I want to be emperor

The fact that the Great Chu Empire Navy’s African exploration fleet landed in Pemba (the northern coast of Mozambique later) and set up a port was not discovered at first, but it didn’t take long for the Portuguese on the southern Mozambique island to learn about it.

This made the Portuguese very angry, and the anger was even more frightening.

The anger is because it is well known that the East African region is their Portuguese territory, from Somalia all the way south to South Africa, it used to be their Portuguese sphere of influence.

They controlled many coastal ports in East Africa and obtained a lot of commercial profits.

Among them, the gold exported from Quelimane in Mozambique alone can have 1.7 ounces ([-] tons) every year.

Among them, Mozambique Island, which is only more than 200 kilometers away from Pemba, is the core colony of the Portuguese in East Africa, the commercial and political center of Portuguese East Africa, and the rear of the Portuguese colonization of India and Southeast Asia.

But now, the damn Chu people have actually established a military base in Pemba Port, more than 200 kilometers to the north.

How can this not make the Portuguese angry.

This kind of challenge and threat to the Portuguese is equivalent to the challenge and threat to the Great Chu Empire when a colonial country established a colony on the Malacca Peninsula.

It is absolutely intolerable!

However, anger is anger...they were still incomparably panicked.

Because it was not the Dutch, the English, or the French who had just tried to colonize the Indian Ocean region who ran to Pemba Port to establish a military base, but the damn Chu people.

And the powerful military power possessed by the people of Chu is not comparable to that of the Dutch, the English, let alone the French... It can even be said that the current colonial power of all countries in the entire European region is not enough to make the big The Chu Empire was stuck between its teeth.

This has been proven in previous Indian wars.

The Great Chu Empire singled out the European colonists of the Netherlands, Portugal, England, Denmark, Sweden, France and other countries, and then balanced all the way. In just half a year, they defeated all the European colonists on the Indian Peninsula and seized The colonies of various countries on the Indian peninsula.

The Portuguese themselves were among the defeated ones, and they fought against the Chu army again in the defense of Goa... There was no accident in the result, and the defeated could not be defeated again... During the whole fight, the Portuguese did not even have the slightest chance to fight back. No power.

It was precisely because the defeat was so straightforward that the Portuguese signed the armistice agreement happily and officially ceded all the colonies in the Indian peninsula to the Great Chu Empire in exchange for the captured personnel, especially the support of high-level Portuguese colonial officials. Safety.

If you add in Macau and Nanyang Malacca before, the Portuguese have been beaten once every few years by the Chu people, and they have been beaten three times in a row.

Every time the defeat is miserable... The most important thing is that the Portuguese find that every defeat is more and more desperate.

In the Battle of Macau more than [-] years ago, although the Portuguese were defeated, there was actually no difference in the level of equipment between the two armies. In the eyes of the Portuguese, the Chu people only took back Macau because of their numbers.

Therefore, after losing Macau, the Portuguese were very unconvinced. For this reason, they united with the Dutch and even the Spaniards to carry out a long-term coastal blockade and fight against going abroad.

However, during the Battle of Malacca, the Portuguese found that the Chu army on the opposite side was completely different. The level of guns and guns exceeded the Portuguese by a large margin, especially the flintlock guns and a large number of wooden/metal disc fuzes used by the Chu army. The grenade made the Portuguese suffer even more.

It was also at that time that the Portuguese began to pay attention to the study of flintlock guns, um, mainly to imitate the flintlock guns of Chu State, not only the Portuguese, the Dutch, the Spaniards and other countries that had more contact with the Great Chu Empire, but also in the At that time, it began to imitate the Great Chu Empire and mass-produce and equip flintlock guns, and at the same time began to gradually use line tactics.

It's just that their basic industrial level is not good, the flintlock guns produced by imitation are not good, and the all-weather firing rate has not been able to exceed 70.00% until now.

Of course, the poor performance is a little bit worse, but it can still be used to some extent. In some small-scale wars in Europe, there have been cases where established fusiliers formed a line to fight.

The Portuguese army on the Indian Peninsula was actually equipped with a lot of flintlock guns, but it is time for the Chu people to use the flintlock gun... and the performance of the flintlock gun is far superior to that of the flintlock Fire guns, especially the crucial firing rate, are not products of the same level at all.

The most important thing is that the Chu army didn't even give them a chance to fight in line. The infantry on both sides had the opportunity to shoot at each other... they just drowned them with a huge number of artillery.

As for the grenade, it is more difficult for them to imitate than the flintlock gun... If the imitation flintlock gun is only inferior in performance but still usable, then the grenade is too difficult, limited by the backwardness of industrial technology , The power of the grenade they made is very small after it explodes... As a last resort, it can only be produced by hand on a small scale.

However, this greatly limits the output and cost.

This is also the reason why European countries have actually noticed the grenades of the Great Chu Empire very early, but they know that there is no mass-produced equipment now... It's not that they don't want to do it, but they can't do it.

Not only the grenades, but even the artillery itself is behind in all aspects... On the 115-pound/115mm field guns of the same specification, the effective range of the European 500-pound artillery generally stays at a few hundred meters. At that time, the effective range of the Chu Army's [-]mm field guns and solid bullets had already reached [-] meters.

The performance gap here is even bigger!

Although they are all bronze smoothbore guns, the performance of the bronze smoothbore guns of the Great Chu Empire is not at all comparable to that of the bronze smoothbore guns produced by European countries that are still in the original means of hand workshops.

The Battle of Goa completely made the Portuguese realize that the gap in armament between them and the Chu people was too great to catch up.

What's more terrible is that besides being far ahead in weapons and equipment, the Chu people also have a large number of them!

In a battle on the Indian peninsula, the Chu army had more than 5 ground troops alone, while the ground troops of European colonists on the Indian peninsula did not add up to that many.

Facing more than 5 people, the Chu army dispatched tens of thousands of troops in any battle. This made the European colonists who were used to fighting with hundreds of people or thousands of people feel unaccustomed to fighting, even if they were They all feel that they are too petty like small landlords in the countryside.

Facing the Chu army with double advantages in quality and quantity, the Portuguese were defeated simply and quickly, and finally pushed out the Indian Peninsula in an all-round way.

However, not long after they withdrew from the Indian Peninsula, these damn Chu people came to East Africa again.

What are they trying to do?
What do these damn Chu people want to do?
Do they still want East Africa?

After this possibility appeared in the minds of the Portuguese, it turned them from anger to panic... If the Chu people really want to fight over, this East Africa will probably change from the Portuguese East Africa to the Chu people's East Africa up.

How to do?
A group of Portuguese colonial officials on the island of Mozambique frowned for several days, and then decided to send an envoy to test the situation first.

See what these Chu people want to do.

What if...they just stopped by temporarily to go ashore to rest and leave after a while.

Although this possibility is very small, it is not impossible!

The current Portuguese still has luck in their hearts.

Whenever possible, they are unwilling to continue fighting with the Chu people.

Unfortunately, their wishes came to nothing.

The Portuguese sent an envoy to Pemba cautiously, and the Chu people did not make things difficult for the envoy, so the envoy met Commodore Gao Yingfan, the commander of the African Exploration Fleet of the Great Chu Empire Navy, smoothly.

Faced with the Portuguese's cautious inquiry, Commodore Gao Yingfan naturally couldn't say that we are here to fight the frontier, and we will take the entire East African colony into our pocket in the future.

This is not a question of shamelessness, but a matter of procrastination. After all, the colonial fleet in the rear is not ready yet. The strategic focus of the Great Chu Empire's external expansion is still on the Indian Peninsula.

For the colonial operations in the African region, at present, it is only the preliminary exploration and the establishment of necessary military bases and supply stations.

Therefore, large-scale colonial operations in Africa may take three or four years.

During this period, it would be a good thing if a direct war with the Portuguese could be avoided.

Therefore, Gao Yingfan's rhetoric is: his own fleet is exploring the route to Europe for trade, thus establishing a supply station in East Africa.

This statement made the Portuguese envoys breathe a sigh of relief... If it is just to build a supply station, although it is not good, it is better than the Chu people preparing to capture Portuguese East Africa on a large scale.

As for the people of Chu to set foot in the European trade routes, this kind of thing is inevitable!

With the complete withdrawal of the European colonists from the Indian peninsula, the current business relationship between the Great Chu Empire and the European region has been cut off except for the Spaniards.

The Great Chu Empire lost the opportunity to export goods to Europe, and European countries also lost the opportunity to obtain a large amount of goods from the East.

After the Indian campaign ended, colonists from other European countries, including the Portuguese, had negotiated an armistice with the people of Chu in order to resume business exchanges as soon as possible.

Wars belong to wars, but after the war, you still have to do business.

However, during the negotiations, the Great Chu Empire required European countries, mainly the Portuguese and the Dutch, to open the routes on the east and west coasts of Africa, not to attack the merchant ships of the Chu people, and to open the necessary supply ports.

But the Portuguese and the Dutch didn’t agree... Well, at present, these two countries control more African colonies. To go from the Indian Peninsula to Europe, you have to bypass South Africa. Therefore, whether the African route can be opened, the two If a country does not agree, there is no way for the merchant ships of the Great Chu Empire to go directly from the Indian Peninsula to Europe without stopping at the port for supplies.

On the other hand, the attitude of the French is more relaxed. They have little profit in Asian trade, and they also hope to obtain a large amount of goods from the East, so they are ready to agree to open the ports on Mauritius and some other islands.

Under such a background, it is normal for the Great Chu Empire to send an exploration fleet to explore the coastal routes of Africa.

Although this kind of thing is difficult for the Portuguese to accept, it is much better than the Chu people directly attacking Portuguese East Africa.

After the Portuguese envoy got the answer and returned to Mozambique Island, a group of Portuguese colonial officials on the island were also very entangled.

How to deal with the current situation?
Sit back and let the Chu people build Pemba Port?This will greatly violate the interests of the Portuguese in East Africa.

Direct expulsion, I am afraid that it will cost a lot of money, and it may not be possible to win.

Regardless of the fact that the Portuguese occupied a large number of colonies in East Africa, their total military strength is actually not many. They really have so many troops, and they really have so many troops.

This expulsion is not, nor is it not expulsive... The Portuguese had their brains scratched because of this. In the end, they had no choice but to report the relevant situation to the country, and at the same time, they were actively preparing for war.

Gao Yingfan didn't pay much attention to the Portuguese's reaction... Anyway, if the Portuguese dared to come over, he would dare to let the Portuguese know why the flowers are so popular.

If the other party doesn't call, then I'm too lazy to do anything else, and I will build the Pemba Port in an orderly manner, so as to gain a real foothold for the empire in East Africa and provide a forward base for the follow-up strategy on the east coast of Africa.

Therefore, after dealing with the Portuguese, Commodore Gao Yingfan continued to build the port, and at the same time sent a supply ship directly across the Indian Ocean to report back to India, and at the same time requested various follow-up supports.

Whether it is military strength, weapons and ammunition, or food, it also needs a lot of building materials such as reinforced concrete and shore fire prevention artillery.

Although his exploration fleet carried a lot of materials, most of them were coal and ammunition, while there were no ordinary materials, and it also lacked shore fire capabilities.

After all, he is just an exploration fleet, not a real colonial fleet, so he needs strong support from the rear.

More than a month later, after receiving relevant news, the Indian governor's office in Colombo, Ceylon Island, and the Indian Ocean Fleet Command organized a number of warships to escort more than a dozen transport ships to Pemba, transporting a large amount of various materials, and ten Two large-caliber coastal defense guns and more than 1000 army soldiers.

The Great Chu Empire is ready to gain a firm foothold in Pemba.

And when the Chu people opened up the Pemba Port in Africa, the Great Chu Empire, the Great Chu Dibao also reported the news of the opening of the Changsha-Hengyang section of the railway, and the opening of this section also means that the railway from Ningbo on the eastern coast will be opened to traffic. One of the two crosses all the way to Hengyang, the Southern Railway was opened to traffic.

The railway line starts from Ningbo and passes through Suzhou, Changzhou, Zhenjiang, Yingtian Jinling, Dangtu, Chizhou, Jiujiang, Daye, Hantian Wuchang, Yueyang, Changsha and Hengyang.

All the way across five provinces and two municipalities directly under the central government, with a total length of more than 700 kilometers.

This is the longest main line railway built and opened to traffic in the Great Chu Empire.

At the same time, this railway will also be connected with multiple railways such as the Guangdong-Jiangxi Railway and the Beijing-Hangzhou Railway.

For example, the Beijing-Hangzhou line from Hangzhou to Jinling City has actually been opened to traffic. After all, this place is an economically developed area, and the terrain is flat, so the railway construction is relatively fast.

The Guangdong-Jiangxi Railway is an important trunk line railway. At present, the railway has completed the construction of the section from Hukou to Nanchang and then to Ganzhou, and the construction of the section from Guangzhou to Heyuan has also been completed in Guangdong, and is currently concentrating manpower and material resources. , The construction of the mountainous railway between Heyuan and Ganzhou is carried out on the most complex terrain, the highest technical challenge, and the longest time-consuming in the Guangdong-Jiangxi Railway.

This section of the railway, which is only two to three hundred kilometers away in a straight line, is extremely difficult to construct because it has to cross the Nanling Mountains, and the railway line has to be built with twists and turns in order to bypass those mountains that cannot be crossed. The siege technology of these days is far inferior to that of later generations. It is impossible to build tunnels and bridges all the way through. The technical difficulty is too high and the cost is absolutely unacceptable.

This section of the railway line has been under construction for several years, but it is estimated that it will take another two years, that is, it will not be open to traffic until the 29th year of Chengshun.

Construction is extremely difficult, costly, and time-consuming. This is the reality faced by railway repairs in mountainous areas these days.

If it wasn't for the fact that there is Guangdong in the south, to be precise, it is supported by an economically developed Pearl River Delta. The high-level officials of the empire will go to the mountains to repair hundreds of kilometers of railways in these years when they are full. It is purely for themselves. happy.

This is also the reason why the Great Chu Empire did not build such main line railways in other mountainous areas except the Guangdong-Jiangxi Railway.

But Guangdong has a Pearl River Delta economic belt... People in Guangdong not only want to build the Guangdong-Jiangxi Railway, but also want to build the Guangdong-Chu Railway.

That is to build a railway to connect Guangzhou and Hengyang, so that industry and commerce in the Pearl River Delta region of Guangdong can pass through this railway to radiate to South Chu, and even Hantianfu and North Chu.

The Railway Corporation is very hesitant about this... The hesitation is naturally because the investment is too large and there are many difficulties... But, you can't hold back the rich people in Guangdong!

People have said that as long as your railway company comes to repair the railway, I will give you subsidies, tax exemptions, interest-free loans and various financial supports.

To put it simply, the governor's office in Guangdong plans to pay for this railway. Will your railway company do it?

After calculation by the Railway Corporation, if there is financial support and subsidies from Guangdong, then although the cost of building this Guangdong-Chu Railway is still a bit higher, it is not unacceptable.

Therefore, the two sides are discussing this matter recently, but if there is no accident, the construction of the Guangdong-Chu Railway is estimated to be fully started next year... After all, route surveys and construction cost calculations have already begun.

The continuous construction and improvement of the railway network of the Great Chu Empire has greatly boosted the industrial, commercial and economic development of the Great Chu Empire.

This can be seen from the 27-year central fiscal revenue budget of the Great Chu Empire Chengshun.

This year's fiscal revenue budget will reach 2000 million, an increase from last year's [-] million.

Since the large-scale application of high-pressure steam engines, under the vigorous promotion of the two major industries of railways and ships, the economic growth rate of the Great Chu Empire has maintained a super high level. The treasury of the Chu Empire had a sufficient amount of central fiscal revenue.

And with more money, there are more things that can be done!