Wild North America 1846

Chapter 755 World Colonial Layout
Emperor Richard was generally satisfied with the army's performance in the East Indies War, with occasional flashes.

The shining point is that the Imperial Armored Division established by the emperor's 71st son Tang Li Yi single-handedly performed a performance that attracted the attention of the world in the decisive battle of Upper Indragiri.

Of course, Emperor Richard knew that the gray wolf armored vehicle was the prototype of the main tank of the future land battle, and it was also the direction of the development of the main battle weapon of the world army in the future. The prospect was extremely bright.

But he didn't pay too much attention, and gave special support. It was always Tang Li Yi who worked hard there, and came up with the equipment scale of an imperial armored division.

After this battle
Tang Li Xin, Prince of Pingxi, personally wrote a letter of recommendation, expressing the advantages and detailed plans of developing armored forces in the Royal Guards and the Royal Army, and proposed a key commendation for Brigadier General Tang Li Yi.

Prince Pingxi's memorial was given the green light by the imperial military and government all the way, and was submitted to the imperial court. Emperor Li Cha took a pen to review the word "ke", and there was no more word.

The Imperial Armored Division did not receive the honorary title because of this battle, and became one of the famous ace divisions, so everything was downplayed.

the reason for this

It was because Emperor Richard didn't want to overemphasize the role of armor power, thus changing the development process of the world army and even the current world situation, causing unnecessary follow-up changes.

From a macro perspective

The advantages of mere armored equipment cannot offset the huge dividends brought by the foresight of grasping the future trends of the world at all.

Emperor Li Cha stood at the height of a world chess player, based on the Tang Empire's long-term strategic plan for the next few decades, and didn't care about one or two technological advancements at all.

Even if you don't have the advantages of advanced weapons, what can you do if tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of people are sacrificed in the war?

The competition among world powers cannot be completely changed by one or two advanced weapons. It is a geopolitical contest, a long-term competition of comprehensive national power and influence, involving all aspects of politics, economy, military and culture, and cannot be achieved overnight.

This requires decades or even longer strategic planning, step by step promotion, step by step consolidation of national strength, and finally climb to the top of the world.

The Great Tang Empire has always been doing this. Even though its economic strength aspires to the world's number one throne, it still maintains a humble and low-key foreign policy, following in the footsteps of Britain.

Many hard-line nationalists in the country shouted that the Tang Empire should become the other pole of the world, led by the expansion policy that best suits the interests of the nation, and made their own different voices in the world.

The idea is good, but too radical and idealistic.

At the end of the 19th century, the world stage was still dominated by white Europeans, and the rise of the Tang Empire in North America could not change this, let alone compete with the general trend of the world.

The way to govern the country is to moisten things silently.

This is not a competition of who has the loudest voice, who is more aggressive, who is tougher and more aggressive, or who is brutally expanding. This is all going astray.

Every piece of paper contains wisdom.

There are many negative examples in modern history. Poland, known as the "European foot wrap", is a typical stabbing country.

The Kingdom of Poland invaded Prussia during its prosperity, occupied Moscow, and supported the new tsar. As a result, it was divided up by Germany and Russia, and now it has perished.

The Kingdom of Italy has a loud voice. It is jealous when it sees the colonization of other European countries, and it is clamoring for this and that.

It also wanted to compete with France for Tunisia, and at the end of 1894, it invaded Ethiopia on a large scale, pursuing a policy of massive expansion and colonialism.

As a result, the invading Italian army was heavily beaten by the Ethiopians. A total of 1.7 Italian troops were killed and injured, 1.1 were killed and more than 4000 were captured. The backward African country Ethiopia suffered only 5000 casualties.

This is the first time in modern colonial history that a European country has lost so badly, and it still lost to the Ethiopian dynasty in East Africa.This is a shame for white people, and Italy has become the laughing stock of Europe.

Tsarist Russia is also a negative example. Its barbaric expansion to the west has been encircled and suppressed by European countries to varying degrees.

Emperor Li Cha firmly controlled the Great Tang Empire and developed it according to the medium and long-term strategic plan. This is the path that best suits the long-term interests of the Great Tang Empire.

Whether it is the advanced army tanks and armored vehicles or the navy's former Dreadnought-class battleships, in fact, the Tang Empire has no urgent needs.

The Tang Empire, which has the benefits of both oceans, basically has no real land threats, and no European power can threaten the mainland of the empire.

The Royal Navy of the Tang Empire has no real need to compete with the British Royal Navy for ocean hegemony, and has no intention of provoking the sensitive nerves of the British Royal Navy. The two sides jointly maintain the order of the world's oceans. Isn't it good?

Compared with following the original trajectory of the world, compared with grasping the huge strategic dividends of foresight, this sacrifice is completely worthless, and the Tang Empire can bear it.

Predicting the historical development trajectory of more than 100 years in the future is the biggest trick of Emperor Li Cha, and it is impossible for him to abolish his martial arts.

For any changes that can affect the direction of history, such as armored vehicles that appeared on the battlefield more than ten years in advance, his attitude is neither to promote, nor to encourage, nor to suppress, but to allow it to develop freely.

Successfully captured the islands of Sumatra, Kalimantan and Sulawesi, the pre-war goal has been reached, and the rest is to wrestle with the Dutch.

Emperor Richard skipped over the East Indies, searched all the way west on the map, and finally tapped lightly on the Arabian Peninsula.

Since declaring the Yemen region and the Kuwait region as areas of special interest to the empire, the Tang Empire has strengthened its control and immigration to the region, especially in the coastal areas from the north of the Kingdom of Oman to Kuwait, and successively established several Chinese-dominated small town.

This is the territory of a series of Gulf oil-producing countries such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, and Kuwait. It is located on the west coast of the Persian Gulf and is now basically controlled by imperial immigrants.

The strength of the local nomadic tribes is low. The small tribes have hundreds of thousands of people, and the large ones have more than [-] people.

They are living in one of the few oases along the Gulf coast, facing the endless Gobi Desert and the endless desert, and they really need to eat Tukela if they are poor.

Chinese immigrants entered the area mainly to develop coastal fishing and trade. Most of them settled down by buying local Arab women to build families.

The Ministry of Imperial Colony has some support policies for local Chinese, mainly through bank loans to support Chinese immigrants to develop agriculture in the oasis, mainly to buy seeds, fertilizers, cattle and agricultural machinery, buy local Arab women and build houses, or buy Fishing boats and more.

According to Emperor Richard

The local Chinese-dominated North American cowboys have a wild and aggressive personality. They often form armed horse teams and camel teams of different sizes, and go deep into the desert to attack the local Arabian tribes, robbing cattle, horses, livestock, and women. Including male prisoners of war.

These are quite valuable trophies. Cattle, sheep, livestock and Arab women can be sold in the local market to quickly return funds.

The male captives needed coolies both on the plantations and in the towns, and were in effect slaves in a sense, tacitly.

This is not uncommon in Kuwait, Sanaa, Yemen and other regions. The Ministry of Imperial Colonies turns a blind eye to these situations and pretends not to see them.

How could the local Arab tribes with a small population stand up to such a disaster?
The entire west coast of the Persian Gulf is added up, excluding the Kingdom of Oman, there are only 10,000+ Arab tribesmen.

in just a few years
Its population has been reduced by more than a third, leaving only 10,000+ people.

Most of the local Arab tribes became vassals of Chinese towns, and through large-scale intermarriage, they have begun to be gradually assimilated.

A small number fled to the deeper part of the desert. They will face even harsher natural conditions and climate, and their survival status is not optimistic.

The Kingdom of Oman at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula is the traditional sphere of influence of the United Kingdom. The British have a great influence in this area. The Kingdom of Oman is also one of the protectorates of the United Kingdom, which is the same as the case of the Kingdom of Iran.

The Tang Empire has now strengthened its penetration into the Kingdom of Oman. There are more than 3.7 Chinese immigrants in the Kingdom of Oman, basically controlling the local business and transportation industries, and controlling the economic lifeline.

The population of the Kingdom of Oman is very small, so far there are only more than 17.6 people. The Chinese account for more than [-]% of the local population, mainly engaged in farming, ranching and commercial transportation.

The next step is to continue to strengthen the penetration of the Kingdom of Oman and look for opportunities to subvert the local kingship.

The Kingdom of Oman and Iran guard the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz, which is the future world oil depot, and its geographical location is extremely important.

In Emperor Richard's heart, the Kingdom of Oman, together with Yemen, and the entire east coast of the Arabian Peninsula, will all be part of the empire's territory from now on.

Quantitative changes lead to qualitative changes, and now subtle penetration is enough.

The Tang Empire does not seek to control the northern part of the Arabian Peninsula, including Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Beirut, and Jerusalem, the holy land of the three major religions. These areas along the Mediterranean Sea are too sensitive and are also the focus of competition among European powers.

But this future world oil depot must be under control, and if the Strait of Hormuz is to be under control, then the Kingdom of Oman and the Yemen region must be controlled.

Because the Kingdom of Oman guards the entrance of the Strait of Hormuz, and the Yemen region guards the entrance of the Red Sea in the Eurasian route of the Mandeb Strait, the geographical location is extremely important and of great geostrategic significance.

In the future competition for world supremacy, these are very important chips.

After sweeping his eyes across the Arabian Peninsula, Emperor Richard looked down and stopped around Portuguese Mozambique and Madagascar, the fourth largest island in the world, lost in thought...

Now that the Tang Empire has entered a new stage of expansion and colonization, the focus is on improving the layout of the world's colonies, so these two places in Africa have attracted his attention.

After the Berlin Conference, European countries set off a frenzy to carve up Africa. In just a dozen years, the colonized African region soared from the original ten percent to more than [-] percent.

Great Britain, France, Germany and Belgium were the biggest beneficiaries of this carve-up of African colonization.

some of

The colonial area occupied by France is the largest. From North Africa to Central Africa, and even Southern Africa, French colonies are dotted with a total area of ​​millions of square kilometers, accounting for more than half of the French colonies.

Britain realized the idea of ​​a north-south colony from South Africa to Egypt, and Germany took over 110 million square kilometers of colonies in German East Africa and German West Africa.

And Belgium became the biggest winner. In the competition with France, it received strong support from the United Kingdom and obtained the resource-rich Congo River Basin, with a total area of ​​234 million square kilometers, which is the green lung of the entire Africa.

The Congo River Basin has the largest tropical rainforest area in Africa, rich in gold and tropical crops, rich in flora and fauna, and is one of the most valuable colonial areas.

King Leopold II of Belgium is the cousin of Queen Victoria of England, and his father is the queen's uncle. With such a close relationship, the British will of course do their best to help the Kingdom of Belgium.

otherwise

With Belgium's small stature, how can it compete with France?

By the end of the 19th century, the only independent state in Africa was the Ethiopian Dynasty, and most of the other areas were colonized, leaving only some barren inland areas that no one cares about.

Of course, the Tang Empire would not fight for those inland arid desert areas. Originally, they had little interest in colonizing Africa.
If you want to fight, go fight for those good places.

The first thing Emperor Richard of the Tang Empire set his eyes on was Mozambique, which is located in the north of South Africa and the south of German East Africa, facing Madagascar across the Mozambique Strait.

Mozambique has the second largest tropical rainforest area in all of Africa, after the Congo River Basin.

The middle and lower reaches of the 2660-kilometer Zambezi River are all located in Mozambique. There are hundreds of rivers, large and small, with extremely rich water resources.

More than 6% of the area is covered by vast forests, with huge reserves of various mineral resources, a mild and suitable climate, and a 1500-kilometer-long inland waterway, as well as the Maputo seaport with world-class geographical conditions.

In Mozambique, there are no large areas of Gobi and desert, and there are lush green everywhere. The Zambezi River Basin is famous for its rich gold and ivory.

The Portuguese colonized the area for more than 390 years, but it is still in a backward and primitive state, and only a small part of the coastal areas and inland rivers have been developed, which seems to be different from the situation in the Dutch colonies.

They are all small and weak. The Portuguese mainly squeeze gold and ivory in this area, taking into account the tropical plantation economy, and basically have no investment in infrastructure.

For hundreds of years, the roads are still rough and muddy, the port is still a backward wooden trestle bridge, and the heavy ox carts "squeak" when they pass by.

As a small, declining third-rate country in Europe, Portugal is simply unable to develop the Mozambique region, which covers an area of ​​one million square kilometers. In the past 400 years, it has only been asking for endlessly, and has not invested in construction at all.

Therefore, Emperor Li Cha took a fancy to this place.

Compared with Mozambique, the Kingdom of Madagascar, known as a treasure house of resources, is much inferior.

At the beginning, Britain and France jointly invaded the kingdom, but they were repulsed by the Queen of the Kingdom of Madagascar. This is also a rare victory in the anti-colonial history of Africa.

It is a pity that this very courageous and dictatorial queen has passed away long ago. The current Kingdom of Madagascar has long been caught in the disputes of warlord separatism.

But from another perspective, this seems to be what Africa should look like normally, right?
(End of this chapter)