After finally waiting for the trade fleet to arrive, Fang Xiaoru, after discussing the official bulk trade, urged Li Bangshan to come ashore, saying that he wanted to get rid of the landlord. However, Li Bangshan knew that this old guy wanted to take the opportunity to inquire about Dahua. The recent intelligence of the Republic of China, so he politely rejected the other party's "good intentions".
Although he did not go ashore, in order to make Fang Xiaoru give up, Li Bangshan directly handed him a stack of newspapers published in the past few months and let them read for themselves. In fact, the Republic of China does not have many secrets to hide, let these guys know That’s okay too.
Fang Xiaoru received this stack of old newspapers as if he had found a treasure, and was secretly happy. However, when he returned to the shore and opened it, he became more and more frightened because more than half a year had passed. The development of the country is even more rapid, not only the country is unified, but also everything is prosperous. Large factories have appeared in every province across the country, producing a variety of high-quality goods. These goods are sold overseas, bringing endless wealth to the people.
The Republic of China is changing with each passing day, but they themselves are still huddled in a walled city, blocked by the barbaric local natives, and their development is so slow. If this continues, they will not be able to unify Nanzhou for decades, and they are so big. The Republic of China may have already unified the world.
Development cannot open up the situation. In the final analysis, the population is still insufficient. There are currently 8,000 people in the walled city. Including the new arrivals, the number is just over 10,000. When these people are organized, there are only 3,000 to 4,000 strong men, which is basically It’s not enough. It’s not that Fang Xiaoru doesn’t want to encourage births to increase the population, it’s because there is too little land that he can control, and the food he grows cannot feed too many people. In addition, the soil and water are inexhaustible, epidemics occur frequently, and there is a lack of medical treatment. The population has been in a negative growth stage.
The so-called starting a business is difficult. Without the experience of relatives, I would never know that difficulties would be so endless. However, Zhu Yunwen seems to have been frightened by the difficulties. He has been passively hiding in his city lord's mansion and not paying attention to worldly affairs. The burdens are all weighing him down. On Fang Xiaoru's shoulders.
And Fang Xiaoru himself is not good at politics and lacks courage. Many people below him are also dissatisfied with him. Some people are even trying to undermine him. If he hadn't occupied the high position of Grand Master and had a good relationship with the trade group, there must have been someone else. Will drive him off stage.
Wan Lei will not care about these troubles in Nanzhou. He only allows trade groups to go to Nanzhou to trade regularly. The navy has a military port near the Spice Island in the south of Luzon and has naval warships stationed there to patrol and suppress bandits. Strictly control Nanzhou and prevent political prisoners exiled to Nanzhou from escaping by sea.
In fact, under Wan Lei's decision, the main force of the naval fleet has moved south. Not only has a large military port been established in Luzon as a stronghold, but heavy troops have also been deployed in the Malacca area, and the city of Malacca has been captured, completely controlling the passage from the Pacific Ocean to the Indian Ocean. route, and at the same time hijacked countries such as Siam and Srivijaya.
The navy made such a big move, and resistance was naturally inevitable. However, under the strong suppression of the naval fleet, all the island countries retreated one after another. In the end, they had to admit the maritime dominance of the Republic of China. With the opening of the Malacca Strait, leading to Maritime trade routes between India and the Muslim world have also been opened. The volume of trade in the Indian Ocean has increased every year. Moreover, without middlemen, Huayuan Company's profits have become even more substantial.
With the control of maritime trade routes, not only did Huayuan Company gain huge profits, but it also strengthened its control over countries in the Malacca area. Even the local caravans were abolished, and the import and export of locally produced goods had to be carried out by Huayuan. Yuan Company has a monopoly. In this area, Huayuan Company's annual profits are higher, and the profits and taxes paid to the national treasury account for half of the tax revenue of the Republic of China.
Having tasted the sweetness brought by monopoly trade, the Congress of the Republic of China naturally agreed to all Wan Lei's proposals for naval expansion. In the next three years, fifteen new Xia-class warships with greater power and faster speed will be built, and new Increase the number of naval officers by 50,000 to enhance control over the South China Sea and even the Indian Ocean.
However, with the shift of the navy's strategic focus, its control over the East China Sea and the Yellow Sea began to weaken, especially in the Japanese area. Some Japanese pirates were ready to move again. Some Japanese pirates were even like flies, taking small boats to sneak attack and harass Tsushima Island. .
Tsushima Island is located between the Korean Peninsula and the Japanese state. A few years ago, the Peking Army and Navy occupied the island and cooperated with the army to attack North Korea. However, the Japanese army suffered a major defeat in North Korea and not only failed to occupy North Korea. On the contrary, it lost troops and generals. Since then, relations with the Republic of China have deteriorated, and trade between the two sides has been cut off.
However, Ashikaga Yoshimichi, the Japanese shogunate, was unwilling to fail. He had been preparing for war and was trying to make a comeback. Ixue suffered the humiliation of defeat. Those Japanese pirates were just sent out by him to test. Although the Peking Army's navy warships were strong, these Japanese pirates As annoying as flies are, the naval formations stationed on Tsushima Island repeatedly reported emergencies to Peiping.
Although the appearance of these fly-like Japanese pirates was very annoying, it could not disrupt Wan Lei's plan to conquer Nanyang. After discussing with the important officials of the Military Commission, he formulated an offensive-defensive plan, that is, concentrating naval power. , carried out a sweeping attack on the coast of Japan in a short period of time, destroying Japan's ships and harbors, making them immobile.
No, just after the first lunar month, Wan Lei left Peiping, first to inspect Liaodong, then to the Korean Special Administrative Region, and finally to Busan City to take command of this major maritime operation codenamed "Cut Wings".
According to the plan, the navy dispatched 20 Xia-class warships and 60 Zhenyuan warships, divided into three teams, and conducted a military blockade on the Japanese island of Kitakyushu and Shikoku Island respectively, trapping the Japanese country on Honshu Island.
In fact, there are only three large islands in the Japanese country. Kitakyushu, Shikoku Island and Honshu Island are separated by the sea. As long as the sea route is separated, the Japanese shogunate will lose control of one-third of the territory. Wan Lei supports some If the local separatist forces carry out some divisive policies, the strength of the shogunate will be greatly damaged.
The northern part of Honshu Island is the Ezo Territory, which has long been opened up as an exile island by the Republic of China. There are tens of thousands of exiles on it. The Japanese country cannot get involved there at all. It is squeezed from the north to the south. The shogunate who occupied Honshu Island will definitely If you don't care, you won't have the energy to cause trouble anymore.
The reason why Wan Lei did not directly implement military occupation of Japan was mainly because Japan was an island country with poor supplies. Compared with Nanyang, which was rich in resources, there was no value in occupying it. As the head of a colonial power, of course he concentrated his efforts first. Occupy those fertile lands and then eat those useless ones.
At the same time, as a country with a long history, the Japanese country has formed a relatively unified nation. If troops are sent to the Japanese country to fight, they will inevitably encounter stubborn resistance. The Yuan army's two large-scale attacks on the Japanese ended in failure. It has a certain relationship with the so-called divine wind, but the Japanese people's will to resist cannot be ignored.
The lessons learned from the Yuan army's war are in front of him, and Wan Lei will certainly not make the same mistake again. He first carried out a naval blockade of the Japanese country, cooked a frog in warm water, and cut off the connection between Kitakyushu Shikoku Island and Honshu Island, and then thought of a way To eliminate the national consciousness of the Japanese in these two places, they finally landed on the island again.
Wan Lei believes that occupying Japan requires more than just military means. As long as the strategy is right, Japan can even undergo a peaceful evolution in one fell swoop and become a province of the Republic of China.