Wild North America 1846

Chapter 571 Cannibalizing the West
After the Saint-Malo blockade occurred, the relevant Tang, France, and Germany countries did not publicize the matter, but kept silent in a very tacit understanding, as if it had never happened.

the only change

That is, the German garrison in Saint-Malo has increased to the strength of a regiment, the port guard has also increased to more than a thousand people, and the local French militia training is organized daily, which is quite similar.

As for smuggling, ahem... that's getting more and more rampant!

Now, taking advantage of the timing of the German garrison, it is clear that there is no gain for nothing. Since you have done it, you don’t have to look forward and backward. If you miss this time period, you will never have another chance. The money is touching!
This matter should have been buried deep in history and gradually forgotten by the world.

Unexpectedly, in the "Times" published on June 1871, 6, the Saint-Malo blockade was reported from beginning to end, and the amount of large-scale smuggling and the past and present of several conflicting parties were also attached. The words are very clear.

As expected of you, the British guy who is used to sowing right and wrong and can make all the fish in the fish pond fight!
Imperial Capital Chang'an
Daming Palace

With a smile on his lips, Emperor Li Cha put down the "Summary of World Situation" in his hand. His careful thoughts on the British were like lines on his palm, and he couldn't be more clear.

Given the slightest chance, the Brit would plant a thorn in the Don-French relationship.

The purpose is not to cause estrangement and suspicion between the two countries now, but to lay the groundwork for the future when they have the opportunity to fight against each other. This is a very British conspiracy.

But the French are very fond of this trick, and are often fooled.

France is located in central and southern Europe, bordering Italy, and has a romantic, enthusiastic and unrestrained personality. It is obviously not the opponent of the British to engage in conspiracy and tricks.

But in front of Datang, this is pediatrics.

With thousands of years of historical heritage, the Chinese nation has a profound heritage, and there are too many vertical and horizontal strategies.

Although Datang rose in North America, it did not break the root of cultural inheritance. On the contrary, it inherited the profound cultural accumulation and deduced the strategic thinking and international code of conduct unique to the Datang Empire.

In the foreign policy of the Tang Empire, there is no such thing as "tolerance is paramount", but it is pursued that "those who openly violate the Tang Empire will be punished even if they are thousands of miles away." The core principle of the supremacy of interests.

In terms of the American policy concerning core interests, it pursues the policy of "America belongs to Americans, American affairs are determined by Americans themselves, and foreign interference is opposed".

When it comes to overseas policies outside the Americas, the Datang Empire is willing to unite allies with the same interests to take action while prioritizing its own interests.

This includes the joint intervention of Britain, France, the Netherlands and other countries in the civil war in Fuso, East Asia, resulting in the coexistence of the old forces of the shogunate and the reformers.

Two people who disagree live under the same roof, do they have different dreams in the same bed, do they live like years, do they want to strangle each other to death after getting up?That is not something that the Tang Empire needs to consider.

In short, it looks pretty good, quite harmonious, and that's enough.

Picking up the jade cup on the table and taking a sip of clear tea, Emperor Li Cha picked up "Summary of World Situations" and continued to read, his brows gradually furrowed together.

Over the past 10 years

Tsarist Russia's eastward expansion policy is becoming more and more obvious. After successively conquering several nomadic Khanates in Central Asia, the greedy Tsarist Russian old man extended his hand into Mongolia, Xinjiang and other regions of the Qing Dynasty without any accidents, and made substantial progress. Sexual armed invasion.

The latest step is the armed occupation of Ili and surrounding areas.

As early as the fifth year of Tongzhi (1866), Tsarist Russia reached an informal agreement with the rebellious Yagub regime, agreeing not to interfere with each other's actions, giving each other the right to enter the country to hunt down fugitives, and to cooperate and form alliances in various aspects such as weapons and materials Against the Qing Dynasty.

shortly thereafter
Tsarist Russia seized the opportunity to occupy the two Karen lands west of the Khorgos River and controlled the Tekes Valley in the upper reaches of the Ili River.He continued to carry out armed provocations, killed and injured many border residents, and openly robbed cattle, sheep and fields with arrogance.

In July of the ninth year of Tongzhi, hundreds of Tsarist Russian troops occupied Muzart Mountain, choking Ili's throat leading to southern Xinjiang, laying the foundation for the next invasion.

Tsarist Russia was originally a habitual offender, and was proficient in invasion and expansion.

In the genes of the Eastern Slavs, Mongolia's strong expansion genes are deeply embedded. This is also an important reason why Tsarist Russia has always been unpopular with Europeans. It is too greedy.

In early May of the tenth year of Tongzhi (1871), that is, more than a month ago.

Aguba invaded Xinjiang on a large scale, occupied Urumqi and invaded Turpan eastward, and fought successively with the garrison of the Qing Dynasty. For a while, the situation in Xinjiang suddenly became tense.

Taking advantage of the emptiness in the hinterland of the Agub Khanate, Tsarist Russia sent Gorpakovsky to lead troops straight in under the pretext of stabilizing the border order, and aggressively invaded Ili.

On May [-]th, the Russian army captured the nine cities of Ili and the surrounding areas, and then set up officials to divide and rule, immigrated and cultivated, and carried out colonial rule in the Ili area. .

At the same time, the Russian army sent troops to expand in all directions, controlling the western part of the Junggar Basin from Tacheng and Emin River in the north to Jinghe (now Jinghe) in the south and Kulkarawusu (now Wusu) in the south. The large-scale infiltration in other places has made the situation in Xinjiang even more chaotic.

"Hey! Those who should come will still come."

Covering the scroll with a sigh, Emperor Li Cha had no intention of watching it any longer, the more he watched it would only make his mood worse.

He stood up, walked to the window on one side of the hall with his hands behind his back, and looked out;
It was a sunny summer in June, and flowers were in full bloom outside the window, and the lush tall trees were covered with green shade, and the palaces with double eaves and brackets were layered on top of each other, showing the grandeur of the royal family.

Regarding the current situation in Xinjiang, the Datang Empire had deployed a backhand a few years ago.

Zuo Zongtang, who is now the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, has a strong army and a powerful artillery team equipped with more than 160 Napoleon field guns. After completely eradicating the Nian army rebellion, his reputation has grown day by day, and he became the pillar of the Tongzhi Zhongxing period.

Nowadays, Zuo Zongtang is suppressing the rebellion, and he is still accustomed to the "left shaving head" style of ruthlessness, which has won the trust of the court.

During the five-year suppression of the Hui rebellion, Zuo Zongtang, the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu at the time, always believed that "the Hui people are chaotic, and their sex is different from others", so they must be "painfully suppressed and washed", so his army often bloody the Hui people's settlements, "Massacre countless", earned a nickname of "Left Shaved".

And Zuo Zongtang is also an important member of the "main battle faction" of the Qing court, and he disagrees with Li Hongzhang, the governor of Zhili. .”

On the other hand, Zuo Zongtang tried his best to reject all opinions, pointing out that the Northwest "self-removal of the fence, I will retreat an inch and the invaders will advance."

With such a minister of the humerus supporting the overall situation alone, Xinjiang has no worries!

standing by the window
Li Cha let out a long breath. Even in this dark period of the Chinese nation's century-old sinking, there are still many pillars of talent who stand up to protect the interests of the nation and maintain the pattern of the unification of the Chinese territory. It is gratifying enough.

As a famous minister in the late Qing Dynasty, although Li Hongzhang made considerable contributions to stabilizing the pattern of the late Qing Dynasty.But in the eyes of Emperor Li Cha, it is far from being able to compare with Zuo Zongtang, because this person has more selfishness and will ignore the righteousness of the nation.

Li Hongzhang believed that Xinjiang was unimportant. The most important places for the Qing Dynasty were the Central Plains and the coastal areas. It was a waste of money to send troops to recover the border areas. Whether it was fighting or defending, the gains outweighed the losses. The most important thing was to strengthen coastal defenses.

One of the most important reasons is that the Beiyang navy controlled by the Huai army also needs huge capital investment.

It cannot be said that it is completely unreasonable. This is because in history, Zuo Zongtang spent 5 million taels of silver in six years to regain Xinjiang, of which more than 800 million were used in the arduous battle to defeat the Agubai rebels. 3000 million taels of silver were used for military expenditures to expel Tsarist Russia and stick to Xinjiang.

The Beiyang Navy spent a total of more than 2500 million taels of silver before and after, and a war to suppress chaos in Xinjiang cost more than two Beiyang Navy.

If the money was used to build the navy, then the Sino-Japanese War of Sino-Japanese War...

no if
The naval battle of Sino-Japanese War was not lost in ship equipment, but in the idea of ​​"avoiding war and protecting ships" at the upper level. What's the use of not daring to fight with better naval equipment?

Does the Qing Dynasty have no money?

After Li Hongzhang died, he inherited more than 3000 million taels of silver, and there were countless houses and land properties. Confiscating his property would be enough to build two Beiyang Navy.

Li Lianying, the great eunuch favored by the Empress Dowager Cixi, has amassed 300 million taels of silver. How can it be said that she has no money?
These big and small greedy people are riddled with big holes, the treasury is empty, and they have all enriched the pockets of private officials. They can't even pay for the military expenses to regain the country. This is the real tragedy!

After thinking about it, Li Cha
I feel that we should subsidize Zuo Zongtang, a famous official in the late Qing Dynasty who advocated regaining the lost land, and the method is also very simple.

It can export profits through multinational oil giants exporting to the Qing Dynasty, and license Zuo Zongtang's white glove Hu Xueyan to act as an agent for several provinces to supply kerosene exclusively, including Shaanxi, Gansu, Hunan and Hubei provinces, and Guangdong and Guangxi regions can be added when necessary .

In this way, the income of more than 200 million taels of silver can be increased every year.

The accumulation of several years is not a small amount, which can greatly alleviate the tense situation of military expenditures and help the recovery of Xinjiang.

There is no need to worry about Zuo Zongtang's pattern, the mere millions of taels of silver will not make him lose his true nature, as can be seen from the incident of "carrying the coffin into Xinjiang";

In order to regain Xinjiang, Zuo Zongtang even gave up his family and life, so why do you need mere money?
The right to monopolize kerosene is a hot commodity. Everyone knows that if you get it, you can make a lot of money, provided you can keep it.

With Zuo Zongtang's weight as the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, who holds military power, and the great reputation of "Zuo Shaved the head", there are not many people in the Qing Dynasty who can make up his mind.

According to the "World Situation Summary" compiled by the Royal Secretariat;
Tsarist Russia captured Ili and further intended to "recover" Urumqi on its behalf. This aroused the high vigilance of the Qing court. It also ordered Zuo Zongtang to "take care of everything".

From the perspective of the situation in Shaanxi and Gansu
Zuo Zongtang originally planned to put down Hehuang Ma Zhanao and other ministries first, and then "point to the west with one intention", but the emergency situation in Ili and Urumqi made him determined to open the road to Xinjiang in advance.

Timely action should be taken now, and it is the best policy to plan for a rainy day.

When the empire is able to push it gently from behind, perhaps history will be completely different.

Why should the large piece of land in the west of Alashankou be let go to Lao Maozi?

(End of this chapter)