November 1833.
When Zhuge Weidao led his Atlantic Fleet to show off on the European coastline for more than half a year, he once again crossed the Atlantic and returned to the island of Cuba where the Atlantic Fleet's home port is located. This island, which is at odds with the United States of America and is destined to become a thorn in the eyes and flesh of Americans, has already kicked off a round of major infrastructure construction.
Although peace seems to be coming soon, the top leaders of the Great Ming Dynasty are still quite sober at this time - what is about to begin is not a real era of peace, but a long-term war preparation period lasting 20 to 30 years.
This is because the Ming Dynasty only defeated its enemies in a world war and achieved an incomplete victory, and did not really establish effective rule throughout the world. To put it simply, Ming Dynasty has won prestige outside the Pacific region and made all countries afraid, but it has not yet established an effective management system.
National prestige that makes foreign countries fearful can be achieved through war, but effective management of the entire world requires long-term management and construction.
This is just like the ancient Chinese emperors who could conquer the world immediately, but could not rule the world immediately.
Fighting, maybe a few years is enough. As for governance, it will take decades to build, operate and infiltrate step by step.
Before Ming's global governance is completed, those powerful countries that were defeated by Ming, or were forced to bow to Ming's majesty but were not effectively controlled by Ming, will still have the opportunity to counterattack and break Ming's authority.
Ming Dynasty cannot slack off and must seize the time to complete its global governance layout so that it can defend its authority when faced with challenges from powerful countries that refuse to admit defeat or accept control in the future.
The first step in Ming Dynasty's global governance is, of course, to establish effective global military projection capabilities. The focus is to project a large amount of military power in the Atlantic region. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to establish a military that can station armies and fleets in areas such as Cuba, the Azores, and the Gulf of Texas, and that can deploy long-range aviation (not yet, but there will definitely be one in twenty years) base.
Among them, the focus of construction is the bases and various infrastructures on the island of Cuba, where the Atlantic Fleet's home port is located!
Tens of thousands of Japanese laborers and Ming Dynasty naval engineers have been transferred from the Nicaragua Grand Canal construction site to Cuba to start another round of major construction. Guantanamo Bay’s military port, airport, dock, turrets, bunkers, military camps, oil depots, ammunition depots, various repair shops, garrison headquarters, admiral military division, etc., the road connecting Guantanamo Bay and Havana, Construction has already started on railways, as well as airports, small military ports, submarine bases across the island of Cuba, as well as the military base that protects Havana, the capital of Cuba, and the Havana Admiralty of the Atlantic Fleet.
In addition, in order to serve the Ming army base on the island of Cuba and the Cuban people, large-scale military and civilian dual-use port facilities, power grids and power stations, gas pipelines, oil depots and refineries (used to store and refine Texas oil) and other facilities have also begun. Planning and preparation begins.
While war preparation projects were being launched one after another on the island of Cuba, peace negotiations between Ming Dynasty, Japan, Mexico, the Republic of Florida, the Dominion of Texas (affiliated to the Mexican Empire) and the United States of America were also held in Havana, the capital of the island of Cuba. The Prince's Fort base outside (which is now the temporary residence of the Havana Admiral of the Ming Navy's Atlantic Fleet) continued to advance.
Although the Americans have accepted the price proposed by Ming in principle, they are not surrendering unconditionally after all, so the missions on both sides still have to fight for every detail.
After several months of bargaining, at the end of November, a treaty that could be signed was finally placed in front of General Zhuge Weidao, who had just moved into the Prince's Fort base.
"The compensation is 8.88 billion silver dollars... This figure is quite auspicious, but it is 1.12 billion less than our initial asking price!"
Zhuge Weidao was flipping through a thick stack of treaty texts while still asking questions to Lin Zexu, the Minister of Foreign Affairs in charge of the negotiations. This Lin Dazhong came to Cuba after attending the coronation ceremonies of Zhu Xiu and Victoria. After nearly five months of talks with US Secretary of State Louis McClain at Fort Prince, an agreement was finally reached.
Hearing Zhuge Weidao's question, Lin Dazhongtang smiled and replied: "We and Japan will not be short of one tael of silver... and the Americans will pay in installments, and the unpaid part will be paid every year. Five percent interest has to be calculated. This 1.12 billion concession was given by the Mexican Emperor Agustín I. He didn’t want to delay it any longer, and he couldn’t afford it!”
At this point, Lin Zexu's tone was already a bit solemn: "The Mexican Empire is now unstable... The native white people who supported Agustin I suffered too many losses in the war. If this continues, Mexico may not be able to be stabilized." The domestic situation has deteriorated. Therefore, he is willing to take less money and end the war as soon as possible. But he did not give up these 1.12 billion in vain... In exchange for giving up most of his demands for compensation, the United States One must limit the total size of his army to no more than 100,000 men.
In addition, the Indian reservations west of the Mississippi River must be completely demilitarized! And the entire state of Louisiana must also be demilitarized...the U.S. Army and Navy will not be allowed in. However, this part of the state located west of the Mississippi River still allowed white people to enter and was not included in the Indian reservation. "
"100,000 troops, the African Military Zone west of the Mississippi River..." Zhuge Weidao muttered and thought: This condition sounds very familiar! I wonder if it was tailor-made for an American mustache?
"What's more!" Lin Zexu added, "In order to further weaken the economic foundation of the United States, Agustin I also demanded the complete abolition of slavery in the United States... and also required all liberated black people who were unwilling to become American citizens to be Slaves will be sent to the Republic of Florida for resettlement and a certain resettlement fee will be paid. In this way, the Republic of Florida will become a free black-Indian republic, and it is expected that millions of black people will live there!
This country would become another pawn in the Mexican Empire's efforts to contain the United States...as long as the African Military Zone west of the Mississippi, the Negro-Indian Republic of Florida, and the Japanese Dominion of Texas existed. The Mexican Empire can complete most of the tasks of containing the United States, and the Atlantic Fleet's tasks will be much easier in the future.
In addition, Agustin I also proposed that in the future, the Mexican Empire will focus on building the strongest standing army in the Americas, and maritime defense will be entirely responsible for our Atlantic Fleet... Daozi, what do you think? "
The strongest army in America also has...
"Is there another Agustin defense line?" Zhuge Weidao asked again.
Lin Zexu smiled and nodded: "Yes! Daozi, your news is quite good...Emperor Agustin just told me two weeks ago that he was going to build something on the border of Texas and the United States. A 1,200-kilometer-long defense line. The defense line will be composed of barbed wire, trenches, fixed fortresses, field roads and other facilities... In front of the defense line is the African Military Zone west of the Mississippi River. So it is foolproof!
How about it? Can this treaty be signed? "
"Sign it!" Zhuge Weidao nodded, "If you sign it, you will have peace in the world for at least 20 years...at worst, there will be another World War II in 20 years!"
