In the seventeenth century, the Indian peninsula, although not completely colonized, had actually become a paradise for colonists from various European countries.
The colonists currently active in the Indian peninsula include the Dutch East India Company, the Portuguese East India Company, the Danish East India Company and the English East India Company. In addition, some sporadic ships from European countries will also arrive.
And now, the Great Chu Empire has been added!
The colonial competition in the Indian peninsula was already very fierce, and it became even more intense in recent years with the addition of the Dachu people.
Although so far, colonists from various countries, including the Great Chu Empire, have mostly colonized the Indian region by establishing trade strongholds, then opening up trade markets, and mainly trading in circles. The indigenous kingdoms in the Indian region have also There is no threat of destruction.
But this kind of competition for trade Lilan is still very fierce!
The market is so big and there is so much money. If you make more money, others will make less money.
In addition, more importantly, as the Chu Empire strongly occupied the Nanyang Peninsula and penetrated the Nanyang Islands, in addition to the Dutch, in the Nanyang region, they can also maintain strongholds in the Spice Islands and continue to carry out trade. The last one took the initiative to be more active with the Chu Empire, and at the same time did not show much ambition in the Nanyang region. He only settled in Manila in the Philippines and only focused on doing business with the Chu Empire.
Colonists from other European countries have been expelled by the Chu Empire.
Of course, they can also continue to trade in Southeast Asia, but generally they can only go to Malacca to conduct direct trade with the merchants of the Dachu Empire, and cannot trade with the local indigenous people.
Because the Chu Empire used various treaties and military strength to forcibly monopolize the markets of Southeast Asian countries.
In addition, the eastern end of the Malacca Strait has been strongly blocked by the Chu Empire Navy... It is said to be to combat piracy, but in fact it is to prevent ships from other countries from penetrating into the South China Sea through the Malacca Strait.
The Nanyang region has become dominated by the Chu Empire. Even the Dutch have to do business with their tail between their legs. In the Nanyang region, they only do business with the local indigenous people in the Spice Islands, and other businesses are basically done with the merchants of the Chu Empire. In order to avoid over-stimulating the merchants of the Chu Empire.
As for the Spaniards, they have already reached a series of trade agreements with the Chu Empire. In order to maintain trade with the Chu Empire, the Spaniards have made it clear that they have no intention of colonizing other areas in Nanyang, including the Philippines. As long as the Chu Empire opened up trade with them, the Spanish's global fleet was allowed to enter some ports controlled by the Chu Empire, such as Malacca, and they were allowed to pass through the Strait of Malacca.
They could even abandon their colonial stronghold in the Philippines, namely Manila.
You have to know that the core reason why the Spaniards went to the Philippines to establish a colonial stronghold was to trade with the Chu Empire... not to compete with the Chu Empire for the Nanyang region.
This is different from the Dutch.
The Dutch colonized the Southeast Asian region in order to control the Spice Islands and conduct direct trade with the local indigenous people, especially monopoly trade.
As for the Dachu Empire, it was relatively friendly to the Spaniards. It did not impose any restrictions on trade, and was even more liberal.
Under the good relationship, the Chu Empire has even been negotiating with the Spaniards to discuss the possibility of a friendly transfer of Manila.
This possibility is not small.
In the colonial situation in Nanyang, with the Chu Empire being the dominant one, many forces were in chaos. At the same time, the local indigenous princes were barely powerful. In addition, even the powerful Chu Empire found it difficult to conquer due to the distance. Under the circumstances of projecting a large number of troops to the distant Indian Peninsula.
The colonization of various countries in the Indian peninsula was chaotic and the competition was extremely fierce. These colonists not only fought with the local indigenous people, but also started wars with each other.
The Dutch and Portuguese have been fighting for many years.
After the Chu Empire entered the Indian region for colonization, in order to gain a foothold there, the Nanyang Trading Company chose to secretly join forces with the Portuguese East India Company in a tacit understanding.
So in fact, the Nanyang Trading Company was also at war with the Dutch East India Company!
This is on the surface, but there is more secretly...
Even the trading companies in the Dachu Empire would have certain conflicts with each other, and then secretly take action.
Due to the chaos and fierce competition in the Indian region, official power projection is troublesome and costly.
Many of its own armed trading companies have fallen into internal strife. The senior leaders of the Dachu Empire intended to change this situation, which in turn promoted the alliance of many armed trading companies involved in trade in the Indian region.
The government took the lead and the family sat together to delineate the territory in advance to avoid internal chaos. At the same time, when facing foreign colonists and local indigenous people, various companies had to assist each other, etc.
Under such circumstances, various trading companies have reached an alliance agreement, and only then have armed merchant ships of various armed trading companies jointly headed to India for trade.
This joint operation was conducted under the official leadership, and there were even navy officials in the fleet to coordinate the entire process.
This time the operation was also a huge success.
After the huge joint trade fleet arrived in the central region of India's east coast smoothly, they jointly carried out a strong landing for the first time. More than two thousand landing sailors defeated the local indigenous army and forcibly occupied a port. City.
In fact, the Portuguese came to this area decades ago and occupied a place to build a colonial stronghold. However, the Portuguese were not very strong and were quickly expelled by the local indigenous people.
The Nanyang Trading Company had been very interested in this area before and wanted to take it from the indigenous people and use it as a trading stronghold. After all, this place is not only the central area of the east coast of India, but also has a large river deep into the hinterland of the Indian peninsula.
Occupying this place would mean that the Chu Empire had already penetrated one foot deep into the hinterland of central India.
It’s just that in the past, Nanyang Trading Company worked alone. Although the company was not weak, their business was also large, and they could not mobilize many troops for a while. Moreover, although the local indigenous people did not seem to be very good, they were not Just sending a few hundred people there will scare them to death.
So Nanyang Trading Company thought about it several times but took no concrete action.
This time, many trading companies in the country joined forces to take action. There were no worries. Many trading companies in the fleet joined forces and mobilized more than 2,000 people to land. They fought several battles with the natives and killed at least tens of thousands of people on the other side. After the indigenous troops were attacked, the indigenous people on the other side knelt down and begged for peace...
Now that the other side had sued for peace, these trading companies were not polite and demanded a large amount of compensation, requiring them to fully open the market and monopolize the market. By the way, they also asked for a coastal colony for the imperial officials.
This newly occupied colony was named Union City!
The meaning is the union of multiple armed trading companies.
And this is also the first overseas territory with real sovereignty obtained by the Great Chu Empire in the Indian Peninsula. Well, even though it was taken down by those armed trading companies, this is still the territory of the Great Chu Empire. After all, the Great Chu Empire These armed trading companies do not have the authority to manage colonies, which is different from the colonial companies in European countries.
These armed trading companies went to such great lengths to start a war, and the territory they conquered belonged to the imperial government, so what did they gain?
This... they are actually going for compensation and market monopoly.
According to the conditions previously negotiated between the officials and these trading companies, the empire subsequently united into some surrounding indigenous countries. To be precise, they signed open market agreements with the countries they were forced to sign, and their trade was jointly monopolized by them for twenty years.
Other trading companies in the empire are not allowed to get involved!
Of course, you have to fight directly to get the trade market, and you have to stop merchants from other countries yourself. The empire only guarantees that domestic merchants will not run over to compete with you.
Through a war, it is in their interest to monopolize the trade of an indigenous kingdom for twenty years.
As for the United City itself, it is just a trade transit point for these trading companies. Besides, if it is not handed over to the authorities, they will have to spend money and effort to build fortresses and station troops...
Just hand over Union City directly to the authorities, let the authorities take responsibility for safety, and let them continue doing business...
The imperial officials were also very happy about this... After all, the officials did not pay a dime, so they got an overseas territory for free, and then they could collect taxes and so on.
As a result, United City appeared. The Da Chu Empire officially set up an administrative agency of United State temporarily here, and hurriedly transferred a mixed battalion of troops from Burma to station. Naturally, the navy was also dispatched. The fleet came to garrison.
The emergence of the United City also allowed the overseas colonies of the Chu Empire to extend from Myanmar to the east coast of the central Indian Peninsula.
Later, the merchant ships of the Great Chu Empire would be able to depart from Malacca, pass through Myanmar's Dagon Port (Yangon), and then Chittagong Port, and then go to United City. They would be able to obtain supply guarantees and trade transfer stations along the way.
There is no need to go to the ports of the indigenous people or the ports of the Portuguese and Dutch for supplies and trade as in the past.
It has greatly expanded the scope of activities of the Chu Empire's overseas trading merchants, which will definitely affect the competitiveness of the Chu Empire's products in India.
Just like the products of the Great Chu Empire in Myanmar and Western Myanmar!
By the way, the Chu Empire's previous colonization of the Indian peninsula was not actually the focus. The official expansion power of the Chu Empire was mainly concentrated in the Arakan Kingdom to the west of Myanmar.
The main reason is that Myanmar has become a vassal state of the Great Chu Empire. It can move nearby at a low cost... and the Great Chu Empire covets Chittagong Port and wants to control this most important port in the area around the Bay of Bengal.
Starting in the past few years, with the support of the Chu Empire, the puppet kingdom of Myanmar sent a large army to attack the Arakan Kingdom in the west, and once approached Chittagong. Although it was eventually repelled, it also severely damaged the national strength of the Arakan Kingdom.
Last year, the navy and army of the Dachu Empire organized a joint fleet to personally conduct an expedition and land in Chittagong.
This time, the Dachu Empire's navy used its absolute numerical superiority to defeat a fleet composed of Arakan sailors who were famous for their good navigation in a naval battle.
Through this victory in the naval battle, the army and navy of the Chu Empire officially landed in Chittagong and launched a siege on Chittagong.
This time, it was the Da Chu Empire Army who took action personally, rather than the puppet state's Burmese Army. Its powerful combat effectiveness was simply not something that the indigenous Arakan Army could resist.
After only half a month of siege, Chittagong declared its fall and eventually fell into the hands of the Chu Empire.
Subsequently, the two sides launched a series of wars. After a year of recovery, the Burmese Kingdom, the weakling of the Chu Empire, once again made a move westward. Under attack from both sides, the Arakan Kingdom became increasingly difficult.
However, this war is not over yet. The two sides are still fighting. However, the main body of the war has become the Burmese Army and the Arakan Army. As for the Chu Army, they are basically stationed in Chittagong. Only a small number of Chu Army are in the name of advisors. The Burmese Army directs the Burmese Army in combat.
After occupying Chittagong, the Chu Empire also gained the most important trading port in the Bay of Bengal region, and by the way extended its official power to the entire Bay of Bengal region.
In fact, it was precisely because of the previous occupation of Chittagong that the Nanyang Trading Company was able to successfully launch such a large-scale operation in the central region of the Indian Peninsula. Otherwise, they did not even have a starting base.
The expansion of the Chu Empire in the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Peninsula may be a big deal for the local indigenous countries, but in fact it is only a small matter within the Chu Empire...as small as most of the Chu Empire. The people didn't know that the empire was still at war with an indigenous country called the Kingdom of Arakan.
Not to mention ordinary people, even many senior officials of the empire don't know about this...
Because of this so-called war, the military did not even conduct mobilization of any nature, nor did it bring it up to the executive meeting for discussion.
This matter has basically been handed over to the Yunnan Governor...
The troops mobilized are only the local garrison in Myanmar. Well, to be precise, they are the troops previously stationed in Dagon Port. The ground troops used are only more than a thousand people.
A war of this level, and a war far away from the mainland, can at best be regarded as a colonial conflict... The impact is very limited, so not many people in the Chu Empire care about it.
Among the high-ranking officials in the empire, the emperor Luo Zhixue is probably the only one who cares more about it, but even he actually doesn’t know the details there. He knows that there is going to be a fight, but he directly authorizes details such as how to fight and when to fight. The governor of Yunnan was given full authority to handle the matter.
So he still saw the report submitted by the governor of Yunnan, and then he learned that his army had captured Chittagong... and also killed tens of thousands of indigenous troops...
There is no way, the empire is too big... There are so many armed conflicts and so many ongoing wars that it is impossible for Luo Zhixue to pay attention to them all.
Compared with some colonial war conflicts overseas, Luo Zhixue and the top officials of the empire should pay more attention to the war in the Western Regions.
The Jungar people in the Western Regions are more of a threat than any overseas natives. Tens of thousands of nomadic cavalry have always been a threat to the empire's western security.
Since the Chu Empire powerfully captured Hami a few years ago, the Chu army has gained an advance base in the Western Regions. It is not only a starting base, but also because this place can be cultivated and can solve the crucial food and grass problem on the spot. .
After several years of reclamation operations, the Chu Empire's reclamation operations in the Hami region have also entered the harvest season. Although the food produced locally is not enough to fully meet military needs, it has also greatly reduced the logistical pressure.
Under this situation, the senior leaders of the Da Chu Empire have already had the idea of launching a new round of westward march into Turpan and even the Ili Basin.
I think that after the spring of next year, that is, nineteen years after Chengshun, we will be able to complete the initial preparations and launch a new round of large-scale offensive to capture the Ili Basin in one fell swoop and eliminate Zhungeer's lair to completely solve the problem. The western threat to this empire.
It's just that to launch such a large-scale war, a large number of troops need to be mobilized, and the cost is even greater. Therefore, the empire's top brass still needs detailed plans and preparations before launching an attack.
To this end, Luo Zhixue held a military meeting in front of the imperial court to discuss in detail the new round of war in the Western Regions and initially finalized some general directions.
As long as these strategic arrangements are implemented in the future, if nothing unexpected happens, an attack will be launched next year.
As the Chu Empire actively prepared to start a new round of war heading west, the Jungar people also smelled danger.
After all, they are not fools and will not wait foolishly for the Chu army to attack. They have also been collecting the movements of the Chu army. When they find out that the Chu army has mobilized on a large scale and concentrated its troops in the Hami area, numerous transportation Baggage carriages also kept coming and going in the Hexi Corridor. At the same time, they also learned that the local Chu army was abnormal in the western Monan Mongolia region.
I immediately sensed that a new round of large-scale war might be coming.
They didn't know exactly when they would be attacked, but they knew that the Chu army would definitely attack.
what to do?
What else can we do? Prepare actively for war and prepare to die!
You can't just sit and wait for death.
The Chu army was obviously coming to their home base to kill them completely, and Zhungeer was not willing to surrender.
After all, they are nomadic people. If they really can't defeat them, they will probably run west... Anyway, the Kazakh Khanate in the west will also be defeated by them.
The Zhungeers couldn't defeat the Chu barbarians. Could it be that they couldn't defeat the Kazakh Khanate?
What a joke!
When a new round of large-scale war is about to start in the Western Region, Songjiang Mansion in the hinterland of the empire is still prosperous and showing a prosperous atmosphere.
Especially in the Songjiang Naval Shipyard, the many iron-ribbed wooden hull warships under construction on the docks show that the national power of the Chu Empire is climbing up at an aggressive and exaggerated speed like a rocket that has been ignited!
