These unruly guys of the new army can also be deterred by Xiao Letian, and an exam paper jointly presented by Xiao Letian and Joseph began to be printed in ink that evening, and all the soldiers in the barracks are nervously preparing for tomorrow's exam.

The three highest-ranking leaders of the Ryukyu Kingdom, Ryukyu King Shangtai, Tsubasa King Seikai and Xiao Loten, gathered on the walls of Shuri Castle that night and held a banquet in the sea breeze.

After three rounds of wine and five flavors, King Shang Tai was the first to get drunk, and he held a white porcelain wine cup and pointed to the dark and dreary coastal defense fort in the moonlight, on which was the American-made 280 coastal defense gun that had just been carried in place, and the huge shadow looked at the bay like a monster.

"Prime Minister, I never thought that the Ryukyu Kingdom would have such a terrifying cannon, do you know that just three days ago, after the huge cannon came ashore, all the Japanese were terrified one by one, and some even knelt on the ground to bow and worship..."

"It's refreshing... It's really refreshing, the Ryukyu Kingdom has a gentleman, it's really a great blessing for the community, it's a blessing for Xiao Wang, please drink this cup with your husband...... As long as Ryukyu can be strong, Xiao Wang, I will be happy even if I eat dried fish porridge every day..."

How could King Shangtai not be excited, the young man in his twenties is the age of his blood, he has been bullied by the Japanese for hundreds of years, and the country is thriving under the leadership of Xiao Letian, and it is like a dream.

It's not that no one has reminded King Shangtai to be careful of Xiao Lotian, and the Ryukyu royal family is also a little worried that Xiao Lotian will annex the Ryukyu Kingdom's Jongmyo Temple, but the form is stronger than people, and Xiao Lotian's power has penetrated Ryukyu in all directions from the economic, political, military, and cultural aspects.

Nominally, more than 1,000 new troops belong to the Ryukyu Kingdom, but all the middle and high-level officers in it were brought out by Xiao Letian, and the Ryukyu royal family could not command it at all.

There are also ten schools, all of which receive Xiao Letian's Western education, and everyone recognizes Xiao Letian as a grandmaster, and in less than three years, the generals of the Ryukyu court are all Xiao Letian's disciples.

What's even worse is that Lotte & Co. controls the economy of the Ryukyu Kingdom, and now all the foreign money circulating in the market is Mexican Eagle Ocean, and the military salaries issued by soldiers are all beautifully printed banknotes, and the kingdom's finance has been monopolized by Lotte & Co.

The only hope is that Xiao Letian will be the talker, I hope that his vision is long-term and broad, I hope he will pay more attention to the world, and don't take this county too seriously.

In addition, I hope that the elites who have come from the mainland civilization will not be too ugly, so as to leave a face for the Ryukyu royal family...

Xiao Lotian and Shi Dakai looked at each other and smiled, they both heard King Shangtai's lame sycophancy, and after a toast, Xiao Lotian said with a smile: "Your Majesty, this is to cry to the ministers, hahaha, I understand, I understand, it is difficult to maintain the Ryukyu treasury in the past year, although the foreign bank has taken over the main expenses of the imperial court, but His Majesty himself also has a little pocket money..."

While speaking, a Chinese man like a bookkeeper came up with a black lacquered wooden box in his hand, "I've seen Your Majesty, I've seen the Prime Minister, this is a foreign bank ready money ticket, please check ......" After speaking, he put it on the table and walked backwards down the city wall.

Inside the wooden box was a pile of money tickets printed by foreign banks, Xiao Lotian casually picked up a pile and flipped through it, "Your Majesty, here is a small deposit receipt of 200,000 silver dollars, which is considered to be Your Majesty's New Year's money this year, now the merchants on the market have recognized this kind of money tickets, and it is very convenient for the palace to use it directly, or to exchange it......"

200,000 silver dollars... Or is it only for pocket money for the royal family ... In the past, the Ryukyu Kingdom was able to collect six or seven hundred thousand taxes a year, but the Shimazu family had to take more than half, and the rest had to maintain the expenses of hundreds of officials and the army, and the palace did not have much balance in a year.

In the memory of King Shangtai, after the palace settled accounts with the household department at the end of the year, it was considered to burn high incense if there was a balance of 50,000 or 60,000 taels, and this balance was the king's private money.

Today, Xiao Lotian stretched out his hand and gave King Shangtai 200,000 silver dollars, which is enough to catch up with the balance of four years on weekdays, and King Shangtai's excited hands are a little trembling.

"Master, the Ryukyus are in ruins now, and they need money everywhere, so let's use it for more important things......" King Shangtai said politely, but his eyes were already glued to it and he couldn't take it down, and he even had a plan to renovate Shuri Castle in his heart.

Xiao Letian had already seen through his heart, "Your Majesty, don't shirk, it's true that as Your Majesty said, you need money everywhere now, but it's not bad for the 200,000, don't worry, the annual balance will only increase in the future, and it won't decrease, just look at it......"

King Shangtai was really drunk, he drank three pots of daughter red by himself, and finally held the money box and didn't let go, and several servants couldn't grab it.

The chamberlain supported His Majesty back to the harem to rest, leaving only Shi Dakai and Xiao Letian on the city wall, and there was no figure within a hundred steps.

"Sir, have you thought about it, aren't you going to eat this Ryukyu?" Shi Dakai has always had this question, especially when Xiao Lotian faintly vouched for King Shangtai at the wine table.

"Hehe, the prince is wrong..."Xiao Letian pointed to the brightly lit foreigner ships on the dock, and then pointed to the shore defense fort under construction.

"Look at this qiē, I won't say ten years ago, even if you thought about such a scene three years ago, the world is no longer the world inhabited by saints, the ideal country of the literati no longer exists, and the ultimate fate of a country like Ryukyu is to be annexed by the power of the great powers......"

"I'm not alarmist, this is an iron-like reality, this is not a small inland barren country, not many people are worried about it, this is the Jinliang of all countries, this is the outlet of Chinese civilization, and it is also the chain that locks China's national fortunes......"

"This chain of islands is too important, as long as the Ryukyu Kingdom is under our control, then the Bohai Sea, the East China Sea, and the Yellow Sea will all become our inland seas of China, and if the enemy wants to invade it, he must break through the first island chain......"

"If a war breaks out in the Pacific Ocean or the South China Sea, it is better than having people bombard their homes with artillery on their doorsteps, right? In my imagination, an armed island chain and two or three ocean-going fleets can keep foreign enemies at bay in the Pacific Ocean, in the south of the South China Sea......

Shi Dakai gasped on the spot: "Sir, your hand is too big, how many warships do you need to block such a large sea area? How much does it cost? Do you want to do it on your own?"

Xiao Lotian shook his head, and his back molars rattled. The Beiyang Naval Division of later generations, from the purchase of warships to the construction of docks, to the preparation of schools to train talents, and to raise the army by the way, the chief engineer spent 30 million taels of silver to build up the skeleton. This also includes embezzled money.

According to the corrupt energy of the bureaucratic system in the late Qing Dynasty, half of the 30 million taels had to be eaten, and it was estimated that 15 million taels of silver for a Beiyang fleet would be enough. At that time, it was about 40 million dollars.

Perhaps for small countries such as Ryukyu and Japan, it is a huge amount of money, but for the huge China, it is a drop in the bucket at all, and the indemnity of 200 million taels of silver to small Japan will not be compensated without blinking an eye.

If this little money is put in the eyes of people and Shen and Zhongtang, it is useless, and the huge family wealth that the Chinese nation has saved for thousands of years is unimaginable.

"Lord Wang, don't worry, he and Shen can take 200 million taels of silver from Qianlong's hands, you don't have the ability to do this? Let me tell you the truth, your old enemy Zeng Guofan has reached an agreement with me, and I will choose the two pieces of loose silver on the market in Jiangnan in the future, and Hu Xueyan will also fully cooperate, and the mint will be placed in the Ryukyu ...... at that time."

When it came to Zeng Guofan, Shi Dakai was silent, this is an old enemy of the kingdom of heaven, how many children have died in his hands, but now Xiao Letian actually wants to cooperate with him, emotionally he can't get over this hurdle.

Xiao Letian knew that it would not work if he didn't find this acne, his layout was too big, and he had to win over an ally who could cooperate, and if he wanted to save this declining national fortune, it would not work if he didn't cooperate with the Hunan army.

"I'm sorry, I really can't help it...... Our national fortunes are really too decaying, just like a dying patient hanging on his last breath, we can't toss anymore, we can't fight a civil war anymore...... Lord Wang, the Huaxia clan really doesn't have much time......"

Shi Dakai raised his head, drank a glass of hot wine, sighed, and said, "I understand what the military advisor said, I know that you want to keep a breath of vitality for China, but have you thought about it, how can so many forces be glued together?"

"During this time, I have been studying the democracies, republics, and constitutional monarchies in the West...... I can't figure it out, how do they convince the various forces in the country, let people of different beliefs and values sit together, and share their interests? No matter how I think about it, I feel that it is too unreliable......

Shi Dakai let out a long sigh and said, "Strategist, you are an understanding person, you should think more clearly about this issue than me. With our little new army and the torture hall, how many of these brothers are there under your command? I haven't counted them, but there must be tens of thousands. Even if you don't have the heart to take power, what about them?"

The night breeze suddenly tightened, just like Xiao Letian's heart now, is there an answer to this eternal difficult question? Is it better to concentrate power or disperse, and is there a standard for it?

Think about the decades of chaos after the fall of the Qing Dynasty in the previous life, the Chinese proved to the world with their actions that no one in the country obeys anyone, there are many warlords, factions are rampant, Yan Xishan can change the spacing of the railroad tracks in order to divide Shanxi, can this kind of national root practice of decentralization really work?

"Lord Wang, give me a little time, let me give it a try, let me use this life to go on a strange road, there will always be a way, there will be a way......"

Shi Dakai paid attention to Xiao Letian for a long time, and finally smiled, "Don't worry, I don't have so much hatred in my heart for a long time, Zeng Guofan has killed many brothers in the Heavenly Kingdom, but how many of those brothers who died have never killed anyone? The eldest brother doesn't need to talk about the second brother, don't laugh at a hundred steps in fifty steps...... On the Huangquan Road, not to mention revenge, how many unjust souls are there who want to find us for their lives......"

Xiao Lotian listened to the ghostly words, and suddenly felt a palpitation, he suddenly found that he had walked into the deep water area, and vaguely saw the largest dark thunder in front of him, a dark mine that could completely destroy all undertakings.

This book was first published from 17K Novel Network, the first time to see the genuine content!R405