While Colonel Lei Xiao was traveling around the Bay Area, the government was re-examining and reviewing the policy of foreign colonial expansion at the end of the century in the empire itself, so as to establish the dominant policy.

At the end of the 19th century, the Tang Empire was prosperous in the economic field, and it had been the first in the world for many years, leaving Britain, Germany, France, Russia and other countries far behind.

The development of the military field has mixed joys and sorrows, and it cannot be overshadowed in one word.

The good news is that after decades of unremitting and steady construction, the Royal Navy has a powerful fleet including 33 main ironclad ships, with more than 140 warships of various types, and its technology and training level is among the world's first.

The Royal Navy was initially built into an ocean-going navy with 76 bases around the world, of which about eighty percent were located in North, Central and South America, and a small number were located in the Red Sea, the Far East and the Western Pacific in East Africa.

Such a powerful ocean-going naval force is comparable to the navies of France and Germany, and although it is slightly deficient in scale, the technical level of various types of ironclad warships is advanced, the layout is reasonable, and the combat capability cannot be underestimated.

Today

After decades of service, the old generation of main ironclad ships began to gradually retire from active service, and the first ship of the new generation of 13,000-ton vassal series "Kentucky Kingdom" is about to be completed and launched, and will enter service with the Royal Navy in June next year.

The follow-up "Kingdom of Oklahoma" has been laid in the shipyard and iron plates have been laid and the construction of the "Kingdom of Luzon" and "Amami Kingdom" have been included in the construction plan for the next year.

The construction of a new generation of main ironclad ships is progressing steadily in the form of one ship entering service every year, one launching perch, and one new ship being built on the slipway.

It is expected that in the decade from now until the beginning of the next century, the Imperial Royal Navy will build two batches of a total of 16 main ironclad ships of the vassal series to replace the old and retired Zhenyang, Zhenhai, Zhenjiang, Zhendong, Zhennan, Zhenxi and Zhenbei.

While the strength is steadily increasing, the number of main ironclad ships will also be steadily increased, and the scale of the main ironclad ships will be expanded to about 40 to cope with the impact of the world military tide in the new century.

The Royal Navy and the Royal Army of the Tang Empire have built a system of junior, intermediate and senior military academies, ranking among the top in the world in some fields, and cultivating a large number of high-quality military talents every year.

Judging by the size of the army

At the end of the period, the total number of personnel of the Royal Navy of the Tang Empire reached 337,000, and the total number of personnel of the Royal Army of the Tang Empire reached 362,500, and the number of personnel in the army was only more than 25,000 more than that of the navy.

This is due to the fact that the Tang Empire basically has no realistic opponents and no real threats in the Americas, and the existing Royal Army is large enough to ensure the maintenance of the security and interests of the empire, and there is no need for excessive expansion.

The second point is that the Tang Empire has 200,000 royal guards belonging to the royal family, which are responsible for garrisoning Central and South America and overseas vassal states, and the royal territories (Heaven Province, North Sea Province, Alaska Province, Texas Province), which greatly reduces the burden on the use of royal army troops.

The third and most important point is that after decades of persistent construction, the Tang Empire has a huge reserve of 5.2 million well-trained soldiers, and has a complete military reserve system, including thousands of military bases and large reserve warehouses located in various parts of the empire and overseas provinces.

In the event of a full-scale war

In the case of military mobilization of the Tang Empire, it has the ability to gather more than 1.5 million troops in one month and 3 million troops in three months, and throw them into the battlefield one after another.

In today's world, only Tang and Germany can achieve such a perfect all-round military mobilization system, and people in other worlds are slightly inferior.

Therefore, the Royal Army of the Tang Empire was able to maintain the security of the huge imperial territory on a small scale.

Referring to the size of the armies of the great powers of the world during the same period, the total number of troops in the French Army reached 685,000 after several expansions, posing a substantial threat to Germany.

In order to meet the challenge of the French army, the German Imperial Army carried out several corresponding expansions, and the total number of army personnel increased by more than 7 percent, and the total number of army personnel reached 592,000.

The Germans were known for their well-trained and formidable capabilities, and the Triple Alliance with Austria-Hungary and the Kingdom of Italy enabled them to effectively confront the Franco-Russian alliance.

Among the great powers of the European countries

The largest number of troops is always Tsarist Russia, which has more than one million troops in the face of increasing military competition tensions in Europe, and its total number of troops has exceeded one million, ranking first without dispute.

Britain, as the world hegemon, due to the sharp deterioration of the situation in South Africa, has decided to wage war against the Boers, and the size of its army has begun to swell sharply.

Look around the world

The construction of the Royal Army of the Tang Empire was left far behind, because its security environment was unprecedentedly good, there was no strong demand for army expansion, and naturally there was no need to invest heavily in the military field.

The imperial capital is Chang'an

The center of the head of government, Cheongundae

Prime Minister Pan Shouguo Duke (Note; The Marshal of the Navy, the former Chief of Staff of the Royal Navy, Duke Pan Hengchen, has died of illness, and his eldest son has succeeded to the Lord) convened a closed-door meeting of the Cabinet to unify the differences of the cabinet ministers in recent times, and finally determined the basic policy of "consolidating North America and expanding in an orderly manner".

In view of the current turbulent situation in the world, the European continent is showing a trend of intensifying the arms race, and in particular, the contradictions between Britain and Germany have openly erupted, forming a new destabilizing factor in the world.

At the end of this century and the beginning of the next century, the imperial government will strengthen the allocation of funds to collect and store, and plans to build a reserve of ammunition and military materials that can arm an army of 1.5 million in more than 10 years, so as to cope with the new form of the world.

The Royal Army's request for an increase in the size of its ranks was once again rejected by the Imperial Government.

The resolution formed by the imperial government will be submitted to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince for approval, and will finally be finalized by His Majesty the Holy Emperor, who lives in the Daming Palace.

As a matter of fact

In recent years, His Majesty the Holy Emperor has greatly delegated power and the status of the Cabinet's decision-making has been unprecedentedly enhanced, and the above-mentioned government resolutions can be promulgated and implemented after they have been passed.

Submitting it to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince for approval is only a ceremonial procedure.

His Royal Highness does not have the right to object, nor does he have the right to overturn the government's resolution, and this ultimate right is in the hands of His Majesty the Holy Emperor, but it has not been used for a long time in recent years.

However, the Imperial Government will still follow the procedure, and after submitting it to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince for approval, His Majesty the Holy Emperor will make a final decision before it will be put into effect.

This is the reverence for the imperial power, and it is also the pious worship of His Majesty the Emperor who has lived in the deep palace for a long time, that god-like figure.

Qingyuntai

In the office of the Prime Minister's acting officer

The Prime Minister, Duke Pan Shouguo, put down a document in his hand, looked at Lord Liu Daqing, the Minister of the Colonies, who was sitting opposite, groaned, and asked;

"Liu Butang, what is your opinion on this telegram submitted by the 71st prince to Kuwait City requesting the attachment?"

"First Lord, according to the instructions of His Majesty the Holy Emperor;

In the future, the empire needs to expand its influence in the Red Sea region and the Arabian Peninsula, and further extend to southeastern Africa to complete the empire's global layout.

Proceeding from this programmatic policy, the Colonial Ministry intends to accede to the request of the region and gradually integrate it into colonial administration in two steps.

The first step is to follow the example of Sana'a City, send a military contingent and colonial officials to Kuwait City, and integrate the city into the unified colonial sequence of the Empire, clarify the interests and disadvantages, smooth out the relationship, and implement substantive colonial rule.

The second step was to separate the region from Ottoman rule and formally establish an overseas province after the situation became clearer.

It would not cost much resources, and the issue of Kuwait City had been pending for more than 20 years, and it was time for it to be resolved once and for all. ”

This is to bully the Ottoman Empire into corruption and beyond the reach of the whip, which is similar to the practice of the great powers of the world today, first infiltrating the forces, and then taking them into their pockets when the time comes.

The British reached out to cultivate power everywhere in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Baghdad, Egypt, and Sudan, and even supported the local rulers to fight against the Ottoman Empire.

The French and Germans were not idle, and their forces entered Syria, Baghdad, and the Kingdom of Iran, and colonized Algeria, Tunisia, and other places, which were more or less former dependencies of the Ottoman Empire.

Prime Minister Duke Pan Shouguo thought about it, nodded, and said; "His Majesty the Holy Emperor decreed that the Empire should gradually take control of the Arabian Peninsula side of the Persian Gulf, and now it is indeed time to implement it.

In the early stage, it had gained a foothold in Kuwait City, and from next year onwards, the Imperial Treasury would allocate a part of the funds for the development and colonization of the coastal areas from Kuwait to the north.

We're going to see

In Europe today, the confrontation between the Triple Alliance led by Germany and the Franco-Russian military alliance is the main contradiction.

The arms race between the two major military blocs is constantly escalating, and the complete deterioration of the Anglo-German contradiction is a new change in this major contradiction in the world.

His Majesty the Holy Emperor no longer gives specific guidance to government policy, so it is necessary for our cabinet ministers to think more about the world situation, prudently study and judge it, and make correct decisions.

in East Asia

The eastern end of the Trans-Siberian Railway, which passed through the three eastern provinces, was called the "Eastern Railway", marking that the ambition of Tsarist Russia to invade had been undisguised.

For this occasion

Supporting the Japanese to resist the aggressive impulse of Tsarist Russia has become the only feasible way, and this is also the consensus of the top leaders of Tang and Britain.

In the next 5~7 years, that is, before the official completion of the Trans-Siberian Railway, there will be a major war between Japan and Russia.

in Africa

The conflict between the British and the two local governments of the Orange Federation and the Transvaal Republic, established by the Boers, was growing and was on the verge of war.

It is the established policy of the British government to deal a heavy blow to the arrogance of the Dutch, and we can get a piece of the pie. ”

Speaking of which

Prime Minister Pan Shouguo smiled gracefully, opened the cigar case on the table and took one, then turned the cigarette case and motioned Lord Liu Daqing to take care of himself.

Each of them had a top-notch Cuban cigar, and after lighting it, they began to enjoy it.

Lord Liu Daqing, of course, knew what the Prime Minister meant, he took a deep breath of his cigar smoke, and said after slowly exhaling the smoke; "So, is the previous government's expansion plan about to be implemented?"

"Well, now that the military mobilization has been carried out in the three feudal states of Paradise Island and Luzon, the corresponding military training is in full swing, and it is estimated that it will be ready by the end of the year, and it will be implemented at the right time."

"Lord Prime, then the scope of this time ......"

"It is a vast area dominated by three archipelagos, Sumatra, Kalimantan and Sulawesi, which will be dominated by the Royal Navy and the Royal Janissary, with the Royal Army cooperating."

"Tut-tut...... This is a larger expansion area than the previous government's demarcation, and the scale of the war is not small, are Britain and France willing to cooperate? ”

"How is that possible? At most, we don't intervene, and we're satisfied if we can do that. Prime Minister Pan Shouguo smiled and took a leisurely puff of his cigar before continuing;

"Yanagido, this battle is of great significance!

In one fell swoop, swallowing most of the East Indies, which the Dutch had been operating for more than 300 years, would extend the empire's power in the western Pacific as far as the Indian Ocean, facing the British Straits Settlements across the Straits of Malacca, extending the empire's power 2,780 kilometers westward (Note; Starting from the city of New Xi'an, it goes west to Banda Aceh, the northernmost point of Sumatra Island).

At this point, the empire's layout in the entire western Pacific region will be increasingly perfected, with the support of a vast coastal base.

Correspondingly, it will greatly expand the strategic security depth of the empire and advance the defensive front to the western Pacific region.

Over the years

The Royal Navy has incorporated all the islands in the vast Pacific Ocean into the Empire's ruling area, and the vast Pacific Ocean will become the Empire's inland sea.

It's entirely conceivable;

In the future, the whole of Southeast Asia will be a situation in which Britain, France, and Tang are all in power, and there will be almost no room for the new colonial powers to be accommodated. ”

Thinking of the glorious scene in the future, Prime Minister Pan Shouguo couldn't help but feel excited and red, and his heart was surging and difficult to himself.

This is a grand undertaking accomplished during his tenure as prime minister, and it will surely remain in history forever, and the Pan family can rely on this great historical achievement to eat for more than a dozen lifetimes and prosper together with the empire.

The rise and fall of the aristocracy was closely linked to the entire empire.

"Congratulations to the first lord, congratulations to the first lord, some merits, enough to catch up with the great achievements of the founding fathers of the empire, and in the future, I will be ranked as the god of the martyr's hall, enjoy the generations of sacrificial incense, and the glory of the family!" Lord Liu Daqing also stood up with a red face and raised his hand in congratulations.

This supreme glory, the Liu family can more or less share a little.

In each of the top families of the empire, there is a tradition of children in the army to continue to serve in the army, and in the upcoming gluttonous feast, they will naturally have some gains.

From politics to military to society, the great colonial expansion of the empire is the common wish of almost everyone, because everyone is one of the beneficiaries.

The wolf traveled thousands of miles to eat meat, and the Tang Empire was at its peak in the step by step expansion.

For more than a decade, His Majesty the Emperor has been holding back the impulse to expand the empire, in order to digest the fruits of North American expansion and not produce more complications.

Now, at last, a new wave of colonial expansion has arrived.