Volume 2: Soaring! The Overlord of the Region Chapter 296: Military Expansion Is Imperative
"Grand Minister, you just said that the number of refugees caused by this locust plague has exceeded 300,000?"
"Uh... yes, the specific number is." Although he has been working under the Crown Prince for nearly ten years, Lao Xu is still a little uncomfortable with the Crown Prince's jumping thoughts. He flipped through his record book in a hurry: "327,000 people."
After saying this, Lao Xu's eyes turned and he said, "Among them, there are more than 89,000 strong men. Your Highness wants to select personnel from them to expand the army?"
"Yeah." Although Lao Xu sometimes couldn't keep up with his thoughts, he had been with him for almost ten years, so he still had some understanding of his thoughts. But...
"This is what I think. In the past, if there was a major natural disaster, the imperial court did not do a very good job in disaster relief. In addition, the household registration and yellow books were in disarray, and local officials colluded with local tyrants and evil gentry to oppress the people. Therefore, most of the refugees at that time were actually loyal, honest and kind people. Such people could of course be directly absorbed into the army. But now?"
Zhu Youdong spread his hands and said, "Now, the court has prepared more than 30 million dan of grain to implement work-for-relief. Under such circumstances, these guys would rather go into exile than earn a living by working hard. Humph! How can we let such lazy or cunning people join the army directly?"
"Oh, so Your Highness has thought of this. What does Your Highness mean?"
"Our household registration has been checked, so it is very convenient to check. Grand Marshal, issue an order to mobilize soldiers from all local garrisons to forcibly take all these refugees to the nearest road construction site, organize them into teams, and make them work. Those who dare not obey will be beaten with sticks."
"Yes, Your Highness, this is what we should do to such a stubborn person."
"Mr. Xu."
"Your Highness?"
"After the Ministry of War has replenished these people, the officials in charge of construction in various sections of the Ministry of Works should select strong and capable people who have been honest and hardworking in the road construction work in the past period of time and mobilize them to join the army."
"I see. I understand. I will arrange it right after the meeting."
"Well, the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Works should cooperate in this matter, and try to select 60,000 strong men from the in and out. Of course, this matter is not mandatory. In addition, the Ministry of War should also send a letter to the garrisons and military towns in various places, and select the best of the other sons under their command who cannot replace their fathers and brothers, and select 60,000 people. Well, now is the end of October in the 44th year of the Wanli reign. This matter must be completed before March of next year."
"Your Highness? Are you planning to train another 120,000 new troops?"
"Well, that's about right. The Henghai Guard and Kunming Town of our Ming Dynasty now have a staff of more than 15,000 people. After the 120,000 new soldiers arrive, they will be divided into seven towns. During the training process, some will definitely be eliminated and transferred, so we have to prepare more people in advance."
"Your Highness, I have objections!"
"Haha, I knew that the Grand Tutor would not be happy about this. But for this matter, I really need to ask the Grand Tutor to be lenient and give me some money. Otherwise, I can't afford to support seven new towns at once."
Zhu Youdong was not being modest when he said this.
Henghaiwei now has 12,500 combat soldiers, more than 3,000 auxiliary personnel such as The annual expenses for these people, including salaries, daily training expenses, food, clothing, and barracks maintenance, are about 600,000 yuan.
Now, the dividends from various industries under Zhu Youdong's name are about 6 to 7 million yuan each year. He has three full-strength divisions, Henghai, Kunming, and Jinwei, and the annual expenditure is close to 2 million. In addition, he also has a fleet in Chongmingsha. At this time, the sailing warships are not too expensive, but Yan Siqi wants to build a new fleet after returning from Japan. Therefore, in the past two years, the navy has also swallowed up 2 million a year.
In addition, there are the Ming Dynasty Royal Military Academy and the Naval Academy. The daily expenses of these two military academies are half paid by the royal family and half by the state. Basically, Zhu Youdong has to spend more than 500,000 yuan every year in this regard.
As a top priority, Fangshan School, although it had successfully embarked on the path of integrating industry, academia and research and was able to achieve self-subsidy every year, could not withstand the increasing scale of the school and the increasing number of scientific research projects. Therefore, Zhu Youdong had to subsidize 500,000 to 600,000 yuan every year.
Therefore, it was not that he did not want to build new ships for the fleet of Funing Town in Fujian, but he did not have enough money. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was indeed not like other nobles of this era who talked about enjoyment, but he was not an ascetic. Moreover, as the crown prince of the country, he had to have the proper appearance. The annual expenditure of Xinghua Palace was also at the level of hundreds of thousands of yuan.
Besides, when facing a bandit group like Jianzhou that has not yet taken shape, he can suppress it with his private property. But when facing other time travelers, he can't rely entirely on his private property: otherwise, why would he be the crown prince?
Now, other time travelers are about to start attacking him, and he has to use the power of the country.
Fortunately, although not many new troops have been trained in the past ten years, the financial situation of this country is constantly improving. Otherwise, it would be hard to say what would happen if we faced the new troops of other time travelers .
"Ahem, Grand Minister, let me tell you, training a new town will cost approximately... So, please allocate 10 million to the Ministry of War first."
"Your Highness, logically speaking, the Ministry of Revenue has money now. The 120 million yuan from the salt administration reform was used to raise the salaries of officials across the country. I have prepared 13 million yuan. The Ministry of Revenue spent 10 million yuan on purchasing grain for this disaster relief... In short, the national treasury is now very full. But Your Highness, I really cannot understand why they would do that just for a mere Siam, or maybe Japan. Is it that serious? You know, it took the court six years to help Korea fight against the Japanese, and it only cost 7 million taels of silver in total."
Sighing helplessly, Zhu Youdong patiently explained, "Grand Tutor, it is very necessary. In the past, our Sichuan Town, under the leadership of Liu Jing, fought against the Burmese army, and it took nearly a month to finish the work. But now, the Burmese army is defeated at the first touch of the Siamese new army. You have all read Xu Xianchun's report just now. Let's not talk about whether Siam is really going to capture the Mekong Delta. Just from the description of the Siamese army in this report, you should know that the equipment of the Siamese army is not inferior to our Henghaiwei. Nearly a thousand years ago, Emperor Taizong of Tang said why he was invincible. The reason is four words: strong armor and sharp weapons. There are of course many factors that determine the success or failure of the war, but if the equipment is inferior to that of the enemy, a lot of blood and flesh will be used to fill the battle. Grand Tutor, I think we would rather spend a little more money than let the good men of my Ming Dynasty make unnecessary sacrifices. Is that right?"
"Your Highness, I used to be the Minister of War in Nanjing." After implicitly expressing that he would never take the lives of soldiers lightly, Xu Honggang stood up and said, "Your Highness, I still say that the Ministry of Revenue has money now, so there is no problem in expanding the army. But please think about it, your highness, after the new army is expanded, this expenditure will be incurred every year. Seven towns, according to the current standards of Henghaiwei, the court will have an additional expenditure of more than 4 million per year. Your Highness, please make early preparations for this matter."
"Hahaha, Grand Tutor, please rest assured. I will take care of the matter of increasing revenue." In the Middle Ages, a country that was basically supported by agricultural taxes and salt taxes had to support a large modern army for a long time. Even the national strength of the Ming Dynasty could not support it for a long time. Oh, Xu Xianchun said that Siam's new army is no less than 50,000? I really don't know how that guy can afford so many soldiers. Hmm, the other party must have collected business taxes, right? Yes, it must be. Oh, I don't know when I can collect business taxes comprehensively!
After dealing with the Minister of Revenue, Zhu Youdong said to Wang Xiangqian with a smile: "Grand Sima, the God of Wealth is willing to give money, is there any problem on your side?"
"Don't worry, Your Highness. I know that your guards are all trained according to the standards of officers. In addition, some officers from Henghai Guard can also be transferred. Moreover, the students of the Daming Royal Military Academy have been enrolled for three years at most. Therefore, officers are not a problem at all. As for the soldiers, as long as the Grand Marshal is willing to release the people from the construction site, I dare to guarantee that the new army of the seven towns will be fully established before April next year!"
"Okay." Zhu Youdong clapped his hands: "After talking about the army, let's talk about the navy."
"Ah? Your Highness, what else is the Navy going to do?"
"Hey, everyone, you really underestimated Siam and the Japanese pirates. However, I am also responsible for underestimating the time of the two countries' invasion..." Zhu Youdong took a deep breath and said, "Now, we must be prepared for a short-term disadvantage in the naval battle or actively avoid a decisive battle at sea. In this case, the Changsha Shipyard, the only shipyard in the Ming Dynasty that can produce new warships, becomes very important."
"Your Highness, do you want to strengthen the defense there?"
"Of course, Grand Marshal, where would Qi Jin, the descendant of Qi Shaobao, be now?"
"Qi Jin? Oh, this person is currently unemployed in his hometown."
"Re-employ this man and let him serve as Wusong's general again, with his base on Changsha Island. The Ministry of Revenue will allocate another 200,000 yuan and let him gather all the remaining troops of the Qi family army. As for the equipment, let him come to Beijing first. After I meet him, let him go to Fangshan. I will give him whatever equipment he needs! In addition, the Grand Marshal."
"Please give your orders, Your Highness."
"The Ministry of Industry should send capable officials to Chongming Sand Station to reinforce the defense there. I will write a note to Fangshan's firearms laboratory later and ask them to send Sun Yuanhua over as well!"
