The Siberian Plateau needs to be developed, and the Siberian Plain needs to be fought for, and the battle for Siberia is not only for land, nor only for resources.

The rise of the Great Voyage and the competition for colonies will fundamentally change the world pattern, and it can be said that whoever dominates this competition will be able to control the future.

Under the leadership of Zhu Cijiong, the Ming Empire has a faint tendency to become a superpower, and if it continues to develop like this, within ten years, the Ming Empire will be invincible in the world.

It was precisely when the European continental powers saw this that they instigated Tsarist Russia to attack the Ming Dynasty, hoping to delay the pace of the development of the Ming Dynasty, so as to catch up with the Ming Dynasty in all directions.

In this case, the Ming Dynasty had to fight, and if it wanted to fight, it would hurt Tsarist Russia and fear the foreign powers, so that they would know that the Ming Dynasty was not easy to provoke, so that they would not dare to provoke trouble easily.

How can you make Tsarist Russia feel pain? Of course, they snatched Siberia, which they had just occupied, and let them steal chickens and rice.

How can the great powers be afraid? It's very simple, catch Tsarist Russia and beat them to death, beat them to the point of being fart-boiling, and beat them to cry for their fathers and mothers, and the powers know that the Ming Empire can't afford to provoke it!

Now, Siberia has begun to thaw, and the five army corps, two naval corps, and one reserve corps stationed there by the Ming Dynasty have survived a cold winter and are in urgent need of supplies.

In the Western Regions, there are five army corps, seven vassal legions, and 200,000 prisoners, and the consumption rate of materials is terrifying, and they need to be replenished all the time.

Zhu Cijiong invited everyone over, mainly to discuss the matter of material allocation, the development of Siberia is only incidental, and now the incidental issues have been discussed, and the main matter has not yet been discussed.

He thought about it, simply got up and went to get a map of the whole territory of Siberia, unfolded it, spread it on the conference table, and then said solemnly: "Let's discuss the issue of grain and grass allocation, in order to deal with the next big war against Tsarist Russia, the Ming Dynasty has gathered two armies in Siberia and the Western Regions, and there are nearly two million soldiers on the front line who are fighting for the country. “

When everyone heard this, they nodded solemnly, since ancient times, there is a saying that the soldiers and horses have not moved the grain and grass first, the army is fighting abroad, the most important thing is the supply of materials, the supply of materials is not timely, especially the supply of grain and grass has problems, it is very likely to lead to the army not fighting and being ashamed, this kind of thing is simply too numerous in the historical records.

Zhu Cijiong pointed to the Tunguska City in the Yeni River Valley and continued: "This is the core of the Siberian frontline, and it is necessary to stock up on enough grain and grass. “

When Sun Yuanhua heard this, he hurriedly bowed his hand and said: "Back to the emperor, according to Marshal Lu's recent report, the grain in Tunguska City is already less than two million stones, and it is estimated that it can only last for about two months. The consumption of forage is not very large, and there is a ready-made pasture over there, which can basically satisfy the mouth and stomach of the war horse. “

Zhu Cijiong nodded and continued to ask, "How much grain has been raised in the capital now?" “

When Sun Yuanhua heard this, he said with a little shame: "Back to the emperor, the grain and grass raised for Marshal Lu last year and the first three months of this year were basically transported to the Western Regions and South Asia, and in the past month or so, Weichen has only raised about 600,000 stone of grain. “

600,000 stone is only enough for 600,000 troops to eat for a month, and even Lu Xiangsheng's road can't be guaranteed, this speed is definitely not good, of course, this can't be blamed on Sun Yuanhua, originally he was very well prepared, who knew that the great powers were stirring up trouble in the Western Regions and South Asia, and the Ming Dynasty hastily mobilized more than one million troops of all kinds, and the supply of grain and grass in the middle was already very good.

Zhu Cijiong thought for a while and said worriedly: "No, the Siberian front line alone has to allocate at least one million stone of grain every month, and it took more than a month to mobilize 600,000 stone, which is too slow." “

When Sun Yuanhua heard this, he glanced at Cheng Guoxiang, and the two of them arched their hands at the same time: "Weichen is guilty." “

Zhu Cijiong shook his head and said, "I can't blame you for this, let's talk about it, if there are any difficulties, I will solve them for you." “

Sun Yuanhua glanced at Cheng Guoxiang again, and this time it was Cheng Guoxiang who answered, because the mobilization of grain and grass was actually mainly responsible for the household department, and Sun Yuanhua was only responsible for receiving the goods and then sending them to the front line.

Cheng Guoxiang said with a little trepidation: "The emperor forgives the sin, the grain transfer is not really the fault of the micro-ministers, because last year the old provinces of the tax grain was almost empty, and now the grain needs to be requisitioned from the newly opened provinces of the Ming Dynasty, and the cooperation between the household department and the local yamen of the new province is still a little rusty, and there are still many problems in the collection of tax grain, personnel deployment and capacity allocation, so the supply of military food has been delayed, and the micro-ministers are panicked, and the emperor is punished." “

It turns out that this is the case, last year the Ming Dynasty did use a huge number of troops, in Siberia alone, there were ten regular army corps, two regular naval corps, as well as vassal legions, reserve corps, tun guards, more than two million stone of grain consumed a month, and other places, such as South Asia, Nanyang, and the Eurasian Canal, all need to allocate grain and grass, and the consumption of grain and grass in the Ming army has exceeded three million stone per month!

The tax and grain of the original two capitals and thirteen provinces were only more than 20 million stones, and the rest had to be requisitioned and transferred to the newly built more than 20 provinces.

In other words, the Ming Dynasty is not without food now, and the tax grain alone can support the daily wear and tear of these two or three million troops, but mobilizing together involves many links such as collection, handling, and transfer, and if there is a problem in one link, it will delay things.

For example, the tax grain of a certain province has been collected to the capital of the province, but it must find a train to transport it to the capital, and when the train comes, someone must carry the grain onto the train, which is tens of thousands of tons at every turn, how much manpower is needed, who will summon this person, how to calculate the wages, and who will be responsible for distributing them.

The old province is familiar with the road, as long as an order is given, the relevant personnel will immediately arrange things properly, and the new province, there may be no relevant person in charge, even if there is, the business may not be very familiar, no one can be invited, or there are not enough people to invite, these are possible.

Why is it said that it is easy to fight the world, but it is difficult to defend the world, not that it is easy to lay down a piece of territory, but there will always be a result in the war, if you win, this is yours, if you lose, get out, it is very clear, there is no need to think too much.

Not to mention the suppression of rebellion, at least you have to establish an efficient administrative system to manage the localities for yourself and collect taxes for yourself; You have to make the right laws about what can and can't be done, what should be done and what should not be done.

And all of this takes a lot of time, and it's not like you just transfer a bunch of officials to the past and you won't have any problems.

Like this time, there is a problem in the requisition and transfer of military rations, and this problem must be solved, otherwise the supply of grain and grass for more than 2 million troops on the front line will not be enough, and then the trouble will be big!