Opening game, American Tycoon

Chapter 705 Stuck in the neck, impossible (first update, please subscribe)
What role does intelligence play in the competition between countries?

No one in the 19th century could have made it clear.

But what is certain is that under the attention of Emperor Zhu, the intelligence work of Ming Dynasty is far ahead of other countries in the world.

In the past ten years, the investigation department has established their intelligence network all over the world. Those "submarines" are lurking in countries such as Britain, the United States, and France. The political and military intelligence they obtained through various channels is that Emperor Zhu The most important basis for making correct judgments.

Politicians can commit crimes, but not mistakes!

And intelligence is the most important basis to ensure that the emperor will not make mistakes.

Once again, after glancing at the file in front of him, Zhu Xianhai stood up from the desk. He paced around the office. Then he took out a cigar from the cigar case, cut off one end with cigar pliers, and lit it. After taking a sip of the cigar, he walked away and stood by the window.

He was staring at the broad Xin'an River, just at this moment, a flock of passenger pigeons flew in the air, tens of thousands of passenger pigeons flocked in black, fully hundreds of meters wide.The color of the pigeons flying in the sky is like dark clouds.

These pigeons were a gift from the New York branch to Emperor Zhu eight years ago. They established a "safari park" covering thousands of square kilometers, so the managers of each branch are very keen to find various animals for the big boss.

In the current Royal Wildlife Park, there are many extinct or endangered animals living in other areas. For example, the Cape lion has disappeared in South Africa, but in the Wildlife Park, there are as many as 1862 animals. It was bred from several Cape lions brought from Cape Town in [-].

And the passenger pigeons that are now appearing in the sky of Ming Dynasty were sent at about that time. Facing the pigeons that were eaten up and killed by the Anza people in North America, Zhu Xianhai built a bird forest and raised them in huge iron cages. In addition to passenger pigeons, thousands of passenger pigeons were also released into the wild, but in just ten years, there were several huge passenger pigeon flocks on the land of Daming.

For passenger pigeons, America is hell!
And what about Daming?It is their paradise.

After turning around, Zhu Xianhai looked at Qian Zizhuang, smoked a few cigars in a row, then walked to the table again, pointed at the file, and asked:

"Here, what do you think of this?"

"Your Majesty, this is a military matter."

He is the head of the intelligence service, and he should keep a certain distance from military matters. At this point, he knows very well where his boundaries are.

"Hit a snake and hit three inches, Ma Han... well-deserved reputation!"

Isn't Mahan the guy who wrote "On Sea Power" in history?Well, now this guy actually wants to grab Daming's three inches.This is really a worthy man with a high reputation. As soon as Ma Han made a move, he grasped his fate.

"Coal! Coal is the most important industrial raw material, whether it is power generation or metallurgy, the operation of trains cannot do without coal. With the development of industry in the future, our demand for coal in the North Sea will only increase. It will not decrease. Maybe by that time we will need tens of millions of tons of coal every year, but most of it will come from the North Sea.”

Not only coal, but also iron ore in Guinea.

Although the land of Ming Dynasty is vast, the land in the south is more than three million square kilometers, and it has the most extensive black land in the world, but the mineral resources are not rich enough, except for copper of course.There are extremely high reserves of copper mines in Shanxi and Araucania. After all, Chile used to be the country with the richest copper mine resources in the world.

But there is no coal in South America, or there is not so much coal. The local coal production in the south of Ming Dynasty is less than 1000 million tons, which is impossible to meet the needs of industrial production.Where does your coal come from?From Alaska, from the North Sea.Now Ming's iron ore comes from Guinea.

Fortunately, several oil fields are now being exploited in the Patagonian plateau, otherwise, it is estimated that oil will also be imported.

Now that I think about it, it seems that to a certain extent, Ming Dynasty is simply a big Japan at present—local mineral resources are limited, and industrial production relies heavily on overseas imports.

Then what plan did the United States formulate in response to this weakness of Japan during World War II?

In order to cut off the sea lines of communication between the mainland of Japan and the southwestern islands, China, and North Korea, and end the war against Japan as soon as possible, the U.S. military formulated a plan to block the Japanese sea area with mines, which is the Ming Dynasty's "hunger plan."

The successful implementation of the "Hunger War" almost completely cut off Japan's vital maritime transportation, Japan's imports of materials dropped by 90%, and the supply of strategic materials such as oil, coal, and food urgently needed to maintain the war was almost interrupted; Due to the extreme lack of fuel, a large number of Japanese aircraft and ships were forced to ground and suspend operations, which directly affected the combat effectiveness of the troops; due to the interruption of shipping, the food supply in Japan was extremely difficult, because the priority was to ensure the needs of the army. , the vast number of civilians have reduced their food rations to the minimum, and they are starved of food, struggling on the hunger line all day long.

Of course, the Americans at the moment simply don't have the ability to do just such a battle plan, but by cutting off Daming's coal supply, Daming can be plunged into an unprecedented predicament.

Without enough coal, Daming's steel production, Daming's material transportation, Daming's chemical industry, Daming's power plants, almost all industries will be affected.

"If they use coastal artillery batteries and sea mines to block the coal access to the North Sea, it will undoubtedly be a disaster for Daming."

Zhu Xianhai picked up the information sent by the investigation department again, and browsed through it again:
"Maybe we can come up with some ways to deal with these American plans militarily, but there is no way to change the reality-our energy supply is extremely insecure."

Unsafe energy supply, this is the biggest reality of Ming Dynasty. Of course, Emperor Zhu is an emperor but not a god. It is impossible for him to create a large coal mine on the land of South America out of thin air.

This also means that Daming must rely on overseas coal to maintain industrial production and daily consumption needs.There is no other way.

The silent Emperor Zhu walked in his office for a long time, smoking a cigar while walking like this, as if he was thinking and thinking.

The question I was thinking couldn't be simpler. It was nothing more than Ming's energy security during the future war. If Ming's energy security could not be guaranteed, then if war broke out, I am afraid that by then, it would really become a big Japan. .

This question is a bit difficult.

Finally, Emperor Zhu stood there looking at Qian Zizhuang, nodded to the table, and said.

"You see, if we don't want to solve this problem, then we will definitely be strangled by the Americans."

What's the easiest way to avoid getting stuck?

That is, it is necessary to find a new source of energy and diversify risks. For now, this is the simplest choice, and it is also a choice that is in line with Daming's future interests. After all, for Daming, only the diversification of energy sources can fully The guarantee of the future, especially the energy supply during the war.

Otherwise, today's problems will continue to be staged, and will continue to happen...

Pursing his lips, Emperor Zhu sighed.

"I didn't expect it to be so fast."

"what?"

Qian Zizhuang looked at His Majesty in confusion.

"Since it's inevitable, then so be it."

When he said this, Emperor Zhu's tone was solemn, because he knew very well what would happen when he made this choice.

But all of this is inevitable, and for the sake of Daming's energy security, this is the only way to go.

(End of this chapter)