Chapter 1576: A Tent Conversation: Dividing the World into Three

Golden City, the Prince of Huai's mansion.

Compared with the splendid mansions built in Huafu City and Golden Gate City, the Prince of Huai's mansion in Golden City could only be described as "old, shabby, and big."

This mansion was built on the orders of the Prince of Huai, Zhu Hekun, in the thirty-sixth year of Hongxing, so it is only about fifteen years old now. By rights it should not be considered old, but because it has not been properly maintained for over a decade, it looks both old and shabby. Apart from its relatively large grounds, there is truly nothing about it that would remind anyone of a prince's mansion...

Yet the Prince of Huai, Zhu Hekun, and his whole large family have lived inside it all these dozen-plus years.

Come to think of it, this prince of his has really been living a rather careful, penny-pinching life.

But then again, he has no choice but to scrimp and save!

The United States' Gold Province is not a place where one can actually dig up gold. Although the land is vast and fertile, there is little profit in it for him as its prince.

After all, with such a small population base, how much could he squeeze out of them?

Besides, the people below are all armed mobs with guns! Who would dare impose harsh taxes and levies on them?

Zhu Hekun did not want to be shot in the back! And he did not dare ban guns either — even if he could, he would not dare!

Gold Province has Rome to the south and England to the east, and from time to time nomadic Indian tribes appear in the surrounding area. If not for everyone being armed, they would have been wiped out long ago.

So let the house be a little shabby — as long as he can keep his life, that is enough.

Seeing that the great prince of Gold Province can govern frugally and share hardships with everyone, the armed mobs below naturally find it easier to unite.

Because of this unity from top to bottom, the forts along the Gold River and Silver River have been able to stand firm.

The armed mobs of Gold Province carry some weight within the United States — they are, after all, the spearhead of the United States' eastward expansion!

Therefore Gold Province not only holds quite a few seats in the United States' parliamentary government, but whenever there is a major decision affecting Gold Province's future, the United States' parliamentary government and the King of the United States must first seek Gold Province's opinion.

If Gold Province does not agree, the matter may not necessarily go through.

"Great Prince, the King of the United States, the parliamentary government, and the cabinet office are all of the opinion that we should recognize the state founded by the Steel Khan. As long as his people can refrain from causing trouble in Gold Province, High Province, and Virtue Province for the time being, we might as well recognize his khanate.

Besides, the Steel Khan's current strength is already considerable. Whether we recognize him or not, he is going to found his state. So we might as well just recognize it..."

The person speaking with Zhu Hekun in the mansion's main hall was Yamamoto Chōjō, who had just arrived.

And the one listening to him was, of course, Zhu Cilang's second son, Zhu Hekun.

What Yamamoto was discussing was the matter of recognizing the Indians' founding of a state... this was just about the biggest matter on the New Continent now.

And it was an epoch-making event — the Indians were finally going to rise up!

They were not only going to establish a state of their own, but that state would also be a nomadic khanate that was very difficult to deal with!

Although the number of households in the Little Soviet tribe is not large — thirty-eight Chiliarchs in all — their way of life, gathering and nomadizing, determines that this khanate about to step onto the stage of history will be extremely hard to destroy!

With thirty-eight Chiliarchs gathered together, the warriors able to bear guns and draw bows number no fewer than fifty thousand. These are not fifty thousand old peasants who farm the land, but fifty thousand brave warriors of nomadic hunting tribes!

And they are equipped with self-made bows and arrows as well as firearms obtained from New Rome and the United States!

Of course, what is hardest to deal with is not their bows, firearms, or numbers, but their nomadism... the thirty-eight Chiliarchs are not fixed in one place waiting to be beaten, but move back and forth across the boundless great plains.

The great plains of central North New Continent stretch from the Caribbean Sea in the south all the way north to the Arctic Circle!

Once the thirty-eight Chiliarchs begin nomadizing, even determining their location is difficult, and mounting a punitive expedition is even more troublesome. Moreover, in this era, whether it is the United States of the New Continent, New Rome, New France, or the Republic of New England, their actual areas of control on the great plains are all very limited.

The United States of the New Continent consists of Gold Province's "one line," a few points in High Province, and a small patch of Virtue Province. Among them, Gold Province, the most populous, has only thirty thousand households and two hundred thousand people, while Virtue Province has only twenty thousand households and one hundred thirty or forty thousand people, and High Province's population is even smaller, with just over ten thousand households and fewer than one hundred thousand people.

The populations of the three provinces combined amount to only a little over four hundred thousand, and they long ago abandoned the hard nomadic life in favor of building forts and settling down — so how much territory can they actually control?

And the total white immigrant population of New France and New Rome combined has not even reached four hundred thousand! Most of them, nearly three hundred thousand people, live in the Roman Empire's province of New Rome, which is the region later known as Louisiana. The remaining Romans live along both banks of the Lawrence River within the province of New France in the eastern part of the New Continent, and are not on the great plains.

As for the United Kingdom of New England, its white population is somewhat larger, already seven or eight hundred thousand! But the vast majority of them are concentrated in the narrow strip along the east coast, and only a very few have entered the western edge of the great plains beyond the Appalachian Mountains to settle.

In other words, the combined population of the United States, the Roman Empire, and the United Kingdom on the great plains is at most a little over seven hundred thousand, and all of them are settled.

Relying on a settled population of a little over seven hundred thousand, on boundless, endless plains and grasslands, how could one possibly wipe out thirty-eight nomadic Chiliarchs? It would be unscientific if they could... In fact, most of the time, the rulers of the United States, New Rome, and the United Kingdom do not even know where those thirty-eight Little Soviet nomadic Chiliarchs are.

Moreover, the conflicts between the United States and New Rome are not small. Over the past twenty years, the two countries have fought multiple wars over the territory of Virtue Province.

Both warring sides wanted to win the Little Soviet tribe over to their own side! Therefore they did not hesitate to supply the Little Soviet tribe with firearms, iron tools, and gunpowder, greatly raising the Little Soviet tribe's level of equipment.

By the year 699 of the Western calendar, the Indians of the Little Soviet tribe truly had the capital to found a state!

The Prince of Huai, Zhu Hekun, listened to Yamamoto Chōjō's words without saying a word.

Recognizing the Little Soviet tribe's transformation into the Great Soviet Khanate seemed inevitable!

But once the Great Soviet Khanate was established, the Indians on the great plains would have their own homeland!

With the title of a khanate, and a status equal to that of the United States, New Rome, and New England, the Great Soviet Khanate's process of integrating the various nomadic hunting Indian tribes would accelerate.

The thirty-eight nomadic Chiliarchs currently held by the Little Soviet tribe may seem numerous, but compared with the nomadic hunting Indians scattered across the great plains, they are still only a minority.

Once the nomadic Indians, upgraded into the Great Soviet Khanate, complete their great integration, it will no longer be thirty-eight Chiliarchs, but at least over a hundred Chiliarchs!

By then, the Great Soviet Khanate might well possess the strength to break through the forts of Gold Province's various regions...

Yamamoto also knew what Zhu Hekun was worried about. He sighed and said, "Your Highness, if the Little Soviet tribe really becomes the Great Soviet Khanate, then we, New Rome, and the United Kingdom might be able to join forces... Only by the three nations joining hands can we contain this Great Soviet Khanate!"

Zhu Hekun remained silent. Only after a long while did he force out a few difficult words.

"In the final analysis, it is we who underestimated those Indians! They learned nomadism, they know how to use firearms and gunpowder, and now they are even beginning to organize a khanate — yet we still do not take them seriously... Not only do Huafu and Golden Gate not take them seriously, but neither do New Rome and New London... Must we really wait until these Indians become powerful and hard to govern before we join forces to contain them?"

Yamamoto Chōjō smiled bitterly. "The great plains may be boundless, but in the end there is not much profit in them. New Spain in the south, rich in gold and silver, is the main target of the King of the United States and the parliamentary government... And Carlos II is frail and sickly, and will not live much longer! Once he dies, New Spain will be annexed into Rome! When that time comes, the Great Soviet Khanate may well become an ally of the United States!"

Zhu Hekun sighed heavily. "So in the end they are still thinking about gold and silver. I understand now... I will arrange for you to meet the Steel Khan!"