The wheels of the train beat the rails rhythmically, making a "bang, bang, bang" sound, and occasionally the roar of the steam engine was heard.
Zhuge Weidao had already boarded the train bound for Turgask at this time and was traveling on the vast plains of the Rakshasa Empire covered by ice and snow. The straight-line distance from Petersburg to Turqisk is more than 2,500 kilometers, and the length of the railway line between the two places is more than 3,000 kilometers. The speed of railways these days is only 20 to 30 kilometers per hour. It takes more than 100 hours to travel 3,000 kilometers, which takes about five or six days.
However, compared with the long journey of riding a horse-drawn sleigh to Bagua City, the capital of the Jin Empire, and then from Bagua City to Yining, the capital of Yili Province in the Ming Dynasty, this trip can only be described as comfortable and fast. If the latter takes his time, he won't be sure about it for two to three months!
And this time on the road was really precious to Zhuge Weidao. Because his memory has never been able to be "restored", it seems that it was all deleted during the "soul reinstallation". So he could only re-enter some necessary memories. You can't just act like a fool everywhere, you don't know this, you don't know that... He is Zhuge's strategist who can pinch and calculate!
So before boarding the train leaving Petersburg, he asked Guo Xiaobao to spend public funds to buy him many books on history, geography and navy, intending to "make up for it" during the journey. Most of these books are in Rakshasa script. Fortunately, Zhuge Weidao still remembers Rakshasa script and can not only speak it, but also read it. In addition, Natalie, who was with her, had seriously studied Chinese as a second mother tongue since she was a child, so if Zhuge Weidao didn't understand something, she could help translate it.
Of course, it was a no-brainer for him to complete the "reconstruction" in a few months and master everything Zhuge Weidao had learned in the past twenty years.
Because he has already inquired with Guo Xiaobao, the original Zhuge Weidao can be regarded as a "Tianniu" in the Zhuge family where there are many talented people - a born genius!
The "real Zhuge Dao" finished high school at the age of sixteen and was admitted to the Ming Naval Academy with the first place. When I was twenty, I ranked first in the graduation exam and overall score!
Just two years later, he was admitted to the Naval Staff College with first place, and then graduated from the Naval Staff College with first place. Only then was he awarded the rank of major and sent to the Rakshasa Kingdom as a post. Naval Attaché.
If nothing else happens, after he completes the mission of "bringing back Natalie", his next position should be as first mate or second mate on a fast cruiser or armored battleship - such a highly technical position cannot be Relying on the knowledge that Zhuge Weidao has today.
So after returning to the Ming Dynasty, Zhuge Weidao had to continue to study hard!
It was already dark outside the train, and Natalie and the accompanying Rakshasa maid had already gone back to their cabins to sleep.
As for He Zhongtang and the rest of the Jin Empire's envoy, they had already gone back to their carriage to squint.
That Sushun Xiaoshunzi was also arranged by Zhuge Weidao to rest.
Only Zhuge Weidao's military attache secretary Guo Xiaobao stayed with him, yawning all day long. It wasn't that Guo Xiaobao didn't want to sleep, but that Zhuge Weidao wouldn't let him go!
This "Silly Zhuge" had a lot of stupid questions, and Guo Xiaobao had to be patient and answer them all.
"Baozhi, how come we and Spain are half of this Luzon Islands? How come we only occupy one Luzon Island, one Palawan and some miscellaneous small islands? We still don't want so much land in the south?"
The silly question of "Silly Zhuge" is here again!
Guo Xiaobao held his eyelids and replied: "Didn't King Zheng Chengzhong get sick and die when he was conquering Luzon Island? Many of the Zheng family horses who followed him on the southern expedition also died of illness... So after they captured Luzon Island, they had no choice but to withdraw their troops. .”
Zhuge Weidao nodded and said to himself: "Zheng Chenggong only contracted the disease and died after he took over Luzon. This is considered as fulfilling his wish in his previous life, but this tropical epidemic is indeed serious!"
Guo Xiaobao added: "Later King Wu Zhong gave priority to conquering Borneo... He knew by calculation that there were treasures on Borneo, and he had to completely conquer the entire coast. So he temporarily gave up on the southern part of the Luzon Islands. Use troops.
In order to prevent the Spaniards from supporting the princes of Borneo. He signed a peace treaty with the Spanish, taking back only Luzon, Palawan and other islands, and leasing all the scattered islands in the southern part of the Luzon Islands to the Spanish Habsburg dynasty. "
"King Wu Zhong knows that there is oil in Borneo!" Zhuge Weidao thought to himself, "That must be taken down... After all, the large oil fields in China are not easy to develop, and the oil in Borneo can only be mined a few times. It’s here, and several oil fields are near the coastline, making transportation very convenient.”
"But why didn't King Wu Zhong take over the South Luzon Islands after taking over Borneo?" Zhuge Weidao asked again.
Guo Xiaobao shook his head, "Brother Daozi, you are just looking at the difficulty of carrying the burden!"
"What, is Borneo difficult to fight?"
Guo Xiaobao sighed and said: "It is not difficult to fight, but too many people died during the construction of the city, the deployment of defenses, and the farming... In the past ten years, no less than 30,000 Ming soldiers and civilians died of illness in Borneo!"
Even the son of King Wuzhong, Marquis Wenzhong of Wuxiang, later died of illness in Borneo! "
Zhuge Weidao also knew how powerful tropical infectious diseases were. Even after the advent of quinine, tropical infectious diseases such as malaria were still fatal to immigrants from the north!
In the early years, only by risking one's life to clear the virgin forest into clean cultivated land could the harm of diseases be effectively reduced. If the Ming army could capture enough indigenous slaves or buy some black slaves, fewer people would die.
However, the consequences of such an approach are quite serious. It is easy to catch slaves, but it is difficult to drive them away! This would not be appropriate in an area like Borneo, which must be completely conquered.
"Who is Marquis Wenzhong of Wuxiang..." Zhuge Weidao was silent for a while and then asked again.
Even his grandfather had forgotten... Guo Xiaobao was speechless. It seemed that Zhuge Weidao's amnesia was quite serious.
Guo Xiaobao sighed and said: "He is Ling's grandfather! Your virtuous Duke's title is also Marquis of Wuxiang, and his posthumous title is Zhongyi. The current Marquis of Wuxiang is Brother Ling."
"What about me?" Zhuge Weidao asked, "Do I have a title?"
"No," Guo Xiaobao shook his head, "The Zhuge family has only two hereditary and irreplaceable titles, one is King Wu and the other is Marquis of Wuxiang."
"Oh," Zhuge Weidao nodded, "Then let's talk about how the expansion of Nanyang became so dirty."
Guo Xiaobao paused for a moment, then continued: "Because there were too many dead people, the opposition to the expansion of Nanyang began to rise. King Wu Zhong could not convince everyone, so he had to suspend the southward expansion plan.
He originally wanted to wait until the population of the Ming Dynasty increased again, and when the cinchona trees introduced from South America had grown up, he would go south in a big way. Who knew... Before that day came, his old man passed away during the Western Expedition. "
Guo Xiaobao stretched out his right hand and gently touched the map spread on the table, and sighed: "King Wu Zhong joined the army at the age of twenty-five, turned the tide from collapse, helped the Ming Dynasty from danger, leveled the Central Plains, settled the northwest, conquered the Yellow Dragon, and stepped on the grassland. , swept the Western Region, went up to the snowy plateau, rejected the Rakshasa Baiyi, and conquered Annan, Siam, Chenla, Nanzhang, Ava and other countries in the south of the world. Even in his busy schedule, he also sent troops to the New World and opened up the land of New Manchuria. .
King Wuzhong had been serving as a general and prime minister for more than fifty years. During this period, he spent thirty years fighting on the battlefield. His men did not take off their armor and their horses did not unsaddle until they died in the army. It can be said that he devoted himself to death and died! "
Zhuge Weidao also lowered his head and looked at the Rakshasa version of the world map. The vast China on the map is very big and beautiful...but not big enough or beautiful enough!
At this time, the Ming Empire on the map includes Korea, Annam, Siam, Chenla, Nanzhang, Ava, Ryukyu and other tributary states, plus Borneo, Luzon, and New Manchuria (that is, Alaska). Overseas provinces, plus Mongolia, Baikal, Transhung Yen, Beiyang (Outer Northeast Coast and Kakhalin Island), Ili and other border provinces, the total territory area is about 178 million square kilometers.
To be honest, such a big empire is indeed big enough!
But it's not perfect. First of all, Ming's territory in the Americas is not large enough. There is only one area like Alaska, which is still a land of ice and snow.
Secondly, the Ming Dynasty did not have the shipping hub of Malacca! Without taking Malacca, it would be impossible for Ming Dynasty to get involved in the oil-producing areas of the Middle East. At the same time, the Palembang Oilfield in Malacca is also a large oilfield with low mining costs! Such a shipping chokepoint was actually firmly controlled by the British Empire. It’s a bit incredible!
Furthermore, the Ming Dynasty did not swallow Australia...it was still a British territory!
In the end, Japan did not have time to be destroyed. Is this left to Zhuge?
Obviously, King Zhuge Wuzhong did not finish all the work, and the reason why he did not finish it could be guessed by Zhuge Weidao.
Thinking of this, Zhuge Weidao asked Guo Xiaobao: "Does my great-grandfather King Wuzhong like to do everything by himself?"
"Yes, yes," Guo Xiaobao said, "Everyone knows this...but King Wu Zhong is much stronger than Zhuge Kongming. He has been serving as a general and prime minister for decades, and he still works as a general in the midst of his busy schedule. Three of the world’s greatest scientific giants, yet they still lived to be seventy-five years old.”
Understood!
Zhuge Weidao thought: "This ancestor is a workaholic. He has been busy for the country and the people for fifty years, and he has been busy until his death... But others may not work so hard. Because King Wuzhong did That seems to be a form of centralization of power! Although representatives of the eight major families and hundreds of meritorious families discussed politics together, there was no enfeoffment of territory, and even their original territory and army were returned to the country by King Zhuge Wuzhong.
In addition, King Zhuge Wuzhong's governance of the new territories was all overseas provinces and frontier provinces, not to mention feudal states, not even autonomous territories or trading companies. Although there are several vassal states, those states were already there and were not established by the Ming Dynasty.
Therefore, once King Zhuge Wuzhong passes away, others will have no energy to expand..."
"By the way, Baozhi," Zhuge Wei said, "Did King Wu Zhong mention his plan to conquer the New World and the Southern Continent in his will?"
"Yes, yes," Guo Xiaobao nodded, "King Wu Zhong knew that he had been militaristic in his life, which made everyone very hard. So in his suicide note, he asked everyone to rest and recuperate for twenty years...and then prepare for military preparation for ten years. year, launch a war thirty years later, first go south, then east, conquer the southern continent, and capture at least half of the new continent!"
Zhuge Weidao looked at the map and said with a smile: "Let me guess, after these twenty years of recuperation, everyone feels very comfortable and no longer wants to fight?"
Guo Xiaobao provoked Brother Thumbs up, "What do you think, this is what everyone thinks... Our country, Ming Dynasty, is the richest country in the world, with the first industry, leading technology, vast land and abundant resources, a large population, developed industries, and products sold all over the world. It is not at all A war needs to be fought.”
Zhuge Weidao smiled and looked at Guo Xiaobao's honest black face: "It's impossible not to want to fight... The tree wants to be quiet but the wind doesn't stop! The British Empire will never give up what it paid for with countless blood and lives. World hegemony... And even if we don’t want to dominate the world at all, as long as we are large enough, economically strong enough, and industrially technologically advanced enough, we are destined to be unable to live in harmony with Britain. Therefore, a world war is inevitable ! Baozhi, this is the luck of our generation of soldiers!"
