Millions of people mobilized, hundreds of thousands of people shed blood, hundreds of millions of costs, with Zhou Lang's temperament, if he can't get a rich return, he will definitely not give up.

But he is not an imaginative gambler, but a pragmatic businessman who is bound to have blood-red eyes and hate to swallow all his opponents' chips alive.

Zhou Lang knew very well that it was impossible to destroy all the enemies at once, but he was also in a dilemma when it came to the question of who to focus on.

During the war, the cabinet had been established, and Huang Qiuwu, who had a relatively soft temperament, "took the initiative" to resign, and Lin Di, who had a relatively tough personality, came to power, and the six Shangshu were all members of the cabinet, and there were also chiefs of staff of the land division and the naval division, and Wu Bingjian, the superintendent of the public bank, a total of ten people.

During the war, cabinet members were not allowed to take vacations, they were not allowed to leave their offices, and eating, drinking, and lazar were all held in the yamen. The cabinet will work with the emperor, and emergencies can break the previous process and directly pass through the country with the emperor's order. Including the introduction of laws, the issuance of military orders, etc.

Zhou Lang asked the cabinet to discuss the purpose of the war, the minimum goal, and the maximum goal.

Winning a war is the foundation, and what is discussed is not winning or losing, but the goal of victory, the goal to be fought for at all costs, and the result to be won no matter what the price is paid.

The objectives were basically concentrated in two directions, one believing that it should be mainly aimed at Russia, and the other that it should be mainly aimed at Britain.

In response to the opinions of the British, mainly the naval division, the household department and the public bank, they believed that Britain was the greatest threat, and for the naval division, the British navy would be the only opponent they faced, and to attack Britain was to support naval warfare; Because British goods have long been the biggest competitors of Chinese goods, British competition has affected the income of the household department, and they have long regarded Britain as a thorn in their side, and the same is true for public banks, and the British financial community is the only enemy of China's banking industry; The reasons they gave were also very good, Britain has been targeting China and constantly instigating and supporting hostile acts against China. If Britain is not removed, China will never be at peace.

In response to Russia's opinions, mainly Lu Shi, Russia and China's economy are closely linked, more complementary than competitive, Russian land is not suitable for the development of cotton textile industry, so they mainly import textiles, Chinese and British goods monopolize the Russian market, Russian furs, minerals are an important source of raw materials for Chinese industry. But for the land division, the Russian army will be their biggest enemy, and if they don't insist on hitting Russia, who else can they hit? The reason given by Lu Shi is that although every war against China is instigated by the British, Russia is undoubtedly the sharpest knife in the hands of the British, and the British whip is beyond the reach, but Russia is close at hand, so it is the most reasonable step to cut off the Russian knife first, and then consider the British conspiracy to carry the knife.

Zhou Lang asked both sides separately, how about concentrating the main forces on fighting Britain, and what about concentrating on fighting Russia?

The sailors said that if they give priority to attacking Britain, they should concentrate their fleets and compete with the British army for sea supremacy from the direction of the Mediterranean, drive Britain out of the Mediterranean, advance to London step by step, and finally land directly on Britain to completely destroy this clown-like island country.

Lu Shi said that if he gave priority to attacking Russia, he would use the main resources in the Russian direction and make every effort to destroy the Russian army and capture Russian territory.

Zhou Lang asked again, after defeating the two countries, how to deal with the two countries?

The sailor replied that after occupying LinkedIn, he should support a government friendly to China, or a republican government, or choose a royal family from Europe to rule Britain, and station sailors in Britain, so that Britain will never have the ability to challenge China.

Lu Shi replied that after occupying Russia, he should also overthrow the tsarist rule, choose a deferential royal family for Russia, and make Russia a vassal state of China.

China's foreign sailors learned the British naval organization model and strategy and tactics, and their thinking was more Westernized, so they understood that Europe did not have a tradition of destroying its own country and its people, and supporting puppets was the most conventional approach; Lu Shi learned from France, but he also had distinct Chinese habits, and although they also felt that it was unrealistic to annex Russia, it was reasonable to make Russia a vassal state of China.

Zhou Lang believes that both plans are unrealistic, and neither side proposes to directly annex the two countries, which shows that they are still rational. Whether it is Britain or Russia, there is a chance to defeat them, and there is a chance to occupy them, but it is almost impossible to rule them for a long time. Britain was already a nation-state in the modern sense of the word, a state that was difficult to conquer and, after conquest, difficult to assimilate. Although Russia was a serfdom country, the educated elite had a strong sense of nationality, and with a population of nearly 40 million, the resources required to assimilate them were far less expensive than colonizing culturally backward regions, such as Africa.

For China, the greatest purpose of destroying the country is actually to occupy land, Russia has a lot of land, but there are also many people in Russia, and it is difficult to get Russian land unless a policy of ethnic cleansing is adopted; Not to mention the British, the island nation does not even have land, and the purpose of striking Britain is purely military.

For these two countries, who to strike first and who to hit secondarily, in the case of absolutely sufficient resources, in fact, there is no need to distinguish, because a maritime country and a continental country, the ways and means of attacking them are different, one is the strongest navy in Europe, the other is the strongest army in Europe, and both land and naval divisions hope to supply themselves to a limited extent.

"Liu Shangshu, can our material workers ensure an all-out attack on both land and water?"

Zhou Lang asked Liu Qianyuan, the secretary of the Ministry of Industry.

The Ministry of Industry was the first department to be reformed, and its power was greatly increased, but it was more professional, and it did not have to open up its own financial resources as in the past, and now it is the Ministry of Households that agrees to allocate funds. Their power is mainly embodied in the compilation and promotion of various industry norms, and the training and assessment of various professional engineering talents. As well as the overall management of the country's industrial and mining industries, and the control of the country's industrial production data.

Liu Qianyuan said: "Manpower and material resources are abundant, as long as there is money." ”

Zhou Lang glared at him, Liu Qianyuan's professional ability is undoubted, his family was born as an orphan, he graduated from early school, the first batch of international students sent to Europe to study, studied mining in the United Kingdom, and worked in the Geology Department of the Royal Academy of Sciences for a long time after returning to China.

Zhou Lang said in an accentuated tone: "Liu Shangshu, you answer my question directly, the matter of money is not something you should consider." You tell me how many guns, how many guns, how many ships you can build in a year. How many years can it last? ”

Liu Qianyuan broke out in a cold sweat, he really didn't prepare for these data, there are too many things to manage in the Ministry of Industry, usually these data problems, he directly asked his subordinate clerks, and when others asked him, he really couldn't say a number for a while.

Seeing Liu Qianyuan's embarrassment, Zhou Lang knew that he was not prepared.

Turn to someone else right away.

"Staff Officer Zhao, you should always know how many warships the Navy Master has, right?"

The chief of staff of the naval division immediately said: "The foreign naval division has a total of 1,360 warships, 300 battleships, more than 1,000 transport ships, medical ships, etc., and the inner marine division——"

Zhou Lang waved his hand to stop it, and there was no need for the river fleet to listen, and instead asked Lu Shi.

"Staff Officer Song, the weapons and ammunition required by the horse infantry, the horses and vehicles, you should always know about these, right?"

Song Wang, chief of staff of the army division, immediately stood up and held his head high: "The horse infantry has sufficient weapons and ammunition, and the reserve can be used for half a year!" ”

Zhou Lang snorted coldly, it is estimated that this chief of staff is unlikely to know how many reserves there are in the warehouse, so he can only deal with these empty words.

It's been three months since the war began, and the army is still like that, not to mention the rest of the divisions.

Zhou Lang couldn't control his emotions a little, slapped the table suddenly, stood up hatefully, and pointed directly at the high-powered officials.

"O you! Knowing oneself and knowing that the other is invincible, how good this is said, just knowing it all day long. It's all going to war, and one by one they don't even know how many catties they have, and they don't know what to talk about! Adjourn today, and discuss again tomorrow! ”

After speaking, Zhou Lang flicked his sleeves and left the war room.

During the war, the cabinet was in the palace, vacating the front hall for the cabinet, Zhou Lang returned to the harem, and his wife Chen Sanmei saw that his face was gloomy, and she blamed herself a lot while serving tea and dinner.

"It's all the troubles caused by the succession. I didn't change it at the beginning, let him go to the Americas, and put it by our side to educate it. It's all your fault, you can't raise your godfather! ”

Because of sending Zhou Jitong to the Americas for training, in this matter, Queen Chen Sanmei complained a lot about Zhou Lang, she just had this one son, and her two daughters had already married, and now that she is old, she misses her children very much. The two daughters also married far away, one married to Annan and the other married to Korea, and they both became queens, but Chen Sanmei didn't like the queens of the two vassal countries.

"No more!"

Zhou Lang pushed the rice bowl, turned around and left, the old husband and wife often quarreled, and they were used to it. What is rare is that after the queen and the emperor quarrel, they can still fight at the head of the bed and at the end of the bed, this used to be the place where Zhou Lang envied Zhu Yuanzhang and Queen Ma, it really came true, sometimes I feel that it is not so good.

On the contrary, I want to go to those young concubines who will only follow themselves and please themselves.

Zhou Lang's two daughters married to the two countries as queens, most of the other daughters married with their own magnates, and some princes from other countries wanted to marry a Chinese princess, but in a cultural background that despised Yiren, the princesses themselves cried when they heard that they were going to marry far away in the Western Regions, foreigners are not uncommon in China's major ports, but their appearance is still difficult to accept, Cantonese people call them Fan ghosts, this nickname has spread all over the country.

Therefore, Zhou Lang rejected all Western marriages, and once considered the marriage between South Africa and the Manchu Qing Dynasty, but later dismissed the idea.

"Your Majesty, atonement, the slave is not prepared."

Kim Min-shu, the imperial concubine of the Joseon Kingdom, hurriedly pleaded guilty after Zhou Lang personally arrived.