Volume 2: Soaring! The Overlord of the Region Chapter 271: The 44th Year of the Wanli Reign (Part 2)
According to Zhu Youdong's plan, his focus in 1616 was still on the country: the Yellow Book reconstruction would certainly encounter great resistance, so he did not hesitate to postpone the investigation of domestic military households - Zhu used the Weisuo system to trap the hearts of soldiers and their families across the country, and then he could do whatever he wanted. In his case, the rotten Weisuo system not only failed to support him, but also hindered him. So he had to do it the other way around: first clarify the civilian households, and then investigate the military households.
In addition, as a fan of the game Anrong before traveling through time, he certainly knew that as long as history continued to develop normally, Tokugawa Ieyasu would die this year. Although he also hoped that after he developed antibiotics , the old turtle could live longer. But when it comes to the changes in the national policies of the two or even three countries, it is naturally better to be pessimistic.
The Ministry of Revenue now has money, and even if he does nothing, the Ministry of Revenue will not ask the royal family for subsidies within five years. Therefore, in addition to getting the Yellow Book this year, he also plans to continue to invest money in his private army.
In terms of the army, he already has three fully staffed modernized armies: Henghai Guard (Commander Cao Wenzhao), Kunming Town (Liu Zhaosun), and Qingnian Guard (Li Chunzhong). According to his plan, he will have two more such armies this year. In this way, the domestic new army will have five divisions. It should be enough in the short term.
After several years of accumulation, Zhu Youdong now clearly knows that such a division would cost about 300,000 yuan a year for daily military pay, food, training, etc. If the equipment invested in the new construction and the annual loss of equipment are added, basically, 500,000 yuan is more than enough to support a modern division for a year.
Considering that the businesses His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has now brought him at least 7 to 8 million in profits every year, the construction of the new army will not be a burden to him for the time being.
But the Navy is different.
Although the navy in the era of sailing ships could not be called a gold-devouring behemoth, the consumption of a fleet was much greater than that of a modern army division.
At present, Li Guozhu's fleet has only more than 30 warships, plus 20 to 30 auxiliary ships, and the entire fleet has less than 10,000 people. However, the ship designers, shipbuilders, maintenance masters, cooks, tailors, etc. who provide services for these warships and marines are no less than thousands of people.
All of these require silver dollars to support. Not to mention that during the navy's drills, the shells fired are much more expensive than the army's rifle shells...
At present, just such a fleet costs Zhu Youdong nearly 1 million yuan every year. Therefore, even a local tyrant like His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, who has held Funing Town in his hands for many years through the relationship of Sun Chengzong, is unable to replace Yu Zigao with a new ship.
However, if Tokugawa Ieyasu dies this year, the Japanese time traveler will have to make full efforts. The key to the competition between China and Japan for East Asian hegemony is still the competition for sea power. Therefore, it is necessary to prepare and organize a new fleet.
Of course, the shipyard is there, and the shipbuilders are there. So it doesn't cost one million to build a new fleet, but no matter how much you save, it should be at least 700,000, right? What's more, Zhu Youdong is planning to build two new fleets, Yan Siqi and Yu Zigao.
In addition, this year's imperial examination is a big year. Whether it is on the list or not, there are big names. Zhu Youdong has been drooling over the candidates coming to Beijing from all over the country for a long time.
There is also the expected fire at Kong's store...
In short, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has a lot of things to do this year, and he is actually not very willing to turn his attention to overseas issues.
Unfortunately, Lin Danhan had no idea about Zhu Youdong’s troubles.
This member of the Golden Family who ascended the throne of the Great Khan of Mongolia at the age of 13, in the historical plane, when facing the rising Later Jin, he successfully weakened himself and strengthened his opponent with a series of S operations. Then he successfully hunted in the west and died of a sudden illness...
But in this dimension, because Zhu Youdong helped him to kill the Later Jin, Lin Danhan, who turned 24 this year, lived a comfortable life.
When he first came to power, all the Mongolian tribes except the Chahar tribe did not recognize him as the Great Khan. However, a decade later, the Khorchin tribe of the left wing and the five tribes of the Inner Khalkha had successively submitted to him, and the Tumed and Ordos tribes of the right wing also respected him as their common leader.
In short, although this person seemed a little mentally retarded when facing Nurhaci and Huang Taiji, it was mainly because his opponents were too strong. To be fair, this person still has some ability.
"Your Highness, since Hudun and Tuhan dare to invade our border, let's teach them a lesson! I request that you organize an army of more than 100,000 to wipe out these thieves in one fell swoop!"
When Wang Xiangqian stood up and said that he wanted to gather the army for a major battle, Xu Honggang's eyelids twitched a few more times, and finally he couldn't help but said: "Your Highness, I have something to report."
"Xu Zhangzhi, we are discussing military and national affairs now, what are you going to do with the Ministry of Revenue?"
"Hmph!" Without paying any attention to Wang Xiangqian, Xu Honggang said, "Your Highness, I was going to report this to you later, but I didn't expect the Grand Marshal to be so ambitious. I have no choice but to speak publicly at this occasion. Your Highness, everyone, have you read the report from the Shandong Provincial Administration? Shandong didn't have a single snowfall last year! The same is true for Shaanxi and Guanzhong! Most places in Henan are still like this! What does this mean? After the beginning of spring this year, if things go wrong, there will be a large-scale locust plague!"
Seeing the people who were obviously in shock, Xu Honggang continued, "I know that my colleagues see that the Ministry of Revenue has money, and they all want to make up for the previous debts at once. But everyone, it's really not that I'm stingy! It's just that this country is too big, and there are too many things to deal with! I must prepare for a rainy day!"
China's North China is one of the world's largest locust plague areas. Over the past thousands of years, large-scale locust plagues have occurred in this area countless times. And every time it occurs, it can be devastating at best, or it can shake the foundation of a country at worst.
But China is so vast that historically, large-scale, cross-provincial agricultural disasters rarely occur. And now Xu Honggang actually said that the entire north of the Yellow River has a warm winter?
This is the power of the Little Ice Age climate - the Little Ice Age climate is not just a drop in temperature. It is often accompanied by drought.
"Hey~~" Just when Wang Xiangqian was about to stand up and speak, Zhu Youdong sighed: "What the Grand Tutor said is indeed very likely to happen, everyone should pay attention to it."
His Royal Highness, the Crown Prince, is the reincarnation of the blue dragon, and is born with knowledge. This impression has been a little recognized by the ministers present at the meeting with Zhu Youdong's series of amazing performances in the past fifteen years. In addition, the locust plague is of great importance to any official of the Chinese Empire. Therefore, since Zhu Youdong has spoken, everyone has expressed their approval.
"Let's put it this way. When Hudun and Tuhan invade, we must give them a good beating. Henghai Guard and Qingnian Guard will each leave a thousand soldiers to defend the capital, and the rest of the troops will all go north to join the war. In addition, the Beijing Camp will send 5,000 soldiers, and the Tengxiang Four Guards will send 10,000 soldiers. How much combat power can these guys have if they always stay in Beijing? Let me train them all in the border. I will pay for the deployment of the above troops and other related expenses."
"Yes, thank you, Your Highness."
"In addition, the Ministry of War will mobilize the troops from Xuanfu, Jizhen, and Liaodong to concentrate in Zunhua and other places. The number of troops, well, let's control it to about 30,000. The expenses of these people will be borne by the Ministry of Revenue. After the meeting, the Ministry of Revenue will first transfer one million to the Ministry of War, and then transfer 500,000 to the Ministry of Works."
"Uh...I obey your command."
"For this expedition, the civil commander is of course the Governor-General of Ji and Liao, Yang Hao. The military supervisor is the eunuch Liu Shimin of the Imperial Horse Supervisor. The commander-in-chief of military affairs is Cao Wenzhao."
"Yes, we will obey your orders. We will start handling the relevant matters immediately after the meeting."
"Well, for this battle, there is one principle. Kill as many people as possible for me. I must hurt this guy in one go! Humph, when I am free, I will follow Chengzu's example and march to the desert."
"Your Highness wiped out the Jian Nu with ease. You are a famous general. We all admire you."
Waving his hands to show that he was not interested in these praises, Zhu Youdong continued, "It is right to prepare for a rainy day. From now on, the Ministry of Revenue should transport a large amount of grain from the south in advance. If the grain transport is not in time, we should use sea transportation. The Ministry of Works should prepare some projects that can be constructed in Shaanxi, Henan, Shandong and other places and are beneficial to the people's livelihood. As long as there is a large-scale locust plague in North China this year, we will implement large-scale work-for-relief!"
