In the study room of Qianqing Palace in the Imperial Palace of the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Hongzhi listened carefully to Liu Jin's report on the matter and frowned.
"Bring me the map~"
Immediately, he also ordered someone to bring over a map of the Gulf of Guinea in West Africa.
Soon, the map was brought over.
Emperor Hongzhi looked at the map carefully and pointed to the location of Jin Island above and said, "Is this the island?"
"Yes, this is the island. This is the location of Daxing Kingdom. The two are not far apart."
Liu Jin nodded and pointed out the location of Xingguo.
"This is a tropical area, so the weather should be relatively hot."
Emperor Hongzhi nodded, thought about it and said.
"Yes, Your Majesty, this is a tropical area. Near the area where Xingguo is located, there is the largest tropical rainforest in Africa and the second largest rainforest in the world after the Southern Golden Continent Rainforest."
"The year-round climate here is similar to that in Nanyang. It is hot and rains a lot all year round."
Liu Jin nodded. When Emperor Hongzhi said this, Liu Jin actually knew that Emperor Hongzhi still cared about his younger brother.
My younger brother traveled thousands of miles to open up and rejuvenate the country in such a barbaric land, and he did not know how much hardship he suffered and how much fatigue he suffered during this process.
The key is that the location of Xingguo does not seem to be very good. It is in a tropical area with hot weather and a wild wilderness. Everything needs to be started from scratch.
"Is such a small island worth fighting for?"
Emperor Hongzhi looked at the location of Jin Island. This island is not big. Compared with many large islands around the world, it is just a tiny dot. It is a very small dot on the world map.
"Your Majesty, this is not just a small island."
"This Golden Island was first occupied by the Saber Colonial Trading Company, which has been operating on the island for many years and established the Golden Island Colony. More than a dozen families worked together to establish it, with a population of more than 10,000."
"The reason why Jindao is called Jindao is because gold mines were discovered on Jindao, and the scale is not small."
“Secondly, Jindao’s geographical location is very good. It is at the midpoint of the golden coastline. Passing merchant ships will choose to berth here and rest. Jindao can earn good profits from berthing fees, supply supplies, ship repairs, etc. "
"This is also the main reason why Xingguo wants to annex this golden island."
"However, if this island was owned by Xingguo from the beginning, there would be nothing to say, but this island did not belong to Xingguo from the beginning."
"Now that Xingguo sends troops to attack and occupy it, it will seriously damage our Ming Dynasty's overseas colonies. Everyone has always adhered to the conventional rules of the game among the vassals."
"Our overseas vassals and colonies of the Ming Dynasty have always adhered to the first-come, first-served principle. Whoever occupies it first belongs to whomever. Late comers cannot be said to bully others and seize other people's land."
"Secondly, if there are land disputes between each other, they will be quarreled at the negotiation table, and a middleman will be hired to mediate and resolve through mutual negotiation. There has never been a case where the two parties have used force to resolve the dispute."
"This is also an important reason why our Ming Dynasty has more than 300 overseas colonies and vassal states, but they have always been in harmony with each other."
"The powerful will not bully the weak vassals and colonies, and the weak vassals and colonies do not need to worry about being bullied."
"Just like the Ning State, which has a vast territory and is powerful, it is surrounded by a number of small vassal states and colonies such as the Shu State and the Qi State. They have always gotten along well with each other and there has been no war."
"Now that Xingguo is attacking Jindao with force and wants to annex Jindao, this will be a bad start. If Xingguo can annex Jindao, can Ningguo also annex Shu?"
"Can the Chu State also annex surrounding vassal states and colonies?"
"Once there are no rules, and everyone no longer abides by the old rules, the entire overseas colonies and vassal states will be in chaos. At that time, the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period will be staged among each other. In the end, it will still be the people of Ming Dynasty who are harmed.
Those who benefit and die are also my descendants of the Ming Dynasty."
"So Your Majesty, this is not just a small island!"
When Liu Jin saw that Emperor Hongzhi intended to favor his younger brother, he also revealed the stakes involved.
If today the Ming Dynasty acquiesces to Xingguo's annexation of Jindao, then tomorrow the overseas vassals and colonies will be completely in chaos, and we don't know what the outcome will be by then.
Those weak vassal states and colonies are trembling in fear. They are no longer safe for a moment. They have to worry about other colonies and vassal states around them all the time, worrying whether they want to annex them.
After listening to Liu Jin's words, Emperor Hongzhi immediately understood the stakes.
"Immediately send a telegram to Xingguo and Xingwang, and pass on my decree. Xingguo must retreat immediately and not invade Jindao!"
"Call to the West African Fleet to go to Jin Island and protect Jin Island!"
"A telegram ordered the overseas colonies and vassal states not to allow armed conflict between the colonies and vassal states!"
Immediately afterwards, Emperor Hongzhi also issued three imperial edicts in a row, which was very decisive.
Although he said he loved his younger brother and took care of him in many aspects, Emperor Hongzhi still had a very clear idea of what was more important than the Ming Dynasty's overseas colonies and vassal states.
The Ming Dynasty was able to achieve everything it has today, and its overseas colonies and vassal states also contributed a lot.
The vassals of the Ming Dynasty went to Haiwa to establish vassal states one after another, which greatly reduced the financial burden of the Ming Dynasty. You must know that in the past, one-third of the revenue from the Ming treasury was used to support these vassals.
The growing number of royal descendants is an ever-growing heavy burden on Ming Dynasty.
When the vassal kings went overseas to develop, the Ming Dynasty would not have these burdens.
Secondly, overseas colonies and vassal states also attracted a large number of people to migrate out, which greatly eased the contradiction between man and land in the Ming Dynasty and made the internal contradictions in the Ming Dynasty smaller. Otherwise, the sharp contradiction between man and land has always been the main contradiction throughout the Ming Dynasty, and it is also
The main reason for the change of dynasties.
If the overseas vassal states and colonies were in chaos, it would not be of any benefit to the Ming Dynasty. What's more, Emperor Hongzhi did not want the overseas vassal states and colonies to fight, because the people who died would be his own Ming people, which was very unworthy.
Regardless of whether the land is placed or occupied, it is actually the same. There is no point in fighting over it. The key is to make the pie bigger and occupy more land and resources.
This is like the Ming Dynasty in the past. There was only so much land, and it was meaningless for everyone to fight for it. The land would not increase, and life would still be poor.
But the Ming Dynasty's external expansion was different. With more land and resources, the people of the Ming Dynasty could live a more comfortable life.
Golden Island in the Golden Bay of West Africa is here.
"Dongdong~"
The Xingguo warships continued to launch fierce artillery attacks to cover the ground army's attack.
The battle situation here in the Jindao port area was extremely fierce. The Jindao defenders, who only had a few thousand people, relied on their geographical advantages to launch an arduous defense.
The military strength between the two sides is not at the same level, and there is also a big gap in arms and equipment.
Therefore, it was very difficult to defend Jindao, and the casualties became more and more serious.
"Hit~"
"Hit me hard!"
"Kill them to death and annex our Golden Island. How could it be so easy!"
Huang Chong's face was dark and his eyes were blood red. He had suffered heavy casualties after being beaten until now. Seeing his brothers and uncles dying in battle, his heart was bleeding, and his hatred for Xingguo was constantly deepening.
However, no matter how much you hate it, it will be of no use, because Xingguo's attack is advancing step by step, and the fierce artillery fire is constantly supporting it. The defense force on Jindao is becoming increasingly empty, and it is estimated that it will soon be unable to withstand it.
"Should we retreat to the mountains and fight guerrillas?"
Li Meng asked with a bruise on his body, a dark face and red eyes.
"If we persist, if it doesn't work, we will have no choice but to retreat to the mountainous area."
Huang Chong looked at the battlefield in front of him and said through gritted teeth.
On the battleship Daxing, Zhu Houhuang looked at everything in front of him with a telescope. As he expected, the side attack was indeed very effective and was progressing smoothly. It was estimated that Jindao would be captured soon.
"Your Highness is wise and powerful, and he plans strategies. He will soon be able to capture the Golden Island!"
On the side, Mr. Mao kept flattering Zhu Houcong.
"Haha, this is also the result of the soldiers' bloody battles. I don't dare to take credit."
"This Huang Chong, Li Meng is also a talent, how long can he persist?"
Zhu Houcong said with a smile.
At this moment, the messenger came hurriedly and said: "Your Highness, the prince has ordered us to withdraw our troops immediately!"
"What?"
"Withdraw troops at this time?"
When Jiang Ting heard this, he was dumbfounded and couldn't believe it. He was about to capture Jindao and he actually said he would withdraw his troops.
Zhu Houcong also looked a little unbelievable. He took the telegram and read it, and then his face became gloomy.
"Send the order to withdraw the troops immediately!"
Although he was unwilling to do so, Zhu Houcong still had to issue an order to withdraw his troops.
There was no other way, Emperor Mingtian directly issued an order to come over. King Xing did not dare not to listen, but he had to listen, because the West African fleet was already heading towards Jindao.
If Xingguo does not withdraw its troops, the West African Fleet can directly attack the Xingguo Fleet.
As Zhu Houcong's order was conveyed, the Xingguo army that was attacking suddenly had to stop and quickly began to retreat.
"what happened?"
"They withdrew their troops?"
Huang Chong, Li Meng and others, who had originally planned to retreat to the mountains to fight guerrillas, were dumbfounded. They were fighting well, but they stopped fighting and withdrew their troops directly.
"Is it because Ming Dynasty interfered?"
The first thing Huang Chong thought of was the order from the Ming Empire. It seemed that apart from this, there was no reason for Xingguo to retreat.
