The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 437: Colonization is necessary even if it is backward - On Luo Yaoguo's colonial policy (ask for subscription and votes)

“What does it mean to colonize on your knees?”

For the first time, Hong Xiuquan found that he could not follow the Father's thinking. He did not know what colonization was, but Luo Dagang had turned the Lan Fang Republic into a vassal state of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom a while ago? According to Luo Yaoguo, the Lan Fang Republic was China's overseas colony. So Hong Xiuquan asked the knowledgeable Hong Rengan about it and finally understood what colonization was.

But he didn't understand how this colonization could be carried out on one's knees?

If you don't understand, ask. Hong Xiuquan looked at Luo Yaoguo with a puzzled look and asked, "Ninth brother, isn't colonization a system where advanced and powerful countries occupy the land of ignorant and backward people and then send their own people there to do whatever they want? What does this kneeling colonization mean? Shouldn't colonization be carried out with foreign guns and cannons?"

Luo Yaoguo sighed: "Your Majesty, isn't China lagging behind now? If you lag behind, you will be beaten. Didn't we get beaten by England, with its powerful ships and cannons, more than a decade ago?"

"Yes!" Hong Xiuquan nodded. "Hong Kong has been ceded to us, my brother. Is there any land in this world that has not been occupied by the great powers such as England, France, and America that we can occupy?"

"Of course!" Luo Yaoguo said with a wry smile, "But that's not our goal!"

"Why?" Hong Xiuquan asked.

"Because we will lose money!" Luo Yaoguo explained, "Colonization is not necessarily a sure win! And even if we can make money in the end, we usually have to invest a lot of money in development before we can make a profit. And we don't have that much capital; secondly, most of the territories that are easy to make a profit have already been taken; thirdly, we don't have time to develop slowly because there is no solution to this year's drought! There will be another flood in the Yellow River next year, and there will be no solution. There will be another drought in Jiangnan the year after!"

"Ah? So many disasters?" Hong Xiuquan was shocked. "There will also be a severe drought in Jiangnan? What should I do?"

Luo Yaoguo smiled bitterly and said, "Don't worry, my king. The Chinese people will have other difficulties in the future. What they lack the least is difficulties! Although there have been disasters everywhere in the past few years and people are living in poverty, we still have to fight the Qing monsters! That is a large-scale battle involving hundreds of thousands or even millions of people, and we need a large supply of food and grass!"

Hong Rengan was soft-hearted and interrupted with a trembling voice: "In a year of great disaster, the people are still required to tighten their belts and pay taxes and grain to supply the front line?"

The ministers in the hall also frowned. The people were already living in poverty, and yet they had to tighten their belts to fight the war. Isn't this too difficult?
"Yes!" Luo Yaoguo nodded, his tone firm, "Everything is for the front line, we must fight, and we must win!"

Hong Xiuquan frowned and asked, "Isn't this too harsh? Should we slow down a little bit?"

"It can't be delayed!" When Luo Yaoguo said these three words, the air in the whole small hall shuddered. He paused, and then said: "Because of this disaster, for reasons that are well known, it will happen frequently in the future. It is impossible to delay it for a few years!"

"This"

Hong Xiuquan suddenly felt as if dozens of eyes were directed at him, as if they were saying: It's all your fault! You hurt Brother Heaven, so Heavenly Father sent down the disaster!

Luo Yaoguo waved his hands and said with a wry smile: "It's not all the King's fault, it's also because there are too many people in the world!" He didn't want to pass on the blame, because he needed to pass on the blame when he couldn't solve the problem, and he could solve the problem. He said: "There are too many people and too little land. The land has been exhausted and there is no way to turn around!"

"In the past, when the population was not so large, agriculture was very prosperous in normal years, and the output in years with minor disasters was enough to feed and drink. Only when a major disaster occurred would the old resources be used. But now, hundreds of thousands of people can starve to death in normal years, and there are already starving people everywhere in years with minor disasters, let alone years with major disasters. If the drought in Huguang happened a hundred years ago, it would not be a big deal. This year, the autumn grain in Huguang will not be completely harvested, and the summer grain will still be a good harvest. If Huguang did not have so many mouths to feed, there would be no need to transfer grain from other places in such a disaster, and it could survive on its own. But now."

Luo Yaoguo shook his head and said nothing more. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom knows the hardship of having too many people and too little land! Because Guangxi is in this situation now, the per capita arable land is less than two acres. Before the Opium War, by working as a laborer in Guangdong, the people of Guangxi could still drink some soup from foreign trade and survive. After the Opium War, the foreign trade ports were transferred, and the people of Guangxi could not drink any soup, so they had to rebel. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was just one of the many rebel groups in Guangxi.

As for Guangdong, the situation was not much better. Although Guangdong had more arable land than Guangxi, it had a larger population! Moreover, the contradiction between people and land had always been acute. Otherwise, there would not have been such fierce Hakka-Punti fights and the Red Army uprising. The people who revolted in Jintian were either Hakkas who had fled from Guangdong in their generation, or the older generation or several generations before them who had fled from Guangdong.

The conflict between people and land in Guangdong is not acute, so why are those people running to Guangxi?
And now, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom has to deal with the big bomb in Guangdong and Guangxi. Therefore, there will be more and more difficulties in the future!
He paused and continued, "So now we must, when disasters are everywhere and people are living in poverty, collect food from the areas that are suffering or about to suffer disasters to support the front line, so as to occupy the areas where the contradiction between people and land is more prominent and more prone to disasters and chaos. In order to prevent the people who are struggling to survive from rebelling because they can't survive, we must take three countermeasures. The first is to divide the land, which is a short-term solution and the effect is immediate, but it can only last for a few years at most; the second is to develop industry, which is a long-term solution; the third is to colonize abroad, which can solve the contradiction between people and land in the medium term. But because we don't have the ships and guns to fight against the great powers, nor the financial resources to undertake the development of remote and barren colonies, nor do we have enough time to wait for such crappy places to develop. So we can only find a way to send people to the good places controlled by the great powers. And we can't pay to send them, because we don't have money. The only way is to let the poor people go out to work as laborers to earn hard-earned money. To put it bluntly, it is to sell them as pigs, let others bear the cost of colonization, and let them start from coolies! If this is not colonization on your knees, what is it?"

As soon as these words were spoken, not only Hong Xiuquan, but several ministers present could not help but question them.

"Ah! What you've been talking about is selling piglets!"

"Your Highness, King Wu, can this be considered colonization?"

"How can this be called colonization? It's clearly about going out to do hard labor. This has nothing to do with colonization!"

Luo Yaoguo's face darkened slightly, and he swept his eyes around the hall. Everyone immediately quieted down and continued to listen to his explanation. He said: "Just going abroad as laborers cannot be called colonization. Because once our people reach a certain number in other countries, they will feel threatened. Or if they have too much money in their pockets, they will become jealous. Then they will discriminate against the Chinese, show their knives, and massacre! Java Island controlled by the Dutch and Luzon Island controlled by the Spanish have done such things many times in the past, right? Before, the Hakka people in Borneo were almost massacred by the Dutch!

Therefore, when the piglets are sold out, our True Covenant churches and consulates must follow up immediately, and the Tiandihui halls controlled by the Dark Hall must also follow. We must also select capable backbones to serve as True Covenant missionaries. Not only must we develop believers among the Chinese coolies, but we must also organize backbone believers for military training and be ready to deal with the conflicts that are bound to occur. Don't have any illusions. We can't give much money, but we can still give a lot of talents who have been tempered by blood and fire. "

His tone suddenly became extremely solemn: "There will be sacrifices if there is a conflict. Our people will definitely suffer heavy casualties and there will definitely be rivers of blood! Because in the foreseeable future, the power of the great powers will be strong after all, and it is unlikely that our Taiping Heavenly Kingdom will cross the ocean and go to their territory to fight them. So we can only use the militia organized by the Zhenyue faction, the Tiandihui, and the Dark Hall to fight against the other side's colonial regular army and the natives instigated by foreigners.

In the process of confrontation, our people will not only make great sacrifices, but also suffer temporary and partial defeats. But in the end, our people will definitely win and will definitely get vast and rich colonial lands. But it can only be a pyrrhic victory, a victory that can only be achieved after paying hundreds of thousands or even millions of lives and decades of struggle. So it can be said that it is an expansion with tears, and colonial lands are won with blood, tears and corpses! "

Luo Yaoguo's words sounded heavy, but in fact, he was not feeling heavy at all. Paying hundreds of thousands or even millions of lives to take over the entire Southeast Asia, and even opening up one or two Chinese states controlled by the True Protestant faction on the other side of the ocean, is this a heavy price? Actually, not at all! In fact, in the original history, the lives of the Chinese in Southeast Asia due to various wars, conflicts and racial struggles far exceeded one million!

In his view, it was just the difference between a million deaths in vain and a million deaths to get what they deserved.

There was complete silence in the hall; everyone was shocked by the crazy idea proposed by Luo Yaoguo.

Luo Yaoguo was still talking about his own ideas: "Whether it's Southeast Asia or the New World, it's much easier to make money than in China. There are many people and little land there, but the resources are rich. Some places are rich in spices, some places can dig gold, and some places are the throat of maritime trade. Although many people will die outside, there will still be many people who seize the opportunity to turn over a new leaf and make a fortune.

We want to unify the country and destroy the Qing Dynasty. We also need to develop the army and navy to resist foreign aggression. If things go wrong, we may even have to fight with foreigners who interfere with us. In addition, we must learn the ways of making money from foreigners, such as setting up factories, opening mines, and building railways. But all of these will cost a lot of money, so where will this huge amount of money come from?

Of course, the land in the country can be exploited, but it is definitely not enough. After all, there are many people and little land in the country. Seeing that we have to fight wars year after year, we really can't squeeze out much.

Therefore, we have to think of some way to coax those Chinese who have made a fortune in Southeast Asia and the New World back home, so that they can use their hard-earned money to invest in factories, mines, and railways. If the money is too tight, we can issue some bonds to borrow some money from them.

In addition, there are two grain-producing countries in Southeast Asia, Siam and Vietnam. These two countries have always been vassal states of China. We are in a difficult situation now, and it will be even more difficult in the future. Shouldn't we negotiate with them and ask for some food? This is like begging for food while standing!"

At this point, Luo Yaoguo turned his eyes and looked at Hong Xiuquan who was sitting at the head of the conference table. Hong Xiuquan's face was as solemn as the dark clouds before a storm, and it was obvious that he realized that he was in big trouble.

Luo Yaoguo cleared his throat and said with a smile: "Heavenly King... I have explained to you clearly the decree of Heavenly Father. This decree is specially given to you by Heavenly Father. It is not only a great test for you, but also a great opportunity for you to redeem yourself and make meritorious contributions! It depends on how you grasp it."

(End of this chapter)