readx; After Chongzhen and Zhao Yan agreed, Sun Chuanting immediately went to prepare for the war. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

Among the 300,000 Beijing camps, Sun Chuanting temporarily transferred 100,000 to Zhending Mansion. Zhending Mansion is also one of the military towns of the Ming Court, and it is the same level as Baoding.

On the other hand, on the Shandong side, the Ordnance Bureau is working overtime to produce weapons and ammunition.

Two million rounds of rifle cartridges, one million rounds of machine-gun cartridges, as well as 100,000 fortified grenades, 200,000 mines, had to be produced before the autumn harvest. and 300,000 rounds of artillery shells, several barbed wire.

Zhao Yan set 10 rounds of ammunition as a base number, and each infantry in this operation was equipped with 10 base rifle bullets, that is, 100 rounds per person, plus 5 grenades. Each machine gun is equipped with 7000 rounds of ammunition. Bring your own set of bedding, a water bottle, a helmet, and a sapper shovel.

The weight of an infantry is 15 kg, which can be said to be very light, not as heavy as plate armor. However, the infantry needs to cooperate with the ammunition of the machine gun when marching.

Ammunition for machine guns was usually towed by horses, but infantry was also involved.

All equipment is expected to be delivered to the troops by September.

…… Just when Zhao Yan and Chongzhen reached a consensus, the Royalist Guild halls in the Jiangnan area were all seized, and the members of the Royalist Association were warned that if they held another assembly, they would raid their homes and exterminate their clans.

Seeing that the news had leaked, the royalist associations in various places couldn't help but put out the fire and succumbed to Zhao Yan's silver might, at this time there were as many as 20,000 armed police troops in various provinces, how could they have the opportunity to raise troops to resist?

Soon, however, a jaw-dropping piece of news came out.

The two newspapers, the Daming Newspaper and the Royal Newspaper, published the news of the decisive battle between the monarch and the minister.

As soon as this news spread, the entire Ming Dynasty was boiling, and all the old power classes rejoiced. 300,000 against 20,000, there are ghosts in this winning.

As long as Zhao Yan steps down, he can stop the change of Shandong's political axe. In this duel, the gentry were also allowed to watch the battle as witnesses.

As for why the decisive battle was due, the "Daming Newspaper" said that Chongzhen violated the law, and the "Royal Newspaper" said that Zhao Yan first violated the law.

Both sides insisted on their own words in the newspapers, and as for who to believe, they could only judge for themselves.

Chongzhen's reason is that Zhao Yan deducted his salt tax last year, so that he didn't get a penny of silver, Zhao Yan's reason for refuting is very strong, saying that these silver had been given to Chongzhen in advance last year, and Chongzhen could get eight million taels of military expenses last year.

Before the decisive battle, the two sides did everything possible to mobilize public opinion in favor of their side, but it was obvious that Zhao Yan had the advantage.

This time, Zhao Yan fought against Chongzhen with 20,000 people and 300,000 people, so there is nothing to say! General Ben didn't use superior forces to force Chongzhen's kid to abdicate.

In the eyes of outsiders, Zhao Yan really suffered a loss, only Zhao Yan and a group of generals in Shandong understood that this decisive battle against the Shandong New 01 Division could be described as taking advantage of it.

If Chongzhen wants to win in this war, it will be in vain to give him another million people, of course, this is under the condition that the supply of the new 01st Division is not interrupted.

And in this decisive battle, unlimited supplies are allowed.

Therefore, Zhao Yan did not take this decisive battle to heart at all, and after nearly a month of training, the new army has basically mastered the new tactics.

And infantry and artillery coordination is an old tactic, and the Shandong army has played it very purely.

At this moment, the First Fleet sent back a battle report that Su Buheng had led the soldiers to occupy the South African region.

Zhao Yan received this battle report and began to continue to improve his overseas colonial system, that is, to continue to increase troops overseas.

The plan for the reform of the military system has been decided.

Within next year, five Category A Infantry Divisions, four Category A Cavalry Divisions, and 10 Category B Infantry Divisions will be formed, as well as three mountain brigades and three Marine brigades.

The total strength of the army was 280,000, of which 80,000 were professional soldiers, and the number of baggage personnel increased to 2:1, totaling 140,000.

The more than 300,000 armed police forces were reorganized into reading battalions, as well as local police. Of these, 150,000 were organized into 245 reading battalions, and the remaining 150,000 were reorganized into local police. Another 300,000 people were transferred to form 491 reading battalions, a total of 736 reading battalions, with a total of 450,000 people, all of which were composed of conscripts.

The Reading Camp is mainly used to garrison domestic and overseas colonies to respond to emergencies. The local police maintain local security.

The first division is responsible for strategic defense, such as leaving one or two towns to guard the Ming Dynasty. Others are used for strategic offensives against the toughest enemies.

Division B is also responsible for foreign operations and border defense.

The military salary of the entire army unit, professional soldiers and officers is 5 million yuan per year, and the military salary of each professional soldier is 5 silver dollars, and in terms of equipment renewal, last year's budget has already included the cost of this redress, and in terms of equipment maintenance and personnel support, it will cost 12 million yuan a year without fighting, and the food standard is very high.

At this time, Zhao Yan can be said to be wealthy, and this money is nothing.

In the navy, the number of personnel will increase to 70,000 in the next two years, and the scale of 70,000 can cope with the 150 Glory-class warships and 200 frigates being built. The combat crew of one Glory-class warship is 350 people, and the combat number of one frigate is 100 people.

The Navy's military expenditure is relatively low, 50,000 people are professional soldiers, and the monthly military salary is 7 silver dollars, and the annual military salary also needs 5 million yuan.

Funds for the construction of warships and frigates are already in place, and there is no need for another budget. In terms of maintenance and supply, it is about 5 million yuan per year, but the navy will fight all the time, so it will cost 15 million yuan per year.

A year's military expenditure, 50 million yuan, is enough to cope with the expansion operation.

As for the revenue, the mining of precious metals was enough to sustain the war expenditures, and it was greatly exceeded. Copper, silver, and gold mines, all of which are government-run.

And not only overseas, but also domestically.

Now Zhao Yan is getting people to mine everywhere, and since the yellow explosives and the steam engine, mining has become very easy.

In all the administrative areas controlled by Zhao Yan, vigorous exploration was carried out, and at the same time, privately mined mines and caves were confiscated, and at present, more than 100 gold mines, more than 200 silver mines, and more than 500 copper mines have been discovered in China.

The amount of gold, silver and copper in the country is not very large, and the main event is still expanding the region.

More than 80 gold mines, more than 100 silver mines, and more than 200 copper mines have been discovered in Nurkandus, including one super-large copper mine.

The territory of the Nurgandus is too large and not very intensively explored, and there are still a large number of areas that have not been explored, and most of them have not been carefully explored.

There are not many people in Nurgandus, and many of the mines have not yet been mined. The main mines are gold and silver, and copper is basically not mined.

The silver mines in Central America, and the copper mines in the intellectual region, are intensive. The gold mines in North America and Australia are more scattered, but the quantity is also very large, and South Africa has the most gold. South Africa and Australia are the most common diamonds.

The first towns to be built in the overseas colonies were centered on the mining industry.

After this military restructuring, 30 reading battalions, that is, 18,000 people, will be successively dispatched to the islands of the South Seas for warfare against the natives.

50 Reading Battalions of 30,000 men and 1 Division B were dispatched to Cochin, with Division B responsible for attacking and Reading Battalions following behind to receive territory for defense.

30 reading battalions will be dispatched to Australia, and no B divisions will be dispatched. The Australian aborigines were relatively weak, and the Europeans did not get there, so the reading camp only went to Australia to maintain law and order, and there was no challenge to the expansion.

One Division A and two Division B were dispatched to the Americas, with Division A stationed in Central America, Division B in North America and one in South America, and 100 Reading Battalions to the Americas.

The colonies of the Americas have set up many ports, these ports need to be stationed, otherwise they will be invaded by pirates, at present, North America is constantly marching inland, so there are many Indians who need to be cleared by the Reading Battalion, and the more eastward they march, the more areas that need to be stationed.

20 Reading Battalions and 1 Division B Regiment were transferred to South Africa.

In addition, 50 reading battalions were dispatched to the Nurgandus to guard the various strongholds of the Nurgandus. In addition, more than 450 reading battalions are stationed in various provinces in the country and can be dispatched overseas at any time.

Last year's budget was only for the first and second divisions to be reequipped, and the others were not budgeted, but the Reading Battalion didn't need to go to the battlefield much, just changed to rifles and infantry guns, and a few machine guns, and nothing else was needed, so there was no need for any investment.

Zhao Yan determined the establishment and the deployment of troops in overseas colonies, and then began to shoot telegrams, sending troops back to Shandong to change their uniforms, and officers to return to Denglai Military University for further study.

On the one hand, personnel were transferred to Shandong, and on the other hand, equipment was transported to the front line. The most transported to the front were machine guns, and the two machine guns on the stronghold rack were definitely impregnable.

…… While the two sides were actively preparing for war, the DPRK-Shenyang-Jingshi-Shandong-Shanxi-Pukou railway lines were completed one after another.

Grain from North Korea and Liaodong can be transported to Nanjing in just two days, and after the opening of the line, as soon as the grain from North Korea and Liaodong is transported into the customs, the turmoil of rising grain prices officially stops, and the autumn harvest is approaching.

After the seizure of 23 grain banks, the reserves of the Jimin Grain Bank can be said to be extremely sufficient, but with the advent of the autumn harvest, the Jimin Grain Bank still increased its grain reserves.

At this time, the thorough investigation was also completed, and except for the two granaries where the grain was partially diverted, the grain reserves in the other granaries were consistent with the reported amounts.

As for those who misappropriated grain from the granary, the fate can be imagined. The punishment of embezzlers has always been extremely severe, and skinning is an inevitable procedure.

Grain is a key reserve of materials, every year into the warehouse, out of the warehouse, is not too troublesome, Shandong's grain strategic reserves are sufficient, but these grain reserves are to cope with the war, rarely transferred out of the disaster relief areas, relief disaster areas still rely on the people's grain reserves in various places.

Therefore, Zhao Yan definitely increased strategic reserves, and the way of strategic reserves was to set up large-scale grain depots in all provinces, with the provincial level as the unit and the prefecture and county as the unit to reserve grain respectively. In normal times, the grain depot is not managed by the local officials, but directly under the management of the central government.

By the time of this year's autumn harvest, the grain output in the northeast had increased considerably, and its total grain output had already surpassed that of Shandong, which had not carried out reforms in previous years.

However, the area of grain cultivation in the Northeast and North Korea accounts for less than one-tenth of the area.

This is mainly due to the fact that there is a lot of land in Northeast China and North Korea, and when a family has 300 acres of land and does not have enough labor, not many people are willing to grow wheat and rice.

More people are still developing aquaculture, and the fields are planted with alfalfa and corn. However, not everyone is willing to take the whole corn plant for silage, and the corn will be pulled down before harvesting. In fact, silage is what you pay for, and the whole corn is silage, and the feeding effect is better, but many people don't think so, and it's a pity that good corn is eaten by livestock.

As a result, the grain production in Liaodong is very considerable, mainly corn. Corn is a cheap grain that is mainly used in animal husbandry.

However, corn is also a food in many backward countries.

At present, under the condition of strategic grain reserves, corn from the Northeast and North Korea has been transported to Kannai and scattered to various places for storage.

When Zhao Yan was engaged in military reform and grain reserves, the autumn harvest was slowly approaching, and the Shandong political axe temporarily stopped encroaching on the Jiangnan region.

When the decisive battle was coming, the grandmasters and grandsons, the children of black clothes, and the officials and gentlemen from all over the country went to the Jifu region - Zhending Mansion!

The place of this decisive battle is in Fenglong Mountain, south of Zhending Mansion, no one knows that this is Zhao Yan's trick, thinking that Jingying will win in this decisive battle, and they can't help but rejoice one by one.

In contrast, the atmosphere in Shandong is not so warm, and the people are very worried about this. If you lose, your good life will come to an end.

What better place to do than the Shangshan political axe?

If the southeast region is okay, it is a rich land, and officials spend money to buy official positions, as long as they collect a fixed amount of taxes, even if they are private, if they are evenly divided, most of the families can live.

The northwest region is miserable, it is not a rich place, the quota set by Zhu Yuanzhang has not increased much, and after the local officials take office, they not only have to recover the capital of buying officials, but also make a profit, so if they go down privately, they will simply not let people live.

The reason why the thieves of the Ming Dynasty broke out was no accident.

The Ming Court collects taxes with a system of three guarantees and nine compensations, and the family runs away, and they take the first one to pay together, and the first one runs away, then the insurance is compensated. After three packs, it is nine compensation, and nine compensation means that relatives and nine clans will compensate.

Therefore, since the Apocalypse, there has often been a phenomenon in the northwest region where a village has run out and pressed dozens of stones of grain on a person's head.

And such a system is highly susceptible to a ripple effect.

That is, if one person runs away, the other nine families can't afford to pay, and the nine families also run together, and the nine families run away, and the other 90 families can't afford to lose, and the 90 families also run away, then the relatives of these 90 families can't afford to pay and also run away...... The Ming Dynasty is a two-faced country, the central and eastern parts are more stable, the northwest is more turbulent, and then it is infected to the central region, and the people in the central region are not doing very well. And the people in the southeast have the best life, and the thieves have no soil to survive in the southeast.

Now, the people under the rule of the Shandong political axe do not need to be bothered by hunger and cold at all.

Under the rule of the Shandong political axe, there were no high agricultural taxes, nor did there be any private factions, let alone any forced labor. The people engaged in agricultural production basically do not force them to do anything except for the usual participation in the exercises, and the exercises also provide food.

The peasants in Shandong have at least one piece of land (30 acres) and more than 50 acres, and the grain they grow can support people.

And the grain is sold for money, and there is no place to use it.

Except for buying some daily necessities and building houses, there was basically nothing to spend, and almost every peasant household had meat to eat at both ends of the three days, and was among the middle peasants and rich peasants.

Zhao Yan is not too anxious about Shandong's agricultural reform, anyway, he is now the first generation, and after the second generation receives education, he will naturally not be willing to entrust his life to dozens of acres of land.

Those who did not have land could easily find a job in the city. Life in the cities is far more abundant than in the countryside, and the only problem is that there is no land.

If you are not a skilled worker, you will do more manual work, and you will be tired, but the salary is quite good, and the minimum wage has been raised to 1.5 yuan, which is definitely worry-free.

The old, weak, sick and disabled are directly supported by the political axe, and as long as they can't survive, they can go to the aid station. Most of the funds for aid stations in various places are donated by merchants.

The hearts of the people under Zhao Yan's rule can be said to be very united, and the Shandong political axe has also quickly been recognized by the people in Shanxi, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Huguang, and Henan.

Under the decisive battle of Fenglong Mountain, the Shandong army only has 20,000 people, how not to worry the people.

However, the top brass of the Shandong army was extremely optimistic about this, and the senior officers outside ran back to watch the battle, and Lu Xiangsheng, who was fighting against the Dzungar subordinates, defeated his troops in August, annihilating more than 100,000 people, and heard the news that Zhao Yan and Chongzhen were about to fight a decisive battle, and also ran back.

After Lu Xiangsheng came back, he sent a combat report at the post station and went to Jingshi. Lu Xiangsheng did not take refuge in Zhao Yan at this time, but only cooperated with Zhao Yan militarily.

Lu Xiangsheng was still a member of the royalist party, and he quickly returned to Beijing and went directly to the palace to meet Chongzhen.

Chongzhen's face was very bad when he saw Lu Xiangsheng, but at this time Chongzhen didn't dare to do anything with Lu Xiangsheng, after all, Lu Xiangsheng and Zhao Yan had a very good personal relationship.

It is said that Lu Xiangsheng entered the Wenhua Palace, and after kneeling, he got up and bluntly said that Chongzhen was wrong, Lu Xiangsheng and Sun Chuanting were both members of the royalist party. Both of them thought that Chongzhen had handed over power in exchange for the permanent status of the royal family, but at this time, Chongzhen had already had a decisive battle with Zhao Yan.

Chongzhen was so angry that Lu Xiangsheng trembled, and Lu Xiangsheng said: "If the emperor is obsessed, this time he will get into Zhao Yan's complete set, and everything will be over." ”

Yang Sichang happened to walk into the Wenhua Palace, heard Lu Xiangsheng's words, and asked coldly: "300,000 battles 20,000, this is a trap?" ”

"20,000 vs. 300,000 is indeed a trap." Lu Xiangsheng snorted coldly, he has also seen heavy machine guns, but there are few in the army, and this new type of weapon will inevitably appear in this sniper battle, and 300,000 people want to win the 20,000 new army in Shandong, which is basically a fool's dream.

"I think you were bought by Zhao Yan! Come here and talk wildly. Yang Sichang quarreled with Lu Xiangsheng on the spot, Lu Xiangsheng was furious, seeing that Chongzhen had no intention of dying, he didn't say anything else, just threw his sleeves and left.

(To be continued)