After sending away the group of second goods from the Ministry of Taxation who thought that they didn't have to pay back the borrowed money, Li Xuan was thinking about how to spend the five million taels of silver he borrowed, and directly invested it in military spending, which was not good.

It's not that the military budget is enough, but the military budget is already a lot, and other departments are tight, especially after the capital Jinling City, the Tang Dynasty can be regarded as formalized, and all aspects cost money.

And these all cost money!

Therefore, part of the five million can be set aside for military spending, but the other part still has to be distributed to the cabinet ministries.

Water conservancy construction should be given a little, the Department of Transportation should give a little, the Department of Education should keep a little, the salaries of officials should be appropriately repaid, and there are other messy expenses, in the end, Li Xuan found, oh mom, these five million are really not spent!

And the money has been spent, and it doesn't seem to have improved much, and the departments are still crying poor every day, which makes Li Xuan upset!

Later, I just didn't care, I had survived the hard days of the past few years, and I was afraid that I couldn't get through it now, so let's boil it slowly, there will be bread, and good days will always come.

This small turmoil caused by the national debt came and went quickly, and it was soon left behind by Li Xuan and focused on armaments.

On September 2, Li Xuan left the palace and went to the outskirts of the city to inspect the newly formed Eighth Infantry Division and other units of the Second Army.

After arriving at the training ground on the outskirts of the city, Li Xuan, accompanied by a group of civil and military officials, ascended to the viewing platform and watched the drill of the Eighth Infantry Division with binoculars, while Zeng Ziwen introduced Li Xuan on the side:

"The Eighth Infantry Division began to prepare for construction at the beginning of the year, referring to the preparation for the construction of the Seventh Infantry Division last year, and directly transferred some backbone personnel from the Fifth Infantry Division and other units to be assigned, and the core of its infantry units was three infantry battalions drawn from the Fifth Infantry Division, and the core of the artillery regiment was an artillery battalion of the Fifth Infantry Division, and some troops were also transferred from other units!"

"Subsequently, a large number of new recruits were recruited, weapons were replenished, and intensive training was carried out, and the division has been in full force for the last two months since its formation in July, and at present, the division has been officially formed."

"The division, like the rest of the main force, consisted of three infantry regiments, an artillery regiment, a baggage regiment, a cavalry battalion, an engineer battalion, and other auxiliary units, with a total strength of fifteen thousand men. It has 6,000 muskets, 32 5-pound field guns, 18 9-pound field guns, and 48 2-pound and 3-pound shotguns. ”

"In terms of strength and weaponry, this division is already the same as the 1st Infantry Division, the 5th Infantry Division and other strong armies!"

Li Xuan naturally knew that now that the army had completely completed the reorganization, the establishment of each infantry division was the same, and except for the fourth infantry division, which was difficult to replenish, the other infantry divisions basically had the same strength and the same equipment.

However, in terms of strength and equipment, it is actually difficult to distinguish the combat effectiveness of these troops, but although the combat effectiveness of a unit is high or low, and the strength and equipment are also important, but in the case of the same strength and equipment, the quality of officers and soldiers will also make the combat effectiveness gap between the troops very large.

Among the many units of the Datang Army, at present, the two units with the strongest combat effectiveness are the First Infantry Division and the Fifth Infantry Division, and the second is the Fourth Mixed Regiment, although this unit is only a mixed regiment, but it has a tough style, can fight tough battles, and its combat effectiveness is not weak.

And the new units such as the 7th Infantry Division and the 8th Infantry Division, to be honest, have average combat effectiveness.

Eight infantry divisions and ten mixed regiments are the main force of the core field force of the Tang Dynasty.

In addition, the army also has some independent heavy howitzer battalions, equipped with 48 catties, 24 catties of heavy short-barreled howitzers, this kind of howitzer is mainly for siege of the city, on weekdays because of the difficulty of maneuvering, the firing range is relatively close, the deployment is difficult, the ammunition supply is difficult, so the use on weekdays is actually average, far less than the five catties of field artillery is easy to use.

Yes, in the Tang Army today, the best artillery is also the core of the army's artillery firepower, not a powerful heavy howitzer, nor a long-range, powerful nine-pound field gun, but a five-pound field gun with poor performance.

Why, because the five-catty field gun is cast in iron, the cost is low, and the production is easy, and the Datang Army is equipped with a lot of this artillery.

When there are too many of them, it is difficult not to act as the core force of artillery!

The high-ranking generals of the Tang Army have a soft spot for the current five-pound field artillery, which is low in cost, simple in production technology, and large in output, which means that the army can purchase more of this kind of artillery in its limited military spending.

Without this cheap iron-cast five-pound field gun, the ambitious artillery regiment plan on the part of the army would not have been possible at all.

When watching the drill of the Eighth Infantry Division, Li Xuan also recognized the quality of the Eighth Infantry Division, and turned his head to Zeng Ziwen and other high-ranking army officials and said: "It can be seen that all Aiqing has put a lot of thought into it, okay!" ”

Although this is only a drill, it does not mean that the Eighth Infantry Division will be able to perform this kind of performance after it enters the battlefield, but if this kind of drill is not done well, it is even less expected to do well on the battlefield.

Judging from the exercise, the performance of the 8th Infantry Division was decent, the queue was tight, the change of formation was fast but not chaotic, and the accuracy of the artillerymen's live-fire shooting was also quite good.

As for whether the combat effectiveness of this unit is really tested or not, or how high it is able to withstand casualties, it cannot be tested, but there are more new recruits in it, and it is estimated that it is far inferior to the old and strong armies such as the First Infantry Division and the Fifth Infantry Division.

But after fighting a few more battles, many of the recruits in it will quickly become veterans, and veterans who have gone through the baptism of war will have a great increase in combat effectiveness!

With this Eighth Infantry Division, the Northern Expedition plan has another guarantee!

The day after returning from the training ground on the outskirts of the city, the Privy Council Operations Department officially submitted to Li Xuan the battle plan for the Northern Expedition across the river!

When Li Xuan got this plan, he didn't read it carefully, because this plan was divided into more than a dozen, each with a few dozen pages and a few hundred pages, many of which were details, Li Xuan naturally didn't need to read it, what he wanted was the overall plan.

So he looked at the general outline of the front!

After watching it, Li Xuan did not go to see Zeng Ziwen, Hao Bonian, Li Chunjing and other high-level officials, but carefully considered the gains and losses of the plan.

In the first stage, the army intends to seize Hanyang, Anqing, and Yangzhou, the three cities strategically defended by the Ming army, and on this basis, completely control the Yangtze River, open up the Yangtze River channel, and obtain the entrance to the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, so as to advance the war to the Huai River valley.

The second stage is to advance the front to Shandong and Henan.

The third stage is to completely seize Shandong and Henan, enter the North Zhili, and capture the puppet Ming Jingshi.

To put it simply, this is a strategic plan with the ultimate goal of capturing the puppet Ming Jingshi, and the reason why it is divided into three stages is because the distance is long, and the time will definitely be very long, even if everything goes well, I am afraid it will take more than a year!

Not to mention anything else, it will take several months for the troops to walk from Jinling City to the Puppet Ming Jingshi.

And the Ming army is not stupid, do a stupid wait for you to kill and not resist, and resist a little halfway, this time will be extended by a month casually, which is why the Privy Council divided the whole plan into three stages to implement.

The above three stages are only a rough plan, and the detailed plan is to use the First Army as the western route, responsible for attacking Hubei, including Hanyang. The Second Army was responsible for the middle route, attacking the western and central parts of Jiangbei, that is, Anqing, Luzhou, Fengyang and other vast areas.

The Third Army was responsible for the eastern part of Jiangbei, mainly in Yangzhou and Huai'an.

Basically, every army is responsible for solving a hard bone: Hanyang in the First Army, Anqing in the Second Army, and Yangzhou in the Third Army.

Of course, although the troops are divided into three routes, there are also priorities and priorities, so the troop distribution and even the supply of logistical supplies for the above-mentioned three armies will be readjusted.

One of the biggest adjustments is that because in a series of operations, the capture of Yangzhou is absolutely the top priority, so it is ready to increase the deployment of the Third Army, not only the newly formed Eighth Infantry Division will be incorporated into the Third Army, but also the Fifth Infantry Division, which is a tough and good at fighting tough battles, will be drawn from the Second Army to strengthen the Third Army.

The heavy howitzer battalion will also be assigned to the Third Army first, in order to make a good start, seize Yangzhou first, and completely open up the Yangtze River channel for the Tang Dynasty.

As long as Yangzhou is captured, then many logistics transport ships of the subsequent Tang Dynasty can directly enter the Yangtze River to transport materials to Jinling and even the suburbs of Anqing, and at the same time, they can also enter the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal to provide logistics supplies for the troops going deep into the Huai River.

Therefore, Yangzhou is the first strategic target that needs to be overcome!

And Anqing can be slowed down, and as for Hanyang, it can also be postponed.

On this day, Li Xuan discussed with the high-ranking generals of the army for a whole day, and the next day, he held an enlarged meeting of the army, and summoned almost all the generals above the rank of major general in Jinling City to discuss the military discussion.

On the third day, he convened a strategic meeting in front of the Imperial Army, which was attended by all the top officials of the navy and army, at which he formally approved the first phase of the operational plan for the Northern Expedition to cross the Yangtze River, and regarded this stage of the operation as this year's autumn and winter offensive.

After the strategic meeting of the Imperial Palace, Li Xuan selected more than a dozen officials from the Hanlin Academy as angels to inspect and comfort the troops fighting outside on his behalf.

The senior generals also left Jinling City and went to the war zone!

On the fourth day, Li Xuan convened a cabinet meeting, asking all cabinet departments to cooperate with the upcoming autumn and winter offensive, do a good job in comforting the families of soldiers and soldiers, do a good job in recruiting new soldiers, and do a good job in replenishing various materials.

At this juncture, these civilian officials naturally did not dare to drag the military and Li Xuan back, and they all patted their chests and said that they must settle down in the rear and provide the most powerful support for the army on the front line.

On behalf of the 100 cabinet officials, Liu Bagou solemnly said to Zeng Ziwen and Bao Yifen, the two representatives of the navy and army: The soldiers on the front line can fight bravely with peace of mind, and the cabinet will provide all support to solve their worries!

On the fifth day, the latest issue of the Tang Dynasty newspaper published a ban on thieves and the people, swearing to exterminate the puppet Ming thief army and pacify hundreds of millions of people in the world!

When the Tang Dynasty published this ban on thieves and the people, the Third Army of the Tang Army also officially launched a landing operation against Tongzhou, Jiangbei, under the cover of the navy!