King Lu Chenyang of Chu put down his telescope and looked at the endless golden color on the shore of Jiaozhi.
He lamented: “The Ming Dynasty had captured Jiaozhi at the beginning of the founding of the country, but they chose to withdraw due to strong opposition from the civil servant group.
Rice was harvested three times in the Jiaozhi area, even before high-quality seeds and chemical fertilizers were widely available.
The grain output in the Jiaozhi area is also comparable to that of Hu Guang.
Huguang is familiar with it, and the world is full of it.
If the Ming Dynasty had another large grain province, no one could predict how the current situation would develop."
Fifugiao heard that King Lu Chenyang of Chu had a hidden meaning, but he didn't know what it specifically meant.
He thought that if Brother Minghan were here, he would know what King Lu Chenyang of Chu was thinking?
Lu Chenyang, the king of Chu, said to himself: "Food is the most important thing for the people, and the land of Chu is too small to support too many people."
Hu Weiwei, a rough man, his eyes brightened when he heard this.
He immediately took a delicate globe and walked up to King Lu Chenyang of Chu.
He raised the globe so that the location of Western Europe appeared in front of King Lu Chenyang of Chu.
"Your Majesty, this is our Chu State, and the south of the Chu State is northern Africa controlled by the Min State.
The land here is full of yellow sand, which is not suitable for growing food.
But a little further south, beyond the deserts of northern Africa, is a savage rainforest.
Jin and Zheng developed East Africa, and they have now become major food countries, selling food to countries such as Fujian and Cai that lack food.
There are only some tribes in West Africa, and the slave catching teams of European slave traders, only thirty or fifty people, can go to this place to capture slaves and transport them to the Americas to grow cotton.
West Africa is too large. Except for the Liao Kingdom, which has been slowly expanding its territory, there is still a vacuum there.
The distance from Chu State to West Africa is closer than the distance from the Empire to Nanyang."
Hu Weiwei tried his best to promote the southward strategy to King Lu Chenyang of Chu.
Only when Chu goes south will it focus on developing its navy.
As the naval commander, his status in Chu State will be higher.
Yun Zehai, the army commander of the Chu State, saw Hu Weiwei, the navy commander, and he tried his best to promote the southward strategy in front of King Lu Chenyang of Chu.
King of Chu Lu Chenyang also showed an interested expression.
Yun Zehai couldn't let Chu King Lu Chenyang open his mouth and make a promise.
Once the golden words are spoken, even if King Lu Chenyang of Chu regrets it in the future, he will take action.
Yun Zehai said loudly: "Your Majesty, you must think twice before you act.
When our Chu State was founded, the most important thing was to establish a stable local foothold.
To the north of the Chu State is the Rui State of the second prince, to the east is the Wu State, and to the south is the Yue State.
To the west across the sea is the Song Dynasty.
Our Chu country is in a land of four wars. Once we relax even a little bit, we will definitely be divided and eaten by a pack of wolves.
Chu State's development of overseas territories can only be considered after it has established a firm foothold."
The originally smiling face of Chu King Lu Chenyang immediately turned serious.
Su Lei, King of Rui, Qi Gangyi, King of Wu, Bai Yuangui, King of Yue, Zhan Tie, King of Song.
Except for King Rui Su Lei, these four people are not easy to get along with.
The Chu State is surrounded by these four people, and if they let down even a little bit, the country will be destroyed and the family will be destroyed.
King Chu Lu Chenyang just said lightly: "We will discuss this matter later.
The population of our Chu State will not grow that fast.
As long as the navy is not blocked by the enemy, the food route will not be cut off by the enemy for the time being."
When the King of Chu Lu Chenyang said this, the Army Commander Yun Zehai breathed a sigh of relief, and the King of Chu just listened.
The naval commander Hu Weiwei was unwilling to give up, but he heard that the King of Chu was willing to strengthen the navy, and this time he had gained something.
…………………………
The battleship Chenyang made a loud whine. This was when the power system began to release steam, slowing down the propeller speed and slowing down the battleship Chenyang.
King Lu Chenyang of Chu put down his telescope, shook his head and said: "I have long heard that the Strait of Malacca is extremely busy.
I really didn’t expect that the Strait of Malacca would be so blocked, and ships waiting to pass through the strait have been lined up for ten miles.”
King Lu Chenyang of Chu once again used his telescope to observe the scene ahead.
The Strait of Malacca divides into two, forming two waterways, the north and the south.
The northern waterway is bound for Europe, and a large number of cargo ships are queuing up, blocking it for about ten miles.
The Southern Channel is returning from Europe, and cargo ships come one after another, but there is no blockage.
At this time, Gaofu came over and said: "Your Majesty, we have learned something about this situation from the telegram."
Ever since he encountered big storms in Shandong waters, he had become accustomed to turning on his wireless telegraph machine and receiving mixed telegrams.
Many of the telegrams they accepted were encrypted telegrams or invalid messages.
But there are also some telegrams sent in clear text.
These telegrams are basically information actively shared by ships on the route.
"Your Majesty, the Strait of Malacca was not that busy before.
The reason for the current congestion is that you and the other eleven princes and kings purchased a large amount of supplies.
These supplies need to be sent to their respective countries by ship.
The number of cargo ships has increased significantly in a short period of time.
The Malacca Strait Customs failed to adjust shipping capacity in time, which led to congestion."
After Variance explained the cause of the congestion, he explained again: "The Strait of Malacca is the empire's closest route to the Indian Ocean.
If you choose to go around the Nanyang Islands, you will need to add thousands of miles of route.
The waters south of the Nanyang Islands are also more dangerous in terms of wind and waves and are not as safe as the Strait of Malacca.
It is for these reasons that the Strait of Malacca has become a waterway that cannot be bypassed.
The Strait of Malacca and the Suez Canal were the busiest and most important waterways controlled by the empire.
It is precisely because this route connects these two important waterways that it is called the golden route."
King Lu Chenyang of Chu said helplessly: "What can we do?
We can only wait here and pass through the Strait of Malacca in order."
King Lu Chenyang of Chu looked at the expressions of his confidants. Could he be such an unreasonable person?
In this case, unless you really go around the Nanyang Islands and walk for dozens of days.
I don't want to do this, so I can only continue to wait.
While King Lu Chenyang of Chu was waiting, he saw merchant ships docking from time to time around the battleship.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! They asked the fleet if they wanted to buy wine and fresh vegetables.
King Lu Chenyang of Chu swallowed his saliva from time to time when he saw the naval soldiers on the ship.
After sailing at sea for many days, senior executives like them could still eat vegetables from the cold storage.
Ordinary naval officers can only eat some bean sprouts, sauerkraut, and pickles.
The King of Chu, Lu Chenyang, waved his hand and asked the merchants to buy the wine and vegetables on board so that the people in the fleet could have a good meal.
He specifically instructed that those on duty were not allowed to drink, and only those taking a break from shift were allowed to drink a small amount of alcohol.
King Lu Chenyang of Chu was even more curious about these merchants. They were not afraid of warships at all and even came to actively sell their goods.
It can be seen that the empire really treats these merchants equally.
The miracle of imperial industry cannot be separated from the active promotion of these businessmen.
If the Chu State wants to develop rapidly, it can't just dry up the lake.
The relationship between the state and these businessmen is like that of an old farmer planting fruit trees.
These traders must be watered and fertilized first to allow them to grow, and then the fruits can be harvested.
If you can't help but harvest it in advance, you will only get a piece of dead wood, which has no effect.
After dark, the customs at the Straits of Malacca are still illuminated by high-power light bulbs as bright as day.
Customs officials worked overtime at night to allow these merchant ships to pass quickly.
The battleship is on duty at night, with only a few people left on duty.
Chu King Lu Chenyang and others went to the cabin below the deck to rest.
He had taken many battleship expeditions and had become accustomed to the rocking feeling of the battleship, and soon fell into a deep sleep.
The fleet queued for three days and finally arrived at the customs in the Strait of Malacca.
King Lu Chenyang of Chu saw the customs officials checking the ship's information and boarding the ship for inspection.
The ship will be released if it has a tax payment certificate from other local customs and if the goods are verified to be correct.
It is precisely because of this verification process that there is a lot of congestion at the customs.
Tariff is the most important tax in the empire. Even if the efficiency is slower, the tax must be raised.
Officials at the Malacca Strait Customs saw the huge battleship Chenyang, as well as a large number of cargo ships and passenger ships following the battleship.
The local customs chief trotted over immediately.
He bowed first, then took the microphone and said respectfully: "Your Majesty King Chu, the empire has regulations. The fleets of princes and kings like you do not need to be inspected. Please pass immediately."
The director of customs knew that these princes and kings were very rich and there were so many people watching them that it was impossible to escape customs duties.
These princes and kings also controlled the military force, and they also had irreversible relations with the imperial family.
Even if something is really included, their small customs cannot detect it, and they don't dare to find it.
He was really shot to death, and the Empire would at best pursue the little guy who fired the shot.
He would not really send a large army to attack a vassal country because of a small sixth-grade official like him.
King Lu Chenyang of Chu heard the sound coming from the huge loudspeaker at the customs.
He waved his hand and ordered the fleet under the Chu flag to quickly pass through the Strait of Malacca.
There are also several ports within the Strait of Malacca, which can supply supplies to ships passing by.
King Lu Chenyang of Chu originally thought that the interior of the Strait of Malacca would be very busy.
However, he saw that the ships here were very orderly and did not appear to be crowded at all.
He thought carefully for a while and realized that the customs at the entrance needed to verify the ship's information, which caused the congestion.
After all, this is a wide strait, not a narrow canal.
When ships enter the Strait of Malacca, ships that are short of supplies will go to the port to resupply.
Ships that do not need supplies will quickly pass through the Strait of Malacca and will not stay here.
Chu's fleet went to the port in the Strait of Malacca to replenish supplies.
The empire has developed Nanyang for more than ten years, and there is a relatively complete industry here.
In particular, the oil refining industry and coal refining industry are very complete.
Whether it is a coal-burning ship or an oil-burning ship, it is convenient to replenish raw materials.
Going further west away from Nanyang, the price of fuel increases sharply.
The Chu fleet replenished fuel and left the Strait of Malacca in an orderly manner.
King Lu Chenyang of Chu looked back at the Strait of Malacca, which must be the busiest waterway in the world.
If one tenth of the merchant ships arrived at Chu's port, they would receive unimaginable tariffs.
When the Chu fleet sailed in the Indian Ocean, it no longer needed to suppress speed and could move forward at full speed.
The hydrological information of this golden route has been fully understood.
Ships no longer need to follow the coastline, they will not get lost if they follow the route information.
King Lu Chenyang of Chu stood on the ship island, looking at the blurry land in front of him.
The Chu fleet has arrived at the southern tip of the Indian subcontinent and is halfway through the golden route.
King Lu Chenyang of Chu said with emotion: "The Indian region is the pearl of the empire. This land is too fertile and the people there are very easy to rule.
Speaking of the indigenous people in India, they made a lot of jokes.
His Majesty the Emperor wanted to return to India, but he encountered unanimous opposition from the nobles to the common people.
In the end, His Majesty the Emperor had no choice but to compromise and continue to maintain the caste system in India.
The indigenous people of India are the best slaves in the world.
All major overseas vassal states like Indian immigrants. These immigrants are very peaceful and never think about rebellion and self-reliance.
Our Chu State is also preparing to recruit a group of immigrants from the Indian region to dilute the original aborigines of the French Kingdom.
Even if there is a violent conflict between these immigrants and the local aborigines, I will not feel sorry for them.
Some people in the empire joked that only a few hundred officials and an army of 10,000 people were needed to govern the Indian region."
While Chu King Lu Chenyang was speaking, he was extremely envious in his heart.
As a vassal king who founded a country overseas, he likes this kind of worry-free people the most.
There is no need for complicated governance at all. The indigenous people in India are already accustomed to being ruled by others.
Yun Zehai, the army commander of Chu State, heard the envious tone of Chu King Lu Chenyang.
He smiled and said: "Your Majesty, I had a group of Chinese soldiers from India under my command before, and they really pissed me off.
These people are still the ones who actively embrace Chinese civilization and are most willing to obey orders.
Even these people are terrible at executing military orders.
All are indigenous people from the Indian region and form an army.
That combat capability must be in shambles, and it is impossible to survive in a place like our Chu State with four wars."
King Chu Lu Chenyang sighed and said: "That's right, there are not so many perfect things in the world."
Seeing that Chu King Lu Chenyang's mood had eased a little, Fifugiao said with a smile: "These indigenous people in India regard cows as sacred objects.
It is better to let low-caste people plow the land and die from exhaustion than to let cattle plow the land.
The empire began to have a headache, as the food production in India could not increase.
The establishment of farms in various places and the popularization of agricultural machinery have allowed the development of agriculture in India."
King Lu Chenyang of Chu heard of this kind of thing for the first time.
The Han people attach great importance to farming cattle, and killing cattle is a serious crime.
But the role of plowing cattle is to plow fields. It is too weird to worship cattle as gods.
When King Lu Chenyang of Chu learned the details, he burst out laughing.
The indigenous people of India really cannot be regarded as the core population of a country.
Otherwise, what would this country be like?
The fleet gradually moved away from the Indian continent.
King Lu Chenyang of Chu ordered: "I want to visit Cai, Zheng, Jin, and Min.
The battleship Chenyang began to accelerate, and the remaining warships continued to protect the fleet and rushed to the Chu Kingdom according to the original plan."
These four countries are not close neighbors of Chu. They share the same culture and race, and there is no conflict of interest, so they can communicate better.
Qin Shihuang knew that it was necessary to make friends far away and attack those close to home. His descendants thousands of years later couldn't be ignorant of this truth.
