Because in the great era of seizing colonies, we were busy fighting on land, so we were lagging behind, and because we were lagging behind, we were going to start wars.

But having waged a war, waged a war, even if we win by chance, with the geographical location of our Roman Empire in the world, we will be able to catch up with the law and overtake the load?

That was the power that had already colonized the New World two or three hundred years ago, and the stability of the foundation in the New World could not be reversed by the empire through one or two wars.

That Caesar explained that we didn't need the colonies.

Since colonies are not needed, then this war is not a war that will fight France to the death, a war of attrition to exhaustion?

The answer is yes.

If the empire threw its whole country into the war, how could it suppress the Russians, how could it suppress the infidels, how could it suppress Austria?

If that's the case, why do you have to fight for it?

Throw the attention of France and even other countries from expanding their colonies to the continental hegemony!

As France and the Reich expanded their military power on land, the Netherlands had to reduce their navy and maintain their land forces in order to maintain their military power, and because the Netherlands controlled the access to the sea, the German countries depended on the Dutch to export their goods and economies. In this way, the empire, without the constraints of Austria, was able to control the German city-states through the Dutch. Because the Netherlands could not exist alone under the threat of France.

Well, countries have limited resources, and if they expand their armies on the European continent, the development of the colonies will fall accordingly, then this is just pulling back. As soon as things changed, such as the capture of the Netherlands by the French, large numbers of Dutch people would flee to the New World. Wouldn't this be a failure of the imperial strategy!

Caesar's solution to this was to build a canal!

A canal was dug on the Egyptian side, a canal that shortened the voyage of countless caravans to the Far East, a canal controlled by us Romans!

As Caesar spoke of this, I looked at Alexander.

He's the one who thinks about it!

I'm ashamed to say that the first person who thought of building a canal to restore Rome to its former glory was Alexander, a native who was bombarded by me. And not me, a traverser of the Suez Canal, who later generations knew that the road was famous.

Alexander's plan was very simple and straightforward, and the opening of the canal changed the trade routes of various countries. In order to reduce costs and time, European countries must abandon the old shipping routes. With the transfer of trade routes, the flow of goods will return to the territory of our Roman Empire, the imperial capital of Constantinople will once again become the largest transit point in the markets of the Western countries, and the wealth brought by the trade tax will surely fill the treasury of the empire. So. With this wealth, Rome will once again be able to build a vast empire that encompasses the Mediterranean!

You can't imagine the first time I came out of a nine-year-old boy with such an idea. I don't remember exactly what was coming at me at that time or something, in short, I was shocked... It turns out that there really is a genius in this world! However, this kind of plan is still relatively crude, and I was idle at the time, so I set out to refine Alexander's idea, and after more than a year of thinking, an idea that slowly spread out around the canal made me get seventy-seven eighty-eight.

Taking advantage of the canal's shortened voyage to attract countries and make the canal the preferred outlet to the sea for Mediterranean countries. Then, through the soft means of the Customs Union, they infiltrated the Italian city-states, Poland, and even Austria and Aragon, and completed economic integration. Let them rely on the empire economically, and finally use force and political means to merge them when necessary.

The will of the local population to resist determined the success or failure of the conqueror's conquest, and the intensity of resistance will be reduced to a minimum only when they begin to become dependent on us in Rome and cannot do without us, and we want to annex them by means of consolidation. Time can make the Romans in Rome forget who they are, and it can make the Romans who are not Rome recognize their identity! In 10, 20, 30 or even 100 years, we may regain the lost Apennine Peninsula and more territory in a new look!

It's a beautiful blueprint, but there are a few big inconveniences to this idea.

First of all, Egypt is not in our hands. If you want to fight the Muslims, there are several Muslims who are fighting all day long. Then the second question is what to do after the occupation of Egypt, whether to establish a colony and drain the profits that can be squeezed out after a hundred years, or to rule for a long time and turn Egypt into a province of our empire once again. Now comes to the point, digging a canal requires a lot of specialists, I am not a civil engineer and Alexander is no better than me in that regard, if we fail to dig with the existing skills and conditions, our ideas will be stifled in the cradle. Finally, and most importantly, the idea takes time.

Ten years, twenty years?

I don't know about it, but I do know an example of it, and it's basically an example that Chinese are familiar with. Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty dug the Grand Canal, which took several years and more than one million workers, and the canal was opened, and within a few years, the Sui Empire was finished. There have been several instances in the history of Rome where things backfired and crippled themselves.

It's not the same time it used to be, Rome doesn't have as much capital for me to play with back then, so I don't want to dig a canal and wipe out a good empire. In other words, the cost of digging the canal must be controlled within the capacity of the empire, so the speed is naturally not able to catch up. The worst I have ever planned and the best I have ever made is that the cheap daddy hangs up and the canal is opened. I am hung up with Alexander, and the empire has successfully used the economy to influence the city-states of the Apennine Peninsula, which means that at least the generation of Alexander's son, we can realize the long-cherished wish of annexing the Apennine Peninsula!

Ideas are just ideas, but I didn't expect that Caesar to take them out as the blueprint for his plan!

The empire will build canals on the Danube to accumulate experience in the construction of canals in Egypt, and after a while Alexander will go south to rid the whole of Egypt of the heretics. Yes, the Empire must be cleared of the local infidels, the prisoners of war will be transported to the interior of the Empire to build canals, and the population generated by the wars of the countries will be used as labor.

Ten or twenty years, as long as the empire has accumulated enough manpower in the Egyptian canal, the Egyptian canal will be dug immediately!

But for the Empire to go south to wage war against the infidels, it needed a pretext to declare belli.

The excuse is that I was assassinated!

Caesar was gone, and his impassioned words still seemed to echo in the hall.

Looking at Alexander, I said, "Do you know Caesar's plan?"

"Yes, the strategic focus of the empire for the next thirty years will be in Egypt, and human and material resources will also be invested in the Egyptian canals. ”

"Russia, let them go to infighting. ”

"France, let them think that we are fighting with them for supremacy, and continue to expand their army!"

"Let them continue to tremble under French fire!"

"Once we were to turn this idea into reality, we might not see the day when the fruits of victory would be harvested. You know what that means. Rome will remember Basil II, who opened up the territory for them, but rarely mention John I and Nikilopus II before him, and the world will miss the glory of Augustus and the glory of Caesar, but only a few people know that it was Marius's reforms that made the first two possible. Alexander the Great is about the same, without his father Philip II's Macedonia, he would not have been able to conquer the world in any way!"

"You forgot about Reinstein the Great. I said at this point.

"For those who love Rome!" Alexander said, knocking on his chest.

"But Rome doesn't love those who love Rome!" I reminded Alexander.

"The present Rome does not love, but it does not mean that the future Rome does not love, my brother, we will be Rome!" (to be continued......)