Zhao Yan accompanied Chongzhen to start a tour of the Academy of Science and Technology, Zhao Yan was very simple, let you see enough.

What's the use of watching it?

If you can learn it just by looking at it, isn't that a trick?

The reason why the Institute of Science and Technology can develop is because Zhao Yan has given theoretical support, and at the same time has given material satisfaction and clear guidance in the direction of research.

More importantly, education.

As long as education keeps up, scientific research personnel will enter a state of skyrocketing growth at a certain time in the future, and at that time, as long as they give random guidance, the speed of scientific and technological development will be as fast as a rocket.

Zhao Yan first took Chongzhen to see an agricultural research project, but Chongzhen was not interested, and he was very puzzled by a group of people busy in the fields.

Then Chongzhen saw the steam engine in the Science and Technology Institute, and asked Zhao Yan in surprise: "What is this?" ”

"A fun thing with a lot of power." Zhao Yan said.

"Fun stuff?" Chongzhen lost interest when he heard it.

Chongzhen was most interested in electricity, because electricity could make electric lights. The Electricity Research Group of the Academy of Science and Technology is working on the telegraph.

The principle of using sparks as signals is understood, and the code is being compiled, but how to make the signal successfully transmitted from one end of the wire to the other end is a big problem, with the increase of distance, the signal will continue to weaken...... "Thousands of miles of communication?" Just these few sparks? Hehe! Chongzhen laughed, and Zhao Yan also laughed: "The minister also thinks it's not very reliable, anyway, let them toss!" It's best if you can get it out, and if you can't get it, it's a big deal to lose some silver. ”

Chongzhen thought that Zhao Yan was dizzy, so he smiled and approved: "Not bad, not bad." ”

Chongzhen looked at it, and still thought that electricity was more interesting, you can light up the electric light, and after the electricity is turned on, you can turn iron into a magnet...... This is the only point that makes Chongzhen more interested.

More interested in weapons research, Zhao Yan used the winter vacation as an excuse to not allow Chongzhen to visit.

Now that the Ordnance Bureau is studying smokeless gunpowder, it naturally can't be shown to Chongzhen, if Chongzhen is allowed to see it, I'm afraid it won't necessarily jump up.

After the expansion of the army this year, Zhao Yan already has the strength to collect the world.

The reason why the high military expenditure of 25 million taels is maintained is to continuously explode troops.

Chongzhen watched it for two or three days, and finally came to a conclusion and asked Zhao Yan: "Is the so-called scientific and technological research the so-called experiment of different things in different ways?" ”

"Uh...... That's right, that's right. Zhao Yan pondered for a moment and then nodded, scientific research can indeed be understood in this way, he is not lying.

"Wouldn't it be a waste of money to try like a fly without a head?" Chongzhen's words made Zhao Yan almost laugh, whether he understands academic or not! Before the theory of a certain aspect is mature, it is naturally impossible to test randomly.

Only things like this are tried out randomly, such as smokeless gunpowder, which scientists inadvertently messed with, and stainless steel, which was also inadvertently messed with.

It was mostly about chemistry, and about physics and the like of electricity, they were all inventions that developed theories first, and then developed practical names.

The same is true for steam engines and internal combustion engines.

Then these inventions led to the development of manufacturing technology, and manufacturing technology led to the research of science and technology...... "Your Majesty, when the ancient Taoist priests were alchemizing, didn't they discover gunpowder?" Random testing also has an effect. Zhao Yan did not comment on Chongzhen's words, and only gave an answer to the point of 'random trial'.

"Well, that's good." Chongzhen, you haven't turned a corner for a while, it really makes sense when you think about it!

Even if a blind cat touches a dead mouse, but if you do it a few times, there will always be a time when you will run into some dead mouse. Although Shandong's scientific research is much simpler than expected, if they are allowed to keep touching the rats like this, they will encounter a little sooner or later, and the electric light is the best example.

So after going back, it is also necessary to set up such an organization, and also come to kill the mouse, if you don't catch up, the gap between the two sides will become more and more!

If Zhao Yan knew Chongzhen's thoughts, he would probably be unable to stop laughing on the spot.

…… Zhao Yan accompanied Chongzhen to wander around Shandong for more than half a month, during which Chongzhen saw many things, which Jinyiwei could not detect in Shandong.

Chongzhen himself seems to have become the most conspicuous spy, but Zhao Yan does not look guarded, whatever he sees, as long as it does not involve military secrets.

Half a month later, Chongzhen finally returned to the Forbidden City with the two princes and the queen.

For most of the month, Zhao Quan took businessmen from all over the world to visit various commercial infrastructure and introduce business policies in Shandong.

Now Shandong's most stable profit is still raising horses.

The reason why raising horses can make money is mainly because the Shandong Military Department has always been very happy to give money for the acquisition of war horses.

As long as you have a qualified war horse in your hand, you can definitely get a good price on the Shandong Military Department. Running a farm has undoubtedly become the choice of the most businessmen.

Whether it is grazing or semi-captive feeding, Denglai University will send students to carry out special management of the farm.

As long as you contribute, you get paid.

Previously, Shandong businessmen had opened more than a dozen horse farms one after another, and the scale of horse breeding was about 40,000 or 50,000 horses, and there would be a supply of war horses until next year.

The number is still too low.

And this time Zhao Yan's wedding, after seeing the profit model of the horse farm, more than 30 big businessmen decided to open a horse farm in the local area after returning to their hometown, or go to Liaodong to open a horse farm.

It is estimated that after the opening of these horse farms, they can reach a certain scale.

Cavalry is still one of the main types of troops developed by Zhao Yan, after all, the railway has to wait for many years, and the mobility of the troops depends on horses.

By the end of January, the guests had dispersed.

In mid-February, Chongzhen also returned to the Forbidden City.

Zhao Yan immediately began to expand the number of troops and reform the military system.

The military reform plan will continue to be revised, and the Shandong Army will be reorganized into two divisions this year.

The 1st Shandong Division is a professional army, with 5 infantry brigades and 4 cavalry brigades, with Zhao Yan as the division commander, with a total strength of 114,550 troops and 38,180 baggage troops.

The Second Division of the Shandong Army is a compulsory force, with 4 infantry brigades and 2 cavalry brigades, with a total strength of 86,040 and 28,680 baggage troops.

At the same time, there will be five mountain regiments, with a total strength of 15,250 and 5,000 baggage troops.

In terms of the navy, the number of sailors will be expanded to 50,000, and with the current warship establishment, a European warship is generally equipped with 300 sailors, and the frigate is only 200, and with the current combat unit, only 30,000 are needed, but it is better to train sailors as soon as possible, so the recruitment will be increased by 50,000.

The Marine Corps will be reorganized into: the 1st Brigade in North America, the 1st Brigade in Nanyang, the Mountain Regiment in the Mountains, and the Mountain Regiment in the Americas, with a total strength of 31,120 and 10,000 logistics.

At the same time, the inspection force will be renamed the 'Armed Police Force', and ten armed police units will be set up in Shandong, Shanxi, Henan, Hebei (Gyeonggi region), Shaanxi, Huguang, Sichuan, Jianghuai, Jiangxi, and Zhejiang.

The armed police force will be responsible for inspecting the illegal salt in the province and will shoulder the task of cracking down on bandits in the province.

5,500 people in each province, divided into squads, squadrons, brigades, and corps, 500 people are scouts for the province, detectives for all kinds of information, 25 people are a small team, 50 people are a squadron, 500 people are a brigade, 5,500 people are a general team, and each brigade of the armed police force is equipped with 20 artillery pieces, and the soldiers are each equipped with a horse.

The total strength will reach 55,000 troops, and 5,000 baggage personnel, which is 10:1.

The armed police force will transfer 20,000 troops from various battalions of the Shandong Army to ensure good military discipline and give them the treatment of front-line troops.

The total number of conscripts will be 162,900 with the addition of soldiers from the 2nd Division and the baggage personnel of the Mountain Regiment and the Armed Police Force.

The number of professional soldiers includes 129,800 in the army, 55,000 in the armed police force, a total of 184,800, and 91,120 in the navy. The army and navy combined will reach 275,920, and the total number of conscripts and professional soldiers will reach 438,820.

It is simply 108,000 miles different from the original plan, and military spending will increase by about 5 million taels, and it is expected to reach 30 million taels.

Of the 30 million taels of military spending, the cost of equipment accounts for a relatively large share, and if it comes next year, it will only be 20 million taels per year to maintain such a force, of which 10 million taels are military salary expenses, and 10 million taels are needed for equipment maintenance, soldier training, and consumption.

If you encounter a equipment upgrade, you will have to bleed once.

The military expenses during the war are nothing more than the cost of some gunpowder and artillery shells, as well as disability pensions, etc., and in general it is still a drop in the bucket, because the army's food and grass are all borne by the military department, rather than letting most soldiers settle their own salaries in peacetime like the Ming court.

An army of this size is indeed not much for a Ming Dynasty, because with the manpower and material resources of the Ming Dynasty, it is easy to raise such an army.

But in Shandong alone, the burden is too heavy.

But in the case of the Navy, such a number of professional soldiers is a must. In terms of the army, such a force is also necessary, if there is a full-scale war with Chongzhen in the future, there will be a lot of territory to control, and the number of troops will naturally be more.

And Zhao Yan's biggest advantage is the army, which is the basis for him to save his life. If the boat capsizes in the gutter, it's a big joke.

Next year's financial pressure will still be relatively large.

This year's military spending has exceeded 5 million taels, so Zhao Yan had no choice but to take out 500,000 taels of gold reserves and allocate the money to the military department.

There is no hurry in the gold reserves now, and when paper money is issued later, the gold will naturally be concentrated in the hands.

Why was Chiang Kai-shek able to transport gold from the mainland to Taiwan?

Just because the Kuomintang issued gold yuan bills, most of the country's gold and silver were concentrated in banks. But when they removed the gold and silver, the consequences for the country were also disastrous, causing the gold yuan to begin to depreciate rapidly, and even accelerating the rout...... When there is really no money, it is okay to issue a little more banknotes, but we can't ship all the gold to Taiwan like the Kuomintang did, so that the value of banknotes plummets.

"According to this expansion plan, we will have a shortage of nearly 300,000 people, and if we recruit another 300,000 people from Shandong, it will have a greater impact on agricultural production. And we have such a huge military force, is it a little too fat? Zhang Buyun looked at this plan, and as Shandong's minister of civil affairs, Zhang Buyun had great opinions on the plan proposed by the military department to expand and reorganize.

"We can send a slave labor force to the conscripts, and the impact on agricultural production will definitely be there, but I think the impact will be small." Liu Heng said, "As for the problem of fatness, I think Brother Wenlong is too worried, Shandong's professional soldiers will conduct foreign wars." The conscripts and 55,000 armed police units will be used for internal operations and defense, and these soldiers and horses are not fat at all. ”

"The soldiers and horses recruited this year will all belong to compulsory soldiers, that is, about 300,000 Japanese slaves are needed, and the value created by each Japanese slave every month is far more than just one or two silver, even if it is one or two silver. 300,000 people is 3.6 million taels of silver, which means that this year's military expenditure will reach 33.6 million taels. Zhang Buyun counted with his fingers.

"We have 900,000 Japanese slaves, 780,000 Manchu slaves, more than 10,000 European slaves, deducting 300,000, we still have 1.39 million free labor, plus 60,000 prisoners in labor camps, it will reach 1.45 million, and the annual value can be created nearly 17 million taels, and this alone is almost enough for military spending."

"This is the labor of infrastructure construction, not the cost of military use."

"Our military headquarters is not eating and drinking for nothing, these Japanese slaves are still captured by us! Not all the silver that our military department earned in the war last year was thrown to you, and besides, next year we will catch hundreds of thousands of Japanese slaves and come back to you. Liu Heng said.

Now Zhang Buyun is dumbfounded, and the military department made a lot of money in the war last year.

It's just that the army will be expanded by 300,000 at once! It's heart-wrenching.

After the administration department was dumbfounded, there was no one to object, Zhao Quan still didn't express any opinions, he didn't know much about the opposite, but since the expansion of the army did not destroy production much, then expand the army! It's a bit safer that way. Therefore, Zhao Quan is still supportive.

As Minister of Commerce, Zhao Quan is well aware that military expansion will also be accompanied by commercial expansion.

Back then, the old man Zhao Gui sold illicit salt, and he relied on a group of family members to get out. It's just that the son carried forward the master's style, and a group of family members became hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses.

Now that the book has been convinced, the market of the book is also open. Liaodong and North Korea have been laid, and now the trade of local products between Liaodong and North Korea will also be completely monopolized by the Ministry of Commerce.

Besides, if the soldiers and horses can make a little more moves under the circumstances that they can bear, wouldn't it be more secure to compete for the world.

In this way, the plan proposed by the military department was approved, and Zhao Yan also allocated 500,000 taels of gold to the military department, and determined the list of commanders of each brigade and regiment.

Zhao Yan personally served as the commander of the first and second divisions, and was also the highest commander of the military department.

The first division: 01 Infantry Brigade - Brigade Commander Zhao Yong, 02 Infantry Brigade - Brigade Commander Wang Wenyue, 03 Infantry Brigade - Brigade Commander Li Ran, 04 Infantry Brigade - Brigade Commander You Xuefeng, 05 Infantry Brigade - Brigade Commander Wang Zheng.

01 Cavalry Brigade - Brigade Commander Lin Yi, 02 Cavalry Brigade - Brigade Commander Wu Yongliang, 03 Cavalry Brigade - Qin Zhiyuan, 04 Cavalry Brigade - Brigade Commander He Shunwen.

He Shunwen was awarded for meritorious service in the Battle of Changping, and was later named a general by Chongzhen, and this time he was also promoted.

Second Division: 01 Infantry Brigade - Commander Jiang Xizhou, 02 Infantry Brigade - Brigade Commander Xu Haize, 03 Infantry Brigade - Brigade Commander Guo Chi, 04 Infantry Brigade - Brigade Commander Weng Yongyue.

01 Cavalry Brigade Tan Chengzhang, 02 Cavalry Brigade Gao Li.

The brigade commanders of the Second Division were almost always promoted from the deputy battalion commanders below, and this expansion would mean that a large number of ordinary soldiers would be promoted to officers.

Marines: Xue Qing of the American Infantry Brigade, Han Sheng of the Nanyang Infantry Brigade.

Xue Qingnai was the commander of the baggage battalion who had used the baggage troops to resist the impact of the Azig cavalry, and this time he was also promoted, but he was released overseas.

Han Sheng was born as a thief, and he was the first thief leader to be appeased, and he climbed up step by step with his own efforts.

Liu Guoneng, on the other hand, was appointed head of the 'Garrison Regiment' and was to be transferred to Nagasaki to assist the Tokugawa shogunate in suppressing the rebellious ministers (capturing Japanese slaves) and protecting Shandong's trade practices in the region.

In addition to these brigade commanders and regiment commanders who were appointed by Zhao Yanlai, the officers below were promoted by the staff officers of the military headquarters from the officers below, and the outstanding soldiers and officers were promoted one by one.

At the same time, Zhao Yan also began to plan a raid.

At present, there are two goals, one Jin merchant and one salt merchant. At the same time, the Ministry of Administration began to plan to recover the plots of Confucius and King Lu.

On the list of Jin merchants, there are nearly 28 large and small, of which eight are the largest.

Because the Jin merchants were in Shanxi, they had a wide range of overseas business, and many of the foreign trades abroad were intervened by the Jin merchants, and it was not only the Manchu market, but also Mongolia and even west of Gansu.

It is usually mainly long-distance trafficking and the establishment of shops in Zhangjiakou.

In addition, Jin merchant pawnshops, ticket numbers, hotels and other industries are almost all over the Ming Dynasty.

If these twenty-eight families are copied, it is estimated that there will be 350 million taels of silver in hand, and then their property will be auctioned off, and it is estimated that it will be tens of millions of taels higher.

The salt merchant is even more terrible, and the salt merchant is divided into two Huai salt merchants and Tianjin salt merchants.

The two Huai salt merchants are the richest, with a net worth of tens of millions, seven or eight households, millions of two twenty or thirty households, and hundreds of thousands of taels are even more familiar.

Most of these salt merchants are high-ranking officials and nobles, because of such a wealthy industry, only these high-ranking officials and nobles can stand. Some of them are pure businessmen, but they must also rely on the support of high-ranking officials and nobles behind their backs, and how much silver they give every year is bound to exist.

These salt merchants were probably formed from the middle of the Ming Dynasty, and they continued to absorb the money of the people of the Ming Dynasty throughout the middle and late periods, so it is not surprising that they are so rich.

Daming is not short of silver, but the silver has been hidden in the treasury.

This is also why after the Manchu Qing Dynasty came in and killed so many rich households, in the Kangxi and Qianlong periods, silver suddenly depreciated like diving.

After the silver was robbed by the Manchus, it flowed out of the hands of robbers in large quantities during the Kangxi and Qianlong periods, and the production was almost destroyed by the Manchus, so the silver was naturally worthless.

What was the large amount of silver flowing into China during the Kangqian period, that is simply nonsense, how much foreign trade was there during the Kangqian period? Can the inflow of silver be as much as the Ming Dynasty's foreign trade for more than 100 years and nearly 200 years?

When you see the essence clearly, you can understand from the logical analysis that the historian is.

It's really hard to calculate how much income the salt merchants can make, but before raiding the house, you have to conduct a thorough investigation, find out the industries of the Jin merchants and salt merchants, and then kill them in a pot.

Theoretically, you can get rich by raiding your home!

Although he and Chongzhen each share a quarter, half to the cabinet, but this half of the money can be used to repair the infrastructure of the Ming Dynasty, and the future is still Zhao Yan's.

(To be continued)