Nanyang Storm 1864

Chapter 367 European Demand

Royal Secretary General Li Jinghui walked lightly towards the Zichen Gate with several important memorials. After meeting the imperial guards on duty at the gate, he took out his badge for inspection as usual before being allowed to pass.

Li Jinghui is one of the outstanding sons of the Li family in northern Anhui. He was originally the head of the Western Office of the Jinling General's Mansion, and later served as the general manager of the Wang family's Household Department. A year ago, he was transferred to the important position of Secretary-General of the royal family. He was highly valued.

The position of Chief of the Wang family's Household Department was taken over by Baron Dong Baoshan, who was formerly the deputy chief of staff and had worked at Nanyang Heavy Industries for three years, accumulating rich experience in business management.

Baron Dong Baoshan was extremely diligent, honest, upright, down-to-earth and hard-working, and was highly praised. He was promoted to the position of General Manager of the Royal Household Department, which was a great honor.

After walking a few dozen meters, he entered the Purple Palace. After asking the palace maid serving at the door, he learned that His Majesty was in the imperial study, so he walked over.

As soon as he arrived in front of the Imperial Study, he was stopped by a valiant female guard officer, about 19 years old. The female guard officer, with the rank of two-star lieutenant on her shoulder, whispered:

"Please stop, sir. His Majesty is taking a nap. Please wait a moment before you can see me."

"Oh, okay, I'll wait a moment."

Despite the important status of the Secretary-General, Li Jinghui did not dare to act arrogantly in front of the emperor. He obediently followed the instructions of the female lieutenant officer and went to a side hall to sit down and wait.

This wait lasted more than 40 minutes.

There were no eunuchs in the Chu Kingdom's palace. The palace and the harem were guarded by a corps of female guards.

This royal guard corps was selected from girls rescued by the Tzu Chi Association. They underwent 5 to 7 years of long-term loyal education, studying and practicing martial arts, and were proficient in swordsmanship and horsemanship.

The male officers of the Royal Guard are only responsible for guarding outside the palace. The Purple Palace and the harem are guarded by female guards, and all of them are unmarried female officers.

Once married, he would be transferred from the guard post.

Just when Li Jinghui was getting bored, he heard some noise coming from the imperial study and quickly stood up to take a look.

The female lieutenant made a calming gesture and said softly, "Your Majesty is washing up. Please wait a moment."

"Please report back, thank you for the trouble." Li Jinghui said politely.

These heroic female officers are all tall and fair-skinned. They have a unique charm in the uniforms of the Royal Guards and are the admired and desired objects of many male Royal Guards.

However, among the more than 860 women's guards, no one has ever been heard of getting married.

These girls, who were originally lonely, have undergone years of loyalty education, which can also be said to be brainwashing education, at the Tzu Chi Girls' School. Their fanatical worship of His Majesty is even greater than that of men, and many of them have vowed to remain single for life.

If His Majesty takes a fancy to one of them and takes her into his chamber, she will become a royal concubine from now on.

Therefore, Li Jinghui never judged these young and beautiful female officers by their military ranks, but treated them with great respect.

"Send Secretary General Li to see you."

"Oh, here we come."

Li Jinghui heard the clear voice of the female officer, responded hurriedly, then straightened his clothes and walked into the imperial study.

In the Imperial Study

His Majesty was standing relaxed in front of the museum shelf, drinking soup from a small celadon bowl. When he saw Li Jinghui walk in, he smiled and pointed to the table to the side and said,

"It's better to arrive at the right time than to arrive early. There's still some here. Let's eat it together to avoid wasting it."

"I bow to thank Your Majesty for your grace." Li Jinghui solemnly clasped his hands together and bowed to the ground.

"No need for formalities. I was wondering if you came here because of the smell. This is a health-preserving soup that the queen personally cooked. You are lucky." King Zheng Guohui of Chu said with a smile.

Li Jinghui couldn't help but feel warm in his heart, and said with inexplicable gratitude: "How could this humble minister deserve such a great favor from Your Majesty? It's really..."

"Hey, stop... Just be diligent in the king's affairs." King Zheng Guohui of Chu stopped him immediately, pointing his finger. "Hurry up and drink! You're lucky."

A palace maid served a bowl of soup to Li Jinghui, who received it respectfully with both hands. Drinking this small bowl of soup made his heart warm, and he suddenly had a sincere wish to go through fire and water for His Majesty.

According to the generational order of the Li family in northern Anhui, Li Jinghui is the uncle of Queen Zheng Li, and his father is the cousin of Li Hanzhang. The relationship is very close and they are standard royal relatives.

After drinking the soup, the palace maid cleared away the cups and plates and served hot tea for rinsing the mouth. After completing the service, she quietly left.

King Zheng Guohui of Chu had taken a short nap and now felt refreshed. Standing in the imperial study, holding the bronze Taotie incense burner, he asked directly, "What do you want to propose?"

"Your Majesty, this is a secret request from the French side to purchase bristles, sugar, kerosene and heavy oil, as well as cigarettes, cocoa, and other war supplies. It was forwarded by the French diplomatic embassy in Paris. The total amount is over 300 million silver dollars. The transaction is confidential and cannot be disclosed to outsiders."

"Oh, such a large number?" King Zheng Guohui of Chu was also surprised.

The current situation in Europe is that France was defeated and its former glory of dominating Europe was wiped out. Now the German Kingdom, which is riding on the heads of the French, is in its heyday and its light shines on Europe.

A strategic pattern of confrontation between France and Germany has formed across the European continent.

Germany's skillful Prime Minister Bismarck was trying to win over the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Tsarist Russia, planning to establish the Triple Alliance in Europe and exert strategic pressure on France from multiple aspects, thus creating a strategic situation that was extremely unfavorable to France.

on the other hand
France, having been defeated in the war, has sensed the situation and is actively contacting Italy and rearming the French army in order to achieve the goal of restoring its former glory.

After the Franco-Prussian War, the situation on the European continent not only did not ease due to the war, but instead there were undercurrents and each country was strengthening its armaments.

Prussia rose to power by stepping on the glory of France. As a world power, France has its own pride. How could it bear to sink into decline?
The large orders held by King Zheng Guohui of Chu had an astonishing amount for each item of supplies, which were all indispensable materials used to replenish and restore the French military arsenal.

Pig hair is used to make brushes, and the resulting cannon brushes are mainly used to clean cannon barrels, and the amount required is quite large.

Well known
Under continuous bombardment, a large amount of black powder residue will remain in the barrel, and the temperature of the barrel is very high. Under continuous bombardment, the skin will be burned if touched.

Even a long, hard pig-bristle brush will become useless after a few uses.

There are always a dozen gun brushes next to each artillery piece for replacement between battles. This is indispensable.

The State of Chu was a major pig-raising country in the Nanyang region. At the end of last year, the number of fat pigs on hand reached more than 370 million, and the annual total number of pigs slaughtered was more than 400 million. Of course, there were a lot of materials such as pig skins and pig bristles.

In today's society
The cheapest shoes were pigskin shoes, a pair of which could be bought for one silver dollar. The Chu army also equipped its soldiers with pigskin shoes, which were cheap and durable.

The officers were equipped with cowhide boots, which were of much better quality but also more expensive, costing at least two dollars and seventy cents to three dollars. The prices at well-known shoe shops were even higher.

Kerosene and heavy oil are not to be mentioned. Oil-fired boilers are now widely used in Europe, and French warships have also begun to burn heavy oil. It has high thermal efficiency and is cheap, but it requires large-scale imports. The Chu State's export method is to directly export crude oil.

these two years

The wealthy Chu Royal Guangming Petroleum Company directly ordered 12 -ton crude oil tankers from British and French shipyards. They have recently arrived and will be used to carry out long-distance transportation on the Eurasian route.

The reason for doing this is to balance bilateral trade. Money earned in the UK should be spent in the UK, and money earned in France should be spent in France.

It is impossible to get all the money back, otherwise it will inevitably arouse jealousy.

If the French get stuck in the Suez Canal, the so-called Eurasian shipping routes will all be ruined. This is an indisputable reality.

Sugar, cigarettes, coffee, cocoa, these are all military supplies and are an indispensable and important part of war preparation.

As early as the Crimean War, British rations were once the envy of the French army because the British ration packs contained candy and chocolate.

During a fierce war, white sugar can relieve tension in the human body, which is a rare good thing for soldiers on the battlefield.

In addition to relieving emotional tension, sugar can quickly replenish the energy needed by the human body, allowing the body to quickly recover its functions.

The exhausted soldiers could quickly regain their strength by chewing a few pieces of candy.

Besides
In harsh battlefield environments, sugar can also help wounds heal. The specific reason is unclear, but doctors have discovered that diluted sugar can kill bacteria and reduce inflammation.

This is also the reason why canned syrup can be kept for about three months without adding other substances. The syrup itself is an excellent preservative.

Cigarettes, coffee, cocoa and other supplies have similar functions, so they are considered war preparation supplies.

The State of Chu was the first to develop cigarettes, and there were already dozens of domestic cigarette brands, basically similar to the Daqianmen cigarettes of later generations, 20 cigarettes to a box.

This type of cigarette first became popular in Paris. During the siege of Paris by the Prussian army, the anxious Parisians found that this small box of cigarettes could effectively relieve their anxiety.

As a result, it quickly became a best-seller and eventually became a rare commodity. A pack of cigarettes even sold for five francs, more than ten times the original price.

There were also areas in the French colonies where tobacco was grown in large quantities, but they did not have the technology to produce this type of flue-cured tobacco.

In today's world, only the Chu State has the ability to supply cigarettes on a large scale. France ordered 30 boxes at one time.

A large box contains 50 cartons of cigarettes, a cartons contains 10 packs of cigarettes, and each pack contains 20 cigarettes, so a large box contains 500 packs of cigarettes.

After all, France is an old colonial power with a very deep foundation. It can come up with a large order worth millions of silver dollars with just a wave of its hand, which is really admirable.

The reason for requesting secrecy is probably to guard against the mortal enemy, the Kingdom of Germany. The two sides are now sworn enemies and will never be able to reconcile in this lifetime.

These thoughts flashed through his mind. King Zheng Guohui of Chu smiled and put the memorial aside. He then asked, "Anything else?"

Li Jinghui couldn't help but smile knowingly. He handed over another memorial and explained, "These are orders from the Kingdom of Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. One is worth 120 million silver dollars, and the other is worth 42 silver dollars. The types of goods are similar."

"Haha...if there is a war in Europe, we can eat as much as we want. It's a pity that the war will last too short." King Zheng Guohui of Chu smiled, took it, looked at it, and put it aside.

Li Jinghui produced another document and said, "Your Majesty, this is a letter of protest from the United States regarding our extensive infiltration into Central America. They believe that the intrusion of Chinese forces into Central America has caused instability in the region."

"Don't worry about him. Let's just do what we should do." King Zheng Guohui of Chu twitched the corner of his mouth and gave the order.

The Americans have always regarded Central and South America as their own backyard, frequently intervening in regional affairs and being an important party that cannot be ignored in American affairs.

The other side is led by Britain, and the State of Chu is following behind Britain to muddy the waters, making the United States uneasy in the rear. It has recently received five diplomatic protest letters.

But with the support of Britain, Chu was very confident.

The British do not want Americans to dominate the Americas. This is completely contrary to the interests of the British Empire as a global hegemon. Therefore, there are constant open and covert struggles in Central and South America, and it is not as peaceful as it seems.

in the original history
The decline of British influence in America was due to the great loss of national strength after the Boer War. In addition, the United States had grown into the world's largest economy at that time, with extremely strong economic power.

The glory of the once prosperous British dynasty faded, and as a last resort, British forces gradually withdrew from Central and South America and handed them over to the Americans.

In this day and age, it doesn't exist at all.

Although Britain and Chu had fought a war three years ago, after signing the armistice treaty, the relationship between the two sides became increasingly close, and trade exchanges became extremely close.

The cooperation between Chu and Britain did achieve some results, which made the British more satisfied with their cooperation with Chu.

on the basis of

The British supported the Chu State in stirring up trouble in Central and South America, invading Chinese forces and causing trouble for the Americans.

Its purpose is to prevent the United States from becoming the only one to become powerful in the Americas.

When it comes to strategic vision in today's world, the British are at the top, and other countries are a level behind, excluding the State of Chu.

King Zheng Guohui of Chu is a man with cheats. Combined with the current international reality, he can deeply feel the British's brilliance in international strategy and really admires them.

The Russians were aggressive by nature and bullied all their neighboring countries. However, they were defeated when they met Britain. They learned a profound lesson in the Crimean War and stopped at the Black Sea.

When Tsarist Russian forces invaded the Kingdom of Iran, they attempted to open a passage to the warm ocean from the Persian Gulf.

The British quickly organized troops to invade the Kingdom of Iran on a large scale, blocking the Russian forces in the south of the Kingdom of Iran and thwarting Russia's attempt to move south.

The same situation occurred in Afghanistan. Britain acted quickly and launched two consecutive invasions of Afghanistan, turning this mountainous country into an insurmountable barrier for the Tsarist Russian forces.

In containing the United States

The British have the same deployment, and now Chu has become part of Britain's Central and South American strategy.

Taking advantage of Chu's ambition to expand outward, the British cleverly leveraged this power to create sharp conflicts between Chu and the United States over issues concerning Central and South America.

This is what the British want to see, and what the Chu people want to see, but it is definitely not the situation that the Americans want to see.

(End of this chapter)