Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2479 Leisurely away from war ([-])

"Affected by the war situation in China, domestic tea prices continue to rise." After returning to the bedroom of his old house, Li Peng flipped through the newspapers ordered at home, and a certain news in "Kommersant" caught his attention.As a scholar who is very obsessed with geopolitics and civilization circles, Li Peng keenly discovered something that many people have never paid attention to, that is, the empire's domination of resources.

Yes, empires are greedy and ruthless.Some scholars in China pointed out that the nature of an empire is internal exploitation and external expansion, but Li Peng felt something was wrong.At least in a country on the east coast, ordinary citizens have not yet felt this because of the small population, advanced technology, and the prevalence of overseas trade.Li Peng even felt that the citizens on the east coast were "fed" and "pacified" by the government too well, and there was no shortage of exploitation—in fact, apart from the early primitive society of human beings, exploitation was everywhere—but the degree was very slight so that the people's living standards have been maintained at a relatively high position. In the old continent, countless people died of war, famine, and disease. People on the east coast can still work and live leisurely. It is by no means much exploited.

The price of tea is not cheap on the east coast, but it is not expensive either.It is not cheap because it needs to be imported in large quantities. The tea produced by local assets (located in the northern part of the Hejian area) not only has a small output, but also has a poor taste, which can only occupy part of the low-end market.However, I heard that after decades of improvement of tea varieties, these tea trees have been gradually domesticated and adapted to the local climate, and the taste of tea has also been greatly improved.But in the final analysis, the reputation of local tea has been ruined, and the output of good tea is also very low, so we can only sit back and watch the vain money let foreign tea merchants earn it.

At present, the largest import source of east coast tea is mainland China (including the area under the jurisdiction of the Ningshao Pioneering Team), accounting for more than 400% of the import share.For this reason, the East Bank needs to export more than [-] million French currency in cash to the Far East every year to pay for the import of tea, which has caused a lot of uneasiness in the financial circles, because most of these payments are settled with precious metals. less.

But there is no way, the people on the east coast consume a lot of tea.Because of the large number of local dairy cows and the high output of dairy products, people on the east coast like to make milk tea.This kind of custom was originally limited to the Pampa Plain and Nancone Terrace south of the Song River, but it has become popular all over the country many years ago. Now many families on the east coast will serve milk tea when entertaining guests (salty and sweet flavors are available, but most of them are sweet) ), Gaoshan Liushui Teahouse has become the most popular chain catering enterprise in the country.Therefore, under such a situation of mass consumption by the whole people, it is completely understandable that the amount of tea imports remains high. You can’t change your living habits, can you?

Since the outbreak of the Qingshun North-South War a few years ago, the amount of tea imported by enterprises on the east coast (mainly the Bank of Taiwan and its agents) began to decline.This is not to say that the tea production areas of the two countries have been attacked and the tea gardens have been destroyed. In fact, it has not yet reached this point. The main reason is that in order to deal with the military, the two governments recruited a large number of farmers from the people to serve as logistics auxiliary forces.These people have been there for many years, and they have to work as craftsmen to repair various equipment, build bridges and pave roads, build various temporary or semi-permanent fortresses, and work as coolies to help carry goods, etc., which has seriously affected the local society. Production and life order.

Although tea is one of the top export products of these two countries, production is guaranteed, but the overall social situation is such that they have nothing to do, and the decline in production is inevitable.Coupled with the loss of various properties and time when tea dealers, large and small, pass through the war zone - even if they do not pass through the war zone, they may be levied exorbitant taxes by the government, and these will be apportioned into the cost - the labor force is reduced, the current situation The increase in transportation costs brought about by the chaos has led to a surge in the procurement expenses of the Bank of Taiwan, which will eventually be transmitted to the terminal price and let consumers pay.

Li Peng didn't know how the battle between Qingshun was going.Therefore, he quickly found a newspaper, the overseas newspaper "The Horn", which he ordered heavily.This is a newspaper for millions of readers in Denglai, Manmeng, Ningshao, Heishui, Lianwu and other places. It is invested and established by Dongan Capital. It has strong strength and complicated background, and can often get first-hand news.In particular, a Chinese reporter, who can be called an all-rounder, can often read his big news on the front page.As Tonghang, Li Peng also admired these gods and men, but unfortunately he was not able to see them because of fate.

It took several months for the "Clarion News" to be transported from the Far East to the mainland. Naturally, the timeliness was beyond the reach, and the price was prohibitively expensive, enough to discourage ordinary people.However, Li Peng has a rich net worth, is an industry insider, and cares about world affairs, so he naturally doesn't think these overseas newspapers and periodicals with important information are expensive.In fact, not only the "Clarion", but also a lot of other Far Eastern and European publications at home, which gave him many different perspectives - as the saying goes, a scholar can know the world's affairs without going out.

The news about the war situation in the Far East in the "Clarion" has always been the focus of reports.It took Li Peng several hours to read, read, and study each of the earliest ones, and he finally got a general idea of ​​its context.In short, the current Qing-Shun war has entered the second half of the middle stage. Shunguo has three-way campaign against the Qing, mobilizing more than 20 troops, fighting from three directions: Sichuan, Hubei, and Jiangnan.The Qing Dynasty also mobilized more than 25 people from all over the country to fight, and it also had a geographical advantage. Therefore, in the end, the two routes of the Shunguo three-way army ended in vain, and only a small victory was achieved along the way.

For the West Route Army, the Dashun Sichuan shogunate selected elites and continued to launch fierce attacks in northern Sichuan, capturing a large number of Qing army forts and passes, and once saw the hope of attacking Hanzhong.Reluctantly, the Qing army was not good at stumping, defending desperately, and recruited recruits in Shaanxi to form a green battalion to help Hanzhong.Dashun Zuoying was deeply impressed by the bravery of the swordsmen from northern Shaanxi. These people are obviously old soldiers, but they have outstanding sword skills and tenacious fighting will. With a small amount of artillery from the new army, they even defeated Liu Zhonggui's soldiers several times. Let him sigh with emotion.Of course, he didn't know that the reputation of swordsmen in northern Shaanxi had existed in ancient times, and it also existed in later generations. The Northern Shaanxi People's Army, which beat the Beiyang soldiers head-to-toe with simple equipment, is a clear proof. It's no wonder that Brother Huanzhang likes to recruit soldiers there.

Fortunately, Sichuan is rich after all, with relatively strong financial resources, and Liu Zhonggui is a ruthless man who spared no expense on the strength of the people. In the end, under repeated offensives, he not only wiped out all the strongholds of the Qing army in northern Sichuan, but also pulled down many passes that entered Hanzhong. .Now the ministry is undergoing renovations due to the huge casualties. I believe that after the renovations are completed, they will start to seize Hanzhong.And Liu Zhonggui's offensive also disrupted the deployment of the Qing court.They had to mobilize elite new troops from the Turpan area, supplemented by the Shaanxi-Gansu Green Battalion, intending to fight to the death with the Zuo Battalion in the Hanzhong area to ensure the safety of the Northwest.

The Central Route Army was originally the main force of Dashun, with strong strength, a large number of troops, and the best equipment.Reluctantly, the terrain on the opposite side is complex and the water network is densely covered. After decades of confrontation, both sides have built an astonishing number of fortresses, which is really difficult for people to move forward.Moreover, the Henan new army compiled and trained by the Qing court has never moved lightly, and has always been deployed in Xinyang, rushing to help the front line at any time.After several battles, neither side benefited.The three battalions of the front, middle and rear of the Shun Army consisted of 10 horses. In the end, only a dozen Qing army fortresses were demolished, and they finally stopped in the muddy puddles of the Han River Basin.

The only one that played well was probably the Jiangnan battlefield.In this battle, Dashun Zhongying and Youying (led by the Yuan family) were the main force, supplemented by a large number of local troops, and launched a fierce offensive against the Qing army in the south of the Yangtze River. In the end, two major victories were achieved in Jiuhuashan and Taiping County. Annihilated 4 Qing troops.Afterwards, the two groups of troops totaled more than [-] people. Taking advantage of Dashun's superiority in the navy, the Qing army was attacked by water and land, and the Qing army was extremely passive.

At present, the Shun army has occupied most of the two prefectures of Chizhou and Huizhou, and used the navy to threaten Anqing in the north of the Yangtze River, causing the local Qing army to throw rats and surprise them three times a day.Generally speaking, the advantage of the Shun army in this battlefield is quite obvious. It was unwise for the Qing army to consume Dalian's troops in the Hangzhou camp before, and let the Shun army take the lead.However, the future situation of Jiangnan remains to be seen.The Qing army has a lot of troops in the south of the Yangtze River, and the combat effectiveness of the Shun army is not so high. Before that, they achieved breakthroughs after a long and hard battle. Whether they can go down the river and fight to Nanjing remains to be seen. Although their The economy may not be able to support it anymore - the agricultural country fights the war like the industrial country, it is so painful.

"The three-way Northern Expedition was earth-shattering. But the population of Shun State is less than one-third of that of Qing State, the land area is also small, and its internal politics is not very unified. The reason why it has a slight upper hand now is just the reform dividend. Their mobilization and organizational capabilities, economic hematopoietic capabilities, transportation capabilities, and military modernization are one step ahead. But the Qing Dynasty is also continuing to reform, and it is still unknown who will win the battle in the future." Li Peng put down the newspaper, smiled slightly, and said to himself Yu said: "However, I am optimistic about Shun country. This country is relatively simple, and the resistance to reform is much smaller than that of Qing country. The exchanges with our country are also more frequent, and various new ideas, new technologies, and new equipment are also flowing into this country faster. As long as The window of exchanges with our country will not be narrowed, and they will not turn back the wheel of history, and time is on their side. I don’t know what decisions should be made by the feudal clans in the Far East based on the current situation?”

"China is our tea field, Persia, India, Japan and South China are our silk mills, the North American Free State is our cotton plantation, New Courland is our source of tobacco and timber, and the East Indies are our Spice production, India is our sugarcane production area, Peru provides us with minerals, New Spain sends us gold, and Europe catches seafood for us. Such a strategic pattern is the world that can arouse our excitement! If It’s so beautiful that the masters of the main committee can call me for consultation when making decisions, and of course you are a man!” Thinking of this, Li Peng stood up excitedly, still thinking in his mouth: “The direction of the current world situation The node is in our hands. What a great opportunity to establish a century-old national destiny and become the leader of human civilization. No, I have to organize my thoughts, write more books, and advocate for my strategy of the Great East Bank. At this time, The minds of the people must be unified, once the opportunity is lost, it will be difficult to get it back.”

(End of this chapter)