The expansion of the Chu Empire in Africa was proceeding relatively smoothly, and all processes were within the control of the empire's senior officials.
In fact, even if the progress is not smooth, the impact will not be big.
After all, the Chu Empire's expansion in Africa was actually not carried out with much fanfare, and not much effort was invested in it.
The troops and resources invested were all gathered from the Indian governor's jurisdiction, and the local side did not even send additional troops for this purpose.
Therefore, whether it succeeds or fails, it actually has little impact on the overall strategic development of the empire.
Even if the expansion in Africa is unsuccessful this time, it will only be delayed for a year or two at most. After all, the Chu Empire has established a firm foothold in North Africa and West Asia, and has two overseas military bases, Anxi City and Hongkou City. .
As long as there are no problems with these two bases, the Chu Empire can rely on these two bases to launch expansion operations in Africa at any time.
It's just a matter of earlier or later.
In addition, the Chu Empire's expansion into Africa is not for the purpose of plundering land in the short term. As for land, a large area of Southeast Asia, the Indian Peninsula, and the entire Australian region are now waiting for a large number of immigrants to develop. It is not worth it at this time. Go all the way to Africa to engage in immigration development.
The reason why the Chu Empire went to Africa to expand was simply for the gold in South Africa. Luo Zhixue knew that South Africa had huge reserves of gold.
The Dachu Empire now operates a gold standard currency system and requires a large amount of gold reserves, so it promotes expansion in Africa. However, there is not much difference between getting gold from South Africa in the early years and getting gold from South Africa in later years.
Luo Zhixue wants the gold in South Africa just for future considerations.
As for now, the Dachu Empire actually has a sufficient amount of gold reserves to cope with the current gold standard system.
After all, over the past many years, the Da Chu Empire has mined gold locally, and on the other hand, it has mined gold in areas such as Nanyang and Fusang. The development of these places has allowed the Da Chu Empire to obtain large gold reserves.
In addition, the Chu Empire obtained a large amount of gold income through international trade.
At present, the gold reserves in the Central Bank of the Dachu Empire have reached more than 2,000 tons. At the same time, the gold standard system adopted by the Dachu Empire is not a direct gold standard, but an indirect gold standard. Therefore, more banknotes can be issued based on these gold reserves.
Generally speaking, the current gold reserves of the Dachu Empire are enough to support the economic system of the Dachu Empire and will not cause large-scale inflation or deflation.
At the same time, these are just the gold reserves of the central bank. In fact, the amount of gold held by the private sector is also very large, but it is difficult to estimate and there is no accurate data.
After all, Chinese people have a tradition of hoarding gold to prepare for emergencies. Gold is also an important raw material for jewelry, so the amount of gold held by the people is very large.
Not mentioning private gold holdings, just talking about central gold reserves, the data of more than two thousand tons exceeds the total amount of gold mined by human beings in various countries in the past few hundred years.
The reason why the current Da Chu Empire has so many gold reserves is that only a small part is obtained from international trade, and the larger source is self-produced.
The gold output of the Dachu Empire was very large.
In the 29th year of Chengshun, the Great Chu Empire produced its own gold, including gold invested and mined in the mainland, overseas directly administered territories, puppet states, and colonies. The annual output reached an astonishing 263 tons.
In the past thirty years alone, the Da Chu Empire has mined more than three thousand tons of gold, most of which was deposited in the central bank's gold reserves as gold reserves, while a small amount flowed into the private sector and was used by the public. People hold it in the form of gold bars, gold jewelry, etc.
The reason why the Da Chu Empire's gold output is so large is because after the start of industrialization, all aspects of technology have been improved in all aspects, and gold surveying, mining, and smelting technologies have all been improved unprecedentedly.
The huge technological progress brought a large amount of gold output to the Chu Empire.
The technological improvements brought about by industrialization are not only
In fields such as national defense and people's livelihood, including gold mining, smelting and surveying.
In the original time and space, in the entire eighteenth century, human countries had only mined more than two hundred tons of gold. However, by the nineteenth century, various countries had mined tens of thousands of tons of gold, and the gold production increased in later years.
The same is true for the current Da Chu Empire. The current gold mining volume of the Da Chu Empire in one year exceeds the gold mining volume in the past 100 years of human history.
The huge amount of gold mining has brought a huge and sufficient source of gold reserves to the Da Chu Empire, and the sufficient gold reserves have also made the gold standard currency system of the Da Chu Empire extremely stable.
Of course, with the continuous development of productivity, the wealth accumulation of the Dachu Empire continued to increase, and the increase in wealth also required further supply of currency.
Therefore, if we want to continue to meet the needs of economic development and adequate supply of currency, gold reserves must also increase accordingly.
In the future, the Da Chu Empire will need more gold reserves.
And this is why the Chu Empire has always been obsessed with the gold in South Africa.
The gold reserves in that place were very huge. In the original time and space, the gold production in South Africa once accounted for 40% of the global gold production.
Therefore, controlling this area and conducting gold mining are urgent and necessary measures to stabilize the future Chu Empire.
But again... these are all future needs. In a short period of time, or even within ten or twenty years, this need is not urgent.
After all, the area controlled by the Chu Empire was quite large. Its territory had penetrated deep into Central Asia in the west, extended to the edge of the Ural Mountains in the northwest, all the way to the Pacific Ocean in the east, and annexed and digested the Annan region in the south.
At the same time, there are also a large number of overseas directly administered territories, such as the Malay Peninsula, which is the province of Malacca.
For example, all the Southeast Asian islands east of the Sunda Strait, including the Luzon Islands, the Borneo Islands, Java Island, the East Indies, and even Australia.
These areas have been included in the overseas directly administered territories of the Dachu Empire. Of course, there are still many indigenous forces and even indigenous political powers in the above-mentioned areas. Only a part of the area that the Dachu Empire has complete actual control and immigration.
But as the immigration movement continues to advance, sooner or later these places will become only places for Chu people.
Overseas territories directly under the Central Government also include the Island of Ceylon in the Indian Ocean, the Madurai region at the southernmost tip of the Indian Peninsula, and the Go River Estuary region on the east coast of India. Some fragmented overseas territories in the Western Ocean include.
In addition, in the Americas, there are also overseas territories directly under the jurisdiction of the coastal areas of North America. It is worth mentioning that in the southern part of the North American controlled area, close to the Mexican area controlled by the Spanish, the Chu people discovered gold mines there. In recent years, immigrants have been organized to mine, and many self-financed immigrants have even been attracted to work as gold diggers. Therefore, a new prosperous city has even been built in the local area. The governor's office in North America named the city: Jinshan City.
Just by looking at the name, you know that this place is rich in gold.
In the twenty-nine years of Chengshun, more than twenty tons of gold were produced locally, becoming an important source of gold for the Chu Empire and attracting a large number of immigrants.
The officials of the Da Chu Empire also further raised the importance of immigration and development in North America.
The Thirty Years of Chengshun has not yet ended, and more than 200,000 immigrants have already taken steam passenger ships to North America.
In addition to overseas directly administered territories, the Chu Empire also had a large number of vassal states and agent and puppet states.
For example, the Fusang Islands and various Southeast Asian countries, including Siam, Burma, the Arakan Dynasty, and the Aceh Kingdom, were all vassal states belonging to the Chu Empire. They also controlled many local states on the Indian Peninsula.
Whether these are vassal states or puppet states, they are actually economic colonies of the Chu Empire. The Chu Empire plunders them economically from all aspects.
Plus some traditional colonies of the Chu Empire.
The Da Chu Empire controlled an extremely vast territory, and these places more or less produced gold, bringing a large amount of gold reserves to the Da Chu Empire.
Therefore, even if there is no gold from South Africa, just
Relying on these territories alone, the Chu Empire could also obtain large gold reserves.
But gold... no amount of gold is too much.
Therefore, even though the demand was not urgent, the Chu Empire still promoted its expansion in Africa. It was not in a hurry, and took its time, advancing from the coast of Northeast Africa to the south, first taking over the Somali region, and then the East African region. , and finally reached South Africa.
Advance southward step by step, proceed steadily, and obtain maximum benefits at the minimum cost.
After occupying the Somali region of Northeast Africa and controlling Mogadishu, the Chu Empire gained an important foothold in Northeast Africa.
The follow-up is to carry out immigration development in the local area and build the local area into a strategic base city for advancing to East Africa and South Africa.
The headquarters of the 9th Indian Ocean Task Force was also officially moved to Mogadishu, using the place as a major naval base.
However, the construction of naval bases and city defense facilities requires a large amount of labor. The continuous suppression operations of the Third Regiment of the Indian Army in the local area also brought a large number of urgently needed prisoner-of-war labor to the Chu Empire, allowing local construction to advance rapidly.
Just as the Chu Empire was steadily advancing its expansion into Africa, a passenger and cargo sailing ship with a full load displacement of more than 4,000 tons appeared at the Shanghai Port in its native Songjiang Prefecture: the Shenghua.
The whistle was also sounded, and with the assistance of multiple steam tugboats, it left the dock, then entered the main channel of the Huangpu River and slowly sailed towards the Yangtze River estuary.
This large passenger ship, belonging to Jiangnan Shipping Company, performs regular flights across the Pacific between the mainland and North America.
Since the large-scale gold mine was discovered in Jinshan City, the news spread to the country, setting off a wave of immigration to North America. Every year, a large number of people take ships to North America.
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, as cinchona trees were widely cultivated and used, when the Chu people immigrated overseas, their resistance to malaria was already extremely strong.
In recent years, the Chu Empire's drug research has made another important breakthrough. They extracted salicylic acid from willow bark and figured out why willow bark has antipyretic and analgesic effects. However, salicylic acid is difficult to eat. , and it is extremely irritating to the stomach, so its use as a medicine is not successful.
Now scientists from the Great Chu Empire are studying how to make salicylic acid more delicious and reduce irritation to the stomach.
But even though it is unpalatable, salicylic acid is still of great value as a highly effective medicine for reducing fever and analgesia. It has received great attention from the Ministry of Health of the Dachu Empire and has provided great support for subsequent research and development.
At the same time, after clarifying the role of replanted drugs, the Chu Empire also vigorously promoted the planting of willow trees and the use of willow bark as antipyretic and analgesic drugs, and widely publicized its pharmacological effects of antipyretic and analgesic drugs.
In the overseas immigrant settlements of the Great Chu Empire, a large number of cinchona trees and willow trees were often planted... and were even used as ornamental plants. If you have a cold or fever, you can directly pick the willow bark to reduce fever, which is very useful.
Today, willow and cinchona trees together have become the most important popularly planted plants in the Great Chu Empire, and there are countless people living there.
These breakthroughs and promotion of medical technology have also further reduced the risk of overseas immigration in the Chu Empire. People are no longer afraid of immigration, but regard it as an important way to find a new life.
The Da Chu Empire officials are also very supportive of this... and have complete various immigration support policies.
For the senior officials of the Dachu Empire, it would be much better to immigrate a large number of poor people overseas and live a new life than to leave them to starve and freeze in the country and rebel one day.
Large-scale overseas immigration has greatly reduced the risk of rebellion in the mainland of the Chu Empire. The overseas territories have gained a labor force and been developed. The immigrants have gained a new life and lived a prosperous life. Merchants can also trade between overseas and the mainland. Profit from trade between countries.
Kill multiple birds with one stone!
Today, Song Erniu, who is traveling to North America on the Shenghua, is also a member of the huge wave of immigrants.
Born in poverty, he went to Songjiang to work when he was sixteen.
But he was not doing well while working in Songjiang. After four or five years, he could not even afford to rent a better house in Songjiang, let alone buy a house and settle down. What about marrying a wife and having children?
As for going back to his hometown... what are he going to do? There is not much land at home, and it is not enough to support his eldest brother and his family. If he goes back to grab that land with his eldest brother, he can certainly grab some land, but what is it enough for?
If his family had enough land, he wouldn't have had to go to the city to work!
So he set his sights overseas!
Recently, I heard that many people immigrated to North America. Some people dug up gold in North America and became rich overnight. Even those who did not dig up gold can receive a large amount of land locally. The local government will also provide loans for reclamation, regardless of Whether it's digging for gold or farming in America, life is much better than in China.
He was very moved after hearing this!
So after inquiring about the immigration policy in detail and inquiring about the immigration situation in North America, he finally gritted his teeth and spent his savings to buy a third-class ferry ticket to Jinshan City in North America.
It is impossible to survive in the big city of Songjiang, and I will be poor for the rest of my life if I go back to my hometown.
But he is not willing to give in!
So he planned to go to North America to try his luck. He would dig for gold first and get the best he could. If he couldn't find it, he would get free land and become a small landowner!
No matter what, it is much better than hanging out at the bottom of the local community!
This is the common thought of many people at the bottom of the Chu Empire who have no hope of life but are unwilling to accept reality.
He and many others with similar ideas were in the Great Chu Empire. As a result, millions of people continued to travel overseas every year.
The overseas expansion of the Great Chu Empire brought new choices to the poor people at the bottom of the Great Chu Empire, and even
It can be said that it gave them the final escape route.
If it doesn’t work, just immigrate overseas!
This is also an important reason why the senior officials of the Dachu Empire are committed to overseas expansion and supporting overseas immigrants: it is better to spend some money to send them to overseas territories than to let them complain about this and that every day, and finally rebel!
Song Erniu didn't know what the big shots at the top of the empire were thinking. He just felt that there was no hope for him in his native country and hoped to find a new life for himself in North America.
A life of abundance!
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