Bury the Qing Dynasty

Chapter 478 My ambition doesn't stop there

Although he received the guarantee from England, Sand Goose, and the envoys of the Habsburg family, Suleiman did not relax, but immediately set off to find Mustafa Pasha and planned to discuss it with Mustafa Pasha. discuss.

Suleiman was still worried after all.

Regardless of the pleasant communication between the two parties, the envoys of England, Sand Goose, and the Habsburg family also agreed to the plan of exchanging oil for armaments, but Suleiman also knew in his heart that the contract between the two parties was not of any substantive importance. The binding force is not much stronger than the paper in the toilet-the paper in the toilet can still be used to wipe your butt, this kind of empty-handed agreement...

However, when Suleiman returned to Topkapi Palace, he found that Mustafa Pasha was also worried.

As soon as he saw Suleiman, Mustafa Pasha directly picked up a piece of information and handed it over: "Look, this is the information just sent by the Egyptian province. Muhammad Ali designed more than 400 The Mamluk nobles were slaughtered, and the governor of the Egyptian province appointed by Mahmud II Sultan was deposed, and he declared himself king."

Suleiman took a look at the information and cursed bitterly: "These unfamiliar wolf cubs!"

The loss of the Egyptian province meant that the Ottomans lost an important source of tax revenue, and at the same time lost an important source of soldiers.

Yes, although Ottoman's rule over Egypt has always been unruly, the governor of Egypt must also assume obligations to the Ottoman Empire, that is, to provide Ottoman with military resources and tax payments.

After all, they were cavalrymen who "resisted the Mongolian invasion". In the era when firearms were underdeveloped, Mamluk heavy cavalry charged at close range still had a terrible deterrent effect. Ottoman also stopped the Ottomanization of the Egyptian provinces because of this, not only restored And retained its ruling structure, and even vigorously supported the Mamluk noble class.

However, with the support of the Mamluks by the Ottoman Empire, the power of the Mamluks expanded day by day, and the conflict with the Ottoman Empire's governor in Egypt became increasingly acute.

The first is the enhancement of Mamluk military strength.

When the Mamluk dynasty fell, its army suffered heavy losses, but after joining the ruling class of the Egyptian provinces, the Mamluk nobles continued to buy slaves in Crimea, Central Asia and other places to expand the army. The army has since recovered its strength and has become a "powerful force" that can compete with the Ottoman army.

More importantly, the taxation power in Egypt was monopolized by the Mamluks.

Under the tax package system, as long as the Mamluks pay a certain amount of taxes to the Ottoman Empire every year, they can monopolize all taxes in Egypt and collect land rent and taxes from farmers and businessmen at will. Over time, the Mamluks have mastered the financial power in Egypt. , Mamluks are also strong enough to challenge the authority of the Egyptian governor.

In this regard, Ottoman can bear it, because at this time the emerging powers of Europa have begun to threaten the rule of the Ottoman Empire in Europe, Ottoman's expansion in Europe has also been contained, and the Ottoman Sultan has to focus on defense. Attacks by the Habsburgs, Germany and Poland.

For the rich province of Egypt, the Ottoman Sultan was more concerned about maintaining order, ensuring the stability of the tax system and the input of soldiers, rather than adjusting the power struggle between the Egyptian governor and the Mamluks. In the unpredictable political environment of Egypt , the governors can only deal with it alone.

Under this situation, the Mamluks gradually gained a dominant position over the Egyptian governor, and eventually even deposed the governor stationed in Istanbul.

Basically, it is not independent and independent, and it stands without standing. In addition to nominally obeying the Ottoman suzerain rule, the Egyptian provinces have not followed the orders of Istanbul.

Until Muhammad Ali suddenly emerged—with Mahmud II successfully joining the small pot, the external pressure faced by Ottoman was infinitely reduced, and Istanbul naturally wanted to free up its hands to solve the problem that the Egyptian province was not alone.

Mahmud II decided to support a military force different from the Mamluks.

It was under these circumstances that Muhammad Ali was sent to the Egyptian province.

However, what everyone didn't expect was that after arriving in the Egyptian province, Muhammad Ali did not die with the Mamluks. Instead, he chose to form an alliance with the Mamluk nobles to fight against the Egyptian governor sent by Istanbul to the Egyptian province.

Ali, who is good at dancing with long sleeves, quickly took control of the military and political power of the entire Egypt, and was logically appointed by the Ottoman Empire as the new governor of Egypt, thus beginning his rule over Egypt-although Ali was not very obedient, but How can I say that Ali was also sent by Mahmud II, which is more reassuring for Istanbul than the original Mamluks.

Then, Ali took advantage of the opportunity of Ming's filming against Ottoman to design and kill more than 400 Mamluk nobles, and declared himself a country.

The whole process can be summed up in one sentence: after eating Osman's meal, he smashed Osman's bowl.

This is why Suleiman called Ali an unfamiliar wolf cub.

Mustafa Pasha shook his head slightly, sighed and said, "It's a troubled time, the problem of the Ming Kingdom has not been resolved yet, and there is such a big disturbance in the Egyptian province. Could it be that the true god wants to destroy us Ottoman?"

Suleiman said with a gloomy face: "I can't care about that wolf cub now-I have just reached an agreement with the envoys of England, Sand Goose and the Habsburg family. They agreed to use our Ottoman oil to pay them In exchange for armaments and food, the problem of the treasury having no money can finally be dealt with.”

"However, you should also know in your heart that this kind of agreement is actually useless at all, and they may turn around and break the contract at any time."

"We must first solve the problem of ordnance and food in the shortest possible time."

Mustafa Pasha's frown that had been tightly frowned slightly eased.

For Osman, the most deadly problem at the moment is not that Ali of the Egyptian province declared himself king, but that the reserves of ordnance and food are about to bottom out.

Mustafa Pasha pondered the next strategy, and said slowly: "If we can take advantage of the opportunity that the contract has just been concluded to stock up on more weapons and food, the pressure on us can be relieved a lot. However, just Based on our Ottomans, there is absolutely no way to deal with Ming's attack."

Suleiman nodded slightly and asked, "What can you do?"

Mustafa Pasha sighed and said: "Is there any good way? Since you have reached an agreement with the envoys of the England, Sand Goose and Habsburg families to exchange oil for armaments and food, it means that they have no Agree to jointly raise troops, and judging from the current situation of Xiao Poqiu, the rest of the countries that they disagree with will not dare to fight against Ming."

Speaking of this, Mustafa Pasha showed a trace of remorse on his face: "When Khamis of Benghazi stood up against the Ming Kingdom, we should not stand on the side of the Ming Kingdom, but should Secretly send someone to help Khamis and the others."

Suleiman also sighed and said, "Benghazi is already too cold, and Khamis in Benghazi is also too cold. What's the use of talking about it now?"

After both of them sighed in unison, Mustafa Pasha managed to pull himself together: "You are right, it is useless to talk about it now, how to deal with the attack of the Ming army is the key - I plan to emulate The tactics used by the people of the Ming Dynasty have completely cleared the entire Ottoman land, making it impossible for them to get any supplies on the Ottoman land!"

Hearing Mustafa Pasha talk about the tactics of fortifying the wall and clearing the field, Suleiman's heart moved, and he said: "Just now when I negotiated the contract with the English envoys, I have agreed to them. We will send people to burn those who are close to the Ming army. The oil fields make it impossible for the Ming army to extract even a drop of oil."

Mustafa Pasha nodded slightly: "It doesn't matter if it is burned. Anyway, the oil that does not belong to Ottoman is meaningless to us. Rather than leaving it to the Ming people to mine it, it is better to burn it clean."

……

When Suleiman and Mustafa Pasha were discussing how to burn those oil fields, Emperor Zhu had already set foot on the land of Mukalla Port.

Similar to the problem that Osman is facing now, Emperor Zhu is also facing the problem of supplies-the higher the degree of weaponization of the army, the more serious the dependence on logistics, and the larger the number of troops, the greater the pressure on logistics. The tactic of getting supplies on the spot like in the era of cold weapons is obviously no longer feasible.

The current army of the Ming Dynasty belongs to the kind with a high degree of firearms. From the muskets and grenades equipped by individual soldiers to the artillery equipped at the battalion level, the required muskets, artillery, ammunition, and even clothes, military boots and other supplies are all needed It was transported thousands of miles from the mainland of Daming.

The same is true for other military bases close to Ottoman, all of which need the mainland of Ming Dynasty to transfer ordnance, ammunition and supplies to them.

As for the establishment of a production line for ordnance and various supplies at Mukalla Port...

Emperor Zhu was not worried about the safety of these production lines, nor was he worried about the lack of labor available, or even whether these materials would flow into the hands of the Ottomans, but Emperor Zhu was worried that there would be enough time and water—the equipment needed to establish the production lines It needs to be transshipped from Daming, and after the transshipment, installation, commissioning, and production will take several months in the blink of an eye.

For these few months, Osman may have been completely cold.

As Emperor Zhu walked forward slowly, he casually asked Zhu Jianying, "How do you think about solving the problem of ordnance, ammunition and supplies?"

Zhu Jianying walked forward slowly with Emperor Zhu, and answered after deliberation: "I think the cost of transshipment directly from Daming is too high, and it is too time-consuming to directly build a production line at Mukalla Port. So... how about building a production line while transshipment?"

Emperor Zhu turned his head and glanced at Zhu Jianying, and asked, "Tell me why you want to build a production line while transshipment? It might be unfavorable to both sides, right?"

Zhu Jianying said: "Building the production line while transshipment seems to delay part of the capacity and time, but in the long run, this approach is the most appropriate."

"The first is the consumption of bullets - the muskets used by our Ming army are different from the muskets equipped by the Ottomans, England, and even France. The bullets of these types of muskets are completely incompatible, and our Ming army can't rely on them. Additional consumption."

"The most important thing is that bullets consume the most in the entire war. If we simply rely on the transfer of bullets from the mainland of Ming Dynasty, we may have to pull a boat today, pull a boat tomorrow, and pull two boats the day after tomorrow. superior."

"Same thing about artillery."

"Whether it's barrels or shells, the ones used by our Ming army are different from those used by Ottoman, and there is also no way to rely on seizures to replenish consumption."

"As for the establishment of the production line first, and then start..."

Zhu Jianying thought about it and said: "It takes a lot of time to establish a production line, and the fighters are fleeting. The time to solve the Ottomans should not be delayed for the establishment of the production line--more importantly, I think your old man's purpose does not seem to be Not just Ottoman?"

"Of course our goal is not just for Osman." Emperor Zhu said with a chuckle, "As the emperor of Ming Dynasty, my ambition is not just for Osman."

Zhu Jianying, who was following Emperor Zhu, curled her lips slightly and said in a low voice, "Yes, yes, you have great ambitions, an Ottoman is of course nothing."

Emperor Zhu ignored student Zhu Jianying's complaints, instead he sighed slightly and asked inexplicably, "You know Yindi'an Continent, right?"

Zhu Jianying couldn't help being a little confused.

If it was in the Qing Dynasty, no one in the entire Central Plains would know about the Yin Di'an Continent, but in the current Ming Dynasty, if you go to any elementary school and ask any elementary school student, they will all tell you about Yin Di'an. What happened to Di'an Continent? In the past, it was inhabited by the Yin people, and later it was stolen by the barbarians of Europe. Now it has the fiefdoms of King Qin and King Jin.

After thinking about it, Zhu Jianying replied honestly: "If you don't consider your old man's statement that Yindi'an is the place where Yin people live, but accept the statement of those maritime merchants in Europa, then first It should be the one named Columbus who reached Yindian Continent?"

Emperor Zhu snorted disdainfully, and then asked: "Then do you know how the barbarians in Europa treated the local natives after the so-called Mayflower arrived in Yindian?"

Classmate Zhu Jianying said: "Of course we know this. The natives of Yindi'an sent clothes and food to the barbarians in Europe, but the barbarians sent sick blankets to the natives of Yindi'an, and there were scalp orders ordering the barbarians to hunt and kill the barbarians. people."

Emperor Zhu hummed and said, "If our Daming is not strong enough, how much better do you think we can be than those Yindi'an natives?"

(End of this chapter)