Chapter 16 The Ming Empire is strong, rich and cowardly! (Please collect, vote for me, recommend, and read more)

The wheels of the train beat the rails rhythmically, making a "bang, bang, bang" sound, and occasionally the roar of the steam engine was heard.

Zhuge Weidao had already boarded the train bound for Turqisk and was traveling on the vast plains of the Rakshasa Empire covered by ice and snow. The straight-line distance from Petersburg to Turqisk was more than 2,000 miles.

Five hundred kilometers, the length of the railway line between the two places is more than three thousand kilometers. The speed of the railway these days is only twenty or thirty kilometers per hour. It would take more than one hundred and dozens of hours to travel three thousand kilometers, which would take almost five years.

Six days.

However, compared with the long journey of taking a horse-drawn sleigh to Bagua City, the capital of the Jin Empire, and then from Bagua City to Yining, the capital of Yili Province in the Ming Dynasty, this trip can only be described as comfortable and fast. If the latter is too slow,

It’s easy to go, but it won’t be certain for two or three months!

This period of time on the road was really precious to Zhuge Weidao. Because his memory could not be "restored", it seemed that it had been deleted during the "soul reloading". So he

I can only re-enter some necessary memories. I can't act like a fool everywhere, not knowing this or that. He is Zhuge's strategist who can pinch and calculate!

So before boarding the train leaving Petersburg, he asked Guo Xiaobao to spend public funds to buy him many books on history, geography and navy, intending to "make up for it" during the journey. Most of these books were in Rakshasa.

, Fortunately, Zhuge Weidao still remembers Rakshasa script, and can not only speak it, but also read it. In addition, Natalie, who is with her, has seriously studied Chinese, and she has been learning it as a second mother tongue since she was a child, so Zhuge Weidao has

If you don’t understand, she can help translate it.

Of course, it was a no-brainer for him to complete the "reconstruction" in a few months and master everything Zhuge Weidao had learned in the past twenty years.

Because he has already inquired with Guo Xiaobao, the original Zhuge Weidao can be regarded as a "Tianniu" in the Zhuge family where there are many talented people - a born great man!

The "real Zhuge Dao" finished high school at the age of sixteen, and was admitted to the Ming Naval Academy with first place. At the age of twenty, he ranked first in the graduation examination and overall score!

Just two years later, he was admitted to the Naval Staff College with first place, and then graduated from the Naval Staff College with first place. Only then was he awarded the rank of major, and was sent to the Rakshasa Kingdom as a post.

Naval Attaché.

If nothing else happens, after he completes the mission of "bringing back Natalie", his next position should be as first mate or second mate on a fast cruiser or armored battleship - such a highly technical position cannot be

Relying on the knowledge that Zhuge Weidao has today.

So after returning to the Ming Dynasty, Zhuge Weidao had to continue to study hard!

It was already dark outside the train, and Natalie and the accompanying Rakshasa maid had already gone back to their cabins to sleep.

As for He Zhongtang and the rest of the Jin Empire's envoy, they had already gone back to their carriage to squint.

That Sushun Xiaoshunzi was also arranged by Zhuge Weidao to rest.

Only Zhuge Weidao's military attaché secretary Guo Xiaobao stayed with him, yawning all day long. It wasn't that Guo Xiaobao didn't want to sleep, but that Zhuge Weidao wouldn't let him go!

This "silly Zhuge" had a lot of stupid questions, but Guo Xiaobao had to be patient and answer them one by one.

"Baozhi, how come we and Spain are half of this Luzon Islands? How come we only occupy Luzon Island, a Palawan and some miscellaneous small islands? We still don't want so much land in the south?"

The silly question of "Silly Zhuge" is here again!

Guo Xiaobao held his eyelids and replied: "Didn't this mean that King Zheng Chengzhong died of an illness when he was conquering Luzon Island? Many of the Zheng family horses who followed him on the southern expedition also died of illness... So after they captured Luzon Island, they had no choice but to withdraw their troops.

.”

Zhuge Weidao nodded and thought to himself: "Zheng Chenggong only contracted the disease and died after he took over Luzon. This is considered as fulfilling his wish in his previous life, but this tropical epidemic is indeed serious!"

Guo Xiaobao added: "Later King Wu Zhong gave priority to conquering Borneo... He knew by calculation that there were treasures on Borneo, and he had to completely conquer the entire coast. So he temporarily gave up on the southern part of the Luzon Islands.

Use troops.

In order to prevent the Spaniards from supporting the princes of Borneo, he signed a peace treaty with the Spaniards, taking back only Luzon, Palawan and other islands, and leasing all the scattered small islands in the southern part of the Luzon Islands to Spain.

Habsburg dynasty."

"King Wu Zhong knows that there is oil in Borneo!" Zhuge Weidao thought to himself, "That must be taken down... After all, the large oil fields in China are not easy to develop, and the oil in Borneo can only be mined a few times.

We just came here, and several oil fields are near the coastline, so transportation is very convenient."

"But why didn't King Wu Zhong take over the South Luzon Islands after taking over Borneo?" Zhuge Weidao asked again.

Guo Xiaobao shook his head, "Brother Daozi, you are just trying to see how hard it is for someone to shoulder the burden!"

"What, is Borneo difficult to fight?"

Guo Xiaobao sighed and said: "It is not difficult to fight. After the battle, too many people died in the construction of cities, deployment of defenses, and farming... In the past ten years, no less than 30,000 Ming soldiers and civilians died of illness in Borneo!"

Even the son of King Wuzhong, Marquis Wenzhong of Wuxiang, later died of illness in Borneo!"

Zhuge Weidao also knew how powerful tropical infectious diseases were. Even after the advent of quinine, tropical infectious diseases such as malaria were still fatal to immigrants from the north!

In the early years, only by risking one's life to clear the virgin forest into clean cultivated land can the harm of diseases be effectively reduced. If the Ming army could capture enough indigenous slaves or buy some black slaves, fewer people would die.

However, the consequences of such an approach are quite serious. It is easy to capture slaves, but difficult to drive them away! It is inappropriate in an area like Borneo that must be completely conquered.

"This Marquis Wenzhong of Wuxiang is..." Zhuge Weidao was silent for a while and then asked again.

Even his grandfather had forgotten it. Guo Xiaobao was also speechless. It seemed that Zhuge Weidao's amnesia was quite serious.

Guo Xiaobao sighed and said: "He is Ling's grandfather! Your virtuous Duke's title is also Marquis of Wuxiang, and his posthumous title is Zhongyi, and the current Marquis of Wuxiang is Brother Ling."

"What about me?" Zhuge Weidao asked, "Do I have a title?"

"No," Guo Xiaobao shook his head, "The Zhuge family has only two hereditary and irreplaceable titles, one is King Wu and the other is Marquis of Wuxiang."

"Oh," Zhuge Weidao nodded, "Then let's talk about how the expansion of Nanyang became so dirty."

Guo Xiaobao paused for a moment, then continued: "Because there were so many dead people, the opposition to the expansion of Nanyang began to rise. King Wu Zhong could not convince everyone, so he had to suspend the southward expansion plan.

He originally wanted to wait until the population of the Ming Dynasty increased a little, and also when the cinchona trees introduced from South America had grown up, then he would go south in a big way. Who knew... Before that day, his old man passed away during the Western Expedition

Already."

Guo Xiaobao stretched out his right hand and gently touched the map spread on the table, and sighed: "King Wu Zhong joined the army at the age of twenty-five, turned the tide from collapse, helped the Ming Dynasty from danger, leveled the Central Plains, settled the northwest, conquered the Yellow Dragon, and stepped on the grassland

, swept the Western Region, went up to the snow-covered plateau, rejected the Rakshasa Baiyi, and conquered Annan, Siam, Chenla, Nanzhang, Ava and other southern countries. Even in his busy schedule, he also sent troops to the New World and opened up the land of New Manchuria.

.

King Wu Zhong served as a general and prime minister for more than fifty years. During this period, he spent thirty years on the battlefield. His men did not take off their armor and their horses did not unsaddle, until they died in the army. It can be said that they dedicated their lives to death!"

Zhuge Weidao also lowered his head and looked at the Rakshasa version of the world map. The vast China on the map is very big and beautiful, but it is not big enough or beautiful enough!

At this time, the Ming Empire on the map includes Korea, Annam, Siam, Chenla, Nanzhang, Ava, Ryukyu and other tributary states, plus Borneo, Luzon, and New Manchuria (that is, Alaska).

Overseas provinces, plus Mongolia, Baikal, Transhung Yen, Beiyang (the Northeast Coast and Sakhalin Island), Ili and other border provinces, the total territorial area is about 178 million square kilometers.

To be honest, such a big empire is indeed big enough!

But it is not perfect. First of all, the Ming Dynasty's territory in the Americas is not large enough. There is only one area like Alaska, which is still a land of ice and snow.

Secondly, the Ming Dynasty did not have the shipping hub of Malacca! Without taking Malacca, the Ming Dynasty would not have been able to get involved in the oil-producing areas of the Middle East. At the same time, the Palembang Oil Field in the Malacca area is also a large oil field with low production costs! Such a shipping throat, actually

Being firmly controlled by the British Empire is a bit incredible!

Furthermore, the Ming Dynasty did not swallow up Australia, and it was still a British territory!

In the end, Japan did not have time to be destroyed. Is this left to Zhuge?

Obviously, King Zhuge Wuzhong did not finish all the work, and the reason why he did not finish it could be guessed by Zhuge Weidao.

Thinking of this, Zhuge Weidao asked Guo Xiaobao: "Does my great-grandfather King Wuzhong like to do everything by himself?"

"Yes, yes," Guo Xiaobao said, "Everyone knows about this, but King Wu Zhong is much stronger than Zhuge Kongming. He has served as a general and prime minister for decades, and he has become one of the world's three greatest scientific masters despite his busy schedule.

But he still lived to be seventy-five years old."

Understood!

Zhuge Weidao thought: "This ancestor is a workaholic. He has been busy for the country and the people for fifty years, and he has been busy until his death. But others may not work so hard. Because what King Wu Zhong did seems to

It was centralization of power! Although there were representatives of the eight major families and hundreds of meritorious families discussing politics together, there was no enfeoffment of territory. Even their original territory and army were returned to the country by King Zhuge Wuzhong.

In addition, King Zhuge Wuzhong's governance of the new territories was all overseas provinces and frontier provinces. Not to mention feudal states, there were not even autonomous territories or trading companies. Although there were a few vassal states, those countries were already there.

, it was not established by the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, once King Zhuge Wuzhong passes away, others will have no motivation to expand."

"By the way, Baozhi," Zhuge said, "Did King Wu Zhong mention his plan to conquer the New Continent, the Southern Continent, in his will?"

"Yes, yes," Guo Xiaobao nodded, "King Wu Zhong knew that he had been militaristic in his life, which made everyone very hard. So in his will, he asked everyone to rest and recuperate for twenty years. Then he would prepare for military preparation for ten or thirty years.

Then we launched a great war, first going south, then eastward, conquering the southern continent, and conquering at least half of the new continent!"

Zhuge Weidao looked at the map and said with a smile: "Let me guess, after these twenty years of recuperation, everyone feels very comfortable and no longer wants to fight?"

Guo Xiaobao provoked Brother Thumb, "What do you think? This is what everyone thinks. Our country, Ming Dynasty, is the richest country in the world, with the largest industry, leading technology, vast land and abundant resources, a large population, developed industries, and products sold all over the world. There is no need for war at all."

Zhuge Weidao smiled and looked at Guo Xiaobao's honest black face: "It's impossible not to want to fight. The tree wants to be quiet but the wind doesn't stop! The British Empire will never give up the world hegemony gained with countless blood and lives. And we

Even if we don’t want to dominate the world at all, as long as our size is large enough, our economic strength is strong enough, and our industrial technology is advanced enough, we are destined to be unable to live in harmony with Britain. Therefore, a world war is inevitable! Baozhi, this is our generation of soldiers

So lucky!"
Chapter completed!