Regarding Sun Shiwan's suggestion, Guo Kang was actually quite unimpressed.

Tianzhu is too far away. Now that the Purple Horde is mobilizing troops from all sides, it has no energy to take care of such a place. Even if the expedition to Egypt is relatively smooth, and the ports in the Red Sea can be captured, that is, it is qualified to enter the Indian Ocean. Whether it can gain a firm foothold and whether it can establish a sufficient scale of transportation lines and supporting industries is still unknown.

In that part of Egypt, it is not necessarily less difficult to gain a foothold than it is to run the Rus region. Guo Kang's current idea is at most to pull a group of people, draw an area, and operate slowly. Strategically, it is not to rule Egypt, but to participate in Egypt's "struggle for hegemony" by "coercing the caliph to order the emir". When conditions allow, further control there.

Egypt is still so difficult, and further afield, let alone even more. If you want to go to the Red Sea, you also need to do some business on the side of the sea. This place, Ethiopia on the left and Yemen on the right. Since the classical era, it has been a place where the two traditional powers of Persia and Ethiopia have struggled for power, and the geographical location is very sensitive, and the contradictions between various ethnic groups and religions are also very acute.

However, to maintain a stable passage for military power to be projected into the Indian Ocean, this place is not okay.

For maritime power, warships are only one aspect of hard power. The other is a system of ports and supply depots. The latter is even more important, requiring a longer period of operation and a hundred years of investment.

The so-called "century-old navy" in later generations was not so much about the fleet and talents as it was about the management of this system of overseas territories, and the latter was much more complicated. For example, if you want to maintain this port network, you need not only to be able to build ports and fortresses, but also to manage relations with indigenous peoples.

It is simply not realistic to have superior forces stationed in every port. Therefore, it is necessary to rely on a small number of troops to ensure the suppression of the natives, and to save costs by allowing them to work as much as possible. Therefore, there is also a need for a group of competent officials to manage and co-opt and intimidate the upper echelons of the indigenous people, and drive them to the lower echelons. To be honest, these are very delicate tasks, and it is necessary to have an in-depth understanding of the local social formation, religious beliefs, conflicts of interest, etc. With such a group of "local communications" and military suppression, we can ensure the normal operation of this network.

So, can the Purple Horde do it now? Guo Kang felt that it was unlikely.

At the mouth of the Red Sea, the local economic situation and geographical location are not bad, and even later, countries that set out from Western Europe, bypassing the entire African continent and entering the Indian Ocean, wanted to set foot here and establish bases. The Purple Horde set out from the Eastern Mediterranean, and it certainly could not abandon this shortcut.

In the history of Guo Kang's world, the Portuguese intervened in the conflict between Ethiopia and the Adal Sultanate when they established the Indian Ocean shipping routes. However, the indigenous people of this place are far from being comparable in combat power to those African tribes they often see along the way. In the end, Portugal lost a lot of people, and Vasco da Gama's son died here, but still failed to gain a foothold.

At that time, the fighting power of the Portuguese was already excellent. Venice, the Ottomans, and the Indian states, once joined forces to fight against them, trying to expel the new player, maintain the original eastern trade routes, and protect their own interests. As a result, these people combined did not fight. The traditional Mediterranean trade routes have since declined.

It can be said that the opening of the so-called new shipping routes has nothing to do with the Ottoman blockage of the trade routes, after all, for the merchants, the Ottoman and Portuguese money to buy the road are the same thing, and it is even difficult to say which of them is more brutal and harsh. This trade route is not working, in fact, the Portuguese are too capable of fighting......

They were struggling at the time, and now it is even more unrealistic to send the Purple Horde laborers on an expedition to maintain this port. Compared with later generations, there is no generation difference between their sea power and the surrounding countries at this time. Whether there is this military force to invest in the battle for the ocean, Guo Kang has no idea in his heart.

After leaving the Red Sea, the next traditional transit point is the Strait of Hormuz on the doorstep of the Persian Gulf. The Portuguese also came here and later fought wars with the British and the Dutch to protect the transit point. The Persians on the shore were also swept in, causing them great trouble.

Historically, it was also due to the decline of the Persian region and the military generational advantage that it was controlled by the Europeans. If you run over now, you're asking for trouble. The fact that the grass kings in West Asia can't defeat the main force of the Purple Tent doesn't mean that they can't beat the small troops of your expeditionary force. When the time comes, how to maintain this place will be a problem.

Thinking about it this way, it can explain why there have been few powerful maritime hegemony since ancient times. Because the threshold is too high.

Moreover, this network is also very fragile.

Most of the port colonies are losing money. It is only by scraping the ground and sucking blood from a few places such as Mumbai, Bangladesh and southwest India to make a profit as a whole. It can even be said that India is the driving force behind the Great Voyage. In fact, the entire era of sea power was snatched up by everyone who caught India and forced it out......

And those port networks that lose money cannot be lost. For example, the Red Sea estuary mentioned above, and the Persian Gulf estuary. It may be barren and doesn't look profitable, but what if the Yemenis next to it choke the route? Or did the Persians suddenly escalate their martial virtues and block the Strait of Hormuz? Then, this Indian Ocean route, which has been proven to be the best since ancient times, will also be cut off directly.

Due to the over-reliance on profits in a few places, the slightest fluctuation of this kind of node becomes a drag on the constant burning of money. If it is not dealt with in time, the entire network of sea power could collapse. It can only be said that this thing is too unstable.

Perhaps because of this, after Britain, no one has built a new system of sea power. After it, the so-called maritime hegemon, who only took advantage of the war to pick up the ready-made port network of the British, did not actually have the ability to operate on its own. There is no successor to this system.

Guo Kang even felt that this kind of maritime hegemony and port network may not be some inevitable development direction, nor some trick to learn, but a special case of a specific era, which does not need to be imitated.

Besides, even if you really go to learn, it should be Javanese Yuan to learn, not the Purple Horde to join in the fun.

In comparison, the Purple Horde in Taixi is actually similar to China. Whether it is the way of doing business or the idea of expansion, it is very "traditional". But the Javanese Yuan is a different path. In Guo Kang's view, their set may be more suitable for managing India.

How to maintain your own combat effectiveness while ruling India? In fact, there is already an answer. The Delhi Sultanate is one such success story.

Although it ruled the Indian region, the main army of the Delhi Sultanate was never allowed to join the Indians. Instead, he insisted on bringing in Turkic Gulam soldiers from his homeland in Central Asia to maintain the army.

Relying on this simple but effective method, the kingdom lasted for two hundred years, and after a hundred years of the founding of the country, it was able to defeat the Chagatai army of the southern expedition many times. The famous leaders Haidu and Duwa, who had fought against the Yuan Dynasty many times, were defeated by them. It can be seen that this set is really easy to use.

Guo Kang had previously learned about the military and administrative system of the Javanese Yuan from Tang Sai'er and Luo Guanzhong. Under their system, the headquarters and the servant army were strictly separated.

Moreover, Mr. Luo also said that the Javanese Yuan regime has been reflecting on the reasons for the fall of the Yuan Dynasty. They believe that the main reasons can be grouped into two parts:

First of all, the Mongol social system was too backward to maintain a stable political system, and once a few outstanding talents died, even the inheritance rules could not be properly maintained. In this way, the center of the imperial court will be in chaos for a long time, and it will naturally go wrong. It can be seen that the Mongols are not suitable to be the leaders of the Great Yuan, and they should all be kicked out.

Secondly, it is the local Han rebellion. This was the most direct reason for the fall of the Yuan Dynasty. The group of people who rebelled at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, not to mention anything else, this style of play is too wild, even under the banner of the Great Song Dynasty, it can scare people to death, so that the Javanese gentry still feel empty-hearted.

And throughout history, over the past two thousand years, the rebellious people have become more and more able to fight. At the end of the Qin Dynasty, Chen and Wu were quickly killed by the official army. By the end of the Han Dynasty, the imperial court was too busy, but heroes from all over the country raised troops one after another, and the Yellow Turban Army could be quickly wiped out. At the end of the Tang Dynasty, the local heroes were reluctant to fight Huangchao, fearing that their strength would be damaged in the battle. By the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the mob even began to chase the officials and soldiers, which was simply against the sky.

may be because of the change in the balance of strength, and the leading figures in various places are becoming more and more faceless.

At the earliest, the end of the imperial court may not be a bad thing for the local tyrants, because they can seek the position on their own. Even if there is no rebellion, the big clan gate valve will take the initiative to seek a higher status; After the Sui and Tang dynasties, it was difficult for Haoqiang to come forward to seek the world on his own, so he could only support an agent who was capable and easy to speak to represent the interests of his own group; And when the Yuan Dynasty fell, even if some gentry pinched their noses to support Zhu Chongba, he didn't appreciate it very much. It sounds good, but in fact, whenever there is an opportunity, it is necessary to find fault with the gentlemen and gentlemen, which is really lacking in professional ethics. If this continues, God knows what will happen in the future, and he won't turn his head and move a knife at them, right?

Moreover, if in the future, not relying on the high-level literati raised by various wealthy families, but only relying on those low-class scholars, they can win the world, what can be done? Wealthy families, is there still a necessity to exist?

On these issues, Javanese Yuan has indeed made an in-depth reflection. Even Mr. Luo, who has been a petty official over there for a few years, knows a lot.

For these two questions, Javanese Yuan also came to two conclusions. First, it is necessary to put an end to the bad influences and let those Mongols who can't support them get out of the Great Yuan. Second, the Yuan Dynasty was idle and had nothing to do to lift up the Mongols there, what a fart? There is no profit, and people are disgusted. We need to change our policies to elevate the best Han talents.

For them, the advantage now is that since they are not in Han land, there are not many Han people, so this idea is really feasible. After a long time, I even feel that the Han people are not enough, and some standards have been relaxed. These remnants of the Yuan Dynasty in the Han land, and the Sinicized people in Nanyang have become their "countrymen" basic plate.

In practice, it may be that while satisfying military needs, it is also necessary to be ready to suppress at any time, so, on the one hand, the Yuan army likes to recruit a large number of natives to fill the army; On the other hand, there are also strict restrictions on military technology and training. It is very difficult for soldiers who are not considered "their own people" to obtain the opportunity to receive adequate training, let alone receive education in the art of war and learn the techniques of command.

Mr. Luo was a little puzzled by this at first, saying that whether it was Hou Zhao or Jin Guo, they all strictly distinguished between their own clan and the ruled, and felt that they could maintain their combat effectiveness in this way, but in the end they all failed, so why didn't they consider these lessons?

As a result, he was told that those families were using barbarians as their headquarters and Han people as vassals, and they naturally couldn't use barbarians with combat effectiveness to suppress Han people with huge potential. If it is the other way around, using the Han people as the headquarters, the barbarians as vassals, and the Han people suppressing the barbarians, it is the set of etiquette of Zhou Tianzi back then, which is in line with the teachings of the civil and military saint king, and has enjoyed the country for 800 years, it can be seen that it is very successful.

At present, in the Yuan army, the part of the regular army is generally composed of the Hao family's own family members and the professional recruits organized by the imperial court. The Yuan court would collect money from the natives and provide a good military salary to support these people. Therefore, although the scale is not large, the combat effectiveness of this army is quite good. They also despised the local natives, and felt that they were unworthy aliens and disdained to be in the company of them.

If the Delhi Sultanate were still around, their plans might have been a little more difficult. But ten years ago, the Delhi Sultanate was targeted by Emperor Timur's uncle.

The Delhi Sultanate was the front line of the expansion of the Celestial Sect and one of the most famous Gazi states. As Lama Wang said before, they were the ones who destroyed Nalanda Monastery and eventually wiped out Tianzhu Buddhism. However, the Purple Horde did not understand much either...... Probably for some religious reason, Uncle Timur still launched a holy war against them, and finally succeeded in destroying this group of Buddhist enemies.

After that, the Delhi Sultanate tended to collapse under the blows of Timurid forces. In the southeastern region of Bengal, small kingdoms emerged and attacked each other.

At present, in recent years, the Ming Dynasty has not carried out large-scale military operations, but the Yuan army has not let go of its heart, but has become more vigilant, and even took the initiative to attack and probe. Some people of insight also advocate taking advantage of this opportunity to expand our strength and strengthen the rear as soon as possible. These scattered forces have naturally become the target of Java Yuan's preparation.

If they succeed, even if the Europeans pass, they probably won't be able to grab the benefits. At that time, I am afraid that a large part of the motivation to maintain navigation will also dissipate. Of course, this has little to do with the Purple Horde.

(End of chapter)