Dominate the Country

Chen Ming has set his sights on the Russians, so he will definitely not ignore Central Asia. The latter is close to the Volga River and the Caucasus region, and has a great influence on Russia. The three Kazakh Khanates and the four Mongolian Khanates, although their national strength is not very strong, will all shoulder important responsibilities in the years to come.

For example, keep Russia away from the Caspian Sea!

Chen Ming did not waste much effort to get rid of the three Khanates of Khiva, Bukhara, and Kokand, and has cut off Russia's big hand that stretched across the Caspian Sea to the east. With the establishment of the Sikh Kingdom, Afghanistan is the only one in the entire Central Asian region that is still outside the system of Chen Han.

But Afghanistan is not close to Russia, even though Afghanistan faces the invisible threat of Chen Han and the hostility of Persia. They have been fighting endless civil wars and have not made much response to the development of external things. Just like a hedgehog in a cage, it will only shake its long thorns to make itself more tightly grouped when it is frightened.

But Chen Ming will not let Afghanistan go. Under the surface of this land, there is a world wonder of geological mineral deposits in this country, which has long been marked by Chen Ming. This is also to make Russia behave. In Chen Ming's "planning map", Russia does not need to be so close to the south - the Caucasus.

From the northeast end of the Sea of ​​Azov to the Caspian Sea, the area south of the horizontal line, except for the Volga River Basin, is the Caucasus. Let the Russians stay away from the Caucasus and retreat to the north bank of the Volga River. They can't reach Central Asia, and they can't cause trouble for Chen Han in Central Asia. This area can be controlled by the seven khanates, or it can be independent, or even bought to the Persians. Anyway, Russia's territory cannot extend to the Caucasus.

As for Afghanistan, since the Persians can gain new benefits in the Caucasus, they should let go of Afghanistan.

The impact of the Central Asian war is extremely far-reaching. Afghanistan's change in attitude towards Chen Han - from closeness to vigilance and resistance, is largely due to this war. Chen Han's brutal means of dealing with the three Khanates of Khiva, Kokand and Bukhara were blatant aggression. He did not even look for a decent excuse and directly started a war. Moreover, the three countries disappeared in one war. It would be strange if Afghanistan did not remain vigilant against Chen Han.

Fortunately, the people who occupied the old lands of the three Khanates were the Kazakhs, who were more or less the "brothers" of the Muslim religion. If the Mongols occupied the old lands of the three Khanates, Afghanistan would be ten times more vigilant against Chen Han.

And Chen Ming had been eyeing Afghanistan for a long time. And since Timur Shah Durrani, Afghanistan has been in civil strife. His sons took turns to come to power, and Afghanistan's national strength dropped greatly.

The three major tasks of the Sikh Kingdom, in addition to opening up the southern seaport and deterring Delhi, are to use troops against Afghanistan in the northwest. The territory of Afghanistan is now a little too large, so it is better to slim down. And Chen Han is also instigating Persia's war against Afghanistan. Before Ahmad Shah Durrani, there was no kingdom in Afghanistan at all. It had been the territory of Persia for a long time. Persia may have had the ambition to recover Afghanistan. Before, they were just too weak and had to face the huge threat of Russia, but now everything has changed.

Anyway, Chen Ming will use all means to weaken Afghanistan, but he will not directly invade Afghanistan. In his previous life, the great reputation of Afghanistan as the "Tomb of the Empire" made Chen Ming feel lingering fear.

Even though Afghanistan is now in constant civil unrest.

Timur had 36 children, 23 of whom were sons. After his death, the whole country fell into a bloody struggle. Because many of his wives were daughters and sisters of tribal chiefs, they were political marriages. These political marriages consolidated his throne, which was slightly shaken at the beginning of his succession, but the consequence of political marriages was that many of his sons had "backers".

His fifth son, Zaman Shah Durrani, succeeded to the throne with the support of tribal forces and became the new king. Timur Shah's eldest son Humayun first rebelled, but soon failed. Mahmud also rebelled, but was still defeated by Zaman Shah. But Zaman Shah's power had been deeply shaken. He had to discuss state affairs with the chieftains [nobles] under his rule and use them as his prime ministers and officials, so his rule was not stable. He couldn't even kill Mahmud as a "rebel". Then Mahmud rebelled again. This time Zaman Shah underestimated Mahmud Shah's power. The defeat in the war made him fall into Mahmud's hands.

Mahmud became the new king of Afghanistan in 1800, and Zaman Shah fled to India with the help of the British. But Mahmud's rule was not long, and the fierce political and religious conflicts in the country eventually led to his resignation. In 1803, Shuja Shah was crowned king, but his rule was also unstable. He was defeated by Mahmud's army in 1809, and Mahmud became king again.

From the fact that Mahmud was defeated first, then dethroned, but could still make a comeback again and again, we can know how chaotic Afghanistan is now and how dim the royal power is.

It should be suitable to use troops in such an environment, but Chen Ming still dared not act rashly.

He believed that the Afghan army would not fight Chen Han head-on. If the armies of both sides fought head-on, Chen Ming would easily take Afghanistan into his pocket, but how could the Afghans seek death themselves?

They are more likely to use their own mountains and hills to fight guerrilla warfare. With Afghanistan's complex and changeable terrain, the British did not win the three Anglo-Afghan wars in the original time and space. How could Chen Ming dare to walk into that cemetery easily?

Even if Chen Han's army's combat effectiveness can be compared with the British in 1839, can it be compared with the British in 1880? Besides, the third Anglo-Afghan war took place after World War I. With the replacement of weapons, the combat effectiveness of the army has increased exponentially.

For Afghanistan, Chen Ming is more inclined to use soft means, that is, to support a certain prince to overthrow the current regime and cultivate pro-China forces within it. At the same time, it is also necessary to constantly trip up the Dunilan Dynasty, so that this backward inland mountainous country will continue to lag behind and become poor. In this way, one day it will come to fruition.

Moreover, Afghanistan has a complex and rugged terrain. Even if this land falls into Chen Han's hands now, it is difficult to develop it in all aspects. Why rush for the moment?

Afghanistan in history was the front line of the confrontation between Britain and Russia. The British wanted to take Afghanistan to prevent the Russians from spying on India. Russia also wanted to seek a good outlet in the warm Indian Ocean, so it had to pass through Afghanistan. But in this era, Afghanistan has lost this function. If the Sikh Kingdom can perfectly complete the mission assigned to them by Chen Han, India will be directly isolated from Afghanistan.

Chen Ming will perfectly "enclose" a poor mountainous country in the mountains of Afghanistan like raising pigs.

…

Santo Domingo [Dominican Republic], the east of the Spanish island [Haiti Island].

This is a semi-independent area. Since the Spaniards began to withdraw their troops from Havana and other places, Santo Domingo has also changed its color. The flag symbolizing Spain fell from the port, and was replaced by the flag of the Republic of Haiti, which had just been established.

In 1795, France and Spain signed the Treaty of Basel in Switzerland, agreeing to cede the Santo Domingo area in the east of the Spanish island to France, making the Spanish island a complete French colony. But just a few years later, Haitian black Toussaint Louverture led black slaves to revolt against French rule, and successfully seized Saint-Domingue, which had just been ruled by France, in 1801, and then unified the entire Spanish island.

Napoleon was unwilling to lose this precious land, so he sent troops to reconquer the entire island, and the war lasted for several years. But in the end, the French failed. After Toussaint Louverture was lured and killed by the French, the mixed-race people and black slaves on the island continued to fight and overthrew French colonial rule and eliminated the French expeditionary army. The rebel army declared Haiti independent and established the Republic of Haiti. However, the defeated French army still occupied the Saint-Domingo area in the east. Until 1808, when Napoleon invaded the Spanish mainland, the rebels in the Saint-Domingo area in the east of the island were assisted by Britain, which was allied with Spain at the time, and Haiti in the west of the island, and finally defeated the remnants of the French troops lingering there. But afterwards, the Saint-Domingo area failed to achieve independence, but became a Spanish colony again.

Now the Spaniards who just returned to Santo Domingo have escaped. Santo Domingo and Haiti have received a notice from Chen Han that they will be incorporated. The blacks among them will be sent to Africa, and as long as they work hard, everyone can get a lot of land. The mixed-race people and a small number of white people will be sent to the eastern Peru region, where their property and rights are completely unprotected, but the mixed-race people can also rely on Chen Han.

Most of the blacks in Haiti are unwilling, as they also have land in the Spanish island, and this is already their hometown. After leaving Africa for hundreds of years, Africa has long been a strange geographical term. But the blacks in Santo Domingo are willing, but the local mixed-race people are unwilling to go to Eastern Peru. The two forces are restraining each other!

Yes, two forces.

The blacks in Santo Domingo are one, and the mixed-race people, a small number of white people in Santo Domingo and the Republic of Haiti are another.

Yes, the Republic of Haiti, one of the two major forces in the western part of the Spanish island, a mixed-race-dominated force, has an innate consistency with the anti-China faction in Santo Domingo. The Kingdom of Haiti in the north of the split Haiti, however, remains neutral on the matter. There are also many blacks in the anti-China forces, and not all blacks are willing to go to Africa. Surprisingly, the relationship between the latter two was sharply hostile in Santo Domingo before, but now they are facing another huge force, and they naturally come together.

Chen Han did not use force against the Spanish island, and did not even send official personnel to Port-au-Prince [the capital of Haiti, now the capital of the southern Undersea Republic] and Cape Haitien [the original French Cape, the administrative center and largest port during the French rule, now the capital of the Kingdom of Haiti in the north], but set up the official liaison office in Santo Domingo.

But no one is willing to give up the power in their hands. Otherwise, how could Haiti, which was just established a few years ago, split into two forces?

Haiti, which has been officially independent for several years, has now formed a "powerful" ruling class.

Jean-Jacques Dessalines, a subordinate of Toussaint Louverture, announced the establishment of the State of Haiti after completely expelling the French expeditionary force, and in September of that year proclaimed himself the Emperor of Haiti "Jacques I".

He drafted a highly centralized constitution for Haiti, established private ownership of land in the north of Haiti, and distributed the property of the expelled French to blacks and mulattoes. He relied on military means to implement management, restore agriculture, and distribute agricultural harvests equally to farmers and workers. But when he tried to apply this system that worked well in the north to the south, he was resisted. Dessalines took tough measures to implement reforms, which in turn led to a coup. Dessalines was assassinated. Then the ruling class in Port-au-Prince drafted a new constitution that stipulated that Haiti was a republic and limited the power of the president. Henry Christophe, a pure-blooded black who had just become president, was very angry about this because under the constitution, Christophe was almost a puppet.

In retaliation, Christophe led his troops to attack his political opponent, Alexandre Pétion, a mulatto who was also the chairman of the Constitutional Council, and tried to conquer Port-au-Prince by force, but he was defeated by Alexandre Pétion. Haiti was then divided into two parts: Henri-Christophe ruled the north with Cape Haitien as the capital, and Pétion ruled the south with Port-au-Prince as the capital.

Obviously, neither of these two groups would give up their power. Especially Henri-Christophe, he had already called himself Henry I. Alexandre Pétion was sent to France by his white father to study when he was a teenager. He was influenced by French liberal ideas, which abolished the monarchy. More importantly, he supported mixed races. He had fought a war with Toussaint Louverture because of the interests of mixed races, and had to go into exile in France after the failure.

For a long time, the relationship between blacks and mixed races on the Spanish island has been very tense. In Saint-Domingue [Haiti], the number of blacks is ten times the number of whites and mixed races. Although they formed a political alliance with each other when fighting against Spain, Britain and France, the tension between them intensified again after the external pressure was eliminated. Pétion is a representative of mixed races.

However, Chen Han's rules and regulations directly "denied" the rights of mixed-race people. Black people still have the Black Kingdom, but mixed-race people can only be nobles of the Black Kingdom, or be directly swept to the white side. This will inevitably be firmly opposed by Petion. And Henry I will not become the king of the Black Kingdom, and he will not easily compromise with Chen Han.