"Your Highness, colleagues, if the army is expanded to more than half a million, the fiscal revenue may not be able to support it. Please discuss in detail whether we need to delay the move."
Some people have raised doubts about the military expansion.
Bi Ziyan, the chief officer of the tax department.
After the Ming Dynasty God of Wealth resigned and returned home, he joined the Xia Kingdom system.
In view of his ability, Zuo Menggeng appointed him as the chief of the tax department.
During the Ming Dynasty, Bi Ziyan was the Minister of Household Affairs.
The Ministry of Household Affairs has many responsibilities and powers, not only in charge of finance and taxation, but also in charge of household registration, people's livelihood and many other matters.
After arriving in Xia Kingdom, Bi Ziyan discovered that the division of labor among government departments here was very detailed.
But the benefits are also obvious. The burden on officials' shoulders is much lighter.
Moreover, the profession has specializations, which will not involve energy or affect efficiency, and can also supervise and balance each other.
It is far more scientific than the Ming Dynasty’s architecture.
During the Ming Dynasty, faced with the dire financial situation, Bi Ziyan was in dire straits and was helpless. But in the Xia Kingdom, to be honest, he himself felt that his job as an official was too easy.
Although the Xia Kingdom abolished agricultural taxes, the annual industrial and commercial taxes were very considerable.
In particular, Xia State also has state-owned industries, which have to turn over a large amount of profits to the state every year.
In addition, the Xia Kingdom has been constantly exploring the outside world, and conquering and plundering it is even more fruitless.
All these factors added up to make Xia Guo's financial situation very comfortable.
This is also the main reason why the Xia Kingdom can always carry out drastic reforms and construction, which naturally allows the people to live a good life.
However, this time the military expansion was going to be carried out. Bi Ziyan made careful calculations and found that there were still some risks based on the current financial situation.
Of course he knew that the purpose of expanding the army was to unify the country and end the suffering of the people all over the world as soon as possible. But as a financial official, he naturally had to proceed from reality to avoid turmoil in the country.
After seeing Bi Ziyan's calculation results, everyone couldn't help but admire the old gentleman's carefulness.
"As the saying goes, if there is an old man in the family, it is like having a treasure. When Hui Gong coordinates finance and taxation, everything will be perfect."
Zuo Menggeng praised him, which made Bi Ziyan feel humble.
Looking at this old man who was supposed to die in the eleventh year of Chongzhen, Zuo Mengeng was quite proud.
Perhaps because he escaped from the fire pit of the Ming Dynasty, the old man no longer had to endure the torment of the decline of the country. Therefore, he felt comfortable and was able to live longer.
However, the military also responded to Bi Ziyan's concerns.
"Jing Huigong's calculations are based on the expansion of the field force. But this time we plan to expand the security force. Although there are 800,000 in number, the financial consumption is still not comparable to the field force.
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The government was very happy to hear that the financial expenditure for military expansion did not require that much.
"Minister Zhou, what is a field force? What is a security force?"
Qu Shi humbly asked for advice.
"If it is only for frontal combat, the current strength of our army is already sufficient. Our current twelve main divisions and three marine divisions are not bragging, they are enough to conquer the world. But everyone knows that conquering the world is easy.
, we must also consider defending the world. We can't take the place with the front foot and leave the back foot to others. The guards of these places require security forces. Since the powerful enemies have been eliminated by the field troops, it does not take too much to control the place.
Strong combat power. Therefore, there is no need to strive for excellence in terms of troops, weapons, combat effectiveness, etc. The main purposes of the security forces are to ensure local security, to exterminate bandits and thieves, and to suppress local areas. Therefore, in terms of military expenditures,
Only about half of the field force is enough."
As far as the Xia Army's 700,000 field troops are concerned, it is definitely enough to unify the country. This time, the Xia Army wants to expand its army to the second-line troops.
These second-line troops need to take over the territory captured by the field troops, help establish political power, and consolidate local security. Although they do not have the same combat effectiveness as the field troops, they are indispensable.
When they heard that military spending could be cut in half, the government lost all worries and expressed support.
As a result, the proposal to expand the military was unanimously approved.
For Xia Jun, it is not difficult to expand the army.
Because in daily military construction, in addition to the main force, militia and reserve forces have always been important sources of troops for the army. This time it is just a matter of transforming this part into a formal army.
The total number of militia and reserves of Xia State exceeds one million, which is fully sufficient to expand the army.
The Xia Kingdom has begun preparations to unify the whole country, but in the distant Liaodong, the Ming Army has ushered in its end.
Hauge's reminder allowed Huang Taiji to discover the weakness of the Ming army faster.
In the past, when the Ming army fought against the Qing army, they often used the method of dividing their forces to attack together, but in the end they were defeated by the Qing army one by one.
Once bitten by a snake, you will be afraid of well ropes for ten years.
In order to avoid making the same mistake again, Hong Chengchou simply gathered 130,000 troops together.
But in this way, it would be equivalent to completely giving up the vast surrounding area. No matter how calmly the Qing army deployed, our side could only be passively beaten.
Wu Sangui and others were all worried about this decision, and they all expressed their opinions to Hong Chengchou, hoping to focus on protecting the left and right wings and the rear.
However, Hong Chengchou didn't listen at all, for fear that after the troops were divided, they would be eaten by the Qing army.
Wu Sangui and others were helpless, and they all had a premonition that the situation was not good.
Huang Taiji moved quickly.
He immediately ordered Dorgon to lead his troops to bypass Rufeng Mountain and Songshan Mountain and insert themselves between Songshan Mountain and Xingshan Mountain to isolate the connection between the two Ming armies and cut off the Ming army's logistics supply line.
Dorgon first maneuvered westward along the north bank of the Nuer River, then crossed the river and headed south.
After investigating clearly the Ming army's layout, Dorgon made a prompt decision and started frantically digging trenches along the Nuer River to the seaside.
On August 20th, the Qing army did nothing but went all out in soil construction work.
The trench they dug was eight feet deep and one foot wide at the top. However, the bottom was very narrow and could only stand on.
With this width, even if a war horse is running at full speed, it cannot leap across. If a person falls into the trench, it is impossible to climb up.
Not only that, there are three trenches in front and back.
No one knows what the Ming army was doing on this day. Why did they show no reaction and watch the Qing army build massive construction projects in their rear?
In short, the Ming army, which had an absolute advantage in numbers and firearms, was suddenly surrounded by Qing troops.
The way forward is blocked, the way back is cut off, and you are trapped in a desperate situation.
Huang Taiji breathed a sigh of relief after receiving the report that Dorgon's defense line had been established.
"Although the enemy army is large in number, it must have insufficient food and grass. Now that our army has cut off its food routes, it must have no intention of holding on. I ordered all the armies to stay on guard and lay traps. This time, Hong Chengchou's entire army must be annihilated."