Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 340: Lao Zhu's Plan for Egypt, the Mamluk Kingdom [Please Subscribe]

Zhu Yuanzhang controlled intelligence agencies such as the Jinyiwei and was familiar with the situations of his sons.

As far as he knew, Zhu Ying seemed to prefer to be enfeoffed in Australia before, so why did he change to Africa now?
He then ordered the two teachers from the main hall to leave, and then asked, "Why do you want to be a vassal in Africa? Don't you know that it's quite far away and the natives are almost all Kunlun slaves?"

Since Zhu Ying had made up his mind, he naturally had mature ideas.

He said, "Your Majesty, I originally wanted to be a vassal in Australia, but after consulting with my brother-in-law, I realized that there are many difficulties that need to be overcome."

"I then thought about what I had said before: I would lead troops to conquer the Western Barbarian nations. If I really became a vassal in Australia, Europe would be thousands of miles away. So I simply changed my mind and decided to become a vassal in Africa."

"Africa is not only a necessary place for maritime transportation between Asia and Europe, but it is also close to Europe and not too far from our Ming Dynasty. Whether we go there to fight against the Western Barbarians or return to Ming Dynasty to visit my father, the emperor, and my mother, it will not be difficult."

"As for the claim that most African natives are Kunlun slaves, when my father discussed this with my brother-in-law, didn't we develop a plan to transform the natives' bloodline and skin color? I can definitely follow that plan."

"Also, according to what I learned from my brother-in-law, in addition to the Kunlun slaves, there are also blond, blue-eyed, and fair-skinned barbarians in Africa, most of whom are found in North Africa."

"Of course, considering the distance, I will not go to the west of North Africa. Instead, I plan to go to the northeast of Africa, such as Egypt."

Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes flashed when he heard this, and he said, "You want to become a vassal of Egypt?"

Zhu Ying nodded, "I do have this idea."

Zhu Yuanzhang said, "Egypt is no longer a no-man's land. According to the news sent back by the Guards of Light, it is now ruled by a white dynasty that has been in existence for less than ten years."

"Its territory not only included most of what would later become Egypt, but also extended northeastward into the western Mediterranean coast of West Asia."

"It is said that the country's current name is not Egypt, but rather 'Mamluk'. Furthermore, the country once defeated a Mongol army on its western expedition, so its military strength is quite strong."

Zhu Ying seemed not to grasp the underlying meaning of Zhu Yuanzhang's words and said, "With the strength of my guards, I am confident that I can defeat the army of that country and then rule."

Seeing that Zhu Xing was not listening, Zhu Yuanzhang simply laid out his thoughts.

"You've also seen the Egypt-related video Liu Kuan showed you. You should know that this place is a global military stronghold and also a place with rich and easily exploitable oil resources."

"We have a plan in place for a long time. In the future, the Ming Dynasty will establish a direct overseas territory there..."

Hearing this, Zhu Ying became anxious.

If the Ming Dynasty wanted to make Egypt a directly governed territory, how could he become a vassal?
So, he couldn't help but interrupt Zhu Yuanzhang, "Father?!"

Zhu Yuanzhang frowned and said, "Why are you so anxious? Can't you just listen to what I have to say?"

Zhu Ying had no choice but to continue listening patiently.

Zhu Yuanzhang said, "If you want to become a vassal state in Egypt, I have no objection, but we cannot allow you to occupy all of Egypt and West Asia as vassal states."

"Thus, one-third of the Egyptian Delta was designated as territory directly under the imperial court, and the area of ​​the later canal was completely under the imperial court. The southwestern part of the western coast of the Mediterranean was also directly under the imperial court."

Zhu Yuanzhang said this and simply walked down and drew a circle with a pencil on the map that Li Gui brought.

If Liu Kuan were here, he would definitely secretly praise Zhu for being smart and having a long-term vision.

Because the territory directly under the jurisdiction of the Ming Dynasty drawn by Zhu Yuanzhang included a small half of the most essential parts of Egypt and West Asia.

In this way, even if the Jin vassal state becomes stronger in the future, it will be wary of the Ming Dynasty because of the control of the territories directly under the imperial court.

Similarly, even if the chief official sent by the Ming Dynasty to this directly-administered territory had ambitions and wanted to abandon his wife and establish a country overseas, it would be difficult to do so because of the existence of the Jin vassal state.

Of course, there are other possible outcomes—the Jin vassal and the directly governed territories make peace; or a certain Jin king becomes powerful and subjugates the directly governed territories; or vice versa, a directly governed territories' official becomes powerful, while the current Jin king is weak and controls them. However, allowing the Jin vassal and the directly governed territories to control each other is better than having none at all.

If done well, combined with the Ming Dynasty's own military strength and national power, it would be no problem to control this key place in the world for hundreds of years, or even two or three hundred years.

Zhu Ying could no longer see Zhu Yuanzhang's long-term plans. He really just wanted to find a place close enough to Europe and not too far from the Ming Dynasty to be his vassal - he did not have much ambition at the moment.

Therefore, when he saw the circle drawn by Zhu Yuanzhang, his eyes lit up and he said, "Since that's the case, why don't you send troops to join your son's guards in attacking and destroying that Egyptian dynasty?"

Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and said, "You're quite quick-witted—that's what I was thinking. Of course, this place is quite far away after all. Even if you wait two years before taking up your fiefdom, the imperial court won't be able to send too many troops by then. 20,000 soldiers and naval forces combined would be the maximum."

Zhu Ying laughed and said, "Let alone 20,000 people, even if it's 10,000, we can definitely defeat that dynasty easily!"

Zhu Yuanzhang's face hardened again and he said, "You have also been in the army for many years. Don't you know that you should never underestimate the enemy?"

"I'm just saying this, I won't underestimate the enemy."

Zhu Yuanzhang snorted and said, "I'll have someone copy the information about the Burji Kingdom for you later. You and your staff should study it carefully to avoid any losses on the battlefield."

Zhu Ying said happily, "Thank you, Father!"

Zhu Yu listened to the entire conversation between Old Zhu and Zhu Ying, feeling extremely bitter. Why didn't he pass the civil service exam? If he had passed, he would have chosen the place where he would be granted fiefdom.

In fact, he was quite optimistic about Egypt, but now it was chosen by Zhu Ying. If he insisted on going there, he would be unhappy.

Here, Zhu Yuanzhang instructed Zhu Ying: "Some people in the Mamluk territory make a living by herding. Therefore, when you recruit immigrants, you can recruit 1,000 Mongolian herders. They may help you better rule there."

Zhu Ying nodded, "I understand."

Shortly after Zhu Ying returned to the palace, the emperor's personal army and eunuchs delivered the intelligence information about the "Mamluk Kingdom" to the Prince of Jin's Palace.

Zhu Ying looked through it carefully and learned that the so-called "Mamluk" means slave - it is said that the country was originally formed by a group of slave armies.

First of all, Zhu Ying found it difficult to understand the slave army, and secondly, it was even more difficult to understand the country established by the slave army. Unfortunately, there was no more relevant content in this intelligence.

In addition, the intelligence also stated that this kingdom was established more than a hundred years ago and was originally ruled by another group of people.

But about six years ago, the kingdom was plagued by civil unrest, and another power rose to replace the original ruler.

Therefore, the Mamluks can be seen as a country that has been in decline for more than a hundred years, or as an emerging dynasty.

···
···
In a blink of an eye, more than a month passed and it was November of the 20th year of Hongwu.

After Zhu Ying and Zhu Gui established their governments, they both followed Zhu Di's example and posted "Recruitment Orders" in the capital and other places to seek all kinds of talents.

In addition, Zhu Xing was also making various preparations for establishing a vassal state overseas, while Zhu Gui learned from his mistakes and devoted most of his time to studying, hoping to pass the civil service exam next year.

As for Liu Kuan, he has been in charge of the work of Tiangong Academy and is busy developing science and technology and industry for the Ming Dynasty.

On the sixth day of November, he finally received a huge piece of good news - the wireless telegraph was successfully developed!
After verification, Liu Kuan didn't even bother to write a memorial, and took his relevant subordinates and research results to the palace to meet the emperor.

　Second update.

　　I'm not feeling well today, so I'll update less. This chapter has more than 2,000 words.

　　Good night~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)