Today's Imperial Strategic Meeting is not a routine meeting in ordinary times, usually, Li Xuan holds a separate strategic meeting of the army or navy, and the number of people is generally relatively small, even if it is a strategic meeting held before the launch of the Autumn and Winter Campaign, in fact, it is only a separate army expansion strategic meeting.

And for some things related to the coordination of the army and navy, Li Xuan often directly called Zeng Ziwen and Bao Yifen over, and then directly discussed and ordered them to go down.

However, as a strategic meeting for the Army, Navy, the Cabinet, and even the seven Imperial Study Ministers on duty as today, it is not necessary to hold a strategic meeting once every six months.

The most recent one was actually held at the beginning of this year!

The reason why such a high-level imperial strategic meeting was held today was naturally not because of any changes in the war on the front line, although the news of Li Chunjing's attack on Yuezhou had already reached Zhaoqing, it was only a part of the autumn and winter offensive, and it would not cause such a big impact.

Today's pre-imperial strategic meeting is actually not to discuss a certain battle, but to discuss the strategic development of next year and even the year after, and this strategic development is not only limited to military aspects, but is related to the strategic direction of the entire Tang Dynasty.

This is also the reason why there will be civil servants in the cabinet!

After everyone settled, Li Xuan didn't sit on it as usual and didn't speak much, and asked the attendants around him to do the work for him, but said in person: "Since the first emperor started his business, it has been five years, thanks to the grace of the ancestors, my Datang has today's foundation!"

Under the brave fighting of hundreds of civil and military officials and soldiers, my Datang has owned thousands of miles of land and ruled more than 10 million people, but the pseudo-Ming is still stubbornly resisting in the north, and today I convened all Aiqing, which is to agree on the strategic plan of my Datang for the next year and even the next three years. ”

Li Xuan's words can be regarded as a start, but this strategic meeting in front of the emperor involves too many aspects, and it is impossible to say that it is enough to go to the Northern Expedition and capture Nanzhili.

So after Li Xuan's words fell, he then looked at Liu Bagou below, and Liu Bagou, who was the head of the hundred officials, immediately stood up, and then said: "So far, my Datang has recovered the homeland of Liangguang and Guizhou provinces, Huguang, and Jiangxi, and half of the state capitals have fallen under the control of my Datang. ”

Liu Bagou, as the head of the hundred officials, said something general, military and administrative affairs are simply said, but his role is actually still the beginning.

Subsequent heads of the Army, Navy, and Cabinet ministries have also successively reported on their achievements in their respective fields and the difficulties they are currently facing.

For example, the army said that at present the army already has a regular army and a total of 150,000 recruits in training, and at the same time, it is also promoting militia organizations in various localities, but it also pointed out that the current reorganization of the army is still extremely lacking in guns and other advanced equipment, and at the same time, military spending is also quite scarce, and it is requested that the army's military expenditure be increased to 14 million taels in the next year's financial budget.

The navy said that the navy has initially controlled the coastal waters west of Nanao Island, and has basically cleared the enemy naval divisions and pirates in the coastal areas of the Pearl River Estuary, but it also said that at present, the number of warships in the navy, especially the main warships, is scarce, and it is difficult to bear such a heavy task, and it is hoped that the construction of capital ships and the training of naval officers and soldiers will continue to increase this year, and that the military expenditure of the navy will be increased to more than three million silver next year!

It is not only the army and navy that say that it is difficult, but several representatives of civilian officials also put forward their own difficulties, such as the Ministry of Rites, saying that the current Tang Dynasty has invested a lot in education, but the Ministry of Rites is extremely short of funds, and if there is not enough funds next year, I am afraid it will be difficult to carry out the plan of juvenile colleges in various places.

The Ministry of Industry has also proposed that the Ministry of Industry is planning to build several large-scale factories and increase the intensity of mining minerals, and hopes to get additional financial support for the construction of the above-mentioned factories and mines next year, especially the large-scale steel plant scheduled to open in Zhaoqing, which will cost a lot of money.

Liu Bagou, who is the head of the 100 officials, also said that at present, the local finances and even the central finances in various localities are relatively tight, and many officials have been in arrears for several months, and they hope to pull out the money next year to solve the problem of arrears.

Of course, Li Xuan listened to many of the above complaints, but he didn't take them to heart, today these people are very clear, today's strategic meeting, said to be a strategy, let alone a development meeting, is also the prelude to the follow-up Xuanping four-year budget allocation, naturally will seize the opportunity to complain in front of Li Xuan, so as to strive for enough funds in next year's financial budget.

And in this kind of competition for funds, the only one who does not speak is the Ministry of Taxation!

There is no way, the tax department is the god of wealth, and other departments may be tight, but the tax department itself is unlikely to be tight, and in fact, the tax department's funds are also the first major expenditure in the Tang Dynasty in addition to military spending!

In order to collect taxes efficiently, the tentacles of the tax department have directly penetrated into every village, and there are many tax collectors.

If they weren't given enough funds, they wouldn't be able to raise so many people, and they wouldn't be able to collect so many taxes, so even if Li Xuan reduced military spending, it would be impossible to reduce the funds for broken steps.

And the people in the tax department are very aware of this, so they have never fought for funds!

When they talked about how effective their department had been and what difficulties they were facing, Li Xuan didn't say a word.

After everyone had spoken, Li Xuan said: "Okay, what you Aiqing said, I know, let's talk about the plans of their respective departments!" ”

The first to speak was the Army, the representative of the Army, the Minister on Duty in the Imperial Study, and the Minister of Operations of the Privy Council, Zeng Ziwen, said: "The army is preparing to lay the foundation for marching into Nanzhili in this year's autumn and winter offensive, and strive to march into Nanzhili next year. ”

Although Zeng Ziwen said that he planned to march into Nanzhili next year, the detailed plan was not said, but was directly submitted to Li Xuan in the form of a document, because the strategic plan inside was the army's highest strategic secret, except for Li Xuan, Zeng Ziwen would not say it to anyone present.

After Li Xuan took it, he opened it slightly and looked at it, the plan formulated by the army side was not too detailed, and even seemed a little general, in short, the army side planned to strive to solve the threat of Changsha, Hengyang and other places in this autumn and winter offensive, and then march into Fujian next summer, defeat Yu Dayou's department, solve the major threat of the Tang Dynasty in the eastern region, and then enter the south of the Yangtze River with the power of a great victory, and seize the area south of the Yangtze River in Zhejiang and Nanzhili.

After Li Xuan saw it, he didn't speak, then nodded slightly, and motioned Zeng Ziwen to continue, Zeng Ziwen said at this time: "In order to achieve next year's strategic goals, the army needs to complete the reorganization of the existing troops as soon as possible. ”

If the army wants to fight, it is not possible to have money, but also to have the ordnance produced by the Ministry of Industry, without guns and a large amount of ammunition, the Tang Army has no way to fight, and the front line will fight a large-scale battle, which is to shoot out tens of thousands of shells, this number may not be anything for the industrial countries of later generations, but it is a great challenge for the industrial capacity of Datang, which is still in large-scale manual production and only initially applies the most rudimentary machinery!

At this time, the people of the Ministry of Industry also said: "At present, the output of various ordnance of the Ministry of Industry is continuing to rise steadily, and if the large-scale steel plant of the Ministry of Industry in Foshan can be completed and put into operation, then the subsequent ordnance production can continue to be greatly increased!" ”

Zhaoqing Iron and Steel Plant, Li Xuan also knows this, because this iron and steel plant was actually established by Li Xuan, and its original name was the steel branch under the Foshan Arsenal of the Ministry of Industry.

In the middle of this year, Li Xuan instructed the Ministry of Industry to use the existing steel branch of the Foshan Arsenal to prepare for the construction of a new super-large-scale steel plant, and there is only one index, that is, its steel output requirements can reach the total output of the current government-run iron and steel plants under the Ministry of Industry of Datang, with an annual output of 10,000 tons.

According to the statistics of the Ministry of Commerce, under the control of the Tang Dynasty, the iron output of private iron factories in Xuanping for three years is about 18,000 tons.

Because there are many small-scale private iron-making workshops in the private sector, this statistic is still watery, and the actual number should be even larger, which should be able to reach 20,000 tons.

The steel output of the government-run iron and steel plants is very easy to count, and the total steel output of the government-run subordinate steel plants is about 10,000 tons, of which the iron output is more than 9,500 tons, and the steel is very small, only a few hundred tons!

However, the above-mentioned iron and steel plants, whether they are government-run or private, have a very small output, and can only rely on many steel mills and workshops to increase the number, while Li Xuan hopes that the Ministry of Industry can prepare for the construction of a super-large-scale steel plant!

At present, large-scale construction is underway on the part of the Ministry of Industry, and the amount of money spent is not small because of the large number of machines used.

But no matter how difficult it is, Li Xuan also instructed the Ministry of Industry to build a steel plant even if it is to tighten its belt!

It is self-evident how important steel is to industrial development, even if industrial development is not considered, but military use and agricultural production alone require a lot of steel!