I want to be emperor

Just when the Great Chu Empire held a great court meeting on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month and accepted congratulations from hundreds of vassal states, far away in West Africa.

In Kara City, the capital of the West African Kingdom, Chen Jingyun looked at the small town outside with a sense of accomplishment in his heart, but at the same time he also felt regret.

Last year, he knew that the empire would summon envoys from various countries during the imperial meeting, and allowed each vassal state to station a number of diplomatic personnel in Jinling City for a long time to handle the affairs between the two sides.

This means that the Chu Empire has broken the diplomatic channels that have been closed for more than 40 years, and is finally willing to formally contact overseas countries and grant certain diplomatic status to overseas countries.

Before this, the Chu Empire had actually maintained a very high attitude and had never allowed foreign countries, even vassal states, to send diplomats to be stationed in Jinling City.

For a long time, Guangzhou served as the diplomatic base of various countries, and later it was further relocated to Singapore.

Therefore, for a long time, no foreign diplomats could reach the hinterland of the Chu Empire, let alone Jinling City.

The Great Chu Empire did this, and it did not mean that it was closed to the country... In fact, the Great Chu Empire had been paying close attention to overseas regions for a long time, and dispatched vassal personnel to all parts of the world.

The Great Chu Empire simply did not allow overseas indigenous diplomats to go to Jinling City, let alone meet His Majesty...

That's not necessary!

This is actually a manifestation of extreme pride!

I know where you are, but I just ignore you...

That is to say, the Great Chu Empire's foreign expansion policy has gradually changed in recent years, from the simple expansion and colonization in the past to the pursuit of global economic integration.

From simple military expansion and colonial plunder, to today's use of diplomacy and economics as a means to get things done, military means are only used when it really can't be done.

The pursuit is to obtain the highest benefits at the lowest cost!

Under this circumstance, the importance of foreign affairs has gradually increased, and the staffing and funding available to the Domain Affairs Department have also increased year by year.

By last year, the empire's top officials had already made plans to separate the Domain Affairs Department from the Ministry of Etiquette and establish an independent Domain Affairs Department or a second-grade Domain Affairs Bureau.

It's just a discussion for the time being, and it has not been implemented yet... The empire has been established for more than forty years and has been running stably for such a long time. The coordination of various institutions and related personnel, the division of power, and the checks and balances have formed a relatively stable system. 's structure.

A hasty split will shake the current balance.

Even if Luo Zhixue wanted to split up the Ethical and Education Department himself, he would still need to make repeated measurements and make a lot of prerequisite adjustments and preparations.

To a certain extent, the coming of all nations to the DPRK is actually the preliminary preparation work for the independent establishment of the Domain Affairs Department!

Otherwise, there would not even be any diplomats from the vassal country in Jinling City, and setting up a vassal affairs department would feel like a waste of money.

And these, for the Dachu Empire, may be an organizational adjustment, but more of an internal power game.

Externally, these actions had a huge impact on the vassal states.

With the current size of the Chu Empire, even without the use of any military means, even some changes in high-level personnel, and some internal economic adjustments are very likely to affect the life and death of many vassal states.

For example, recently governors in the Americas, especially East America, have been calling for coal and iron export policies... hoping that the empire's top officials will restrict coal mining and iron ore mining in Africa, Europe and other regions.

why?

Because East America has a large amount of rich coal and iron resources, but due to lack of population, high mining costs, and small local markets, it is difficult to develop even if it has a large amount of coal and iron resources.

As for the best industrial products in East America, especially coal and steel products, the European region has liberalized the mining of coal and iron ore resources in vassal countries because of the empire's global economic integration policy in the early years. Control of industrial equipment.

This has caused East America to lose an important export market for its coal and steel products... and can only rely on the local market in the Americas for support.

Although the money is not less, who would dislike making a lot of money!

Local coal and iron ore merchants, local officials in East America, and even ordinary people have always hoped to implement a complete ban on coal and iron mining in Europe... The coal and iron ore used locally are directly from our East America. It’s fine if it can be transported to the local area, why do you have to dig it locally?

This plan made the fish in Xuanwu Lake in Jinling City come out and spit bubbles...

On the one hand, there is also the fact that the price of wool within the empire has fluctuated several times in the past two years... This is not only affected by climate factors in wool-producing areas around the world, but also by transportation, but it is also indispensable for the influence of some financial institutions.

Many of the empire's wool and even many materials are futures products. Financial institutions will operate on these futures products, going long or short, which will inevitably have a certain impact on the market.

As wool is an important industrial raw material in the contemporary Da Chu Empire, it is also an important trade material in the Da Chu Empire and many vassal countries. The slight rise and fall in its price actually has little impact on the Da Chu Empire itself... After all, Da Chu Empire The empire's wool sources were globalized, and at the same time, the Chu Empire itself was actually the largest wool-producing country, and its wool supply was very elastic.

However, for many vassal countries that relied on the wool export trade to make a living, the fluctuations in wool prices were very exciting... When prices continued to rise, they laughed from ear to ear, but when prices continued to fall, they cried for father and mother.

Many things have little impact on the Chu Empire itself, and can even be said to be normal economic cycle adjustments. .

But for each vassal state, these things will directly affect their rise and fall.

This... is the result of global economic integration, the huge impact that the Chu Empire has had on various vassal states.

For most of the vassal states, the Chu Empire didn't even need to do anything more. It only needed some price increases or decreases for supplies, or simply a trade blockade, and the vassal state would be finished.

As for declaring war and destroying the country!

Those are the ultimate means for the Chu Empire to maintain its hegemony, and they will not be used easily. On weekdays, they are at most the foreign legions stationed in the vassal countries to fight against rebels in various places and other messy names... Well, The fights were basically security operations.

As for large-scale battles, after the end of the Eastern European War, the Chu Empire has not fought for several years... It is not that the Chu Empire cannot afford to fight, nor that it cannot bear the consequences of the war.

It was purely because the Chu Empire found that it was not necessary...

Diplomacy and economic means, plus sporadic small-scale battles like security wars, are enough to maintain the situation. There is no need to mobilize tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of regular troops to engage in large-scale wars...a waste of money!

This is why the Dachu Empire has continued to reduce the number of regular troops in recent years, continues to increase the number of technical arms and technical weapons of the regular army, and continues to advance the regular army in the direction of elites, while a large number of second and third line combat power vacancies have been created by Large-scale expansion of low-cost foreign legions to bear.

In the past five years, the Dachu Empire Army has eliminated some second-class divisions and further prepared the remaining second-class divisions for combat readiness.

This system is actually to increase the planning of Class A combat readiness divisions and downsize the Standing Class B divisions... to reduce personnel, improve equipment levels, and improve combat readiness rates.

Before the change, the Chu army had one million first-class and second-class divisions, so only about half of the first-class divisions and some of the second-class divisions that were deployed for combat could be pulled out to fight at any time, and the remaining half still had to be carried out. Only after mobilization and replenishment can they be drawn out to fight.

But after the change, the number of troops dropped to about 800,000, but these 800,000 were all fully equipped and could be pulled out to fight at any time.

As for the changes in the C-class garrison divisions, the Chu army is continuing to upgrade the equipment and personnel level of the C-class garrison divisions, trying to change the large number of C-class garrison divisions from the past simple low-intensity internal affairs and almost no formal combat tasks. The security force has evolved into a reserve force that can undertake certain regular army combat tasks after mobilization and supplementation...that is, trying to let the C-class garrison division assume the tasks of the B-class division in the past.

The Da Chu Empire Army tried to change the regular army's A-class combat readiness division, B-class standing division, and C-class garrison division into only two types: combat readiness division and garrison division... In this way, the total number of troops was reduced on a large scale and the combat effectiveness was improved. .

The reason behind this kind of restructuring is actually the continuous advancement of technology. The gap in equipment level between the regular army and the garrison is getting wider and wider, and the gap in combat effectiveness is also getting wider and wider!

A few decades ago, although the equipment of the garrison divisions was poor, they could still cooperate with the regular army in combat. The garrison divisions in border areas were often part of the combat force. They could fight when they were drawn out, and they were also the vanguard of external expansion.

But now...the regular army has begun to engage in one-hit kills a few kilometers away. Machine guns and artillery have taken turns to play. They even have bicycle cavalry units. They have also started to engage in gasoline vehicle cavalry units, steam engine tractor artillery and even subsequent gasoline vehicle artillery units. Troops.

As for the garrison, they were still equipped with old single-shot rifles... not even an artillery piece.

The gap in combat effectiveness between the two is so great that even the fighting methods are different, so that the existing garrison cannot effectively cooperate with the regular army!

Otherwise, it will happen. The garrison marched hard for several kilometers. When they launched a fierce attack on the enemy, the sound of artillery shells was heard in the sky. The enemy on the opposite side and even their own positions were bombarded by long-range artillery from the rear...

Naturally, the top brass of the Army will not sit back and let this happen, so they have been thinking about how to improve the combat effectiveness of the garrison in the past few years... Well, at the same time, they cannot significantly increase funding.

At the same time, no matter what the Army does, the decline in the total number of troops is inevitable. This is also the key goal of this round of Army reform, which is to control the total number of troops and the number of mules and horses maintained in peacetime, and then reduce the huge daily consumption...

And after the strength of the regular army decreases, how to replenish the vacancies?

This is the main reason for the massive expansion of the Foreign Legion. The Chu army is preparing a foreign legion of 500,000 people, which can be expanded to a million people in one go.

These Foreign Legions are cheap and easy to use!

For example, the salary and food consumption of soldiers in the Foreign Legion only require about one-fifth of that of regular army soldiers.

As for the cost of equipment... you can say it's free, because they use old guns and artillery that have been retired by the regular army. If they are not allowed to use them, then the military will have to spend money to seal them up.

The cost of mules and horses is also low, because most of these foreign legions are stationed in the local area and perform tasks in nearby areas, so not many mules and horses are needed.

It is not like the first-class troops in the regular army of the Chu army. No matter where they are garrisoned, they have enough mules and horses.

Because the combat distance of Class A troops is limited to 150 kilometers... This 150 kilometers does not mean that the maneuverability of Class A troops reaches 150 kilometers, but refers to the unit's own mobility. Logistics maintain distance.

To put it simply, after a first-class division travels 150 kilometers from the material transfer station, the division's own logistics and transportation troops can still transport sufficient materials from the rear material transfer station for supplies.

There is no need for the source of logistical power from friendly forces or higher-level military headquarters, nor is there any need for local governments to temporarily assemble horse-drawn carriages or civilians to undertake transportation tasks.

This can be met by relying solely on its own logistics and transportation capabilities... Therefore, each first-class division in the Chu Empire Army has a large baggage regiment, and the artillery regiment and cavalry regiment also have their own baggage battalions... …

The proportion of baggage troops and mules and horses in a first-class division is quite high.

This is one of the two major reasons why the first-class division of the Chu Empire Army consumes a lot of mules and horses. The other major reason is naturally because the artillery and cavalry units also have a large number of mules in order to maintain strong enough mobility. horse.

But the Foreign Legion... doesn't have to be so troublesome. The nature of the Foreign Legion is between the B and C divisions. It usually garrisoned a certain vassal country for a long time to intimidate the local area. When necessary, it can launch a major campaign independently or in conjunction with the regular army. Large-scale operations...but the scope of operations is generally limited to nearby areas.

If long-distance mobilization is required, it is often a large-scale mobilization arranged by higher authorities. In this case, servant troops or young men from the vassal country are usually recruited to be responsible for logistics and transportation.

And doing this will save a lot of money on mules and horses!

Don’t think it’s just the consumption of mules and horses… but the consumption of mules and horses is actually very huge!

The three major expenses in the Chu army were personnel costs, guns and ammunition costs, and mules and horses costs.

As long as you can save a few percentage points from the consumption of mules and horses, that is a big sum.

As for the combat effectiveness of the foreign legion created in this way, you may say it is strong, but in fact it is just that... Even after successively replacing the Type 18 single-shot rifles, its combat effectiveness is far from what the regular Chu army was preparing single-shot rifles. time to compare.

In many exercises, it has been proved that even if they use the same weapons and equipment, the regular Chu army can chase the foreign legions and fight with less, and they can fight more with less.

Even if the Chu army used cold weapons, they could kill the foreign legion using single-shot rifles... What this represents is the overall quality of the soldiers, especially the all-round gap in combat quality and morale and belief.

To put it simply, the Foreign Legion is actually a group of mercenaries, while the regular army is a modern army with a modern national consciousness... The inherent combat effectiveness of the two is not on the same level.

So even if they use the same weapons and have the same logistics supplies, the foreign legions are far from being a match for the regular army...

But...even this is enough.

At least it was enough to deal with the indigenous armies of those vassal countries.

And if it's too strong, to be honest, the top brass of the Chu Army won't feel at ease...

The new round of military reforms in the Chu Empire was based not only on technological progress, but also on global economic integration and changes in the Chu Empire's foreign expansion policy.

When it comes to the vassal states in Europe, their feeling is that the regular army of the Chu people is gradually invisible, but the Indian or West Asian foreign servants of Chu can be seen every day... Obviously they have done nothing wrong, but they are inexplicable. Prices of certain commodities, especially food, have soared.

And these feelings actually exist in some countries established by some Chu people who deregistered their nationality.

Chen Jingyun of the West African Kingdom is no exception... The price of wheat in the past few years has been pretty good. Although there has not been a big price increase, it is relatively stable. Wheat produced in a large number of plantations in the West African Kingdom sells for a good price.

But during the grain harvest season last fall, the purchase price of wheat in West Africa began to gradually fall... When I asked, I learned that North America had a super bumper wheat harvest this year, which directly led to a decline in global grain prices.

It is even more serious in Europe and West Africa... Mainly because there are not many local wheat price consumer markets, and most of them are purchased by local grain merchants and shipped to the local market for sale.

As for what most people in Europe and Africa eat, they actually eat relatively low-grade foods such as corn and sweet potatoes.

But wheat production in the Americas surged last year... Many grain merchants went to the Americas to transport grains back to East Asia for sale. As for wheat and other grains in West Africa, they had no choice but to lower prices accordingly.

Although the price of wheat in Europe is quite high, the consumption of wheat there is also small, and it is basically produced and sold locally. The food imported in Europe is mainly cheap food such as corn and potatoes.

What's more important is that the channels are basically controlled by some large grain merchants affiliated with the Ministry of Industry, and grain prices are controlled... If you want to directly ship wheat to Europe for dumping, that is impossible... This has angered those big grain merchants. Grain merchant, I will arrange the transportation line for you in minutes.

As a small resource supplier, the West African Kingdom naturally has no ability to independently open up any European market, so it can only bite the bullet and lower the price to sell.

At the same time, the cotton market is not very prosperous. Although cotton is still easy to sell, the price of cotton in West Africa will not rise for a long time...

Chen Jingyun has had a lot of headaches in the past two years... You must know that his so-called West African Kingdom is a country, but it is better to say it is a super-large agricultural company disguised as an independent country. The prices of these economic crops have risen and fallen. It is directly related to their financial income.

Under such circumstances, Chen Jingyun was even more eager to gain recognition from the empire and become a vassal state of the empire.

Just like several other vassal states established by former Chu people.

Although the vassal state established by the Chu people had the same name as other indigenous vassal states, the treatment was very different.

The most important thing is that the Chu people have relatively loose control over the export of equipment and technology to some of the vassal states established and recognized by the Chu people themselves.

For example, you can buy Chu's repeating rifles or even breech-loading rifled artillery.

You can purchase some basic agricultural, mining, and transportation industry machinery and equipment, etc. You can even obtain some light industry machinery and equipment through special approval to develop your own small industry.

The empire's positioning towards the small vassal states established by some of the Chu people it recognized was somewhat similar to that of the traditional empire towards vassal states, treating them as younger brothers or even vanguards and thugs for external expansion.

It is different for the indigenous vassal states. These indigenous vassal states are purely regarded as blood bags and carry out all-round surplus value plundering.

Therefore, it is also a vassal state, but a vassal state established by the former Chu people and recognized by the empire is completely different from an indigenous vassal state.

The difference between a younger brother and a slave is huge!

But it is a pity that although the empire treats these vassal states established by Chu people relatively well, the conditions for recognition are also very harsh. It does not mean that if a Chu person goes overseas to establish a country, the empire will recognize it... ...It’s not that good. At least you have to shed blood for the empire and make certain contributions.

In order to seek the political status of the vassal state, Chen Jingyun has spent a lot of effort in recent years. He has also sent a lot of money to the governor and other officials in West Africa. At the same time, he has also spent his own money from time to time to send troops to assist the Chu army in West Africa in combat operations and Provides various local indigenous information.

These behaviors have also been officially turned a blind eye to their founding behavior and received normal trade treatment, but there is still some distance from receiving formal vassal state treatment.

Under such circumstances, Chen Jingyun also plans to work harder and strive to obtain the status of a vassal state within two or three years and officially become a direct vassal state of the empire.

Otherwise, there will be many troubles and restrictions whether it is recruiting talents from abroad or developing agricultural industry or even trade domestically.

Looking at the small port city outside and the merchant ships coming and going outside the port, Chen Jingyun finally made up his mind.

He recruited several of his subordinates without having to take multiple levels, and ordered an additional 500 troops to be sent to the northwest front to keep the total force on the northwest front at a thousand people...

Recently, the Chu army in West Africa is fighting with the local indigenous people, and the West African Kingdom has also sent people to assist in the battle... However, the danger in the interior of Africa has never been the local indigenous people, but the local natural environment. Therefore, the Chu army is going to West Africa. The advance inland was very slow, and non-combat casualties were relatively high.

In the past few years, he has finally come to understand that without paying a heavy price to show his loyalty and determination to the top management of the empire, it is impossible for the empire to grant formal vassal status.

This time Chen Jingyun was determined. Even if a thousand people on the front line died, he would still have to grit his teeth and follow the pace of the empire, and contribute the power of the West African Kingdom to the empire's expansion.

Anyway, except for a very small number of officers from the Chu country, the rest of the troops are European immigrants... There is no need to feel sad if they all die.