The northern part of Queensland has been developed for more than 10 years, and many dazzling immigrant cities such as Qingdao, Cairns, Darwin, Linyi, and Rockhampton have risen, as well as dozens of small towns, accommodating more than 2.3 million immigrants.

Among them

The most dazzling city is Qingdao, with a total population of more than 430,000 urban residents, and various industries of industry, agriculture, animal husbandry, commerce and mining are developing better and better, as if it has become the central city of northern Queensland, exuding a shining brilliance that is difficult to hide.

Qingdao is now known as the city of wool spinning, and the 19th Wool Mill is under construction, which is a heavyweight factory that is revolutionizing wool spinning technology, and is expected to employ nearly 20,000 textile workers to absorb the huge amount of high-quality wool resources throughout northern Queensland.

Relying on abundant resources, it is also a non-staple food additive processing center, a high-quality coal export and transshipment base, and high-quality coal from Linyi is loaded into sea ships here and transported to all over the world.

Relying on the incomparable geographical resources of Rockhampton, it is home to more than half of Australia's beef cattle and dairy farming industry, which has developed a mature leather processing industry in Qingdao and has become the most important leather processing base in the Ocean Kingdom.

Nowadays, the Qingdao factory of Dongfanghong Machinery Company has settled here, which will surely bring a large number of job opportunities in the machinery industry, further enrich Qingdao's economic structure, strengthen the city's carrying capacity and attractiveness, and enter a virtuous circle.

By the end of the decade, the city has a good chance of surpassing the 600,000 population mark and becoming one of the top eight metropolises in Australia.

Comparatively

Keynes and Darwin have developed much less than that, with Keynes barely having a population of more than 200,000 and Darwin having more than 100,000, and has been left behind by rivals.

Qingdao is a coastal city located 800 kilometers south of Brisbane, and if you calculate the distance, it is almost the distance between Beiping and Lianyungang, Jiangsu, which is very far.

Overall

The northern part of Queensland is still very sparsely populated, mostly concentrated around the urban areas dominated by Qingdao, Cairns and Darwin.

According to the Ministry of Transport;

The original first phase of the northern extension of the coastal railway will be divided into two, and the 800-kilometer railway from Brisbane north to Qingdao will be built in advance, connecting all large cities with a population of more than 400,000 by rail lines.

As for the next step of the railway line to continue north to Burns, I am afraid that it will have to be considered in the long run.

End of September 1895

A small flotilla consisting of the heavy cruiser "Blue Dragon" and the coal carrier "Postman" left the docks of the Red River Valley and embarked on a long journey to Europe.

October 1895

The Ocean Kingdom issued the "Ocean Kingdom Charter", which established the Ocean Kingdom as a capitalist country with a constitutional monarchy, with the separation of powers, and the king is the supreme head of state and the army, and has the right to dissolve parliament and re-elect.

Early November 1895

According to the King's Decree, the "Ocean Kingdom Education Law" was promulgated and implemented;

Every pre-school child who has reached the age of 7 is obliged to receive education, and the government will subsidize public schools to promote the establishment of an education system for all, improve the quality of citizens, and create a good atmosphere of respect for knowledge.

Then, in mid-to-late November, the "National Law of the Ocean King", "Criminal Law of the Ocean Kingdom", "Compulsory Military Service Law", "Commercial Law" and other heavyweight laws that had been in the making for a long time were intensively promulgated, and citizens at home and abroad were aware of them and implemented them as a whole.

December 7, 1895

The Duke of Marconeno of Ethiopia and 2,000 Humen mercenaries won the battle at Amba-Araji, and the Italian army suffered a heavy defeat for the second time.

December 16, 1895

Indochina

A skirmish between the French colonial army and the Vietnamese border guards, with several casualties on each side, immediately aroused the attention of Britain, Germany, Russia, the United States, and the Ocean Kingdom, and they sent notes through diplomatic channels, hoping that both sides would exercise restraint.

The country specially invited Britain and the Ocean Kingdom to take the lead in initiating diplomatic mediation, trying their best to ease the situation in northern Vietnam and avoid the devastation of war.

Britain happily accepted the request for diplomatic mediation, and after consultations with the Ocean Kingdom, it was decided to convene an international conference in Singapore to mediate the conflict between the French Governor-General of Saigon and the Viet Nam Kingdom.

At the beginning of 1896, (the 22nd year of Guangxu)

The Qing government began to raise the second phase of the "Treaty of Shimonoseki" reparations against Japan, and in order to compete for this piece of big fat, Britain, France, Germany and Russia all participated in it and put pressure on the Qing court respectively.

For a time, the attention of the great powers was drawn to the Far East.

After fierce competition, the Anglo-German bloc overwhelmed the Russian-French bloc and obtained the second borrowing right of the foreign powers to the Qing government, for which the British legation held a celebratory reception for three consecutive days to celebrate this victory.

February 10, 1896

On behalf of the Manchu Prime Minister Yamen, Hurd signed the "Anglo-German Foreign Loan Contract" (also known as the "Anglo-German Loan Detailed Regulations") with the British HSBC Bank and the German Deutsch-Hua Bank in Beijing.

There are 18 paragraphs in the Anglo-German Foreign Contract, which mainly stipulates:

The total amount of the loan was 16,000,000,000 pounds (100,000,000,000 taels of silver, at the rate of 6 taels of silver per pound 1 pound sterling) and was to be paid at a discount of 94 per cent (94 per cent) at an interest rate of 5 per cent per annum, to be repaid over a period of thirty-six years, and not to be repaid early or all at once.

The Manchu court guaranteed the post of General Department of Customs of the Manchu Qing Dynasty by a British, during the repayment period, thus giving the British a guarantee of control of the Manchu customs administration for 36 years. (Note, this is a historical fact)

Why did the great powers of Europe and the United States rush to lend money to the Manchu government?

The mystery of this is the huge interest, presumably many people who bear the loan know that the annual interest rate of 5% borrowing for 36 years, the principal and interest are to be doubled, plus the delivery at a 94% discount, so that the interest is more than 5%, which can be described as a good calculation.

Therefore, the European powers not only had to borrow money, but also borrowed more, and if the Manchu court did not borrow money, it would not give face, and it would be mad.

The British fought for this and openly threatened; If we do not borrow money from it this time, we will not hesitate to resort to force.

Look at this virtue, whether there is a taste of forced buying and selling.

It's a pity that no one expected that the Manchu government would not last so long and would collapse early.

Before this huge loan could be heated, the Manchu court allocated 5.6 million pounds (35 million taels of silver) to the Ocean Kingdom and another 3.84 million pounds (24 million taels of silver, which had already paid 12 million taels of war reparations, this is the second) to Fuso as the final indemnity of the Treaty of Shimonoseki.

The war reparations that were originally planned to be received in 3~4 years have all arrived at once, which is really a happy trouble!

The construction plan of the two subsequent metropolis-class battleships "Songjiang" and "Melbourne" of the Ocean Kingdom was successfully approved, and the "Beilun" and "Tianquan" were also scheduled for subsequent construction.

The construction plan of the new class of cruisers is in full swing, and the ocean kingdoms of the three great powers located in the western Pacific, Tsarist Russia, and Fuso have entered a period of vigorous construction of warships at the same time, and the United States on the east coast of the Pacific Ocean is also in full swing to develop battleships to cope with the madness at the end of the century.

March 1, 1896

The Humen mercenaries received accurate information, and the Italian army was separated by marching and the distance between them increased, and there was a good opportunity to destroy the enemy, because the slow movement of the follow-up Italian legions allowed the Egyptian army to inflict heavy losses on the scattered Italian legions one by one.

The army of the Kingdom of Ethiopia and the Humen mercenaries moved quickly, using frontal attacks and flank depth operations, focusing on striking and encircling the vanguard of the Italian legion.

The main target was the column of General Aliberton of the Italian Army, although the Italian artillery effectively sniped the attack, but under the fierce counterattack of the Humen mercenaries, the Italian column was still routed, and almost completely annihilated, and the other Italian columns were also defeated.

Although the Italian army had good equipment and military technology, it did not show the demeanor of a European power army at all in the Battle of Adwa, and was defeated by the combined forces of the indigenous army of the Kingdom of Ethiopia and the Humen mercenaries.

Post-war inventory

Of the 17,000 Italian troops who went out, 13,000 were killed and wounded, 3,000 were captured, and less than 1,000 fled with their lives.

About 5,000 Ethiopian indigenous troops were killed and more than 10,000 wounded, and more than 100 Humen mercenaries were killed and wounded.

In this battle, Tsarist Russia also appeared.

In order to curb the expansion of British, French, and intended power in North Africa, Tsarist Russia raised donations at home, and sent a medical team through the Russian Red Cross Society to provide medical care for Ethiopian soldiers, fully supporting Uncle Black's just war.

The disastrous defeat of the colonial kingdom of Ethiopia made the Kingdom of Italy a laughing stock in Europe.

Former German Prime Minister Bismarck sharply ridiculed: "Italians come to the African continent with a mouth full of cavities, but they have a great appetite." ”

Li Fushou, the king of the Ocean Kingdom, commented on this; "It's a shame that this is a failed performance, and it seems that Italian opera and gastronomy have lost the ambition of the Romans."

Indochina

Yue Guo

In today's era, there are about 10 million people in the entire territory of the old kingdom of Vietnam, including Nam Ki, Chung Ki, and Pak Ki, and the population is about 10 million, mainly living in the Nam Ky area of the Red River Plain, that is, the area around the seat of the Saigon Governor's Palace.

The population distribution of the old Kingdom of Vietnam was in the form of a barbell, with few in the Central Quarter area and a large population in the south and north regions.

The Beiqi region where the newly established Yue Kingdom is located (excluding about 300,000 people in Hanoi), with a total population of about 220~2.3 million, and some Guangxi people have recently moved here, with a total of about 5~60,000 people, which has little impact on the overall population size.

Taiyuan Province, Taiyuan City

This is the location of the king of Yue, the king of Yue Gu Zhiwen set up his palace in the original Taiyuan city government office, here is a traditional building with distinctive Ming and Qing dynasty architectural styles, covering a small scale, about three acres (metric), showing a symmetrical layout.

Entered the courtyard of the Yamen, the left and right are the 6 room scribes, now it has become the location of the six departments of the kingdom, the main hall of the Yamen is the main hall of the Yue King's Palace, although the sparrow is small, the five organs are complete.

In King Gu Zhiwen's idea, the palace should be located in Hanoi, which has a much longer history, where there are ready-made palaces to use, and at most they can be expanded and repaired, without having to start all over again.

But the idea is plump, and the reality is skinny.

Hanoi, which is only 79 kilometers away from Taiyuan, is now in the hands of the French colonists, and in order to unify and improve the strategy of the Indochina Peninsula, they will not easily give it up to King Gu Zhiwen.

The French Expeditionary Force and the New Army of Vietnam confronted each other along the outskirts of Hanoi, and the front line was only more than 50 kilometers away from Taiyuan, and the sound of guns and artillery could be faintly heard.

Say something unpleasant;

If the war goes well, the French expeditionary force will be ruthless, and the forced march in one day and one night will be able to reach the outskirts of Taiyuan City, which is really not the slightest element of bragging.

Therefore, at the junction of the two sides, the Yue State hoarded 16,000 powerful new troops, that is, the Second and Third Divisions of the Yue State, with tens of thousands of Black Flag troops covering the right flank, and the remaining 8,000 elite new troops on the left flank, that is, the First Division of the Yue State.

In the rear, there is a field regiment improved from the original green battalion guards, the field regiment is a combat unit with 2,000 people, a total of 6 field regiments, numbered from 13 regiments to 18 regiments, scattered throughout the kingdom.

It can be seen

This is a defensive layout that is heavy in the front and light in the rear, and the elite forces are basically on the first and second line positions, once they are broken through. Then the country of Yue is over.

This is also the sorrow of a small country, because there is not much strategic depth to retreat, Lang Son in the north is just a small town in the mountains, which cannot accommodate a large number of troops and population, and whether it is Shanxi or Dien Bien Phu and live in a corner, it is really not a good choice for the royal capital.

Therefore, it is really helpless for Yue Guo to choose Taiyuan as the temporary king, and it is a bit of a make-do meaning.

From the very beginning

Since the outbreak of border frictions in December last year, the new army of Vietnam has always been on high alert to prevent the French from attacking early in the morning.

From the geographical location of the old kingdom of Vietnam, it can be clearly seen that the whole country presents a dumbbell shape, and Beiqi is the dumbbell head located in the north, with irregular egg cakes spread out on the shape, and Hanoi is located at the southern end of the egg cake.

Today's landscape is as if it has been bitten by the French, and it is divided by life.

If the Hanoi area cannot be pocketed, the southern border of Vietnam cannot be pushed to a place where the dumbbell narrow handshake (Zhongqi) is built, and a strong defense line can be built here, then the crisis of destruction that Vietnam is facing at all times cannot be resolved.

Therefore, not only did the French want to destroy this newly-born Chinese feudal kingdom to the north, but the Yue Kingdom also thought day and night about fighting the past, establishing and consolidating the foundation of the kingdom's rule, and completely eliminating the crisis of falling at any time, at least to sleep well and steadily.

Compared with the brewing battle between the two powers in Northeast Asia, this is a pocket-sized version of the fateful battle of the Indochina Peninsula, although thousands of miles apart, but the meaning is the same.

The French colonialists intended to overthrow the Yue Kingdom, which was very important, not only to improve the colonial territory of the Indochina Peninsula, but also to peek north into the weakened Qing Dynasty, and to pocket Taiyuan, which was rich in iron ore resources.

throughout the Indochina region

The high-quality iron ore in Taiyuan Province can be said to be a scarce resource, with him, the French colonists did not need to import high-quality steel from the Ocean Kingdom to produce steel products for military and agricultural needs.

How can it be done now that in the French colonies of Indochina, not even an iron pot can be produced?

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