The overseas colonization of the Da Chu Empire began many years ago, but to be honest, the scale has never been large, and immigrants mainly went overseas to make money and take risks. In fact, not many people actually went to Nanyang to farm and settle down.
Several years have passed, and the current total number of new immigrants in the Chu Empire's overseas territories in various parts of Nanyang is only more than 300,000. It seems like a lot, but it is very few when they are scattered across the vast overseas territories in Nanyang.
And a considerable number of these people are work immigrants!
That is, employees of trading companies and their families, family members of officials, etc., or people who go to do business to make money and their families, etc. Although these people are temporarily living and working in Nanyang, there is a high probability that they will still be there in the future. Back home.
There are not many people who have settled purely because of the immigration policy, and there are even fewer immigrants who have settled at their own expense. Most of the immigrants who have settled are official free immigrants organized by the government. To put it simply, the government takes care of all the expenses. You just need to follow them. That’s it.
There are many reasons for the small number of spontaneous immigrants. The main reason is that people have concerns about the Nanyang region and are worried and afraid.
Even if some people in China want to immigrate, they will not go overseas. Instead, they will go to Liaodong and other newly developed lands in the country.
Although it is freezing cold in Liaodong and other Northeastern provinces, because of the black soil and the fact that this is the mainland anyway, it is still more attractive than other places in Southeast Asia to some domestic people who want to immigrate.
Immigrate to Nanyang... As soon as people heard that they were going to distant overseas lands by boat, and it was also a tropical rainforest filled with mosquitoes, people immediately shook their heads.
The public has relatively large concerns and rejections about immigrating to Nanyang. At the same time, the scale of official immigration promoted by the government has not been large.
The main reason is that the cost of immigration these days is very high. We organize immigrants from within the country, then organize ships to transport them there, organize them to settle down when they arrive, and give them food rations for a certain period of time. These have led to the increase in the cost of immigration per capita. very high.
And if all these costs are paid by the government, then the empire's finances, which are big and powerful, will not be able to bear it.
Therefore, the scale of official immigration has always been small, with only tens of thousands of people immigrating each year at most.
The scale of overseas immigration was small, which also caused great trouble for overseas colonial operations.
After all, maintaining overseas territories requires human resources. Without people, you cannot control a vast colony... At most, you can only stick to city fortresses like the Portuguese and Dutch, or engage in colonial trade. .
The overseas colonization of the Great Chu Empire was not just for trade and profit, these were secondary... The overseas colonization of the Great Chu Empire was for land, more precisely, land that can grow food!
Solve the fundamental problem of insufficient per capita food production due to the large number of people in the country and insufficient land, and improve the per capita food level of the people.
Keeping the people well fed was the fundamental reason why the Chu Empire seized overseas territories and carried out overseas immigration.
After all, if you want to have enough food to eat, if you rely solely on domestic solutions, there are only two points: either increase food production or reduce the population.
As for grain production, there is only so much land, and technical conditions are also limited. There are limits to increasing grain production.
As for reducing the population, given the limited land in the country, if there are fewer people, the natural amount of land per capita will be more, and the per capita food will be more. However, you cannot do this method under normal circumstances. You can only wait passively. Various natural and man-made disasters, such as large-scale civil wars, wipe out a large number of people, and then after the war, various prosperous times, ZTE will naturally come.
But you can't do it when nothing happens... After all, you can't massacre a group of people regularly or just start a civil war, right?
It was almost impossible to solve the food problem in the feudal dynasty by relying solely on internal means and using various peaceful means.
Dynasty changes in the past dynasties have proven this. In the end, large-scale wars were basically used to reduce the population and restore the balance of food supply.
In addition, there is another solution, which is to enter modern society... After entering modern society, people will consciously have fewer children. This is fully reflected in the white groups in Europe and the United States as well as Japan and South Korea in later generations.
Children are consciously having fewer children or not having them at all, so naturally there is no so-called food crisis.
In the short term, or even within a hundred years, the Chu Empire will not be able to solve the food problem internally, improve the per capita food level, and thereby increase the average food consumption level of the people.
So where is the only solution?
The answer given by Luo Zhixue is overseas immigration!
Seizing foreign food production areas and immigrating the remaining domestic population can not only reduce the domestic per capita food pressure, but also some foreign food-producing places can supply excess food to the local area, further reducing the food pressure in local areas.
This is the fundamental reason why the Chu Empire promotes overseas colonization. It is not for money or market. No matter whether it is money or market, it cannot be eaten... these are the icing on the cake.
Land, food, these are the foundation.
After seven or eight years of preparation, the Chu Empire has gradually formed an effective overseas immigration method. In addition, domestic medical technology has further developed, especially cinchona trees have been planted and used on a large scale. to combat all types of malaria.
Malaria is the biggest obstacle for immigrants to move to areas where the climate and soil are not suitable for them, especially in tropical areas such as Southeast Asia. How to effectively fight malaria is a prerequisite for immigration.
Otherwise, if 10,000 people immigrate, thousands of them will die within a few years. Such a high mortality rate is not about immigrating, but about dying.
In addition to the improvement of medical technology, the scale of the Chu Empire's shipbuilding industry has further expanded. There are more ocean-going ships, and the cost of navigation has naturally gradually decreased.
Especially after the emergence of iron-ribbed wooden hull ships, ships can be built larger, and larger ships, whether transporting goods or carrying passengers, will have lower average costs.
This is why shipping companies and trading companies like to use large-tonnage armed merchant ships and transport ships.
Because the larger the ship, the more cargo it can carry, and the lower the average cost.
This is the case with the first batch of armed merchant ships ordered by the Western Trading Company (formerly the United Trade Federation). Armed merchant ships of more than a thousand tons are the main force, and the smallest ones are also seven or eight hundred tons. They have even begun to build batches of more than one thousand, eight hundred tons or even two ships. A large armed merchant ship of more than a thousand tons.
These are not only to improve the combat effectiveness of armed merchant ships, but also to reduce freight costs.
Medical technology has improved, shipbuilding technology has improved, transportation costs have decreased, and various immigration policies have been gradually improved through a series of trials.
Combined with many aspects, this also made the senior officials of the Dachu Empire make up their minds to expand the scale of overseas immigration.
The establishment of the Western Trading Company and the Eastern Trading Company is the most direct symbol of this strategic change.
And it is worth noting that overseas immigration is not only limited to Southeast Asia and India, but also to the Americas.
The Oriental Trading Company was there to colonize America.
America, especially North America, was a place that Luo Zhixue was very concerned about. Everyone in later generations would know how good the conditions in that poor place were.
It has a huge amount of arable land and is extremely rich in various mineral resources.
If North America can be captured, tens or even hundreds of millions of people can be resettled in the future, and a large amount of agricultural products can be continuously obtained from North America and shipped back to the mainland.
In the past, the Chu Empire had been busy in its overseas colonization efforts in Nanyang, and in the following years it began to make troubles in India.
As for North America, I haven't been able to free up my hands to do it.
But now, Luo Zhixue feels that the time has come!
Especially last winter, after years of continuous exploration of routes, Dongyang Trading Company finally successfully dispatched a fleet to the west coast of North America last year, and also conducted barter trade with the local indigenous people. The harvest can be said to be amazing.
When I went there, I brought some industrial products that were not valuable, but when I came back, I brought countless gold, silver, gems, animal skins and other goods.
Driven by such a huge Lilan, a lot of people involved in the ocean-going armed trade went crazy.
In addition to the Lilan factor, what is more important is that the route has been explored.
After many years of route exploration, the Chu Empire had figured out the route it wanted to take to North America.
This is a long route across the entire Pacific Ocean.
In order to explore the route to the Americas, the Chu Empire started many years ago. They initially wanted to use the Manila mail route in the Spanish treasure fleet, follow the Spanish, and cross the Pacific from Manila to Mexico. .
But this is the Spanish route. Although the relationship between the two parties is quite good, if you want to use this route to engage in large-scale colonial trade, the Spaniards will have to go crazy... so the Spaniards are not willing at all. Take the ships of the Chu Empire to America.
There is no other way. The Chu Empire can only explore its own route to America.
Anyway, it is an established fact that there is a continent to the east of the sea, and it is also an established fact that this sea is very vast.
Once you know the result, it will be much easier to slowly explore eastward.
The Dongyang Trading Company of the Dachu Empire constantly tried to send fleets from the Fuso area to search for supply islands along the way. If no island was found, it would not hesitate to incorporate the island into the territory of the Dachu Empire, and then build it on top Establish a supply base.
Then use the island stronghold on the sea to continue exploring the surrounding area!
After repeatedly exploring and establishing strongholds, they headed east and discovered the Sandalwood Islands (Hawaiian Islands) on the way... After discovering this archipelago, the Oriental Trading Company conducted trade with the indigenous people and established a supply point on it. .
Relying on the Sandalwood Islands, they continued eastward and finally successfully reached the west coast of North America, the area of California discovered by the Portuguese a hundred years ago.
The Dongyang Trading Company of the Da Chu Empire also found a small local harbor suitable for berthing ships, so they built a small camp and fortress and called it Dongyang Port, named directly after the company...
The Oriental Trading Company left more than a hundred marines and a small number of business personnel to garrison here, and by the way, they did business with the local Indians.
The indigenous people there have a lot of good goods, including all kinds of furs, gold, silver, precious metals, gems, etc., while the traders of the Oriental Trading Company only need to use some cheap industrial products, such as glass products, small hardware and even some Cold weapons, knives and the like can be exchanged for these good things from the hands of these natives.
A small steel dagger mass-produced in a factory was only worth a few cents in the Dachu Empire, and even a good quality one was only worth one or two yuan.
But when they brought it down to North America and showed it to the natives, they regarded it as a sword that can cut through iron like clay, and can be exchanged for dozens of kilograms of gold... Judging from their appearance, they probably took it back to the tribe and used it as a magical weapon... …
From a purely monetary perspective, such a trade model is extremely profitable!
These directly promoted the merger of many armed trading companies, and then established the Dongyang Trading Company. This Dongyang Trading Company actually refers to the maritime trading company in the area east of the Dachu Empire, not Fuso.
With the Chu Empire as the center, the West is to the west and the East is to the east.
Therefore, the eastern region of Asia where the Chu Empire is located is not the Far East, but the center of the world.
The term "Far East" is a European term, and the Chu Empire does not recognize it.
The Oriental Trading Company was established, and the route to North America was also explored. What they have to do now is to continue to develop and operate the routes along the way, improve the supply points along the way, and continue to establish colonial and trade strongholds in North America.
After these basic preparations are completed, it will be time for large-scale immigration to North America and trade and development.
For this reason, after the establishment of the Oriental Trading Company, which was formed by the merger of many armed trading companies, the scale of the first American exploration fleet organized was very large!
There are a total of thirty-three large and small ships. The main force is three large armed merchant ships with a displacement of more than 2,000 tons. These are also the only three large ships of more than 2,000 tons in the Oriental Trading Company!
Followed by thirteen large armed merchant ships ranging in size from more than 1,000 tons.
In addition to the sixteen large armed merchant ships, there are also twelve transport ships with weaker firepower. These transport ships are also large with a full load displacement of more than a thousand tons.
Finally, there are five ships with smaller displacements but faster speeds. They are mainly fast clipper ships that are used for communication and reconnaissance.
Thirty-three ships!
These ships used to belong to dozens of armed trading companies. Now these armed trading companies have been merged into the Oriental Trading Company, so when used together, the scale becomes very large.
Thirty-three ships will carry more than 500 different naval guns, tens of thousands of tons of various supplies, and a total of 5,000 sailors, marines, technicians, and administrative personnel.
This will be an expedition of great scale and significance!
Because they went there this time not just for trade, nor for immigration. The main purpose was to further improve the supply points on the islands along the way, build ports, fortresses, and develop farmland to plant various crops to provide food for the people along the way. The boats provide food and fresh water supplies.
Then there is another important plan, which is to completely control the Sandalwood Islands, build large fortresses and plant large areas of farmland on them, and try to use the Sandalwood Islands as a strategic transit point for the Chu Empire to North America.
After all, in the long trans-Pacific route, if there are no supply ports along the way to provide various supplies for several months, this will inevitably cause great navigation difficulty.
In order to make the follow-up large-scale route smoother, they need to establish supply points along the route first, especially since there are many indigenous people, the archipelago is also large, has a lot of arable land, and also produces sandalwood. Trading companies are even more determined to win.
The local indigenous people are still in the tribal era scattered on various islands, and civilization has not yet appeared. They pose no threat to the Oriental Trading Company.
Besides, this place not only has an important strategic position, but also produces expensive wood, sandalwood... Sandalwood is a precious wood in the Dachu Empire and is expensive. The reason why the Sandalwood Islands are called Sandalwood Islands is Because there are so many sandalwood trees on the island!
The Oriental Trading Company wants to occupy this place and then transport the sandalwood from the island back to the country for sale, thereby earning huge profits.
Under such circumstances, the huge fleet of the Oriental Trading Company will land a large number of people and materials on the Sandalwood Islands, and establish large-scale living and planting bases on them, and at the same time wipe out the local uncivilized indigenous people who are not long-sighted...
The huge fleet of the Dongyang Trading Company with a clear purpose set off, and many people in the Chu Empire were also paying attention to this matter, expecting them to bring more good news and more wealth when they return next year.
But ordinary people only paid attention to the huge ships of the Oriental Trading Company for a short period of time. Soon they shifted their attention and set their sights on the northwest region of the empire: Jungar.
Because after several years of reclamation operations and more than half a year of strategic preparations such as troop mobilization and material reserves, the Da Chu Empire has completed preparations for a new round of Western Expedition.
From supplies to troop deployment, everything has been prepared.
At this time, naturally there would be no delay, and Jinling simply approved the battle plan of the First Army Group to launch a new western offensive.
In this round of westward offensive, the Chu army, the first group army, will assemble an unprecedentedly large mobile force, including more than 120,000 cavalry, 80,000 infantry and artillery.
The total force exceeds 200,000 people and will launch an attack on the Jungar tribe from the direction of Hami and the western Monan Mongolia region at the same time!
This large-scale two-front attack means that this war is not an ordinary war, but a real war to destroy the country.
The senior officials of the Da Chu Empire have made up their minds to fight a big war this time, even if they pay huge military expenditures for it.
No matter what, this time they will completely destroy Jungar to completely solve the border security problem on the western front.
Otherwise, with Zhungeer standing by, the Chu Empire would have to worry about anything it wanted to do in the Shaanxi-Gansu region, and it would be difficult to fully implement effective rule in the western Monan and Mobei Mongolian regions.
Moreover, it is necessary to continue to deploy heavy troops in the above-mentioned areas, especially the Monan and Mobei areas, to avoid being attacked by Jungar through Monan Mongolia to attack the North China area.
As the saying goes, long-term pain is worse than short-term pain. If it spends so much money every year to play the game of "you beat me, I will beat you" with the Zhunge people, it is better to spend a large amount of money at once to kill them completely.
Otherwise, the empire is worried that if it continues like this and Zhungeer further unites with the Russians, it will eventually cause irreparable risks to the strategic security of the western part of the Chu Empire.
When the Da Chu Empire launched such a large-scale military operation on the Western Front, domestic public opinion was naturally guided early. The Da Chu Di newspaper continuously published articles against the Jungar people.
However, it is worth noting that the official statement of the Dachu Empire did not mean to expel foreign enemies or seize the territory of the Western Regions, but to launch the war on the basis that Zhungeer rebelled and regained the Western Regions.
According to the official propaganda of the Great Chu Empire, the Western Regions and even Central Asia and other places farther west have been the territory of China since ancient times, and the territory of Jungar is naturally part of the Huaxia region.
Well, this part includes the territories that the Jungar people invaded Kazakhstan and other areas.
This is still the Western Region. After all, the Western Region was still a place ruled by the Chinese Dynasty. In the past, there was the Anxi Protectorate and Suiye City to the west.
Even in other places, such as its expansion in Nanyang... the Chu Empire almost never said that this was a war with an enemy country, a territorial dispute between the two sides, etc. The basic reasons were all for counterinsurgency and recovery since ancient times. territory since.
Because according to the fact that the territory of a vassal state is my territory, the vassal state of a vassal state is my vassal state, the territory of a vassal state is my territory, plus the almost infinite traceability of previous dynasties...
Calculated in this way, every individual can be regarded as a subject of the Great Chu Empire... and every place can be regarded as the territory of the Great Chu Empire.
Therefore, if the subjects conspire to rebel and the army goes to exterminate them, they are quelling the rebellion!
Conquering territory does not mean occupying the enemy's territory, but recovering territory that has existed since ancient times.
But in actual operation, what exactly does this ancient territory include and where the border is depends on where the Chu army's guns and artillery are...
The Chu army's guns and cannons were all pointing to the Chu territory!
There is no way, the territory of the Chu Empire can be traced back to the whole world... Well, Antarctica, which has no one, is no exception. Although there is no one in Antarctica now.
But aren't there penguins up there? Let the penguins recognize the Chinese geese and build a kinship relationship. This Antarctica naturally also belongs to the territory of the Chu Empire.
Therefore...it is impossible to say that the territory of the Chu Empire is infinite...just by relying on theory or something.
As for actual control, it depends on the combat effectiveness of the Chu Empire's army and navy.
This is the actual situation, and it is also recognized by surrounding countries.
According to these theories and so on, the Chu army's expedition to the Western Regions to fight Jungar was a war to counter rebellion and civil strife, not an aggressive war.
Never fight a war of aggression, the Chu Empire still wants this face!
