Zuo Jigao's trip to the Western Regions finally made Dong Shuheng feel relieved.
The Western Region is the land buffer zone between the Renaissance Army and Europa.
As long as Tsarist Russia, the giant on land, still exists.
Then the Renaissance Army will always face dangers from land.
Fortunately, Wang Congzhi, who was in charge of military affairs in the Western Regions, was still clear-headed and did not relax his vigilance because of previous successive victories.
As for the loss of the Rangers, Dong Shuheng expected it and he would not care too much.
The Rangers of the Western Region Protectorate of the Renaissance Army are mainly composed of Kirgiz people, with some Tajiks and Kazakhs among them.
These rangers were organized into regiments, with Han Chinese serving as the main officers. They were a mobile frontier defense line.
The families of these people were placed in state-owned ranches in the rear. These state-owned ranches adopted new management models, and their production efficiency was much higher than their original nomadic methods.
Therefore, they have no worries at all. Even if they themselves die in battle, their family's life will be guaranteed.
In addition, this also ensures the loyalty of these people, and there is no need to worry about them defecting to Tsarist Russia.
Such Rangers are abundant in resources, and the Renaissance Army can recruit as many as they want, and they can fully withstand consumption.
On the contrary, there are not many Kazakh servants left in the hands of Tsarist Russia.
All the East Kazakhs have defected to the Renaissance Army. Central Kazakhs have long been swept away. The servant army in the hands of Tsarist Russia can only be recruited from Western Kazakhs and the Caucasus.
However, the Tsarist Russians were extremely distrustful of them and naturally would not give them the best equipment. As a result, these people were obviously at a disadvantage in terms of weapons when competing with the Renaissance Army Rangers.
In addition, the economic construction of the Western Regions has also achieved good results. The steel industry there means that there is a foundation for development.
In addition, local animal husbandry and planting, especially cotton planting, are developing very rapidly.
The cotton currently needed for Europe's textile industry is mainly obtained from the southern slave plantations of Amelia, especially Millicia.
Therefore, both Britain and France are keeping a close eye on the current conflict between North and South America.
Because it is related to their raw material supply and their textile industry.
For Dong Shuheng, danger will only come from two directions now. One is at sea, mainly from enemies in the Strait of Malacca.
Another one is the Tsarist Russians from the northwest.
On the sea, it can be seen from this naval confrontation with the Great Empire and France.
The opponent did not want to compete with the Renaissance Army on the eastern sea before their armored fleet was formed.
Dong Shuheng didn't want to fight them now. He could now use his armored fleet to win the battle on the sea.
But what he destroyed was only the tip of the iceberg of the Great Empire and the French Navy.
Following this, the two countries may block China on the sea.
Of course, Dong Shuheng can also cut off their connection with Dongfang.
The consequence of this is that trade between the East and the West is cut off, which will only hurt both sides.
Facing the opponent's blockade in the Indian Ocean and Atlantic Ocean, the navy of the Renaissance Army has no choice.
Since it is something that is unprofitable to everyone, we are all smart people and everyone knows how to do it!
So this time in the South China Sea, the fleets of both sides faced off for such a long time.
It wasn't until the war on land was decided that the winner would be decided before everyone withdrew. It seemed incredible, but in fact they were all being cleaned up.
Even Dong Shuheng had already thought of this situation when he transferred the First Fleet to the South China Sea.
Zuo Jigao chatted in Dong Shuheng's office for more than an hour before leaving.
Zeng Xianfeng's term will be up at the end of this year.
Zuo Jigao was the cabinet successor selected by Dong Shuheng.
So he now holds the role of Deputy Prime Minister of the Cabinet.
Dong Shuheng has recently planned to promote Liu Qingbei as deputy prime minister of the cabinet, and will add more in the future to stabilize the structure of one prime minister and several deputy prime ministers.
Dong Shuheng is also preparing to formulate a constitutional document to improve the cabinet's decision-making system.
There is still no popular base for holding elections.
He plans to establish democratic decision-making within the cabinet.
He also planned to establish a Senate to accommodate retired senior officials.
As the decision-making advisory body of the cabinet, he will also grant the Senate the right to question the cabinet, allowing him to play a certain supervisory role.
Dong Shuheng still likes Zuo Jigao's style of doing things, which is pragmatic, efficient, and vigorous.
It's just that Zuo Jigao has a somewhat stubborn personality and is particularly easy to offend others at work.
Over at the military headquarters, Dong Shuheng did not move much. The power of the military was firmly in his hands.
The backyard of the Summer Palace is the living area of the Dong family. These buildings of various styles include water pavilions and fountains.
The family lives happily here. Each of the ladies has a building.
The eldest son Dong Hua is four years old and has reached the age where he should go to school.
Dong's mother has mentioned to Dong Shuheng several times recently that she wants to hire famous teachers for her children.
This was always the case in imperial families in the past, and the princes had dedicated teachers to teach them.
But Dong Shuheng did not want his children to grow up in a deep house.
But Dong's mother, including the children's mothers, are not worried about putting their children directly into ordinary schools.
So Dong Shuheng planned to build a special government school next to the summer palace.
This is a school with a continuous system from kindergarten to middle school. The students are mainly children of those who work in the cabinet and various departments of the Military Department.
Today's western part of Xinjing, including the later Old Summer Palace, Summer Palace and other garden areas, has been connected to the city.
Buildings of various agencies and living areas have risen from the ground.
It blends perfectly with the surrounding original gardens.
If you look at it from the air, it looks like a garden city that combines classicism and modernity.
Dong Shuheng did not let people demolish the walls on the other side of the old city. They are considered historical relics, although these old walls have long lost their defensive value.
Now tourists and residents can climb up at will. The city wall has become a good place for residents at the base of the city wall to take a walk after meals.
Now there are some gaps in the old city wall, because the original roads and gates seriously hindered traffic movement.
So Dong Shuheng asked people to open gaps in the city wall where communication was needed.
While retaining the city wall, it does not affect the circulation of citizens.
The current population of Xinjing has reached several million, which is larger than that during the Manchu Qing Dynasty.
Part of this large population was brought in when the Renaissance Army moved in. The number of headquarters officials and their families combined totaled hundreds of thousands of people.
There are also a large number of students from various colleges.
Many of these students still stay in Xinjing after graduation.
In addition, business under the rule of the Renaissance Army was more liberal.
As a political center, Xinjing's commercial activities are very developed.
In the new city west of the city, Dong Shuheng originally planned a commercial area specifically.
The old town is more traditional, and the mutton alley and porcelain mouth have been planned as specialty markets.
The Bada Hutongs must have been banned by the Renaissance Army.
The original romantic places under the rule of the Renaissance Army have been sealed off.
Those poor women were sent to remote farms to learn survival skills.
Most of them are married to honest farm workers.
Xinjing City has carried out special planning and renovation of those old markets.
Let these places not only have commercial functions, but also have certain tourism functions.
Visiting Beijing is a fashionable activity no matter which dynasty you live in.
As a political center, the biggest advantage is that a large number of people gather there every year.
If the Xinjing government fails to take advantage of this, then it would be derelict in its duties.
At the beginning of the year, everything is busy and Dong Shuheng usually doesn't go out.
Only after sorting out everything for a year would he go out for inspection.
This seems to have become a common practice.
"President, there is a new European briefing." After seeing off Zuo Jigao.
Wei Yuxiang walked in again with a lot of materials.
"Read!" Dong Shuheng was busy reviewing documents and said casually without raising his head.
"President, there is news from the European station that the Great Empire has formed a secret alliance with France and Tsarist Russia. The specific content is ominous."
Dong Shuheng had already expected this. This time the French came east, the cooperation of the Great Empire fleet, and the unusual behavior of the Tsarist Russians.
A discerning person would know there is collusion between them at a glance.
In addition, Britain and France have sent a lot of aid to Tsarist Russia in the past two years.
It finally gave Tsarist Russia, which was almost financially bankrupt, some relief.
"Napoleon III seems to have formed a secret alliance with the Kingdom of Sardinia and is preparing to deal with Austria together."
"Oh, is there any more news?" This news made Dong Shuheng interested.
He originally thought that Prussia was going to fight against the Austrians. After the Prussian-Danish War, the relationship between the two sides began to deteriorate.
As mentioned before, this was because the Holsteins asked to join Prussia.
This does little harm to Austria's interests, but it is a loss of face.
Our Joseph I is a good-looking Lord.
There is no way, people from the Habsburg family are like this, they have to suffer to save face, because their bloodline is nobler.
But now why is Austria starting to fight with the Kingdom of Sardinia and the French?
This starts with the Italian War of Independence.
Italy was the core of the ancient Roman Empire, the birthplace of the Renaissance, and the cradle of European capitalism.
However, since the demise of the Roman Empire, its fate has been more tragic.
Since the Middle Ages, it has been in a state of fragmentation and civil strife for a long time.
Starting from the 16th century, Spain, Austria and France successively invaded Italy. The Italian people fought for national independence and national reunification and went through centuries of heroic struggle.
By the mid-19th century, the national liberation war sweeping across Italy was about to begin.
Then the First War of Independence broke out (1848-1849).
After seeing 1848, everyone can understand this special time.
This war was an important part of the European bourgeois revolution of 1848. From January to August 1848, the revolutionary situation continued to rise, and various states were forced to declare war on Austria driven by the people's movement.
However, the monarchs of various states did not fight resolutely, and even tried every means to obstruct and sabotage it, resulting in the failure of the war against Austria.
On August 9 of this year, the Kingdom of Sardinia signed an armistice agreement with Austria, ceding Lombardy, Venice, Parma and Modena to Austria.
The anti-Austrian war failed, and the War of Independence entered a new stage in which the bourgeois democrats took leadership.
From August 1848 to August 1849, the failure of the war against Austria aroused the anger of the Italian people. The bourgeois democrats took the leadership of the independence movement, pushing the independence war to a climax.
The people of Venice held on to the city, and the people of Tuscany launched an uprising and established a republic. In early 1849, the Roman Republic was established. In March 1849, the king of the Kingdom of Sardinia decided to resume fighting against Austria, but 70,000 Austrian troops severely damaged the Sardinian army.
The Kingdom of Sardinia's war against Austria was a complete failure. The Austrian army took advantage of the victory and marched straight in.
The Pope asked for help from European Catholic countries, and France, Austria, Spain and other countries gathered in Gaeta to formulate a plan to jointly intervene in the Roman Republic.
In April, 10,000 French troops advanced towards Rome, the Austrian army invaded Bologna, and the Western army approached the south of Rome, forming an encirclement and annihilation posture against Rome. Garibaldi led the Republican Army to repeatedly defeat the enemy's attacks and delay the enemy's advance.
The Roman Republic temporarily turned the corner. In June, after the French army received reinforcements, the two sides fought fiercely outside the city of Rome.
On June 23, the French army launched a general offensive. The Republican army suffered heavy losses and was unable to fight anymore. On July 1, the Parliament decided to stop the fighting and withdraw from Rome; on the 3rd, the French army entered the city of Rome.
On August 22, 1849, the city of Venice was captured by the Austrian army. At this point, the first war of independence ended.
The biggest obstacle to the Italian unification war was Austria.
During the Crimean War, the Kingdom of Sardinia sent troops to participate in the war, just to please France!
why?
Because at that time, Cavour, the prime minister of the Kingdom of Sardinia, began to move closer to France and sought an alliance with the French.
The two sides might have reached some kind of agreement at that time.
The information this time was also obtained by Gao Ru.
She has met many high-ranking people in France recently.
French men will talk freely in front of beautiful ladies after drinking some wine at the wine table.
Taking advantage of this, Gao Ru got a lot of information.
Including how Napoleon III pretended to be calm after the French army was defeated in the east.
After returning to his palace, he broke a precious thin-bodied porcelain from the East.
…
Dong Shuheng knew that Austria might suffer a loss this time.
The current Kingdom of Sardinia is not the will of future generations.
The Odile of today is no better than the Odile of later generations.
There will be many failures in the future, and eventually this great empire of the original Habsburg dynasty will sink completely.
The Kingdom of Sardinia, this country located in the northwest of Italy, is the most powerful among the Italian states.
Its prime minister, Cavour, is also considered a capable person. Some of the strategies he adopted after taking power were very effective, making the Kingdom of Sardinia increasingly stronger.
"This is interesting. Let Vice Minister Wang in Europe pay attention to this matter. You can ask him to talk to Bismarck. This is a good opportunity for Prussia."
Although the relationship between the Renaissance Army and Austria is relatively good, this does not prevent Dong Shuheng from trying to seduce Austria.
Although Dong Shuheng does not have the skills to stir things up like the Great Empire.
But he still hopes that Europa will be as chaotic as possible at this time.
Only when Europa is rolled up can the Renaissance Army develop with peace of mind!
ps: The epidemic has reared its ugly head again recently. Please take care, stay at home and read novels, and avoid going out. If you pass by, vote for the month and recommend it!