I want to be emperor

More importantly, there are no naval bases of other European countries in these places. Currently, only the Netherlands and Spain are left with colonies in the Nanyang region.

And the high level of the empire has decided to buy the Luzon Islands, and Spain can't keep the Luzon Islands whether it wants to or not, so Spain can rule it out.

As for the Netherlands, they are very determined to protect the Spice Islands. If they don't really fight, it is estimated that they will not give up the Spice Islands and Batavia.

However, the Great Chu Empire can still rely on the port of Singapore to fight against them at sea.

It's not easy to do in India and the Americas.

In India, although the Great Chu Empire also has some colonies, most of them are strongholds, and there are relatively few large territories. At the same time, various ammunition must be transported from the country.

And America is even more troublesome. The distance is too far. Although there are many islands controlled by the empire in the Pacific region along the way, such as the Sandalwood Islands, etc., the long distance will lead to supplies and the transfer of warships will become very long. .

But... Even in India or the Americas, if the Great Chu Empire has made up its mind, then as long as preparations are made a period of time in advance, ammunition supplies are transported to stock up in advance, and warships are dispatched in advance, then there is no problem.

To put it bluntly, war is a matter of comprehensive national strength, and in the competition of national strength, the Great Chu Empire is not afraid of anyone.

To put it bluntly, it consumes energy and energy to kill those competitors.

Looking at the overall situation of overseas expansion, the real difficulty is not too great, but the bigger problem is that it costs too much money to organize official immigration...

But if it is just to defeat the enemy and establish a number of trade and military strongholds, the difficulty is actually limited.

Although the follow-up official immigration costs money, it can also be done slowly... When you have money, organize more official immigrants to go there, and organize less official immigrants to go there when your finances are tight.

The military expenditure that needs to be spent in the short term is still relatively limited, especially with the assistance of the two trading companies directly controlled by the government, the Western Trading Company and the Eastern Trading Company.

At the same time, after intensifying overseas expansion, it will be able to expand the export of industrial products and the import of industrial raw materials and agricultural products of the empire, which will be of great benefit to the industrial and commercial economy of the empire.

Overseas expansion and colonization, just for this benefit, can plunder the economic value of the indigenous people to supplement the domestic market.

In the end, the high-level officials of the empire took out their abacus and calculated it. The three major plans will not only not lose money, but will make money, and they can make a lot of money.

This is also the fundamental reason why the high-level empire has no opinion on the overall strategy of the three major plans.

If the Army proposes a fourth Western Expedition, going all the way to the Kazakh Khanate and even the Ural Mountains, the high-level empire will be very tangled and hesitant... Thinking about one thing over and over again: spending so much military money to conquer the Central Asian region What's the use?In the end cost-effective.

But there are not so many opinions on the navy's overseas expansion plans.

After several days of repeated discussions, the high-level empire reached a unanimous conclusion: Overseas expansion can be carried out, and the efforts can also be increased appropriately. The more territories that are directly occupied, the more strongholds are controlled, the more colonies...

but……

What the Navy mentioned after the three major plans is to apply for a total of 2000 million Chu Yuan for additional military expenses, and there is not a single penny!
In a word: your military will fight casually, and I will lose if I give you a penny for extra military expenses!
Several senior navy generals on the navy side almost vomited blood in anger, shouting that they would drive the battleship ashore to kill those civil servants' homes, stuff these smelly and shameless civil servants into the barrel of the naval gun, and then fired into the Pacific Ocean.

I have seen shameless people, but I have never seen such shameless ones. I saw that the civil servants had such a good attitude, and they agreed to the three major plans from the beginning. 2000 million Chu Yuan should be fine, no matter how bad it is, you have to give some 1000 million...

As the saying goes, extortionate prices, paying back the money when you land, doing business, bargaining is normal, their navy has expectations, even if it is a [-]% discount, only two million or so, they can actually accept it...

But, you can't give nothing!

However, the civil official group really didn't give a penny!
For more than ten years, the civil servants of the Great Chu Empire have never let go of the extra military expenditure!

If you want them to pay extra military expenses, it is really possible for aliens to come over.

"You are only thinking about cattle working and not letting them eat grass. You are a group of traitors. Sooner or later, the great situation of our empire will be defeated by you!" At the council meeting, the Minister of Counsel, Marquess of the Empire Zhong Lianggong, Admiral Zhong Lianggong Unceremoniously opened the spray.

But who are the civil servants of the Great Chu Empire?

All of them are shameless old guys, no matter what the people in your navy say, but if you want money...

Even if you lowly warriors really come to fight, it will cost you money or your life.

Whether it's playing rogues or playing bachelors... the top civil servants in the Great Chu Empire are all peerless masters, otherwise they would not be able to climb to such high positions.

The civil servant leader, Guo Quanshu, the minister of affairs, who can drink tea calmly when Admiral Zhong Lianggong spits all the saliva on his face!
So, at the end of the day, under the leadership of Admiral Zhong Lianggong, the navy was very angry, but there was nothing they could do...

After all, this is not a discussion of conventional military spending, but of additional military spending.

In terms of conventional military expenditures, it is difficult for civilian groups to start. Without the military, they will really come to the door.

But for the extra military expenses, their military is really not easy to force it... This thing is originally paid for temporarily when necessary. Once the extra military expenses are used, it will have to squeeze money from other administrative departments. To put it bluntly, it is equivalent to Let the civil servants pay for the military to fight.

People's civil servants would not do such a stupid thing.

Over the years, the military has actually never received the so-called additional military expenses.

In the past, the northern strategy, the three western expeditions to the army have shouted out their throats, but the civilian group has never paid a penny. …

Guo Quanshu's words are: Unless the country is in danger of destroying the country, otherwise you don't have to count on it. The old man would rather smash his head to death on tofu than give you an additional military expenditure of a copper coin!

In short, the attitude of the civil servants of the Great Chu Empire is very tough. Unless His Majesty personally decrees, if you let your army and navy shout your throats, you will not pay a dime for extra military expenses.

And will Luo Zhi learn to make an order?

Sorry, Luo Zhixue has never issued an order to approve additional military expenditures for the Army and Navy since the end of the Eastern Captivity War.

why?
This is the regular military expenditure of 5000 to [-] million Chu Yuan every year. Regardless of whether there is a war or not, it has to be paid every year... There is so much money, why do we need extra military expenses.

Lu and Haijun used to think of ways to ask for money every day when they had nothing to do.

In the early years, Luo Zhixue personally refused, but later he simply asked the civil servants to come forward. After all, the refusal has been said before, and it is easy to arouse the military's dissatisfaction with Luo Zhixue himself.

Therefore, the civil official group is actually a scapegoat.

Without Luo Zhixue's hint, if they dared to give a copper coin, Luo Zhixue would dare to kick him out of the imperial study that day.

Not to mention these things, let's say that Zhong Liang, the current boss of the navy, took people away in a hurry, and then returned to the naval staff, but a group of admirals had lost the anger they had before.

"These iron cocks are really too difficult to deal with. They can't even make them pay for things like the three major plans. It seems that the matter of building large battleships has to be slowed down. The first batch of six ships can't be done. Let’s build four ships, and wait until the next year for the first two ships.”

"At first I wanted to get some money from them, but unfortunately, I heard that they are going to launch a high-tech industry support project. The first batch of funds is 500 million. The upgrade and expansion of the port will cost tens of millions of dollars, and they have money in their hands."

"Hey, this is also expected. I couldn't get it for so many years before, and it's normal if I can't get it this time."

"But if you don't pay the extra military expenses, you won't give it. Just let us let go!"

"This additional military expenditure cannot be found in the country, but it can still be obtained from the indigenous people!"

"I made a lot of it during the expansion of Nanyang before. In addition, I heard that many indigenous temples in India like to hoard a lot of gold, silver and jewelry. When we get a few tickets, the steam engine modification cost will be there. If you are lucky, you may be able to get money for a few more large battleships!"

"However, we still have to go to His Majesty's side to confirm the tone first, so that those guys who fell into the eyes of money will come to take our spoils again. It's okay to take some of them, but I'm afraid they will be too greedy and take them away!"

At this time, Zhong Lianggong said: "Huh, at most it is the same as when Nanyang was expanding. It is reasonable for them to share a part of it, but if they want to take it away, be careful to kill their appetite!"

"Tomorrow, I will enter the palace to face the saint, no matter what, we must ensure our navy's share of spoils!"

When Zhong Lianggong met the saint the next day, he really mentioned the issue of the share of spoils during overseas expansion. Luo Zhixue only heard Zhong Lianggong's words, and basically knew the true thinking of the navy. …

The so-called extra military expenses before are probably smoke bombs, used to confuse those civil officials, and their real goal is still for the share of these spoils of war.

Think about it, the army and the navy have not received even a copper plate of additional military expenses in the past ten years. Why would their navy think that this time the overseas expansion, the civilian officials will kindly pay them extra military expenses.

Navy top brass were less naive.

Their real purpose is to use 2000 million additional military expenditures to block the mouths of the civilian officials first, so as to fight for a share of the spoils.

Regarding this, Luo Zhixue didn't say much, nor would he directly determine the share of the loot, but just nodded slightly to show that he understood.

It can be regarded as acquiescing to the navy's approach, and can share a part of the direct benefits of overseas expansion such as spoils of war and indemnities.

However, the specific ratio still needs to be negotiated internally by the navy, the army, and the civilian group.

The civil servants will definitely not give up. No matter how much money, what kind of money, they want it... Even if they can't take it all, they will take a big bite.

As for the army, it is because the army's coordinated operations are also needed in overseas expansion, especially for large-scale landing operations and inland operations after landing. These all require the cooperation of the army.

Although the navy itself also has an organized marine corps dedicated to ground combat, its current size is only 3 to [-] people, and it is also scattered to garrison in various places. It is mainly used for daily small and medium-scale landing operations.

When it comes to large-scale landing operations, especially when it is necessary to control large overseas territories, the cooperation of the army is indispensable.

If you want the army to work, the money is naturally indispensable.

The three parties quarreled for several days, and finally referred to the old examples of the early Nanyang expansion. The war benefits from overseas expansion mainly include three categories: combat seizures, administrative confiscations, and war indemnities.

The military supplies are delivered directly to the military, and civilian officials do not intervene for convenience. As for how to divide the army and navy, they negotiate internally.

As for ordinary materials and gold and silver nowadays, they are divided according to 60.00 points, civil servants 40.00, that is, [-]% are directly turned over to the national treasury, and belong to the unified allocation of finance; The way to return to the military...

This limit is only a ratio, the more war income, the more the military will distribute!
This kind of distribution mode is very similar to giving commissions to salesmen when they make money in business. The higher the performance, the more commissions.

Regardless of whether it is military supplies, ordinary supplies, or cash, the military distributes them in this way, and the civilian officials don't care, and the army and navy negotiate and handle them on their own.

In general, even if the military makes every effort to argue, the civil servants still directly take the bulk...Of course, in fact, it is not appropriate to say that the civil servants take the money, but that it is directly handed over to the central treasury, which is included in the general ledger together with ordinary administrative revenue and taxes. It is used for various expenditures of the empire, and these expenditures actually include conventional military expenditures.

The distribution ratio within the army and navy is more complicated, and there are different distribution rules according to different enemies in different regions.

After the three parties reached an agreement, they formally signed a memorandum, and then invited the Holy Tribunal! …

After Luo Zhixue's review, Zhu approved: Yes!

The monarchs and ministers of the Great Chu Empire have always been very serious and serious about the matter of dividing the spoils.

In order to prevent all parties from regretting and wrangling in the future, it is normal operation to make a memorandum and ask Luo Zhixue to give instructions.

Without Luo Zhixue's quasi-word, all parties were worried that the other two parties would go back on their word and embezzle their own gains from the war.

When the most important thing, the distribution of spoils, is finalized, the next step is simple... The civil servants said that your army and navy like to toss and fiddle overseas, except for the Netherlands, Spain and other large European colonial countries. For other small indigenous countries, if you want to fight whoever you like, our civil servant group will definitely cooperate vigorously, and will order the governors of various places to cooperate with you to issue a declaration of war.

In the political system of the empire, the military has the power to fight, but it does not have the power to declare war. The power to declare war lies in the center of the empire. In addition, there are two overseas governors who also have the power to declare war against the indigenous countries in specific regions. The governor of Nanyang can declare war on the indigenous countries of Nanyang. , the governor of India can declare war on the Indian peninsula and West Asia.

Without the central government or the two major overseas governors declaring war, the military of the overseas territories cannot attack these indigenous countries without authorization.

But the Dongyang Trading Company and the Western Trading Company are exceptions...they beat whoever they like outside the territory of the empire and the territory of the vassal state...because strictly speaking, this is the behavior of a small number of nationals of the Great Chu Empire on foreign territory. Whether it is doing business or fighting with indigenous people, or simply bombarding indigenous cities with artillery, it all happens on the territory of other countries.

And imperial laws do not govern foreign territories!
Of course, if the people of the empire are bullied by the natives abroad, then the empire cannot ignore it.

To put it simply, the official attitude of the empire is that they have won the overseas operations of these two armed trading companies. If the natives come to complain or file a complaint, they will ignore it. But if they lose outside, the imperial officials will think about it. next time help...

In short, what stands out is a shameless person!
Of course, although the civil servants said nicely, saying that the military can fight whoever it likes, the final decision-making power still rests with the Jinling Central Committee.

Therefore, in fact, the military's military operations still have to comply with the overall strategy of the empire.

And the empire's overall overseas expansion strategy is to first settle the Fusang and Luzon Islands in advance, and create an absolute defense circle.

In addition, solving the Luzon issue first can also avoid violent conflicts with the Spaniards when expanding in the Americas, and then the Spaniards will not sell the Luzon Islands to the Great Chu Empire. Although they can be defeated at that time, but How much it costs, and it is difficult to fully accept the Spanish's numerous strongholds in the Luzon Islands and information about the indigenous people.

Therefore, the Luzon Islands must be bought before large-scale expansion in the Americas.

As for the military side, comprehensive large-scale preparations must be carried out first, especially the navy side must first build a batch of steam ships, and refit some warships to install steam engines.

At the same time, engage in overseas bases or something.

Then there are a large number of transport ships to be prepared. For overseas expansion, warships alone are not enough. A large number of transport ships are required to transport soldiers, immigrants, and various strategic supplies. …

Otherwise, a single fleet of warships would run over, and it would be difficult to provide supplies, and it would be difficult to hold the stronghold for a long time even if it was defeated.

At the same time, we must clean up Fusang first, instead of annexing it directly, but first acquire a few overseas territories and the like, and then continue to carry out infiltration control on Fusang, and confuse the water first.

Prepare for a full-scale annexation in the future.

Under such circumstances, the civil and military sides also started their plans separately.

The civil servants asked the Department of Civil Affairs of the Ministry of Ethics and Education to find the Spaniards and restart a new round of negotiations on the transfer of the Luzon Islands.

And the military is preparing to start filming in Fusang...

However, the scale is not expected to be very large, and the empire does not plan to send too many warships there, so it sent four warships randomly, with a group of cruisers, and the frigates passed by.

Accompanied by thousands of marines.

The task of the navy is very simple, first establish a foothold on Fusang, and then use this foothold as a base to fully control and infiltrate Fusang.

However, these military actions are trivial, and the real war preparations are instead the Navy's own equipment improvement preparations.

The navy has placed orders for more than 30 military transport ships of various types to major shipyards in one go. These transport ships are all motor-sail ships starting at [-] tons.

At the same time, Jiangnan United Power Co., Tianjin Machinery Co., Dangtu Machinery Co., Ltd. and other domestic manufacturers capable of producing high-pressure steam engines, which were jointly established by Guangzhou Machinery Co., Ltd., Luohua Shipyard, and Songjiang Naval Shipyard, etc. A large number of orders for various types of steam engines have been placed.

On the one hand, it is used for the construction of a large number of planned motor sailboats, but more are prepared to be used for the steam transformation of existing pure sail warships.

The transformation of these sailing ships is not to expect these modified ships to use steam engines for ocean voyages, but to use them as a backup power.

During combat, it can provide additional power for the warship to speed up, or seize the T prefix to enhance the maneuverability of the warship.

This is also the greatest benefit that the steam engine at the current technical level can bring to the navy.

As for ocean voyage by steam engine, to be honest, it is not very reliable... Maybe it will break down on the sea.

And to support such a large-scale plan of the Great Chu Empire Navy to build new motor sailboats and refit motor sailboats, this is because there are as many as four domestic manufacturers of high-pressure steam engines.

However, it is worth noting that, except that Tianjin Machinery Company solved a series of technical problems by itself, became the second manufacturer in China to develop a high-pressure steam engine, and bypassed a series of unique patents of Guangzhou Machinery Company, other Jiangnan United Power and Dangtu Machinery Company all use the limited time-limited patent authorization of Guangzhou Machinery Company.

And even the installed objects are restricted.

In this regard, Jiangnan United Company does not care. They themselves are the product of strategic cooperation between several shipyards and Guangzhou Machinery Company. This strategic cooperation is purely to bypass the very cheating agreement signed between Guangzhou Machinery Company and Guangzhou Shipyard. Pre-Order and Priority Purchase Agreements...

Strictly speaking, this factory is actually a production base controlled by Guangzhou Machinery Company.

However, the patent authorization of Guangzhou Machinery Company accepted by Dangtu Machinery Company is a forced choice.

As the high-pressure steam engine of Guangzhou Machinery Company quickly seized the market, and after Tianjin Machinery Company successfully developed a high-pressure steam engine, Dangtu Machinery Company was the only one of the three major steam engine manufacturers in China that could not produce it...for this reason they All anxious to death.

They were originally going to continue to immerse themselves in research and development.

However, the navy, the two major armed trading companies, and major shipping companies have a huge demand for high-pressure steam engines, and the production capacity of Guangzhou Machinery Company and Tianjin Machinery Company is not enough.

Therefore, under their leadership, Guangzhou Machinery Company and Dangtu Machinery Company reached a technology licensing patent, allowing Dangtu Machinery Company to use these patents to produce high-pressure steam engines stipulated in the contract for a limited time.

In this regard, Dangtu Machinery Company is actually unwilling!

Technology authorization can't make much money, and it still uses other people's technical standards. After the patent authorization is over, I can't use it... Will it affect the production of the high-pressure steam engine that I am developing.

But the higher-ups made it clear that they want more high-pressure steam engines. If you have such a big factory idle, you might as well be a foundry to produce steam engines from Guangzhou Machinery Company for a while, and wait for your own high-pressure steam engines to come out. , you can also just take advantage of the trend to produce your own high-pressure steam engine!

In this regard, although he was unwilling in his heart, Dangtu Machinery Company could only compromise.