I want to be emperor

Chapter 816
Although the imperial strategic meeting on the development of the Nanyang Peninsula lasted for more than two hours, no key consensus was reached.

There is a consensus, that is, it is time to carry out the great development of the Nanyang Peninsula. After all, after years of continuous expansion and penetration of the Great Chu Empire in the Nanyang Peninsula, they already know the local area very well, and the military resistance will not be too great for expansion.

At the same time, with the development of the Great Chu Empire in the medical and health industry, especially the promotion and use of cinchona, willow bark salicylic acid and other drugs, people have more feasibility in fighting malaria and daily colds.

There are also some more important medical advances, which let people know that quite a lot of diseases are caused by germs, and they also know that mosquitoes, flies, mice, bedbugs and other pests can spread many diseases.

What extends from this is the improvement of people's hygiene concepts, such as washing hands before meals and after defecation, keeping the living space clean and disinfected, and using daily necessities such as bedding and clothes in the sun and other measures.

These are not only useful in the empire itself, but also play a greater role in overseas colonization.

Especially in tropical rainforest areas like Nanyang, the anti-malaria cinchona tree and the willow bark that relieve pain and reduce fever can be said to have played a huge role.

And good hygiene habits can also allow new immigrants to survive in their new living environment.

For example, drinking hot boiled water has a greater effect than any medicine!
By the way, most of the people in ancient China did not have the habit or conditions to drink hot water... It is generally a custom only in the upper class, and most of them drink tea, and there are actually few people who really drink boiled water.

The habit of Chinese people drinking hot water is the result of extensive publicity and promotion in the 50s... At that time, there was an organization called the "Patriotic Sanitation Committee", and most of the hygienic habits of the Chinese people were guided by the agency's propaganda.

In the Great Chu Empire, Luo Zhixue also followed the example of later generations and set up a special organization for the promotion and guidance of hygiene habits, that is, the Health Publicity Department of the Ministry of Health... In order to promote and guide the people to establish more hygienic and healthy living habits, the Great Chu Empire has A department-level organization at the third-rank level was specially established!
Looking at the past dynasties, except for the later Huaxia and the plagiarist Luo Zhixue, which ruler would do this?

no one!
Anyway, few aristocrats drink unboiled water. Those who drink unboiled water are ordinary people. Drinking unboiled water will cause parasites in their stomachs. When they are teenagers, they will become potbellied, and then they will die.
The improvement of medical level and the improvement of health concept have all made great progress in the fight against diseases for the people of the Great Chu Empire. At the same time, this has also led to the death rate caused by diseases when the Great Chu Empire colonized overseas. It's even smaller.

There are fewer casualties when immigrants go overseas, and the people will naturally accept it more.

Otherwise, if, like the Europeans now, the death rate of immigrants was extremely high in the past, and they would be wiped out at every turn, then it would be a fart.

Historically, why have Europeans not engaged in large-scale immigration operations in Africa and Southeast Asia, but instead focused on colonial rule and plundering the economy?
It's just that the climate in these two places is not good, and when the medical level is not good, the proportion of immigrants who died or injured in the past was particularly high.

Relatively speaking, the situation in the Americas, especially in North America, is much better.

This situation actually existed in the Great Chu Empire. Immigrants were more inclined to go to North America because the local climate was good and there were no messy diseases.

Immigrants from the Great Chu Empire secondly like to go to India, where the development is considered mature and the climate is not extreme.

However, even though Nanyang is closer to the mainland, not many people go there.

Not to mention Africa, if it weren't for the gold, few people would run over there.

Even if there are not many people who run over now, many of them still go for gold, and go home after getting the gold...

Now that the Great Chu Empire wants to promote the development of the Nanyang Peninsula, the health and medical conditions must be adequately guaranteed.

For this reason, in this strategic meeting before the imperial court, many ministers have reached an agreement on health, that is, in the future, they will increase investment in the health and medical field in the Nanyang Peninsula region, establish more government-run hospitals and clinics, and ensure sufficient supply Medication supplies and more.

This seems to cost a lot of money, but in fact the money will not be too much. Compared with the inconspicuous investment in other areas, the cabinet officials will soon be able to reach an agreement.

On other fronts, however, officials are far apart.

Especially military spending.

The military is unwilling to pay for it out of pocket, and the cabinet also strictly abides by the principle of not giving additional military expenses in 'peaceful' times!

The opinion of the cabinet is very clear. The Nanyang Development is not facing any powerful enemies, only Siam and Burma, which are already half-disabled and have little resistance.

Just for these two, the military randomly sends some people over for an armed march, which is basically the same.

Just want more extra military spending?

dreaming.

Civilian leader Ji Dehua made it clear at the meeting: No additional military spending will be given during the African National War!
Then the military's attitude became clearer. This is not a war like the Western Expedition proposed by our military, nor is it a war launched by our military overseas on its own. This Nanyang Development was proposed by your civil service system.

Our military has good intentions to help you expand and help you fight wars...you still want to pay no money, but insist on us shrinking our clothes and saving money to fight. How can there be such a good thing in the world.

Immediately afterwards, the top civil servant, Minister of Civil Affairs, Nie Fengyu, the new minister of counselors, mocked very bluntly: "Short clothes and go on a diet? What kind of barbarian joke, don't think we don't know, you go overseas every year to replenish massive Last year, more than 1 army horses were transported to India alone, and they were still high-quality horses purchased from the mainland, and more than half of them died on the way.”

"Is there no horses in India? The local mules and horses can't be used, and they have to be transported all the way from the mainland?"

"There are also those guns that are purchased every year, but they are thrown away as they are purchased. As far as I know, the Type 15 rifles are now in service, and there are a lot of surplus captive percussion guns in the country, and there are many in the warehouse. The pile is moldy, but you still ordered a full [-] brand new flash caps and sent them to America...

"Hehe, here, I don't know how many people have taken advantage of it!"

As soon as Nie Fengyu said this, the faces of several generals in the army turned black... Nima, which pot is not open and which pot is not to be lifted!
"Can the horses in India be used? With the shoulder height, how can the pulling power be used? We have the best Fengzhou horses and Liaoxi horses, as well as the New Southwest horses for tropical and plateau areas. Why not let the soldiers Use? Could it be that good things are left unused, and the soldiers would rather use the poor horses? This is irresponsible for the lives of the soldiers of the empire.”

"There are more than a million soldiers in our imperial army fighting for the country, and you plan to treat us like this?"

"You think our army is willing to fire caps and fire guns. It's not because your defense industry is unreliable. It's been several years. An 40-type rifle costs more than [-] yuan. It's expensive. , the output is still so small, even if you want to change clothes, you can't change it!"

"The soldiers in the Americas continued to fight, and the guns were extremely worn out. The old 21-year-old muskets were stored in the country, and many of them were refitted from the 13-year-old rifles. It took more than ten or 20 years. Can such rags be used by frontline soldiers?"

"The new breech-loading guns are not enough, and the old guns are useless. What will we do if we don't buy new cap guns? Are the soldiers going to fight empty-handed?"

As he said that, General Jin Kui, the minister of affairs, member of the Military Affairs Council, and Chief of the Army Staff Department, put on an extremely aggrieved and angry expression: "You guys are deceiving people too much!"

What he said made the minister of counselors on the side, Admiral Wang Kui'en, the head of the naval command department, couldn't help laughing: "If you want to say thick-skinned, it's your army's thick-skinned!"

"I heard that the new rifle production line at the Tianjin factory has been completed, and the production capacity has also increased, but you have been dragging yourselves to not place large-scale orders. People at the Tianjin factory have found our navy to sell them... "

When Jin Jinkui heard this, he became angry again: "Why are you procrastinating? It's not that you don't have money. Our army soldiers are all poor and gnawed on the bark. Your navy is doing well, taking up our army's military expenses every year to build useless battleships. .”

Admiral Wang Kui'en's face darkened: "Your army takes most of the annual military expenditure, and the battleships are useless? Without the escort of our navy's battleships, you landlubbers would have drowned long ago when they went overseas!"

A few civil servants on the side saw that Lu and Haijun started to quarrel, and they fell silent in a tacit understanding.

This is also an old tradition of the imperial strategy meeting. The cabinet and the military quarreled, and the army and the navy quarreled in the military.

Sometimes even the guards will be dragged into the water... Who will let the guards pay well, equip them well, and the outstanding one is not bad for money. This new type 32 improved rear-loading rifle that uses metal bullets also has The new 75-type [-]mm field gun, which is expensive and expensive, is now only equipped on a large scale by the Guards, and the army can only watch helplessly from behind.

That's called envy, jealousy, hate!
Forget it, and go to the frontier or overseas battlefields to grab credit every three days!

Moreover, the Guards directly built a fleet of warships...the navy is very unhappy about this!
The Army and the Navy don’t have a good opinion of the Guards...but the Guards don’t like the Army and the Navy, and they don’t spend military expenses, and they don’t share money with the Army and Navy. The source of the Guards’ military expenses is royal funds, and they just have a lot of money , Spend whatever you like.

Don't agree with you biting me?
It was more than two hours of arguing about money, and finally the strategic meeting before the imperial court ended without any results.

Luo Zhixue had expected this for a long time... If such a matter involving a large amount of expenditure can be reached in a strategic meeting before the imperial court, unless Luo Zhixue personally presses and makes a decision, don't expect it to be achieved in a short period of time. protocol.

After all, there are many conflicts of interest. There are conflicts between the cabinet and the military, conflicts between the army and the navy within the military, and conflicts between the army, navy and the guards... And the civil servants in the cabinet, don't mean that they are of one mind.

They are only single-minded when dealing with the military, but there is also a huge conflict of interest internally. All the bigwigs have their own little calculations, and they all want greater benefits.

With so many conflicts, it takes time to reconcile them slowly.

Let's start today and convey an attitude to the courtiers: I am going to annex the rest of the Nanyang Peninsula!

As for the conflicts of interest between civil and military departments, let these courtiers argue and coordinate by themselves.

According to so many years of experience, as long as Luo Zhixue finalizes the general direction at the top, and there are conflicts in the specific implementation details, these courtiers will conduct various interest exchanges on their own, and Luo Zhixue does not need to worry about it.

If these courtiers can't resolve this conflict of interests, and can't come up with a big plan for a long time...then don't blame Luo Zhixue for changing people.

It's not impossible to change the Minister of Counseling and the Co-organizer... The Minister of Counselor basically rotates one or two every year, and there are several co-organizers.

As expected by Luo Zhixue, after the pre-imperial strategy meeting ended, these important imperial ministers began to exchange various interests and negotiate in private.

The development of Nanyang not only requires a price, but also represents benefits.

For example, as far as the civil service system is concerned, at least one more governor will be added if this is done. This is not possible in Myanmar, where there is already a Bangladeshi governor.

However, the affairs of Siam are currently managed by the Governor of Malacca Province. If it is taken down and established as a province in the future, this will be a new governor's position.

A new governor, and a governor's position close to the mainland, is not light enough to allow those civil servants to exchange some interests.

Then there are Siam and Myanmar. Although the climate is not good, they are more suitable for growing rubber, a cash crop.

The Ministry of Industry and Commerce is very supportive of occupying these two places and then building rubber plantations on a large scale.

At present, in the Great Chu Empire, the demand for rubber is increasing day by day, but the growth rate of rubber sources is not enough, which has seriously affected the development of the empire's industry.

And this matter has something to do with the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. After all, although rubber is an industrial raw material, it is a commercial crop. The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry thinks it can get involved in anything related to agriculture... So there are also conflicts between them. And there will be some exchange of interests.

The biggest contradiction is the issue of military support this time.

The cabinet will not let go, and will not give money!
Regardless of what the military says, in a word, there is no money for the African-State War, and this opening must not be opened, let alone doors, and there are no windows.

Even Ji Dehua said that he would rather Nanyang not develop, and he would not open this hole, otherwise the country will not be a country...

When the military saw that the cabinet was like a stone in a latrine, it was smelly and hard, and they were unwilling to be outdone... Shouting for a fart, stop beating, and go to the end of yourselves!

In the end, it was Luo Zhixue who came forward in person and mediated one or two mediations, and finally resolved the military expenditure issue.

But the solution is very strange, the cabinet still doesn't pay a dime for military expenses...he refuses to die, Ji Dehua would rather smash his head against the pillars of the main hall, and will never give up the principles that the cabinet has adhered to for more than [-] years.

In fact, if Ji Dehua dared to agree to this condition, he might have to beg for bones tomorrow, because there would be a large wave of civil servants forcing him to take office.

No money for non-national wars. This is the principle of the civil servant group of the Great Chu Empire against the military for more than [-] years.

In the political arena of the Great Chu Empire, this matter is no less important than the national struggle in the previous Ming Dynasty. This matter involves the basic principle of the empire's military-government separation ecology, and it cannot be moved!

It’s okay for the military to ask for money, and you can persuade His Majesty to order mobilization... You don’t need a general mobilization at the first level, you can do a partial mobilization at the third level, and their cabinet will honestly spend money in accordance with the principles of national warfare, and if the fight is fierce Yes, they sell national debt to raise money for you to fight the war.

But your military asked me for money without even mobilizing, don't even think about it!
The military wanted to mobilize, but Luo Zhixue didn't want to... Just attack a small country like Burma and Siam, and mobilize... This joke is not funny at all.

Therefore, even if it was reconciled by Luo Zhi's learning tool, the money still didn't have a copper coin.

However, the cabinet also gave other plans, saying that it could call on various institutions and government-run enterprises to donate a sum of supplies to the military... Specifically, it includes 32 Type 75 rifles, 150 Type 500 75mm field guns, and all [-] million rounds of metal bullets and [-] rounds of [-]mm new cylindrical impact fuze grenades.

There are also dry military rations, a pile of canned food, a batch of mules and horses, and a large pile of other military supplies.

The total value is about 600 million Chu Yuan!
When the military heard this, they were not happy!
600 million, to send beggars away!

After discussing with the cabinet for a while, they added another 200 million in supplies, making up 800 million, and said that this is the final donation figure, don’t expect more... Ji Dehua yelled: If your army talks nonsense, I will send you to the army. Give these supplies to the Armed Tax Police and the Armed Patrol, and let them fight... Mother Hippie, don't think you're the only ones who know how to fight!

General Jin Kui of the army looked calm: No nod from our army, see if you can command the armed tax police, as for the armed patrol police... Ha ha!
Ji Dehua was so angry that his beard was crooked on the spot... After the meeting was over, Ji Dehua repeatedly emphasized in the internal cabinet meeting that the cabinet must have its own armed forces. Armed tax police are unreliable, and we must strengthen the construction of armed patrols and so on... ...It's just that after being beaten by Luo Zhixue, there was no more content.

The Armed Tax Police was originally a semi-armed force managed by the cabinet. Although the commanders and members of the Armed Tax Police are all retired soldiers, and this is mandatory, the Armed Tax Police can only be recruited from retired soldiers. member.

This resulted in the military having significant influence over the armed tax police.

but……

This does not mean that the military can directly command the armed tax police. In fact, only the tax department can directly command the armed tax police.

Usually, the military wants armed tax police to help with something, such as helping to fight a war overseas. If the tax officer doesn't nod, the military can't help it!
Therefore, the armed tax police of the Great Chu Empire belonged to the civilian system in theory, and the military could exert a huge influence on them. Therefore, the armed tax police were in a non-nominal dual management state of the military and the cabinet.

As for the armed patrol, this is just a special patrol that is scattered all over the country and cooperates with the patrol to enforce the law and fight crime. Compared with the ordinary patrol, it has stronger firepower and professional training.

In the face of more powerful rioters, this kind of thing is usually handled by the C-class garrison divisions stationed in various places by the military.

All kinds of armed and semi-armed forces in the Great Chu Empire have a clear division of labor, and even the organization is different.

The first-class combat readiness division and the second-class standing division are field troops and the core force of national defense.

The C-class garrison division is the main force for city defense, key point guards, active patrols, and suppression of small-scale rebellions. It also assists patrols in dealing with some extreme armed violent criminals on weekdays. In wartime, it assists the A-class and B-class divisions fight.

The above three types belong to the regular army, and all its personnel are active soldiers.

As for the armed tax police, although they are powerfully armed and powerful in combat, they used to cooperate with the regular army to fight in the country, and now they often fight overseas, but in the end they are only a law enforcement force, but their law enforcement tasks are arduous and special, and they require strong force. Just a guarantee.

The main reason is that there are no guns on hand, how can the tax department collect taxes?In the early years, a large number of landlords and gentry big families played armed resistance to taxes, but there was a lot of movement.

Armed tax police, they belong to a special tax police organization. All members are retired soldiers, and they have served in the armed tax police for a relatively long time. When they are older, they will be rotated to other departments of the tax agency...

However, armed patrols, this is a patrol law enforcement force that specializes in dealing with violent crimes. It belongs to the standard patrol establishment, and many of its members are not soldiers, but newly admitted patrols. Assigned to serve in other patrol departments.

Their establishment, rank, and salary are similar to those of ordinary patrolmen...

You want to strengthen the armed patrols... Luo Zhixue is going to ask you what you want to do.

Luo Zhixue didn't want the cabinet to create another army, so that the principle of separation of military and government would disappear.

In the end, under the signal of Luo Zhixue, the guards transferred a batch of about [-] Type [-] front-loading rifles to the army for free. This batch of [-]mm Mini rifles passed through the bolt mechanism After modification, it can also be converted into a breech-loading rifle, and the modification cost is not expensive, only about two Chu yuan.

The Guards have decided to fully replace the Type [-] rear-loading rifles. The Type [-] front-loading rifles that were previously equipped were originally intended to be sealed, and now they can be given to the army after modification.

After receiving the donation from the cabinet and the benefits from the Guards, the Army said: Don’t worry, bosses, I’m going to clean up the places in Siam and Burma, and keep them clean for you It's clean!

As the conflict between the cabinet and the military was finally resolved, the development of the southern peninsula was officially raised on the agenda.

(End of this chapter)