"Sir, please see Your Majesty!" After receiving the notice from the young emperor of the Imperial Front Office to inspect the Taihu Shipyard, Zhao Mengjin immediately ordered relevant officials to prepare for the reception in the name of the Department of the Ministry of Justice to prepare for the reception. However, he knew that his temper did not dare to welcome him along the way, but led the crowd to see him the next day. But he felt that today was very strange. When he learned that they were coming, the young emperor would summon him immediately and even let them accompany him for dinner, but today he asked them to wait on the deck, which made everyone uneasy and didn't know how to offend the emperor. Seeing His Majesty come out, he quickly led the crowd forward to salute.

"Let's flat!" Zhao Bing glanced at everyone, raised his hand calmly, and walked towards the gangway without stopping.

"Commander Tan, what's wrong with Your Majesty? I seem to be very displeased. Has a certain family done something wrong?" Seeing the little emperor's cold attitude, Zhao Mengjin grabbed Tan Fei very uneasy and asked softly.

"Don't panic with Zhao, Your Majesty just doesn't like to mobilize the envoys, and there is nothing else to do." Tan Fei hurriedly returned the courtesy.

"So that's what it means, I scared my family and thought I had done something wrong again!" Zhao Mengjin said with a sigh of relief after hearing this.

"Zhao Zhienuary has been following His Majesty for more than ten years, why is he still so afraid of His Majesty?" Tan Fei said with a smile when he saw Zhao Mengjin turning his worries into joy.

"Hey, don't say that. Your Majesty is not only the king of the Song Dynasty, but also the lord of a certain family. And he has recreational kindness to us, and even if he is heartbroken, he will not be able to repay him. How can he make Your Majesty angry?" Zhao Mengjin shook his head and said sincerely.

"What Zhao Zhi Envoy said is true, Your Majesty will not be really angry about these trivial matters. He just doesn't want to disturb the place and make the whole person uneasy!" Tan Fei nodded and comforted him.

"We are the duty of our subordinates to welcome the Holy Driving. Even if Your Majesty punishes us, we cannot be rude!" Zhao Mengjin smiled with a deep smile.

With the escorts of the officials, Zhao Bing got off the ship and moved from the new training camp to the boat yard for inspection. Zhou Xiang had already led his subordinates to welcome him. He did not talk too much nonsense, but went straight to the dock. First, he visited the flying scissors that had completed the main body. He saw the bottom cabin from the deck and asked about some technical details while walking. Several masters of the craftsmen who supervised the work here naturally answered carefully. They were actually very nervous and knew that the ship was designed by the little emperor, so it would be impossible to fool him.

Zhao Bing asked very carefully and looked at it very carefully. Because this ship is not only a new type of ship, but also has added many new technologies that are very advanced in this era. For example, if the gyroscope is put into navigation applications, he combined it with a compass so that it can be unaffected in complex sea conditions and can mark the left and right swing of the ship. Combined with the leaking pot, it can keep it stable and make the timing more accurate.

In addition, many of the newly developed "new technologies" were used in the operating system, using the speed change mechanism and rudder, making it easier and more labor-saving to operate the rudder plate. He moved the rudder forward to the bow of the ship through the transmission mechanism, allowing the helmman to observe the sea situation more intuitively. Zhao Bing also used the disconnection mechanism to set up a secondary rudder on the deck. In addition to an additional backup, the captain can also directly steer in special circumstances.

In addition, new technologies such as newly developed spiral drainage pumps, cast iron reinforced ribs, and mast extension connections have also been put into trial. Of course, the effect is still required to be tested by sea tests and adjust the matching degree. In addition, Zhao Bing also installed pulley set booms on the bow and stern of the ship, which can improve the efficiency of loading and unloading goods and reduce the labor intensity of crew members.

Of course, weapon equipment is also essential, but in order to ensure stable navigation, he abandoned artillery and used crossbows. In addition, the fly-scissors were used for ocean-going transportation, so he did not hesitate to reduce the area of ​​the cargo warehouse and made humanized designs for living facilities to ensure the Jiankang of the long-distance crew and prevent the combat effectiveness from being weakened.

Then Zhao Bing went to another dock to inspect the construction of the Garen ship. Because this ship was used as a warship, the focus of his inspection was on the equipment of weapons. Each side of the experimental ship was equipped with seven rapid-fire guns, and two front-bucketed long-barrel heavy guns were installed on the bow and stern of the ship. However, it was unknown how it was used. Only gun positions were left on the second deck, and no artillery was installed for the time being. It was decided after the sea trial.

After watching the ship, Zhao Bing reviewed the sail drills of the Imperial Navy. Because these two Western sailing ships use soft sails and are very different from the current operation methods, they must first be familiar with and understand the operation methods of this sail. However, everything is still discussed on paper and needs to be constantly explored in the sea trials. However, the soldiers participating in the training have been able to complete the necessary basic movements and master the skills proficiently, but what is lacking is practical experience.

After reading it, Zhao Bing encouraged and praised it and gave rewards, requiring them to pay attention to summarizing experience, collecting data, and referring to future training in the upcoming sea trial. He told them that they would serve as the seed troops of the newly formed Ocean Navy, to undertake the task of training new troops and exploring new tactics, so they should be brave enough to take responsibility and not let down the court's trust...

"Your Majesty, after these new warships are built, can you allocate several ships to my First Navy?" It was noon after the inspection. Everyone returned to the new training camp for meals, and several officials accompanied him. As an old navy army, Dong Yicheng could naturally see the potential value of these two new warships. As soon as he sat down, he began to ask the little emperor for it.

"The trial production has just been carried out, and there is still some time before it is put into use. Now, after the defeat of the Mongols and Yuan navy, it has been in a slump. The current equipment of warships is enough. What should I do for a new ship?" Zhao Bing asked with a sip of tea.

"Your Majesty, the warships equipped by our navy are all old and need to be replaced in urgent need of clothing. These new ships are just right to allocate to our army!" Dong Yicheng said with a smile on his face.

"The warships are old, and only your first navy divisions have this problem. On the contrary, your army has the largest number of new warships, more than half, which is much better than the Imperial Navy!" Zhao Bing said in a deep voice.

"That is, our Imperial Navy now accounts for 60% of the old warships, and His Majesty's ship has been in service for more than 30 years and is still in use. If we want to change clothes, our Imperial Navy will be the priority. It is not your turn to the First Navy!" Zheng Yong said.

"The Chief Zheng's words are wrong. Our First Navy faced the Mongolian and Yuan navy. The combat mission was the most arduous, the attendance rate was the highest, and the warships were naturally the most severe, so they should be given priority." Dong Yicheng did not dare to talk back to the young emperor, and did not care so much about Zheng Yong, and immediately refuted.

"Don't fight with you two. His Majesty just said that he wanted to form an ocean-going naval commander. Of course, the new ship was prepared for them, and fighting was in vain!" Chen Fenglin said with a smile when he saw the two fighting.

"Your Majesty has given orders. The main task of our army is to fight the Central Plains in the north, expel the Tartars, and form a long-range navy?" Dong Yicheng asked in confusion.

"Of course, it is to compete for hegemony on the sea, open the maritime trade route to the South and the West, and protect the maritime traders to the East!" Zhao Bing said leisurely.

"Have your Majesty considered too early? Have we shifted our strategic direction to Southeast Asia, not the Mongol Yuan?" Dong Yicheng became even more confused and said anxiously.

"Of course not, but you have to know the reason why the troops and horses should go first before they move their food?" Zhao Bing pointed at the food he had just delivered and asked.

"I naturally understand this truth, but what does this have to do with fighting for the supremacy of Southeast Asia?" Dong Yicheng thought about it, but still could not connect the two things.

"Of course it's related. To a certain extent, the one who fights in war is who is richer and who dares to spend money more. Although we occupy Jiangnan now, it is still difficult to accumulate the needs of the Northern Expedition in the short term, so we can only make plans from other places." Zhao Bing pondered for a moment and explained in the simplest words. He had long understood that the impact of the economy on war is beyond doubt, and economic wars can not only affect the victory or defeat of a war, but also play an important role in the direction of the entire world history.

There are countless examples of this. When Napoleon was dominating Europe, he was also troubled by insufficient military spending. In the end, he had no choice but to sell the entire North American colony, Louisiana, to the United States at a low price of 15 million US dollars, allowing the Americans to get a big advantage, but he was able to embark on the road to rise.

There are also such examples in China. Readers who are familiar with history may know that the last feudal dynasty in our country, the Qing Dynasty, faced two separatist forces entrenched in the Western Regions: the first was the Junggar Khanate founded by Galdan, who once faced Ulanbutong, Inner Mongolia, and threatened Beijing; the second was the warlord Agubai, a Central Asian country supported by British and Russian powers, who also separatisted the Western Regions and performed a violent attack.

In order to eliminate these two threatening separatist forces, the Qing Dynasty went through hard work, starting from military, political and economic aspects at the same time, and finally succeeded after many attempts. Among them, it took nearly seventy years to completely eliminate the Junggar Khanate after the Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong dynasties; more than a hundred years later, in the declining late Qing Dynasty, it only took a year and a half to defeat Agubai; why did the time used to send troops to the Western Regions be so different?

Let’s first look at how much military expenditure is required to march into the Western Regions. At that time, the Western Expedition Army had been rectified and had about 130 battalions and about 80,000 people. The annual salary required was more than 6 million taels. In addition to the funds for transporting grain from the customs, the total military expenditure required was about 8 million taels of real money. Moreover, this number was just a normal expense. Others such as reorganizing the army, eliminating the weak and retaining the strong, repaying the years of pay for the laid-off officers and soldiers, and giving them travel expenses to return to their hometowns, etc., all require huge expenses.

At that time, the Qing government's finances were extremely disordered and the national treasury was empty. The military expenditure of the Western Expedition Army was mainly to continue to use the customs and fees of various provinces in the former Shaanxi-Gansu military expenditure, namely the joint fees of Zhejiang, Guangdong, Fujian and other provinces, the tariffs of five customs including Shanghai, Fuzhou, Guangzhou, Hankou, Ningbo, and Lijin in seven provinces including Zhejiang and Hubei.

The above funds totaled about nine million taels, but Zuo Zongtang could only receive five million taels, which was a huge deficit. He relied on Hu Xueyan to borrow money from foreign countries to raise the military expenses, but not the accumulated supply from the court. Zhao Bing had no place to borrow money at the moment, and if taxes were raised, it would cause turmoil in the newly stable country and might not be able to meet the needs. He could only raise war funds from foreign countries through maritime trade.

"You really only think about yourself, you are too ignorant." Zhao Mengjin glared at Dong Yicheng and said, "The taxes collected by the court every year are only enough to pay the salaries and daily military expenses of officials. The money spent together in the war is like flowing water. Where does this money come from? And this year, you still need a lot of money and food to use troops to the southwest and Sichuan. Your Majesty can only make up for the shortcomings through maritime trade income. Naturally, you have to ensure the safety of the trade routes. And you are still here to cause trouble and ask for these ocean-going warships."

"Is it because of a certain family that is not considerate or whether His Majesty and the envoy are far-sighted!" Dong Yicheng said with a blushing face.

"It can't be blamed for you, but the military expenditure is indeed tight at the moment. It will cost 200,000 yuan per new warship. If all the navy troops were dressed, the court could not afford it at all. However, as long as the trade route was opened, money would come. At that time, each army would change clothes, and there was no need to hurry up!" Zhao Bing picked up the wine glass and invited everyone to drink with him.

"Your Majesty is not only good at fighting, but also financial management is unmatched!" Dong Yicheng smiled and raised his glass to drink the wine.

"Haha, I was forced to do nothing. Once the war between Sichuan and Sichuan and the southwest begins, all the money and food required need to be supplied by Jiangnan. If you don't find a way, you won't be able to do it!" Zhao Bing said with a wry smile.

It was not Zhao Bing who complained that after deciding to conquer Sichuan and Shu, while forming the Western Expedition Army, all preparations had already been carried out. His first job was to build ships. It was most convenient to conquer Sichuan and Shu from the Yangtze River to go upstream from the Yangtze River, but the transportation capacity of the inland water army was obviously insufficient. Therefore, he ordered the Ezhou shipyard to build a hundred new livestock vehicles and ships to undertake the task of carrying soldiers and baggage to Chongqing.

While strengthening the waterway, Zhao Bing's second task was to build roads and open up and repair the land routes entering Sichuan and Sichuan. Because the waterways were affected by the seasons, it was difficult to ensure navigation in all seasons. However, land routes were less affected. Once the war was urgent, troops could be transferred to Sichuan by land. However, the construction of this road was very difficult, and stations and material operation bases were required along the way, and the project volume was extremely large. For this reason, all the Mongolian and Yuan troops he captured in the Battle of Ezhou were used as free labor, but the required money was also calculated in millions of yuan.
Chapter completed!