I want to be emperor

Chapter 1108 Chu’s exploitation and Chu’s culture are tantamount to rebellion!

Halbrand, on behalf of the Kingdom of Sweden, proposed the purchase of single-shot rifled rifles to enhance the kingdom's army's suppression of rebel forces, reduce the pressure on the Chu army stationed in Sweden and Finland, and use the same rifled weapons and equipment. It can also better coordinate the military operations of the Foreign Legion, increase the logistical supply capabilities of the Foreign Legion, and reduce the military expenditure of the Foreign Legion.

That's right, the reason for the purchase proposed by Halbrand was not to strengthen the so-called national defense of the Kingdom of Sweden itself, but to strengthen the internal pressure... to better assist the Chu army in combat and reduce the size of the Chu Empire. An important military force in the European region, the military expenditure cost of the Foreign Legion, optimized logistics capabilities, etc.

This is completely like a bitch who thinks about his master!

Of course, that’s what the saying goes, but everyone is smart... Even if Halbrand didn’t take the initiative to say it, the people in the Imperial Household Affairs Bureau also knew that the true goals of the Kingdom of Sweden were, in addition to internal suppression, defense. In addition to the civil war, it is also to defend the Kingdom of Finland and gain a military advantage over the Kingdom of Finland!

However, the Kingdom of Sweden's military procurement requests have gone beyond the scope of simple vassal affairs and are also related to many issues such as military security and even defense industry orders.

The most important thing is that in the past two years, the empire's top officials have significantly loosened military export restrictions on vassal countries, and even indirectly approved the plans of the West African Kingdom and the Kingdom of the United States and Song Dynasty to purchase Type 24 rifles and corresponding machine guns and artillery. …

Although there is a security company here...but no one is a fool.

Without the approval of the empire's top brass, this operation of borrowing a security company would simply not work.

These Chu-origin vassal states have begun to supply and use Type 24 rifles in limited quantities. So, will they also be liberalized to other ordinary indigenous vassal states, so as to stimulate a wave of military procurement plans of these vassal states and obtain more What about the weapons orders?

In addition, some former military generals have also suggested that simply restricting arms exports can restrict the development of the military power of these indigenous countries, but it also stimulates the idea of ​​secretly developing military industries in these indigenous countries.

Over the years, the Chu Empire has successively discovered arsenals that were secretly opened in some indigenous countries and regions... Although these arsenals are basically used to build the names of various rebel armies, they are actually used to smuggle imports from the Chu Kingdom. Mechanical equipment and materials were used to create some single-shot rifled rifles.

This has been discovered, but what about what has not been discovered?

how many?

This is something no one knows.

Anyway, in recent years, some rebels in Europe, West Asia and other regions have released a batch of imitation rifled rifles from time to time to stimulate the Chu army's nerves... The foreign legions stationed by the Chu army in Europe have come from time to time. A military operation to destroy these rebels and their arsenal.

Although the effect is quite good... But there is no way to prevent thieves from this kind of thing. If you are on guard, someone might even get a repeating rifle.

It's not that the Chu people looked down upon these natives, but that the Chu people knew very well how much their smugglers wanted to make money.

As long as the Chu Empire continues to ban these advanced rifled weapons, these indigenous countries will continue to think of secretly imitating these rifled weapons... For this reason, they will not hesitate to purchase these smuggled equipment and raw materials at high prices and even hire Chu engineers at sky-high prices.

There is a market, there is demand... Those smugglers don't care so much, they will just smuggle all kinds of equipment and raw materials over there to make astonishing profits.

They don't care what consequences this smuggling will have on national security.

In addition, this kind of smuggling is actually difficult to completely intercept... because the mechanical equipment required to make guns, especially some backward single-shot rifles, are entry-level mechanical equipment for the industry of the Dachu Empire... You can do it with any mechanical equipment.

And these mechanical equipment are everywhere in Chu State...many third-rate equipment manufacturers can provide them.

How can I put it, if these indigenous people just want to secretly build a small-scale, manual workshop-style small-scale rifled rifle arsenal, in fact, smugglers can easily obtain the equipment and then transport it to Europe through various methods.

For these indigenous countries, for those smugglers... the most difficult thing is not to purchase these equipment from Chu State, because these equipment are everywhere in Chu State, and you can just find a small and bankrupt machinery factory. After purchasing their equipment in the name of purchasing scraps... these equipments can be used to make guns if they are modified and pieced together...

But how to transport these second-hand scrapped equipment to Europe, and how to transport it to various indigenous countries bypassing the supervision of the Chu State.

This is the real challenge.

Although this challenge is very difficult, the profits are high... Those smugglers are very smart in order to make money, and they can think of all kinds of smuggling methods... For example, they dismantle the equipment and smuggle it in the form of parts.

There is no need to go through any trouble at customs. You only need to secretly load it on the ship in China, and then when you arrive in Europe, you don’t need to dock. You can just put the boat down on the coast near the destination for transportation...

The Chu Navy will not idle around helping these indigenous countries to fight against smuggling...and the indigenous people themselves...what are they doing to fight against themselves!

Restrictions on equipment, material smuggling... and even arms smuggling are actually the norm... Even if it is as powerful as the Chu Empire, it will be difficult to completely put an end to this kind of smuggling.

This means that sooner or later, these indigenous countries will be able to obtain enough equipment and materials through this method, and then imitate single-shot rifles.

Of course, the Chu Empire had another more ruthless move... The empire made it clear that it would not allow the vassal states to develop so-called industries, and they could not even build their own steam engines.

If you do it secretly and on a small scale, the empire won't be able to find it for a while... But don't expect to be able to build any arsenal or even other modern industries openly and openly...

The Da Chu Empire is very strong in this regard, even unreasonable... The principle is that I don't care what you do, as long as I find the factory, I will directly send troops to destroy it...

Bite me if you can!

Preventing the development of industry in indigenous countries is one of the core policies of the Chu Empire's foreign policy... People in these indigenous countries have gone to engage in industry, who will farm and mine for the Chu people?

There is no need for the existence of these indigenous people who do not farm and mine... A large group of extreme radicals in Chu State dared to shout that these indigenous people will not farm and mine for us anyway, so it is better to take the land and not the people. , and then go farming and mining by yourself...

This is not nonsense, but within the empire, there are indeed quite a few people who firmly support the need to control the territory but not the people.

The Da Chu Empire had been trying for decades to seize territory but not people. It conquered a huge part of the Americas and completely took over the Nanyang region, Central Asia, and Eastern Europe... The effect was very leveraged, so within the empire, it was still There are quite a few people who support this approach.

And even though more Chu people do not express their support clearly, we will not object to it if you want to do it... They are both exemplary and upright.

In fact, there are very few Chu people in the contemporary era who clearly oppose the policy of "requiring land but not people"...

To be honest...the fact that these indigenous vassal states can survive to this day is really thanks to the Great Chu Empire, which began to reduce its population growth rate in the late 1930s, and at the same time started the second industrial revolution, which required a variety of industrial raw materials and agricultural products. Demand has also increased massively.

Then it made the people of Chu feel that instead of asking for land but not people, it would be better to keep people for farming and mining...

Otherwise, Europe will most likely end up like America!

And this also means that the Chu Empire has strong control over Europe.

But...the above is all for now, what about the future?

The current Chu Empire is absolutely sure to control these vassal states, and will destroy their factories if they find them.

But what about the future?

No one knows what will happen in the future. Not to mention, even twenty years from now it is difficult for Chu people and even Luo Zhixue himself to predict.

There are too many variables in the future, and no one dares to judge easily...

There are various possibilities in the future, which means that the potential risk of rebellion in the vassal states also exists.

Under such circumstances, the top leaders of the Chu State began to consider how to further strengthen their control over these vassal states.

Economically, it has done very well. The global integrated economic model combines the single industrialization of each vassal country... This set of things will continue for another ten or twenty years. By then, the people of Chu will want to attack a certain vassal country. , you don’t need to do it yourself, you only need to exclude a certain vassal country from the global economic and trade system, and they will all have to starve to death... literally starve to death.

Because the agricultural planting model of most indigenous countries is that under the control of the Chu people, various economic crops are planted on a large scale... The area of ​​food cultivation has been restricted, and most indigenous countries cannot be self-sufficient in food. Once the Chu people The Chinese people cut off his food supply and starved to death in minutes.

Not to mention that by then, these indigenous people will stop growing cash crops and switch to growing food... In the original time and space, there were so many so-called independent countries in Africa, how many of them could do this? There are not many, most of them suffer from years of famine... But what is very strange is that they also export various economic crops on a large scale to earn foreign exchange.

Farmers in many areas have been cultivating cash crops for decades or hundreds of years, and they no longer even know how to grow food...

A single regional economic system... this thing is very deadly.

Otherwise, how could the Chu people regard this as a basic national policy? This set of things is not only used in vassal states, but is actually used in the vast empire's directly administered territories and administrative territories. Its purpose is naturally very Keep it simple and avoid future splits!

The economy is deeply bound and cannot be divided even if you want to... For example, in North America, there are now various mechanized farms everywhere, producing massive amounts of various crops every year.

And once there is no huge local consumer market, local farmers will go bankrupt collectively... You can't expect the tens of millions of people in the three provinces of North America to digest the crops originally produced for hundreds of millions of people.

Moreover, food production also has costs...especially this agricultural production model of mechanized planting...the crops produced are actually not much different from the industrial commodities produced in factories. The cost of each grain of food Behind the scenes are clearly marked costs, including labor costs, land rent, depreciation of machinery and equipment, maintenance and usage costs, purchase costs of seeds and fertilizers, subsequent transportation costs of grain shipments, etc... These costs are all piled on top. .

Once food prices collapse, countless farmers will go bankrupt overnight.

How to avoid a food price collapse? This requires a huge population in East Asia for consumption. Therefore, America needs a market for various agricultural and livestock products in East Asia, and it is an extreme need.

Similarly, people in East Asia also need agricultural and livestock products from the Americas to reduce their living costs and increase per capita food consumption... Once there are no large amounts of agricultural and livestock products from the Americas, the 700 million people in East Asia will The population, let alone starvation, is certain that living standards will decline to a certain extent.

Therefore, there is a relationship of mutual need between East Asia, the Americas, and even other imperial territories... Once out of this system, it will be very difficult for everyone!

This is the global economic system... and the regional single economic system that the senior officials of the Dachu Empire have worked hard to construct.

Let the mainland and overseas territories be like conjoined twins, no one can live without the other... to prevent fools from wanting to separate the family in the future. Under this economic system, once the family is separated, they will die together. To put it in a 10,000 step back Either death or serious injury. This is the internal situation of the empire itself, and in the vassal countries, it is promoting a more extreme regional single economic system... This extreme regional single economic system, for the empire, as long as all the vassal countries do not launch rebellion at the same time, it is just Just one or two vassal states would not have any practical impact on the empire's global economy...

But for the rebellious vassal states themselves, it was a situation of large-scale famine.

When it comes to economic issues, the empire's top officials are quite confident... It is optimistically estimated that there won't be any big problems even fifty years from now.

But on other issues, especially the military, it is more difficult to say.

Compared with the success of the economic system, military problems have always existed and have not been completely solved... This can be seen from the fact that there are still many active resistance armies in Europe and West Asia.

The sources of these resistance armies are diverse... Even many of the resistance armies did not come to fight against Chu in the first place. Many of them were dissatisfied with the local nobles and then revolted... or it was simply a civil war between nobles. The loser would not Be willing to fail and continue to resist secretly.

But in the end, a considerable number of these resistance armies will become resistance to the Chu State's control of the area and plunder the surplus value of local labor.

Here, one point must be made clear, that is, the Chu Empire did not want any large-scale military turmoil in the vassal states under its rule.

Because only when the region is stable and in a state of peace can labor production be carried out effectively. Only when labor is produced can labor surplus value be generated. Then the Chu people can exchange industrial commodities for their various agricultural and livestock products through trade. Mineral products, etc.

Otherwise, there will be constant civil wars in an indigenous country, with wars going on all day long... Even if these wars seem to have nothing to do with the Chu people, and they are the indigenous people fighting themselves, they will still seriously affect the interests of the Chu people.

Now that the war is over, who is going to farm and mine?

And when the war is raging, how can these indigenous people farm and mine with peace of mind?

Without farming and mining, where would the interests of the people of Chu come from?

Based on this, the attitude of the Chu people in Europe is actually relatively clear, that is, I don't care about small fights. Even if you want to fight a large-scale war, you can also fight a decisive battle... But, you can't Go bankrupt!

The war between the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Wales was fought for several years, but the war broke out in the border areas of both sides. It did not go deep into the hinterland of either side, nor did it cause large-scale war damage. at this point……

At that time, the people of Chu State used the reason of protecting the interests of Chu State to formulate a lot of restrictive rules for the war between the two sides, including demarcating the war zone, not disrupting normal production, not attacking civilian caravans, transportation teams, etc...

At that time, the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Wales were fighting a bloody battle, but the trade between the two sides under the leadership of the Chu people continued... Various caravans belonging to the Chu people traded between the two countries every day.

And at that time, they were still continuing to build the railway from England to Wales... The two countries were at war while building the railway connecting the two countries.

This is also rare in the history of war.

why?

Because the Da Chu Empire does not allow it!

You natives will fight back, but if anyone dares to harm the interests of the Chu Empire, the empire will kill you in minutes!

But... this threat is very effective for the ruling regimes of those indigenous countries, but it has no effect on the rebels and resistance forces with various names.

People don't care about you being from the Chu country, let alone the overall situation. Who cares about you when there is a fire... For example, those rebels, people can't just look at the other side just because of a word from you from the Chu country. The native king's army will build roads and bridges, and build fortresses at the doorstep of their homes...

They can't tie their hands and feet when fighting in order to protect the people of Chu. They can only fight the king's army in a limited area...

These rebels were offended, and they even dared to ambush the foreign legion of the Chu people.

In order to seize weapons and equipment, many rebels have tried to ambush some small-scale and sporadic patrols and outposts of the Chu Foreign Legion...

Of course, there were relatively few successes, and most of them were killed on the spot by the Chu Army's foreign legion.

Despite this, it also proves that although many rebels are actually worried about the Chu people, their worries are limited... let alone the so-called interests of the Chu people.

This also leads to the fact that the interests of Chu people in war-torn areas cannot be protected!

This is why the Chu people require the indigenous countries to maintain stability, at least generally.

However, the existence of various rebels and resistance forces is a fact... many of them are caused by the Chu people themselves...

A single economic system is not a good thing just by thinking about it.

The representatives of the Chu people's interests, that is, the kings and nobles of the indigenous countries, do these things, not with tenderness and laughter, but with blood and tears!

Many natives couldn't bear it and rebelled against the nobles.

In the past, Europe was still purely feudal in the Middle Ages, and the serfs could not resist even if they wanted to. However, when the Chu people came to Europe, they not only brought industrial goods, military suppression, and the exploitation of various labor surplus values. , also brought many Chinese cultural ideas.

For example: Wang Xiangjun Hou Ning has some kind of talent!

The merchants and citizens who were deeply squeezed and exploited by the nobles... were also some groups who had the opportunity to come into contact with the cultural knowledge of the Chu people. After learning from it, many people became rebels, and then instigated a group of serfs, miners and the like. The play rebelled.

If you dig deeper and seek the essence, to a certain extent, the various messy rebels everywhere in Europe today were all caused by the Chu people...

The medieval serfdom system in Europe used to be played well, and the nobles were very happy... But with the arrival of the Chu people, the exploitation of the Chu people and the culture of the Chu people... these two things have changed in Europe As soon as they were combined, the local resistance consciousness was inexplicably awakened, so that the rebels were like weeds that sprouted again in the spring breeze.

The people of Chu actually have no objection to these indigenous rebels rebelling against the nobles, the king, and the like. If you can overthrow the king, I will let you be my agent... whatever it is.

As for you not wanting to be an agent, but still wanting to be independent? It doesn't matter, if you don't agree, many of your subordinates will agree.

Even if we take 10,000 steps back, if the newly ascended power elites do not agree to be agents and are all a group of die-hard elements, the worst case scenario is that they will send out foreign legions to personally kill their senior leaders, and then randomly choose any cat or dog to be the king!

The Chu people have done this at least hundreds of times around the world, and this is how many kings in indigenous countries rose to power.

In short, when it comes to supporting agents, Chu people are professional and very skilled in business... these are not separate matters.

But the people of the Chu State were very dissatisfied with these chaotic rebels who did not abide by the rules of engagement and disrupted normal labor production!

If you have an opinion, you will naturally find a way to deal with it!

For example, strengthening the military power of agents so that they can better suppress these chaotic resistance armies is an option!

And this is also an important reason why Halbrand applied for the purchase of rifled weapons!

Halbrand did not just talk about the reasons casually, but after in-depth research, he used this point of view as the main entry point to try to impress the Chu people and let them relax the export restrictions on rifled weapons and allow them to They, the Kingdom of Sweden, procured rifled weapons.

And it has to be said that this reason is also recognized by some Chu officials.

In addition, there are some Chu people, mainly those in the national defense industry, who say that if there are restrictions on weapons, it goes without saying that guns and cannons will be restricted... Without bullets, these firearms are just fire sticks, and the rifled rifle uses a cannon. They are all metal-cased bullets.

The processing difficulty of this thing is not low, and it is even more difficult to produce it in large quantities.

The same is true for artillery. The difficulty of large-scale mass production of artillery shells is actually as difficult as the artillery itself.

Therefore, the people in the defense industry said that this gun can be exported, and only the bullets and shells need to be restricted in the future... and it is best not to sell any 11mm single-shot rifles. The technology of this thing is still a bit technical. It's simple, and you won't make much money. It's best to just buy an eight-millimeter firearm.

This thing, even an eight-millimeter black powder bullet, would take the natives decades to produce, let alone an eight-millimeter smokeless powder bullet.

The weapons purchased must be advanced enough to completely eliminate the idea of ​​these indigenous countries engaging in independent national defense...

The 11mm paper shell is equipped with a single-shot rifle. These indigenous people can also set up small workshops to imitate through small-scale smuggling...

But the Type 24 rifle and the Type 26 rifle of the eight-millimeter black powder bullet series.

Even the newer eight-millimeter smokeless series of firearms, such as Type 27 rifles, Type 28 rifles, and matching machine guns... It is impossible for these indigenous countries to produce them no matter what.

Even if they do it openly, it is impossible to do it... because behind this, what is needed is not just one or two pieces of equipment, but an entire industrial system.

This is the advantage brought about by the absolute industrial generation difference... No matter how hard you try, it won't work.

Therefore, the argument from the defense industry is that why do they do so much mess and just open it up for sale...

However, this is only the opinion of some people in the defense industry. In the eyes of many high-ranking officials in the empire, such weapons and equipment cannot be purchased indiscriminately, and even if they are purchased, they must be restricted.

For example, the eight-millimeter series of repeating rifles, regardless of whether they are smokeless or black powder, cannot be sold... No matter what those in the defense industry say, they will not be exported on a large scale. This thing brings The threat is too great.

But you can still consider selling this 11mm series of single-shot rifles!

(End of this chapter)