The treasury bonds of 10 million taels of silver can basically solve the current needs of the cabinet and the military, and as for more treasury bonds, it is not that they cannot be issued, but there is no way to digest them - after all, it is not an easy thing to spend 40 million taels of silver a year.

Especially for Ning Chu at the moment, the big guy wants to seek the title of a founding hero in his heart, especially in the future Northern Expedition, there are countless meritorious deeds waiting to be taken, so the big guy's morale is still quite high, and he is unwilling to be corrupt for this little money, and he has lost his future in vain.

In addition, a large number of officials at the grassroots level are all young people selected by Ning Chu from the imperial examination, plus meritorious heroes in the army, these people are highly loyal on the one hand, and on the other hand, they will pay a little attention to morality, so the 40 million taels of silver of the cabinet and the military can still be spent in the end, and there may be some corruption, but it will definitely not be greatly discounted.

On the other hand, the Qing court only has an annual income of less than 15 million taels at the moment, and I am afraid that half of it can be used in practice, and Emperor Yongzheng spent 100,000 new troops who wanted to toss it, and only trained less than 30,000 this year, not because he didn't want to, but because he didn't have money.

Just for the question of money, who will win if Ning Chu doesn't win? The Qing court could be stoned to death by smashing it with silver.

After a series of monetary and financial reforms, Ning Chu's potential was being tapped, and the central bank soon received silver reserves from eight newly established banks, more than eight million taels of silver, which were sent to the mint, where they would be reminted into silver dollars, becoming the central bank's first property.

In addition, the gold, silver, and copper coins in the possession of the Ministry of Finance will gradually be recycled into new coins, and in the process not only will not be lost, but will make a lot of money—according to Ernst's estimates, if these coins can be minted and circulated, they will probably earn millions of silver dollars.

On the one hand, Ningyu asked Ernst, the Ministry of Finance, and the central bank to hurry up the minting and issuance of new coins, and on the other hand, it began to work on this year's strategic plan to cut off the last power of the Qing court in the southwest, namely the four provinces of Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, and Gansu.

As for the cabinet, with Ning Zhongjing, Cui Wancai and a group of ministers staring, Ning Yu can naturally relax and not pay too much attention.

At this stage now, Ning Yu knew in his heart that even though the Northern Expedition still needed a year of accumulation, the southwest direction needed to be moved first, and the Qing court could not be allowed to move other thoughts in the southwest, otherwise it would become more tricky to clean up when the time came, so the battle in the southwest should not be slowed down.

.........

The General Staff of the Nanjing Privy Council is located in the imperial city, which is a large courtyard with several entrances, and the signs of the Privy Council and the General Staff are hung at the door, and there are many guards patrolling at the door.

After the establishment of Ning Chu, the Privy Council was at the same level as the Executive Yuan in terms of rank, so its subordinate institutions such as the General Staff Office, the General Armament Office, the General Logistics Office, and the General Training Office were also upgraded and became the official ministries and yamen.

As the former head of the General Staff, Dong Ce's rank naturally rose and he became the deputy director of the General Staff, and the key position of the chief minister was held by the Privy Deputy Envoy Cheng Ming.

For Dong Ce, who is nearly in his early twenties today, his rising speed is also surprising enough, because in the military system of the Fuhan Army, there will be a group army at the level of the establishment in the future, and the grade is equal to that of the Ministry and Cabinet, so he is now the deputy director of the General Staff, and he will be the chief of staff of the group army in the future, and compared to other people in the Eagle Battalion, he Dong Ce is still in the leading state.

In addition to Dong Ce, Xu Chengliang, Ning Tieshan, Li Shihu, and Chang Youcai are all at the level of division commander or deputy division commander, and their positions are generally not low, basically occupying the main positions in the army at present.

In the eyes of later generations, the current leadership of the Fu Han Army is almost terrifyingly young, and the average age of all the division commanders combined is no more than 26 years old, which can be called a group of extremely young generals.

Of course, such a situation will only appear in this special era, and even if the commanders of these divisions are in their early twenties, they have all been on the battlefield for several years, and the life and death they have experienced are not small, and the accumulated experience is also incomparably rich.

A group of men, dressed in neat uniforms of the Fu Han Army, hurried all the way to the courtyard, and except for being inspected at the door, they were hardly hindered and stepped into the most critical place of the Privy Council.

"Report! Deputy Minister, I have an urgent military request for an appointment. ”

"Please come in."

I saw a large number of case materials piled up on a large desk, and Dong Ce buried himself in it and worked hard to write. Behind him, there hangs a huge map of the southwestern provinces, on which many curved lines are drawn with pencils.

Among the officers who came in, the first one had a somewhat excited look on his face and gave a military salute to Dong Ce.

"Deputy Minister, Major Lin Yun reports! Project South-West Eagle has now officially begun, and here are all the operational information. Then, a thick document bag was placed on Dong Ce's desk.

Dong Ce glanced at everyone, a little smile appeared on his face, and said softly: "Major Lin has worked hard, this time the Southwest Eagle plan is really not easy, you can do this step, it is really not easy, I will give you a reward." ”

Lin Yun's face was a little hesitant, "Vice Minister, there is one thing I want to ask the minister, is our army going to march into the southwest?" ”

Hearing Lin Yun's question, Dong Ce's expression became a little serious, "You are an old man from the General Staff Office, you should understand what to ask and what not to ask, this matter is not something you should understand, understand?" ”

"Yes, if you know your mistakes, you will retire."

After the group left, Dong Ce opened the file bag, looked at the stacks of materials inside, and couldn't help but show a trace of excitement in his eyes.

With this thing, the odds of winning the battle in the southwest must be increased by at least three!

The Southwest Eagle Plan is a plan formulated by the Joint Military Intelligence Department of the General Staff Office, which has been carried out since the first year of the reform, and the General Staff Office and the Military Intelligence Department have selected non-commissioned soldiers from Yunnan-Guichuan and other places in the army, and after special training, they have been secretly dispatched to Yunnan-Guichuan and other places to find out all the defense positions of the Qing army in Yunnan-Guichuan through various means, as well as relevant geographical, humanistic, meteorological and other information, and summarize them.

The secrecy level of the plan is Class A, so it also means that the identities of all the secret agents are top secret, and all the information and materials investigated are also top secret, which will be submitted directly to the General Staff, and the intermediate process will not be handed over to anyone, and the General Staff will directly present the details of the plan to His Majesty, as well as formulate the battle plan.

Although this project has only been carried out for a year and many classified things have not been obtained, in this day and age, such a large-scale intelligence gathering is very rare in itself, so it is enough to increase the chances of victory on the plan of the General Staff.

Everything is ready, only the east wind is owed.

Dong Ce took the documents and went directly to the palace to meet Ning Yu.

"Your Majesty, the Southwest Eagle plan has been completed, and our army's attack on the southwest is no longer barrier-free."

Ning Yu was originally an advocate of the Southwest Eagle Plan, so he also had a deep control over this matter, so he took the bag of documents casually and said in a low voice: "For this plan, the group of secret agents sent by the military suffered a lot of casualties, and I will give an explanation to their families, but the General Staff should control these materials well, and must not let the blood of the heroes be shed in vain." ”

Dong Ce nodded naturally, he was very familiar with Ning Yu's style of asking people first and then asking things, so he was also ready, "The group of secret agents sent before, everyone's families have been settled, and the families of the victims are all first-class martyrs, and their children will become the children of the young eagles in the future." ”

"As for the materials themselves, the General Staff will add them to the plan and send them to the headquarters of the newly formed Southwest Group Army."

The so-called Southwest Group Army was also temporarily formed by the Southwest Raider this time, and although the chief and deputy commanders have not yet been decided, the relevant troops have already begun to be mobilized, and the rest of the logistics materials have already been prepared.

Ning Yu nodded lightly, "I have to tell you a piece of news first, the shadow of the capital has temporarily sent news, the governor of Yungui has been replaced, from Yang Mingshi to Ortai, this person is not an easy guy to deal with, the staff needs to do a good job of dealing with it." ”

"Ortai? This person is much more difficult to deal with than Yang Mingshi......"

In the shadow and military intelligence department, for all officials above the prefect of the Qing court, there are relevant intelligence files, especially for these important figures, it is to redouble efforts to collect their information, analyze their character and personality, the purpose is to know oneself and the other, so as the character in Yongzheng's pocket, Ortai's information is also very rich.

Ning Yu nodded, "In the process of Yongzheng's ascension, this person played a great role, and now he has been transferred from Shandong to Yungui, but he has placed Yongzheng's high hopes and wants to use this person to drag us down." ”

"Your Majesty, rest assured, the overall situation in the southwest has been decided, and it will be useless for the Qing court to change generals on the spot, according to the plan of the General Staff, by the end of this year, the three southwestern provinces will be completely taken!"

Dong Ce gritted his teeth, in any large-scale war like this, the role of the individual is extremely limited, no matter how powerful he Ortai is, he is not a soldier immortal, and those green battalion soldiers and Tusi soldiers under his command will not become elite, but they are just a little more difficult to deal with than Yang Mingshi, and it is just some.

Ning Yu laughed, "It's okay if you have this confidence, I won't hide it from you, the commander of the Southwest Army will be served by King Changshan himself, and the deputy commander will be Cheng Shumi, this battle will be the last battle before the Northern Expedition!" ”

The last battle before the Northern Expedition, of course Dong Ce understands the meaning of this, to put it bluntly, it is a final large-scale integration, the new recruits recruited this year, and integrate the new recruits this year into the whole of the Fu Han Army in the way of war, this process will be very cruel, but once this battle is over, the battle of the Northern Expedition will really have to be separated from the Qing court.......

Ning Yu looked at the north with his hands down, and said quietly: "Once the southwest is finished, next year's Northern Expedition will be led by me to personally conquer the army, you have to understand my intentions......"

As soon as Dong Ce heard Ning Yu say this, he hurriedly arched his hand and said, "Your Majesty, the minister is willing to go to the Southwest Group Army!" ”

"Huh....... Dong Ce, you are a knife that I have been sharpening, you must know that becoming famous at a young age is not a good thing, and it is easy to break when you are sharpened....... Now that you have been in the center for a long time, I also know the impulse in your heart, and the battlefield is your destination...... The newly formed 15th Division, how about you to take it? ”

In terms of rank, Dong Ce's current position should be positioned at the level of chief of staff of the group army, and letting him bring a new division is itself demeaningful, so Ning Yu's words are also a test for Dong Ce.

For others, this level of position is naturally an insurmountable threshold, but not for Dong Ce, he knows in his heart whose future is in his hands, so he kneels on the ground without the slightest embarrassment.

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

From the division commander to the group army, Dong Ce has the confidence that he can surpass this high mountain, and when he returns again, he will completely show his edge.

In May of the second year of innovation, Dong Ce, as the commander of the newly formed 15th Division, went to Yichang Mansion to take up his post.

At this time, Yichang Mansion had gathered the second, sixth, and seventh divisions, and the newly formed fifteenth and sixteenth divisions were also in the process of intensive recruitment.

The Battle of the Southwest, due to the influence of terrain and logistics and other factors, is destined to not be able to transport too many artillery, and even the use of muskets will have a certain impact, so melee hand-to-hand combat is also the main subject of training.

For this battle, the General Staff finally gave the final battle plan, with 40,000 men of the second, sixth, fourteenth, and fifteenth divisions of the newly formed Southwest Group Army under the command of King Changshan, marching westward along the waterway of the Yangtze River to attack Sichuan. With Cheng Ming as deputy commander, he commanded the 3rd Division, the 5th Division, and the newly established 12th Division to attack Guizhou through Guangxi and northwest, while the 1st Division under the command of Ning Tieshan attacked Guizhou from Hunan.

Speaking of a total of 80,000 people, it almost accounts for about half of the total strength of the current Fu Han army, and it is almost an absolute main force to attack the southwest, and its purpose is naturally to be able to level the three southwestern provinces in one fell swoop in the shortest possible time.

As for the current strength of the Qing army in the southwest, it is mainly based on Yue Zhongqi, and the part of the northwest army that he originally commanded followed him to Sichuan, and then took over the green camp in Sichuan, with a total strength of about 80,000 people, of course, among these 80,000 people, only 30,000 people who originally belonged to the northwest army have combat strength, and the remaining 50,000 people have relatively weak combat strength.

Compared with the army of Sichuan, there are less than 30,000 green battalions in Yunnan and Guizhou at this time, plus 10,000 Tusi soldiers, and 40,000 people in the two provinces, which seems a little inconspicuous.

Of course, all this was almost a nightmare opening for the newly arrived governor of Yunnan and Guizhou, Ortai.