"The Emperor means that the part of the industry that uses steam engines can be transferred overseas?"

Yang Chengye's mind flashed and he suddenly thought of something.

Xiao Ming nodded with a smile and said, "In fact, some merchants in the empire have brought steam engine technology to the colonies now. This is the mine in the colonies. The efficiency of mining without steam engines is very inefficient."

"This is true. Relatively speaking, using electricity requires building a thermal power plant. No matter where the steam engine goes, it only requires coal and water. This is very convenient." Yang Chengye said.

Pang Yukun pondered for a while and said, "Factory with steam engines as the main body is gradually withdrawing from the imperial market. These idle machines are indeed wasteful. Compared with the cheap labor in the colonies, the salary of the imperial workers is much higher, and the factory owners will gradually be unable to bear it. However, when they transfer to the colonies, they can continue to make profits, which is also a waste utilization for the empire."

"That's what I mean. The merchants of the empire are merchants of the empire wherever they go. Their output is the output of the empire. This will cause the steam engine industry to be completely abandoned and cause huge waste. It is better to transfer it to various colonies to extract surplus value."

"The emperor is wise!" Everyone was amazed when they heard this.

The empire has developed so fast in recent years that the people of the empire cannot keep up with the speed of factory machinery renewal.

After the emergence of electricity, this contradiction became more prominent. If you still use steam engines, you will face low efficiency and high labor costs. When using electricity, all steam engines that have been purchased for just a few years will be idle.

After the empire successively occupied the colonies of Japan and Nanyang, some flexible merchants were already preparing to move the steam engine factory to the colony, so that they could continue to produce in the colony and also have money to purchase electric machinery.

However, the Empire has extremely strict control in terms of technology, and in other aspects, it has always been extremely strict in terms of other aspects.

Because of this, when businessmen and officials were in contact with each other, the emperor has set a tone and there is no problem with this matter.

The economic and technological reports have basically ended here. Next, Xiao Ming listened to the political and military reforms in the past two days.

According to reports provided by the Cabinet and General Staff, the restructuring of each province has been completed, and officials from each department are in their own affairs.

The top-down vocational setting of the military region has been basically completed.

Xiao Ming also took a relaxed tone when these two reforms were successfully completed, because it means that the empire has now officially become a modern country, whether in terms of industry and commerce, politics, culture, or industry and commerce.

In the next few hundred years, the order he created will not fall behind, which is enough to ensure the stable operation of the empire. After all, these systems themselves come from the contemporary world.

The end of the year-end court meeting lasted from morning to noon. After entertaining the ministers in the palace, the meeting continued in the afternoon, but the content of the afternoon meeting became the meeting for the formulation of specific plans next year.

"Start up and report if you have something to do, and leave the court if you have nothing to do!"

In the evening, amid Qian Dafu's sharp voice, the court came to an end. The ministers shouted long live and left the hall. Tomorrow is New Year's Eve every year.

Standing up from the dragon throne, Xiao Ming and Qian Dafu first withdrew from the Zhengda Guangming Hall.

When he arrived outside the hall, Xiao Ming looked up at the flying goose feathers and asked: "The war in Nanyang seems to be delayed until next year."

"I'm afraid that's the case, but at least the Southeast Army took Jakarta. Now I don't know that it was Yue Yun's fleet that controlled the sea trade routes." Qian Dafu was responsible for receiving the telegram, so he naturally knew these wars clearly.

Xiao Ming narrowed his eyes. In fact, he had a premonition that the war in Southeast Asia would not be as relaxed as Japan and Goryeo. After all, although Western weapons were behind, they were truly modern troops.

Moreover, the soldiers in the era of queuing up to shoot were the most disciplined era, because in every war they had to face the enemy's gun directly.

So in Jakarta, Lei Ming's offensive operation suffered two thousand casualties, and in India there were more Western soldiers. If they fought head-on, they would also lose a large number of soldiers.

What he needs most now is oil, and the occupation of India is not the first priority, so he is also considering the offensive plan for India.

Since the Imperial Navy can control maritime routes, it is a good choice for coalition soldiers trapped in India.

At the same time, Luo Xin's Southwest Army will attack East Indochina from land, and British-controlled Myanmar will surround India from the east of India. In this way, the Indian coalition will be even more uncomfortable.

Soon, his ideas were verified on the tenth day of the New Year, and the Imperial Navy's telegram was sent to him.

"In the Battle of Ganges, the Imperial Navy sank 96 enemy warships, but more than 3,000 people were killed or injured. This is the most serious war damage suffered by the Imperial Navy so far. According to Liu Chen, the coalition forces built more solid fortifications in Kolkata, India. The Southeast Army alone may not be able to chew this hard bone."

Cui Shang'an in the Imperial Study room analyzed the war reports from Nanyang.

"How many people are there in the Southeast Army now?" Xiao Ming asked.

"Return to the emperor, there are currently 64,000 registered soldiers in the Southeast Army, including 57,000 combat soldiers, and the remaining 7,000 are logistics and civilian personnel." Cui Shangan said.

Xiao Ming nodded when he heard this. Because of the modernization reform of the army, the logistics of the army is now his own business, because the logistics soldiers account for a considerable proportion of the army.

"According to Liu Chen's statement, if we want to capture Kolkata, we may have to pay 20,000 casualties from soldiers, which is equivalent to half of the warfighters of the Southeast Army?"

"I'm afraid this is indeed the case. Moreover, in order to control the colonies, the Southeast Army now has garrisons in the colonies. The soldiers who actually participated in the attack may only be able to gather about 40,000."

Xiao Ming frowned, "It is not worth the life of 20,000 soldiers for a Calcutta. Since that's the case, let's waste it slowly. Anyway, the empire has time now, and the more advanced equipment we wait for, the more they will lose their will to fight, and they will eventually lose their will to fight if they are separated from their country for too long."

"There is this idea for the Xiaguan to take advantage of this time. The empire is able to digest the occupied colonies and at the same time let the Southwest Army go south to conquer the city and make the head and tail unable to look after each other." Cui Shangan said.

He stood up and walked to the map. Xiao Ming put the Indian circle in a red circle. He said, "Just do it like this. In addition, expand the empire's army to a scale of 600,000 people. I'm afraid we will have to deal with a lot in the future."
Chapter completed!