Chapter 882: The Responsibility of the State

Even Louis XIV was seeking negotiations with the Holy Roman Empire, and the signs of a diplomatic solution to the problem became more and more obvious. The Ottoman Turkish Empire, which was still the great enemy of Europe for the time being, also opened peace talks with various countries as quickly as possible. This is the current pattern in Europe, and looking at the Ming cabinet on the other hand, it is arguing over an issue.

What's the problem? The empire has expanded too quickly, resulting in a shaky foundation, and it is necessary to stabilize and consolidate its rule in various places.

This statement is not untargeted, at this time, the Ming Dynasty is martial arts. In the north, the whereabouts of the Russians were discovered. To the west, there was unrest in the country. To the south, all the small countries are engaged in all kinds of constant resistance, although the scale is not large, and there are no waves, but similar national resistance movements are taking place in more than a dozen countries. To the east, the Americas will encounter the confrontation of the entire European colonizers. In Egypt in Africa, the Ottoman Turks were ready to fight a war of revenge.

There is no doubt that the spearhead of the whole world is aimed at Da Ming. In addition, the Americas and Egypt have invested too much in recent years, and the Ministry of Finance is also calling it poor, believing that it should not and is not necessary to make enemies in Africa. So a plan was introduced, and the two sides of Liberia and Egypt were also tried to retreat, that is, to withdraw from these two places. Concentrate on the development of the Americas and on building the foundation of the Ming Dynasty's domination in the south and southeast.

To put it bluntly, there are conservatives and radicals, and there is a bunch of wall grass, because there is no one to call the shots, and they take the opportunity to brush up on their presence. Whether conservative or radical, no one plays with verbal cannons at every turn like in the past. They say they want to fight, but in fact, they are all masters who let others fight. There is definitely no cabinet under Da Ming. The reason is naturally that the Ming Dynasty is now strong, and there is no possibility of losing against anyone, so Wenchen also wants to go out and lead the troops to go around, get some military merits, and maybe he can be knighted or something. Don't look at the royal family as an ornament now. However, the knighthood sealed by the royal family has a say in parliament.

The Ming Dynasty is now in this pattern, the parliament is responsible for the mouth cannon, the army is responsible for fighting, and the cabinet is responsible for managing the country and doing a good job in logistics. In general, the power of the prime minister is quite large, and the right to declare war on foreign countries is directly in the hands of the cabinet.

Objectively speaking. Da Ming's pace was indeed a little faster, especially after taking Luzon, Da Ming didn't even take much time to digest it, and immediately turned to North America. As the last bridgehead in Europe, after this territory was uprooted by the Ming Dynasty, the irreconcilable contradictions between the Ming Dynasty and Europe have actually been exposed. Louis XIV did not become a public enemy of Europe, which frustrated Chen Xie's plan. How can you say this thing, people are not stupid. Louis XIV was certainly ambitious. But if you think about it, it's not hard to see how much better it is even if it's the strongest in Europe. Can Daming divide the world with France?

Conservatives are mainly civil officials, and behind them are all capitalists, and the following places are most valued by the capitalists of the Ming Dynasty at present. The first one is India, where there is no shortage of capitalism, but people are stupid, and it doesn't matter if you are stupid. Good oppression. The second is Southeast Asia, where there is no need to talk about minerals, the focus is on growing rubber here. After the rubber seeds sent by the Portuguese were successfully planted in Qiongzhou, the demand for rubber in the entire Ming Dynasty increased dramatically. That's a nice thing. There are so many uses. Especially after someone made rubber into wheels, the entire Ming Dynasty's carriage production has now been replaced with rubber wheels. When the first person tried to grow rubber in Southeast Asia and succeeded, the whole Ming Dynasty fell into a boom in rubber cultivation out of control. In the face of huge profits, nothing can stop capital. The indigenous people of Southeast Asia, who have been cleaned up very badly in recent years, have been treated better because of the lack of labor due to the development of rubber plantations. The third importance is North America, where the land area is too large, and the love and enthusiasm of the whole Ming Dynasty for the land cannot be stopped. And once the boundaries of North America are opened, the railroad will be built, from the west coast to the east coast, and then across the Atlantic, it will be the European market. The last wave is other places, such as Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, in the eyes of the Ming capitalists, the importance is naturally much worse, some desert islands. As for Egypt, hehe, many people don't understand, what is this place going to do? Sand can't be sold for money! It cannot but be said that the capitalists are too realistic.

It's important to conquer the world, but it's more important to make money, money, you know? Anyone who hinders the capitalists from making money will be beaten by them. Of course, there are exceptions. At present, there is still an authoritarian figure as an exception to the current Ming capitalism. In other words, any capitalist is an obedient little sheep in front of Chen Xie.

The representatives of the radical faction are naturally the military, and the navy and army are eager to have enemies all over the world, so that they have an excuse to ask for money and equipment, and then go all over the world to rob and make a fortune. But at the moment, Da Ming has no opponents around. If you stand up to the sky, there are some rebel groups. The only opponent is still in North Africa, and the relationship between the Ottoman Turkish Empire and the Ming Dynasty has always been very stiff, and it is only a matter of time before a war is fought. The problem is, there's nothing to grab in that part of North Africa. Moreover, in several African countries to the north, France is still one step ahead, and with the current relationship between Daming and France, there is no fight at all. Moreover, in that place in Egypt, Chen Xie has always emphasized defense, not offense, and the question is what is the point of guarding a desert?

Ye Hai finally saw his new battleship, a behemoth in the true sense of the word, like a mountain floating on the sea. The ironclad ship with a standard displacement of 5,000 tons is considered a giant in this era. Despite the fact that the ship was essentially a wooden armored structure, it was already an invincible battleship in this era. Four 150-mm guns, six 105-secondary guns, and thirty-six Montini machine guns. The crew of 265 people can run at a maximum speed of 14 knots and a cruising speed of 11 knots. Whether it is running or fighting, as long as it is the enemy, it will definitely be the fate of being sunk.

Well, that's a bug, the king of the seas. After Ye Hai took over, the position was officially set as colonel. There are many generals in the navy, but no one can explain why this battleship uses a colonel as the captain. The Admiralty claimed that Ye Hai had a lot of experience in piloting steam warships, which no one could really refute. But if only the Navy were really so fair.

After taking over the battleship. Ye Hai's life is busy again, and he spends every day on the boat. In order to get acquainted with the most powerful battle fortress of this era as soon as possible. Ye Hai had a hunch that the contradictions between the Ming Dynasty and European countries would inevitably lead to an unusually united war between the Ming Dynasty and Europe.

In contrast, Chen Pu had a relatively relaxed holiday, resting at home for half a month. Only then did he receive a telegram from Jingshi, asking him to go north. Bidding farewell to his elderly mother, when Chen Pu went to Beijing, Chen Xie's special train had already returned to Beijing.

"The territory of the Ming Dynasty is very large, but not an inch of land is superfluous." At the cabinet meeting, after Chen Xie said such a sentence flatly, the direction of the entire meeting immediately underwent a fundamental change. The General Staff immediately suggested that reinforcements be intensified in the Western Regions, with a focus of course, on arms. That place in the Western Regions. Everything else can be solved on its own, and the only thing that needs domestic assistance is arms. In this regard, Chen Xie nodded in agreement, and a batch of stockpiled munitions will be sent to the Western Regions, except for artillery, and other equipment is enough for two infantry divisions.

After habitually grasping the trend of the cabinet meeting, Chen Xie put forward the international strategic idea under the new situation. "In the past, the strategy was to stabilize the income in Egypt and develop in North America. I don't think there's any need for extraneous complications. Taking into account the changes in the situation in Europe. I propose that the General Staff draw up a reinforcement plan for the number of troops to be stationed on the Egyptian side. It would be advisable to add three more infantry divisions during the year. "The previous garrison of 50,000 seemed like a lot, but in fact it could only hold the key cities on the road. With the increase in strength, it was enough to deal with possible threats from Europe and the Ottoman Turkish Empire.

"I've got a plan here, so everyone can read it." Chen Xie knocked on the table, and everyone opened the document and looked at it, and found that it was a plan to build a canal. Where to build a canal? In Egypt, an artificial river called the Suez Canal. At this time, everyone suddenly discovered that there was a sign, what did Chen Xie do when he took out such a thing in the Congress?

Just take a closer look at the map. What will happen once the canal is built? The sea voyage to Europe will be greatly reduced, is this a precursor to Chen Xie's use of force against Europe? While everyone was still thinking, Chen Xie had already continued: "The plan is twenty years, and the ownership of the canal belongs to the state. ”

Twenty years, everyone's eyes invariably looked at Chen Xie, you will be almost 100 years old by then, okay, do you still want to sit in the position of prime minister? We can't survive you. If you count it according to the age, Chen Xie is seventy-five years old this year, and this age looks less than fifty years old, how can others compare his age with him? What chance will the Cabinet have to see the canal open in 20 years? The probability is very small, you want everyone to pay attention to this matter, it's difficult.

"I know what's going on in your mind. But I want to tell you, this is something that will be left to future generations. After Chen Xie said this sentence calmly, he slowly stood up and said to the cabinet ministers: "Twenty years later, the period when the canal will be built will be when the Ming Dynasty swept across Europe. That is, we have twenty years of preparation. There may be some of you here, including me, who will not live to that time, but we must do it now, and we can't leave it to future generations. ”

The Ming Cabinet is like this, once Chen Xie decides something, it can't be changed. The Cabinet must come up with a budget as soon as possible, and preparations must be made before the end of the year at the latest, and work must begin next spring. The biggest advantage of this canal is not only to shorten the distance with Europe, but also to facilitate the stability of the Egyptian garrison. The canal needs workers, so it has to mobilize people from the country, as well as local people, many of whom can find a job. As for how many people will die in this process, it is not something that the Ming cabinet should be concerned about.

This cabinet meeting has been held so far, and it feels like Chen Xie is becoming more and more dictatorial. Or Chen Xie can't wait, especially the development speed of the Americas, which is still slow in Chen Xie's opinion. Other places can slow down, but North America can't slow down, and North America must speed up its development.

Looking at the bitter looks on everyone's faces, Chen Xie was too lazy to talk nonsense with them, and continued to dictatorship: "I know that there are many voices among the people, asking the cabinet to focus on the surrounding areas of Daming, and that place in the Americas will develop slowly." I can tell you very responsibly that if we do not seize the time to forcibly occupy the Americas, we will all become historical sinners in the future. The huge Americas, once a huge country breeds, will inevitably pose a serious threat to the Ming Dynasty. I don't care if you look at the immediate interests, but what I want to do, if you want to stop it, please leave this team. The Ming Cabinet does not need to be short-sighted. ”

After a series of decisions, the entire cabinet was dead. Yes, Daming's expansion plan not only can't slow down, but will speed up. What the people do not take the initiative to do, the state will do it. The focus is still on immigrating to North America and increasing the military strength of North America. There has not been much discussion on the question of where to immigrate, and the most suitable choices at the moment are Liangguang, Jiangxi, and Lianghu.

The population of this place, during the civil strife in the Ming Dynasty, was not greatly affected. There is also a Zhang Xianzhong in Sichuan who went to do it. In recent years, the country has been peaceful, and the population of Jiangnan, Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces has grown the fastest, and the population of Jiangnan, Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces has not increased too fast because of previous immigration waves.

"In the next ten years, there will be five million forced immigration, and this task must be completed. If the people don't do it, the court will do it. Chen Xie made a final decision, and the cabinet soon proposed a new regulation, in the next ten years, any criminal who is less than the death penalty will be thrown on a ship and shipped to North America. To put it bluntly, these guys just used North America as a place of exile, and Chen Xie did not object to this. In that part of North America, it's really hard to mix with good people when they go, so you have to throw some bad people over and let them go there to do harm.

"All in all, the future of the Ming Dynasty, the pace of external development can not be slow. Now the development is not too fast, but too slow. I hope that where the sun shines, there will be the territory of the Ming Dynasty. When Chen Xie said this, the cabinet fell into a dead silence, what a heroic ambition. In contrast, everyone felt ashamed that the pattern was still too small to keep up with Chen Xiang's footsteps. Chen Xie's decision was the decision of the cabinet, and the official mouthpiece of the Ming Dynasty the next day opened fire collectively, promoting the core idea of the phrase "where the sun shines, there is the territory of the Ming Dynasty". The literati engage in these experts, who can't shout slogans. It's hard for the guys in the Ministry of Finance, the budget for a Suez Canal, which has already killed people, and the mandatory immigration program for the Americas. (To be continued......)