America 1869: A Doppelganger Every Day

Chapter 122 Colonizing Ryukyu, Part 1: Learning from Shortcomings

On the same day, inside the Ryukyu Royal Palace.

King Sho Tai of Ryukyu looked at the legendary prophet, Five Ones, in front of him with a very expectant expression.

"How will you save my Ryukyu Kingdom?"

Five chickens laughed.

"You should already know exactly what's going on in your daily life."

"Even without my prophecy, you should know that it won't be long before your Ryukyu Kingdom is taken over by the little people."

"Tell me first, why did he dare to occupy your Ryukyu Kingdom? Why is your Ryukyu Kingdom completely powerless to retaliate?"

King Shō Tai of Ryukyu gave a wry smile and said.

"What else could it be? Isn't it because the Qing Empire, the suzerain state, was inactive?"

"If the Qing Empire were even slightly stronger, we wouldn't dare to do such a thing."

The five little chickens shook their heads.

"No, no, no, the Qing Empire was once powerful, but it is now in decline."

"Besides, even the Qing Empire, though powerful now, will decline in the future. Does that mean your Ryukyu Kingdom will perish as soon as the Qing Empire declines?"

"You need to understand one thing."

"The reason why your Ryukyu Kingdom is being targeted by the little devils, and why the little devils want to completely destroy the Ryukyu Kingdom and occupy everything in the Ryukyu Kingdom, is because you are too weak."

"I can tell you definitively that in the future I have predicted, your Ryukyu Kingdom will indeed be gone, and all the nobles and most of the common people will be relocated to the country of Okinawa."

"Then all the Ryukyuans were given Japanese-style education."

"As for you nobles and even royalty, in order to maintain appearances, we naturally didn't target you. On the contrary, we allowed you to die peacefully in your old age."

"This means that after you are gone, your descendants will also suffer accidents one after another, and eventually disappear completely into the long river of history."

"To forever eliminate any hope of the restoration of Ryukyu."

"Therefore, if you want to ensure the integrity of your sovereignty and preserve the Ryukyu Empire, the best way is to strengthen yourselves."

King Shō Tai of Ryukyu was even more distressed.

Doesn't he want to become stronger? But he only has a few people, and the entire Ryukyu Kingdom only has 30 people. How can he become stronger?

Seeing that he didn't speak and looked depressed, Wutiao Yiji continued.

"I know what you're thinking. Your Ryukyu Kingdom only has 3000 people, while the Ryukyu Kingdom has more than 30 million people, a difference of more than 100 times."

"It's simply impossible for you to resist the mundane aspects of life."

"And the Qing Empire is also unable to help you."

"Therefore, for Ryukyu at this time, the best approach is not to strengthen itself, because you do not have the inherent advantages, and there is not enough time."

"For you, the best option is to be colonized by the Qing Empire."

"While ensuring the survival of the Ryukyu Kingdom, allow the Qing Empire to colonize Ryukyu."

"Therefore, Ryukyu became a colony of the Qing Empire."

"The Great Qin Empire must protect Ryukyu, and at the same time prevent the smaller powers from taking action against Ryukyu."

However, the King of Ryukyu shook his head.

"Your idea sounds good, but even if the Qing Empire agrees to protect Ryukyu, even if it colonizes Ryukyu, they don't have the ability to protect the territorial integrity of Ryukyu."

"If it were inland, the Qing Empire's strength would indeed be considerable, but Ryukyu is isolated overseas, and the Qing Empire's navy is simply inadequate."

How do they guarantee the safety of Ryukyu?

The five little chickens laughed.

"This is the real method I'm going to give you."

"You said it yourself, the Qing Empire's naval power is weak, but the weakness of the Qing Empire does not mean that other countries are weak."

"Don't forget, not long ago, the Far East just signed a treaty with the Qin Empire, which clearly states that the Far East is a branch of China."

"Although the Far East is no longer part of China, it is still considered a part of China."

"Under these circumstances, Ryukyu could have chosen to become a colony of the Qing Dynasty and invited people from the Far East to colonize it."

"What are the advantages of doing this?"

"The first colonizer was the Qing Empire, but because the Qing Empire did not have the conditions for colonization, it was only a nominal colonizer."

"And it was this nominal title that guaranteed the integrity of the Ryukyu Kingdom's territory and nation."

"The colonizing power was the Qin Empire, but it was actually the Far Eastern powers that carried out colonization and development."

"This ensured that the Far East would not destroy the Ryukyu regime, while also allowing the Far East to carry out vigorous development in Ryukyu."

"The Far East's vigorous development of Ryukyu required a large investment of resources, and at the same time, it also needed to make a lot of profits. In order to protect the interests of the Far East, they had to demand the deployment of a large number of troops, and even a navy, to defend against attacks from Japan, or even other countries."

"The final result was that although Ryukyu was colonized by the Qing Dynasty, the Far East made a lot of profits, but the integrity of Ryukyu was still guaranteed."

"Many countries in the world have been colonized, but very few have been completely occupied after being colonized."

"Most of the countries that can be completely occupied are those with very small populations."

"At the same time, there are also some countries that are occupied, which are also countries with different cultures."

"For Ryukyu, whether it was colonized by the Qing Dynasty or by the Far East, there was one major advantage: your culture was basically the same."

"Moreover, through this opportunity, Ryukyu can thoroughly learn Chinese culture and put all of China's writing and language into use."

"From now on, Ryukyu will become part of China. Since we are all Chinese, neither the Qing Dynasty nor the Far East has any reason to completely destroy Ryukyu."

"And Your Majesty, you can guarantee forever that your family will remain the royal family of Ryukyu."

"At least for now, it seems your Ryukyu Kingdom has been preserved."

"Furthermore, while colonizing the Far East and Daqing, Ryukyu's population will increase rapidly. With a large population, and with the Far East army, Ryukyu might even have its own army. If it develops well, then even if the colonization ends one day and Ryukyu becomes independent, it will be able to deal with the Little Life Empire on its own, right?"

"This is an opportunity for you, and also an opportunity you have no choice but to take."

"After all, if you are not colonized by the Qing Dynasty and the Far East, you will only be swallowed up by the small world."

"Whether it's being colonized and retaining the royal family and the country, or being occupied and annexed, ultimately losing everything and the royal family completely disappearing."

"I don't think this choice should be too difficult."

"There's a Chinese proverb, 'When faced with two evils, choose the lesser.' Since you now only have two choices—being annexed or being colonized—at least choose the one that's more advantageous to you."

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