Volume 4: Hot! The whole world is a warring state Chapter 700 The War Has Not Stopped
"Your Majesty, I don't quite understand. How can we get rid of the other emperor without conquering China?"
"Here's what I think. Starting this year (1640), I will send 80% of my navy to East Asia to disrupt trade and bombard ports. At the same time, our diplomats will land in various countries in East Asia and various provinces in mainland China with the support of large ships and cannons. We will submit a note that as long as these countries or provinces no longer support their emperor, we will not attack their coastal areas, and their merchant ships will not only be able to sail freely in the South China Sea, but as long as they pay us enough taxes, we will also allow them to enter the Indian Ocean and even the Atlantic Ocean."
After supporting his nose, Philip continued, "There is a Chinese saying that goes, 'It is easy to go from frugality to luxury, but difficult to go from luxury to frugality.' I have to say that the current emperor of China has done a very good job in the past twenty years. Under his rule, the entire East Asia and Southeast Asia are closely connected politically, economically and even militarily. This solidity even exceeds that of our European Union. However, because of this, if this close connection established through the ocean is interrupted due to our strong intervention, the nobles and wealthy merchants of various countries who have become rich because of maritime trade will definitely be dissatisfied with the emperor of China. When this emotion accumulates to a certain extent, we propose that as long as the Chinese can change the emperor, Europe can sign a peace agreement with China..."
"Your Majesty, I never thought that you thought so highly of the Emperor of China."
"Yes, that is the biggest obstacle for us Europeans to stand on the top of the world. As long as he is no longer in that position, our cause will be successful."
"Your Majesty, I must remind you that right beside us, in the Near East and in the Balkans, there is another enemy that is very difficult to deal with."
"Humph, you mean the Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire? I'm not worried about this political idiot. It's just that the Chinese are too strong now, and we need to unite with them to fight together. Otherwise, I would have destroyed him long ago."
"Your Majesty." Osvalles rarely put on a serious face. "As your prime minister, I must remind you that your mentality seems to be a little... inflated because of the recent victory."
"…You are right. Thank you for your reminder, my Prime Minister. If possible, I hope you can always speak frankly like you did today."
"I will, Your Majesty. Unless one day you get impatient and don't want me to be around to serve you."
"Hahaha, how could that be, my Prime Minister? Without you, who would point out my mistakes to me?" After laughing, Philip said seriously, "My Prime Minister, although the Alliance has taken over India, according to the agreement between us and the Ottoman Empire, we have only taken over 80 million people . Adding together with the population we already control, it is just over 200 million. This population is still not enough compared to the population controlled by China now. Therefore, in the next competition, always maintaining the technological gap is still our top priority. After all, when it comes to competing in manpower, the more than 80 million people in India cannot be counted."
"Although I have never been to India, I have learned something about the weak fighting capacity and negligible fighting will of the people there. You are right, Your Majesty, the Indians can just do hard labor for us. When the war really comes, they will be more advantageous to us on the enemy's side."
"You are so humorous. So, my Prime Minister, we must maintain the technological gap. When I was in India, I summoned a Chinese general, Li, who surrendered to us. According to General Li, the Chinese have already begun to build 10,000-ton giant ships, and they are building two at a time. It can be imagined that Professor Kepler did leak the secret at the time."
"Does it need to arrest and try Professor Kepler?"
"No, no, no, we just need to strengthen monitoring. Professor Kepler's mistake was unintentional, and after this blow, he has completely sunk and can no longer take on new projects. In short, we can't let this discourage other professors."
"Okay, Your Majesty. So, what about the technological gap?"
"I have just found two young people, both from the old France. One is called Dezag and the other is called Pascal. I plan to let them take the lead in forming a new scientific research team to conduct preliminary research on internal combustion engines."
"internal combustion engine?"
"Uh..." Philip scratched his head and said, "Let me explain it to you. The steam engines we use now have a thermal efficiency ratio that is difficult to exceed 10%, and they are huge in size, which has many restrictions on their use. However, the thermal efficiency ratio of internal combustion engines is a minimum requirement of more than 10%, and it is not difficult to reach 20%. More importantly, its size can be made very small, so we will have many new weapons and equipment."
"I understand. Your Majesty, please rest assured. I will instruct someone to provide logistical support for these two scientists. There will be no delay in funding, equipment, or personnel."
"Of course, I believe you can do a good job. But I tell you this specifically for another purpose."
"Please give me your instructions, Your Majesty."
"Instruct the Ministry of Mineral Resources to send exploration personnel to Libya to search for oil!"
…
When Philip returned to Europe, Ottoman Ibrahim also returned to Istanbul.
Starting from India, Istanbul is much closer than Madrid. The main reason why Ibrahim spent almost the same amount of time on the road as Philip was that he did not have control of the sea and did not dare to go by sea - he was very sure that if he dared to go by sea, Philip would immediately break the alliance and kill him at sea.
"Welcome back, Your Highness, the Grand Vizier. Your expedition has gained the Empire new lands that are no less than the Empire's own lands, added more than 20 million people to the Empire, and united more Crescent brothers under the banner of the Sultan. Your great achievements have surpassed those of any Grand Vizier and any Sultan since the founding of the Empire."
After returning to Istanbul, Yibrahim endured the flood of flattery at the welcome ceremony with a stiff face, feeling extremely uncomfortable in his heart.
There is really a big problem with the population ratio of the empire!
Before he became a powerful official, the empire actually controlled a population of nearly 20 million, of which there were only a little over 10 million pure Ottomans.
After he came to power, the empire lost North Africa, especially Egypt, causing the country's population to drop to around 16 million. Although he later sent troops to open up the northern coast of the Black Sea and the East European Plain, the population of these two places at that time was really not large. At most, the Ottoman population here was only over one million.
Later, he took advantage of the death of Abbas the Great and the idiocy of his successor to break up and control Persia. Well, the Persians do number more than 20 million. However, this nation is very resilient and cannot be managed directly. The only strategy is to divide and rule.
Although the Ottomans could suck blood from the Persians by doing so, when the whole country went to war, the huge human resources of Persia would not be so easy for the Ottomans to use.
This time, the Ottoman army joined hands with the European Union to expedition to India. Due to the lack of sea control, the main force of the Ottoman army had to go through the Khyber Pass. Then the Europeans conquered the Deccan Plateau and the Gangetic Plain. The Ottomans were still blocked at the Khyber Pass and did not even see the Indus River. Although Philip still ceded Pakistan to the Ottomans as promised after the war, the performance of the Ottoman Army made Ibrahim ashamed and unable to sleep or eat.
The entire Pakistan, including the Kashmir region, has a total of 22 million registered households after a detailed census conducted by Ibrahim himself for nearly a year. However, there are more than 7 million Sikhs and more than 2 million Pashtuns among them - these are all thorny ethnic groups with strong fighting power and extremely difficult to manage.
Especially the Sikhs, the Ming Dynasty allowed the Sikhs to establish an independent country. If you, the Ottoman Empire, do not allow their country to continue to exist, no matter how generous the conditions for autonomy are, the Sikhs will not be satisfied.
In addition, without control of the sea, the connection between the mainland and Pakistan must be through a long land route through the Iranian Plateau... In short, although he achieved the largest conquest record since the founding of the Ottoman Empire, Ibrahim really couldn't be happy.
"Dad, how are our income and expenditure during the time I'm away from home?"
"Oh, okay." Old Sokoli is almost 70 years old this year, but Ibrahim can only rely on this old father in civil affairs. He trembled and took out a small notebook, stretched out a finger to stick some saliva in his mouth, and then flipped through the small notebook: "Last year, the empire's income was 93 million lira and its expenditure was 67 million lira. The national finances are very healthy."
"This..." Looking at his father's smug face, Yiplash was speechless: Osman also had many intelligence personnel in Europe, especially those from the former French region, who were very proactive in spying for Osman. According to their feedback, Spain's income last year was over 300 million!
"Dad, how is the construction of our thermal power plant going?"
"Oh, about this matter. I don't understand much about the technical aspects, but according to the report made by the head of the Ministry of Science and Technology at the State Council meeting three days ago, we can try to generate electricity in another six months."
"There's still half a year..." Shaking his head helplessly, he asked again: "When I returned home, I made a special detour to Kuwait to take a look. The shipyard expansion project there is still too slow. Dad, if there is a fiscal surplus, please increase the funding and let them speed up. After we Ottomans take over Pakistan, we must have a strong navy in the Persian Gulf."
"I see. How about adding another two million lire?"
"I have no objection. In addition, how is the progress of the Istanbul ironclad ship in our Black Sea Shipyard?"
"The main part has been completed and is currently being outfitted. However, our engineers have encountered many problems during their work and we need you to personally provide guidance."
"...I understand. I will leave there right after I handle some urgent matters in the next two days. By the way, Dad, please ask the cavalry commander Hussein to come and see me."
"Hussein? My son, you just came back and you're going to fight again?"
"There's no way." Yiplashin spread his hands helplessly. "Our fake ally, His Majesty Philip, is not satisfied with India and wants to continue his march to Indochina. He wrote me a personal letter, saying that as an ally, he must send troops to show his respect. I thought about it and decided that since our sea route is still blocked, I will not send ordinary infantry. I want to send a cavalry of 20,000 people through Afghanistan, connect with the Uzbeks and Turkmen in Central Asia, and attack China's Xinjiang together!"
