Alien Arms Empire.

Chapter 453 Chapter 453
Zheng Tong is the lord of Zheng State. Half a year ago, his kingdom encountered an unprecedented setback.Mirage declared war on Zheng Guo brazenly, and then easily defeated Zheng Guo's army.

The opponent uses an advanced bolt-action rifle with a faster rate of fire and greater firepower.His infantry lost 1 people in one day, and his 7-strong army only lasted for 3 days before collapsing.

The subsequent naval battle of Zheng State was even more miserable. Originally, Zheng State's navy was also very powerful, but the fleet composed of 40 sailing ships was raided by 20 paddle steamers of the Mirage Navy. As a result, the entire army was wiped out and lost its command of the sea.

Zheng Guo, who was frustrated one after another, had to bow his head and beg for peace, because the Qi and Chu countries on both sides were also eyeing. Losing a Dongwan Island would not be impossible, at least it would be better than losing Wangcheng.

All kinds of problems that followed made Zheng Guo's ruling class breathless, and the barely maintained ruling state was rapidly disintegrating.

The administrative system, which was barely doable in peacetime, could no longer cheer up after the defeat. Although Zheng Tong had been working as a paper painter, he could only linger on in the end.

It's just that in the past two months, it seems that the kingdom has regained some vitality, and the coastal area seems to be recovering.

This made Zheng Tong feel a little relieved that his efforts had finally paid off, and those incompetent bastards more or less knew that the country was the most important thing.

At the moment of crisis, these officials who are usually corrupt, at least know how to share the country's worries, which shows that they still have a sense of shame.

It is not in vain that I have been generous to others for many years, and it seems that I have accumulated some popularity for Zheng Guo.God bless Zheng Guo, this time he survived.

The coastal area, which was thought to have nothing to do, actually paid part of the tax last month. Although the local officials defaulted on about one-fifth of the tax for various reasons, the remaining four-fifths were returned to the treasury as scheduled.

This greatly eased Zheng Guo's economic pressure, and at the same time gave Zheng Tong the capital to stabilize the frontier army.After the frontier army received a large amount of military pay, Qi and Chu no longer wanted to take advantage of the fire, and the situation was once again under control.

Now that there is no danger of national subjugation, the big guys in the court will naturally drink and dance as usual, and it is hard to imagine a peaceful scene of singing and dancing, Yao, Shun and Yu Tang.

Since those dwarfs in Mirage cannot get in, then everyone should be greedy and form cliques. Losing Dongwan Island will not affect everyone's serious business of fighting for power, nor will it affect everyone's salary and income. The daily life of filial piety.

Don't you see, even Zheng Tong, who is sitting on the throne, really believes that he is the master of Zhongxing, so why do others not cooperate with this capable His Majesty the King?
The prime minister of Zheng Guo was named Zhang Ming, and he was the head of the Zhang family, that is, the grandfather of the son of the Zhang family who was about to rob Le'er on Bunas Street.

The young master of the Zhang family originally planned to lure Tang Mo back to Zheng Guo so that he could get whatever he wanted, but because he was really incapable of operating, he basically did nothing and returned to Zheng Guo.

When he returned to the country, Zheng Guo was being beaten, and the young master of the Zhang family was so scared that he went around for a long time, and finally returned home by luck.

Now, this brother of the Zhang family is also among the ministers. Because he has been to Bunas, he was summoned by Zheng Tong for questioning, and then he was given an official position so that he can consult the opinions of the Datang Group.

As expected, this son-in-law lived up to everyone's expectations, because he had a bad impression and derogated Bunas, and he was a comrade in the free war with brilliant achievements.

The general of Zheng State is named Li Jun, who is also the head of the Li family. He is in charge of Zheng State's military affairs. Recently, there have been ups and downs, which makes it hard to see.

The general first lost the Dongwan Island land battle against Mirage, and then pulled the navy out to send a wave of kills, making Zheng Guo almost pee his pants up and down.

But more than two months ago, General Zheng Guo's subordinates sent back the news that they had regained the lost land and all the islands except Chudongwan Island.

Although those islands were not snatched back from the mirage people - Zheng Guo didn't have the guts to go to war with the mirage again, but they were taken back when they were brought back, and this cannot be faked (probably).

With the tax revenue from these islands, although it was not much, Zheng Tong lived a more or less comfortable life.

Therefore, Li Jun, who was originally responsible for the defeat in the war, still sat in the position of the general, and the Li family was still the biggest force under the Zhang family.

Sitting on the throne, Zheng Tong listened patiently to the quarrels of the subordinates below. The core of the quarrels was around the Datang Group.

The envoy who went to Bunas to ask for Dongwan Island has sent back a message that the representative of the Datang Group has no plans to return Dongwan Island.

This is the result that anyone can guess. If you only rely on a few words to regain the lost ground, the army will be useless.

That's why the ministers had this debate. Some people believed that Zheng Guo should prepare for war and regain his glory.At least defeat Mirage and maintain dignity.

Others believe that they should please the Dahua Empire, let Dahua protect the Zheng State from the threat of war, and then recuperate and restore its national strength.

People on both sides seem to have their own reasons, and what they are talking about is state affairs, but in Zheng Tong's ears, it sounds like another large-scale party struggle.

That's right, partisanship!
Those who want to organize the army to prepare for war and avenge the mirage are not talking about strengthening national defense and training the army.What they are actually talking about is buying guns to expand the army and increase the strength of the military.

Those who call for recuperation and bearing the burden of humiliation are not talking about revitalizing people's livelihood and restoring national strength. They are actually talking about appointing new officials and giving civil servants more say.

It seems that both sides are fighting for the fortune of the country, but in fact they are still shouting about the size of the cake in front of them.It's just that Zheng Tong doesn't have a good solution, so he can only follow the rules of the game.

Although he is the lord of the country, he can't afford to offend both sides. At this moment, he can only sit on his throne honestly, acting as a totem, a symbol, and a clay bodhisattva.

He had also inquired about Mr. Zhang's family who had been to Bunas before, and learned a little about Bunas's situation from some details vividly described by the other party.

Mr. Zhang said that there was a lot of feasting and feasting, and it was very extravagant.The taverns are everywhere, and the women are naked and shameless.The streets and alleys are full of casinos and brothels, and the collapse of rituals and music is simply unsightly.

He also said that the air there has a suffocating smell when you breathe, the chimneys outside the city are emitting smoke all the time, the pedestrians on the street are disrespectful to the nobles and lawless, and some women even carry pistols.

Everything he said was true, but it didn't seem quite right when connected.Zheng Tong was fooled by his words all afternoon, and felt that it was impossible for such a magical city to have the power to rival a country in just a few years.

When Zheng Tong took it for granted, under the throne, the general representing the military was still speaking. He was confident and loudly stated the reason why he should buy weapons in the main hall: "The mirage defeated us before because our weapons were weak and our weapons were weak. Falling behind! If we don’t organize and train our army and keep improving ourselves, we will still suffer!”

"Disadvantage? After finally getting some money in the national treasury, you will clamor to buy weapons and recruit soldiers. In my opinion, you should first revitalize the people's livelihood and resume production! Only when the country is rich can the army be strong, and the people's hearts are the greatest. The weapon!" The minister on the other side disagreed and immediately retorted.

"People's hearts? Can you use the people's hearts to break the mirage's iron-clad warships? Can you use the people's hearts to block the mirage's new guns and cannons?" The general snorted coldly, and immediately sarcastically said with disdain: "I'm afraid it was the people from the mirage who broke in." At that time, your heart... may not be loyal, right?"

"Bloody spitting! Nonsense! You are so loyal, you can show the sun and the moon! You are the one who is greedy for life and afraid of death, and fearful of war! When the Mirage people took Dongwan Island, why did you run back when General Han died in battle? Huh?" The minister was not to be outdone, and immediately fought back.

The general couldn't hold back anymore, his voice was raised several times, and he yelled inappropriately: "You say I'm afraid of death? You deserve it too! If it wasn't here, I would chop you up today, a despicable and shameless villain!"

"I'm a villain? I'm strong, and I'm not afraid of power! If you dare to kill me, try it! If you don't kill me, you will be like this..." The so-called civil servants over there are not decent, and they don't seem to be from a professional background , full of foul language.

Zheng Tong actually agreed to buy some weapons. Since the special envoy and Mr. Zhang said that the Datang Group was not easy to get along with, it became a matter of course to buy some new Cyric weapons.

Didn't Mirage just buy a lot of Cyric's new weapons, and then beat Zheng Guo to the ground?Now that Zheng Guo also bought some Cyric weapons, wouldn't he be able to regain his position?

This may be the simplest logical derivation: if everyone has the same weapons, then Zheng Guo will definitely not lose so ugly.

Therefore, Zheng Tong and Li Jun secretly have a military procurement plan, and this procurement plan has already started operation.

Zheng Guo ordered a large amount of munitions and supplies from Cyric, including rifles, cannons, paddle ships, etc., at a high price.This is also Zheng Tong's move to support Li Jun and counter Zhang Ming.

For this matter, Zheng Tong also had an unpleasant quarrel with Prime Minister Zhang Ming, because Zhang Ming strongly opposed this matter.

The debate now is whether the next batch of larger-scale procurement plans should continue, and if it continues, where will the money come from?
According to the military's idea, in the next two years, the troops will be equipped with 10 bolt-action rifles, equipped with 400 advanced artillery pieces, and purchase at least 50 paddle ships.

It's a pity that Zheng Guo couldn't afford such a large procurement project.This is why the officials of Zhang Ming's faction are now strongly opposed.
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There is no status today, and the writing is very slow.The second one will be very late, so you can watch it tomorrow morning.Let's postpone the update first, for fear that it will not be written.

(End of this chapter)