When the future establishment of the Tang Empire's naval and land armies and the Purple Moon Empire's naval and land armies was exposed, the Sharad Empire, which was close to the original Cangyu Empire, and the Orenza Empire, which was close to the Purple Moon Empire, suddenly became nervous, and in addition to these two countries, some countries were also very nervous.

On February 30, 3013 in the Tang calendar, in a large hall in the imperial palace of Liuyun City, the capital of the Liuyun Empire, Emperor Li Hong frowned and said to Prime Minister Cao Ziliang: "According to the news sent by the intelligence department, the future Royal Army of the Tang Empire has been reorganized into one hundred and thirty infantry divisions and fifty-two garrison infantry brigades, with a total strength of up to tens of millions, and the Purple Moon Empire Army has also been adapted into one hundred and twenty infantry divisions and thirty-three garrison infantry brigades, with a total strength of more than ten million. That Su Yi has more than 20 million troops in his hands, can he raise it? ”

Su Yi did not deliberately conceal the 130 field infantry divisions and 52 garrison independent infantry brigades formed by the Royal Army of the Tang Empire, as well as the 120 infantry divisions and 33 garrison independent infantry brigades formed by the Royal Army of the Purple Moon Empire.

Prime Minister Cao Ziliang said in a deep voice: "I heard that Su Yi didn't know where to get a huge amount of rice, flour and canned meat, which not only stabilized the grain prices of the original Cangyu Empire and the Purple Moon Empire, but also earned a huge amount of money, and there should be no problem in raising more than 20 million troops in a short period of time." ”

Emperor Li Hong's brows furrowed even tighter, "I'm worried that Su Yi has such a huge army force, what will he do to our Liuyun Empire, Su Yi's set of national theories, can classify our Liuyun Empire's royal family as the inactive rulers of some Tang countries, not long ago, Su Jiajun used this set of ethnic theories, and forced the Shalad Empire out of the territory of the Cangyu Empire, and then occupied the entire Cangyu Empire, and our Liuyun Empire is so similar to the original Cangyu Empire!" ”

After the Sharad Empire forced the Cangyu Empire to sign a humiliating armistice agreement, the Liuyun Empire was afraid of the strength of the Sharad Empire, and before the Shalad army entered the Liuyun Empire, the Liuyun Empire signed an agreement with the Sharad Empire.

The content of the agreement includes that the Liuyun Empire announced its withdrawal from the alliance of the four eastern countries and symbolically compensated the Sharad Empire with 10 million taels of silver; The Liuyun Empire must set aside a piece of land in each of the forty-two provincial capitals and the capital Liuyun City, and lease it to the Sharad Empire for 99 years, and the Sharad Empire has the right to garrison troops and administrative autonomy within these concessions; The Sharad Empire has the right to prospect, mine and build roads within the territory of the Liuyun Empire, and the Sharad Empire has the right to garrison troops in the mining areas and railway stations whose property rights belong to the Sharad Empire.

Prime Minister Cao Ziliang pondered for a while and said: "Your Majesty, although our Royal Army of the Liuyun Empire has been expanded, it currently has the scale of six infantry regiments and four independent infantry divisions, with a total strength of two million, and the private army of the nobles adds up to one and a half million, but compared to the army in Su Yi's hands, the difference in strength is not a star and a half, so the minister suggested that we should continue to expand the strength of our Liuyun Empire's Royal Army, and at the same time call on all the hereditary nobles to expand the strength of their family army as much as possible. so as not to be caught off guard by the Tang Empire. ”

Emperor Li Hong said bitterly: "It's okay to expand the army, but the question is where does the money, weapons and ammunition come from?" ”

Prime Minister Cao Ziliang immediately said: "Your Majesty, there is one thing, the minister has not had time to tell you, the ambassador of the Salad Empire in Liuyun City has taken the initiative to contact the minister, and the Salad Empire is willing to fully cooperate with our Liuyun Empire to jointly prevent the threat from the Tang Empire and the Purple Moon Empire." ”

Emperor Li Hong's eyes suddenly lit up, "How does the Shalad Empire want to cooperate?" Are you going to increase the garrisons in our various concessions of the Liuyun Empire? ”

At present, the Salad Royal Army, with only 300,000 people in the territory of the Liuyun Empire, was originally an infantry corps of the Royal Army of the Sharad Empire, and has recently been reorganized into three infantry divisions.

After the Sharad Empire withdrew from the Cangyu Empire, it was no longer possible to directly reach the Liuyun Empire on land, and could only use the sea route to transport various supplies for the three infantry divisions, although the Sharad Empire hoped to increase the strength in the Liuyun Empire, but considering the logistics problems, especially the supply of weapons and ammunition, the Sharad Empire did not increase troops to the Liuyun Empire.

Prime Minister Cao Ziliang then said in a somewhat excited tone: "Your Majesty, in addition to preparing to send 700,000 additional army troops from the sea in several batches, the Sharad Empire is also ready to give us 10 million breech single-shot rifles, 2 million new repeating rifles, 300,000 pistols, 30,000 light machine guns, 10,000 heavy machine guns, 10 billion rounds of ammunition, 50 million grenades, 2,000 mortars, 1,000 field artillery pieces with a caliber of 75 mm, 400 howitzers with a caliber of 105 mm and 2 million shells. to help us expand our army in the Flowing Cloud Empire. ”

When Emperor Li Hong heard this, he immediately stood up from his chair, "What? Prime Minister, are you telling the truth? Is the Sharad Empire really willing to give us so many armed ammunition for free? ”

"Your Majesty, it's true, the reason why the Sharad Empire gave us so many armed ammunition for the Flowing Cloud Empire for nothing is actually to let our Flowing Cloud Empire contain the Tang Empire and the Purple Moon Empire, but this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our Flowing Cloud Empire, if we can seize it, we can immediately become a military power."

Emperor Li Hong's face suddenly showed a hint of hesitation, "But even with so many weapons and ammunition, our Liuyun Empire doesn't have so much money to support such a large-scale expansion!" ”

"Your Majesty, the minister's words are not finished yet, in addition to giving this large number of weapons and ammunition free of charge, the Salad Empire will also give us a low-interest loan of 1.5 billion Shayuan from the Liuyun Empire, the interest rate is very low, almost equivalent to an interest-free loan, and listening to the tone of the ambassador of the Sharad Empire in Liuyun City, the amount of the loan can be increased a lot."

Emperor Li Hong heard the low-interest loan of 1.5 billion sand yuan, and the expression on his face became excited again, according to the exchange rate, 1.5 billion sand yuan is 3 billion silver dollars, which is enough to catch up with the financial revenue of the Liuyun Empire for seven or eight years.

"Good! Very good! Very good! With the loans and weapons and ammunition of the Sharad Empire, even if our Royal Army of the Liuyun Empire expands to fifteen million people, at that time, even if the Tang Empire and the Purple Moon Empire are combined, they may not dare to provoke our Liuyun Empire casually, and once our Royal Army of the Liuyun Empire has fifteen million people, we can even learn from those powerful countries in the world, take back the fiefdoms and armies of the hereditary nobles, and let the entire Liuyun Empire only have the voice of our royal family! ”

Prime Minister Cao Ziliang couldn't help frowning slightly when he heard Emperor Li Hong mention the resumption of the fiefs and armies of the hereditary nobles, but he did not raise an objection, but continued: "Your Majesty, the ambassador of the Salad Empire in Liuyun City also said that the Salad Royal Navy is willing to give the mothballed thirty ironclad battleships, ten old medium armored cruisers and sixty escort cruisers, as well as one hundred new torpedo boats, to our Liuyun Empire's Royal Navy free of charge. ”

The escort cruiser is a cruiser equipped with the navies of various countries a few decades ago, its main body is a wooden structure, and the armor of the escort cruiser is very small, and these armors are not installed on the side of the ship, but on the deck, because the defense of the escort cruiser is too weak, and the navies of various countries have eliminated this kind of warship.

Emperor Li Hong was not too excited when he heard that the Salad Royal Navy was willing to give away a large number of warships to the Royal Navy of the Liuyun Empire for free, "Even if the Royal Navy of Sharad gives us thirty super dreadnought battleships of the Royal Navy of the Liuyun Empire, our Royal Navy of the Liuyun Empire is far from being the opponent of the independent fleet under Su Yi, I heard that the independent fleet only has seventy-five super dreadnought battleships, forty battle cruisers, sixty-seven dreadnought battleships and sixty-seven former dreadnought battleships, That's a desperate set of stats. ”

"Your Majesty, then the Royal Navy of Sharad is ready to give us those warships of the Royal Navy of the Liuyun Empire for free, do we still want them?"

"Of course you have to, how can you refuse something free! What's more, the capital ships of our Royal Navy of the Liuyun Empire only have two former dreadnought battleships and six ironclad battleships, if there are thirty more ironclad battleships, the strength of our Liuyun Empire's Royal Navy will surge several times, but can the thirty ironclad battleships mothballed by the Salad Royal Navy still be used? ”

"Your Majesty, rest assured, the ambassador of the Sharad Empire stationed in Liuyun City said that the Royal Navy of Sharad not only regularly maintains the mothballed thirty ironclad battleships, but also replaces the thirty ironclad battleships with new main guns, and is currently uniformly equipped with four 305 mm main guns of 35 times the caliber, and the speed can basically be maintained at more than 15 knots, so the thirty ironclad battleships still have a certain combat effectiveness."

Emperor Li Hong nodded slightly and said: "The Salad Royal Navy is worthy of being the second largest navy in the world, and the thirty ironclad battleships it has mothballed are even stronger than the six ironclad battleships equipped by our Liuyun Empire's Royal Navy, and the six ironclad battleships of our Liuyun Empire's Royal Navy are all equipped with 30 times the caliber of 280 mm main guns, and none of them can reach 15 knots, by the way, the Sharad Empire has come up with so many benefits, it is impossible not to have requirements, right?" ”

"Your Majesty, the Sharad Empire has only one request, after the outbreak of war, our Royal Army and Royal Navy of the Liuyun Empire must accept the command of the Royal Army of Sharad and the Royal Navy of Sharad."

Emperor Li Hong breathed a sigh of relief and said: "Of course, there is no problem with this, once the war breaks out, our Liuyun Empire and the Sharad Empire will be grasshoppers on a rope." ”