Li Guo chose to start the war now, except because of the improvement of military strength now, he has a firm grasp of the struggle for hegemony in the world. is even more because Li Guo really has a last resort, because he is about to run out of money.

Zhao Youbin, who is in charge of the supply of money and food in the rear, will settle accounts for Li Guo every month, and for more than a year, the cost has been huge, and the money he has accumulated is almost gone.

Song Yingxing, who is now appointed as the secretary of the Ministry of Industry, and Bi Maokang, the new head of the Ministry of Industry, who asked for the most money, and with the support of Li Guo, the innovation and invention of these two people have been greatly developed.

But the money is also a lot spent.

It cost a fortune to rebuild the steam-engine ship alone. In addition, a large ship of the same volume that is still under construction in the shipyard has just been completed, and the cost of this ship is also quite large. The ship has changed again, the previous steam engine ship was wheeled, but the newly built steam ship was a propeller steamship, that is, the newly built warship installed a propeller at the stern.

You know, shipbuilding is the most expensive thing. It is reported that in Nanjing, the original time and space, invested 1,000 US dollars to prepare for the restoration of the largest fortune ship in the Ming Dynasty, Li Guo saw the ship in the original time and space, it is very small, and the real Ming Dynasty fortune ship and the steam engine ship that Li Guo is building now cannot be compared. Even so, due to financial constraints, they did not finish the construction for eight years and stopped work.

In just one year, Li Guo had to rebuild a motor ship and build a new propeller ship, which cost a huge amount of money.

In addition, in the past year or so, Li Guo's guns and ammunition have also cost a lot. Casting guns required a lot of coal and steel, and although Li Guo mined iron ore and coal mines, he still needed to buy a large part of them.

Pig iron and coal were military supplies at that time. The output is small and the price is expensive. Plus a large number of purchases need to be limited. Therefore, the silver is even more expensive. This is also the reason why the production of Tiger guns and Tiger guns was stopped. Because the available iron and coal had been exhausted, tens of thousands of artisans who made guns and guns began to mine.

Like the rest of the sulfur, gunpowder, rubber, matches and other materials were also produced, which required a lot of money, and there were many research and inventions, all of which cost money.

In addition, the wages of the workers and craftsmen, and the salaries of the soldiers, were not a small expense.

Of course, Li Guo thinks it's worth the money!

It's just that. When Zhao Youbin told Li Guo, "Master Hu, if there is no big investment, we will only be able to last for three months at most." ”

Li Guo was really a little confused this time.

What to do? There's only one way? Fight!

Throughout the history of world wars, there are two extremes in wars, the first is extreme wealth, and there is enough money to fight wars. Second, there is really no money, and fighting a war can help solve economic pressures and maintain social stability by plundering resources.

Li Guo's current situation is the latter. There's no way out, so, hit!

So, where is the first battle? Guangdong!

Guangdong is adjacent to Guangxi. Commonly known as Liangguang, it has become a natural thing to fight Guangdong now.

On this day, Li Guo, Liu Tichun, Nie Xin, Zhang Ding and other Chinese generals were discussing the plan to attack Guangzhou. Li Guo's brother. The commander of the First Army, General Li XII, arrived.

"Twelve, you've come just in time. We are discussing how to occupy Guangdong, so please listen to it too! Li Guo said.

Li Twelve's mind was not here. He looked at Li Guo with a grin.

"What? Something? Li Guo noticed Li Twelve's abnormality.

Of course, Li Twelve has something, he is here to persuade Li Guo to become emperor.

Li Guo did not ascend to the throne as soon as his generals expected, and he still did not hold high the banner of rebellion, which was Nie Xin's idea, which won Li Guo's thoughts.

But at that time, Li Guo's subordinates were all knighted, and these generals were eager to Li Guo to be king, and they all went to the court, asking Li Guo to become the emperor in his own year.

Li Guo's uncle and brother Li Twelve, under the instigation of the generals, came to Li Guo.

At this moment, seeing Li Guo asking himself, Li Twelve smiled and said, "Brother, please ascend to the throne as soon as possible and succeed to the throne as soon as possible!" ”

Li Guo knew what the people below were thinking, but he was not in a hurry now.

Seeing that Li Guo was silent, Li Twelve continued, "Brother, you were noisy and rebelling at the beginning, and now that we have such a big family business, we should be rightfully king!" I think the time is ripe. I came here this time to discuss with everyone, and everyone wants you to be the emperor! ”

Li Guo smiled and said, "Do you all support me to be the emperor?" ”

"Yes! Is this still fake? Besides, from Xikou to Guangxi, who of us doesn't treat you as an emperor? Li Twelve said as he took out a blood book from his arms.

Li Guo was amused in his heart, took the list, looked at it, but did not answer.

Li Twelve turned to Nie Xin and Liu Tichun, and said, "We people have low culture, and it is also a big deal for my brother to be the emperor, so please Nie Ye and Brother Liu also praise and give a name together!" ”

Li Guo, Nie Xin, and Liu Tichun all laughed.

Li Guo said to Nie Xin, "Old Nie, you know my mind best, you can tell Twelve!" ”

Nie Xin twisted his beard and asked, "Twelve, do you know the allusion of the sixteenth year of Zhizheng?" ”

Li Twelve shook his head: "I don't know." ”

Nie Xin told Li Twelve.

In the sixteenth year of Zheng, that is, in 1356 AD, the naval army of the Yuan Dynasty was annihilated by Zhu Yuanzhang in Quarry Rock, the Yuan army surrendered in Jiqing City, and Zhu Yuanzhang entered Jiqing victoriously. He changed the name of Jiqing to Yingtianfu, and since then he has a relatively stable and promising base for development.

At this time, Zhang Shicheng, Chen Youliang, Fang Guozhen, etc., who occupied Zhejiang, Sichuan, and Huguang, had already claimed the title of king and emperor, and Zhu Yuanzhang only silently strengthened his own strength, only calling himself Wu Guogong.

This is because Zhu Yuanzhang solicited Zhu Sheng's opinion on his future strategic policy. Zhu Sheng said to Zhu Yuanzhang: "Build a high wall, accumulate grain, and slowly become the king." ”

It was under this policy that Zhu Yuanzhang completed the imperial cause of unifying China step by step.

And Li Guo is now just like Zhu Yuanzhang at that time. Although Zhu Yuanzhang was justified in the name of expelling Meng Yuan at that time, he still did not call himself the king and emperor, just to avoid becoming the target of public criticism.

Li Guo needs to be like this even more now, after all, there are many filial sons and grandsons of the Ming Dynasty, and there are many corrupt Confucians and talents loyal to the Ming Dynasty. At least, in military operations, there are more obstacles!

Moreover, Li Guo is about to sweep Jiangnan, and the territory will expand step by step, so it is unrealistic to rely on Li Guo's cronies to govern the occupied territory, after all, there are not so many people. If you don't claim the title of emperor, you can appoint local officials or people of high moral standing to continue to govern, and you don't have to waste Li Guo's military strength.

Li Guo did not openly rebel, and believed that those who surrendered also had reasonable reasons to do things for Li Guo, which would be of great benefit to the stability of the areas occupied by Li Guo in the future. When the time is ripe, it is only a matter of ripening the melon to become emperor.

So, this is the reason why Li Guo is not the emperor.

After Li Twelve listened, he really understood.

Li Guo said again, "Twelve, do you understand now?" When we were in Xikou, didn't we just think about building a high wall, accumulating grain, and slowly becoming king? Now that we are strong, we need it even more! ”

"Brother, I understand, I'll explain it to you! Let's sweep Jiangnan, what name is it? Li Twelve asked.

"It's easy to do, our name is 'everyone has enough to eat, everyone has money to spend, sweep away injustices, and everywhere is paradise!' Li Guo said. (To be continued......)