The rainy season in Southeast Asia is not suitable for any large-scale military operations on land, and mud and disease can make that a nightmare. The expansion of the Golden City needs to wait until the rainy season passes and the dry season comes. That was about November, and there was still half a year to prepare.

Shou Xiang first asked Holren, "After half a year, how many people can the army dispatch?" ”

Hallren silently estimated, "A semi-field battalion, 1,000 people." ”

Order: "Have you read the memorandum written by the commander of the Taipei garrison, Filhoff, about the establishment of infantry?" ”

"Looked."

"Do you think the proposal to increase the number of light infantry companies in the field battalion is feasible? A light arquebus, a balem knife. In the jungle, the Balem knife is also a good tool. ”

"We take Philhoff's suggestion very seriously, and he is right, we need more chasseur companies to fight in the jungles and mountains of Southeast Asia. However, our current battalion strength consists of six companies, and if two more companies are added to each battalion, according to the previous plan to further strengthen the infantry company, this field battalion will probably exceed 800 men."

Order: "I also have a suggestion, can we add 3 light infantry companies and equip them with a few light guns, such as light mortars." ”

"The infantry battalion will reach 1,000 men, and it will be difficult for the battalion commander to control such a large unit." Hall Rennes paused slightly, "Then it will be necessary to increase the command level of half a battalion under the battalion. ”

Shou Ling tapped on the table, "Then simply expand the existing battalion into a regiment, don't call it a half-battalion, the grenadier company, the artillery and the service detachment are directly under the regimental headquarters, each regiment has 2 battalions, each battalion has 4 companies, 1 spear company, 2 chasseur companies, and 1 battle infantry company." ”

Holren estimated that the battalion continued to use the block system, with two regiments under the brigade and two battalions under the regiment, and if you add the cavalry guns, the size of the brigade is just over 3,000. However, it can be done, and the suggestion of keeping order will not matter what the combat effectiveness is, it needs to be tested by actual combat, and at least he has added another post to the army, which is conducive to the growth of young officers.

Thinking of this, Holrenne was overjoyed, and the promotion was the favorite of the brothers, and he nodded: "Let's go back and study, increasing the number of personnel may bring some problems in terms of logistics, but it should not have much impact." ”

Shou Xu said: "You have to do the specific work, and after half a year, I hope that the army can be dispatched with the establishment of a brigade." ”

Holren glanced at the Minister of Finance, "We need funds, and we can't guarantee full staffing." ”

Shou Order: "I'll talk about the money later, you make a new plan according to this plan, and report the plan to me." ”

After talking about the Army, and then the Navy, Shou Order, asked Sterling, "What is the situation with the Navy?" ”

Sterling sighed: "The navy has not changed much compared to the situation before you set out on the expedition, we have four long-class ships, the Lima and the South China Sea that you brought back, a total of six cruisers. 2 brigs USS Excellence and USS Adventure, 6 sloops. ”

"Only 2 notification ships were added last year?"

"Yes."

Marmont opened his mouth and added: "I'll explain the matter of the navy. Our current requirement for the Navy is to ensure sea supremacy off the coast of Jincheng and the right of free passage in the Gulf of Siam, and the existing strength of the Navy is sufficient. Last year, the shipyard's production capacity was mainly used to make ships. ”

The merchant ships that Jincheng now builds in-house are the improved junk ships. The rudder was changed to the European type, the mast was changed to the spliced type, and the side support cables, upper sails and first mast were added.

Lin Tongwen also said, "In fact, two brigs were built last year, but the current domestic whale oil inventory is very small, and these two ships are equipped as whaling ships." ”

Shou Orderly asked, "What boats are on the slipway at the moment?" ”

Lin Tongwen said: "2 brigs and 2 sloops. ”

For Kaneshiro, the current need for transport ships is indeed more urgent, and he can only say to Sterling apologetically, "The navy can only endure it a little longer." The Taiwan side also needs to be strengthened, the notification ship on the slipway will be transferred to Taiwan, and the brig schooner I want to change into a transport ship to run the Jintai route. ”

Lin Tongwen was surprised, "Use a schooner to run transportation? ”

Shou Xuan nodded and said: "The second half of the Jintai route is relatively close to the Philippines, although it is difficult for the Spanish fleet to expedition to the Gulf of Siam, we cannot ignore their threat near Taiwan. It is also difficult for us to organize a large naval convoy to communicate with Taiwan, and if we encounter an enemy who is difficult to deal with, we can at least run head-on into headwinds. ”

In fact, not only the Spaniards, but also Zheng Zhilong, other pirates off the coast of China would be a threat to merchant ships. Although the tonnage of the schooner is small, in the initial stage of operation, there will only be some relatively small amount of material exchanges, and at present, it is mainly sulfur. In addition to munitions, it is more important to establish stable communication links.

Seeing that the bigwigs were all in agreement, Sterling could only reluctantly say, "If you take away the brig frigates and the notification ships built this year, then there will only be 6 cruisers and 6 notification ships left in the fleet." I can guarantee basic tasks, but you have to take into account that the extreme use of battleships will accelerate their damage. Now I can overcome the difficulties, but in a few years you will have to face the early retirement of the battleship. Don't blame me for not reminding you. ”

Marmont coughed and said to Shouxu, "It's not like we haven't noticed this problem with Stringy. In addition to the capacity and technology of the shipyard itself, the bottleneck we face is artillery. Now the artillery workshop has only solved the production of 4-pounder guns, the cost of 6-pounder guns is barely acceptable, the high scrap rate of 9-pounder guns has no value for mass production, and we cannot even produce qualified products for guns over 12 pounder. ”

Cannon production is also one of the core problems faced by Jincheng. There are currently three major heavy artillery manufacturers in Southeast Asia. The Portuguese artillery factories in Macao provided excellent arms supplements for the Ming Dynasty and the Zheng Dynasty. In addition, there is Batavia for the Dutch and Manila for the Spaniards.

As the number of pounds increases, the caliber increases, the double diameter increases, and the difficulty of manufacturing increases geometrically.

A 4-pounder cannon is not difficult to produce, and a 24-pounder cannon is a national weapon. Even the Portuguese have a staggeringly high scrap rate in the production of cannons over 12 pounds. Without heavy artillery, it would not be possible to replace cruisers, and the 4-pounder and 6-pounder guns would be about the same for notification ships and frigates.

Orderly sighed, there is no way to do this thing about the technology tree. The principle of artillery is very simple, the gap is reflected in materials, processes and equipment, and these basic work is even more urgent, and can only slowly climb up. A 4-pounder gun is a 4-pounder gun, and now at least the artillery of the army and light warships can be solved.

After understanding the basic situation, Shou Xu asked Sterling, "In half a year, how many warships can the Navy come up with?" ”

"Don't send big tasks to the navy in the past six months, I'll take good care of the ship. At that time, I will leave 2 cruisers and 2 briefing ships, and I will be able to dispatch the rest of the ships. ”

Shou Order's light nod, 8 boats, he added, "Lynn, I remember we still have a few galleys. ”

"Those ships that were seized 2 years ago? 4 medium gales, 9 light shebeks. "Sterling knows a lot about boats.

Most of the galleys captured in the Battle of Jincheng were replaced by offshore transport ships that ran in the Gulf of Siam, because of the canvas, the cost of these dhow ships was higher than that of junks, and it was not cost-effective to go to the sea. The remaining 11 battleships with oars were not refitted, and they were all towed to the Jincheng River and mothballed.

"What about our galleys?"

"I'll have to check it out later, but I don't think it's going to be too good."

Order: "I remember we have a surplus in the dockyard?" ”

When the naval base was first built, 6 docks were dug, 2 of which were stoned, and the remaining 4 were mud docks.

"If you count the mud docks that are barely functional, yes."

Shou Xuan said: "Drag all the galleys in for repair, and the planks should be replaced." We'll use it later. ”

"Okay, but that would require an extra supply of teak." Sterling looked at Lin Tongwen.

Lin Tongwen promised, "I'll go to Siam to buy it." ”

After solving the navy, Shou Xuan asked Lin Tongwen at this time, "Then, Minister Lin, how many transport ships can you provide us." ”

The number of the army and navy was relatively small, and the two chief officers were able to quickly calculate the approximate strength. The merchant fleet is not good, there are so many trade routes, Lin Tongwen can't answer this question for a while. He could only say in general terms, "I can't give the number now, but if I use it to the extreme, I can probably get 100 ships." ”

Shou Xiang shook his head, considering that the voyage was not far, an average of 300 people per junk ship, and 100 ships could only transport 30,000 at a time.

"Can you muster some more ships? We need 200 ships. ”

The requirements for keeping the order were doubled, and Lin Tongwen said: "Then we can only increase purchases in Siam and Quang Nam, and the Ming side will also have to buy ships." ”

"We don't have to ship it ourselves, I can hire merchant ships from other countries." Orderly.

Shou Zhi's fingers subconsciously tapped on the table, "You still follow the normal plan to go north to accept Chinese immigrants during the south wind season, our attack on Chenla will start in the dry season, considering that the war may last a few months, your fleet should have returned by then, and we will use the fleet to complete the transfer of this loot during the north wind season." ”

Lin Tongwen nodded lightly, Jincheng is not far from the mouth of Zhenla, and the sea conditions in the Gulf of Siam are also relatively good.

Both the army, navy, and merchant fleet received their respective tasks, and all that remained was money. No matter how good the plan is, it won't work without money.

Everyone looked at Dryp.

He could only let out a wry smile, "You all know, the Ministry of Finance must be out of money, and the loot from last year in Sukkadana has been included in this year's budget, and it is also very tense and cannot be misappropriated. The war in the second half of the year was still the old way, and I could only borrow money from the Nanyang Bank. ”

Shou Xun asked, "How much money does Nanyang Bank have now?" ”

Drap put on his glasses and opened his pamphlet, "In accordance with the regulations you have set, we have kept 300,000 pesos as a reserve for payment. We now have a loan asset of 1 million pesos; Liabilities such as deposits and bonds amounted to 1.3 million pesos. ”

In the asset structure of Nanyang Bank, most of the loans are invested in infrastructure projects, and the term of the loans is relatively long, while the deposit part of the liabilities has a relatively short maturity. The maturity mismatch in the balance sheet is obvious. Of course, the exchange of term value is one of the main business models of banks, but there is currently no risk-averse financial system in Jincheng and Asia, and there will be no relenders in the event of a run. He was very cautious about this issue, and the 300,000 yuan in cash was prepared for this.

"That is, only 300,000 pesos in cash?"

Drape: "Yes. ”

"It's not enough, we have to raise 40 to 500,000 pesos for this operation." ”

The reserves can only be moved by a maximum of 100,000 pesos, and the rest cannot be moved, otherwise positions that cannot cope with daily payments will cause big trouble.

Drip spread his hands outstretched, showing that he couldn't do anything.

After thinking about it in order, he made up his mind and said to Marmont: "Mr. Minister, I would like to propose to the Senate that the post of Prime Minister be established in the Cabinet. If you become the prime minister, the daily administrative work will be handed over to you in the future. ”

There are a lot of administrative matters, and in the past, there would be a lot of work that needed to be signed in order to be carried out. Although the order is basically indifferent, it is a signed wreath, but this amount is quite large. Now the order is going to officially hand over the administrative work.

Marmont remained silent, just nodded slightly. "A week later, a general meeting of the bank's shareholders was held, and I recommended myself as a part-time bank. ”

Dripple is very happy, the position of chairman of Nanyang Bank is angry at both ends, and he has long wanted to do it.

After finalizing the most important matters, Shou Xian discussed with Defense Secretary Cockering about the military cemetery and the official recounting of some of the officers promoted by Shou Xiang during last year's expedition.

Quanxu did not encounter any resistance, and the officers and men were fighting on the front line, and no one would use this as a bargaining chip.

As for the military cemetery, the Ministry of Defense will arrange for the site to be selected after returning to China in an orderly manner.

Cochlin said: "The address has been chosen, and according to your requirements, I have invited a few Chinese feng shui masters to see it." The cemetery is located 30 kilometers southwest of the capital, where there is a small hill, and we have expropriated all the land. This is also thanks to the cooperation of the capital's city hall. ”

Shou Xun nodded to Gucci, the land acquisition is mainly done by the capital city hall, and the construction of the cemetery in the future will also have to be cooperated by the two families.

"Now that the site selection has been completed, tomorrow morning, the Ministry of Defense will arrange a state funeral ceremony to transport the ashes of the fallen soldiers to the cemetery."

Cochlin was a little surprised, "Tomorrow, will it be too urgent?" ”

Shou Xuan frowned, "It's been ten days since I returned to China, and I can't wait any longer, it's tomorrow." ”

Marmont stopped talking, and neither did the rest of the cabinet.

"But we weren't ready."

"Are you going to rehearse when this is acting? There is no need to do any tricks, just rely on the existing conditions. Orderly extinguished his pipe and said to Holrayne, "I remember that Lindenberg designed and built two artillery front cars?" ”

"Yes, because of the lack of proper road use, those two gun carriages are now piled up in storage. ”

"Tow those two gun wagons out in the afternoon and send them for overhaul for tomorrow's funeral."

Because of Maiden's relationship, the Order and the Army are in a honeymoon period.

Hall Lane said: "We will definitely cooperate fully. ”

"Then it's decided, the Ministry of Defense, the government of the capital and the army are preparing for this together."

The military cemetery is the last topic of the day, the base camp meeting was held in the morning, and the meeting was announced to be dismissed in the afternoon when there were still arrangements. At noon, I invited the chiefs to have a light meal at the official residence, and everyone went their separate ways.

Orderly leaned back on the couch in his office, lost in thought. When he came back this time, he could clearly feel that the political environment in Jincheng had become different from before, and various urban construction projects were just appearances.

Perhaps it was power that could quickly change a person, and the officials of Jincheng became more like the politicians he knew well, while the senators inadvertently became more and more like the aristocrats of Europe. They are still only imitating, and as imitation is strengthened in psychological cues, it will gradually become a guideline for their behavior.

Politics is the art of compromise, and the observance of the executive power is exchanged for Marmont's approval of his seizure of power at the Nanyang Bank. Lighting his pipe in order, he felt that the bureaucratic game would become more and more interesting if it continued.

"Titch," Shou ordered called his captain of the guard, "tell me all the materials you've gathered about what some of the Cabinet and the Senate have done lately. ”r