I Want to Be the Emperor Chapter 687: The Iron Rooster Cabinet

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

The top officials of the empire have decided to purchase the Luzon Islands, and Spain cannot keep the Luzon Islands whether it wants to or not, so Spain can exclude them.

As for the Netherlands, they are very determined to defend the Spice Islands. Without a real fight, it is estimated that they will not be able to give up the Spice Islands and Batavia.

But the Chu Empire can still rely on Singapore Port to conduct maritime operations with them.

But it’s not easy to do in India and the Americas.

In India, although the Chu Empire also had some colonies, they were mostly strongholds and had relatively few large territories. At the same time, all kinds of ammunition had to be transported from the country.

The Americas are 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, the long distance makes the supply of materials and the mobilization of warships very long.

.

But... even in India or the Americas, if the Chu Empire is determined, then as long as it prepares a period of time in advance, transports ammunition supplies and transfers warships in advance, then there will not be a big problem.
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To put it bluntly, war is about comprehensive national strength, and when it comes to competing for national strength, no one in the Great Chu Empire is afraid.

It’s not nice to say that it will kill those competitors.

Looking at the overall situation of overseas expansion, it is not really difficult. What is more serious is that it is too expensive to organize official immigration...

But if you just defeat the enemy and establish a few trade and military strongholds, the difficulty is actually limited.

Although subsequent official immigration costs money, it can also be done slowly... When you have money, organize more official immigrants, and if you are financially strapped, organize less official immigrants.

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

At the same time, by increasing the intensity of overseas expansion, it will be possible to expand the export of the empire's industrial products and the import of industrial raw materials and agricultural products, which will be of great benefit to the empire's domestic industrial and commercial economy.

Overseas expansion and colonization have the advantage of plundering the economic value of the indigenous people to supplement the domestic market.

Finally, the senior officials of the empire took out their abacus and made calculations. Instead of losing money, these three major plans will actually make money, and a lot of it.

This is also the fundamental reason why the empire’s senior officials have 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 empire's top brass will be very entangled and hesitant... pondering one thing over and over again: Spending so much military spending to conquer Central Asia has

What is it for? Is it cost-effective?

But there are not so many opinions on the Navy's overseas expansion plan.

After several days of repeated discussions, the empire's top brass came to a unanimous conclusion: Overseas expansion can be carried out, and efforts can be appropriately increased to directly occupy the territory, control the strongholds, and have more colonies...

But...

The Navy mentioned after the three major plans that it had applied for a total of 20 million yuan in additional military expenditures but not even a penny!

In a word: your military can fight whatever you want. If I give you a penny for extra military expenses, I will lose!

Several senior naval generals on the Navy side were so angry that they almost vomited blood. They shouted that they would drive a battleship ashore and kill those civil servants at their homes, stuff these shameless civil servants into the barrels of naval guns, and then shoot them.

Go into the Pacific Ocean.

I have seen shameless people, but I have never seen such shameless people. Seeing that the civil servants had such a good attitude, they agreed to the three major plans from the beginning. The navy thought that even if it was less than 20 million, it would be worth half the price.

Ten million Chu Yuan should be fine. If not, you have to give me three to five million...

As the saying goes, ask for a high price and pay back when you land. In business, haggling is normal. The navy has expectations. Even if it is a 10% discount, they can accept only two million yuan...

But, you can’t give me not a penny!

However, the civil service group really didn’t give a penny!

For more than ten years, the civil service group of the Great Chu Empire has never let go of the issue of additional military expenditures!

If you want them to provide additional military spending, you really need aliens to come over to make this possible.

"You only think about cows working and don't let cows graze. You are all a bunch of traitors. Sooner or later, the good situation of our empire will be defeated by you!" At the staff meeting, Admiral Zhong Lianggong, the Minister of Staff, Marquis of the Empire, said

He started squirting without hesitation.

But who are the civil servants of the Chu Empire?

All of them are shameless old guys. No matter how much the navy scolds you, they don’t want money...

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

When it comes to playing rogue and beating bachelors...the top civil servants in the Chu Empire are all peerless masters, otherwise they wouldn't be able to climb to such high positions.

Civil service leader Guo Quanshu, the Minister of Counselor, could still calm down and drink tea even when General Zhong Lianggong was spraying saliva on his face!

Therefore, in the end, the Navy, under the leadership of Admiral Zhong Lianggong, was extremely angry, but there was nothing they could do...

After all, this is not a discussion about conventional military expenditures, but about additional military expenditures.

In terms of regular military expenditures, it is difficult for the civilian group to attack. Without the military, the military would really come knocking.

But it’s really hard for the military to come up with extra military expenditures... This thing is meant to be spent temporarily only when necessary. Once extra military expenditures are used, they have to squeeze money from other administrative departments. To put it bluntly, it is tantamount to

Let the civilian officials pay for the military to fight the war.

Civil servants would not do such stupid things.

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

In the past, the army shouted loudly about the Northern Strategy during the three Western Expeditions, but the civilian clique never paid a penny.

Guo Quanshu's words are: Unless the country is in danger of being destroyed, otherwise you can't count on it. I would rather die on tofu than give you an extra copper coin for military expenses!

In short, the attitude of the civil servants of the Great Chu Empire is very tough. Unless His Majesty personally issues an order, otherwise, no matter how loud your throat is, your army and navy will not be given a dime of extra military expenditure.

And can Luo Zhi learn to issue orders?

I'm sorry, but since the end of the Eastern Capture War, Luo Zhixue has never issued an order to grant additional military expenditures to the army and navy.

Why?

This is the Chu Yuan’s regular military expenditure of 40 to 50 million yuan every year. Regardless of whether there is a war or not, it must be paid every year... There is so much money, what kind of additional military expenditure is needed?

In the past, the Army and Navy used to find ways to get money every day when they had nothing to do. They were rabbits in the grass building.

Luo Zhixue personally refused in the early years, but later simply asked civilian officials to come forward. After all, refusal has been said before, and it can easily cause the military to be dissatisfied with Luo Zhixue himself.

Therefore, the civil service group is actually a scapegoat.

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

Not to mention these, it is said that after Zhong Lianggong, the current boss of the navy, took his people away angrily, and returned to the naval staff, the navy generals no longer had the same anger as before.

"These iron roosters are really too difficult to do. They can't even get them to pay for things like the three major plans. It seems that the development of large battleships will have to be slowed down. The first batch of six ships will not be completed.

Let’s build four ships first, and wait until the year after next to build the other two ships.”

"I originally thought about getting some money from them, but it's a pity. I heard that they are planning to launch some kind of high-tech industry support project. The first batch of funds has been prepared for five million. Next year, they will also support domestic enterprises.

The upgrade and expansion of major ports will cost tens of millions of dollars, and they have money."

"Oh, this is also expected. It has not been possible for so many years before, so it is normal that it cannot be done this time."

"But we won't give you this extra military spending. Just let us have a free hand!"

"This extra military expenditure cannot be found domestically, but we can still get it from the local people!"

"We got a lot of them during the great expansion in Nanyang. In addition, I heard that many indigenous temples in India like to hoard large amounts of gold and silver jewelry. When we get a few votes, the cost of modifying the steam engine will be enough."

If you're lucky, maybe you can get the money for a few more large battleships!"

"But we still need to go to His Majesty's side first to confirm the truth, so that those guys who have fallen in the eyes of money will come over to take our trophies. It's okay to take some of them, but I'm afraid they will be too greedy and take them all!"<

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At this time, Zhong Lianggong said: "Humph, at most it is the same as during the previous Nanyang expansion. It is reasonable for them to share part of the profit, but if they want to take it all, be careful to satisfy their appetite!"

"Tomorrow I will go to the palace to meet the Holy Spirit. No matter what, we must ensure our navy's share of the spoils!"

When Zhong Lianggong met the emperor the next day, he indeed mentioned the issue of the share of spoils during overseas expansion. Luo Zhixue only listened to Zhong Lianggong's words and basically knew the navy's true thoughts.

The so-called additional military expenditures before were probably just smoke bombs used to confuse civilian officials. Their real goal is to share the spoils.

Think about it, the army and navy have not received even one copper in additional military expenditures in the past ten years. Why would the navy think that civilian officials would be kind enough to pay them additional military expenditures for this overseas expansion?

Navy leaders are not so naive.

Their real purpose is to first use the 20 million additional military expenditures to silence the civilian officials so they can win a share of the spoils.

In this regard, Luo Zhixue didn't say much, nor would he directly finalize the share of the spoils. He just nodded slightly to express his understanding.

It is considered as acquiescence to the Navy's approach, and it can share part of the profits from the direct benefits of overseas expansion such as loot and compensation.

However, the specific proportion still needs to be negotiated internally by the Navy, the Army, and the civil service group.

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

As for the army, it is because overseas expansion also requires the army to cooperate in operations, especially large-scale landing operations and inland operations after landing, which require the cooperation of the army.

Although the Navy itself also has an organic Marine Corps that is specifically used for ground combat, its current size is only 20 to 30,000, and it is also dispersed 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.
To be continued...