Volume 4: Hot! The whole world is a warring state Chapter 749: Changing National Policy and Preparing for War
The twenty-sixth year of the reign of Emperor Tianqi of the Ming Dynasty (1644), Jiashen.
"Your Highness welcomes you back to the capital."
"No need to bow, everyone."
On March 12, Zhu Youdong's special train returned to Beijing.
After arriving in Xinjiang in October last year, Zhu Youdong carefully walked along the southern foot of the Tianshan Mountains and repeatedly expressed one message to the local people: Live a good life and don't make trouble. If you live an honest life, the Ming Dynasty will protect you. If you listen to the instigation of foreign enemies and make trouble, the court will never show mercy!
After that, he quickly took the train back to Lanzhou, and then entered Sichuan via the newly built Baoji-Chengdu Railway in Baoji, Shaanxi.
Sichuan is a large province and the richest province in the southwest. With the Baoji-Chengdu Railway, and the fact that he had already sent people to blow up some reefs in the Three Gorges, Sichuan's abundant human and material resources could be fully mobilized.
However, due to the limitations of the technology of the time, the Chengdu-Kunming Railway he was looking forward to could not be opened to traffic in the short term. As a result, his plan to launch a major offensive from Yunnan and Myanmar in the future war against India could not be carried out.
So, he did not go to Yunnan, but turned eastward. He asked Ma Qiancheng and Qin Liangyu from Shizhu to come to Wanxian to meet him: this was a kind of feeling and respect for historical celebrities as a time traveler.
But that's it: in this life, because the Ming Dynasty lacked too many internal and external troubles, Qin Liangyu was destined not to be recorded in history as the only female general in the Chinese feudal dynasty. But Zhu Youdong firmly believed that if he could expose himself and tell Qin Liangyu the history of this plane, Qin Liangyu would definitely prefer not to lose her father and son and be recorded in history, and choose today's ordinary but happy life with a happy family and grandchildren.
After that, he went east along the Yangtze River and took a quick look at the livelihood of the people along the Yangtze River: the Little Ice Age climate had little impact on the south, and the livelihood of the people along the Yangtze River was generally good. Although there was almost no relief on weekdays, the people here did not seem to be as grateful to the royal family as the people in the north. But Zhu Youdong knew in his heart that if a global war really broke out, the Yangtze River would be the main source of the Ming Dynasty's future endless power.
Finally, after inspecting the Changsha Shipyard and personally presiding over the commissioning ceremony of the battleship Deng Zilong, he returned to Beijing on March 12, 1644 by ship and immediately convened a State Council meeting.
"Brother, last year the court collected 630 million yuan in taxes and 520 million yuan in expenditures. The surplus reached 110 million yuan."
"So much? I remember that even after the fiscal and taxation reforms were completed, the highest surplus the court had in a year was only about 50 million, right?"
"Yes, my Royal Brother. After the surplus was calculated, I was also shocked and asked the departments below to calculate it repeatedly. But the final result is indeed so. After carefully studying the various components of tax revenue, we found that the sharp increase in commercial tax and electricity tax is the main reason for this record surplus."
"I see. It seems that the development of electricity will greatly ."
"That's right. So I took the liberty to give Fangshan Academy of Sciences a bonus of one million yuan during the Lantern Festival this year. Two hundred thousand yuan will be awarded to the Institute of Electrical Engineering, and fifty thousand will be given to the agent who brought electrical knowledge back to Ming Dynasty."
"It's okay, you did a good job. If I, who am used to spending lavishly, were to handle this matter, I might get more than you. Then the Grand Tutor would roll his eyes at me again."
“Hahaha~”
"Well, that's the balance of payments. What about food?"
"Your Majesty." Minister of Agriculture Gu Bingqian stood up and said, "With the help of the Ministry of Construction, the Ministry of Agriculture completed the construction of the 30th million-ton granary last year. Now, every province or autonomous region of our Ming Dynasty has at least one million-ton granary. Based on these large granaries, plus the small and medium-sized granaries in each prefecture, state, and county. According to statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture, our grain reserves have reached 530 million shi, which is 31.8 million tons in the new system. And this weight is all the weight of dehydrated grains, potatoes, corn, etc. With such reserves, even if the entire territory of our Ming Dynasty has no harvest for a year, I dare to guarantee that within a year, even if we don't buy a grain from Southeast Asia, the people of our Ming Dynasty will not lack food."
"Very good. But I have to repeat my old tune. Such a large amount of inventory must be real grain, not just a number. Therefore, the Ministry of Agriculture must actively cooperate with the Censorate and regularly inspect each warehouse. I still say that if a grain warehouse catches fire, the custodian will only be punished for corruption!"
"Don't worry, my royal brother. In front of me , no official can embezzle a large amount of stored grain and get away with it."
"Haha." Looking at Zhu Youjian who was about to hang himself on the historical plane, Zhu Youdong waved his hands with great satisfaction: "Then I'll have to trouble you, Sixth Brother."
"We've talked about money and food. Next, we'll talk about armaments."
"Yes." The Minister of National Defense Zhao Lujiao stood up and said, "Your Majesty, in the army, the fifty standing divisions have been reorganized, all personnel are fully staffed, and the equipment is in place 100%. In the navy, the three battleships Deng Zilong, Yu Dayou, and Cao Sanxi have all been commissioned, and the six heavy cruisers Wei Zhongxian, Guangxi, and Xuequ have also been commissioned. As of now, the army has a total of fifty standing divisions, 750,000 people. There is one special warfare division, 20,000 people. In the navy, the three fleets of the mainland, Nanyang, and Americas add up to a total of five battleships, 13 heavy cruisers... and five marine divisions, a total of 130,000 people."
"That's 900,000 active-duty troops. What about the reserves?"
"Your Majesty." Zuo Liangyu, director of the Military Service Bureau, stood up. "As of March this year, the data held by the Military Service Bureau is that there are 3.2 million able-bodied men aged 18 to 30 who have completed more than one year of military training. Among them, 400,000 have completed more than two years of military training. There are 980,000 men aged 30 to 40 who have completed more than one year of military training, including 350,000 retired veterans. Those aged 40 to 50 are mainly nearly 400,000 retired veterans. The Military Service Bureau has not organized military training for other ordinary people."
"Cao Sanxi, I remember that according to the Yellow Book of the Ming Dynasty last year, the local population was more than 200 million, right?"
"Yes, Your Majesty, to be exact, it is 219,250,000. Of these, there are more than 80,350,000 males. And among the males, those between the ages of eighteen and thirty, there are 23,070,000."
"So the National Service Bureau's training rate is less than one-seventh of that of men of military age?"
"Your Majesty, please forgive me. The reason why the training rate is so low is that, in addition to the lack of talent of our ministers, on the one hand, the funds provided by the Ministry of Finance are limited, and on the other hand, the court has been expanding the army in the past two years. The weapons and ammunition produced by the arsenal are mainly supplied to the navy and the army. My military service bureau has gathered young and strong people during the slack season, but if there are too many people, there will not be enough bullets for them to do live-fire training. In addition, according to the Military Service Law, although our dynasty implements compulsory military service, in fact, those with high school diplomas and those who work in factories often do not have to serve in the military. So..."
"Director Zuo, please rest assured. I don't mean to blame you. In recent years, the court's main focus has been on developing the economy and ensuring people's livelihood. If there are too many troops or too much reserve force spending, it will go against the country's main development direction in recent years."
After he pressed his hand and asked Zuo Liangyu to sit down, Zhu Youdong turned to the central bank governor Li Guojun and asked, "How is the issuance of banknotes?"
"Your Majesty, overall, it's going smoothly. The public is quite receptive to paper money. Small vendors and township markets initially refused to accept it. But after explanations from local officials, they were able to accept the paper money into circulation. Currently, there has been no large-scale exchange of paper money for silver dollars among the public. As for the vassal states, due to the distance factor, I don't know much. But in short, I haven't received any bad news."
"That's good. In fact, during my tour this time, I also saw the circulation of paper money in various places. Overall, I am still satisfied." After nodding heavily, Zhu Youdong cleared his throat: "My lords, more than two years ago, after we tried our best to drive the Western bandits out of Southeast Asia, I asked the Ministry of National Defense to formulate a five-year shipbuilding plan. Now, two years have passed, and my Ming Dynasty already has five battleships. The reorganization and expansion of the army has also completed the first step. In another three years, it will be time for us to counterattack India!"
When the emperor said this, all the ministers in the meeting nodded heavily. As the times have developed to this day, at least the ministers who are qualified to sit in this meeting room at this moment are very clear in their hearts: the self-sufficient natural economy behind closed doors can never be restored. As the Ming Dynasty has developed to this day, it must use swords to obtain more raw material production areas and product sales markets. Only in this way can the country enter a virtuous cycle.
Besides, even if the Ming Dynasty did not fight back, would the enemy let us go? Didn't you see that two or three years ago, the Western bandits invaded Southeast Asia and almost caused the country's vassal system to collapse?
So, after three years, it’s time to fight.
"Since we have set the national policy of counterattacking India in three years, then starting from this year, the country's major policies must be adjusted towards this goal. I left the capital in May last year and spent nearly ten months inspecting the western part of our Ming Dynasty and along the Yangtze River. I am generally satisfied with the domestic people's livelihood, which has strengthened my confidence in adjusting the national policy. Therefore, I have decided that starting from this year, the 26th year of Tianqi, the country's main strategy will change from restoring the economy to preparing for war!"
