The Mulan Enclosure is the crisp autumn season, and even the sky is extraordinarily bright and far-reaching at this time. A golden grassland is dotted with yurts of all sizes. Mongolian herders on horseback drive flocks of sheep like clouds and move up the hillside. Between the whole heaven and the earth, it is a grassland landscape painting.

More than a dozen fast horses roared and galloped on the golden grass more than half a man high, startling the birds and beasts of this land to rise into the sky. These people on the horse are all girls dressed in colorful masks, they are gifts from the Mongolian tribes of Monan and Mobei to Emperor Zhu, and the leader is the pearl of the Mobei grassland, Oyuntana.

Emperor Zhu raised his bow and arrows, and with a whoosh, a beautifully crafted feather arrow shot out of the grass and sank into the grass, hitting nothing. A sika deer was still running fast.

A silver bell-like laugh rang out: "Jason, you still haven't learned to shoot live targets, this is something you need to grasp the moment, look at me." Another feathered arrow flew out, and the sika deer was hit by an arrow on his back, and after running a few steps, he pounced and fell to the ground.

"Maria, why don't you say that you have been playing archery and riding horses since you were a child?" Zhu Jishi threw a horse bow to Su Yuniang on a horse beside him, and then turned his head to look at Maria, who was about to kill a flying bird with a bow and arrow.

Archery and horseback riding were aristocratic sports in Europe, and Maria was an aristocratic and very fond of sports, so they both played well.

Then he saw her let go of the bowstring, and another arrow was fired, and sure enough, the arrow did not miss, and the bird came down again. She also threw her bow and arrows to the female officer beside her, Aledlai, and replied with a smile: "Your Majesty, in fact, your arrows are shooting well. He was only a little worse than me when it came to shooting fixed targets. But in the face of moving targets. You're always at a bad time...... Just like what you do in New Guinea, a little bit impatient. ”

"New Guinea ......" Zhu Jishi smiled faintly, "Is it too urgent?" He lifted the reins lightly, and the horse under his crotch slowly walked up, and Maria also beat the horse to follow, but Su Yuniang and Aledlai did not move. They knew that Zhu Jishi was going to discuss military affairs with Maria again. This Maria. Clementina is almost Zhu Jishi's foreign affairs adviser.

The island of New Guinea is located next to the British colony of Australia, and the western part of the island has become part of the Dutch East Indies. But the southeastern part of the island is a blank. The British apparently had no interest in bringing them under their own jurisdiction – for the British Empire, the number of colonies was not as good as possible, but rather an economic benefit. For example, rich India is the diamond in Queen Victoria's crown. And apart from many rare species and wild people, there is really nothing to attract the attention of the British Empire on the island of New Guinea. But the island's strategic location is a bit of a point, it's the gateway to Australia!

If the Chinese establish a base on the island of New Guinea and gain a foothold, they may use their springboard to invade Australia! Australia is big enough, and there are rich gold deposits, who would dare to say that Emperor Zhu had no interest there?

So the British learned that the claws of the Ming Dynasty had reached New Guinea. It's a little annoying. But it's small, not big. Because it was the Russian Empire's coveting of the Balkans and the Turkish Empire that annoyed Britain the most.

Maria. Clementina rode the horse and followed behind Zhu Jishi: "Your Majesty." Expansion to Australia and New Zealand would be impossible, and that would mean a war that the Ming Empire could not win! I don't think you really want to go to Australia......

Australia certainly wants to, but only for a moment, and now is not the time to turn the other cheek with the British Empire.

"No, no, no, I don't have any need for Australia, in fact...... I also don't have much interest in New Guinea. Zhu Jishiyan said insincerely, "But China is a large country with a large population, and it needs a lot of land to accommodate the surplus population, and there is really not much ownerless land in this world." ”

"But the value of New Guinea is not high, and the geographical location is too sensitive...... "Maria. Clementina's brow furrowed. "Although the British Empire is likely to acquiesce in China's actions in New Guinea now, once the conflict between Britain and Russia is over in the future, the British will definitely find a way to drive China out of New Guinea! It is even possible to ban Chinese immigrants from entering Australia! When the time comes, France will not stand with China either......"

Zhu Jishi laughed and looked back at Maria. Clementina: "My dear, isn't the conflict between Britain and Russia not over yet?" Shouldn't you make some more constructive suggestions to see if I can make the most of this Anglo-Russian conflict? My three ports on the island of New Guinea can also be bargaining chips, you see, can they be exchanged for anything from the British? ”

"Hong Kong Island? I think the British would be willing. "The British did not have a strong desire to occupy Hong Kong Island, the value of the island was a window for trade with China, and now that China is very open, the value of Hong Kong Island has been greatly reduced." Still, it's a good deal to trade three tiny strongholds on the islands of New Guinea and Britain. ”

"There's not much interest." Zhu Jishi shrugged, "The island of Southeast New Guinea is more than 100,000 miles (the metric system of weights and measures has not yet appeared), and the island of Hong Kong is only thirty or forty square miles...... Maria, do you think such a land deal is a loss? ”

"Is it a loss?" Maria. Clementina pouted, "But New Guinea can't be saved, it's a springboard for you to invade Australia, and the British won't let any power gain a foothold there......"

Hearing this analysis, Zhu Jishi frowned: "What about Alaska?" Is that a springboard to Canada? ”

"Sort of, but eastern Canada is very inhospitable and not very valuable, and Alaska has a very cold climate, so there is little value for exploitation, and the cost of colonization there is extremely high. If...... It should be acceptable for the British not to include Alaska in the territory of the Ming Dynasty, but to enter it in the name of a Huamei Development Company. But the situation in New Guinea is different! The climate there is suitable for cultivation, and if you let it go, within 10 years, millions of Chinese will settle in New Guinea, and then it will become a forward base for the Ming army to attack Australia. And the core territory of Australia is in the east, very close to the island of New Guinea. ”

Maria analyzed it well, it was very difficult to invade Canada through Alaska, and there was no way to penetrate into the core of British Canada, so she could only operate on the west coast of Canada. Moreover, the degree of development of Alaska itself is not enough to support the logistics of the army, and all the logistics materials must be transported from the Chinese mainland, and the cost of the war must be too high for the Ming Dynasty to bear. The opposite is true in southeastern New Guinea, where the bridgehead for the invasion of Australia was the historical source from which Japan in World War II wanted to enter Australia. After listening to this analysis, Emperor Zhu sighed lightly, knowing that he was still a little far away from Australia......

The two rode up a hill one after the other, and at their feet were a large military tent camp. A huge army was stationed at the second, and at this time, these elite troops of the Ming Dynasty were going out for exercises, and the training ground outside the barracks was covered with officers and soldiers in gray uniforms in various formations—they were rehearsing for tomorrow's review.

Zhu Jishi looked at it lightly for a while, then sighed and said, "Maria, as soon as this war with Russia ends, China is very likely to become the target of the British Empire's containment...... So I'm going to take advantage of this opportunity to expand as much as possible! If you can't get a colony in New Guinea, you have to achieve your goal of expansion in the South Seas! You see, is it possible for the Grand Duchy of Lanfang to expand again? Is it possible to take down the whole of Borneo except for the Kingdom of Sarawak? ”

Maria was silent for a long time, nodded and said: "Yes, Southeast New Guinea can be exchanged for Dutch Borneo, the Netherlands does not pose any threat to the British, and the British should welcome this deal." It's just that...... Southeast New Guinea can't be compared to Dutch Borneo, which may have to pay millions to tens of millions of silver dollars! If you are willing to pay for it, you can ask President Bonaparte to broker the deal. (To be continued......)