prosperous age

Wei Guangde was also helpless.

There are definitely benefits to establishing overseas military bases; otherwise, the Portuguese colonists wouldn't have developed in this way.

Having vision is useless these days; technological limitations mean many ideas can't be realized.

Wei Guangde was unaware that if China's economy hadn't developed so rapidly in the 21st century, and if various infrastructure technologies hadn't advanced so quickly, it wouldn't have been possible to build a military base in Djibouti.

It should be noted that in the past few centuries, any important location suitable for establishing a military base, provided the conditions were met, would have been occupied by Britain long ago.

The natural environment in Djibouti is too harsh, with no freshwater resources, which is why no one has established a military base there.

However, Wei Guangde now knows, otherwise the experts from the Ming Dynasty wouldn't have sent back the message that they couldn't handle it.

Indeed, it was impossible to solve. It would take hundreds of miles of irrigation canals to solve Djibouti's water supply problem, which was simply unsolvable at the end of the 16th century.

Therefore, the cabinet has basically reached a consensus.

They moved to a different location and established the Ming Dynasty.

But where exactly to move it is something worth considering.

The Arabian Peninsula has poor conditions, making it difficult to find a suitable place.

Moreover, that place is owned.

Although it was not controlled by a unified great power, it had long been in the hands of scattered Arab tribes, and the sheikhs were the masters of that land.

Moreover, although it is habitable and people can live there, the basic conditions are very poor, especially the freshwater resources.

Without sufficient water resources, the development of a large city will be limited.

Therefore, Wei Guangde was actually very conflicted.

If China is determined to establish a foothold there, perhaps in the future China will be able to dig a couple of shovels from the Middle East, lay a pipe, and produce oil.

However, the reality was that the Ministry of Works strongly opposed building a city on the edge of the desert in their letters.

Because they had surveyed the peninsula's coast, where towns had already reached their limits, and there wouldn't be enough water to supply them if more people were added.

The situation is similar along the African coast; uninhabited areas are basically places where humans cannot survive.

Based on existing maps, the Ming Dynasty knew that the water resources in East Africa, such as the Maldives and the Magna Carta region, were also scarce and could not meet the needs of building large cities.

There, in fact, are some small African tribes.

Due to the influence of the natural environment, it was unable to grow large.

So they could only search to the south, where there were two large rivers in Mode and Menbacha, at their mouths.

However, due to its abundant natural resources, a powerful regime already existed there.

They could no longer be called tribes, but rather a kingdom composed of many tribes, with a certain organizational structure.

This is the message sent back by that East African expedition.

It can be said that the areas suitable for building large cities have already been occupied by locals.

If the Ming Dynasty wanted to acquire land there, it might have to pay a considerable price, or even go to war.

Don't assume that they might have submitted to the Ming Dynasty two hundred years ago; they only did so because they had no choice but to bow down in the face of the sheer size of Zheng He's fleet.

Admiring the strong is a universal principle.

Moreover, although a city could be built there, it was simply too far from the Mediterranean Sea.

It is estimated that it is more than two or three thousand miles away, and building a city there would actually lose its significance in connecting with Europe.

Wei Guangde struggled to make a decision after weighing the options repeatedly, and finally simply passed the problem on to Shen Shixing.

An hour earlier, in Shen Shixing's duty room, Wang Xijue and Yu Youding were discussing the same issue with him.

It can be said that, without any other means, the Ming Dynasty's plan to establish the Great Ming City in the West to protect its merchants has essentially failed.

Due to various factors, the Ming Dynasty was unable to open up sea routes to the West.

"Actually, I think it would be better to build a city in Barbican."

Wang Xijue recently studied the Western maps he had drawn based on Zheng He's nautical charts and chose to build the city in Barbicania, marked at the end of the Red Sea.

According to historical records, there was only one tribe there called Bapironia, and it was located extremely close to the Mediterranean Sea.

In fact, Zheng He's fleet did reach the edge of the Red Sea; they were only two or three hundred miles away from the Mediterranean Sea as the crow flies.

Moreover, they also knew that there was a vast ocean hundreds of miles away on the other side.

However, Zheng He's fleet did not land on land; they did approach the Mediterranean Sea from the mainland.

After all, the natural conditions there are too harsh, and their mobility would be greatly impaired if they left the sea.

"Bapironia?"

Shen Shixing frowned.

“I know that you and Shandai are worried about Osman, but isn’t Osman afraid of my Great Ming?”

Ultimately, as long as we can maintain peace, I believe the Ottomans will not stop us from building a city in Barbican.

Wang Xijue said, "As long as my Great Ming is strong enough, we have nothing to fear."

"That place is not suitable for building a city."

However, Shen Shixing still shook his head.

Although the city was built there and could obtain ample water from its proximity to the Nile River, Bapironia is already deep in the Red Sea.

To put it bluntly, as long as the outlet to the Red Sea is blocked, the city of Daming can be shut down.

Djibouti is actually in the best location, at the bend of the Red Sea, making it convenient to travel north and east.

Even if war breaks out, Daming City can travel south for hundreds of miles to enter Doria and find an opportunity to retreat back to Daming.

"Moreover, Yuan Yu should be able to think about the relationship between the imperial court and the Persian Kingdom."

Persia traded horses and goods for firearms from our Great Ming. Once Persia and the Ottoman Empire went to war, the Ottomans would inevitably turn their anger on our Great Ming.

Maintaining a sufficient distance from them is necessary, as the Prime Minister has repeatedly emphasized.

Persia was a crucial point in the court's westward expansion.

In the long run, splitting the Ottoman Empire would be beneficial to our Ming Dynasty, making it easier to contact European countries through Persia.

However, such a large empire was not so easily divided.

We need to defeat them with the Persian army so that the lands they have seized will have a chance to break free from Ottoman control.

Shen Shixing then explained the Ming Dynasty's attitude toward Western countries at that time. The most important point was that Wei Guangde did not regard the Ottoman Empire as a friend, but as a potential enemy and a stumbling block to trade between the East and the West.

Since it's an obstacle, it's best to remove it.

As for whether the absence of the Ottoman Empire would accelerate European countries' eastward expansion, Wei Guangde was not worried.

If the Ming Dynasty encountered so many difficulties in its westward expansion, did European countries not face similar challenges?

First, they will face opposition from the Vatican.

According to the previous "papal decree," the world has been divided between Spain and Portugal.

Therefore, apart from Portugal having the right to expand in the Indian Ocean, other European countries did not.

Unless their "Renaissance" came earlier and more violently, overthrowing the Papacy's influence on the secular world sooner.

After that, they still had to break through the maritime order already established by the Spanish and Portuguese, which required time and the accumulation of strength, and could not be accomplished overnight.

"The plan to build the Great Ming City is basically impossible to realize."

Wang Xijue listened quietly to Shen Shixing's words before speaking.

"The only option is for the Anelians to use the Ottoman ports on the Red Sea to purchase goods from Persia. The Grand Secretary's judgment is correct; we should make full use of the Persian Empire's advantageous location, develop that area, and make it a foothold for westward expansion."

At this point, Shen Shixing looked at Yu Youding and said, "Bingzhong, what's your attitude?"

Yu Youding shook his head and said with a wry smile, "Actually, after considering it, I also think that the Grand Secretary's judgment may be correct."

If a city cannot be built there, then no other place seems suitable.

Let's focus on developing Persia; its location is actually more important.

The Arabian Peninsula is a complete joke.

Although Africa is often perceived as a desolate desert, it is actually crisscrossed by rivers, otherwise so many wild plants and animals could not survive there.

Once Africa enters its rainy season, everything except the Sahara Desert is lush and green.

On the contrary, the Arabian Peninsula is purely desert, and the vast peninsula has almost no rivers.

Locals obtain the fresh water they need for survival by drilling wells and filtering sand and gravel to form underground water sources.

However, it's not as simple as just drilling a well along the coast to get water. The surface there is sand, and there are many layers of granite underground. You need a lot of luck to find a crack and get this filtered fresh water.

This is why the main source of fresh water for Middle Eastern tycoons is still the expensive desalination of seawater, rather than the extraction of groundwater.

Groundwater resources are a luxury in the Arabian Peninsula and are very difficult to find.

"I really don't know how the people there managed to survive. No wonder it's so dark; they don't even have water to bathe in, how could they not be dark? Heh."

Shen Shixing ended the day's discussion with a joking remark. In the end, he meant that he would talk to Wei Guangde about this matter privately, and that it was better to abandon the plan to build the Daming City in the West.

As for the news from Southeast Asia that Beijing is most concerned about, due to the distance, the express delivery is still on its way.

Of course, it wasn't long before the news reached the capital.

Therefore, reading the memorials submitted from various regions to pass the time was what the cabinet ministers did.

Recently, apart from two floods in the south, the rest of the Ming Dynasty has been doing relatively well.

The Yellow River did not flood this year, which gave the imperial court a much-needed reprieve.

In the old port city, Aceh spies infiltrated the ranks of laborers.

However, since the Aceh army has stopped attacking the city in the past two days, the laborers have had fewer opportunities to go up the city walls. They only have the chance to go up the city walls when they are carrying materials for defending the city.

Taking advantage of the opportunity to go up the city wall, they also pretended to be curious and leaned over the battlements to look out, saying they wanted to see the battlefield.

The Ming soldiers defending the city didn't take it seriously and let them look around as they pleased.

A large number of Ming troops were not stationed on the city walls; only a small number of sentries were on the city walls, and their main focus was on observing whether there were any signs of Aceh troops gathering in the distance.

If the Aceh army assembles, they will send a signal to call on allies to come and defend.

Apart from that, I won't care.

Therefore, taking advantage of the Ming army's lax guard, they threw a lot of "stones" out of the city.

Those "stones" actually contained the messages they were about to send out.

Whenever they saw small patrols of Aceh troops below the city, they would throw small stones at them in a fit of rage.

Of course, the Aceh army ignored the actions on the city walls.

Anyway, the arrows wouldn't hit them directly. Their formation was loose, and they were outside the effective range of the muskets, so the Ming army didn't attack them.

They even once shouted at them to collect the corpses outside the city.

Where is this place? If those corpses are not dealt with in time, the city and its surroundings will soon be filled with a stench that makes it impossible for anyone to stay.

That evening, the Aceh spy returned to the courtyard and shook his head in disappointment at his captain.

He naturally understood the meaning of that action: the soldiers outside the city had not understood their intentions, so they did not react at all to the message they had sent out.

"Never mind, perhaps this is what the wise men call the Way of Heaven."

The captain just sighed and continued, "From now on, we will be completely cut off from the outside world."

These past few days, I've been thinking that the capital city has probably already been breached by the Ming people.

We lost this battle.

According to rumors circulating in the city, the Ming Dynasty is going to completely annihilate the Aceh Kingdom this time. From now on, we brothers will all be Ming citizens, so don't even think about anything else.

Those who are sent out as spies are not pedantic; they are quite quick-witted.

The captain felt he had done what he was supposed to do, and it seemed unlikely that good news would follow.

The destruction of Aceh was already inevitable, and he would not continue to lie low with the intention of dying for his country, thus becoming an enemy of the Ming Dynasty.

"From now on, everyone should consider themselves wise, and we'll divide up the remaining money after we finish eating."

Let's stay in the city and live a good life.

We divided those courtyards among ourselves, one for each of us.

Everyone keep your mouths shut. No one is allowed to leak anything from before, or we'll all lose our heads, understand?

After the captain finished speaking, everyone nodded.

They had, of course, already thought about what their captain was saying.

However, since he didn't speak up, no one dared to speak either.

However, if the news is confirmed and Aceh falls, they probably won't continue like this.

Therefore, the captain would also be decisive.

After the meal, they took out some money and each person shared a portion.

Although they knew the captain was definitely hiding more money, they couldn't do anything about it.

At this point, even if they kill the captain, they might not be able to find the money he has hidden.

Moreover, the Ming army maintained strict control over the city at this time, and any slight mishap would likely be discovered.

No one dared to imagine what would happen if the spies were discovered.

Death is probably a luxury.

Being able to receive some money and a house in the city, and live a peaceful life, is definitely better than anything else.

Tonight is a farewell dinner; we won't be having secret gatherings like this anymore.

Although we may still stay in touch and look out for each other, it will definitely not be the same as it is now.

Meanwhile, the Aceh army outside the city had completed its reorganization and was awaiting the arrival of Ming reinforcements.

Unfortunately, the Ming reinforcements never arrived. The first news that came was that Kutaraja had been captured by the Ming army, and that the Sultan had been captured by Ming cavalry after fleeing south of the city.

Other members of the royal family were also captured; almost all of them were wiped out, and none escaped.

The messenger was still one of the royal guards responsible for making advance preparations.

Because it was an outpost, the group managed to evade the Ming army's interception.

However, when they waited for a long time and the royal family did not come, they turned around to check and found that the guards had been scattered by the Ming cavalry and all the royal family members had been captured.

At this point, they had no choice but to come here and seek refuge with the Acehnese army, the kingdom's general.

Meanwhile, the military tent was in an uproar, with officers close to the royal family clamoring to return to the capital.

Most of the others remained silent.

The capital has fallen; they can't hold out much longer if they stay here. Feeding, drinking, and providing for tens of thousands of people is no small expense. (End of Chapter)