Nanyang Storm 1864

Chapter 489 St. Petersburg
September 15th, 2025

King Zheng Guohui of Chu attended the grand opening ceremony of the Berlin Conference, which was chaired by German Chancellor Bismarck. The conference included representatives from the most advanced industrial countries in the world today and some old colonial countries in Europe, with a total of 16 countries.

After the opening ceremony

King Zheng Guohui of Chu suddenly had some free time. He had time to visit the Old Museum in Berlin to see many precious cultural relics from the Greek and Roman periods and feel the rhythm of European history.

He visited Humboldt University of Berlin and met with the Archbishop of Berlin's Cathedral of Our Lady, donated 10,000 gold marks and received the bishop's sincere blessing.

Wherever the royal convoy passed, it would inevitably attract a large number of local crowds to watch.

During this period, in addition to the focus of the Berlin Conference, the main news media reports in the German Empire also focused on the convoy accompanying the King of Chu.

Both the car and the truck were dissected in detail and received high praise in German news media reports.

The resulting boom has played a leading role in the development of Germany's automobile industry.

German Chancellor Bismarck made a profound comment on this at a public event many years later:
"The King of Chu's visit to Europe was a wonderful experience in spreading the teachings of the automobile. Germany, as its best student, gained ample inspiration for developing its automotive industry. It quickly grew into the center of Europe's automotive industry and benefited greatly from this experience."

Bismarck's analysis has always been known for its profoundness and sharpness. Even the proud British and French had to admit that this journey of spreading the "holy religion of the automobile" initiated the development of the European automobile industry.

January 11st

The day before the King of Chu was about to leave Berlin, Foreign Minister Zheng Xin reported on the progress of the meeting. The contact with the French side was not smooth and the boundary negotiations were stranded.

The French had great ambitions and had ideas about the Great Bay City and the Yellowstone City to its south. They did not agree with the colonial boundaries unilaterally established by the Chu State, and the positions of the two sides were very different.

Surrounding Yellowstone City is Guinea, which is located in the future. It has world-class copper and iron ore resources, as well as other rich metal mineral resources. It is known as the world's treasure house of resources.

The high-grade iron ore resources that have been confirmed so far have reached an astonishing scale of several billion tons, and the potential reserves in the future are unimaginable.

Based on the current steel production of more than 2 million tons in Chu State, it is enough to be mined for more than 3,000 years and still not be exhausted.

The area around Yellowstone City (Note: Guinea) is rich in resources. The proven bauxite ranks first in the world. There are also iron, copper, zinc, aluminum, tin, lead and other mineral resources. The reserves are not only large but also of high quality, and have great mining prospects.

The area around Huangshi City (Note: Guinea) has many rivers and abundant fresh water resources. It is known as the "Water Tower of West Africa". Forests cover the vast mountains and hilly areas. There are as many as 1165 rivers, and a large number of Chinese rice plantations and villages are concentrated. It will be one of the key resettlement areas for Chinese immigrants in the future.

This shows that its importance must not be touched by the French.

In history
In the 15th century, Portuguese colonists invaded the region, and in 1885, it was designated as the French sphere of influence by the Berlin Conference...

Today's historical trajectory has long since changed. The Chu State took the lead in taking over the region and has colonized it for more than ten years, thus establishing a relatively solid foundation.

The Chinese colonists swept through the local indigenous Urasulu Kingdom by force, completely disintegrated the black indigenous tribal society in the area, and established numerous Chinese cities and towns.

The area around Huangshi City today is an important pasture and rice-producing area of ​​the Congo River Governor's Office. A large number of rubber plantations and oil palm plantations have recently been developed there, making it one of the six major planting areas of the Congo River.

The French guy is staring at this place, he is just dreaming.

No wonder senior French government officials looked constipated and speechless when visiting Paris. It turns out that the crux of the problem lies here, and the fox's tail has finally been exposed.

After receiving the report, King Zheng Guohui of Chu calmly instructed, "Since this is an international diplomatic event, we should primarily resolve it through diplomatic means. We should use detailed colonial facts to convince the British, Germans, and other major participants. It's reasonable and appropriate. We have a boundary treaty with the Portuguese, and the ownership of this place has long been clarified."

I spent money to buy this place, and now it seems that this was a very wise decision.

No matter how France argues, its colonial history can never surpass that of the Portuguese.

The Chu State bought this colony from the Portuguese. Although there was an element of military deterrence, the treaty reached by both parties was not fake, but had broad legal effect.

It is true that this is a world where the strong prey on the weak, but it is not so easy for one powerful country to bully another.

Now that the atmosphere has become so heated, let’s just add more fuel to the fire.

The King of Chu sent a secret transoceanic telegram directly from Berlin, launching the "Peach Plan" and accelerating the "Natural Cut Plan" to muddy the waters even more.

What is the "Peach Plan"?

That is the long-prepared military plan to invade Madagascar. The relevant recruited troops and soldiers have been trained in the kingdom for several months, and all conditions are ripe.

As a logistics supply base, the East African Company stockpiled a large amount of food and military supplies, which were transported to Djibouti via Chu cargo ships on the Eurasian route and stored in large warehouses.

That is
The Madagascar expeditionary force only needed to carry the necessary weapons and equipment, and after arriving in Djibouti on a large immigration ship to rest and adapt, they could launch an invasion and colonial war.

All logistical food, supplies, military equipment, etc. have already been stored in the Djibouti base and can be transported south at any time as needed.

There is no need to transport them thousands of miles from the mainland, which is time-consuming, costly and laborious. This is the advantage of having many colonies.

The current material supply capacity under the East African Governor's Office is sufficient to guarantee the needs of the Madagascar Expeditionary Force's more than 3.4 officers and soldiers for long-term combat in Houle, so there is no need to worry at all.

The transportation capacity of large cargo ships of 10,000 tons is amazing. Just three or four ships traveling between Djibouti and Madagascar every month is enough.

Not only that, the East African Governor's Office can also provide abundant human resources. After all, the army cannot do everything.

The militarized management of the colonies, the operation of labor camps, the blockade of various regions and major transportation routes, the crackdown on the minority of indigenous resistance forces, the strangulation of enemies hiding in the mountains and dense forests, the implementation of curfews in towns and villages, and other semi-militarized actions all required a large amount of manpower and material resources.

And all of these can be provided by East African companies.

With the current population size of the East African Company, it can easily recruit a Chinese armed militia of no less than 5 people to follow the army and carry out the above-mentioned semi-militarized operations.

The army only needs to be responsible for the main combat tasks and be free from the heavy and complicated management of the occupied areas.

This colonial development experience has been verified in the military operations in Central America and the invasion of Colombia, producing good results of 1+1 being greater than .

In the secret order of the King of Chu
The departure date for the Madagascar expeditionary force was set for January 1885, 1, which was a full 11 days from now, which was used to identify and make up for the shortcomings of the expedition plan and further improve it.

From the moment the order was given
The Royal Army General Staff can use the busy Eurasian route to transport advance personnel from the mainland to Djibouti in East Africa by riding along the route.

The scale can be large or small, with as few as 3,000 to 5,000 people or as many as 10,000. Every expeditionary division participating in the war must send at least one advance battalion to Jibuti, and the matters involved in the expedition are numerous and complex.

Just building a sufficient number of barracks would be a daunting task.

After the expedition's advance team arrives in Jibuti, they will adapt to the African climate while participating in the mobilization and recruitment of armed militia.

Make full preparations for the arrival of the next large-scale expeditionary force and the invasion of Madagascar.

These Chinese armed militias are not to be used immediately. First, they must be organized into militia teams and form a quasi-military organization of squads, platoons, companies, and battalions to facilitate cooperation with the army in combat and the execution of various quasi-military tasks.

It requires regular military training and a certain level of combat effectiveness, which all takes time to develop and must be prepared early.

The so-called "Natural Chasm Plan" refers to the plan that King Zheng Guohui of Chu had previously ordered to occupy the uninhabited islands in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and begin building fortresses.

Pilin Island and Qixiong Island, located at the throat of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, are currently forcing more than 2,000 "contract workers" to dig tunnels. Seven or eight working faces have been opened at the same time, and intensive construction is in progress day and night.

The purpose was to hollow out the stone mountains on the island to form a "natural fortress" combining underground caves and ground fortresses, so it was called the Natural Fortress Plan.

It has been more than five months since the construction started in late June.

The caves dug on the island have penetrated deep into the mountain. More black slaves can be mobilized to enter the cave working surface and dig caves on both sides. It doesn't matter if there is a little noise.

The King of Chu issued an imperial decree, which suddenly accelerated the Tianqian Project and began 24-hour non-stop intensified construction, using explosives to assist.

In this high-intensity construction
Even the strong black slaves could not last long. They were fed full meals every day and started to urinate blood after working for more than a month. They became extremely thin and it was common for them to collapse from exhaustion on the construction site.

If he hadn't died of exhaustion on the spot, he wouldn't have recovered even after being sent down for a month or so of recuperation, and they'd have to continue filling in due to lack of manpower...

At Cape Bay Port, the closest port to Pilin Island, there were thousands of strong black bonded laborers brought back by returning immigrant ships, all of whom were from the Congo River colony.

Once there is a shortage of manpower on the island, hundreds of people will be selected immediately to fill the gap.

Once these slaves were on the island, it was impossible for them to come back down. They would recuperate on the island after leaving the cave construction site, and then return to work...

The East African Governor's Office has issued a strict order

At all costs, we must ensure the progress of the cave construction site and ensure that the main road running through the entire island is dug before the end of March next year, so that at least four excavation surfaces can be connected, so that the Pilin main fortress and the Qixiong Island secondary fortress will have the initial ability to block the strait.

Because the end of March next year is the day when the Madagascar Expeditionary Force, which has assembled and adapted to the climate in Djibouti, will swear to set off. By then, the situation in the Red Sea region will inevitably become tense.

The angry French will never allow the fat meat at their fingertips to slip away, and will inevitably react violently.

In the worst case scenario, the serious consequences of a one-way closure of the Suez Canal must be considered.

If this is true

This forced the State of Chu to draw its sword. Since you won’t leave, no one else can leave.

The valve for closing the Eurasian shipping route is not limited to the Suez Canal, but can also be found in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. At worst, we can just confront it head-on. What else can we do?
This was the far-reaching aftermath of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait standoff, which made King Zheng Guohui of Chu clearly realize:

If you keep a low profile all the time, it will become a habit over time.

Staying in this comfort zone will not only give other powerful countries the illusion that we are "easy to bully."

Even out of inertia of thinking, we may choose to be tolerant, thus going further and further down the wrong path of "dough diplomacy".

This is definitely not the situation that King Zheng Guohui of Chu wants to see. What he wants to establish is a world power (note: the original term was a regional power) that is courageous, responsible, and aggressive, and join the ranks of the world's strong nations.

The Great Chu Empire should have a place at the world-class poker table, and this requires strength to fight for.

Isn't it true that great powers should show their fangs and claws from time to time?
September 24th, 2025

After two days of sailing, the Chu King's European visiting fleet arrived safely in St. Petersburg, the capital of Tsarist Russia, and began a week-long official visit to Tsarist Russia. This was also the last stop of the many itineraries in the European tour.

St. Petersburg is located on the coast of the Baltic Sea, at the mouth of the Neva River. The port is not far from the city and can be seen from afar from the palace-style buildings of St. Petersburg.

From 1712 when Peter the Great moved the capital to St. Petersburg until the end of 1884, for 172 years, it was the cultural, political and economic center of Tsarist Russia.

it's here

You can see shipyards and long-distance telegraph offices owned by French investors, as well as other industrial enterprises. This is a rare industrial zone in the entire Tsarist Russia, except for the Odessa Industrial Zone on the Caspian Sea coast and the Baku oil fields.

Elsewhere, there are endless scenes of agricultural society with curling smoke, which looks like a peaceful and harmonious landscape.

Actually

For hundreds of years, the entire Tsarist Russia had been plagued by severe famine, with tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of people dying of starvation every year, and this was only in normal years.

During a severe famine, entire villages and even entire regions would fall into a terrifying silence of death, with starving people everywhere. The scene was horrific.

When the Chu King's fleet arrived at the harbor at the mouth of the Neva River, heavy snow was falling from the sky, and the biting cold wind from the North Atlantic blew past, making a creepy, whimpering sound.

The sky and the earth turned white, and in the distance the Russian-style palace buildings were scattered high and low, like a world in a fairy tale.

The welcoming team, headed by Count Pavlov-Petrovich, Deputy Foreign Minister of Tsarist Russia, as well as a group of upper-class aristocratic gentlemen and ladies of St. Petersburg and local Chinese businessmen, numbered about a thousand people. Only a few of them could take shelter from the wind and snow under the palace-style awning built at the dock.

Most of the others were standing naked on the empty dock, their heads and shoulders covered in snow, their noses red from the cold.

It seems that most people don't care much.

Some Russian noble ladies even wore expensive ermine shawls but French court-style dresses, with large areas of white exposed on their chests, which made them look extremely cold.

(End of this chapter)