Chapter 1240: Empire Expansion Club (3rd update, please subscribe)

A black BMW was driving along the expressway, the latest invention of the Empire. In fact, as early as 15 years ago, an experimental expressway had been built between Nanhua and Nanyuan - a two-lane asphalt hard road.

Later, this hard-paved road became the standard highway of the empire, but from the perspective of later generations, it was only at the provincial level.

In the 10th year of the empire, Emperor Zhu began to propose a specific highway construction plan: according to his idea, the plan was to build a dedicated highway from Zhongdu to Yingtian, which was a highway of more than 1,000 kilometers. The "Imperial Highway Construction Plan" became the most eye-catching part of the imperial trunk road network.

It was from that time that the Empire Expressway began to appear before the world. In the past few years, many people have enjoyed the convenience brought by the expressway. Of course, it has also driven the development of the Empire's automobile industry.

"300,000 people."

As the car sped along, Zuo Zongtang looked out the window and uttered a number.

"What?"

Guan Chengdong was surprised and said that he was the personal secretary of Prime Minister Zuo. What was a personal secretary? It was a secretary hired personally by Prime Minister Zuo. His salary as well as three insurances and one fund were all paid by Zuo Zongtang.

"There are 300,000 people working on the construction sites of the Empire's highway network."

Zuo Zongtang, who was already in his seventies, had long been accustomed to everything in the empire. If he were still in China, he might have said "agriculture-based", but having worked as the Prime Minister of the Empire for so many years, he was well aware of the importance of industry and, of course, the importance of jobs.

"The number of jobs is related to the stability of the empire. Highways, railways and construction sites are the basic jobs for the empire to absorb the lower-level labor force. If an economic crisis occurs, we can consider increasing investment in highways..."

Will the economic crisis happen again?

Zuo Zongtang was not sure, but through a long conversation with His Majesty, he could draw a conclusion - the inevitability of economic crisis - an economic crisis would break out every ten years or so, and the government's responsibility was to introduce appropriate policies to get out of the economic crisis when it occurred.

"The highway is good, but there are too few cars now."

Guan Chengdong said as he looked at the empty highway outside the car, causing Zuo Zongtang to smile.

"There will be more and more cars in the future. In another ten years, every family may have a car. By then, we will need to build more highways, and the related industries will be able to provide more jobs..."

The car was speeding at a speed of hundreds of kilometers on the empty highway. A few hours later, the black BMW sedan drove into a high-end club on the Huizhou coast.

…

"In order to prevent civil war among the millions of subjects of the Empire, our statesmen must occupy new territories to settle the surplus population and find new markets for the goods produced by factories and mines. I have often said that ... if you do not want civil war, you must become an imperialist."

In the club's meeting room, Zuo Zongtang listened to the speech quietly. He looked at the speaking order and saw that the speaker was Zhu Jiekun, vice president of the Imperial Bank.

"…What is expansion? It is the way to survive. It is the future of billions of people in the empire…"

I don’t know when it started, but conquest is no longer an official act. It also has many supporters among the people. Among them, the "American Club" is the most active and of course the most secretive.

Even the outside world knows nothing about this club. Apart from the members, the outside world does not even know of its existence. But one thing is certain: the members of the club are often the top of society - there are both high-ranking government officials like Zuo Zongtang and low-key imperial nobles who almost never attract attention. Of course, there are also high-level elites in the imperial business community like Zhu Jiekun, and inevitably some university professors.

For example, Hu Wenju, who was sitting next to Zuo Zongtang, was a professor at Yingtian University. He was also a typical expansionist. He and Zuo Zongtang were old acquaintances - he came from Zuo Zongtang's shogunate and was "sold" to Nanhua together with Governor Zuo.

However, unlike others, he did not continue to stay in the officialdom, but became a teacher at the university after Chu Yang returned from studying abroad.

"Old Prime Minister, I have said it a hundred times. There are only two directions for expansion. Either we march north to occupy all the areas south of Mexico and unify the South American continent, or we strive for overseas colonies. However, this will inevitably lead to direct conflict with Britain. In terms of practical interests, this is not the empire's first choice!"

As a veteran imperialist - in fact, Hu Wenju was able to become an imperialist entirely thanks to his good teachers in the UK. During his study in the UK, he witnessed Britain's strength time and time again, and witnessed Britain's exploitation of its colonies. It was also his experience in the UK that made him an imperialist.

After all, no one can ignore the benefits of imperialism!

Even more than a decade ago, he declared at university that "the reason why people hate imperialism and colonialism is not because of imperialism and colonialism itself, but because they are unable to implement imperialist colonial rule!"

All right!

This is the same reason why people hate privileges because they themselves cannot enjoy them.

In essence, everyone likes to bully others.

"So, Changting thinks we should expand to the north?"

Zuo Zongtang asked while looking at his old friend with a smile.

"My Lord, Colombia, Venezuela and other Central American countries are weak and their armies are poorly trained. They are vulnerable. I heard that a battalion of mercenaries in Guatemala, the "Black Warriors," can easily repel tens of thousands of Honduran troops. Now Guatemala is rebuilding the federation. Shouldn't we defeat them and make their land a province before they rebuild the federation and expand their national strength?"

"You are right,"

Zuo Zongtang nodded without denying and then said.

"But the only problem is that they had a federation in the past, but why couldn't their national strength expand and develop? Just like the South American countries, they have been independent until now, but the people are living in poverty and the caudillos control the social wealth. Can such a country develop?"

The answer is definitely that they cannot develop... The South American countries are weak... That will remain the same as always, and will not change because of the emergence of the Ming Dynasty, nor will it change with the passage of time.

"this……"

The old prime minister's words made Hu Wenjuan frown.

"So, we still have to compete with Britain for colonies overseas?"

"Who knows?"

Zuo Zongtang laughed.

"When the time is right, the Empire will naturally raise its sabers again. As for expansion... the Empire's pace of expansion has never stopped, but sometimes it doesn't necessarily need sabers!"

When his words fell, the voice on the stage still echoed there.

"The existence of the imperialists is for the welfare and future of the hundreds of millions of subjects of the empire, and expansion is the mission and responsibility of all of us..."

(End of this chapter)