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Chapter 1716 Domination of the West

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    "Of course, Portugal's foothold in these places relies not only on soldiers, but also on officials, priests, merchants, craftsmen, and most importantly, the sailors and sailors who patrol the ocean and connect this string of strongholds into a chain.  sailor."

    No matter when it comes, you must unify your thoughts before doing big things.  Especially for the senior management in front of us, once there is a deviation in cognition, it will be difficult to form a synergy in execution.  At this stage, the group's business is indeed too big and the room for error is too small. Therefore, Zhao Hao must clearly explain his long-term layout to these people in order to let them know where to focus their efforts next.

    Zhao Hao asked his secretary to send the meeting materials and said: "According to the information we collected before, there are approximately 50,000 to 60,000 Portuguese public officials overseas, as well as equally important non-staff personnel, who are used to maintain the operation of all overseas strongholds.  The total number must have exceeded 100,000.¡±

    "That's quite a lot" The senior officials murmured among themselves.

    But when they looked through the meeting materials handed out and saw that the brief introduction to the Portuguese stronghold was densely packed into more than ten pages, they felt that this was really a drop in the bucket.

    "Actually, these 100,000 Portuguese serve as management and technical personnel, as well as necessary deterrence force. Most of the troops and labor force can only be filled by hiring a large number of indigenous people to fill the vacancies." Zhao Hao continued.

    "So these 100,000 people are the minimum required to maintain the Portuguese maritime empire?" Jiang Xueying asked softly.

    "It's hard to say." Zhao Hao said, looking at Pinto and saying: "Portugal only has a population of one to a few hundred thousand, and there are powerful neighbors on the mainland. One hundred thousand adult men should be the limit that can be sent overseas.  It doesn¡¯t necessarily require only 100,000 people. What do you think, Mr. Ping?¡±

    "The Commander-in-Chief is so right." Pintuo was about to get up, but Zhao Hao raised his hand and pressed it softly. Then he sat down and sighed:

    "The first maritime empire in human history sounds beautiful, but the price paid behind it has long been beyond the scope of Portugal. To go to a distant colony, you have to take risks on a dangerous sea, and after arriving, you have to endure  Heat, humidity, drought, acclimatization, and endless attacks from the natives"

    "I have served in Sao Tome, Goa, Malacca and Macau. Except for Macau, the mortality rate of the Portuguese is very, very high. Every time the governor and chief executive send official documents to Lisbon, they always ask for  Replenish manpower. And as the commander-in-chief said, being able to maintain a scale of 100,000 people is already Portugal¡¯s limit.¡±

    After a pause, he defended his homeland: "The scarcity of men and the large number of widows in Portugal are important reasons why it cannot withstand the Spanish invasion."

    "Ahem." Seeing the excited eyes of the generals, Zhao Hao coughed lightly and stopped them from thinking. "So to really make this maritime empire run smoothly, the manpower needed may be doubled, or even several times more.  times."

    "The current employees of the group have at least graduated from high school, and the management and technical personnel all have middle school or technical secondary school diplomas. And under the group's scientific management system, one should be used for several, right?" President Jiang said.

    "That can't be less than 100,000 people. Besides quality, quantity is equally important." Zhao Hao said in a deep voice.

    Everyone nodded. They were all managers. Naturally, they knew that they would not fart loudly if there were fewer people.

    "Then the question is, how can we have so many people?" Jiang Xueying spread her hands and said: "The century-old immigration itself is a bottomless pit. The cadres trained by the group itself, as well as the graduates of the education group every year, fill this hole.  If it¡¯s not enough, how can we still have the hands to spread it out?¡±

    "The Great Immigration is the number one task that will remain unchanged for a hundred years." Zhao Hao waved his hands and said: "And Nanyang, as the number one destination for the Great Immigration, will be the focus of the group for at least twenty or thirty years. There is nothing to say about this."

    As he spoke, he smiled and said: "If we can make Nanyang return to kingship forever and become a paradise for the people of China, the contribution of us people will far exceed that of the emperors and generals in the history books."

    "Haha" Everyone also laughed. They are now in high positions and have gained both fame and fortune. The motivation to follow Zhao Hao to Malacca mainly stems from this unprecedented career.

    "It's true that those ancient emperors mostly competed in China, but we want to dominate the world." Tang Youde smiled meaningfully: "I think you may surpass Tang Zong and Song Zu in the future."

    "Screw you, don't talk nonsense." Zhao Hao rolled his eyes at him, waved his hands to everyone who was looking at him brightly, and said: "We have to break out of the stereotypes of emperors, generals, and ministers. That does not match our great achievements."

    Regardless of whether they understood or not, Zhao Hao continued: "We aim to dominate the world, but the earth is so big that it takes two years to go around it. Time flies and life is short. WeThis generation may never see that day again.  "

    The conference room became extremely quiet. Everyone stared at Zhao Hao under the sun and listened to his slow sermon:

    "A truly great cause cannot be accomplished by one generation. Our generation can lay a solid foundation and pave the way for those who come after us, so we will be worthy of our respect." Zhao Hao said solemnly:

    "The success does not have to be mine, the success must be mine. Let's encourage each other."

    "We'll keep this in mind." Everyone responded in unison.

    "Back to the topic." Zhao Hao picked up the tea cup and took a sip: "I have carefully considered that Nanyang can squeeze out some manpower. First of all, as for the Coast Guard, after capturing the entire Nanyang, India and Africa, we can greatly expand the defense line to  Extrapolate.¡±

    "In fact, the sea is vast and boundless, but there are only a few routes that can be taken. Blocking a few important sea lanes will also block the entire area. Otherwise, the Portuguese would not be able to dominate the entire Western Ocean with only a mere force."

    In the concept of Ming Dynasty, the West refers to all the sea areas west of Malacca.  Zhao Hao only pointed to the Indian Ocean.

    As he spoke, he stood up and pointed to the large map of Asia and Africa behind him, on which several key areas were marked with red pen:

    "How many maritime chokepoints are there in the entire Western Ocean? The Cape of Good Hope, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the Strait of Hormuz, Ceylon, the Strait of Malacca and the Sunda Strait. As long as these six are controlled, we can completely dominate the Western Ocean and ensure that the South China Sea is not  Threatened by enemies coming from the west."

    After a pause, he smiled and said: "As for the enemy coming from the east, I believe Philip II has understood how foolish a cross-oceanic expedition is. And he will be very distressed in the future. I am sure that there will not be such an attack on my door again.  It¡¯s a good thing to earn merit for everyone.¡±

    The generals burst into laughter, that was such a pity.

    "Then we will find that of these six sea passages, the Sunda Strait is already in our hands, and the Malacca Strait will soon be in our hands. Ceylon, the Strait of Hormuz and the Cape of Good Hope are also in the hands of our Portuguese friends, and they will soon be in our hands.  Transfer it to us." Zhao Hao smiled and said: "We will have five of the six major arteries, and only one of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, or the Gulf of Aden, has not yet been reached. This is also the biggest flaw in the so-called 'Portuguese Chain'."

    At Mr. Zhao's signal, Pinto explained: "For decades, Portugal has wanted to take Aden into its hands to block the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the throat of the Red Sea, so that it could completely monopolize the pepper and spice trade. To this end, Portugal  The Ottoman Empire launched a fierce battle, but in the end it was the Turks who gained the upper hand first and merged Aden into Ottoman territory."

    "Later, Portugal briefly occupied Paradise Island at the mouth of the Gulf of Aden as a substitute. However, the island was dry and lacked water, and the environment was very harsh. Moreover, the location was somewhat remote, and it was difficult to block the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. They wanted to build a 500-mile-wide island in Aden.  It was very difficult to set up a net in the Gulf, and the Arab merchants' ships transporting spices could easily escape their surveillance and sail into the Red Sea. The spices were landed at Suez, transported overland to Alexandria, and then resold in Europe by Venetian merchants."

    Pinto shrugged his shoulders and said: "So the Portuguese king's dream of letting Venetian merchants switch to fishing has never been realized."

    Zhao Hao nodded, then turned to Liu Zhengqi, the plenipotentiary representative in Cairo, and said: "Representative Liu seems to have brought us good news."

    ¡°I don¡¯t know whether it was due to overwork or the rough sea, but Liu Zhengqi seemed to have lost a lot of weight, but his energy was surprisingly strong.  When Zhao Hao called his name, he immediately stood up and bowed to show off.

    "This modest achievement achieved by my subordinates is inseparable from the wise leadership of the Young Master and the strong support of the group. As the saying goes, a weak country has no diplomacy, I can"

    "Okay, let's get down to business." Zhao Hao interrupted him with a smile and let the guy brag. Even half an hour was not enough.

    "After several years of hard work, my subordinates finally convinced the Ottoman Queen Mother. She has issued a decree and approved the project of digging the 'Suez Canal'. All construction matters will be fully handled by our group!" Liu Zheng laughed.  Flower arrangement bloomed:

    ¡°As a reward, we can operate the canal for 99 years from the time it is opened to navigation. In addition, in order to express their gratitude, the Mamluk nobles also gave us a place called Djibouti as a reward.¡±

    "Djibouti, where is it?" Everyone looked at the map.

    A group of coast guard generals looked ecstatic.

    Then he saw Zhao Hao's finger landing on the narrowest turning point in the Red Sea - the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

    Djibouti is right on the strait and is an excellent natural port, blocking the Red Sea from entering the Indian Ocean.  Its strategic significance is unknown to future generations There is Eagle Sauce's largest military base in Africa, France's largest overseas military base, and Rabbit's first overseas base How can a little white rabbit that is harmless to humans and animals have a military base?  Woolen cloth?  We call it a support base.

    ¡°So, we have made up for the Portuguese¡¯s flaws?!¡± Everyone was overjoyed now.

    "That's right, all six important places are in my hands! The power to protect Nanyang and control the West can be combined into one, and the required troops will naturally be greatly reduced!" Zhao Hao punched the map with his fist and suppressed his excitement.

    ps. After another day at the hospital, my energy and physical strength really couldn¡¯t keep up, so I felt better after a good nap. After writing this chapter, I continued to sleep.  (Remember the website address: www.hlnovel.com)Why would there be a military base?  We call it a support base.

    ¡°So, we have made up for the Portuguese¡¯s flaws?!¡± Everyone was overjoyed now.

    "That's right, all six important places are in my hands! The power to protect Nanyang and control the West can be combined into one, and the required troops will naturally be greatly reduced!" Zhao Hao punched the map with his fist and suppressed his excitement.

    ps. After another day at the hospital, my energy and physical strength really couldn¡¯t keep up, so I felt better after a good nap. After writing this chapter, I continued to sleep.  (Remember the website address: www.hlnovel.com
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