Liu Wenqing, who had always been calm, ran into the Holy King's Mansion out of breath.
"Who started the fight? Why is Wenqing so flustered today?"
"Holy King, the Renaissance Army has declared war on Dayang."
"What?"
"Why didn't the Renaissance Army inform us of such a big matter in advance?"
"Maybe I'm worried about leaking the news."
"The Renaissance Army has tolerated it for so many years, why did it declare war now?" Shi Dakai felt that there must be some important reason behind this.
"There was news before that Da Ying's fleet suffered heavy losses in the Donghua Empire. I thought that the Dong family wanted to take advantage of Da Ying's navy when it was at its weakest."
Shi Dakai suddenly realized it, and he also agreed with Wen Qing's point of view.
However, Shi Dakai still had a grudge against the fact that the Renaissance Army did not notify him in advance.
The Renaissance Army is somewhat arrogant.
Shi Dakai's Holy King's Mansion was still the manor with only a small white building.
Originally, this building was in the small town of Dinsugiya, which is now the best building in the capital.
But in recent years, with the gradual expansion and development of the Holy Kingdom.
It became an important industrial and commercial center.
Many caravan businessmen from southern Yunnan bought land and built large houses here, and settled their families here.
With the development of the Yajiang River by the Holy Army, this place, as the most important port in the upper reaches of the Yajiang River, has become an important hub for the transportation of commodities from the southwest region of the Renaissance Army to India, Gorkha and other places.
Shi Dakai determined the important status of merchants in the Holy Kingdom in the form of an imperial edict from the Kingdom of Heaven.
He not only protected the interests of businessmen, but also granted knighthoods to those kind-hearted businessmen.
Therefore, the caravan traders from southern Yunnan were attracted.
Caravans played an important role on the Silk Road from the southwest to India.
They left many stories in history.
But before, the business of these caravans was not easy, and they were often exploited by the intricate local chieftain forces.
The colonists entrenched in the Assam region often made things difficult for these caravans.
Until the Renaissance Army regained the southwest region, the caravan became the guide for the Renaissance Army in southern Yunnan.
After Shi Dakai and his group wandered to the Assam area.
It was only then that Shi Dakai discovered that the most valuable thing in the Assam region was not the beautiful and fertile river valley here, but the merchant land along the Yajiang River Valley.
Dayang controlled the coastal areas of India. The small countries located south of the Himalayas could only obtain salt, tea and other supplies necessary for their lives through here.
In the past, caravan merchants usually chose the most remote mountain roads in order to avoid the colonial government and local chieftain forces.
It might take half a year for them to travel this kind of trade route.
Now that the trade land is connected, they have become the masters of this trade land.
Tea cakes, ironware, silk, cotton, porcelain, sandalwood and other commercial goods purchased from Yongchang Prefecture and Tengchong Prefecture were transported to Dinsugiya, which first met the needs of various cities along the river of the Holy Army.
The remaining items would flow down the river to the Holy Army's Xijing City, which was originally Guwahati. Some of the items would be transported along the river to East Bengal, which was occupied by the Kingdom of Burma.
Some of it is transported overland to Chemengxiong in the north, where the many temples are the biggest consumers and buy a large amount of tea, cotton and silk every year.
Tea is the daily drink of monks, and cotton is their daily clothing requirement.
Silk is used to make hadas, prayer flags, and even temple decorations.
Some supplies were also shipped to Gorkha in the northwest, where originally only princes and nobles could afford the goods of the caravan.
However, in the past two years, a new class has formed in Gurkha, that is, the mercenary class.
Most of these people are the new troops of Gurkha, because they performed well in battle. Whether it is the Holy Army, the Northern Alliance or the Bengalis, they will hire this army when needed.
Hiring an army is sometimes cheaper than raising one yourself.
Because you don't have to pay for training and the cost of raising soldiers in peacetime.
The Gurkha mercenaries fought bravely on the battlefield and slowly created an image of themselves as trustworthy.
When the Gurkhas established a new army, the old king almost emptied his own treasury.
Originally it was just to resist the invasion of the British and Indian troops.
Unexpectedly, in the first battle, the New Army and several allies destroyed the British and Indian troops in the Ganges River Basin.
The Gorkhas obtained a grain-producing land in the northeast corner of the Ganges River, which solved the Gorkha people's food problem.
Looking around, there are no enemies of Gorkha anymore. To the north and west are the suzerain states, and to the east, Chemeng Hsiung and himself are vassal states of the Renaissance Army.
The south is now the territory of the Northern Alliance of India, which was also supported by the Baath Army.
These are all allies.
After all, Gorkha is still a poor mountainous country and cannot support such a standing army for a long time.
Liao Xiangdong, the chief instructor of the New Army, did not want the New Army he had trained to be disbanded. He persuaded the king to turn the New Army into professional mercenaries and become a financial source for Gurkha rather than a burden.
Originally, he had been thinking about returning to China, but later his friends in China advised him not to go back.
The Renaissance Army is now full of talents, and most of the troops are young generals, who are very talented.
Liao Xiangdong can only be a group leader when he goes back now.
However, he still had to solve an identity problem when he stayed to lead the troops.
King Surendra of Gorkha has always admired him and expressed his hope that he would stay in Gorkha many times.
So after experiencing the four-party joint battle against the colonial army, Liao Xiangdong finally decided to stay.
He was very patriotic, so he always wanted to go back.
Now he finds that he can also help his motherland here.
The Ba'ath Army's current main operations are overseas.
After the initial establishment of the Greater China Circle, what Dong Shuheng needs to do now and for a long time to come is to consolidate this Greater China Circle.
He is now married to a Gurkha noblewoman.
In the Kingdom of Gurkha, as an outsider, this was a sign that he became a member of the Gorkha aristocracy.
Now Liao Xiangdong has officially become an important commander in the new army. In the middle of the year, he was knighted by the king and is now also a Gurkha noble.
He does not care about this title, but in the Kingdom of Gurkha, the nobles are an interest group, and they cannot safely hand over important military power to ordinary people.
When he becomes a noble, he becomes a member of this interest group. After enjoying the privileges, he will naturally safeguard the interests of this group.
After Liao Xiangdong took command of the mercenary corps of the New Army, he participated in several battles and performed very well.
The Gurkha royal family is the main investor in mercenaries, and the profits earned by mercenaries from fighting are naturally mainly handed over to the royal family.
However, Liao Xiangdong persuaded the royal family to spend most of the money to buy new equipment for the mercenaries.
Liao Xiangdong knew that the Renaissance Army had relaxed export restrictions on a batch of new weapons.
And he also obtained the quota of weapons through his own connections.
After replacing the equipment, the combat effectiveness of this mercenary army has been qualitatively improved.
Only recently, the Holy Kingdom and the Kingdom of Myanmar have been busy with their own internal affairs and have temporarily stopped large-scale fighting in the direction of Calcutta.
The Dalai Lama people were also licking their wounds in Calcutta, where the plague had ravaged the country.
Only the Northern Alliance is still expanding to the south and southwest.
The Northern Alliance has deep pockets and is now the largest customer of Gurkha mercenaries.
At this time, Liao Xiangdong and his five thousand mercenaries were fighting in the southwest of the Malwa Plateau.
He and his men had just captured Barunpur and entered Gujarat, a relatively wealthy state on the west coast of India.
Further south is the most important Governorate of Bombay on the west coast of India.
Queen Zhangxi's purpose was to capture Gujarat and separate Bombay and Peshawar, the two most important satrapies of Great Britain in the western region, from the north to the south.
Of course, this place is close to the sea, and the Northern Alliance may not be able to defend it.
Even so, a lot of wealth and population can be obtained from here.
Continuous wars have caused serious losses of population and wealth to the states in the Ganges River Basin.
Zhang Xi and the others still look like big dogs because they still have some old roots.
They had previously wiped out some kingdoms and dug out all the wealth they had accumulated over generations, so they had the money to continue fighting.
War always requires resources. You can either produce them yourself or buy them with money. Of course, you can also rob them.
Their social production has been severely damaged and they lack fixed sources of income.
If this continues, the Northern Alliance's original base will always be exhausted.
Zhang Xi is a queen with great political vision.
Although she is young and beautiful, with big breasts and long hair, she is still very smart.
The method she chose was to attack.
The Northern Alliance is located in the northern middle zone and has a strong strategic initiative.
Dayang now placed her main force around Calcutta, and she turned to attack the western region.
Anyway, India is very big, and a large army cannot control all areas when facing huge threats.
…
Returning to Shengjing, Shi Dakai chose to cooperate with the Chinese business families on the Tea Horse Road to give them social status and protect their wealth.
These businessmen are responsible for building Shengjing into a commercial center.
After several years of hard work, these tea horse merchants did it.
Nowadays, a large number of warehouses have been built around the river port on the Yajiang River.
The shipyard next to the port has expanded several times.
All kinds of steam ships and diesel ships running on the Yajiang River are produced here.
Even the Yajiang naval warships of the Holy Army were produced here.
They even sold the ships produced here to the Kingdom of Burma to use as their gunboats to guard the port.
Because the Taoyuan Navy still blocks the coastline, the Kingdom of Myanmar can only purchase warships and gunboats to rely on forts for defense.
They now have two "Jianghe-class" frigates, but they still do not have the ability to compete head-on with the navy of the Great Empire.
The development of Shengjing is closely related to those tea-horse merchants. Merchants can indeed make a place prosperous.
Those tea-horse merchants built luxurious main residences in the Holy Capital. Many of the houses were larger than this white Holy King's Palace.
However, Shi Dakai never built a palace for himself. Although his ministers repeatedly advised him to build a new palace for him.
Those businessmen were even willing to pay for it.
However, Shi Dakai rejected them all with a cold face.
He knew it wasn't time for him to enjoy it yet.
Even now, he still often reflects on the reasons for the failure of the Kingdom of Heaven.
After entering Tianjing, the kings built large palaces, lived in extravagance, and competed with each other, so that they became jealous of each other, sowing the seeds of civil strife in heaven.
And that internal fighting directly led to the destruction of the Kingdom of Heaven.
So after arriving in Shengjing, he has been using this small white building built by the Dayang people as his palace.
Just some ancillary buildings were built around it.
There are only a few princesses and some guards in his palace.
There were not even a few maids.
His princess is usually responsible for cooking and doing some sundries in the palace.
The clothes Shi Dakai wears are all woven and cut by his own princess.
Shi Dakai's palace is said to be a holy palace, but in fact it is no different from an ordinary people's palace.
His diligent, frugal and self-disciplined style also influenced the officials around him.
The current management team of the Holy Kingdom is completely different from that of the original Tianping Heavenly Kingdom.
Overall they are a clean and efficient team.
A country's management is just like an operations team.
The atmosphere of the entire team has a great relationship with the team leader's ability and work style.
Although the rise and fall of the feudal dynasty was also affected by the general environment, it also had a great relationship with the emperor himself.
Shi Dakai is indeed a self-disciplined and forbearing person.
You must know that he is now in his thirties, which is when he is most energetic.
The complaints against the Renaissance Army did not last long. Shi Dakai had never had a good impression of the Renaissance Army.
But this does not affect his cooperation with the Renaissance Army.
Competent people are so rational.
After a while, Chen Yucheng, who had just returned to the Holy Capital to report on his duties, came to the palace.
Although Chen Yucheng is the King of England, he is ranked second in the Holy Kingdom.
But he only has a small house in Shengjing, which is an ordinary residence. He has been leading troops on the front line for many years.
Lived in the military camp most of the year.
In the house in Shengjing, there are only three or two disabled veterans who look after the house.
And now he only has one princess, a Dai concubine, and an Indian concubine.
The Holy King is so simple, so naturally these ministers cannot surpass the Holy King.
"King Ying, General Wen Qing has told you everything, what do you think?" Shi Dakai asked.
"Back to the Holy King, the Renaissance Army's declaration of war on Dayang should be to gain maritime superiority."
"The Straits Settlements in Dayang control the chokepoint into the sea areas of the Renaissance Army. The Dong family must control it in their own hands."
"Right now, they still have certain advantages at sea. If they wait a few more years, they may not have such an opportunity."
"In addition, they did not notify us and the Kingdom of Myanmar to contain the Tayong army. On the one hand, they were worried about leaking the military operation. On the other hand, I think it was because they were confident enough to defeat the Tayung Straits Settlements."
"Holy King, the Renaissance Army is well prepared this time. I think we have to take action." Chen Yucheng said.
"They attacked the Straits Settlements and didn't even tell us. Should we take the initiative to help them contain the Indian colonial army?" Shi Dakai said angrily.
"Holy King, I feel that the target of this revival army is not just the Straits Settlements."
"Oh, you mean they will attack the British and Indian colonies?"
"Exactly, Holy King, think about it. The Renaissance Army now controls Tanah, Phnom Penh, and Siam. They are also following the lead of the Renaissance Army. Does it need to be so covert to capture a mere Straits Settlements? Does it need to dispatch a hundred thousand troops?"
"This..." Shi Dakai began to think deeply.
"Holy King, the army strength of the Dayang people is actually just that, we can all compete with them."
"They relied on their powerful navy and ports around the world."
"What the Renaissance Army should do is to weaken the Dayang navy. Otherwise, they would not choose to go to war when the Dayang navy is damaged."
"The current navy in the East is no match for the Renaissance Army. So will the Renaissance Army be satisfied with just one Straits Settlements?"
"Without the Straits Settlements, the Indian Ocean is still in the hands of the British. Only by penetrating its power into the British and Indian colonies can the Renaissance Army set foot in the Indian Ocean."