There are very good reasons for the Qing Empire to take over the Indochina Peninsula. Countries around the world reacted in a very low-key manner. The most influential one was the attitude of the US government. Judging from the rhetoric it released, it can be considered "acquiescence". Because the Americans advocated

The core idea of ​​the Monroe Doctrine is that "America belongs to the American people." Then, it can also be understood this way: Asia belongs to the Asian people, and Europeans should go back to Europe!

Moreover, Europe is currently the most lively region in the world. Under this international situation, Britain and France, which are deeply mired in war, are unable to change this reality, so they can only accept it painfully.

After the British and French colonial forces were cleared from the Indochina Peninsula, the situation around the Qing Empire was fundamentally improved. At the same time, under the strong military protection of the Qing Empire, the national security of the countries in the Indochina Peninsula was guaranteed, and national sovereignty was maintained.

After the recovery, the nation was liberated and entered a new period of historical development. After that, Bac Ninh Prefecture invested a lot of manpower and material resources to expand and transform the infrastructure in this area, connecting roads, railways, inland waterways, air and sea to mainland China.

After the opening of air routes and other routes, the rich natural resources contained in the countries of the Indochina Peninsula were developed and utilized, and Bac Ninh quickly developed into a new raw material supplier.

Correspondingly, various local social undertakings have also developed rapidly, which has led to closer exchanges and cooperation with the Qing Empire in politics, economy, culture, religion and other aspects, and the suzerain-vassal relationship has become increasingly stable. This has provided Kang Fan with the opportunity to work in the South China Sea.

-Providing solid support for the defense construction work implemented in the Indian Ocean direction.

Whether for civilian or military purposes, many excellent ports along the coasts of Vietnam, Singapore, Siam, Myanmar and other countries are able to provide whatever assistance they can to military and civilian ships operating in the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean, but they are unable to provide military support. Therefore.

, the Bac Ninh military needs to select suitable locations to build military bases in the above-mentioned areas to provide support for the navy's combat operations in this sea area.

Historically, the ocean-going fleets of Britain, France and other countries invaded mainland China via the Indian Ocean. Burma, which faces the Indian Ocean, has naturally become the most important strategic location for Kang Fan. Burma is connected to the British Indian mainland on land and connected by sea.

, as long as the defense here is consolidated, the Beining military can block the enemy's land and sea invasion, which is of extraordinary significance.

After the "Homecoming" operation, the Bac Ninh army deployed troops on the China-India border and the India-Myanmar border, and naval ships passed through the Strait of Malacca and cruised in the sea off Myanmar. They faced British India from the north, east and south, forming a land and sea pressure, which made the British

The Chinese side felt a great threat and wanted to mobilize troops to fight against the Bac Ninh army. However, due to the large number of British and Indian soldiers stationed in India being transferred to the European battlefield, they were stretched thin and could not complete the deployment at all!

In order to maintain the security of this most important colony in the British Empire and enable it to make its due and important contribution to the European war, the British took the initiative to send a special envoy to contact the Bac Ninh government. After clarifying Kang Fan's intentions, after many consultations

Later, an agreement was reached: the British agreed to sell the Andaman and Nicobar Islands off the coast of Myanmar to the Qing Empire to eliminate the Qing Empire's concern that Britain and France might use the islands as a springboard to attack the Indochina Peninsula from the sea.

The conditions are: the Qing Empire guarantees not to invade the Indian mainland, and both sides set up a non-military buffer zone 100 to 300 kilometers wide with the existing borders between China, India, and India and Myanmar as the center line. At the same time, the Qing Empire can follow the rules established by the British

The military supply list can also be supplied to the British side by paying equivalent metal currency in exchange for a period of 6 months.

In order to occupy the Andaman and Nicobar Islands as soon as possible, and to seize this rare opportunity to break down European trade barriers, Kang Fan would expand the influence of the Qing Empire's industrial products in Europe and pave the way for seizing the European market after the war.

They chose the exchange method of providing military supplies to the British side. It only took more than three months to meet all the conditions proposed by the British side, and they obtained this archipelago of important strategic value as they wished.

The Andaman and Nicobar Islands are located in the Indian Ocean southwest of Myanmar. They are composed of the Andaman Islands in the north and the Nicobar Islands in the south. They have more than 500 islands in a north-south direction and stretch for nearly 800 kilometers. The archipelago

Most of them are uninhabited islands and reefs, and only a few of the large islands are inhabited. The islands are densely forested, volcanoes, and hills are criss-crossed, and they are hot and rainy. The location of the archipelago just blocks the northwest exit of the Strait of Malacca, and there are several gaps between the islands.

The strait connects various sea areas and controls the strategic route of the Indian Ocean. After acquiring this archipelago, the Bac Ninh Navy can use it as a base to rely on the strong support of the various military services stationed in Bac Ninh on the Myanmar mainland to block European maritime invasions in the vast Indian Ocean.

.

Kang Fan understood that although the Beining military's series of expansion actions in Asia were purely to expand the living space of the Qing Empire, they would definitely deeply anger Britain and France. However, it doesn't matter, even if they don't do this, the war will

It will come eventually. So, why not be more prepared?

After being forced to buy the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Kang Fan renamed the islands Xihua Islands, corresponding to Nanhua Island. As another overseas province of the Qing Empire, it was named Xihua Province, and Anda

Blair, the only port city in the Isles of Man, was renamed Westward City.

The establishment of Xihua Province enabled the Qing Empire to have its own territory in the Indian Ocean for the first time, and Xihua Port also allowed the Bac Ninh Navy to realize its military presence in the Indian Ocean. Together with the Singapore Naval Base, it realized the west and east entrances and exits of the Malacca Strait.

control.

Port Blair is located in the eastern part of Central Andaman Island, the most populous island in the Andaman Islands, facing the coast of Myanmar and more than 500 kilometers away from Yangon, the capital of Myanmar. This place was originally established by the British government to exile a large number of political prisoners of all ethnic groups in British India.

The prison was built with some industrial and agricultural facilities for prisoners to work, such as farms, wood processing plants, etc., as well as living facilities to serve these prisoners and prison guards, but it can still be called the only prison in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

It is a population settlement with the characteristics of modern civilization. The entire Andaman and Nicobar Islands basically maintains its original form. It is an undeveloped wilderness and cannot contribute much to the finances of the British Empire.

.Therefore, the British government did not pay much attention to this area. Perhaps this was one of the reasons why the British government agreed to sell the islands to the Qing Empire.

After the Bac Ninh government expanded and transformed Port Blair into a modern port city - Xi Hua City, it will be able to provide a full range of services to Bac Ninh merchant ships, fishing boats and Bac Ninh naval vessels and personnel sailing in the Indian Ocean. As Bac Ninh's various military services have gradually

Stationed here, the various living needs of a large number of military personnel and sailors and fishermen from various countries passing through here for rest and recuperation have stimulated the development of the local service industry. Shops, restaurants, hotels, etc. have grown from scratch, and commerce, tourism, etc. have also developed accordingly.

The rise of the island has promoted the export of local seafood, wood, coconut, rubber, etc., which has brought tangible benefits to the local indigenous residents. Therefore, more and more local people have moved here from all over the archipelago to settle here, and

The number of immigrants moving here from China's coastal areas, Indochina and other places is also increasing, making Xihua City gradually prosperous.

Since the Xihua Islands were far away from the mainland of the Qing Empire, they could not receive timely support from the mainland during the war. Therefore, the neighboring mainland of Myanmar naturally became the rear support base for the Xihua Islands. While building Xihua City, a connecting

The strategic railway between China and Myanmar also began to be built, named the "Yunnan-Burma Railway".

The total length of the Yunnan-Myanmar Railway is more than 1,200 kilometers. It starts from Kunming City, Yunnan Province, China, and ends at Lashio, a town in northern Myanmar. It is connected to the Central Railway in Myanmar in Lashio and can reach Yangon, the capital of Myanmar, in the south. In order to shorten the railway mileage,

Along the way, we have to cross the Nu River and many canyons and pass through many mountains in order to keep as straight a line as possible. Therefore, we need to build a large number of bridges, tunnels, etc., and the construction is extremely difficult. The Bac Ninh Internal Guard Corps Engineer Corps will undertake this glorious and arduous strategic task.

The original purpose of building the Yunnan-Burma Railway was to consolidate the border defense between Myanmar and India and enhance the combat support capabilities of mainland Myanmar to the Xihua Islands. After the railway is completed, domestic military supplies and soldiers can be continuously transported to Lashio, Myanmar or from there.

Lashio continues to be transshipped south to Yangon Port, and then shipped from Yangon Port to Xihua City. This is much more convenient and faster than reaching Xihua City from the mainland of the Qing Empire via the South China Sea-Indian Ocean maritime transportation line. Yunnan and Myanmar

The railway actually opened up direct access to the Indian Ocean for the inland provinces in the southwest of the Qing Empire. It also closely connected Myanmar, a country with rich natural resources, with the Qing Empire. It was destined to play a huge political and economic role.

and military role!

Myanmar's Central Railway was built during the British colonial period. It is a narrow-gauge railway with a gauge of 1,000 mm and uses old steam locomotives. At this time, the railway department in Bac Ninh District had begun to use new diesel locomotives and electric locomotives.

Instead of steam locomotives, a standard gauge railway with a gauge of 1435 mm is used. Since the Yunnan-Myanmar Railway is built according to the railway standards of Bac Ninh, it cannot be well connected with the Central Railway of Myanmar and must be carried out in Lashio.

Cumbersome and laborious wide-gauge to narrow-gauge transfers can reach Yangon. Therefore, after the opening of the Yunnan-Myanmar Railway, the Bac Ninh Internal Guard Corps Engineer Corps immediately began to implement the modernization and upgrading project of the Myanmar Central Railway. After the completion of the project, production in the Bac Ninh area

The new diesel locomotive can pull 50 new heavy-duty carriages with a total load of 3,000 tons from Kunming to Yangon at a speed of 120 kilometers per hour, greatly increasing the railway transportation volume and operating speed.

This is another huge project, almost equivalent to building another Yunnan-Burma railway! In terms of replacing the old wooden sleepers of the Central Railway, the railway equipment manufacturers in Bac Ninh will need to provide tens of millions of sets of new concrete

Sleepers! The number of other road equipment that needs to be provided, such as new locomotives and carriages, rails, electrical equipment, etc., is also considerable. However, these friendly measures of purely aid nature will further consolidate the vassal relationship between Myanmar and the Qing Empire, from a strategic level

It is very necessary to come up and weigh it.

During the construction of the Yunnan-Myanmar Railway, Kang Fan visited the construction sites along the line many times, and participated in the completion ceremony of the Nujiang Railway Bridge and cut the ribbon himself.

On the construction sites along the line, in addition to the officers and soldiers of the Beininh Internal Guard Engineering Corps and various advanced construction machinery, the most distinctive thing is the road construction team mainly composed of Dai, Bai, Zhuang, Hani and other ethnic minority peoples.

Labor army. Yunnan Province is a province with mixed ethnic groups. Han people only account for a minority of its total population, and more than 80% of this road construction labor army are local ethnic minorities. Although they have participated in project construction

, each person can receive two dark green overalls as well as yellow safety helmets and anti-smash shoes uniformly issued by the Engineering Command. From the appearance, they look no different from the officers and soldiers of the Bac Ninh Internal Guard Engineering Corps, but they are the first

A group of ethnic minority people who went abroad to work on behalf of the Qing Empire. It can be said that after the completion of the Yunnan-Burma Railway, half of the credit belongs to them!

After stabilizing the direction of the Indian Ocean, Kang Fan turned his attention to the direction of the Pacific Ocean.

With the rapid expansion of global maritime trade in the Qing Empire, it was necessary to open overseas bases. In the vast ocean, Beining merchant ships and fishing boats traveling back and forth needed services such as shelter, repair, supply, and rescue.

When sailing on a waterway not far from the land, you can rely on the ports of the coastal countries to do these things. However, if an accident occurs on a waterway deep in the ocean, the sea and sky are vast, and the consequences for the ship that cannot be rescued in time can be imagined.

Understood. Therefore, Kang Fan prepared to establish the forward base of the Qing Empire on the Pacific and Indo-Atlantic routes to better provide the services needed for merchant ships and fishing vessels operating at sea, as well as their crews.

Furthermore, the United States on the other side of the Pacific is the largest concentration of Qing expatriates outside of Southeast Asia. These expatriate groups have huge energy and can play an important role in the development of the Qing Empire. They must be united to work together for a great cause.

Therefore, Kang Fan also needs to open a faster transoceanic aircraft route based on the already opened China-U.S. Pacific transoceanic ship route, and strengthen contact with the United States on the other side of the ocean. These tasks require Judy's strong assistance.
Chapter completed!