Finally home!

After three years of expedition, Li Xiao defeated India and the Ottoman Empire in one fell swoop. The Ming Dynasty's power reached as far as the Middle East, and the fully navigable Suez Canal was in the hands of the Ming Dynasty.

Xinjiapo, which is located on an important waterway, is also in the hands of the Ming Dynasty, and there are Ming troops stationed at all key nodes.

In other words, the most important part of world trade today is completely monopolized by the Ming Dynasty.

If Ming Dynasty does not want to do business with anyone, then this country’s cargo ships are in trouble. Your cargo ships can bypass the African coast, and the journey is several months longer. The transportation cost is even several percent higher. After transportation to the mainland,

There is no competitiveness at all.

Li Xiao knows that this world is a world of money. Like England, it is very expensive to send out troops to control the behavior of a country. A country that does this kind of thing must have its brains kicked by a donkey.

Since this is a world of money, let us control trade. Whoever controls trade controls money. Whoever controls money controls the world in disguise.

Give the obedient a carrot and the disobedient a stick. Uncle Sam's method is also very effective today.

However, Li Xiao was very strict about trade. Most of the materials transported by the Ming Dynasty had to be transshipped through the Port of Singapore. All non-Ming Dynasty ships, even Ming Dynasty ships with foreign crew members on board, were not allowed to pass through the Strait of Malacca.

In other words, the Ming Dynasty’s coastal defense line was not in the South China Sea, but in the Indian Ocean.

Whenever unknown ships, or foreign ships, are found in the South China Sea, they will be sunk.

The status of Japan and Korea Jiaozhi is very special. They are vassals of the Ming Dynasty. They can enjoy almost all the benefits of the ships of the Ming Dynasty. Moreover, these vassal states also feel that it is a very honorable thing to be the younger brother of the Ming Dynasty.

At least, when our own cargo ship passes through the Strait of Malacca, it will not be sent directly to the bottom of the sea with cannons.

This has caused a strange phenomenon. In the South China Sea, where trade is booming, only ships flying the Ming Dynasty dragon flag are constantly passing through. There is not a single ship from other countries!

Li Xiao was very surprised at the changes in the Ming Dynasty. When he left the capital, the roads in the capital were still cement pavements, but now they have all turned into asphalt pavements. After a heavy rain, they were washed away cleanly and looked translucent.

"Now our roads in the Ming Dynasty are all paved with asphalt?" Li Xiao knew that the main source of asphalt is petroleum. The presence of so much asphalt is enough to show that the oil industry in the Ming Dynasty has gradually begun to take shape.

"This asphalt is a good thing. Not only is the construction period short, but the car is not bumpy at all when walking on it. It is not like the cement road where cars walk on it and people jump in the car. It is like shaking the Lantern Festival. Look at it now

This car drives very smoothly."

Sun Chengzong is getting older. The few black hairs left on his head are now all white. His face is covered with age spots, but his teeth are not bad. They are white and new. They were probably newly installed recently.

A pair of dentures.

"Well! Asphalt pavement is better than cement pavement. When I passed by Jeju Island, I saw the oil refinery there. It already has some scale, and I think it needs to be expanded. In this way, there will be more in Ming Dynasty

of asphalt.

From now on, all roads in Ming Dynasty must be asphalt." Li Xiao looked at Sun Chengzong with a smile.

"I don't understand why you build such a big oil refinery in Jeju Island. If you refine so much oil, we won't be able to use that much.

The Newton and his people you escorted back from India spent all day studying on Changxing Island. The money was spent like water, but they didn't come up with anything. The gasoline engine you mentioned has not been completed yet.

Do you think they can do it, or do they deliberately not want to work for us?" Sun Chengzong stroked his beard and asked Li Xiao seriously.

"Mr. Sun, please keep this in mind. From now on, you will only think that the oil produced by the Jeju Island Refinery is not enough, not too much.

Newton and his people have just settled down for more than a year. Many things cannot be accomplished overnight, and now Ming Dynasty can afford to wait. And things like gasoline engines are a delicate job. Even if they design it, do we have the ability to manufacture it?

Two theories.

Anyway, we develop step by step, and now the new energy source of oil is in the hands of the Ming Dynasty. We are already in an invincible position! Even if there are unscrupulous descendants in the future, it will not be easy to lose."

Coaxing an old man is like coaxing a child. Sun Chengzong is like a child now and needs to be coaxed.

"The railway bridge built in Jinling has not been completed after three years of construction. It is said that there was a big problem in the design!" Zhang Huangyan was very energetic, with bright eyes, and he could not tell that he was old at all.

It seems that this old guy is living a good life.

"If there are problems in the design, we will modify them. We are crossing the river by feeling the stones. We have never built such a bridge before. As long as we eliminate difficulties and train a good design and construction team, we will also build a bridge in Wuhan in the future.

Jiangyin can also build a bridge.

The north and the south always have to be connected together. Only when they are connected together can the Ming Dynasty be considered a whole. From the north to the south, it is always necessary to transport it by ship. Not only is it troublesome, but it can also easily cause the country to tear apart.

The Southern Ming Dynasty originally settled on the southern corner of the Yangtze River, taking advantage of the inconvenient transportation between the north and the south. The Yangtze River is known as a natural chasm, but with the bridge, the Yangtze River is not a natural chasm.

In the future, we will not only connect the south of the Yangtze River, but also build bridges on the Pearl River, a bridge on the Liao River, and a bridge on the Yellow River.

There were some initial setbacks, which is understandable." Li Hao excused Shi Dewei with a smile.

Shi Kefa wrote a letter to himself personally, so he still had to give him face. After all, this thing is really just about crossing the river by feeling the stones, and it is impossible to make no mistakes.

Although Li Xiao knows some bridge-building techniques, he did not graduate in civil engineering after all. For a major project like building a bridge across the Yangtze River, what he has to offer is really limited.

"You have already said the good things. In fact, I and Mr. Sun also mean the same thing. As long as we use the construction of this bridge to train a team. From now on, we can build bridges on major rivers. Not only must we connect the north and the south, but also

Just connect the whole country."

Several people were talking, and the carriage had arrived at the commander-in-chief's residence of Li Xiao.

After entering the Marshal's Mansion, Sun Chengzong and Zhang Huangyan had no intention of leaving. Li Xiao could only take them into his office, knowing that there was something to discuss.

"Gentlemen, please have tea!" Li Xiao asked someone to serve tea, and then the three of them sat on the huge leather sofa.

"There is one thing that needs to be done by you." Sun Chengzong did not touch the tea cup. He still followed the old rules and picked up the tea cup to see off the guests.

"Oh! What is so urgent?" Li Xiao didn't understand. He had just returned from fighting in a distant place. What kind of thing could make the two old guys intolerable and need to pull him to do things?

"Disarmament!" When the two old guys said this, Li Hao immediately remembered a word, which is called killing the donkey.

They had just finished the war and had just recovered such huge profits. Moreover, they had sacked Constantinople and obtained a large amount of wealth. After conversion, this money could basically offset 60% of the expenses of this expedition.

The mighty Ming Empire couldn't even afford 40% of the military expenditures for the expeditionary force? With the current economy of the Ming Dynasty, this is a bit shocking.

"Two gentlemen, the army has just returned from fighting. I'm afraid it's unreasonable to abolish the army now. At least, we have to wait until the soldiers are rewarded and rested before the reduction is carried out!" Li Xiao looked at the two super old foxes and didn't understand them.

Why is this guy so impatient?

Originally, Li Xiao had paid great attention to controlling the number of troops.

As the absolute main force, the First Division has the largest establishment and naturally the most number of personnel. Added together, the First Division has a full 100,000 troops, which is considered the most powerful armed force in the Ming Dynasty.

Next is Yuan Chonghuan's Second Division. Because the Second Division used to be stationed in Lianguang and Fujian, it has more than 80,000 troops. However, during the expedition to India, many troops were left behind as local troops.

At present, there are only more than 60,000 personnel, and these 60,000 people are currently in Cyrenaica, waiting to be shipped back to China. Because they have experience in garrisoning in Guangdong, Guangxi and Fujian, they will still be stationed in Guangdong, Guangxi and Fujian after returning to China.

Cao Wenzhao's third division has been stationed in the northwest all year round, and now it has penetrated directly into the western region to control the Ili Valley. The total number of troops is only more than 50,000, and Li Xiao plans to return after Ao Ye's first division.

Man Ye was transferred to the Ili Valley, and Cao Wenzhao was transferred back to Xi'an. In the past few years of fighting in the northwest, his third division was the unit that suffered the hardest.

The Zu Dashou Division of the Fourth Division has always had a light combat mission and has only 40,000 personnel. It is now garrisoned in Hami and controls the entire Western Region's access to the Ming Dynasty.

At the same time, it was also a barrier to prevent the grassland peoples from invading the Ming Dynasty.

What remains is Man Ye's First Cavalry Division, with a staff of more than 20,000 people all year round. The current garrison is in the capital! As the only cavalry division in the Ming Dynasty, it is absolutely impossible to disband.

The Ming Dynasty only had these main armed forces!

Qinghai, where Geng Zhongming and Kong Youde were stationed, was on guard against the Tubo people. Their number was even smaller, with only more than 10,000 people. To deal with the Tubo people, these more than 10,000 people were enough. But their equipment was incomparable with the main force.

.

There are still people using revolvers. For the first division, many recruits have never seen it. It is a legendary weapon.

The mighty Ming Empire had a population of more than 200 million, and its main force was only 250,000. This is already a miracle. This number is not even comparable to those of England, France, and Prussia.

Impossible, the Ming Dynasty cannot even support these 250,000 people.

The remaining force is Li Xiu's navy. Li Xiao admitted that the naval force's expenditure is a bit high. Especially those extremely expensive ironclad ships, which are not only expensive to build, but also very expensive to maintain every year.

Moreover, after a warship has been in operation for a certain period of time, it must be returned to the factory for overhaul. This overhaul requires a lot of money.

The Marine Corps now has three divisions, each with about 40,000 people. They protect the maritime interests of the Ming Dynasty. Some key nodes on the sea are stationed by the Ming Dynasty Marine Corps.

They are also responsible for the protection of the Suez Canal. It can be said that the scale of 120,000 people is already stretched. Now that they are to be abolished, how will overseas interests be protected?

"The main force of the Liao army is the foundation of the country, so of course it cannot be disbanded! The navy wants to deter overseas, so of course it cannot be disbanded. What we and Mr. Sun mean is to disband the Ming Dynasty's original garrison troops.

Although the military pay for the military units left over from the Ming Dynasty was not much every year, they were always a burden to the country, and the military discipline of the guards was ruined. We have already carried out large-scale layoffs, and now what I and Mr. Sun mean is...

Since the country is at peace and there are no local civil unrest that need to be suppressed.

Should all the Ming Dynasty’s original guards be abolished and all personnel registered as civil servants? This would reduce the country’s expenditures by a large amount every year, and it would also free up a lot of labor force.

We have more and more factories in Ming Dynasty, and we need more and more workers. It is always good for more labor force to enter the factories." Sun Chengzong did not speak, but it was obvious that he supported Zhang Huangyan's intention.

"All the guardsmen were mobilized and laid off...!" Li Xiao thought about it for a moment.

It is true that the guardsmen have no combat effectiveness, and now they are only used as local troops, preparing to suppress the local presence. There are almost a hundred or so people in each county, which is already very small.

However, when the more than 2,800 counties in the country are added together, this number is very objective. A rough estimate shows that there are almost more than 300,000 people in the country.

Moreover, the quality of these people is generally not high, and corruption is also serious. Li Xiao feels that it is appropriate to abolish them.

The abolition of the guard soldiers also means the official end of the guard system established by the Ming Dynasty since the Hongwu period.

"The dismantling of the guards is naturally a good thing. But...!

This matter needs to wait and be implemented. The Second Division is in Cyrenaica and is preparing to withdraw into the country in batches. When the Second Division withdraws into the country, we are currently abolishing the garrison troops in Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and other provinces.

Then we separated the heavy weapons troops of the Second Division, and left the defense of these provinces to the Second Division.

The Third Division will be transferred back to China from the Ili Valley, and Manye's First Cavalry Division will switch defenses with them. After the Third Division is transferred back to China, it will be responsible for the defense of Shaanxi, Sichuan, Shanxi, and Henan.

At this time, we will abolish the garrison soldiers in these provinces!

After all the first division returns to China, it will be stationed in Gyeonggi, Hebei, Liaodong and Shandong. In this way, the garrison troops in these places can also be abolished.

The Fourth Division will be responsible for Gansu and the entire Western Region. Not only must their strength not be weakened, but it must also be strengthened.

In addition, Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming cannot be moved. This is my promise to them.

Try to arrange a good place for the disbanded guardsmen. I think they will not cause trouble. In this way, the total number of troops in the country is between 700,000 and 800,000. This is for the Ming Dynasty with a population of 200 million.
Chapter completed!