In the twenty-eighth year of Chongzhen, the fourteenth year of the New Year, the afterglow of the New Year has not ended, and Li Zhi has begun to deal with government affairs in the Qinzheng Yuan.

Li Xing, Zheng Kaicheng, Han Jinxin, Gao Ligong and others, who lived in Tianjin, rushed to the Qi Palace, sat in the Qinzheng Courtyard and waited for Li Zhi to give orders.

Li Zhi stood in front of the wall of his office, silent at the huge world map.

Now that the power of one town and nine provinces is rapidly expanding around the world, the territory controlled by Li Zhi has already reached a huge territory, even surpassing the Ming Dynasty managed by Zhu Youzhen, the son of heaven.

Due south, all of Southeast Asia has been completely controlled by the Tiger Army. Whether it was the earlier occupation of Indochina, Java, or Borneo, the Tiger Army continued to penetrate deep into the land, building bunkers and indoctrination of the local natives. Even Malacca, which marked the beginning of European power in Asia, fell into the hands of Li Zhi without bloodshed.

As more and more ports and strongholds were established, the whole of Southeast Asia became entirely Han Chinese land.

In the southeast, Australia and New Zealand have become Li Zhi's bag. The vast expanse of Oceania is completely virgin, full of empty fields and fertile land. The only thing left to do was to transport Han people from all over the country to that distant land, and turn those fertile lands into new homes for Han Chinese.

In North America, the Tiger Army is also expanding rapidly. After the first expedition successfully occupied the coast of Northern California, two more Tiger troops landed in North America within a year. Today, there are more than 10,000 Tiger Warriors in North America, crossing the Rocky Mountains in the west and effectively controlling half of the West Coast of the United States, holding thousands of kilometers of land.

However, these lands are no man's land.

At present, Li Zhi's most scarce resources are the ships that transport the migrants and the silver to finance the migrants.

For the current scale of immigration in one town and nine provinces, the original fleet of steamers is far from enough. Shipyards are working around the clock to produce new vessels, and even some large distant-water fishing vessels have been converted into passenger ships carrying migrants. But even so, groups of immigrants still can't get tickets from private steamship companies.

For no other reason, because the overseas territories were so fertile that there were too many poor tenant farmers who wished to emigrate to the colonies. For example, tenant farmers in Jianghuai Province may have only a few acres of rented land, and they are so poor that they can't eat a piece of meat for several months. However, as soon as you go to the colony, you can directly get dozens of acres or hundreds of acres of water conservancy facilities and the best land with the best soil resources.

Not only that, but Li Zhi also gives subsidies to those who are willing to move overseas. The government lent each immigrant six taels of silver to buy food rations, and also lent the immigrants all kinds of agricultural equipment, building materials, and self-defense weapons suitable for their destination. With Li Zhi's funding, overseas development has become a matter of minimal risk and guaranteed profits.

The risk of personal failure is borne by Li Zhi. And because Li Zhi's resources are extremely powerful, on the whole, the risk of a few people failing is negligible.

Decolonization has become a trend.

The Chinese are not lacking in pioneering spirit. In the later Qing Dynasty, the history of hundreds of years of continuous immigration of southern Han people to Taiwan and Southeast Asia has proved the enterprising spirit of the Chinese.

Now in one town and nine provinces, tickets for ocean liners are hard to find, and even dozens of times the original price is speculated on the black market.

However, this surging wave of immigration could not bring the slightest benefit to Li Zhi.

The immigrants spent the first two years in the colony cultivating new fields, building water conservancy, and building houses, which were basically impossible to bring in taxes. Li Zhi also financed and lent a large amount of materials to immigrants, which was quite financially stressful.

An immigrant who immigrated overseas needs to borrow materials from Li Zhi is worth about 90 taels of silver, and the number of immigrants in Chongzhen's 27th year is about 1.6 million, and the total cost is more than 100 million taels of silver in a year.

In other words, the more the colony expanded, the more turbulent the immigration wave, the more money Li Zhi paid, and the tighter the finances.

Chongzhen's 27-year financial ledger was quite ugly, and the originally rich finances of one town and nine provinces were greatly reduced due to immigration affairs. In the twenty-eighth year of Chongzhen, Li Zhi found that he could no longer accelerate the speed of immigration.

Li Zhi was silent on the world map.

"The Tiger Army of the Indochina Peninsula has been on standby?"

Zheng Kaicheng stood up and said, "Yes, my lord, there are no enemies in the Indochina Peninsula now. After last year's military expansion, the Indochina Peninsula now has 60,000 Tiger Army, 60,000 Yizi Battalion, and 50,000 Samurai Army on standby. “

Li Zhi frowned and did not speak.

Raising 170,000 troops in Indochina is not a simple matter. A soldier has to pay a monthly fee, provide supplies and ammunition consumption, and maintain all kinds of equipment, and a soldier needs at least 100 taels of silver a year. The expenditure of the 170,000 army was close to 20 million taels of silver.

Li Zhi looked at India to the west of the Indochina Peninsula.

India is a rich place with flat land and dense populations. Unlike expanding in a colony that was largely uninhabited, if you occupied India, you could get a large amount of taxes every year. These taxes not only supported 170,000 troops, but also served as a continuous supply of silver, which helped Li Zhi's colonial cause.

After the fall of the Mughal Empire, there was no unified state in this land, only the local states that survived.

Li Zhi asked, "What are the dynamics of the princes of India?" “

Originally, Li Zhi's troops were still relatively tight, and it was a little difficult to rule the whole of India. However, after the expansion of the army, the mobile strength of the Tiger Army has increased significantly, and it has the strength to control India.

Han Jinxin bowed down and replied: "Lord, after the defeat of the princes of India in Burma, the dragons were leaderless. At present, no single force has the ability to subdue other forces to establish power. “

"There is some information that the princes of India frequently traveled to Persia, and it seems that they were in contact with the Persian emperor. Persia was a patron of the Mughal Empire and had close ties with India. But India and Persia are too far apart, the language is not compatible, and we don't have access to specific information. “

Li Zhi frowned and looked at the Persian Empire in the northwest of India.

Could Persia also be interesting to India?

Li Xing bowed his hand and said, "Big brother! We have personally defeated the Mughal Empire and turned India into a chaotic situation of vassals, and we cannot let Persia reap the benefits of fishermen! “

"Big brother, now that our Tiger Army has expanded, we are strong and strong in the Indochina Peninsula. Without further ado, we should send troops to India, completely defeat the princes of the Indian states, and rule over the rich India! “

Zheng Kaicheng also arched his hand and said: "Lord Wang, now that we are financially tight, it is the best choice to go to India to grab one." “

Li Zhi asked, "How many troops does Persia have?" “

Han Jinxin replied: "There are more than 300,000 soldiers and horses in Persia, but only 200,000 elites can be pulled out to fight in India. “

After a pause, Han Jinxin said again: "The princes of various Indian states also have some soldiers, and there are probably 200,000 people. “

Li Zhi nodded and said, "I can win." “

After patting the map, Li Zhi said: "Inform Li Laosi and let him start preparing to go west and conquer India as soon as possible!" “10