A certain prince knew something about the sultan, so he could send people there with the right target.
Ibrahim had no independent opinion, and the affairs of the empire were almost controlled by ministers, generals, chamberlains and even the beauties in the palace.
If the people around him all say yes to something, for Ibrahim, that means it is really good!
Today, the empire's borders extend to Persia in the east, the Indian Ocean in the south, the junction of North Africa and the Atlantic Ocean in the west, and are about to reach Vienna in the north.
It can be said that the territory has grown to the point of indigestion. If it continues to expand externally, neither Ibrahim himself nor the civil servants and generals have much confidence in winning.
Without the help of advanced weapons, when facing the armies of Western Europe, the empire could only rely on the most powerful Praetorian Guards if it wanted to win.
An enemy that even the Imperial Guards find difficult to defeat will be in vain if other troops try to defeat it. This is not a subjective assumption, but has been tested many times in actual combat.
If we remain steadfast and maintain the status quo, the empire's source of taxes and fees will lose new growth points. Over time, it will be exhausted due to the consumption of war, and even threaten the survival of the empire.
Ibrahim is not an understanding person, but there are many understanding people around him.
Want to ensure that the empire can get a steady stream of money, or win the war and make a lot of money by conquering new territories.
Either we must increase revenue and reduce expenditure within the empire. For the former, the possibility is slim, and for the latter, no one is good at this.
The construction of the Double Sea Canal precisely satisfied the demands of the empire.
Because as long as the project starts, the troops in the money and food spent will fall into the pockets of some people...
There is no doubt about the role and significance of the canal itself to the empire. With this canal, it is possible to mobilize troops on two fronts.
The most important thing is that this money is not without return, but can get rich and long-term returns.
The special envoy of the Ming Dynasty, Zhao Guangyi, presented a world map with comparative route markings. You can clearly see the difference between taking the canal and going around the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa. The difference in journey is more than three days.
With the canal, even if Western merchant ships would not take this route, merchant ships from the Ming Dynasty to Rome and France would take a shortcut, so the Ottomans would not have to worry about lack of tourists.
Each ship charges a toll of one thousand taels. One hundred ships per year is one hundred thousand taels, and one thousand ships is one million taels.
The total investment in digging the canal is only 10 million taels. Ten years is enough to recover the cost, and the rest is a net profit.
Due to its unique strategic significance, the canal is also under the direct control of the Sudan.
After Ibrahim saw the canal project plan proposed by the prince of the Ming Empire and listened to the strong recommendations from a circle of people, he readily agreed.
Everyone in this circle is counting on the canal to bring huge returns!
If you make good friends with the Ming Empire's special envoys, you can also receive some gifts, so why not?
Ibrahim also hopes to get a magical weapon like an airship as soon as possible. Once he realizes his wish to expand the territory for the empire again, he will definitely be famous throughout the ages!
The Ottoman Empire's envoys traveled thousands of miles to the capital of the Ming Dynasty. Under the instructions of a certain prince, they naturally received a high-level reception, which was no less than that received by Abe Shigeji and others from the Japanese country.
The Ming Dynasty had long been in contact with the Ottomans, and the other side had sent envoys. However, the Ming Dynasty was very lagging behind in this regard, and it was only then that it barely caught up.
For special dietary requirements, a certain prince also invited cooks from Ottoman envoys and merchants to cook local dishes for the envoys.
With the help of a bilingual intermediary, a certain prince quickly figured out the purpose of the other party's visit.
Buy an airship?
no problem!
As long as you have enough money, you can definitely buy it!
A certain prince doesn’t know how much money the mission brought, but he can’t let you transport it back...
Before bargaining, a certain prince still invited the envoys to watch the airship launch performance.
This is the only one in the world. Maybe the Qing Dynasty also had it, but it is definitely not as good as the Ming Dynasty.
The moment to witness the miracle came. All the members of the mission opened their mouths and looked up at the sky. They stared for a long time and were amazed.
However, I suddenly felt that the price of this item would be very high, and the money I brought might not be enough.
When they returned to the negotiation table the next day, a certain prince offered a preferential price for the sake of Lumi Gun's transfer of technology.
Including ammunition, spare parts, maintenance support and personnel training, the price is 100,000 taels per unit, with a starting price of ten units!
This is absolutely very conscientious, and is only twice as expensive as the unit price sold to Zheng Zhilong.
If it's too expensive, you can go to Daqing to buy it.
It should be much cheaper, but whether it can fly is another matter...
One envoy and two deputy envoys went back to discuss the matter for three days, but in the end they had no choice but to bite the bullet and buy ten ships.
I just brought two million taels of silver. I can't just buy the airship, but also some other products.
Before departure, everyone thought that the money should be enough.
Unexpectedly, when I arrived at the capital of the Ming Empire and saw the airship and other novel products, I suddenly felt that doubling the money would not be enough.
In order to take care of these guests from afar, a certain prince also misappropriated part of the order given to a certain father and Liu Rushi to satisfy this big customer first.
Once the wallets of the "barbeque customers" are drained dry, you can send them away!
However, everyone in the mission seemed to be in no hurry to leave. Now that they were here, they had to take a thorough look.
A certain prince asked Feng Quan, Minister of Etiquette, to take these guests on a small train ride for several days, and finally the other party wanted to buy the train...
It's not that it can't be sold, it's just that a set of trains and dozens of miles of railway will cost at least one million taels of silver.
Even if the Ottomans could make their own railways, if Ming Dynasty only exported locomotives and carriages, the price would be more than half a million taels of silver.
A certain prince would not give credit easily, especially to a customer so far away. It would take more than a year to pay back the money, which he really couldn't afford to wait.
Just as Jalema proposed bartering, that is, exchanging Ottoman local products for Ming products.
A certain prince had no objection to this at all, but he was completely disdainful of the knitting, embroidery, lamps and even weapons that the other party could bring out.
Instead of trading in these gadgets, buy a boatload of pistachios!
Displaying weapons in front of a certain prince, whether they are hot or cold weapons, is like showing off a big sword in front of Guan Gong!
In view of this, a certain prince showed the Ming Dynasty's advanced weapons to the delegation, such as tanks, mortars, flintlocks, revolvers, grenades, and new bronze cannons.
In addition to missiles, almost all types of weapons were on display, and even a small-scale exercise was demonstrated, which was regarded as a demonstration of our country's prestige.
Zhang Yilong's Guards Battalion is equivalent to the Sudanese Guards, but the latter may not even be able to march forward.
For the officers and soldiers of the Guards Battalion, this is a piece of cake, not even a daily meal.
When the uniform queue passed the viewing platform, everyone in the delegation was amazed again.
In their opinion, this force is simply more powerful than His Majesty the Sultan's Guards.
A hundred people act like one person, and even a layman can make the most basic judgments.
In addition to the airship, His Majesty the Sultan must buy the revolver he wants to buy.
A certain prince's asking price was five thousand taels of silver each and a bullet of ten taels of silver.
Jalmeh was so surprised that he couldn't help but smile. The price was comparable to antiques and treasures.
However, a certain prince also said that he could only sell fifty pieces at most. Due to the meticulous workmanship, the output was extremely low, so there was no way to buy more.
In the end, Jalema paid part of the payment with the local products he brought, paid 50,000 taels of silver, and bought 20 revolvers and 2,000 bullets.
After you go back and study it, you can make it yourself. There is no need to import such expensive weapons from the Ming Empire at a high price.
Regarding airships, Jalmeh thought the same way. The heavy artillery used by the Empire to attack cities could have been built more than a hundred years ago. There was no reason why they couldn't imitate airships.
The remaining money was used to buy various novelty products, especially the snowflake candies that were very popular among the empire, which were extremely cheap in the Ming Empire.
One pound cost only two taels of silver, and ten thousand jins only cost two thousand taels of silver. Jalema could not wait to buy one hundred thousand jins at once.
Unfortunately, in addition to self-marketing, Ming Dynasty’s snowflake candy was mainly used to supply the Japanese market.
The Ottoman Empire's purchase share was completely unplanned. The output of jaggery in the Guangdong and Guangxi regions was high enough, but they had to wait for more than three months, otherwise the sugar cane would not mature.
Jalema could not afford to wait for such a long time. The main reason was that the Sultan in his hometown was very anxious and wanted to get a bunch of goods as soon as possible, which he had spent huge sums of money on, including his own airship.
In the end, he could only buy 20,000 jins out of anger, and Jalema also placed an order for 100,000 jins. He had already written a letter and sent someone to return by ship, hoping to load the silver as soon as possible after the fleet arrived in the mainland.
Compared with expensive weapons, the goods here in the Ming Empire are very cheap, making it a shopper's dream place.
Even if you transport a batch of goods back to the mainland and sell them, you can make a lot of money.
After seeing airships, trains, telephones, telegraphs, electric lights, newspapers, and magazines, Jalmeh and others felt even more that the locals were falling behind.
But in order not to let their trip go in vain, everyone took photos in front of famous scenic spots and buildings in the capital, leaving a large pile of copper plate photos.
Jalmeh even spent all the money he brought, especially the flush toilets produced in the Ming Empire, which were exquisite and integrated craftsmanship and practicality. He bought twenty of them in one go.
This is especially true for the people below. After a long trip, if you don’t buy something, you will lose money. If you take it back to your hometown, you can make several times the profit.
The mission lasted for half a month. After shopping and shopping, they hurriedly loaded the ship and returned home. However, they didn't waste much time and it seemed to be quite efficient.
A certain prince used the money to build a bunch of new houses for the soldiers...
If the braid doesn't come over, Huang Taiji is deliberately holding back his big move.
Daming will not sit still and wait for death. As long as both sides maintain the current situation, Daming's "blood recovery" speed will inevitably be faster.
A certain prince thought it would be best not to restart the war within five years. After five years, the Ming Dynasty will not be the Ming Dynasty it used to be.
Apart from anything else, the success rate of steam engines has reached 20%, which is a very gratifying progress.
It seems that the success rate is not high, but if the King's Division is equipped with 5,000 tanks, even if 20% are operational, the total number will be as many as 1,000.
Once these tanks form a mobile steel dragon on the battlefield, they are enough to deal with braided cavalry troops that are twenty to thirty times that amount.
At present, the wheel type is still the main type. The structure of the crawler type is too complicated, much more complicated than a bicycle chain, and it cannot be relied on in a short time.
But as long as there are enough tanks, coupled with copper cannons and missiles, the Ming army's armored forces can suppress a hundred thousand braided cavalry and not give the opponent an opportunity to take advantage.
A certain prince's short-term goal is to equip the henchmen with at least 5,000 tanks. On the battlefield, even if they are not mobile enough, they can still set up a "steel turtle formation"!
The main purpose is to relieve the siege of Zu Dashou's troops in Jinzhou. According to the food consumption rate in the city, Zu Dashou's fate will be the same as that of Daling River by next spring at the latest.
Jinzhou is not a coastal city, but it is not far from the sea. The Japanese army has also launched exploratory attacks before and has certain relevant experience.
The combat distance of this rescue operation is less than a hundred miles, and you have to crawl over it. Otherwise, what is the use of a certain prince raising these dogs?
The preliminary relief plan was to dispatch at least 100,000 troops, including ten bronze artillery battalions, ten missile battalions, twenty infantry brigades, six cavalry brigades, and an additional 5,000 tanks.
A certain prince could not believe that he had spent so much effort and money to arm these 100,000 elites, and cooperated with the Japanese army and the French and German forces, but they could not reach the gates of Jinzhou City.
In view of the crucial importance of this operation, a certain prince has written to the Tokugawa general in advance, planning to borrow 200,000 troops in the spring of next year!
If we can get what we want, it will set a historical record for the Ming Dynasty's borrowing of troops in the past years!
As long as the Tokugawa general nods his approval, a certain prince will give him ten airships.
That's right!
Just give it away!
Together with supporting weapons, ammunition, fuel and parts, the value is no less than five hundred thousand taels of silver!
Other benefits will be calculated separately, but in short, this general and the various famous names under his command will never be treated badly.
Last year's spring and summer offensive was insignificant, so the Japanese troops who came to make money did not taste much sweetness at all.
They all complained that Abe Tadaki was incompetent and could not compare with the previous three.
Due to pressure from all aspects, Tokugawa Iemitsu also promised to choose another coach when he goes out again, but after all, it is just a rotation among the veterans.
Lao Zhong were all close ministers, and Tokugawa Iemitsu could only choose to trust the four of them, and then there were the following people. The scope of screening was actually very limited.
However, Tokugawa Iemitsu also knew very well that the failure of this expedition was mainly due to the request of the Ming Dynasty and not due to Abe Tadaki's incompetence.
After receiving a letter from the Ming Crown Prince and reading the relevant plans, Tokugawa Iemitsu generally agreed. It was foreseeable that this would be an unprecedented strategic decisive battle.
In view of the airship and many benefits, as well as the recent mutual benefit between the two countries, Tokugawa Iemitsu also decided to help the Ming prince again.
It is actually not difficult for the Japanese to dispatch an army of 200,000, and it can change the situation in the local area where all aspects of the country are poor all year round.
As a result, the total strength of the Ming-Japanese coalition forces will reach more than 300,000.
Although the Japanese army is poorly equipped, there is no doubt that those who can come over to make money are those who dare to fight hard.
A certain prince would also order in advance to raise necessary money, food and weapons for the Japanese army. At least plate armor and grenades would be distributed to every soldier.
There are machine guns and mortars in the distance, and cannons and grenades nearby. Two hundred thousand Japanese troops have shrunk into a big heap. Let's see how the emperor's chicken bites!
If both the Ming and Qing Dynasties dispatched 300,000 troops, it should be regarded as the fairest contest.
Maybe both sides will dispatch airships to engage in the world's first air battle!
