Wild North America 1846

Emperor Richard was generally satisfied with the army's performance in the East Indies War, with occasional bright spots.

The shining point was the Imperial Armored Division established by Emperor Tang-Li Yi, the 71st son of the Emperor, which performed in the decisive Battle of Upper Indragili that attracted worldwide attention.

Emperor Richard certainly knew that the Gray Wolf armored vehicle was the prototype of the main tank in future land warfare and the direction of the future development of the main battle weapon of the world army. The prospect was extremely bright.

But he didn't pay too much attention or give special support. It was Tang Li Yi who worked hard there and built up the equipment scale of an imperial armored division.

After this battle

Prince Tang-Li Xin of Pingxi personally wrote a letter of recommendation, strongly presenting the advantages and detailed plans for developing armored forces in the Royal Guards and the Royal Army, and proposed a key commendation for Brigadier General Tang-Li Yi.

Prince Pingxi's memorial was given the green light by the imperial military and the government, and was submitted to the imperial court. Emperor Richard reviewed it with a pen and not a single word more than "ke".

The Imperial Armored Division did not receive the title of glory because of this battle and became one of the famous ace divisions. Everything was downplayed.

The reason for this

This is because Emperor Richard did not want to overemphasize the role of armored force, thus changing the development process of world armies and even the current world situation, causing unnecessary subsequent changes.

From a macro level

The mere advantages of armored equipment cannot offset the huge dividends brought by foresight in grasping the world's future trends.

Emperor Richard stood at the level of a world chess player, based on the Tang Empire's long-term strategic plan for the next few decades, and did not care at all about one or two technological advances.

Even if we don't take advantage of advanced weapons and sacrifice tens or hundreds of thousands more in the war, what will happen?

The competition among world powers is not something that can be completely changed by one or two advanced weapons. It is a geopolitical contest, a long-term competition for comprehensive national power and influence, involving all aspects of politics, economy, military and culture, and cannot be achieved overnight.

This requires decades of strategic planning or even longer, step-by-step advancement, step-by-step strengthening of national strength, and ultimately the ability to climb to the top of the world.

The Tang Empire has always done this. Even though its economic strength aspires to be the largest in the world, it still remains modest and low-key in its foreign policy, following the footsteps of the United Kingdom.

Many hard-line nationalists in the country shouted that the Tang Empire should become the other pole of the world, lead by expansion policies that best served the national interests, and make their own different voices in the world.

The idea is good, but too radical and idealistic.

At the end of the 19th century, the world stage was still dominated by white Europeans. The rise of the Tang Empire in North America could not change this, let alone compete with the general trend of the world.

The way to govern a country is to moisturize things without making a sound.

This is not a competition for who has the loudest voice, a competition for who can stab someone in the head, a competition for who is tougher and more aggressive, or a competition for who is brutally expanding. This is all going astray.

A piece of paper contains wisdom.

There are many negative examples in modern history. Poland, known as the "European footband", is a typical thorny country.

When the Kingdom of Poland was in its prime, it invaded Prussia, occupied Moscow, and supported the new tsar. As a result, it was divided up by Germany and Russia, and now it has been destroyed.

The Kingdom of Italy has a loud voice, and it becomes jealous when other European countries colonize it, and they clamor for this or that everywhere.

It wanted to compete with France for Tunisia, and invaded Ethiopia at the end of 1894, pursuing a policy of massive colonial expansion.

As a result, the invading Italian army was severely beaten by the Ethiopians. A total of 17,000 Italian troops were killed and injured, 11,000 were injured, and more than 4,000 were captured. Ethiopia, a backward African country, suffered only 4,000 to 5,000 casualties.

This was the first time in modern colonial history that a European country had lost so miserably, and it was still at the hands of the Ethiopian dynasty in East Africa. This was a disgrace to the white people, and Italy became the laughing stock of Europe.

Among the negative examples is Tsarist Russia. During its barbaric expansion to the west, it was jointly encircled and suppressed by European countries to varying degrees, and suffered bloody blows time and time again.

Emperor Richard firmly controlled the Tang Empire and developed it according to the mid- to long-term strategic plan. This was the path that best served the long-term interests of the Tang Empire.

Whether it is advanced tanks and armored vehicles for the army or pre-dreadnought-class battleships for the navy, the Tang Empire actually has no urgent need for them.

The Tang Empire, which had the advantage of two oceans, basically had no real land threats. No European power could threaten the empire's homeland.

The Royal Navy of the Tang Empire has no real need to compete with the British Royal Navy for ocean hegemony, and it has no intention of arousing the British Royal Navy's sensitive nerves. Wouldn't it be nice if the two sides join forces to maintain the world's maritime order?

Compared with following the original trajectory of the world, compared with the huge strategic dividends of having foresight, this sacrifice is completely worthless, and the Tang Empire can bear it.

Predicting the historical development trajectory of more than 100 years in the future is Emperor Richard's biggest cheat. It is impossible for him to abandon his martial arts.

Regarding any changes that could affect the direction of history, such as the armored vehicles that appeared on the battlefield more than ten years in advance, his attitude was not to promote them, nor to encourage them, nor to suppress them, but to allow them to develop freely.

Having successfully captured Sumatra, Kalimantan and Sulawesi, the pre-war goal has been achieved, and the rest is just a matter of wrangling with the Dutch.

Emperor Richard skipped the East Indies, searched the map all the way west, and finally tapped the Arabian Peninsula with his hand.

Since declaring Yemen and Kuwait areas as special interest areas of the empire, the Tang Empire has strengthened its control and immigration in the area, especially in the coastal areas from the north of the Kingdom of Oman to Kuwait, and has successively established several small settlements mainly of Chinese origin.

town.

This is the territory of a series of Gulf oil-producing countries such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, and Kuwait. It is located on the west coast of the Persian Gulf and is now basically controlled by imperial immigrants.

The strength of the local nomadic tribes is low. The small tribes have hundreds or thousands of people, and the large tribes have more than 10,000 people.

They live in one of the few oases along the Gulf Coast, facing the endless Gobi Desert and vast deserts. They really are so poor that they have to eat Tukala.

Chinese immigrants entered the area mainly to develop coastal fishing and trade. Most of them bought local Arab women to establish families and settled there ever since.

The Imperial Colonial Department has some support policies for the local Chinese, mainly by issuing loans through banks to support Chinese immigrants to develop agriculture in the oasis. They mainly purchase seeds, fertilizers, cattle and agricultural machinery, purchase local Arab women and build houses, or purchase

Fishing boats, etc.

As far as Emperor Richard knew

The local North American cowboys, who are mainly Chinese, have a wild and aggressive character. They often form armed horse teams and camel teams of varying sizes, and enter the depths of the desert to attack local Arab tribes and rob cattle, horses, livestock and women.

Including male prisoners of war.

These are quite valuable trophies, and the cattle, sheep, livestock and Arab women can be sold in the local market, quickly earning money.

Male captives were required to work as coolies on plantations and in towns, and were actually slaves in a sense, tacitly.

This is a common occurrence in areas such as Kuwait and Sana'a, Yemen. The Imperial Colonial Department turns a blind eye to these situations and pretends they cannot see it.

How could the local Arab tribes with a small population withstand such a disaster?

The entire west coast of the Persian Gulf, excluding the Kingdom of Oman, has more than 200,000 Arab tribal people.

in just a few years

Its population has dropped by more than one-third, with only a few hundred thousand people left.

Most of the local Arab tribes have become vassals of the Chinese towns and have begun to be gradually assimilated through large-scale intermarriage.

A small number of people have fled deeper into the desert, where they will face even harsher natural conditions and climate, and their survival situation is not optimistic.

The Kingdom of Oman at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula is the traditional sphere of influence of the British. The British have a great influence in the region. The Kingdom of Oman is also one of the British protectorates, which is the same as the Kingdom of Iran.

The Tang Empire has now strengthened its penetration into the Kingdom of Oman. There are approximately 37,000 Chinese immigrants in the Kingdom of Oman, who basically control the local commerce and transportation industry, and control the economic lifeline.

The Kingdom of Oman has a very small population, with only more than 176,000 people so far. Chinese account for more than 20% of the population, mainly engaged in farming, ranching and commercial transportation.

The next step is to continue to strengthen the penetration into the Kingdom of Oman and look for opportunities to subvert the local royal power.

The Kingdom of Oman and Iran guard the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz, which is the future world oil depot and its geographical location is extremely important.

In Emperor Richard's mind, the Kingdom of Oman, together with Yemen, and the entire east coast of the Arabian Peninsula will all become part of the empire's territory from now on.

Quantitative changes lead to qualitative changes, and now it can be penetrated imperceptibly.

The Tang Empire did not seek to control the northern part of the Arabian Peninsula, including Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Beirut and Jerusalem, the holy land of the three major religions. These Mediterranean coastal areas were too sensitive and were also the focus of competition among European powers.

But this future world oil depot must be controlled in our hands, and the Strait of Hormuz must be controlled in our hands, so we must control the Kingdom of Oman and the Yemen region.

Because the Kingdom of Oman guards the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz, and the Yemen region guards the entrance to the Red Sea of ​​the Bab el-Mandeb Strait on the Eurasian route, the geographical location is extremely important and of great geostrategic significance.

In the future battle for world hegemony, these are extremely important chips.

After scanning the Arabian Peninsula, Emperor Richard moved his gaze downwards, stopping around Portuguese Mozambique and Madagascar, the fourth largest island in the world, and fell into thought...

Now that the Tang Empire has entered a new stage of colonial expansion, its sights are set on improving the global colonial layout, so these two places in Africa have attracted his attention.

After the Berlin Conference, European countries set off a frenzy to carve up Africa. In just a dozen years, the proportion of colonized Africa increased from more than 10% to more than 80%.

Britain, France, Germany and Belgium were the biggest beneficiaries of this colonial frenzy to carve up Africa.

some of

The colonial area occupied by France is the largest. From northern Africa to central Africa and even southern Africa, French colonies are dotted all over, with a total area of ​​millions of square kilometers, accounting for more than half of the French colonies.

Britain realized the concept of colonizing the north and south from South Africa to Egypt, and Germany took over German East Africa and German West Africa, totaling more than 1.1 million square kilometers of colonial areas.

Belgium became the biggest winner. It received strong support from the United Kingdom in the competition with France and obtained the resource-rich Congo River Basin, with a total area of ​​2.34 million square kilometers, which is the green lung of the entire Africa.

The Congo River Basin has the largest tropical rainforest area in Africa, rich in gold and tropical crops, rich in animal and plant resources, and is one of the most valuable colonial areas.

King Leopold II of Belgium is a cousin of Queen Victoria of England, and his father is the queen's uncle. With such a close relationship, the British will of course do their best to help the Kingdom of Belgium.

otherwise

With Belgium's small stature, how can it compete with France?

By the end of the 19th century, the only country in Africa that still had independent status was the Ethiopian dynasty. Most of the other areas were colonized, leaving only some barren inland areas that no one cared about.

Of course, the Tang Empire would not fight for those inland arid desert areas. It had little interest in colonizing Africa in the first place.

If you want to fight, fight for those good places.

Emperor Richard of the Tang Dynasty first set his sights on Mozambique, which is located in the north of South Africa and the south of German East Africa, facing Madagascar across the Mozambique Strait.

Mozambique has the second largest tropical rainforest area in Africa, second only to the Congo River Basin.

The middle and lower reaches of the 2,660-kilometer-long Zambezi River are all located in Mozambique. There are hundreds of large and small rivers and extremely rich water resources.

More than 60% of the area is covered by vast forests, with huge reserves of various mineral resources, a mild and suitable climate, 1,500 kilometers of inland waterways, and the Maputo Seaport with world-class geographical conditions.

There are no vast tracts of Gobi and desert in Mozambique, but lush green everywhere. The Zambezi River Basin is famous for its gold and ivory.

The Portuguese have colonized this area for more than 390 years, but it is still in a backward and primitive state. Only a few coastal areas and inland rivers have been developed, which is very different from the situation in the Dutch colonies.

They were both small and weak countries. The Portuguese mainly focused on extracting gold and ivory in the region, taking into account the tropical plantation economy, and basically had no investment in infrastructure.

For hundreds of years, the roads are still rugged and muddy, the port is still a backward wooden trestle, and the heavy oxcarts squeak when they pass by.

As a third-rate small country in decline in Europe, Portugal has no ability to develop the Mozambique region, which covers an area of ​​one million square kilometers. In the past 400 years, it has only made endless demands and has not invested in construction at all.

Therefore, Emperor Richard took a fancy to this place.

Compared with Mozambique, the Kingdom of Madagascar, known as a treasure house of resources, is much inferior.

At the beginning, Britain and France jointly invaded the kingdom, but were repelled by the Queen of Madagascar. This was also a rare victory in the anti-colonial history of Africa.

It is a pity that this extremely courageous autocratic queen has passed away long ago. Now the Kingdom of Madagascar has long been trapped in the disputes between warlords. Internal fighting continues, the people are in dire straits, and the local indigenous people live in dire straits.

But interpreted from another perspective, this seems to be what Africa should look like normally, right?

(End of chapter)