When Luo Jian and the others went downstairs, the people downstairs were still debating fiercely.

The addition of Liu Lan changed the situation on the field, and Shi Kefa's face looked much better.

"This is determined by the current industrial and commercial situation in Yangzhou, if we do not open the Japanese market as soon as possible, our factory products will be a large backlog, last year the factory shutdown, workers were fired will happen again, this is also the reason why the Metropolitan Government is eager to solve the Japanese problem."

Luo Jian stood on the stairs and listened to Liu Lan's words, Liu Lan's words caused everyone to think, Gao Hongtu also sat down and communicated with Lu Daqi next to him, Liu Lan's words obviously he listened.

"On this expedition to Japan, we will bear the compensation of the casualties, and the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion will not need to ask." Shen Tong, president of the Yangzhou Chamber of Commerce, saw Luo Jian and the others arrive at the staircase, and quickly stood up and said.

"Good! However, if your chamber of commerce wants to organize merchant ships to go to sea in the future, there must be a fleet to escort them, and you are lucky to have no pirates in these two times, if you encounter pirates, it will be troublesome for your merchant ships to get their goods back. Luo Jian said as he walked down the stairs.

"Mr. Tsuyama, I have already asked clearly, although there are many casualties in Nagasaki and Fukuoka, the main responsibility does not lie with Wang Qiang, in Nagasaki they wanted to negotiate, but they were attacked by a surprise attack, and then Nagasaki Castle was burned because of the battle, and the matter of Fukuoka was done by the Japanese themselves, and it has nothing to do with us." Luo Jian saw that Liu Zongzhou still wanted to speak, so he preemptively said.

"Ladies and gentlemen, everyone knows the current situation in Yangzhou very well, it is not that Luo Jian and the Dadu Governor's Mansion have to be reckless, but the situation is forced, now the fleet has reached the basic goal of traveling to Japan, and in the future our goal and focus will be the Manchu Qing, there is no doubt about this, please rest assured, tonight the Dadu Governor will hold a banquet for Wang Qiang who has returned from the voyage, please participate!"

Luo Jian didn't wait for everyone to continue the discussion, and set the tone for the whole debate, and then everyone stopped discussing the matter of sending troops to Japan.

Liu Zongzhou wanted to get up and leave, but was pulled by Gao Hongtu next to him, so he continued to sit down patiently.

Because there were too many people, in the end, four or five tables of banquets were held in the Governor's Mansion, which was enough to sit, and most of the people ate very happily, only Liu Zongzhou and a few people stayed, but the whole dinner was like chewing wax, and there was no taste at all.

After the dinner, most of them said goodbye and left, only Shi Kefa and Ren Minyu stayed, and even Wang Qiang went to find Xing'er.

"Xinghua, I'm really relieved until today, I'll tell you the truth, I haven't slept well in the past few days since you came to the army." Shi Kefa sat on the sofa, holding a glass to warm his hands.

"Yes, I've been worried all the way, and now that the problem is finally solved, I can celebrate the New Year with peace of mind." Luo Jian also sighed and said.

"Xinghua, you don't celebrate the New Year with peace of mind, you get married with peace of mind, right?" Ren Minyu said with a smile.

Several people laughed for a while, and the topic turned to Yangzhou's plans for next year.

"Xinghua, I heard Lu Wei say that this time we got a lot of saltpeter back, and now our gunpowder factory is busy." Shi Kefa said first.

"There are some saltpeter, mainly saltpeter mines, and it takes a lot of work to process." Luo Jian said.

"Xinghua, what are your plans for next year?" Shi Kefa then asked.

"Brother Xian, Brother Shi Ze, this year's Chinese New Year, the gunpowder factory, the gunpowder factory and the artillery factory will not be a holiday, right? How about this annual pay and overtime pay, please ask Brother Shi Ze personally? You can't let the workers' families have a bad year. Luo Jian glanced at the two of them and said slowly.

Hearing Luo Jian's answer, both of them were stunned for a moment, and Shi Kefa immediately reacted.

"Next year?" Shi Kefa asked very briefly.

"Yes, next year!" Luo Jian also replied dryly.

"What do you two say? Are you saying that you are going to launch an attack on the Manchus next year? The words of the two made Ren Minyu a little stupid, and it took a long time to react.

"This time I went to the army to see, and found that the progress of the Manchu army was also very great, and time is running out! Although the Manchu Qing Dynasty is much backward in technology, it occupies huge resources and gathers most of China's strength, we can't underestimate it, once its development is on the right track, it will be difficult for us to do it again. ”

Luo Jian said the reason, and Shi Kefa and Ren Minyu both nodded frequently.

"Where's the main direction of attack?" Shi Kefa asked.

"I've already thought about it on the way back, I'm going to do this, let's take the Duoduo of Guide first, concentrate the strength of the three divisions to attack the front line of Guide, this time we must leave all the Duoduo army, and then march to Shandong, the general idea is this, what do you think?"

"What about our back road?" Ren Minyu asked suspiciously.

"Where's the back road?" Luo Jian asked.

"I mean, if the Qing army marches from Hunan to Jiangxi, and the front of the army is directed at Nanjing, what will we do?" Ren Minyu explained that at this time, everyone knew that once the Yangzhou army started, a peace treaty between the Manchu court and the Nanjing court would no longer have any effect.

"It won't be that fast, will it? The number of troops in the Southern Ming Dynasty is much more than that of our Yangzhou army, and the offense is not good, and the defense can always be defended for a while, right? Luo Jian thought for a while, and then said.

"No, Xinghua, you have to take into account what Shi Ze said, according to the recent news, Hong Chengchou, the governor of the two lakes of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, has concentrated the main forces in Hunan, and more than 50,000 soldiers and horses under the command of Gushan Ezhen Jinli and Meile Zhang Jingtuntai (that is, Tong Dai and Tong Yanghe) have gone south, and these two men and horses are all Manchu elites, and it is still unknown how long He Tengjiao and He Governor can hold out in Hunan!"

Shi Kefa told what he had learned recently, and he was a little worried.

"Haven't we already deployed this? Huang Dequan's fifth division went to Anqing, the purpose was to force Wuchang and cut off the retreat of the Qing troops, and now it seems that this direction has to be strengthened, if it doesn't work, let's change the third division as soon as possible, and let them go to Anqing to cooperate with the fifth division to seize the time to launch an attack on Jiujiang. ”

"Once the third division is transferred, Xinghua, you won't be responsible for the emptiness of our Yangzhou?" Shi Kefa asked.

"As long as we play well on the outside, there shouldn't be a problem on the inside, right? Is Brother Xian still a little worried about the Southern Ming Dynasty? Luo Jian asked a little strangely.

"Alas, you can't have the heart to harm people, and you can't have the heart to prevent people! Liu Zeqing is still staying in Gaoyou. Shi Kefa sighed, it was not uncommon for the Southern Ming army to attack each other, so Shi Kefa was worried.

Shi Kefa's words reminded Luo Jian that Liu Zeqing now has more than 20,000 people left, and now he only relies on the military salary of the imperial court, and he has been in Gaoyou for a long time.

Under the deterrence of several divisions of the Yangzhou Army, Liu Zeqing has been very honest for more than a year, and has not done anything out of the ordinary, but it is really uncomfortable to stay in Yangzhou.

Liu Zeqing humiliated Ma Shiying a lot in the court, which made Ma Shiying, who was bound to repay him, swallow this breath, and now Liu Zeqing has become a phoenix with a hair, if it weren't for the Yangzhou army to pay military salaries, I'm afraid its army would have dispersed long ago, and Ma Shiying wished that the Yangzhou army would have cleaned up Liu Zeqing directly.

This is a tiger whose teeth have not been completely pulled out, if the Yangzhou army wants to let go of the fight, Liu Zeqing's problem must be solved, and the three quickly reached an agreement.

But now how to solve Liu Zeqing's department, the three of them are a little difficult.

The most important thing is that there is no reason, or no excuse, Liu Zeqing has been extremely honest for more than a year, and he has been very strict with his subordinates, and the matter of bullying and robbing the people has not been reported, if there are still these things, it is estimated that Luo Jian would have solved him a long time ago.

But Liu Zeqing was reluctant to be adapted by the Yangzhou Army, he saw that after Huang Degong's department was reorganized, Huang Degong no longer had his previous prestige, and he was terrified in his heart, for fear that he would fall into the same fate as Jingnanhou, but he didn't know that Huang Degong was really happy now.

"Get him out!" Liu Lan, who had been sitting on the sofa reading a book, saw that the three of them were in embarrassment, so she spoke.

"Squeeze out? What do you mean? Shi Kefa looked at Liu Lan suspiciously.

"Our Yangzhou income has been greatly reduced this year, this expedition to Japan has suffered heavy losses, and the food and salary issued by the imperial court are not enough, Liu Zeqing's troops must support themselves, but they are absolutely not allowed to plunder the people. Well, that's all. Liu Lan didn't raise her head, and said lightly.

"Yes, but that's not enough, let the Sixth Division, which is training after changing clothes, go on a trip, and slowly maneuver to Gaoyou in the name of training." Luo Jian understood what Liu Lan meant, and continued.

"Xinghua, don't look at Liu Zeqing now that he is honest, his troops were not much worse than the Qing soldiers who harmed the people, according to my meaning, let's just kill him." Ren Minyu thought for a long time before he spoke.

"That's not good, no matter what, Liu Zeqing's army is also the army of the Ming Dynasty now, we can't afford to bear the moral responsibility, or Liu Lan's idea is more reliable." When Shi Kefa heard this, he rejected Ren Minyu's proposal.

"Then let's do it, tomorrow we will send someone to inform Liu Bu, we will cut off their military salaries, see if they are still in Gaoyou?" At the same time, the Sixth Division must be prepared to prevent Liu Zeqing from jumping off the wall in a hurry. Luo Jian finally clapped his head and said.

After talking about Liu Zeqing, everyone turned back to next year's offensive against the Manchu Qing Dynasty.

"Liu Lan, your newspaper must also actively cooperate with our offensive operations, and we will create this atmosphere after the New Year." Luo Jian said to Liu Lan, Liu Lan nodded and agreed, although Liu Lan does not hold an actual position in "Yangzhou Weekly" now, but everyone knows that she is the actual helmsman of "Yangzhou Weekly".

"It is very necessary, it has been peaceful for a long time, and many people don't want to fight anymore, thinking that this peaceful life can last for a long time, and no matter how bad it is, it will last for one or two hundred years like the Southern Song Dynasty." Shi Kefa continued.

Except for the slogan that the Senate preached for a while some time to march north and recover the capital, Yangzhou City was full of voices of peace, although it was not like Nanjing, and the vast majority of people were not mentally prepared for war.

"After a year, I will convene the General Staff to formulate a battle plan, and Brother Xian is afraid that he will have to personally inquire about the logistics support, you and Brother Shi Ze will bring He Gang to discuss it carefully, and then logistics will not be delayed in the army."

If there is only a battle in the periphery of several provinces in Yangzhou, it is not difficult to support, after all, there is still a canal as a hub of transportation, once the Yangzhou area is hit, the role of the canal will no longer be played, and the difficulty of logistics support is not known to be much greater.

The Yangzhou Army's dependence on logistics now is not comparable to that of the previous cold weapon troops, and once the ammunition supply is not enough, the entire front may collapse, so Luo Jian asked Shi Kefa and Ren Minyu to personally pay attention to logistics and supply.

Shi Kefa and Ren Minyu both knew the current situation, and both nodded in response.