Dominate the Country

In theory, it was not wrong for Ranjit Singh to seek support. The Sikh Kingdom was also a member of the Huaxia Grand Alliance. According to the rules of the alliance, when one side was in trouble, all sides would support it.

Although the news of the Huaxia Grand Alliance had not yet reached Hyderabad when the Marathas launched a counterattack against the Sikhs.

Then a problem arose. Would the Huaxia Grand Alliance strongly support the Sikhs and suppress the Marathas? Or would it use political power to deter the Marathas?

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs could easily guarantee that as long as the objections of the alliance countries led by China were delivered to Hyderabad, the Marathas would definitely surrender obediently and be friendly with the Sikhs. But this would not be straightforward enough, and would not be enough for China to show off its power.

The Grand Alliance had just been established, and it was the time to establish its authority.

So sending troops to fight was a decision supported by many people, but this would likely touch the sensitive nerves of the British.

The Marathas were one of their most reliable allies in India. If the Marathas' rule in northern India was defeated by Chen Han, London would definitely be seriously dissatisfied. This greatly affected their interests in the Indian region. It should be clear that the current war situation in Europe has changed, and Napoleon is no longer the same as before.

Although this will only make the British spend more energy on things on the European continent, their attitude towards the outside world will certainly be greatly different.

Chen Han does not know that Austria has declared war on the Ottoman Empire yet, but Chen Han's center knows that Austria, Russia and Britain have been in secret contact since last year and know that Austria is likely to declare war on the Ottoman Empire.

Ranjit Singh is very politically minded and understands this very well, so he does not ask for reinforcements/volunteers, but for military supplies and financial support. As long as there is money and arms, he can immediately expand the army of the Sikh Kingdom and counterattack the attack of the Marathas. Moreover, he also asked that Nanjing deter Hyderabad and create a convenient situation for the Sikh Kingdom to take the opportunity to open up the seaport.

In other words, let the Sikh Kingdom complete a thorough expansion from the central and northern parts of the future Pakistan to the south, so that the Marathas themselves are "incapable of doing it".

Ranjit Singh believes that the Grand Alliance can make the Marathas "fake fight".

Wang Qi didn't need to explain some things to Chen Jiqing too clearly. Chen Jiqing's position, he already knew what he should know, and there was no need for him to understand the reasons that he shouldn't understand. Wang Qi didn't want to get the truth from him, but just to consult.

With Chen Jiqing's status and vision, the opinions he gave represented a considerable part of the power within Chen Han.

...

Just when Chen Jiqing was seriously considering how to reply to Wang Qi, Wu Bingjian had already come to Shanghai from Guangzhou. He was looking for a young man named Zhu, who was staying at a Ruyi Hotel in the south of Shanghai. When Wu Bingjian found this young man named Zhu according to the address, this young man who was not very old but already had a lot of Jianghu style was drinking in the room with several companions, and was already half drunk. But at least he still recognized Wu Bingjian, and he also remembered the task assigned by his uncle. So, without saying anything, he left his companions who were drinking and eating meat, pulled Wu Bingjian to the inner room, and took out a letter from a suitcase and handed it to Wu Bingjian.

Wu Bingjian took the letter and first glanced at the top of the envelope. The handwriting was the handwriting of Ge Er, whom he was familiar with. This person was not well educated, so the handwriting was very casual, and all of them were simplified characters. Wu Bingjian didn't mind. Ge Er's identity was not worth mentioning, and his Wu family's background was also average. After opening the envelope, taking out the letter paper, and reading it carefully, Wu Bingjian smiled.

Ge Er knew Wu Bingjian's character, so he didn't say much in the letter. He first said a few greetings, and then "got straight to the point" and clearly told Wu Bingjian the purpose of sending his nephew Xu Yulin to meet with him. It was not for other things, but for the "alliance" between the Northern Sugar Group and the Southern Sugar Group.

Although the output of the Northern Sugar Group was less than half of that of the Southern Sugar Group, they were now facing a huge foreign threat-America.

Look at the sugar production in the Spanish island [Haiti Island] and Cuba. If a large amount of cheap and high-quality granulated sugar and crystal sugar flows into the mainland, it will be a huge impact on both the south and the north.

Although Ge Er did not say it clearly in the letter, Wu Bingjian can also judge from the content of the letter that large and small companies in the northern sugar industry agree to reach a consensus with the south to protect their own interests.

A small "sugar industry" seems to be no longer in the sequence of daily necessities for the people, but the huge profits contained in it make everyone who has a place in the sugar market reluctant to give up, such as the Li family. The huge profits of Hainan Sugar Group have always been a huge support for Chen Ding and the Li family in difficult situations in the past few years.

However, with the promotion of sugar beets in the north, especially the large-scale planting in the northeast, the booming northern sugar industry has brought great challenges to the sugar interest groups in the south, so no one has time to swallow up the opponent and monopolize the sugar market. And now with the development of the enfeoffment, they must face the huge challenge from the Caribbean.

The current local sugar industry in Chenhan is like a group of warlords in a melee. Will the outsiders who may attack them in a large scale soon be the powerful "British-French coalition forces" or the more ferocious "Japanese", or the Japanese dwarfs in Baijiangkou? No one in the north or south knows, but no one dares to turn a blind eye to it.

Have you seen that before the turmoil, only half of the Spanish island of Saint-Domingue [Haiti] provided 40% of the sugar and 60% of the coffee in the entire European market in 1780. And how big will this number be when it is specifically measured in weight units?

In 1767, 72 million pounds of raw sugar and 52 million pounds of white sugar were exported to Europe, totaling 55,800 metric tons.

As for Cuba, when the Spaniards completely withdrew from the island of Cuba, Cuba's sugar production was expected to reach 30,000 metric tons. This is not a big number, because the Spaniards who had Cuba before did not dare to touch the cheese of the French in the international sugar trade. Before the riots in Haiti, Cuba's sugar production was only 6,000 metric tons, and the wealth here came more from tobacco and animal husbandry. But the unrest in Haiti gave the Spanish an opportunity. They thought it was the golden moment to develop the sugar industry. Then, in 20 years, Cuba's sugar production soared from 6,000 tons to 30,000 tons.

Data shows that Cuba's climate is very suitable for the growth of sugarcane. Sugarcane grows and develops in the rainy season, and enters the mature stage in the dry season. The sugarcane stops growing, which is conducive to the accumulation of sugar. The sugar content of local sugarcane is as high as 13-15%, and almost all of them can enter the first-class sequence in the classification of raw materials of Chenhan Sugar Industry. How incredible this is. Moreover, the soil conditions here are also very suitable for sugarcane. The vast low-lying areas are weathered limestone soils with a soil layer as thick as 8 meters and rich in organic matter. Unlike the land in southern China, thousands of years of reclamation and cultivation have exhausted the fertility of the fields. For example, careful maintenance of the fields often requires a considerable price to buy guano and bean cakes, which adds a significant amount to the cost of sugarcane cultivation.

In addition, Cuba has a small mountainous area, and agricultural and animal husbandry land accounts for more than 2/3 of the land area, with a high reclamation index. The gentle slope area with an altitude of less than 104 meters has good drainage, which is not only particularly suitable for growing sugarcane, but also conducive to farming and transportation. Another thing is that Cuba is a long and narrow island country with a coastline of 5,700 kilometers, many bays and good ports, and convenient maritime transportation. This is also a favorable condition for the transportation and export of sugarcane.

If the Song State is determined to develop the sugarcane industry, the sugarcane production on the island of Cuba will soon usher in an explosive surge.

And unlike the unrest and war that lasted for more than a decade on the Spanish island, Cuba suffered little damage and impact from the war. There were originally 600,000 people here. The war on the American continent caused many Spaniards and their descendants to flee here, and the population once exceeded 800,000. By the time the Spaniards withdrew from Cuba, the population here was estimated to be about 600,000, half of whom were Spaniards and native whites, and the rest were black slaves and mixed-race children. The local Indians had long ceased to exist.

The Spaniards and native whites had to leave Cuba, but the existing plantations and infrastructure on the island of Cuba would not be destroyed by the Spaniards. Although the population has decreased a lot, plus the population that Chen Jiqing can send to the island, the future Song State will be at most 500,000 at the beginning. But you can think with your ass that the labor productivity that these 500,000 people can produce will far exceed the previous 600,000, or even 800,000.

Because every black and Chinese immigrant knows that although part of their labor will be exploited by the Song State, they can get more. The more they do, the more they can get.

This motivation is completely different from the previous motivation. Is it the motivation of producing more and earning more, or the motivation under the coercion of whips and shackles? This is obvious.

Therefore, neither of the two major sugar groups in the north and south of China dares to take the threat from the Caribbean lightly. No one can guarantee that the sugar they produce will appear in the local market on a certain day and at a certain time. The latter is a huge market that is constantly expanding. No one wants their cheese to be shared by others.

Moreover, the monarchs of the Song Kingdom [Chen Jiqing] on the island of Cuba and the Penghou Kingdom [Chen Jigong] on the island of Spain are brothers who are connected by bones and tendons. Whether the sugar companies of the two countries will compete is still a long time in the future. The important thing is that it is almost impossible for them to compete now. The vast market is in front of them. The King of Song and the Penghou are not stupid idiots with water in their heads. Of course, they will not fight each other to the point of bloodshed.

Wu Bingjian was the head of the Hainan Sugar Industry Group under the Li Group, and Ge Er, who was in contact with him, was one of the bigwigs of the Immigration Bureau at that time. With his support, Zhu Ping'an, Ge Er's brother-in-law, opened a food processing factory in Lushun in his early years, which developed and expanded rapidly. When beet cultivation was promoted to the Northeast, Zhu Ping'an was one of the first people to grow beets on a large scale and build a beet sugar factory. He was also a leading figure in the Northern Sugar Industry Group.

The young man who met Wu Bingjian at the moment was Zhu Ping'an's youngest son. He was spoiled by Ge Er's elder sister since he was young, and Zhu Ping'an was too busy with his career to discipline his son, so he grew up crooked. Zhu Ping'an was cruel and sent to the army to serve as a soldier when he was 18 years old, but he never expected that he would become more rogue after three years of service. It can only be said that he was unlucky to meet a squad leader who was an old rogue. After retiring from the army, he hung out in Shenyang, Lushun and other places. If his father was not the first-class rich man in Northeast China, this guy would be a second-rate person.

How can everything in the world go smoothly and as you wish?