Yunzhong Province belongs to the jurisdiction of the Red Sea Garrison of the Royal Army of the Tang Empire, which is one of the seven military regions of the Tang Empire, that is, the second-level garrison headquarters under the jurisdiction of the Overseas Military Region.

The headquarters of the Red Sea Garrison is located in Suez City, and it has a total strength of 34,700 troops under the jurisdiction of Egypt (the towns around Suez City), Yunzhong Province, Jeddah, Yemen, Kuwait and Abu Dhabi.

Among them

The total number of troops stationed in Suez City alone reached 26,200, with a total of two first-class field divisions and two second-class garrison divisions, as well as three heavy artillery regiments.

One of the three heavy artillery regiments is a coastal defense heavy artillery regiment equipped with 6 280-mm shore guns and 12 210-mm shore guns, and its heavy artillery fire is mainly used to blockade the Suez Canal and the port area.

The other two were field heavy artillery regiments, each armed with 120 mm to 210 mm field heavy guns, 18 guns per regiment, for the defense of fortress fortresses, and the shore artillery firepower was quite strong.

Recently, at the invitation of the Kingdom of Oman, the Red Sea garrison sent an infantry regiment of about 740 men to Muscat, and the country was subsequently included in the protectorate of the Tang Empire.

The incident also caused discontent in the British, and diplomatic envoys in Egypt protested, as the Kingdom of Oman had always been one of the British protectorates.

Due to the weakness of the Kingdom of Oman, the British did not have a diplomatic mission here, and the consulate in Egypt was under the unified jurisdiction.

Britain drew a large number of troops in the Boer War, and a small number of British troops of more than 120 people originally stationed in the Kingdom of Oman were also withdrawn, and they were not stationed in the future.

I didn't want to be stolen by the Tang Empire, and the dove occupied the magpie's nest, how could the British be willing?

But this is always a trivial matter, protests are protests, the Tang Empire government will come up with some compensation, and the British will not squeak.

Because there is no oil and water in this place itself, what is there to fight about in the poor countryside?

With the steps, it is natural to go down the slope to the donkey.

The London government had suffered a major blow in the Boer War, and its international prestige and power had been greatly reduced, and even the non-aligned policy that had always been adhered to was changed as a result.

After the glory of the Victorian era, Britain's national power inevitably went downhill.

Just this year, in the first half of the year, the economic aggregate was surpassed by the German Empire, which was developing more and more rapidly, and it has retreated to the third place in the world.

In this unfavorable situation, as the traditional world hegemon, the British only need to save face, and will not turn against the Tang Empire because of this little thing.

It can be seen from the deployment of troops in the Red Sea garrison that Suez City, located in southeastern Egypt, is the forward position of key defense, and heavy troops have been hoarded in this area.

its purpose

It is to balance the total of 112,000 troops deployed by Britain in the whole of Egypt and the Canal Zone, and the 46,500 troops deployed by France in the Canal Zone, so as to achieve a balance of military power.

The interest areas of Yunzhong Province, Jeddah, and Yemen are strong logistical support and the second line of in-depth front, thus forming a complete Red Sea defense system.

Britain, France, and the Tang state joined forces to control the Suez Canal Zone, and these three countries are also the three largest shareholders of the Suez Canal, vying to show their military presence here.

The three powers cooperated and guarded against each other, for example, the British army was mainly deployed in the area around Port Said, on the west bank of the canal.

The French army was mainly deployed on the east bank of the canal, including the Sinai Peninsula, and established a complete permanent defense system.

The Tang Empire exited at the southeastern end of the Suez Canal, on the side of Suez City near the Red Sea. Fortified fortresses were also built at any cost, equipped with powerful coastal artillery.

The three great powers have formed a delicate balance at both ends of the Suez Canal, and none of them can have an absolute advantage.

Although the total strength of the Tang Empire was slightly inferior, with its strong fortresses, its offensive ability was insufficient, and its defensive ability was seriously excessive.

If you want to break through a strong fortress with heavy guards, you won't kill or wound 70,000 or 80,000 people, and you don't even have a door.

Britain cannot afford to pay such a heavy price, nor can France afford to pay it, and it is in the fundamental interests of the three parties to maintain a harmonious atmosphere.

In the city of Fubo, there is a peaceful scene of singing and dancing, and there is no tension in the Suez Canal Zone.

The more tense the situation in Europe, the more high-society figures and wealthy businessmen from various European countries went to Fubo City, because they were the smartest handful of elites.

Judging by the current international situation

The confrontation between the two major military blocs in Europe has become obvious, and unless one side backs down, the current white-hot arms race can only continue to intensify.

Eventually, the likelihood of a war that would spread across Europe became more and more likely.

Seeing this terrible prospect, all the social elite thinks of a way out.

The city of Fubo, which is very close to Europe, has no real winters and a high level of urban construction and social development.

The economy is prosperous, prices are stable, and the key is that there is everything to eat, drink and enjoy here, and there is no danger of war.

Compared to North America across the Atlantic, the city of Fubo is closer to the European countries on the Mediterranean coast, and it takes only four and a half days to travel by ship from France through the Suez Canal.

Those who are familiar with international politics know that the confrontation between the two major military camps in Europe has nothing to do with the Tang Empire in North America.

The Tang Empire and Britain have long been close partners, not allies but allies.

However, the relationship between the Tang Empire and the German Empire was also very close, and the cooperation between the two countries involved military, economic and political aspects, and the friendly relations lasted for 40 years.

The level of cooperation is high and the scope is wide, and the German Empire has more than a dozen highly influential Junker military aristocrats, all of whom originally came from the active military officers of the Tang Empire.

The close cooperation between the two sides has been going on for 40 years, long before the Franco-Prussian War in 1870.

Long-term friendly relations with Germany are one of the twin pillars of the Tang Empire's relations with Europe.

In the face of the grim situation of the confrontation between the two major military blocs in Europe, the public policy of the Tang Empire was neutrality, no one was to be offended, and both were doing business.

As long as this policy does not change, even if a full-scale war breaks out in Europe, no military bloc will be stupid enough to take the initiative to attack the Tang Empire, isn't that a brain disease?

It is precisely with this in mind that all Europeans are safe to invest in Fubo, and in the event of a war it is a good way out.

If war does not break out, will everyone be happy?

The people who can invest overseas are all upper-class people and wealthy European businessmen, and no one lacks that money.

It is based on the above considerations

Since the beginning of the new century, wealth from Europe has begun to pour into Fubo City, promoting the rapid expansion of this pearl city on the Red Sea coast, and the value of property has been rising.

In the recent past, there has been a trend of accelerating year by year.

To this end, the city of Fubo has also put forward an ambitious plan for the construction of a new urban area, and plans to build a first ring elevated road and a second ring elevated road, which is planned in a forward-looking manner according to the standard of a metropolis with a population of one million.

New reservoirs, thermal power plants, cement plants, quarries, brick kilns and timber mill construction projects have been launched, and the infrastructure of the new urban area, as well as roads, bridges and sewer culverts are all being promoted.

Compared with the city of Fubo (Massawa), which is widely popular with European funds, the capital of Yunzhong Province, which is located in the land, has also been stained with light, and the capital flowing into the local area is still dominated by Chinese capital, and there is also a lot of European capital.

On the one hand, it is because the hinterland plateau of Cloudsdale is very vast, and on the other hand, it is convenient for transportation.

The city of Fubo (Massawa) is only 78 kilometers away from Cloudsdale (Aramas), and there are not only wide and smooth asphalt roads between the two places, but also a railway connection, which is very convenient for transportation.

The two cities were the first to open long-distance passenger transport between the two cities, which can be reached in only two hours by car and just over four hours by horse-drawn carriage (with a break on the way to feed water and concentrate).

The 13,000 square kilometers of land between Fubo City and Yundale City are home to more than 70% of the province's population, totaling more than 2.4 million.

Along the way, small towns are dense, longitudinal and horizontal, and factories are all over the city, which is the elite area of economic development in Yunzhong Province.

The remaining 900,000 people in the province are distributed in various regions with a total area of 200,000 square kilometers, and the population is quite sparse.

In the pastoral areas of the highlands

In those remote pastures, there are also a small number of bold Chinese ranchers who enslave black slaves and squeeze hard-earned money.

But this situation has been discovered, and it will be punished severely.

But in the Ethiopian highlands, it is not uncommon for black tribes to migrate to Yunzhong Province, where the opulence of the region is known throughout East Africa.

Once captured by the local Chinese cavalry or local armed forces, these black tribes who took the initiative to migrate would be sent to remote mines to serve in labor, and they would never come out until they died.

There's a good thing about it here, I'm really tired, but I'm not hungry.

Yunzhong Province has solved the problem of lack of labor in the mines, and the black tribes have solved the existential crisis, and both sides are quite satisfied.

Only one thing

In the mines of Yunzhong Province, black slaves were strictly forbidden to give birth, and families were never allowed to reproduce.

The black slave miners of the mines were rewarded with food or women for their good behavior, and that's it.

After Richard and his entourage arrived in Yunzhong Province, they rented a carriage without alarming any official figures, and ran around for more than a month, and were very satisfied with what they saw and heard.

It was the same thing he saw in heaven, and he was inspired.

Both of these overseas provinces were typical of the bureaucratic system, which was administered by talented officials selected by the imperial government for a term of five years, following the change of government, and the longest was 10 years.

As a result, the high-level officials of the overseas provinces did not have a solid foundation in the local area, and they were widely praised for their good work, but they were inevitably criticized by various local forces for their poor work, which led to many turmoil in their future careers.

In this case

The high-ranking officials of these overseas provinces have no choice but to devote 120 percent of their energy to their achievements and strive to win a good reputation, lest they overturn here.

It is precisely because these high-ranking government officials uphold the public spirit and do not have too much to do with the local forces and have no interests in it, so they can drastically remove the pros and cons and implement the imperial policy.

In many ways, it's a little better than the provinces in North America.

Fifty-eight years after the establishment of the imperial government, although democratic elections at the national, provincial and municipal levels were widely promoted, there were still many shortcomings.

For example, in the politics of the Jin Yuan Dynasty, the collusion of officials and gentry, and the traditional local political families continued to grow, gradually forming a situation of taking turns to sit in the village.

It's all there

Challenging the governance ability of the imperial family of the Tang Empire, the current emperor Tang Qianzong is a typical ruler who follows the rules everywhere, and does not have the wrist and city government to remove the pros and cons drastically.

Hu Yongtang, the former high-ranking official of Heaven appointed by Richard, served as the director of the Imperial Administration of Integrity, and as a quick knife, he was ready to completely eliminate the officialdom of the Tang Empire.

The actual effect is not satisfactory, and many cases are hastily concluded with heavy thunder and small rain.

The reason for this

It is still the strength of the imperial family to give insufficient support, and it is obviously not enough to rely on such a small body as the Independent Commission Against Corruption to oppose the increasingly intertwined imperial aristocratic ministers, rich businessmen and capitalists.

All kinds of factors led to Hu Yongtang's quick knife being blunt, and there was no royal support in the rear, and gradually lacked stamina.

Every time he thought of this, Richard sighed a little.

The same fast knife is used in the hands of different people, some are quick knives to cut the mess, and some have become mud, which is really undemanding.

The good news is

Compared with the old feudal kingdoms of Britain, Germany, Russia, and Austria-Hungary, the inspiration of the Tang Empire is not known how many times stronger, and the internal disadvantages are much less.

In the foreseeable 10~20 years, there will be no major problems.

In the days that followed

Richard traveled to Yemen and Jeddah, and passed through Suez City, arriving in Europe after a little more than a month.

In Suez City, Richard observed from a distance this fortress that took more than 30 years to build, which can be described as a group of reinforced concrete fortresses rising from the ground in an open desert area.

After all these years of development, the population of this controlled military zone has not exceeded 260,000, and many of the local residents are military dependents.

Because of the peculiarities of the city, the local Arabs were removed and could live in small towns outside the city, but not in the city.

The city also did not allow white settlement, and was a 99% Chinese fortified city, with only a small number of white-run trading companies existing in the port area outside the fortress, and obtaining concessions.

Compared to Fubo and Cloudsdale, Suez City is purer and more homogeneous, and the city's economy is mainly based on port trade, transshipment and fishing, with few factories except for a cement factory and a few quarries.

As the most cutting-edge gateway city of the entire Tang Empire, Suez City sacrificed a lot of development opportunities, but it was worth all the effort.

Behind this military fortress city, there are hundreds of splendid cities and countless towns of the Tang Empire, whose peace and tranquility and economic prosperity are inseparable from Suez City.

From this point of view

The city of Suez made sacrifices for the development of the entire empire, and it was strategically important to keep the wind and frost swords from Europe in the Egyptian desert.

in the other direction

In North America, only New Jersey and the Eastern City (Washington) could be used as a breakthrough for European troops to land, and they were also heavily armed.

Almost half of the Royal Army of the Tang Empire was piled up here, making it impossible to land in the area.

Other places

Invasion from Europe must first be an invasion of the East Coast countries, such as the Republic of New York, the Republic of Connecticut, the Republic of Maine, the Republic of Carolina, the Republic of Florida, or the Republic of Mississippi.

Only by occupying these countries as forward strongholds can they continue to penetrate deep into the North American continent and attack the provinces of the Tang Empire in North America.

This is actually a false proposition, and no European country can do it.

Some people say, can they be the first to attack the Central American provinces?

For example, the province of Panama, Nicaragua or Costa Rica, isn't that okay?

This is completely military speculation, and before the complete occupation of Cuba, crossing Cuba and going deep into Central America, is there no fear that the back road or sea transportation line will be cut off?

Cuba is the key to the Caribbean Sea, and all routes to cities along the Central American and Caribbean coasts must pass through Cuba.

Cuba is just over 170 kilometers from Florida, and the distance between the two places is only 92 kilometers if you include the archipelago belonging to Cuba.

What kind of large-scale military operation can be carried out rashly without regard for Cuba's military might?

Wouldn't that be a way out for yourself?

Even if it directly attacked the Central American provinces, Panama was more than 5,870 kilometers away from Los Angeles, a large city on the west coast of the empire, by train, and the distance between the two places was 4,955 kilometers in a straight line.

How long will it take for the invading European armies to push across?

The Tang Empire tightly controlled the Ecuador Canal and the Strait of Magellan, the southernmost point in South America, and European countries could not even cross a small sampan without the permission of the Royal Navy of the Tang Empire.

On the entire Pacific coast, there was not a single city that could allow the invading European fleet to be resplied, all of which were firmly controlled by the Tang Empire.

Even if it is as powerful as the British Royal Navy fleet, entering the Pacific Ocean from the Atlantic must be allowed by the Tang Empire, otherwise it will be difficult to make the trip.

This is the profound strength of the Tang Empire, which is entrenched in the entire Americas like a giant connecting the heavens and the earth, and no one can shake it.

It is precisely with such sufficient confidence that Richard can rest assured that he can leave the huge empire to Tang Qianzong, run around the world, and live a free and comfortable life.

As long as the Tang Empire itself does not make mistakes, no one will be able to knock down this American giant.

Enter the 20th century

The Tang Empire's international and domestic security situation was unprecedentedly good, and it became a safe haven in today's turbulent world, attracting a large number of immigrants from Asia and Europe.

End of 1904

The population of the Tang Empire officially exceeded the 190 million mark, and the total population reached 191.7 million, which is one and a half times the population of 110 million in Tsarist Russia.

It is the sum of the populations of Britain, France and Germany, and there is still a population growth of 550~6 million per year, which is in the stage of rapid population growth.

It was expected that in the first quarter of 1906, the total population would exceed the 200 million mark, making it the second most populous country after the Qing Dynasty.

Such a population is still vast and sparsely populated compared to the vast territory of the Tang Empire.

In the original history

More than 100 years from now, the Java archipelago will be able to host a population of 150 million people, and this is just an island with an area of 138,000 square kilometers. (End of chapter)