At the cabinet meeting on the second day, the homework of each Shangshu was completed.

Shangshu of the Ministry of Industry reported that the government-run arsenal was operating at full capacity, producing 300,000 rifles and 2,000 cannons per month. If necessary, there are also private workshops where weapons and ammunition can be produced. There are 100 large warships stored on the slipway, which can be launched within a month and used for combat within two months if necessary. In a short period of time, the number of China's capital ships will reach 300, which is three times that of the United Kingdom. Moreover, the reserve of dry wood can also produce 200 battleships of various types in a year, which is enough to build another fleet.

The Marines believed that such productivity was enough to ensure that 5 million troops could fight all year round, and the Marines thought that they could launch an all-out attack on the British Navy.

On the financial issue, the household department did not say much, because in peacetime the budget and the household department had the final say, and in wartime it was impossible to rely on balanced finances to fight, and financing had to be carried out.

As a result of the balanced fiscal balance over the years, the country's credit is very strong and there is huge room for financing. In recent years, the public bank has issued a strong currency by absorbing gold from the Americas and Africa, and there has not been a single run. They believe that the market has sufficient capacity to absorb government bonds, and investors' confidence in the country is very great.

Another kind of blindness!

Zhou Lang understands in his heart that China's national strength is indeed strong, but it is not strong enough to challenge the world, China's industrial strength is the level of three Britain, but the population is more than ten times that of Britain, which means that the level of industrial development is actually only one-third of Britain.

The strength that the combination of Britain and Russia can exert is by no means something that can be underestimated.

But this blindness may be a good borrowing.

So Zhou Lang immediately made a decision, taking advantage of the market's confidence in the country's victory, to strive to issue more bonds, with the lowest cost, to absorb the most funds.

He immediately appointed Wu Bingjian to preside over the issuance of 400 million taels of gold bonds, a figure that surprised everyone, because this is equivalent to China's fiscal revenue for ten years, does it take so much money to fight a war? With so many bonds, can you sell them?

Wu Bingjian is also worried that such a large number of bond issuance will cause huge fluctuations in the market. A large amount of money is absorbed by bonds, and there will even be a result of tightening, and he asked if it can be issued gradually in multiple tranches so that the market can slowly digest it.

Zhou Lang thought about it and agreed, and the first issue issued 100 million gold taels, which is equivalent to 2 billion guan money and 2 billion taels of silver, which is enough to cope with a year. During the Napoleonic Wars, Britain spent as much as 60 million pounds per year, equivalent to more than 200 million taels of silver, but the British army has always been less than 500,000 people. At present, China's army is 9 million people, and the navy is twice that of Britain, and it can be sustained for a year with an expenditure of 2 billion taels of silver, which is already due to lower prices.

Just as Wu Bingjian expected, the Chinese people are full of confidence in victory, since the Great Zhou Dynasty, has not lost a war, every war has been gained, plus the government is very cautious about the issuance of treasury bonds, the market circulation of treasury bonds is very small, is considered to be the most value-preserving investment, so the market is very recognized for the war treasury bonds, the auction interest rate is less than 3%, the average is only 2.5%, the same period of the British treasury bonds are about 3.5%.

As soon as the financing was successful, who knew that bad news would follow, and the front line was defeated.

How can it be defeated?

There was an incredible voice in society. No one believed that the Chinese army had been defeated and retreated, and it had been too smooth all these years. Even the last global war with the British had little impact on the country, and the vast majority of people did what they had to do, and then they won, making them think that victory was so easy. It seems that war is a big drama in a distant place, and they just have to enjoy the glory of victory. War will always be a matter for African companies, European companies, and other companies, and it is a game that can be won with the help of some vassal states.

However, the information from the front line this time showed that the Chinese army was losing ground in the Kazakh area, the newspaper industry was rapidly expanding, and a large number of small and medium-sized newspapers were able to hire reporters to go to the front line to cover the news under the huge sales, and they kept sending back tragic reports of defeat and retreat one after another, the peasants abandoned their fields, the herdsmen abandoned their cattle, sheep and livestock, and the fleeing army followed the railway, like a group of beggars, lacking medical care and clothing.

People who refused to believe that their national army would be defeated began to find all kinds of reasons to excuse themselves, and the newspapers added fuel to this mentality, pandering to this mentality, and putting all the blame on the Russians, some explaining that the defeat was due to the shameless sneak attack of the Russians, and some explaining that the Russians would not be able to defeat by fighting more and winning less.

In short, the defeat was due to other people's reasons, not because they couldn't do it themselves, just like in history, even textbooks blamed the defeat of the Manchu Qing Dynasty on the more advanced weapons technology of the West, and refused to think from the backward political and cultural aspects of the whole country.

How can you not be defeated?

Zhou Lang looked at the defeat relatively objectively, the defeat was temporarily confined to the front line, the Russians from the Volga River, the Don River downstream, this area was not under the control of China, the Russian army movement, not only has the advantage of troops, but also the local battle, it is just to expel a group of Chinese to protect the railway along the forward, it is not difficult.

The real battle between the two sides actually took place on both sides of the Ural River, and the boundary between Russia and China was on the Ural River, the dividing line between Asia and Europe, so this battle was a real battle, and it was not a real battle before. In this battle, China lost, and this is the real loss.

Fighting, there are victories and defeats, and it is not surprising that there is any result. Zhou Lang was not as shocked as the people, but thought that this was a very reasonable result. Because the Russian army has an absolute advantage, the strength of the Chinese army here is not comparable to that of the Russian army, and most of the main forces transferred from the interior are not in place, and the main troops deployed here are the border troops of the Kazakh locality, as well as the vanguard troops who retreated from Russia, and the light cavalry that entered the territory of Russia under the guise of encircling railway assets.

The role of this light cavalry is actually mainly to force Russia to take the lead in declaring war and to shift the responsibility for the war to the Russians. And the border guards, that is, the auxiliary troops of the Kazakh province, have limited strength and not strong firepower. It's normal to fail.

On the part of the army, which is more rational than the people, they did not focus on the defense of the Ural River, because the river is too gentle and not conducive to defense, and behind it is the low Turkige Plateau, which is a table-shaped plateau and flat-topped remnant hills, and does not have too strong defensive advantages. But shrinking back a little and entering the Kazakh hills, with the topography of Lake Balkhash in the back, is much more advantageous.

Behind is Lake Balkhash, connected to the Ili River Valley, north is the Russian Siberian Plain, on the right there is a series of fortresses on the Irtysh River, to the south of the Ili River, you can retreat to the Tianshan Mountains, the terrain here is easier to build a three-dimensional defense line. Therefore, the army chose to fortify here, and after encountering a sudden attack by Russia, it was a very wise choice to immediately abandon the loose defensive line on the periphery and shrink to the Kazakh hills when the troops were not in place.

But the army is relatively rational, aren't they proud?

The Chinese army is also extremely proud, even arrogant, at present, the middle and high levels of the army are mainly the generals sent to study in the West during the Napoleonic Wars, 3,000 people were sent that year, and 2,000 people came back, these people were supported by Zhou Lang in these years, and most of the important positions in the army were held, and Zhou Lang comprehensively reformed the army through them.

When these French troops fought with Napoleon, they had been enjoying victory, had been accepting the experience of victory, but seriously lacked the experience of defeat, and after returning home, their country provided them with material strength far better than Napoleon's empire, and they did not encounter opponents, and the first time they went into battle was to defeat the Russian army that Napoleon had not defeated; The next big war was the Crimean War more than a decade ago, but in that war, China entered the war after Britain had been fighting for several years, and it only took a year to end the war. Victory comes too skillfully, and it is easy to be overlooked.

The establishment of the Kazakh defense line was not presided over by this group of people, but was set up before the older generation did not retire, and the terrain here is indeed suitable as the first line of defense in the war with Russia.

They also shrank their forces according to the design of their predecessors, waiting for reinforcements and supplies. But when reinforcements arrived, they were impatient to launch a counterattack.

With 100,000 soldiers, 30,000 Shaanxi and Gansu auxiliaries, 10,000 Kazakh auxiliaries and 60,000 Kazakh mobilized township soldiers, a total of 200,000 troops, they decided to launch a counterattack and start a general battle with the Russian army in the semi-desert steppe area south of the Tulgai Plateau.

This defeat was a complete defeat, which completely woke up the army and shocked the people. The Chinese people, who were still doubting the defeat in the first war, were superstitious about themselves at the beginning, and now how frightened they are of the Russian army, and the psychological shadow brought to the people of the Central Plains by foreign tribes in history has gradually begun to recover.

All are waiting for the outcome of the next battle.

They began to wonder if they could really win easily. Superstitions are easy to build and easy to collapse. How superstitious they were about the invincibility of the country before, how much they are shocked by the strength of the enemy now.

Zhou Lang couldn't hear these voices from the people, but the market soon gave feedback, and the strong national bonds began to fall, not a sharp fall, but it has already shown that the belief in the invincibility of the country has begun to waver in some races.

This is just the beginning, Zhou Lang breathed a sigh of relief, he didn't want to see failure, but this big failure in the early stage is not necessarily a bad thing, it is easier to recover than the defeat in the middle and late stages.

The defeat in the battle of the Kazakh hills even made the attitude of the previously lax officials begin to reverse, and they began to nervous, no longer despise their opponents, but overkill, some too timid.

At this time, the officials found that the emperor, who had behaved cautiously before, seemed to be a little aggressive!