Volume 4: Hot! The whole world is a warring state Chapter 799 The noose is slowly tightened
"Your Majesty, a secret letter from Richelieu."
"Show it to me? Tsk! These guys are really greedy and selfless."
"Your Majesty, I was stunned when I translated the code. Are all the merchants in Europe so lawless that they don't have the slightest thought of loyalty to the emperor or patriotism?"
"The nature of businessmen is similar. As long as the profits are big enough, they dare to trample on all human bottom lines."
"But when the Western bandits conquered India, invaded Southeast Asia, and even harassed some coastal areas of our Ming Dynasty, except for a very few shameless people, most merchants in our Ming Dynasty refused to be recruited by the Western bandits."
"Well, I admit that the ritual system established by China since Zhou Gong and the centralized system established since Qin did play a significant role. But more importantly, the royal family of the Ming Dynasty has achieved a binding of interests with several large merchant groups in the country. Otherwise, when the Nanyang defense circle of the Ming Dynasty was broken, the performance of some merchants might not be much better than those big merchants in Europe today. The most important thing is that China itself is large in size, and in recent decades, the livelihoods of the people have become better and better, and domestic demand is sufficient. Domestic manufacturers are able to make a lot of money just from the domestic market. For many domestic manufacturers, the overseas market is just icing on the cake, not a life-and-death relationship. Therefore, when the Western bandits invaded Nanyang, it did not have much impact on the stability of the Ming Dynasty."
"According to what the emperor said, merchants are all villains who forget their principles when they see profit?"
"That's not the case. It's the nature of merchants to pursue profits. It's precisely because of their nature that they are useful to society. After all, without these profit-seeking people, who would do the domestic trade? If the state were to do it, I'm afraid the profits would not be enough to maintain the logistics expenses. However, in the process of pursuing profits, some behaviors of merchants may be natural in their own eyes, but in the eyes of people in other industries, they have crossed the bottom line. But no matter what, the weight of the country and the nation in the hearts of the merchants of our Ming Dynasty is generally a little higher than that of the white merchants."
Looking at Fang Zhenghua who was lost in thought, Zhu Youdong smiled and said, "Don't think about it. Call the ministers of the cabinet and the Privy Council for a meeting. The theme of the meeting is how to put a rope around the necks of the Western bandits and suffocate them to death."
…
"My Lords, it is now the fifth day of the eighth month of the 30th year of the Apocalypse. Half a year ago, I received a personal letter from the Grand Vizier of Ottoman Empire expressing his loyalty and his family. Recently, I received intelligence from Richelieu in Europe. I originally thought that after the Indian campaign, it might take another ten to twenty years for the Ming Dynasty to dismember the European Union and completely defeat Spain. But now that the Ottoman Empire has turned its enemies into friends and European merchants have turned against us, if we operate properly, we estimate that within three to five years, we will not need to conduct too many large-scale battles and can achieve our goals more easily."
"Your Majesty, please give us your instructions."
"My idea is very simple. In the next three to five years, I will do my best to strangle the Spanish thieves economically and treat European merchants and monarchs of countries other than Spain differently. Finally, through economic interests, I will achieve the goal of disintegrating the European Union and isolating Spain. Specifically speaking, this is divided into three steps.
First, in the direction of Asia. We will unite with the Ottomans to build a barrier in the eastern region of Europe. The Ottomans will control the land route, and I will control the west coast of the Indian Ocean with Socotra Island as the core area. In short, European merchants are not allowed to come to Asia to do business, whether buying or selling.
Second, in the direction of America, the route between Europe and North America was cut off, making it extremely difficult for Spain and other European countries to communicate with North America and effectively deploy their forces. The ultimate goal was to separate North America from Spain and completely block the trade routes between the European Union and Spain in the West.
Third, the African direction. Well, this direction is a little more difficult. I mean to send a capable force to land in East Africa, and then break up into small groups and launch guerrilla warfare. In short, it is to prevent Europeans from sucking blood in Africa.
After these three steps are completed, our diplomats will come on stage. Through Richelieu, they will secretly visit the monarchs of various European countries and the big businessmen in Europe. They will form an anti-Western alliance. Finally, the European Union will collapse and Spain will be isolated, waiting for our slaughter. "
After Zhu Youdong finished speaking, the ministers looked at each other for a while. Prime Minister Ma Shiying stood up and said, "Your Majesty is far-sighted and has far-reaching intentions. We admire you. However, it is easy to understand that the Ottomans and my Indian Ocean Squadron will work together to block the eastern trade route in Europe. But what about the last two?"
"Haha, please look, everyone." Zhu Youdong walked to the large world map on the wall of the conference room and pointed his finger at the Azores Islands in the east-central North Atlantic.
"Hiss~" Among the ministers attending the meeting, not to mention the military generals, even the civil officials such as Ma Shiying, when they saw the location Zhu Youdong pointed out, they instantly understood: If the Ming Dynasty could really occupy this archipelago and gain a foothold, then at least half of the maritime traffic between Europe and America would be paralyzed.
But, can such a vital island be occupied successfully?
"Everyone, the suggestion to land in the Azores and then control the entire North Atlantic route was proposed by Richelieu. To be honest, when I first saw this plan, I also felt it was too bold. But Richelieu said so. First, for hundreds of years, the Spanish have firmly controlled the sea power in the Atlantic, so the Azores are basically undefended.
Secondly, in addition to a small number of indigenous people, the dominant group on the island is a special group of white people. When Philip brought opium to Asia to sell, our Ming Dynasty launched a counterattack and took down all the colonies of Spain and Portugal in Asia. Then these white people living in the colonies were driven back to Europe by us. In order to prevent the scandal of his opium trafficking from spreading in Europe, Philip exiled and imprisoned this group of white people in the Azores . Richelieu said that due to the recent defeat of the European Union in India, Spain's control has plummeted. He finally got in touch with the people on the island. These people hate Philip to the bone. If we land here, we will definitely get their support and help.
Third, the Ming Dynasty has completely taken control of South America. Our main naval forces will bypass the Cape of Good Hope and go to South America to rest first, and then join the American Squadron to land in the Azores in a complete state. As long as the navy can hold its own in the naval battle and help the Marines hold out for three to five months, after the Marines have completely fortified the archipelago, we can cut off most of the North Atlantic routes. In this way, the noose will be put on the east and west ends of Europe. "
"…Your Majesty, this plan is a little risky, but if it really succeeds, it will be more effective in directly attacking the European Union and strangling Spain. The Navy is willing to try it."
"General Inukai, has the fortification of Socotra Island been completed?"
"It's all done. The navy can withdraw its main forces to South America to prepare for the capture of the Azores."
"Very good." Zhu Youdong nodded. "This move is indeed a bit risky, but after reading Richelieu's plan, I was really tempted. After all, if we want to completely take over North America, we must either deploy the main force of the army through the vast Pacific Ocean, or capture the Azores and cut off the connection between Europe and North America. The former requires too much manpower and material resources to be mobilized, so it is more cost-effective to capture the Azores, and the results can be seen more quickly. Moreover, with the Azores, not only can North America be quickly taken over, the key is to suffocate Europe faster. Well, the navy is a thousand-mile expedition alone, and such a feat is not much less than the former Han Dynasty's champion marquis leading the cavalry deep into the heart of the Xiongnu to fight. I will name this battle plan the champion marquis plan. Next, the Privy Council and the Navy will perfect it well."
"I have received your order and we will not let the Champion Marquis take all the glory."
"Okay, for the eastern route, we will mainly rely on the Ottoman Empire. I have already asked Chen Zizhuang to take the radio to Istanbul. When he gets there, he will find a way to contact Richelieu and equip him with our radio, so that information can be exchanged more quickly. On the sea on the eastern route, we will mainly use destroyers to rely on the Socotra Fortress to blockade. For the western route, we will carry out the Champion Marquis plan at an appropriate time. As for the southern route..."
Zhu Youdong stared at the vast African continent for a long while. "When the Navy implements the Champion Marquis Plan, when it sets out from the Indian Ocean, it will transport Zuo Menggeng's Second Special Forces Division to East Africa for landing. When it sets out from South America, it will transport Cao Bianjiao's First Special Forces Division to West Africa for landing. These two forces will mainly rely on the Nile and Niger rivers to launch guerrilla warfare. I don't ask them to kill as many enemies as possible, I just hope they can completely mess up the coastal areas of East and West Africa."
"The army is determined to complete the emperor's mission. However , please give this operation a name."
"Hahaha, China has so many famous generals, but when it comes to guerrilla warfare experts, Peng Yue is the first choice. Therefore, the army's operations in Africa will be temporarily planned according to the Peng Yue plan."
"Your Highness, I will submit a detailed plan to the Emperor as soon as possible after the meeting."
"Okay, if everything goes well, the noose will be put up on the east, west, and south. By then, the European economy will collapse, and people will be displaced. But there will be no colonies to suck blood from and transfer conflicts. I think the monarchs and wealthy merchants in the European Union will go crazy and try to find a way out."
"Your Majesty is so wise, we are so humbled!"
"Okay, I will roughly formulate this strategy. The Privy Council and the Navy and Army will refine it, and then discuss with the Cabinet how much money, food and equipment will be needed."
"Your Highness, I accept your order."
The ministers began to leave the venue one by one. At this time, Yan Siqi glanced at Zhao Lujiao, who had white hair and beard and quickly stood up and said, "Your Majesty, I have a matter for your decision."
"What is it?"
"Your Majesty, the frontline officers of the Army reported that after the Ming army entered western India, various Persian groups sent envoys to visit us, asking the Army to guide them to Beijing to pay homage to our emperor. Or they directly asked us to donate a certain amount of guns and ammunition to support them in resisting the rule of the Ottomans. We were originally thinking about how to make full use of the emotions of the Persians and disintegrate the Ottoman rule in the area. But after the Emperor made such arrangements today, what about these Persians?"
"Don't pay attention to them for now. Of course, we should be careful about how we reject them and not let them down . Just say that our Ming Dynasty just went through a brutal war and needs to recuperate. We are unable to support them in the short term. However, our Ming Dynasty will support Persia's independence in the end."
"I understand. I will obey your order."
"You mentioned Persia, which reminded me. As for the army, we need to deploy a certain number of troops at the borders with Persia in India, Central Asia and other places actually controlled by the Ming Dynasty. If the Ottomans cooperate with us in the future, it will be fine. If they dare to pretend to obey us but secretly disobey us, then you should support the Persian rebellion!"
"Your Highness, I accept your order!"
