Iron Dynasty

Chapter 1140

“You are right. The enemy of our enemy is our friend. We should reach out to the Ottoman Empire.”

Catherine also had this intention. After pondering for a moment, she continued, “Not only that, we must also contact Persia. Gambis will not be content to be subservient to the Eastern Empire forever. He is also an ambitious person. Don’t forget that during Persia’s powerful era, they coveted the Eastern Empire’s territory more than once.”

Ivanov said, “Your Majesty’s beauty and wisdom are unmatched. It is said that Persia can get the support of the Eastern Empire entirely by providing something called petroleum for free, but petroleum is extremely important to the Eastern Empire. Persia will realize this eventually.”

Igor said, “Central Asia is our Tsarist Russia’s backyard. The Eastern Empire must not be allowed to interfere. Your Majesty, Britain’s current situation may be the dilemma that Tsarist Russia will face in the future. We must prepare in advance. Now Britain cannot even protect itself, and France is on the verge of collapse. Perhaps we can lead Europe.”

Catherine was a little excited. This had always been her expectation, but from beginning to end, the Europeans were wary of Tsarist Russia. Now that there was a bigger threat in Europe, this might be an opportunity. She said, “We need to send envoys to Spain, the Netherlands, Austria, Hungary, Prussia, and other countries. Ivanov, arrange this as soon as possible.”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Ivanov responded.

…

Qingzhou.

Xiao Ming was reviewing Liu Chen’s war report. After sending Xiao Yi to Australia and the second prince, Xiao Tong, to Canada, he returned to the Empire’s busy government affairs.

“Your Majesty, it is a bit difficult for Tangier to be self-sufficient. It will be difficult to make it a bridgehead for the Empire’s attack on Europe. After all, the army is far away, and the daily consumption is huge, but the number of steam merchant ships is insufficient, and sailing merchant ships do not carry much cargo and are slow,” Cui Shang’an said to Xiao Ming while studying the war report on the map, feeling a headache.

Xiao Ming put down the war report. He was mentally prepared for the situation the Imperial Navy was facing. Even in the modern era, a long-distance war like this would be very costly, not to mention now. So he never intended to send soldiers to the British mainland to fight trench warfare. That would be too rash and irrational.

What he really needed to do now was to use the power of the navy to defeat the British navy and blockade Britain, an island nation. Once this was done, a country with a small territory and insufficient resources like Britain would soon collapse. From then on, this country would be reduced to a third-rate country.

During the blockade, he could completely use Britain’s internal contradictions to find a way to further weaken Britain and split it into four independent small countries. In this way, the main force of this expedition to Europe would only be the navy, and the army would only be a supporting role, so it would not need too many supplies. Furthermore, he did not need to transport all the supplies from the Empire. Some supplies could be purchased directly from Europe. With Europe’s nature, some countries would surely be happy to trade with him.

So he said, “The problem of supplies is easy to solve. First, find a way to buy from European countries. Second, the British colonies in Africa are all under the Empire’s control, so we can find a way from these places. Don’t forget that the Empire’s Mining Department is exploring these places. Third, although the Africans do not like farming, the land is very fertile. We can send some agricultural technicians there. The Empire does not allow the sale of black slaves to the Empire, but this does not mean that we cannot use the local black slaves in Africa. We can capture some and establish plantations under the guidance of our technicians.”

Cui Shang’an was dumbfounded. After a long time, he said admiringly, “Your Majesty is wise. The blockade of Britain will take time, and during this time, not only can Tangier be self-sufficient, but it may even have a large surplus of food to be shipped back to the Empire.”

“That’s the point. Don’t forget, we are a large agricultural country. As long as there is land, we can make it fertile,” Xiao Ming said.

“Yes, I understand,” Cui Shang’an said excitedly.

After sending off Cui Shang’an, Xiao Ming called Pang Yukun and asked him to arrange for technicians to go to Africa. This time, Liu Chen had fought a circle around Africa, and these captured colonies needed time to be consolidated.

Hearing this, Pang Yukun said, “Your Majesty, that’s not a problem. In addition to technicians, should agricultural machinery be sent there? The machinery factory has just produced some agricultural and engineering machinery, and I was about to allocate them.”

Hearing this news, Xiao Ming smiled. Needless to say, this batch of machinery was naturally powered by internal combustion engines. He was also very interested in this, as it represented an increase in the Empire’s productivity. So he said, “In that case, I’ll go with you to take a look.”

With that, he asked Qian Dafu to prepare the motorcade. He picked up Pang Yukun at the outer palace, and the group headed to the industrial zone.

When they arrived at the machinery factory, Xiao Ming and Pang Yukun entered the factory with the factory staff. In the first five-year plan, the Empire’s machinery factories had blossomed everywhere in the Empire. Outside of Qingzhou, places like Guandong, Youzhou, Jinling, Lin’an, and Guangzhou all had their own heavy industries.

Due to the Empire’s population, Xiao Ming could only hope to make up for the current shortage of manpower by increasing productivity. After all, it was not easy to develop the Empire’s vast territory with only more than 100 million people. Because of this, he was now eager to see the Empire’s industry and agriculture become mechanized as soon as possible.

“Your Majesty, this is the latest batch of improved harvesters, rice transplanters, and seeders,” Lin Wentao said, pointing to a row of agricultural machinery parked in the factory’s open space.

Xiao Ming touched the machinery one by one, feeling a little excited. These agricultural machines were basically the same as modern machinery. Once they were put into agricultural production, they would greatly boost the Empire’s agriculture. This was especially true now that the Empire had estate agriculture, where a family of three often owned hundreds or thousands of acres of land. With these machines, the Empire’s farmers would be able to cultivate more land, and the land in the colonies would also be developed more.

“Have these machines been used in the fields?” Xiao Ming asked.

“They have. For example, this harvester can harvest ten acres of land in an hour on flat ground, and it can harvest seventy to eighty acres a day without a problem,” Lin Wentao said confidently.

Pang Yukun heard this and laughed, “Seventy to eighty acres a day is not bad. One is enough for a small estate. It is said that after this news was published in the newspaper, the number of farmers who came to the machinery factory to inquire about purchasing almost wore out the doorstep.”

“This is good news. The machinery factory’s profits will likely increase a lot.”