"Long live my Lord, the Chief Assistant of the Cabinet, the Military Advisor of the Generalissimo's Office, the Minister of Household Affairs, the Minister of War, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of the Navy, and the Naval Chief of the Generalissimo's Office are asking for an audience."
The voice of Sister Cao's announcement came into the imperial study room in the East Nuan Pavilion of Huangji Palace. Zhu Cixiang was leaning on an armchair, lowering his head and reading the memorial sent by the Zongren Mansion in the morning about the ceremony of the concubine entering the palace - the concubine who was about to enter the palace was the effervescently beautiful Wu Ake.
Because she had to keep her filial piety for Wu Sangui and finish her college studies, A Ke could not enter the palace as a concubine until the New Year.
Although Wu Ake was only a noble concubine, Zhu Cixiang made a decree to handle the matter according to the standards for imperial concubines entering the palace.
Moreover, Zhu Cixi also had people renovate the Tangquan Palace that was originally used by Queen Wu Sanmei. After the completion, it would be used as Wu Ake's bedroom.
Before the renovation project of Tangquan Palace was completed, Wu Ake temporarily lived in the newly completed Kunning Palace with Queen Wu Sanmei.
Moreover, Zhu Cihong also wanted to learn how to manage things in the palace from Wu Sanmei - this move was to train Wu Ake as an alternate queen.
Of course, the reason why Wu Ake is so praised does not mean that Zhu Cihong really wants her to take over from Wu Sanmei - Wu Sanmei is in good health and is only over forty years old. There is no sign of dying... Zhu Cihong cultivates Wu Ake just to show his respect for Wu. The favor of home.
Because after the three vassals of Heilongjiang, Andong, and Duogan were either purged or relocated, the Hexi town controlled by the Wu family also received an edict to change the Jiedu—Hexi Jiedu envoy Wu Guogui will move to Peiping.
Although it was just a peaceful transfer of towns and not a reduction of vassalage, it ultimately weakened the power of the Wu family.
In addition, Wu Sanfu, the backbone of the Wu family, is getting worse and worse and is now recovering at home.
At the same time, the people in the Zheng family were all in full swing!
Not only are Zheng Sen and Zheng Jiangong still active, but Zheng Zhilong is getting more and more energetic as he gets older and does not look like he is dying at all. Under his management, the Zheng family's business has become more and more prosperous, and he has a bit of "Zheng Superman" mean!
As for Zheng Chagu, she is even more remarkable. She has never finished being a pregnant woman at an advanced age and is now pregnant with her ninth child. Less than half of Emperor Zhu's children were born to her alone.
Moreover, the next world war will not be won by relying on the strength of the army, but by the navy... In the Ming Navy, there are many disciples and former officials of the old Zheng family!
Therefore, Emperor Zhu had no choice but to praise Wu Ake, lest the sick tiger of the Wu family collapse too quickly and destroy the balance of power between the DPRK and China.
The ministers began to walk into the imperial study one by one. The leader is the new chief minister of the cabinet, Grand Duke Luo - Wei Zaode, who is over 70 years old, has retired from office. He is replaced by the new leader of the Southern People's Party, Grand Duke Luo!
Behind Grand Duke Luo were Military Advisor Qin Mingtao, Minister of Household Affairs Zheng Sen, Minister of War Yan Yingyuan, Minister of Foreign Affairs Wei Zhongcheng, Minister of the Navy Zheng Jiangong, Navy Chief Chen Shangchuan and others.
After the ministers saluted, Zhu Cihong nodded at the chairs placed against the walls on both sides of the study, telling them to sit down separately, and then ordered the serving maids to serve tea.
"Everyone," Zhu Cixiang glanced around the crowd with a smile and said with a smile, "I'm calling everyone here today because I want to hear your opinions on the upcoming war between the East and the West... We Where should we start? Where should we focus our offense? And where should we focus our defense? Let’s talk about it!”
"Your Majesty, I believe that the Xinzhou Continent is the most important place in the future, and it is also the most difficult to obtain... The sea route from the east coast of Xinzhou to Europe is only 10,000 miles, and it is almost 20,000 miles to reach the Ming Dynasty. Sea route. Moreover, the eastern and southern coastlines of the North New Zealand continent are very long, and there are several large rivers that lead to the sea for navigation. On the Great Plains, their advantages are very obvious!"
The first one to speak was Wei Zhongcheng. His brows were furrowed, and he obviously did not think that the world war that was about to begin would be easy to fight.
And the territory he values is not the long strip of the west coast of the American continent, but the rich North American Great Plains!
He continued: "Since ancient times, whoever wins the world of China must fight for the vast land of the Central Plains. It is said that whoever wins the Central Plains wins the world! Because the Central Plains is vast and flat, which is conducive to farming and the use of large armies to mobilize and mobilize. If you occupy the Central Plains, you can feed yourself. With a large population, they can quickly gather large armies to conquer all directions.
The Great Plains of North New Zealand are wider, richer and flatter than the Central Plains, and are intersected by large rivers. Not only is land transportation convenient, but also water transportation is very convenient... If it is owned by Westerners, the New Zealand Continent will be the future , will also be dominated by Westerners. The land of Xinzhou is vast and fertile, making it the highest among all continents in the world! Those who occupy Xinzhou will dominate the world! "
When Lao Wei was in power in the United States of New Zealand, he did not advocate a large-scale eastward advance, but that does not mean that he did not understand the value of the American Great Plains!
How could you not understand? How can a leader of a farming civilization not understand the principle of "whoever conquers the Central Plains conquers the world"? He does not advocate eastward expansion simply because the population of the United States of New Zealand is too small to support a large-scale eastward expansion. Moreover, before Zhu Hehao came to China, there was no large-scale organized Han armed colonial group that immigrated to Xinzhou.
At that time, the residents of the United States of New Zealand were mainly "furriers", "gold diggers", "stock refugees", "aristocratic scumbags", a small number of people who were exiled to "green flag households", and some retired soldiers in the United States of New Zealand ( Before the Ming troops stationed in the United States of New Zealand were transferred back to the country, soldiers would be encouraged to retire and resettle on the spot), as well as the Japanese (mainly women) who flowed in through various channels. Although everyone has a gun, they cannot be expected to open up the Great Plains in central North America!
"Of course the Great Plains of North New Zealand are important," Yan Yingyuan, Minister of the Ministry of War, frowned, "but we can't cross it... It's nearly twenty thousand miles to cross the Pacific Ocean, and then climb over the mountains and walk three to four thousand miles by land. Three to four thousand miles How long does it take to travel overland? At least two months, right? How will the logistics be provided? They Westerners can use big rivers to transport troops and food, but what should we do?"
yes? What should we do?
The 20,000-mile sea route across the Pacific Ocean is enough to devastate people, but the three- to four-thousand-mile land route from the west coast to the center of the North American continent is simply unsolvable!
"We can only cultivate farmland!" Zheng Sen, the Minister of Household Affairs, said, "Don't the kings of Xinzhou regard farming as the basis for eastward expansion? In the past two years, step by step, hundreds of farms have been opened and more than 2,000 farms have been moved eastward. Li! Although these two thousand miles are just a line, there is still a way to expand eastward... It is not easy!"
It is indeed not easy for Zhu Hehao to expand eastward... These hundreds of farms are not just about opening up wasteland and building houses, they have to fight the Indians in the mountains!
Not to mention every inch of mountains and rivers and every inch of blood, that means every farm has to bear ten or eight lives. Hundreds of farms, that's more than a thousand lives...and the number of casualties is growing every day!
On this "grange line", the struggle between the Han military immigrants and the Indians never stopped.
In contrast, the relationship between the French and the Indians of the Great Plains is much harmonious... After all, the French have less than 20,000 immigrants there, so they don't need to occupy much territory! Of course it doesn't matter to the Indians if you don't occupy any territory.
Similarly, on the east coast of North America, the conflicts between the United Kingdom of New England and the local Indians were also very prominent. The two sides fought almost every day, killing people every day...
Zheng Jiangong, the Minister of the Navy, also spoke for the wealthy kings on the other side of the Pacific. "Your Majesty, the key to fighting for Xinzhou is to fight for the Great Plains... More military households must be shipped to Xinzhou in recent years! The United States can expand 2,000 miles eastward, relying on the tens of thousands of military households transported from the Ming Dynasty. But these people can only maintain an eastward expansion transportation line at most, and it is still impossible to fight for the Great Plains."
"But where are we going to find so many military households? All the ones we captured last time have been sent out!" Navy Commander Chen Shangchuan frowned, "Why don't we send troops to attack Yunnan and see if we can capture some more?"
