"Damn it!" Wu Sangui on the battleship was so angry that he overturned all the cups and plates on the table.

Of the 8,000 Indian soldiers who had been painstakingly trained, 5,000 of them were annihilated in this battle. If he had not been quick to seize the opportunity and boarded the ship at night, he would have either been shot dead or become a prisoner of the Ming army. For

For Wu Sangui, the two are almost the same.

The only difference may be that one will die miserably and the other will die even more miserably.

The Queen of England does not care about whether she can capture the Ming Dynasty. She cares about spending as little resources as possible to obtain greater benefits. She will not send the British to the Far East to fight. Europe is not peaceful now, and the United Kingdom needs to maintain a strong military power in Europe.

Used to deal with the established powers in continental Europe.

The only people Wu Sangui could train were Indian soldiers. Fortunately, India is a country with a large population. Just post a recruitment notice and you can find dozens or even millions of people to apply.

From among so many people, 10,000 to 20,000 people are selected for training. They are definitely guys who have reached the peak of intelligence and physical fitness. However, in the battle in Singapore, they fought well...!

"Wu! Don't be sad. India has a large population. You can recruit troops for training. We have dozens of arsenals in India, and there are high-quality iron ore in Syria. Equipment is not a big problem.

Look, we already have steam engines and more powerful guns, and we already have the strength to fight against the Ming Dynasty." George explained to Wu Sangui.

"But we still fucking lost!" Wu Sangui was as furious as a mad dog.

"Wu! Although we lost, we have to see progress compared to before. Look, we still have four battleships. If we had fought a naval battle like this before, we would not have been able to sink only one battleship.

.That’s not fighting, that’s massacre!

Okay now, we already have the power to fight the Ming Navy. If there are more ships, if we have more advanced weapons, next time, we will defeat the Ming Army. Believe me!

After I go back, I will write to professors at the University of Cambridge and Oxford University. I will also send people to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and invite some of the top scientists in Europe. We will study the secret of the motor. As long as Ming Dynasty studies it, it will be

Prove that there is such a thing in this world.

I don’t believe that Europeans will lose to the Ming Dynasty in science. We didn’t have a steam engine before, and Mr. Watt helped us solve it perfectly. Maybe the next gentleman can help us solve the electricity problem.” Although George lost the naval battle,

But this achievement made him very excited.

The defeat in Zhoushan was so miserable that the British fleet had developed a fear of the Ming fleet. This naval battle lasted for more than two hours, and the Ming navy tried its best to sink the Prince of Wales.

And George and saw that the Ming Navy also paid a high price for this. Their flagship was almost disabled. If they had something that could explode underwater, they might have sunk the flagship.

George believed that misfortune would not belong to him alone. God is fair, and one day misfortune would also befall the people of Ming Dynasty.

One day!

George was thinking about the day when the technology of the British Empire surpassed that of the Ming Dynasty, but Li Xiao was sighing in the capital holding a telegram.

Damn it, the British Empire has already invented the steam engine in just a few years. If there were no leaks, even Li Xiao would not believe it even if he killed him. The only question now is... should Li Xiu follow the plan?

Capture Sri Lanka.

As an island country next to India, Sri Lanka's position is very important. As long as Sri Lanka is occupied and cooperated with airships and warships, the entire side of the Indian subcontinent will be within the firepower range of the Ming army. Not to mention anything else, the daily bombing by airships alone will

It's enough for a British person to drink a pot.

Think about it, the mighty Third Reich was exhausted by years of strategic bombing. After bombing India for a few years, I don’t believe that the British can still stay on the coast of India.

Li Xiao's original idea was to send troops to Sri Lanka after the fleet rested briefly in Singapore. With the combat power of the Marine Corps, it should be easy to win. Then use Sri Lanka as a springboard to attack Mumbai, India. As long as Mumbai is captured, they can

India wedges a nail.

The British will take back Bombay no matter what. When the time comes, they will use Bombay to give full play to the Ming army's firepower and consume the British army's effective strength.

A naval battle off the coast of Singapore completely dispelled Li Xiao's plan. As he said, the plan could not keep up with the changes. Now Li Xiao needs a new, highly feasible action plan.

"I think Sri Lanka is still not suitable for attacking. There is no shipyard in Singapore. If our navy wants to repair it, it needs to return to Lushun or Huangdao. Even the nearby Huangdao shipyard will take at least two months.

.

Including the time to repair the ship, and then sail to the South China Sea. This trip will take more than half a year, which is really too long.

Comparatively speaking, the British ship repairs are much more convenient than ours. Mumbai ship repairs are only a dozen days away from Singapore, and even closer to Sri Lanka.

If we capture Sri Lanka, the fleet will return to the mainland of the Ming Dynasty for repairs. After the British warships are repaired, they can be directly launched to besiege Sri Lanka. By then, the soldiers there will become water without a source and a tree with no roots. The best

The result is to fight to the last soldier.

If a large-scale surrender occurs, we will lose face.

Besides, advanced howitzers and heavy machine guns should be deployed to Sri Lanka. If they are deployed in Sri Lanka, they can easily be copied by the English. If they are not deployed, Sri Lanka has no hope of holding on. This is a dilemma, so I

Say, don’t attack Sri Lanka for the time being.”

Zhang Huangyan's analysis is very detailed and his reasons are very sufficient.

Li Xiao nodded in affirmation. It was too far from Daming to Singapore. The telegram in his hand was that the airship flew to Hainan, then refueled from Hainan and then flew to Guangzhou. It was then sent directly to the court by the Guangzhou Telegraph Office.

Even so, he spent twelve days on the road. Li Xiao was very afraid that Li Xiu at this time had already attacked Sri Lanka according to the original plan.

"Send a telegram to the Guangzhou Telegraph Office and tell the second brother to lead the fleet to stay in Singapore for the time being. During this period, the warships need to be repaired by themselves. When the defense of Singapore is complete, we can return north."

"No!" The adjutant recorded it and showed it to Li Xiao. After confirming that it was correct, Li Xiao signed his name and the telegram was sent to the telegraph room.

"The top priority now is to set up shipyards in Guangzhou and Hainan. Our fleet can travel back and forth for maintenance, which can save at least half of the journey." Zhang Huangyan looked at the latest map and pointed at Guangzhou and Hainan.

"Too conservative! Shipbuilding needs to be established in Guangzhou and Hainan. I think the shipbuilding should be built in Singapore and Java. In addition, we need to occupy Nha Trang in Cochin. This place serves as a transit point for the Ming Dynasty's navy to go south.

The airship can take off from this place with much less fuel, and its speed can be increased by at least 30%. It will refuel in Nha Trang and then fly directly to Hainan or Guangzhou.

In this way, the journey was shortened from twelve days to about eight days."

"That's no problem, but the shipbuilding project is top secret. Both the Lushun and Huangdao shipyards are on the island, so the information is relatively easy to control. But if the shipbuilding project is set up in the bay, what about the confidentiality issue?

Besides, the workers are overseas all year round. It is difficult to take care of them in this house, and I am afraid not many people are willing to go. These are all difficult problems!" Zhang Huangyan was a little embarrassed. These are all specific difficulties. And they are only some of the specific difficulties that need to be solved in order to really work.

There are more things.

"The Java Shipyard is easy to handle! We have been arresting people in Java over the years, and the number of workers sent to the Ming Dynasty is no less than a million. When building Xinjiapo City, the number of people who died of exhaustion and illness alone reached 100,000. On Java Island

Most of the indigenous people there have been arrested. Now it is basically ruled by us Ming people. When we workers go there, except that it is a bit hotter, there seems to be nothing different.

Ask Yuan Chonghuan to come to the capital, and the Second Division will gradually move its defense to Java. With the protection of the Second Division, there should be no problems in shipbuilding in Java. In this way, our Ming Dynasty coastal defense line has extended forward for more than 6,000 miles. The entire South China Sea has become our

In the Ming Dynasty Inland Sea, there will be much more room for maneuver.

As for the shipyard, let the man named Wu Ciyou who followed Zheng Sen handle it. This guy is very capable, so Jinan Arsenal asked him to do it. Not only did the annual rifle output increase by 20%, but he was also able to produce more than 2,000 box guns.

.That thing is a melee weapon, and Man Ye is chasing my ass to get it from me.

Just let that guy go! Let me set up the Java Shipyard. In the future, Ming Navy ships can be repaired and berthed there. Ships can also be built there. I heard that further south along Java, there is a shipyard called Australia.

place.

That place is rich in iron ore, and it is very good quality iron ore. According to legend, there is a whole stone as big as a mountain that is full of iron ore. From a distance, it is all red with rust.

Let Lao Er send people to search south along the Java Sea to find Australia, mine iron ore and supply it to the Ming Dynasty."

"But this requires a lot of people...!" Zhang Huang regretted it as soon as he said it, because the answer was obvious.

"Let the Japanese capture, whether they capture the Javanese, the local Australian aborigines, the Cochins, the Siamese, or the Burmese. Anyway, as long as they don't capture my Ming people, they can capture anything."

." It was not beyond Zhang Huangyan's expectation. Sure enough, Li Xiao's method was to arrest people.

Now the financial burden of the Ming Dynasty is very heavy. If it were not for the tax output of the six provinces in the south of the Yangtze River, the ever-increasing military expenditure would crush the Ming Dynasty's finances. Predating labor has become a good way to save the Ming Dynasty's finances, especially overseas.

The workers only need to take care of the food, and they will work hard for Ming Dynasty.

This greatly reduces the cost of mineral development! Especially in the north of the Ming Dynasty, many coal mines use foreign workers. As the army of mineral plunderers in the Ming Dynasty marches northward, foreign workers from Java even appear in the Mongolian grasslands.

The million people Li Xiao mentioned is just a conservative number. This number only includes the Javanese labor force plundered by the Ming Dynasty. The coal merchants of the Ming Dynasty hired private Japanese armed forces to plunder the labor force, which was only a lot more than this number.

.

So much so that Java, which was originally a populous country, has become sparsely populated in just five or six years. Walking on the streets of Batavia, you can hardly see a few Javanese. Javanese have evolved from the most populous nation to

In a very short period of time, they became a minority.

"The remaining shipyards in Guangzhou and Hainan will be left to Zheng Sen. The shipbuilding in Guangzhou and Hainan does not need to have the ability to manufacture warships. They only need to have the ability to manufacture commercial ships, but they must have the ability to repair warships.

Now that the secret of the steam engine has been leaked, let's simply relax the ban. Steam engine merchant ships can be produced. It is also good to make some money from shipbuilding when funds are short.

As for the Xinjiapo Shipyard, let the second son run it. His subordinates can endure a lot. The manufacturing talents poached from the Xu family have been trained by the fisherman for a few years. Now it is time for them to take the lead.

Then he ordered the Municipal Shipping Department to station people in Singapore. All materials shipped overseas by our Ming Dynasty were delivered to overseas merchants in Singapore. Customs duties were also put on site in Singapore!

The goods shipped by overseas merchants to our Ming Dynasty can only be handed over to our Ming merchants in Singapore. The customs duties are also taken care of and they are delivered in Singapore. If the Ming Dynasty fleet finds a ship without a tax payment certificate in the South China Sea, it can immediately confiscate it. If you dare

If you resist, you can sink it immediately.

If smuggled materials are received at various ports, those involved will be punished with death. If officials are involved, in addition to being executed, all family properties may be confiscated. Three generations of descendants are not allowed to enter school, join the army, enter the country's business, or serve as officials in the court.

For businesses, the tax rate is increased by half.

In this way, we can receive a large amount of customs fees from Singapore every year. The burden on Ai Husheng's shoulders can also be lighter." The shipyard needs a large amount of funds, and Li Xiao can't focus on the customs fees.

.

Nowadays, customs fees are collected at various ports, and customs fees are often misappropriated in various places. The imperial court has repeatedly issued orders and failed to stop it! The reason is also very good. The imperial court assigned the tasks, but did not allocate the corresponding funds. The customs fees can only be misappropriated and used first.

, and then pay it back after the government funds are allocated.

Li Xiao was almost angry to death, but there was nothing he could do. Let the local government run schools, open charity halls to adopt orphans and orphans, and build roads, bridges, etc., all of which require money. Many times, the court did not allocate funds.

, we can only rely on local governments to find solutions.

The problem is that the imperial court is also poor!

Military expenditures in the northwest are huge, and major projects are being carried out everywhere. Large-scale projects such as building roads and railways, hydroelectric power stations, and bridges across the Yangtze River. Ai Husheng has hardly been in the capital these years, looking for money everywhere to fill the imperial treasury.
Chapter completed!