I want to be emperor

Chapter 984 The Empire’s New Goal: Eat Well

The contact between the Chu Empire and the Persians began with maritime trade between the two sides. Before the Chu Empire colonized India, it had already conducted maritime trade with India, West Asia and other regions through Western trading companies. At the same time, the Persians would also Merchant ships passed through the Indian Ocean and then went to the ports of Nanyang and even Guangzhou controlled by the Chu people for trade.

In other words, in fact, very early on, the Chu people and the Persians had the earliest formal contact.

However, this contact was very limited and was limited to ordinary commercial trade.

Later, the Chu Empire took over the Kazakh Khanate and colonized the Bukhara Khanate and the Khiva Khanate, so the two sides also had land contact.

Although the territories are not directly adjacent to each other, and there are two indigenous colonies in between, the Chu people still have land passage connections with the Persians. However, this land passage connection is not strong, and the two sides have not traveled hundreds of miles. The idea of ​​the Land Silk Road years ago... Who would bother with land trade when there is convenient and fast maritime trade?

Therefore, despite indirect contact on land, the formal contact between the two parties is still dominated by maritime trade.

It was also during this period that the relationship between the Chu Empire and the Kingdom of Persia was not bad. The Chu State also sold a batch of flintlocks and smoothbore cannons to the Persians to equip their guards.

But this situation did not last long. After the Chu people developed the high-pressure steam engine, they built ships... Then the Chu Empire launched a large-scale overseas expansion operation and soon captured the island of Ceylon. And landed in the Indian Peninsula, began large-scale colonization in the Indian Peninsula, and drove out the Europeans. ,
After taking over the Indian Peninsula, the Chu Empire continued northward along the west coast of the Indian Ocean and entered the Persian Gulf. Later, it captured and controlled the Strait of Hormuz during the battle with the Portuguese.

Later, they leased the Kuwait area from the Ottomans and regarded the Kuwait area as the main trading base for the Ottoman Empire and the Kingdom of Persia.

During this period, the Chu Empire actually controlled the entire Persian Gulf, and a large number of merchant ships traveled through it. The Persians also began to deeply feel the huge pressure brought by the Chu people.

However, in the 20s and even the following 30s, the expansion of the Chu people in the Gulf region was actually very small, and it was basically focused on maintaining the security of trade routes. Although the Persians felt the pressure during this period, they were generally safe. Yes, the Chu people did not force them too much, they just took the concessions of several ports for trade and actually controlled the straits.

Others are not even forced to fully open the market!

Because during this period, the main expansion of the Chu people in the Indian Ocean was still concentrated on the Indian Peninsula, while their secondary focus was on Africa and Europe, and they would not be able to spare any time to trouble the West Asia region.

After entering the 40s, as Europe had been conquered and the grain production plan for Eastern Europe was completed, and in the process, the Ottomans were also defeated, and after the Basra area in the Gulf and the entire peninsula were included, Chu Chinese talents can be regarded as carrying out relatively large-scale expansion and colonization in the Gulf area.

At this time, the Persians also felt a real threat...

Because at this time, the Chu people began to want a comprehensive market in the Persian region... and they also wanted to build a railway, a railway passage from Central Asia south to the Indian Ocean, and an outlet for Central Asia.

Under such circumstances, war broke out!
The war between the Chu Empire and the Kingdom of Persia did not come out of the blue, nor did it mean that the Chu Empire was bent on occupying the land of the Kingdom of Persia... In the beginning, the relationship between the two countries was actually quite good, and they even joined forces to fight Mo on several occasions. Wol Empire.

The Persians were the second indigenous country allowed to purchase flintlock muskets. The Chu people even sold them a flintlock musket production line and sent technicians to help them set up the factory.

It's a pity that the Persians couldn't hold up the wall with their mud. Although they sold the production line to them, they were unable to produce their own flintlock guns for a long time. Key core components, such as springs, were still imported from the empire, and their self-produced flintlock guns were still imported from the empire. The flintlock gun is more expensive than the flintlock gun directly imported from Chu.
Therefore, since their flintlock factory was established with the help of the Chu people and produced a batch of hundreds of qualified products, the subsequent flintlock factories were not very good, and the output was sparse, with only a few hundred guns a year. , they still import large quantities of flintlock guns from Chu State every year to arm the army.

Moreover, in order to save the cost of building an army, the Persians continued to purchase matchlocks... This was the first indigenous country to be allowed to import flintlocks, but still purchased matchlocks.

Once other indigenous countries are allowed to import the flintlock guns of the Chu people, even if the flintlock guns are relatively expensive, most of them will bite the bullet and import the flintlock guns and equip them. Even if the equipment uses matchlock guns, they are usually used. Homemade food.

But the Persians can not only import the flintlock guns of the Chu people, but also produce their own flintlock guns. However, even so, they still import a lot of Chu matchlock guns every year...

This made the arms dealers of the Chu State confused. They couldn't figure out what these Persian natives were thinking... Other natives were rushing to buy flintlock guns. They Persians were better off. They didn't want flintlock guns if they had them, so they went to buy them. Looks like a cheap matchlock gun.

You must know that after 30 to [-] years of technology diffusion and the Chu Empire's continuous arms dumping for many years, the matchlock guns of the Chu Empire can no longer be sold in many places. Currently, customers can only be found in Africa. ...And any knowledgeable African native does not want a matchlock gun, but knows how to use a flintlock gun.

But the Persians, until this war broke out, were still steadily purchasing matchlocks every year...

This is very strange!
But no matter what the Persians sell, it is undeniable that they have been among the only two indigenous countries that can purchase Chu flintlocks for a long time, and the other one is the Ottomans.

From this point, it can also be seen that for a long time, Persia and Chu had actually had a good relationship.

It was only as the empire continued to expand externally, and expanded into the Persian kingdom, that relations broke down.

Finally a war breaks out!
This series of changes in the relationship between the two countries lasted for more than [-] years and ran through the long external expansion process of the Chu Empire.

In the end, the Chu people chose to fall on the Persians!
Because the kings and ministers of the Great Chu Empire could not bear to see an indigenous country on earth that did not fully open the market and did not fully surrender. Especially this indigenous country was not a primitive tribe, but a traditional feudal country in the civilized world.

If it were those African indigenous kingdoms, the Chu Empire actually didn't care much whether they surrendered or not... Anyway, the Chu people treated them as primitive people!

So in contemporary Africa, you can still find many African indigenous kingdoms that are completely independent of the Chu State, and at most do some trade with the Chu people...if you regard these primitive tribes as countries!
But... the Chu Empire pays more attention to the indigenous countries in the civilized world and will not tolerate their independence from the colonial system established by the Chu Empire.

Because these countries in the civilized world have markets and labor forces, and have the resources and markets that the Chu people need.

The Kingdom of Persia was such an indigenous country in a civilized world, so the Chu Empire could not tolerate them straying outside the colonial system.

In the summer of June of the 44th year of Chengshun, in the midsummer season, the No. 19 Division of the Chu Empire Army left Khomeini Port and began to march towards Isfahan, the capital of the Kingdom of Persia.

On the way, the Indian No. 15 Division also joined to undertake auxiliary combat tasks.

This Chu army of more than 3 people fought all the way to Isfahan, and finally made the Persian Kingdom feel the crisis of destruction.

However, with its internal turmoil and disunity among many parties, the Kingdom of Persia was unable to mobilize too many troops even if it wanted to resist. In the end, it only assembled more than 3 troops in the surrounding areas to defend the capital.

Most of these more than 3 troops are second- and third-line troops, with very poor personnel quality and weapons and equipment.

Among the more than 3 people, there are only more than 3000 cavalry, and the soldiers are old and weak. In terms of weapons and equipment, there are only more than 40 long-barreled smoothbore cannons and more than 8000 flintlock muskets.

In other words, among the more than 3 people, more than 2 people are equipped with matchlock guns or simply spears, bows and arrows and other cold weapons.

This kind of military strength is considered a mixed bag even in the Kingdom of Persia...

But now the top leaders of the Persian Kingdom can only mobilize this kind of miscellaneous troops to defend their capital.

Because in the Persian Kingdom, the most elite new guard army had already rushed to the northwest region a month ago on the pretext of guarding against the Ottomans...

The more than 2 new Guards troops are all equipped with Chu weapons. They are equipped with 13-year-old series flintlocks. The fine smoothbore cannons exported by the Chu State. Even military uniforms and tents are all imported from the Chu State, as are the personnel. Carefully selected, and experienced many battles with the Mughal Empire and the Ottoman Empire.

This new Guards army is the most elite army in the Persian Kingdom, and its combat effectiveness can be considered elite in the line era.

However, before the war officially broke out, this army left the capital under the leadership of its leading generals and went to garrison in the northwest region. Its intention was very obvious, that is, it did not intend to care about the life and death of the royal family and other dignitaries.

What even outsiders don't know is that the leading general of the new Persian Guards Army had already established a line with the diplomats of the Chu State's Domain Affairs Department a month ago, and the two sides reached a verbal agreement.

In this war, the new Persian Guards adopted partial neutrality and did not interfere in the war between the empire and the Kingdom of Persia.

After the war, the New Guards Army can establish a new country in the northwestern region of Persia. The empire will formally recognize it and grant it the status of a protectorate. From this, this area will become a country under the rule of the Great Chu Empire. Protectorates, that is, colonies.

Although they will still lose a lot, for the generals of the new Guards Army, they can become kings and nobles...

Anyway, in the end, the Kingdom of Persia will inevitably become a colony of the Chu Empire, or even split into several pieces. It is better to be the king of one of the colonies.

The new Persian Guards Army is partially neutral, and several other front-line troops with good combat effectiveness are basically standing still under the instructions of the generals... Under such circumstances, only a few troops are left that the top leaders of the Persian Kingdom can really mobilize. The second and third line troops are gone.

In addition, there are some independent tribal armed forces. They will also resist the Chu army... However, these tribal armed forces resist the Chu army not for the sake of the kingdom, but for the interests of their own tribes. They will not foolishly go near the capital. Give the king a chance to resist the Chu army.Under such circumstances, when the Chu army reached the vicinity of the Persian capital, the Persian kingdom could only muster more than 3 second- and third-line miscellaneous troops to resist.

Under such circumstances, there was naturally no fierce fighting... In fact, the No. 19 Division, which was the main force, did not move much at all. Most of the battles were fought by the Indian No. 15 Division, which was the auxiliary force.

Although the Indian No. 15 Division also adopted percussion guns and used line tactics, they were supported by the artillery unit of the No. 19 Division.

With the strong artillery support of the artillery unit of the No. 19 Division, the untouchable soldiers of the Indian No. 15 Division fought very smoothly.

In the Ize area, an infantry regiment under the Indian No. 15 Division, supported by an artillery company of the No. 19 Division, defeated more than 5000 Persian troops on the spot.

This time the fighting force killed at least a thousand enemy troops and captured more than two thousand prisoners, not counting the wounded...

Moreover, this time's combat effectiveness means that there are not many cavalry in the Chu army participating in the battle. There is only one Indian cavalry company, so it is not easy to pursue. Otherwise, all the more than 5000 Persian troops will be destroyed.

The Chu army's own casualties were minimal. The Indian servant army suffered more than 30 casualties, while the Chu army's regular army suffered no casualties.

Such battles are still happening in other places, and the results are very similar.

Then the Chu army discovered that the Indian servant troops they used as cannon fodder and auxiliary battles were actually very powerful. Without the use of infantry and cavalry in the regular army, and only using a small amount of artillery support, these Indian servant troops were actually very powerful. He beat the Persian army on the opposite side so hard that they fled away.

To be honest, this situation is relatively rare...

Although the Dachu Empire's servant army has good combat effectiveness, after all, its equipment is mainly flash cap percussion guns and smoothbore cannons, and the tactics used are mainly line tactics.

At the same time, there is also a shortage of technical arms such as cavalry, artillery, and logistics.

This kind of servant army is not bad for dealing with indigenous people in backward areas such as Africa.

However, when used to deal with the indigenous regular armies in the civilized world, such as those in Europe, although they still have a relatively large advantage, they do not have an overwhelming advantage. Although they can win in many cases, they cannot win so easily. .

Sometimes the boat capsizes in the gutter.

However, this time in Persia, the Indian servant army was like a chicken blood, and the Persians on the opposite side screamed...

This is naturally not the transformation of those Indian untouchable soldiers, or the Chu army equipping them with more and better weapons... It is simply that the Persian army opposite them is too scumbag.

These second- and third-line Persian troops don't even have many flintlock guns, and they can't even use line tactics... Such an army even has a generation gap when facing the Indian servant army.

In the end, there was a situation where the Indian servant army was killing people in Persia.

With the battle going so smoothly, the Chu army also reached Isfahan as scheduled.

The ensuing battle was the same. Under the intense artillery bombardment of the artillery regiment of the No. 19 Division of the Chu Army, the Persian resistance only lasted for half a day before all collapsed. Then the No. 19 Division personally went into battle and defeated the peripheral Persian army. resistance.

As for fighting in urban areas... According to the tradition of the Chu army, due to many uncertain factors in such street fighting that goes deep into urban areas, when there are servant armies, the Chu army generally puts the servant troops in charge of street fighting.

After the Indian No. 15 Division entered the city, it performed as well as ever. It quickly eliminated the stubborn resistance of the remaining enemies in the city and captured a large number of dignitaries of the Persian Kingdom, including the king.

However, due to the relatively high risk of sporadic street fighting in the city, the Indian No. 15 Division inevitably suffered some sporadic attacks and lost dozens of people.

The Persian war has continued here. Although the fighting is still continuing in many places, it has actually come to an end.

The Persian royal family and a large number of dignitaries were either killed, wounded or captured. As a regime, the Safavid dynasty of Persia could be declared dead.

In fact, this is indeed the case... Soon the leaders and generals of the new Persian Guards Army announced the founding of the country, named the Kingdom of Azerbaijan, with its capital in Tabriz.

Immediately afterwards, several great nobles or military generals in the Persian region supported by the Chu Empire also established themselves as kings one after another.

The Persian region officially entered a period of division, splitting from a unified Persian kingdom into four kingdoms!
These four kingdoms, without exception, were all countries established with the support or acquiescence of the Chu people. They were also all colonial countries that were officially recognized by the Chu State and accepted the protection of the Chu State.

It is worth noting that in addition to these four protectorates, many lands were directly ceded to the Chu State.

Mainly the Persian Gulf coastal areas in the Persian Kingdom and the Karon River Basin near Basra.

The Chu Empire placed these newly occupied Persian areas under the jurisdiction of the Governor-General of Kuwait State, just like the previous Basra area, Dammam area and other Persian Gulf coastal areas.

As a result, the territory of the governor-general administrative territory of Kuwait State includes the entire coastal area of ​​the Persian Gulf and both sides of the Strait of Hormuz.

In addition to these directly ceded territories, the Chu Empire also signed railway construction agreements with two of the newly established Persian countries. According to this agreement, the Chu Empire can build a railway to connect the Central Asian Railway and to Basra, as well as the land, rivers, etc. within ten kilometers along the railway line, are automatically owned by the Great Chu Empire and serve as the administrative territory of the Great Chu Empire.

The Chu Empire planned to build the southern branch line of the Central Asia Railway all the way southwest to Basra, and then gain access to the sea.

As for the land along the railway line, it is purely to protect the future income of railway investment and to prevent local indigenous people from messing around.

Occupying the land along the railway was not only done in Persia, but in fact the Chu Empire also did this in other protectorates in Europe.

After all, the Chu people are not here to do charity and help the indigenous people build railways...

The railway is all a trivial matter. The most important thing is that with this battle, the Kingdom of Persia completely became history. The entire Persian region became either the administrative territory of the empire or the protectorate of the empire.

This also means that the industrial products of the Chu Empire will be able to be sold in the civilized world on a global scale from now on...the kind of sales that can be sold however you want!
The global economic system of the Great Chu Empire is completely formed!
With the formation of the global economic system, the Chu Empire has also ushered in a new peak of development...

But this time, Luo Zhixue and other high-ranking officials in the empire were no longer just concerned about 'eating well', but also about 'eating well'.

If you want to eat well, in addition to sufficient material supply, people, especially the people at the bottom, must also increase their income.

Otherwise, there are a lot of various foods on the market, but it is useless if people don’t have money to buy them...

Therefore, after entering the second half of the 44th year of Chengshun, a new word often appeared in the mouths of senior officials of the empire: increase income!
In their speeches, many senior officials began to discuss at length how to increase the disposable income of low-income groups.

In this wave, a new topic was discussed in the high-level advisory meetings of the Da Chu Empire, that is, the establishment of new minimum wage standards and maximum working time standards.

The maximum working time standard established many years ago has no longer met the requirements of the times after years of development. A large number of workers have widely requested to reduce working hours and obtain more rest time.

At the same time, the service industry and other tertiary industries also want their customers to have more rest time. After all, only when people have time can they go to consumption places. Otherwise, they have to work in the factory all day long and eat and sleep after get off work. Time to spend!
Therefore, the Empire will discuss the establishment of a new maximum working time standard, and may adopt a ten-hour four-break system, that is, four days off per month, and the maximum working time per day shall not exceed ten hours.

As for the minimum wage standard, the previous minimum wage standard is no longer in compliance and has not been updated for many years. However, with the economic development of the empire, people's income levels have increased, resulting in people's actual income levels having already exceeded the minimum wage standard by many means. .

This also renders the minimum wage standard useless...

This time the empire not only needs to formulate new standards, but also formulates certain regulations so that new minimum work standards can be issued every few years based on economic development and in line with economic development.

Whether it is the maximum working hours or the minimum wage, these are major matters related to the vital interests of hundreds of millions of middle- and lower-class people. Luo Zhixue, the emperor of the empire, has to personally preside over relevant meetings and make careful decisions!
(End of this chapter)