navy chased them, they had already disappeared.

The only one who could compete with Wei Li in the court was Grand Tutor Zhou. Now that Grand Tutor Zhou clearly supported An Jingzhi's dispatch of troops, and with Wei Li having agreed to it early on, no one else had any objection.

The craftsmen's workshop began to incorporate more craftsmen from all over the world, and various places also began to recruit and train soldiers.

The army's food and fodder were also being prepared quickly, and half a year later, the army set out.

With artillery, the army was unstoppable throughout the journey. Even without artillery, the natives of the main island could not defeat them. Even the hardness of their swords was not as good as that of their forgings, and they would break with a single stroke.

In less than half a month, the entire small island country was incorporated into An Jingzhi's territory, and a steady stream of iron and silver mines were mined and sent back by the captives they captured.

With the support of iron and silver mines, he climbed the technology tree faster.

An Jingzhi also allocated money to build a scientific research institute specializing in scientific research. Although he knows all those technologies, he will leave one day. These people cannot develop a dependent character on him, otherwise after he is gone, the technology here will stagnate or even regress, so he has to leave them seeds.

In addition to reporting to the Ministry of Revenue every day, Chang Bo also often worked as a mathematics teacher at the Science and Technology College.

He had already completed the university course that An Jingzhi wrote for him and was moving on to deeper research. Teaching people with only elementary to junior high school arithmetic skills was really simple.

Among the students who entered the scientific research academy, there were juren and xiucai. The status of craftsmen was getting higher and higher, but not everyone was willing to do it. There were also those who saw that there was no hope in the imperial examinations, so they simply looked for other ways to study in the scientific research academy, thinking that maybe they could catch the emperor's attention in the future.

Who in the world today doesn’t know that the emperor attaches the most importance to the scientific research academy?

Three years later.

At this time, the capital city had already been completely renovated, and even the light bulbs in the palace were turned on.

Glass has also entered thousands of households, and the royal family's free promotion of greenhouse vegetables has brought considerable profits to the lower-class people.

The first group of people who had originally paid a sky-high price to buy the glass found out that the glass was later sold at a low price, and they did not dare to cause trouble for An Jingzhi.

…

"Mother, you have to take care of your eyes. Even though you have reading glasses, it doesn't mean you can use your eyes casually. Look, it's already night and you're still not sleeping." An Jingzhi strode towards the Cining Palace and caught an old lady who was staying up late reading novels.

In the original world, the Queen Mother should have died long ago, simply because she worried too much. But after An Jingzhi came, he rarely made her worry, so she simply started her own retirement life.