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Chapter 1137 It’s so realistic

"My lords, do you know why I want to provide assistance to Persia and the Turkmen to help them fight against the Ottoman Empire? Opening up trade routes to Europe is only one of the reasons, and coveting local resources accounts for 90%.

If the Ottoman Empire defeats Persia and becomes stronger, it will be even more difficult to get involved. They would rather flirt with Europeans than trade with us normally. "

Can they send troops by force? Of course they can. There is no force in the court that can compete with the imperial power, and the military power is completely in the hands of the emperor and the general staff. Even if the astronauts and Tan Mingming are very dissatisfied with what Wang Datou did, they will not go against the emperor's will.

But Hong Tao did not want the court officials to become yes-men and rubber stamps. They must work together to discuss state affairs. If he wanted them to go all out, he could not just make decisions casually, but should do his best to convince them with reason, or simply lure them with benefits.

"I wonder what your majesty means, and why the Ottomans are unwilling to side with the Ming Dynasty?" Sure enough, as soon as they smelled the scent of benefits, the silent ministers immediately became excited. Some asked questions, and some pricked up their ears to listen carefully.

"Although they have been fighting with Europe for hundreds of years, their religions are of the same origin, and the fighting is just a dispute over which one is more authentic. The Ming Dynasty is different. Not only is Taoism incompatible with it, I also advocate the suppression of all religions and insist on assimilation.

In their eyes, the Ming Dynasty was a pagan country, and there was no possibility of coexistence. If they could not defeat the enemy, they could surrender temporarily, but as long as they were strong enough, they would immediately launch a holy war and fight to the death.

I don't want to wait for them to slowly accumulate enough strength to suddenly attack, and I don't want to be friends with a group of guys who are always thinking about eradicating pagans. The ancients said that it is better to strike first, and now that we know what they are thinking, there is no need to tolerate them again and again. Not only must we fight, but we must also fight hard and show no mercy.

Of course, I once said that I would not fight a war that would lose money, and this time is no exception. You may not know what special products there are that can become war dividends, but you should be familiar with one thing: oil.

Compared with the oil in Yan'an Prefecture, the plain called Mesopotamia is simply a land floating on the sea of ​​oil. There are huge oil fields everywhere. The reserves are tens of thousands times that of Yan'an Prefecture and are inexhaustible.

If these lands were in the hands of several different countries, we could cooperate with one or two of them to develop them. But when they are controlled by one country, and this country is inherently hostile to the Ming Dynasty, it would probably cost several times more to get oil from them.”

"Your Majesty has a sharp vision and foresight, and I sincerely admire you. Sun Moon Bank is willing to shoulder this heavy responsibility and share your worries, and do its best to raise the loans needed for oil field development!"

Before the emperor finished explaining why war was necessary, a clear female voice suddenly rang out from the wall. Oyani stood up and expressed her position, standing firmly on the emperor's side and firmly supporting the dispatch of troops.

The Prime Minister of Sun Moon Bank was not among the ministers of the General Staff, but due to the special nature of his work, he could attend the imperial court meetings with the emperor's permission. He usually just sat in as an observer and provided necessary data support when needed.

"Prime Minister Austria is truly a pillar of the country, and I, a humble minister, am willing to serve Your Majesty with all my heart and soul!"

This time, Oyani took the initiative to speak out without waiting for the emperor to ask questions, which was suspected of being presumptuous, but the court officials not only did not raise any questions but praised her. The Minister of Chemical Industry Bi Maokang was the most enthusiastic, speaking passionately, as if there was someone else who had just kept silent and was hearing about this for the first time.

"I second the motion!" Then, the Minister of Industry, Wang Zheng, stood up, speaking concisely and with a firm attitude. With the two of them taking the lead, the military officials present at the General Staff also changed their positions. Issues such as insufficient military funds, hasty incidents, and using courtesy before force were no longer a problem. They all agreed that Murad IV was a child who dared to try to shake a tree with his own strength and had repeatedly provoked the Ming Empire, and he really deserved a beating.

In the early 17th century, when the Industrial Revolution had not yet emerged, was oil really so valuable that it could cause a group of court officials to change their positions instantly?

This would not work in other countries. Without steam engines and internal combustion engines, oil would not be more useful than coal. But it was different in the Ming Empire. More than 20 years ago, the Yongding River Coking Plant began to extract paraffin from coal tar and used the byproduct asphalt after distillation for shipbuilding.

Later, an oil refinery was established in Yan'an Prefecture, which specialized in mining petroleum to extract paraffin and asphalt, and used the preliminary distilled mixed oil and distillation by-product heavy oil for smelting and forging.

With the advent of gas lamps, kerosene became a scarce commodity. All wealthy families were reluctant to use candles for lighting. Even if they were reluctant to waste oil on weekdays, they would hang a gas lamp in the main hall when guests came to show their status.

Later, the Haihe Machinery Factory developed kerosene stoves and blowtorches. The production of kerosene and gasoline was completely insufficient, so part of the production capacity had to be handed over to the General Staff to ensure supply to the army first.

As long as it is a commodity, the price will inevitably rise when the output is less than the demand. In addition to kerosene, paraffin, and asphalt, which have always been in short supply, the price of gasoline, which was previously useless, has begun to rise year by year. No matter how much coking plants and refineries increase their output, they cannot meet market demand.

The coking plant and the oil refinery then became one of the most profitable industries in the Ming Dynasty. However, the shareholders were anxious as they saw that they could not get more profits due to insufficient production.

As soon as the Yarkand Kingdom was pacified and the threat of the Oirat Mongols had not been completely eliminated, they went to Suzhou to explore for oil. In less than three years, local refineries had sprung up like mushrooms after a rain. During the day, you could see black smoke everywhere when you passed by, and at night, there were twinkling fires, like the Milky Way descending on the earth.

However, no matter how hard they tried, the current situation of small oil reserves and difficulty in exploitation could not be changed in a short period of time by human power, and the imperial court did not allow private coking plants to be opened. Anyone who invested in the oil refinery in Yan'an Prefecture 20 years ago has now become a hot commodity. Later, those who came with real money could not find any projects and could only stare blankly.

But who can make a fortune in the Ming Empire depends not on fate, but on people, one person, the emperor. When the refinery was planned to be built, it was the emperor who took the lead in subscribing to shares, and many people did not care. In the end, it turned out that the emperor was the emperor and had to see farther than others.

Now the emperor said that the Ottoman Empire produced a lot of oil, and the first one to react was Oyani. Sun Moon Bank could cry poor and refuse to give loans to the emperor to build three halls, but when it comes to building oil wells and refineries, they have money in a minute, as much as you want!

The officials were only a little slower in reaction than Oyani. The emperor was right. If the Ottoman Empire occupied the oil-producing areas, it would be extremely difficult for Ming merchants to enter.

For the sake of the oil... no, for the sake of justice, we must send troops to rescue the local people from the dire straits and let the emperor's glory shine upon the earth!

(End of this chapter)