The Imperial Age with the Resurgence of Han Style

Chapter 162 Beiming’s Thoughts

September 9, Zhenzhou City.

"boom!"

On the shooting range of Zhenzhou Armed Forces Academy, as a crisp gunshot rang out, many officials and craftsman officers present could not help but heave a sigh of relief.

Darling, if the musket is not powerful enough, explodes the chamber, goes off fire, and injures the prince of Ming Dynasty, there won’t be enough heads for all the people here!

"How much does this musket cost?" Zhu Boxu, the crown prince of the Ming Dynasty, handed the musket in his hand to the attendant next to him, then turned around and asked.

"Your Highness, the cost of each musket is around 25 to 30 yuan." Ren Jinchang, the director of the Zhenzhou Firearms Factory, took a step forward and bowed.

"Your price doesn't seem to be much cheaper than buying it from Qi."

"Your Highness, some of the Qi-made muskets equipped in the army are indeed cheaper than those produced in the Ming Dynasty." Wu Chenghao, the governor of the Ming Dynasty's Central Military Governor's Mansion and the Zhenguo General (lieutenant general), saw Ren Jinchang With a somewhat embarrassed expression, he immediately spoke out and said: "However, military affairs and the supply of weapons are not based on price. If the war in Ming Dynasty becomes tense in the future and weapons support from Qi State is delayed, then even if domestic production The manufacturing cost is several times higher, but as long as it can be supplied to the army in time, it will be of great benefit to the military. In the past, Emperor Zhongzong (Emperor Yanguang, formerly King Yong) once said that to revive the Ming Dynasty and restore the rivers and mountains, we should With the help of the State of Qi, we are the main force and we must rely on our own efforts. We must not rely entirely on foreign aid. Therefore, in recent decades, our Ming Dynasty has built steel plants, opened military industries, and conducted shipping administration, all with this principle in mind. Today, we Although the price of the utensils made in the Ming Dynasty is a little higher, over time, when the craftsmen become more skilled in craftsmanship and use machines extensively, the cost will surely be reduced."

"What Wu Qing said is true." Zhu Boxu nodded and said with a smile: "There is a saying among the people that it is better to seek help from others than to ask for yourself. This is also true. However, the price of this ordnance is a bit higher, but its performance is not inferior to that of Qi State. Purchased items. Otherwise, the officers and soldiers in the army will suffer heavy losses in the battle formation."

"What your Highness said is true. Even if we die, we will make our Ming Dynasty's weapons as effective as those made by Qi." Hearing this, Ren Jinchang immediately raised his hands and agreed.

"Your Highness, do you still need to test the cannon?" Wu Chenghao asked.

"That's natural. There is a saying in the military that artillery is the god of war, and it is the key to determining the outcome of a battle. Our road to building an army in the Ming Dynasty is based on elite soldiers, and the Qi State is our model. Artillery is especially important. . So, let’s take a look at the power of my Ming Dynasty artillery!”

Beiming's army basically copied the Qi army in terms of organizational management and combat mode. Even the military ranks, staff system, logistics supply, training procedures and tactical actions were all transplanted intact. . Every year, a number of outstanding trainees and officers are selected to go to several military schools in Hanzhou for systematic study and further education. Military instructors from Qi are also invited to be stationed in the Beiming army to participate in specific training and combat guidance.

It can be said that the Beiming army was a slightly weakened version of the Qi army, and its combat effectiveness was quite good.

Because it has always been determined to "restore the rivers and mountains and revive the Ming Dynasty," the Beiming regime not only established the most powerful navy in Northeast Asia, with more than 40 large and small ships and more than 8,000 naval officers and soldiers, but also established a navy It has a standing army of more than 23,000 people and hundreds of thousands of reserve rural soldiers. It spends almost half of its annual fiscal revenue on military expenditures. This is very important for a national population of only more than 2.1 million (excluding the large number of people in the territory). For small countries such as Japan, Korea and indigenous coolies), it can be said that they "spared their troops for weapons".

Fortunately, Beiming has mines at home. In addition to rich fur, forest, coal, iron ore and other resources, there are also several gold and silver associated mines with considerable reserves in the Yinzhou area (now Magadan Oblast, Russia). Every year The gold and silver value taken exceeded eight hundred thousand taels.

In addition, the North Ming Dynasty regime also inserted a "nutrition conveyor belt" on each of North Korea and Japan. It not only extracted their wealth through various means, but also used their huge human resources for their own use, vigorously developing and Construct various territories belonging to Beiming.

It is hard to imagine that a "small country" like Beiming had an annual tax and official income of more than six million silver dollars, one-eighth of that of Great Qin, which was unparalleled. Whether in terms of per capita tax contribution or tax collection efficiency, it far surpassed the three countries of Qin, Japan and Korea.

You must know that more than 60 years ago, during the reign of King Yong of the Ming Dynasty, the Northern Ming Dynasty canceled the thousand-year-old poll tax on the advice of the civil affairs adviser of Qi, and spread all taxes and labor into the fields for collection. It improved the policy of preferential treatment for the gentry that the Ming Dynasty had enjoyed for hundreds of years. "Officials and gentry work as errands and pay grain as one," thus expanding the number of people who can collect taxes.

As for the commercial taxes and customs duties (the previous city shipping tax) that had been ignored by the Ming Dynasty, the Beiming regime attached great importance to them. The national tax management system has established special tax bureaus in order to achieve the purpose of "payable, mandatory and full payment" of various commercial taxes.

In order to obtain more financial resources, the Beiming government also listed salt, tea, sugar, etc. as government specialties, and obtained a large amount of interest from them every year.

In addition, the coal mines, tin mines, forest farms, pastures, and reclamation farms in Yunzhou, Zhenzhou, Kuye Island, Gengluo Island and other places are mostly government-run or royal properties, and they also brought great benefits to the Beiming government and the royal family. Massive gains.

All of the above made Beiming extremely wealthy, thus laying a solid foundation for its implementation of the so-called "military-first policy."

Therefore, when Beiming had a small population and was unable to build a large army, it used money to build a well-equipped and well-trained elite division to fight against their biggest enemy-Qin. country.

In view of Zhenzhou's proximity to the Qin State and its economic importance, Beiming deployed almost half of its army and about 30% of its navy in the area. In addition, it also stationed 3,000 troops in the North and South of Hamjing in North Korea. In addition to strengthening military control over this mountainous area, there is also the need to prevent the Qin army from invading Zhenzhou from the direction of the Tumen River and Yalu River.

In April, when Beiming heard that the Qin army had won a decisive victory against the Dzungar Khanate in the Western Regions, they immediately became acutely aware that this long-lasting war might have a major turning point, and that the Qin army would gain the initiative on the battlefield. , Junggar's defeat may come early. Then, after the Qin State has solved the northwest border troubles, its eyes will definitely turn to the northeast and take aim at Beiming, which is regarded as a thorn in their side.

In May, the Qin State suddenly set up two forts, Hailanpao and Yakesa, in the middle reaches of Heilongjiang. This stimulated the nervousness of Bohai and Dongdan, and also deeply shocked Beiming.

The Qin Army is planning to manage the Northeast in the future, aiming at Beiming - compared with the weak Dongdan and Bohai, Beiming should be their real opponent, and they have begun to plan and set up points in advance!

Therefore, in addition to temporarily suspending the construction of the Shuangzhen Railway Extension Line under construction and instead urgently building a war-ready railway to Funingbao, the Beiming government also appointed Crown Prince Zhu Boxhu to inspect Zhenzhou in July and conduct inspections on Zhenzhou. Conduct on-site inspections and supervision on local industrial and agricultural production and armed defense conditions.

After Prince Zhu Boxhu arrived in Zhenzhou, he did not stay too much. He first took a train to Shuangchengzi, and then headed to the Xingkai Lake area under the protection of a team of cavalry.

The plain area near Xingkai Lake is full of fine black soil, which is extremely fertile. Coupled with the area's abundant water resources, good thermal conditions and geographical location, after more than 20 years of continuous development, it has become the largest city in Zhenzhou. granary. Over the past few decades, the Beiming government has successively immigrated tens of thousands of people to this fertile land, opened up millions of acres of fertile land, established five or six counties, and built water conservancy facilities as dense as a woven network, making the area more prosperous. Agricultural production has developed rapidly.

In order to promote the development of agriculture here, some Northern Ming royal nobles and noble gentry also purchased a large amount of land in the Xingkai Lake Plain under the instigation of the government, recruited and hired cheap Koreans and Japanese, and also purchased large-scale Agricultural machinery, build large farms, and achieve extremely high production efficiency. These large farmers can earn a lot of money just by buying and selling grain.

In order to protect this granary, Beiming built Mailan Fort (today's Jidong County, Heilongjiang) and Xiping Fort (today's Muling River in eastern Heilongjiang, which flows into Xingkai Lake) in one go. The three acropolises (today's Mishan City) and Mahebao (today's Hulin City) protect the entire Xingkai Lake behind them.

According to reports from local military and political officials in Zhenzhou, Prince Zhu Boxu heard that the Qin State had built a walled city named Dongpingwei (today's Qitaihe City) on the banks of the Woken River a few years ago, not far from the Mailan River. By sixty kilometers, the intent is self-evident.

Zhu Boxhu instructed the local government of Zhenzhou to vigorously organize the roads in several counties around Xingkai Lake to ensure that in extraordinary times, troops and materials from the rear can reach the front line in time.

Beiming developed this area early and vigorously. It also established a series of mutually supporting fortresses and cities, and also had relatively complete logistical support. If the Qin army dared to cross mountains and attack from afar, I believe that the Ming army officers and soldiers who were waiting for work would be able to inflict heavy damage on them.

You must know that the distance between Qin's two closest military towns to the Zhenzhou border, Jilin (now Jilin City) and Zhenning (now Harbin), is more than 400 kilometers away, and Dongpingwei, as an outpost, was established only five or six years ago. , even if they vigorously cultivate and farm here, the output will definitely be limited, and it will definitely not be able to support the consumption of thousands of troops.

If all military supplies have to be transported from Jilin or Zhenning hundreds of kilometers away, the miserable traffic conditions there will not be able to support the Qin army in large-scale military operations.

Therefore, in a short period of time, the entire Zhenzhou area, including Xingkai Lake and the coast of the Wusuli River, is not actually worried about the invasion of the Qin army.

However, as Qin's military operations in the northwest region have made significant progress, the time left for the Beiming government to calm down seems to be running out.

In this context, Beiming naturally cannot wait for the Qin army to come.

Something had to be done!

Do you want to take a preemptive strike?

Therefore, Prince Zhu Boxu visited Zhenzhou openly, but in fact he secretly visited Chencang. After walking around Xingkai Lake, he immediately went north along the Wusuli River and quietly arrived at Boli City.

He held a secret meeting in Boli with King Fude of Dongdan, the third prince of Bohai Kingdom, and Mutt, the governor of Jiangdong, and discussed how to join forces to launch a military strike against Qin. While the Qin army had not yet attacked Liaodong, When the military deployment was completed, the strongholds in the Qin border areas were uprooted, their farming facilities were destroyed, and hundreds of kilometers of isolation zones were artificially created to relieve Qin's military threat to the three families.

The reason why it was a secret meeting was because the military adventure they discussed did not obtain the consent of Qi State at all, and they were worried about interference and obstruction by Qi State.

As we all know, Qi State is currently involved in several overseas wars, which involve a great deal of their energy and are temporarily unable to take care of Northeast Asia. Regarding the tense confrontation here, Qi has also been emphasizing that several parties must exercise restraint and avoid the outbreak of military conflict.

Qi State signed a "Treaty of Friendship and Mutual Assistance" with Beiming, and it had the military obligation to send troops to defend Beiming's territory when it was invaded.

If Beiming and Qin fought and a full-scale war broke out, wouldn't Qi be completely involved?

In the past, your small army of Beiming sneaked into Liaodong and Qin-controlled North Korea and caused some military frictions. It was just a small fight, and it was not within the legal territory of Beiming. Qi State complained a few words, No strict prohibition measures have been taken.

But if you want to make things bigger without Qi's permission, don't blame us for getting angry.

Although, due to the military obligations of both parties, our Qi State will definitely provide necessary military assistance to you Beiming, and we do not rule out dispatching troops and warships to protect your territorial security. But the amount of aid supplies and the timing of dispatching troops are naturally up to us.

Your Beiming was destroyed by others before our Qi State was prepared, so we can't blame it, right?

However, it is too passive for Beiming to worry about Qi's reaction and sit back and watch Qin calmly deal with Junggar in the northwest while methodically immigrating to the east of Liaodong and deploying military forces.

If one day the positive results of Qin's land reclamation in the Songhua River, Heilongjiang and Nenjiang river basins show up and can satisfy the Qin army's large-scale military operations, then I wonder what kind of heavy border defense pressure Ming Dynasty will face!

You must know that the agricultural conditions in the Sanjiang River Basin are no less than those in Zhenzhou. In terms of climate conditions, geographical conditions, and vast area, they are even better than Zhenzhou. It can host millions of people without any pressure at all.

Therefore, time will be their greatest help to Qin.

Every year that passes, Qin's strength in the Liaodong region will increase by one point. With its strong national power and large population, Qin will surely slowly advance in the two directions of Heilongjiang and Ussuri River.

In order not to sit back and wait for death, the three countries of Beiming, Dongdan and Bohai must join hands to curb Qin's reclamation and expansion activities in the Liaodong region and not allow it to gain a foothold in the Sanjiang Basin.

After more than a month of secret consultations and discussions, the three countries have initially reached a consensus that they will suddenly attack Qin at an appropriate time, interrupting the other party's steady progress in the Liaodong region.

Therefore, after Zhu Boshu returned to Zhenzhou, he immediately inspected the ordnance production and manufacturing situation in the city, believing that when war broke out in the future, local military production could provide sufficient weapons supply for the Ming army, as well as Dongdan and Bohai.

For the long term, some military adventures are necessary.

No?

(End of this chapter)