Chapter 560 Governance of Fujian and Planning the Canal
Chapter 560 Governance of Fujian and Planning the Canal
Author: Feng Xiaomu
The Mediterranean sea breeze brings a bit of coolness to the city of Cairo in midsummer.
The Prime Minister of Fujian, Hu Qiwen, led the civil servants to the north. After more than ten days of traveling, they arrived in Cairo.
They took a boat all the way north, and the cities on both sides of the Nile River had been occupied by Bian Yu and his generals.
The rule of the Ottoman Turkish Empire in Egypt basically collapsed.
The Egyptians have been under the rule of the Ottoman Turkish Empire for a long time, and they have become accustomed to foreign rule.
When the Fujian Kingdom took over Egypt, it would give the Egyptians a way to survive as long as they did not kill them all.
Only a group of local Egyptian forces who were deeply tied to the Ottoman Turkish Empire chose to resist them.
This does not require the Second Corps to take action. The Egyptian forces who have taken refuge in them will destroy these Egyptians and divide the interests they left behind.
What Hu Qiwen saw along the way made him think that the overall situation was decided.
A group of them got off the boat and looked at the city of Cairo ahead.
The crumbling old city wall has been torn down.
Some Egyptians, under the command of the Han people, are building factories outside Cairo.
One of the cement factories has been built. The process of grinding cement produced a large amount of dust, which directly covered the factory area.
A concrete road passes through Cairo and reaches the northern port directly.
Hu Qiwen saw that a large amount of cement, sand and gravel were being transported on this road, as well as artillery that had obviously been dismantled from warships.
When he saw this scene, he knew that coastal defense guns were being built at Cairo Port.
If a warship wants to travel from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean, it needs to sail around the entire African continent.
They are now in the Mediterranean, without even a small sampan, and can only rely on coastal defense artillery to defend the city.
Hu Qiwen led the civil servants from the center of Fujian and entered Cairo in a carriage.
He saw the Egyptians in the city walking in a hurry.
When they saw the figures of the Han people, their faces showed fear.
They came to the residence of Zhang Yuliang, the king of Fujian, which was the former Egyptian Governor's Palace.
Under the leadership of the waiter, they went to meet Zhang Yuliang, the king of Fujian.
The king of Fujian, Zhang Yuliang, saw Hu Qiwen and other civil officials arriving.
He put down the memorial he was reviewing, raised his head and said, "Old Hu, you have finally arrived.
This king has been entangled in some trivial matters during this period and is not very good at dealing with these trivial matters.
Once the cabinet and the six ministries are functioning properly, I will be able to escape."
Prime Minister Hu Qiwen saluted respectfully and said: "It is my duty to share the King's worries."
He asked for instructions: "Your Majesty, should the original names of Nile River, Egypt, and Cairo be changed to other names?"
Zhang Yuliang, the king of Fujian, said confidently: "We don't need to do this. Changing the name is a sign of lack of confidence."
The King of Fujian Zhang Yuliang met with other civil servants again and asked them to work diligently to create the glory of Fujian.
He asked these civil servants to join their posts as soon as possible and let the national center and various government offices operate.
Only Prime Minister Hu Qiwen is left, and he has many things to discuss with him.
The king of Fujian Zhang Yuliang gave Hu Qiwen a seat.
He hesitated and asked: "We have taken Egypt. What do you think of the Egyptians?"
Non-my family, its heart must be different.
By keeping these Egyptians, he was afraid of causing trouble to future generations.
He raised the butcher's knife to kill, but he felt it was unnecessary.
Hu Qiwen understood what Zhang Yuliang, the king of Fujian, was worried about.
"Your Majesty, we don't need to worry about these Egyptians at all.
Give rewards to those who surrender to us.
Those who dare to resist will be destroyed with thunderous means.
Starting with their beliefs and culture, they are divided into several different groups and let these groups supervise each other.
The Egyptians did not successfully resist the extensive rule of the Ottoman Turkish Empire.
Our country's more refined rule gives the Egyptians no chance to resist.
We just need to learn from the lessons of the Han and Tang dynasties, treat them as aliens, and strictly enforce the national hierarchy.
Instead of giving them supra-national preferential treatment, even in open competition.
They are also unable to compete. The Han people who have absolute advantage will not cause serious trouble.
Simply put, I believe that as long as the Egyptians do not enter the cabinet and the senior levels of the Metropolitan Government, they will not have the strength to obtain more benefits for the ethnic group.
Unite the majority of Egyptians through interests.
Regarding our country’s national hierarchy system, I have already discussed the initial plan with many ministers and will report in detail next.”
When Fujian King Zhang Yuliang heard Prime Minister Hu Qiwen's analysis, he slammed the table excitedly.
"You civil servants are still smart and can analyze things logically and get to the core of the problem.
This is indeed the case. As long as they cannot grasp power, they are lambs to be slaughtered and are not terrible at all.
But now outside the county town, we still have to rely on the help of these people.
The cabinet should promote cultural education as soon as possible so that Egyptian cultural people can understand Chinese.
The current situation, outside the county seat, can only be controlled by them for the time being.
It is better to be stable than to rush now. We have just established our country and we must first stabilize ourselves.
When the industrial strength rises, the army is fully armed, and we establish a stable rule, then it will be the time for complete liquidation."
Prime Minister Hu Qiwen carefully wrote down the instructions given by the Fujian King Zhang Yuliang.
He described the policies that the cabinet will implement for the governance of the country.
If Fujian wants to be stable, the most important problem is to solve the problem of grain production.
Only when people have enough to eat will they not think about rebellion.
The cabinet must allocate large sums of money to build water conservancy projects and cultivate more fertile farmland.
At the same time, low shrubs are planted in the desert to prevent the desert from continuing to expand.
The fertile farmland on both sides of the Nile River is already scarce and cannot be swallowed up by the desert.
Dahua planted a large number of shrubs in Shaanxi and Gansu to control land desertification.
Excellent results have been achieved, and Hu Qiwen is confident that he can successfully control the desert.
The secondary thing is to establish a national hierarchy, and to match it with cultural assimilation and national integration.
Only a small number of immigrants from Dahua are in family units, and a large number of them are singles.
Their main purpose in going overseas, apart from gaining wealth, is to find a wife.
Fujian provides policies to support immigrants taking Egyptian wives.
The national hierarchy of Fujian is divided into four categories: nobles, citizens, compatriots and slaves.
Nobles are easy-to-understand people who have made great contributions to the country and have been awarded titles.
There is a glass ceiling here, and Han people can easily be knighted. It is extremely difficult for other foreign races to be knighted, and they must make great achievements.
The citizens are the Han people and their descendants, and the nobility has no descendants who inherit the title.
There are no restrictions on what citizens can do in Fujian.
Chinese people are foreigners who have submitted to them, and there are restrictions on participating in imperial examinations, doing business, and going to school.
When Chinese people enter some important fields, they need the guarantee of citizens.
This policy alone can encourage some large Egyptian families to marry their members to Han Chinese.
Slaves didn't want any rights, they were just property.
However, slaves were allowed to redeem themselves, or to be freed by being rewarded for meritorious service.
Another important thing is to set up hospitals in various cities to provide medical services to the people.
The medical environment here in Egypt is appalling, and people can only rely on their bodies to cope with their illnesses.
The major diseases raging in Egypt, malaria and cholera, can be easily solved.
Children, in particular, have a very high probability of contracting malaria and are prone to sudden death.
Malaria has a specific drug like artemisinin, while cholera only needs access to clean water.
Boiling water requires a very high cost, but a bottle of cheap chlorine can kill most germs in the water if used for a long time.
Fujian King Zhang Yuliang listened to Prime Minister Hu Qiwen explain his future governance philosophy.
After listening, he asked: "The national hierarchy is a system passed down from the Liao Kingdom with excellent results.
The states of Zheng and Jin, which were founded before us, both adopted similar systems.
Their national hierarchy strictly restricted intermarriage between Han Chinese and local indigenous people.
Lao Hu, how come the system you have been thinking about for a long time is so different from the two countries?"
Hu Qiwen explained: "Your Majesty, the main reason is that the indigenous groups in the three countries are different.
According to Lao Chen’s observation during this period, any child born from a black man’s union with anyone will be black.
If we don’t want future generations to be all black, we can only use policies to isolate the two groups from intermarriage.
Even if some people do not comply with the policy, the impact will not be significant.
The Egyptians in our country, the children born from their union with the Han people.
There are only a few alien characteristics that cannot be seen without looking carefully.
After several generations of intermarriage, these characteristics will also disappear.
This is why our national hierarchy is completely different from that of Zheng and Jin.
In countries as far away as Zhao, Wei, and Cao in America, their citizens would also intermarry with the local indigenous people.
These countries do not have a national hierarchy because the appearance of the local indigenous people is not much different from that of the Han people."
The King of Fujian Zhang Yuliang said with satisfaction: "Lao Hu, I support all of your policies."
Prime Minister Hu Qiwen said excitedly: "Your Majesty, as these systems are gradually implemented, our rule should be very stable.
General Bian Yuhe and his great speed destroyed the Ottoman Turkish army in Egypt.
Let the local forces in Egypt see the strength of our army.
Governor Niu Xiuqing cooperated with General Gao Gang to defeat the attack of 200,000 Turkish troops in one fell swoop.
We held as many as 100,000 prisoners in the prison camp on the Sinai Peninsula.
Even though the Ottoman Turkish Empire was powerful, the loss of 200,000 troops was so debilitating that it was unable to organize an army to attack in a short period of time.
As the military industry system and recruitment system mature, the strength of our military will be further improved.
At that time, even the Ottoman Turkish Empire will organize an army to attack again.
The fortifications in the Sinai Peninsula are mature and our army can easily resist the Turkish army."
"Old Hu, you are right, the thing that I am least worried about is the army.
This king has commanded his troops to fight all over the world. He has defeated many and won many.
He doesn't frown when he encounters a strong army, let alone a decadent Turkish army.
The Turkish army was able to fight with favorable conditions, but after our army surrounded and suppressed the vanguard camp, they completely lost their will to fight and collapsed in one blow."
After Zhang Yuliang, the king of Fujian, finished speaking confidently, he sighed again.
"Through interrogating the prisoners, I found out why the Turkish vanguard battalion was so brave that it was not afraid of death and was able to launch a desperate charge with mine arrays and hail of bullets.
They basically belong to a foreign ethnic group governed by the Ottoman Turkish Empire.
If they win on the battlefield, their tribe will receive preferential treatment, such as tax exemptions.
Once they escape on the battlefield, the entire group, old and weak, will be massacred.
You also know the situation in Egypt. Except for the two sides of the Nile River, there is no land suitable for farming.
Not far from Cairo, there is a vast desert.
It is really difficult for us to feed 100,000 prisoners.
I, the king, have thought carefully and prepared to sell these prisoners."
Prime Minister Hu Qiwen heard about the arrangements for the prisoners by the Fujian King Zhang Yuliang.
He quickly expressed his opinion.
"Your Majesty, these captives cannot be sold, but they are of great use.
Some foreign captives were full of hatred for the Ottoman Turkish Empire.
After our training, arm them with some cheap weapons.
Let them lurk into the Ottoman Turkish Empire and lead their own ethnic groups to rebel.
We only have to pay a small price to keep the Ottoman Empire running out of steam.
Once the Ottoman Turkish Empire falls into weakness and our country becomes stronger, we can take the opportunity to annex their territory."
When the King of Fujian Zhang Yuliang listened to Hu Qiwen's suggestion, his eyes lit up and he said: "They are just some prisoners, I can still afford them.
The most that can be done is to purchase more grain from Zheng and Jin, and they will have a great harvest.
This was a low-cost way to weaken the Ottoman Turkish Empire.
These ethnic groups have no outside support, and they are constantly rebelling.
If we provide them with support, the Ottoman Empire will not be able to quell the rebellion easily."
After Hu Qiwen made this suggestion, he came up with the core plan that he had painstakingly thought about for more than a year.
Once this plan is completed, he will leave his name in history and his family will enjoy eternal wealth.
Hu Qiwen laid out a map of the world in front of Zhang Yuliang, the king of Fujian.
"Your Majesty, there are only two major civilization groups in the world now.
That is our Chinese civilization and European civilization.
Between these two civilizations, a large amount of materials are traded every year, and the number of cargo ships is increasing year by year.
What the veteran learned is that the value of the goods traded last year exceeded 100 million taels of silver.
To go to Europe from Dahua, you have to go around the African continent."
Hu Qiwen put his finger on the right side of Cairo and the left side of the Sinai Peninsula, the area connecting the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea.
He drew a blue line at that place.
"Your Majesty knows the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, which has become a major artery and promoted exchanges between the north and the south.
If we are in this area, dig a canal.
Dahua's cargo ships heading to Europe do not need to go around Africa, they directly take this canal and go from the Mediterranean to various European countries."
As Prime Minister Hu Qiwen spoke, he pointed to the westernmost tip of Africa.
"Your Majesty, if we capture this place, we can control the entry and exit channels of cargo ships.
Just charging tolls every year is an extremely huge expense."
Zhang Yuliang, the king of Fujian, has been worried that no rich minerals have been found in Egypt, and the cultivated land area is very small.
In order to ensure the survival of the people, only food can be grown on cultivated land.
This is not suitable for the development of industry, and agriculture is also greatly restricted.
There are no other specialties in Fujian, so the country can easily make ends meet.
A country with little income will certainly not be able to sustain itself for too long.
The King of Fujian, Zhang Yuliang, then set his sights on the Ottoman Turkish Empire and prepared to cut off a large piece of fat from this decadent empire.
Now Prime Minister Hu Qiwen's plan provides another direction for Fujian.
As long as a short canal is opened, Fujian will have the capital to settle down and live in the future.
Zhang Yuliang, the king of Fujian, patted the table in front of him excitedly.
"Lao Hu, I am personally responsible for this plan and will support the construction of the canal with the whole country.
When the canal is completed, I will make you a hereditary duke."
The King of Fujian, Zhang Yuliang, did not want to waste a moment. He asked Prime Minister Hu Qiwen to go to the cabinet and lead the civil servants to keep the center running.
He asked the cabinet to gradually implement the policies of governing the country and at the same time prepare for the construction of the canal.
The prisoners in the prison camps in the Sinai Peninsula have also found their greatest use. These people will be the coolies digging the canal.
The king of Fujian, Zhang Yuliang, wanted to ensure that the excavation of the canal would not be disturbed.
He built a shipyard in Cairo Port and had warships docked in the Red Sea dismantled.
The components are transported to the Mediterranean by land transportation and reassembled into warships at the shipyard to protect the safety of the Mediterranean.
In this way, a lot of time can be saved, which is faster than the time it takes for warships to directly bypass Africa and go to Cairo Port.
Prime Minister Hu Qiwen's plan also allowed the Fujian king Zhang Yuliang to find a way to make a fortune.
Before the canal is opened, Fujian can first engage in entrepot trade.
Build a cement road connecting the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, and build ports on both sides.
The goods are loaded and unloaded at the port and transported by land, which saves time than going around Africa.
