Chapter 420 War Bonds

"Shi Aiqing, there are three reasons for this." I explained, "First, because it will take another year or two for the Wonder Soldier I spoke of to grow stronger; Second, if we act in advance, it may disrupt the rhythm of both sides, as we all know, I and Kublai Khan will put heavy bets in Xiangyang, both hoping to destroy as many of each other's new forces as possible outside Xiangyang City, and a dense battle will be more suitable for the power of our firearms; Thirdly, before the Mongol army reached Xiangfan, its domestic army could be deployed at will, and its cavalry was highly mobile, so I was worried that when Yunnan was not won, the Mongol army would move southward and trap our Korean army there, and when the Xiangyang War was intertwined, the Mongols would not have many mobile troops. ”

Shi Yanzhi thought for a while and said, "What Your Majesty said is extremely true. ”

I continued: "After defeating the Mongol forces in Yunnan, the Sichuan Military Region, together with most of the men and horses of the Guangnan and Miaojia Military Regions, will surpass the Mongol Western Route Army in numbers. ”

Fan Wenhuan praised: "Your Majesty's height is unprecedented. As the saying goes, playing chess looks at three moves, and His Majesty can already see ten moves away. ”

I smiled: "Lu Aiqing, Fan Aiqing, your Military Affairs Yuan and the Ministry of War have made a preliminary plan, first let the Sichuan Military Region General Gao Gao, the deputy General Zhang Jue, and the pacification envoy Zan Wanshou know, and then General Gao will command the Southwest Coalition Army. ”

"Yes, I obey."

"There is also the Lin'an Military Region, after Yin Yinglei returns to Lin'an, a new tactical exercise will be carried out immediately, the existing three-compartment military strength of the Lin'an Military Region, plus by September this year, the newly expanded one-compartment, there will be a four-compartment military strength, among these four-compartment soldiers, I plan to transfer the troops of the two compartments to Xiangfan with me, and the other compartment is commanded by Yin Yinglei, plus a small part of the Marine Division, to form a special coalition force of about 15,000 people, from the sea to the north, landing on the Shandong Peninsula, directly into the enemy's hinterland, The remaining wings were to defend Ryukyu Province, Jeju Island, and Im'an. ”

Lu Xiufu said: "Your Majesty, Lord Yin only led a group of soldiers and part of the Marine Corps of the Naval Division to go deep behind enemy lines, will the number be too small?" ”

"Although the number of people is small, it can only be like this, there are two reasons for this, one is that after Yin Yinglei landed on the Shandong Peninsula, he will stay away from our dynasty, and the logistics and supplies will all have to be figured out by themselves, if there are many people, it will be difficult to solve the problem of food and grass for the soldiers; In addition, the Mongolian Eastern Route Army did not dare to act rashly, they had to be ready to resist the attack of our Jianghuai Army at any time, and the Middle Route Army could not withdraw at all in Xiangyang, so as long as Yin Yinglei avoided the key military defense areas of the Mongols, it should be fine, and I would make a decision after careful discussion with Yin Yinglei. ”

"Yes, I understand."

"Ladies and gentlemen, after the tasks of each military region are finished, I will finally talk about the distribution of firearms."

"Your Majesty, please."

"By the end of this year, according to the plan, the number of muskets will be about 25,000, of which, in addition to the Royal Forest Army will be fully equipped with muskets, I plan to transform the troops of a chamber of the Lin'an Military Region into musketeers, in addition, the 4,000 musketeers trained in Lin'an from all over the country will form an independent firearms division on the spot, with four regiments under it, with Jiang Wanzai as the division commander, and Li Long, the former chief instructor of the Imperial Forest Army's musket, as the head of the independent division, who will train with the Imperial Forest Army in Lin'an, and will be stationed in Xiangyang at the beginning of spring next year. As for the artifact, by the end of the year, about two hundred and fifty will be produced, in addition to the fifty allocated to the water division, I will set up a separate artifact army, this force is subordinate to the Royal Forest Army, and after it is formed, it will go to Xiangfan with me. As for the other military regions, it is sufficient to equip each with 100 muskets in the early stage, so that they can get used to it first, and then slowly equip them when the number of firearms is sufficient next year. ”

Lu Xiufu asked, "Your Majesty, why are the firearms units concentrated?" Isn't it good to equip each military district with something on average? ”

"Lu Aiqing, the level of firearms in our dynasty is still in its infancy, and there are still many deficiencies, in terms of speed alone, if it is one-on-one, the combat power of the musketeer is still inferior to that of a skilled archer, therefore, only by concentrating, will the power of firearms be maximized, unless the rear-loading gun can be successfully developed, it is difficult to change the status quo. At this stage, the use of firearms in our dynasty can only make up for the lack of quality with quantity, and the quantity has to cost a lot of money, so I can only use the limited firearm resources to the extreme. ”

"Besides, with the emergence of a new type of musketeer, the skills and tactics of the infantry will also change, for example, there will be a square of arquebuses protected by pikemen and sword and shield soldiers, that is, horizontal formations (i.e., line arrays, referred to as line formations), or column attacks plus skirmishers, or in the form of battle groups, leaping forward and alternately attacking, and in the meantime there are also miscellaneous tactics of stragglers, etc., at present, the musketeers in our Imperial Forest Army are training according to the formation I imagined (based on the Dutch Morris phalanx) when attacking, the advantages and disadvantages of which need to be verified in the war. If the techniques and tactics of musketeers were fully adapted to the development of firearms and formed an inseparable organic whole with all aspects of the army, a perfect combat system could be formed, and then the time would be for the large-scale popularization of muskets. ”

For a long time, I was personally responsible for the technical and tactical training of musketeers, and the Imperial Forest Army was directly under my jurisdiction, and the Military Affairs Institute did not know the content of its training.

"I didn't expect the training of musketeers to be very complicated, and I thought that as long as I stood in a row, I would take turns raising my gun and shooting." Lu Xiufu sighed after listening.

"When firearms develop to a certain point, it will be as simple as Lu Aiqing said, but it is not possible now, now we still have to rely on the formation, and we must cooperate with cold weapons to form the most effective attack."

Lu Xiufu seemed to understand and said: "I really wish I was a musketeer." ”

"Well, it should be quite a while away." At this point, I sighed and continued, "I'm very poor now, and war is all about fighting for money, which is really good. ”

These ministers knew that the production of firearms was made entirely by money.

Jia Rudao suddenly answered: "Your Majesty, the minister has two suggestions that can alleviate the current financial situation. ”

"Really? Master, let's hear it. ”

Jia Rudao said slowly: "Your Majesty, the Red Cross Society in Lin'an has outstanding performance, and its source of funds is all from the donations of the people's good people, so the minister thinks that he can follow suit and let the merchants, landlords and wealthy people among the people donate money to prepare for the growth of military supplies. Second, whether it is possible for our dynasty to issue war-related deposit certificates, with the Great Song Yinzhuang as the issuing agency of the certificates, and then repay them over a period of time, and give a certain amount of interest according to the length of the period, so that they can obtain more income than if they were deposited in the bank. In this way, a two-pronged approach is bound to be able to prepare a considerable amount of military spending. ”

"Donate? War bonds? I looked at Jia Yidao with some strange expression.

Jia Rudao was also stunned for a moment and said, "Your Majesty, the name of this war bond is very appropriate. ”

Bonds are creditor's rights and debt certificates issued to investors when the government, financial institutions, industrial and commercial enterprises and other institutions directly borrow from the society to raise funds, and promise to pay interest at a certain interest rate and repay the principal according to the agreed conditions. Bonds have a longer history than stocks, the earliest form of bonds is the public bonds produced in the era of slavery, according to ancient Greece and Rome in the 4th century BC began to appear in the state government to borrow from private merchants, usurers and monasteries, whenever there are financial difficulties, especially in the event of war, the state will issue public bonds.

I used to ask Jerry. Polo had a detailed understanding of the various situations in Venice, including the financial aspects, and Jerry said that as early as 1189, the Venetian government had tried to issue bonds, and at the time of his departure, the Venetian government had duly authorized the parliament to include the issuance of public bonds in its legal scope.

The modern sense of public bonds began in England in the 17th century, while China's public bonds started late, and it was not until the early 20th century that the first railway bonds were issued by the Qing Dynasty government.

I don't know if Jia Rudao himself or his staff came up with the method, but this idea must be ahead of its time and feasible. In any case, Jia Yidao still has some content in his head, although this idea sounds just a fantasy to many people.

The word fundraising was understandable to all attendees. It's just that these ** are all military generals, but they don't feel at all about what a bond is, although Jia Yidao said it in detail, but where can they react for a while?

Thankfully, though, I understand.

Seeing that I was speechless, Lu Xiufu asked, "Master Taishi, is this war bond really feasible?" ”

"Of course it works." I smiled and replied, "The issuance of bonds is a matter of time, Master. ”

"The minister is here."

"Do you have a plan?"

Jia Rudao got up and said: "Back to Your Majesty, the minister just has such a preliminary idea, this kind of bond is similar to the people depositing their money in the silver bank, but its income will be slightly higher than a simple deposit, simply put, the essence of the bond is that the court borrows money from the people, and pays the interest of the bond owner year by year, or returns it with interest when it matures." As for the detailed plan, Lao Chen has not yet available. ”