King Lu Chenyang of Chu kicked the desk in front of him and cursed angrily: "Zhan Tie, this shameless villain, bullies people too much.
Chu State will never be able to bear this breath and must take revenge."
Chu State has been showing its strength during this period.
Chu State has high-quality iron ore and coal mines that are rare in Europe, and has established a steel complex.
Chu's steel output is more than the rest of Europe combined.
One of the most important indicators of industrialization is the annual output of steel.
Steel is the most important raw material for industrialization and cannot be replaced by anything.
All countries know the power of industrialization, and they even know that Chu's annual steel production is so high, and that Chu's strength and war potential exceed those of other countries.
They are not strong enough and do not have much say in some matters?
The Chu State robbed the Jinhe gold mine and mediated the conflict between the Fujian, Yue, and Jin kingdoms.
King Lu Chenyang of Chu was already looking forward to Chu's domination of Europe.
The Song State tore up the alliance and fought for the Jinhe area belonging to the Chu State.
This directly gave a sap to the somewhat arrogant King of Chu, Lu Chenyang.
Lu Chenyang, the king of Chu, previously thought that his opponents were the three kingdoms of Wu, Yue, Gui, and after the conflict between the three kingdoms of Fujian, Yue, and Jin, he added the country of Fujian, which was doing more crazy things.
In his mind, only these four countries could pose a threat to Chu.
The countries that Chu King Lu Chenyang was most wary of were Yue and Wu, which were adjacent to Chu.
He did not believe that any country could crush Chu and could afford the cost of an expedition.
The King of Chu, Lu Chenyang, could not figure out why King Zhan Tie of the Song Dynasty fell out with the Chu State over a gold mine.
The value Chu State brought to Song State could not be inferior to that of a modest gold mine.
King Zhan Tie of the Song Dynasty knew what kind of disaster this would bring to the Song Dynasty by snatching the Jinhe area, but he did so without hesitation.
No matter what angle he thought about it, Chu King Lu Chenyang could not figure out why Song King Zhan Tie did this?
Outside the Chu Palace, the important ministers of Chu State all received a call from the Chu Palace. Chu King Lu Chenyang urgently summoned them.
As these ministers were senior officials of the Chu State, they certainly knew that what Chu King Lu Chenyang did must be a serious emergency in the Chu State.
Chancellor Variance gets out of a black car.
When he saw Prime Minister Xu Minghan's vehicle, he immediately stepped forward to open the door and asked in a low voice: "Mr. Xu, do you understand what happened?"
Xu Minghan shook his head helplessly and said: "There has been no situation in Chu recently that the king must deal with immediately.
Domestic emergencies, no matter which side of the military or political affairs, cannot bypass the cabinet.
If my judgment is correct, this should be a foreign matter."
When he heard that it was a foreign matter, an anxious look appeared on his face.
In the previous wars between the Fujian, Yue, and Jin kingdoms, King Lu Chenyang of Chu did not show such an attitude.
This matter must be closely related to the interests of Chu State.
Money is needed to solve any problem. As the finance minister, he has been having a hard time.
Chu State's fiscal revenue is limited, and there are too many places where it needs to spend money.
Many times, variance comes from both sides.
Prime Minister Heo Myung-han saw Finance Minister Variance thinking about things.
He reminded: "Let's enter the palace quickly. The king is already very anxious. Don't keep the king waiting for too long."
Fu Fang reacted immediately, said thank you, and immediately followed Prime Minister Xu Minghan into the Chu Palace.
Prime Minister Xu Minghan came to the main hall where the imperial meeting was held.
He saw that there were many ministers who acted quickly and had done well in their positions.
The King of Chu, Lu Chenyang, was sitting on the dragon throne. His face was gloomy and his breathing was a bit unusual.
When Prime Minister Xu Minghan saw Chu King Lu Chenyang like this, he knew something big was going on.
The king of Chu, Lu Chenyang, was very well-educated. If he is so angry now, it must be something major happening that affects the state of Chu.
"I am summoning all my dear friends today because I have just received a telegram."
King Lu Chenyang of Chu waved his hand, and the golden-haired eunuch immediately handed the copied telegram to the ministers for viewing.
The generals of the Metropolitan Governor's Office glanced at the contents of the telegram.
They had just read the contents of this telegram.
The contents of the telegram were so unexpected that after receiving the telegram, the Governor's Office conducted multiple verifications before reporting the news to King Lu Chenyang of Chu.
When Prime Minister Xu Minghan saw the contents of the telegram, he couldn't believe it.
"Your Majesty, has this news been confirmed?"
King Lu Chenyang of Chu nodded and said: "After receiving this telegram, the Governor's Office has used various means to confirm that the Jinhe area is occupied by the Song Dynasty.
This news is true."
It was precisely because he confirmed the authenticity of the news that King Lu Chenyang of Chu became furious.
Prime Minister Xu Minghan looked at the angry Chu King Lu Chenyang, and he tried to enlighten: "Your Majesty, Song has exposed its true nature just after forming an alliance. From another perspective, this is also a good thing.
The wolfish ambitions of the Song Dynasty were exposed early, and our country could also prepare for the Song Dynasty in advance.
Otherwise, when our country goes to war with other countries and Song suddenly betrays us, this will bring immeasurable losses to our country."
When Chu King Lu Chenyang heard what Xu Minghan said, he showed a smile and said: "From this perspective, the Song State, which was exposed early, is indeed less harmful."
He changed the subject and said in a serious tone: "Song State tore up the alliance and invaded our Chu State's colonies.
This king must ask the State of Song to give an explanation for this matter.
Chu State must not swallow its anger, otherwise how will other countries view Chu State?
If Chu State cannot keep its own colonies, other countries will covet Chu State’s homeland.”
The ministers of Chu State heard that King Lu Chenyang of Chu had set the tone.
The next thing Chu State considered was how to retaliate against Song State and demonstrate Chu State's military power.
Chu State has absolutely no intention of swallowing its anger.
The generals in the Governor's Office, as the main fighting faction of the Chu Kingdom, were immediately overjoyed when they heard what Chu King Lu Chenyang said.
Army Commander Yun Zehai said excitedly: "Your Majesty, the performance of the Army of the Song Dynasty in the last battle for the Jinhe Gold Mine is already clear.
We did not deploy Chu's elite in the colonies, and with the Song Army as our ally, we adopted sneak attack tactics.
A variety of factors happened to cause the Jinhe Gold Mine to fail so miserably.
As long as the Chu army can land safely, I guarantee that Song will be cleared out."
Navy Commander Hu Weiwei frowned when he heard what Army Commander Yun Zehai said.
When he saw the gaze directed by Lu Chenyang, King of Chu.
He said rather helplessly: "Your Majesty, when it comes to war issues, I must seek truth from facts.
The development of Chu's navy was indeed not as good as that of Song's navy.
I have no confidence in escorting the transport ship to ensure its safe arrival in the Jinhe area.
The disparity in naval investment between the two countries was too great. The Song Dynasty mobilized its entire country to develop its navy.
If our Chu navy is not completely annihilated, then I will count myself as capable."
King Lu Chenyang of Chu heard the polite rejection from the naval commander Hu Weiwei.
He could only shake his head helplessly, this situation was indeed very troublesome.
Navy Commander Hu Weiwei, as the main combatant, bluntly stated that the Chu Navy could not defeat the Song Navy.
Seeing this situation, Army Governor Yun Zehai may have lost all his military merits.
He suggested: "Your Majesty, Africa is too far away and the supply line is too long.
The navy cannot provide sufficient support to the army.
I think we should not stick to the Jinhe area.
The Kingdom of Song is on a small island not far from us.
Not to mention the navy's warships, even a sampan can be used by our army to land on the territory of the Song Dynasty.
I suggest that you directly change the target of the attack and attack the Song Dynasty's homeland."
Before Chu King Lu Chenyang could express his position, Prime Minister Xu Minghan immediately stood up and stopped him: "I don't think this is appropriate.
We, the State of Chu, have just united with other countries to stop the dispute between the three kingdoms of Fujian, Vietnam and Jin.
Public opinion in the empire was also unfavorable to the war between the three countries. The people of the empire called on the imperial court to find ways to intervene immediately.
Under this situation, our Chu State must not attack Song's homeland.
Once a chain reaction occurs, our Chu country simply cannot afford it.
I suggest that the scale of the war must be limited to colonial areas.
When Vietnam attacked Danji Port of Fujian, it claimed to the outside world that it had seized Fujian's colonies.
Whether Tangi Port is a colony or a territory is a very vague position.
But the Jinhe area, this is our colony, there is no dispute at all.
It is normal for two forces to compete for colonies, whether it is the empire or other European countries.
No country will want to interfere in this matter.
On the contrary, they will support us in doing so and want us to spend more of our national power fighting for colonies."
After King Chu Lu Chenyang listened to Prime Minister Xu Minghan's suggestion, he closed his eyes and thought about the suggestion carefully.
Chu State must not be the first to take the initiative to attack Song's homeland.
Otherwise, the surrounding countries will form an anti-Chu alliance, and they will decide to eliminate Chu first.
Chu State used the power of one country to fight against other countries. Even if it had an advantage in steel production, it could not defeat the combined countries despite consumption.
Once the Chu State loses too much, it will lose the basis for dominating Europe.
The King of Chu, Lu Chenyang, was now extremely conflicted. He chose to attack the mainland of Song State and teach Song State a profound lesson.
Or to retake the Jinhe area, Chu State and Song State competed for colonies to control the scale of the war.
There was a knock on the door, and the intelligence officer came in with a telegram.
"Your Majesty, this is where we activate the secret code and learn the latest news."
After King Lu Chenyang of Chu read the telegram, he said excitedly: "This telegram answers my biggest doubt.
I have always been curious before. The Song Dynasty originally had the right to distribute the Jinhe gold mine, so why did it want to turn against our country and seize the Jinhe area.
Now we have received accurate information that a very large iron mine has been discovered in the east of Jinhe Gold Mine.
If the Song Dynasty wanted to develop industry, it must have a large amount of steel.
Buying steel from other countries is not a long-term solution. Once it is embargoed, the country's backbone will be broken.
The importance of large-scale iron mines exceeds the role of gold mines for countries that want to develop industry.
I have decided to retake the Jinhe area, and I will never let Song State take over this large iron mine."
King Lu Chenyang of Chu was still struggling before, but now he doesn't have to worry.
The colony must be fought for, and this large iron mine cannot fall into the hands of the Song Dynasty.
The industrial scale of Chu State is changing every day, and the most important reason is that Chu State's own steel production is sufficient.
Once the Song Dynasty masters large-scale iron mines, its industrial output will surely rise rapidly.
The emergence of this situation is not conducive to Chu's desire to dominate Europe.
Before Chu King Lu Chenyang could speak out his decision.
Uncharacteristically, Prime Minister Xu Minghan learned about this situation and immediately suggested: "Your Majesty, the Jinhe area must not be lost, we must take back the colony as soon as possible.
Taking advantage of the fact that the Song Dynasty had not yet established a stable foothold and did not build the colonies into iron barrels, if we seize the colonies now, the casualties will be even lower."
Prime Minister Xu Minghan previously neither supported nor opposed this war.
If King Lu Chenyang of Chu had not insisted on this war, he would have spoken out against it.
Prime Minister Xu Minghan believes that the current war with the Song Dynasty is purely a battle of loyalty and will not gain any benefits.
Given the current situation and the disparity in strength between the two navies, it would be extremely difficult for the Chu State to destroy the Song State.
The emergence of large-scale iron mines directly tipped the scales in Prime Minister Heo Minghan's mind.
Gold only looks valuable and has few industrial uses.
Steel is the most important raw material for industrial development.
If Chu's industry develops, it will be possible to earn gold from several gold mines.
The successive emergence of gold and iron mines also made Prime Minister Xu Minghan aware of the richness of Africa.
Prime Minister Heo Minghan began to support the war.
There was no fool present. Even if they didn't react for a moment, they would have realized the current situation after seeing Prime Minister Xu Minghan's performance.
These civil servants, who had not spoken before, all supported the Chu State in taking back the colonies taken away by the Song State.
The military attachés of the Metropolitan Governor's Office were originally war-fighting factions, and their attitude had always been to support the war.
The king of Chu, Lu Chenyang, saw that the whole country of Chu had reached a consensus.
He looked in the direction of the military attache and ordered: "I have decided to take back the Jinhe area. The scale of this war must be limited to the colonial area.
As long as the Song State does not attack our Chu State, we do not need to attack the island where the Song State is located.
The Governor's Office and the Cabinet cooperate with each other to prepare for war."
King Lu Chenyang of Chu set his sights on Navy Commander Hu Weiwei.
"Hu Aiqing, your navy has thought about the combat method and whether it can safely send the army to the Jinhe area."
Hu Weiwei's brows were still furrowed, and he said helplessly: "I will try my best to find a way, and now I have some ideas.
The only way to completely solve the problem is to enhance the strength of the navy, which cannot be done in a short time.
But I still have a few ways to deal with the Song navy by surprise.
Just doing this will not ensure the transportation of materials."
Army Commander Yun Zehai smiled honestly.
"Captain Hu, as long as your navy can send the army to the port in the Jinhe area.
You, the Navy, don’t have to worry about what happens on the shore after that.
Our Chu State's supply line has been cut off, and Governor Hu can cut off the Song State's supply line, so the two armies can be considered fair.
Under the same conditions, our army is not afraid of any enemy."
King of Chu Lu Chenyang praised: "Well said, this is how our Chu soldiers should behave."
After King Lu Chenyang of Chu issued the decree, the Chu State became busy. They actively prepared for the colonial war that was about to break out.
