PS: The third update is here, asking for subscriptions, monthly passes and recommended tickets!

After Long Yufei left Wuchang, he went down the river, and after arriving in Jiangning, he secretly met with the commander of the 9th Infantry Corps of the Army deployed in the general. After staying in Jiangning for two days, Long Yufei left again on a naval warship and arrived in Shanghai, which is located at the mouth of the Yangtze River. Although the current Shanghai is just a small county town, and Jiangbei is the territory of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, it is far less prosperous than in later generations. But in Long Yufei's plan, Shanghai would become an important city in the future, and after the complete destruction of the Manchus, it would be carried out according to his plan.

The military headquarters of the 11th Army is in Shanghai, and the defense area of the 11th Army is the section from Shanghai to Jiangning. Together with the 5th Army deployed in Wuchang and the 9th Army deployed in Jiangning, it undertook the heavy task of defending the Manchu Qing Dynasty. These three infantry corps are also the front-line troops of the army's Yangtze River defense line. In addition, in Changsha, Nanchang and Hangzhou, there is also an infantry corps each. In this case, a total of 6 infantry corps and more than 200,000 men will be responsible for fighting against the north. At present, the Imperial Army has a total of 18 infantry corps, one-third of which are deployed along the Yangtze River, one-third in Nanyang and Australia, and the other one-third in various provinces south of the Yangtze River, on the one hand, to maintain local stability, and on the other hand, to act as reserves. Once the war against the Manchu Qing was launched, it was mainly the reserves of 6 infantry corps and 6 corps deployed along the Yangtze River.

Long Yufei met with Major General Hu Tao, the commander of the 11th Army, and encouraged him to guard the Yangtze River defense line, stabilize law and order, and seize the time to train new soldiers, and strive to make those newly formed troops form combat effectiveness. Get ready for the final decisive battle against the Manchus in the future!

At a time when the Imperial Army was actively preparing for war. The Manchus did not stop their military operations either. In order to expand the size of the new army as much as possible, the Manchus adopted the method of arresting strong men and forcibly conscripting young people into the army. As a result, the number of Manchu armies continued to increase. Of course, because the weapons and equipment could not keep up, many people used old-fashioned firearms or even cold weapons, and once they were on the battlefield, such troops would only become the target of slaughter by the Imperial Army.

Long Yufei stayed in Shanghai for two days before leaving, and this time he did not choose to return to Guangzhou by land, but continued to return to Guangzhou by sea. When the battleship sailed through the Taiwan Strait. Long Yufei suddenly became interested, went to Taiwan, and stayed in Taipei for a few days. Long Yufei instructed officials in Taiwan. It is necessary to speed up Taiwan's development. We should properly handle the relations between various ethnic groups in Taiwan and maintain Taiwan's stability.

On June 18, 1844, Long Yufei returned to Guangzhou. This private visit, which lasted nearly 4 months, came to an end. Although Long Yufei only went to a small part of the place. But it can be regarded as seeing the most real situation. In addition to the garrisons everywhere. The senior government officials didn't know that Long Yufei had been there. Overall, although the current situation is still relatively bad, it is developing in a good direction. Especially after the imperial government intensified its blow to the remnants of feudalism, the lives of the people began to get better and better, and everyone's support for the empire and the emperor continued to rise. The whole empire, like the rising sun, began to flourish. Long Yufei has reason to believe that if this continues. In two or three years at most, the lives of ordinary people will improve. The country's strength will gradually increase.

The second day back to Guangzhou. Long Yufei held a pre-imperial meeting and discussed some of the problems found in the private visit to the cabinet with the cabinet, and asked the cabinet to find a way to solve these problems. In particular, the local feudal strength, the corruption of officials, and the instability of law and order caused by bandits and robbers must be solved as much as possible. Otherwise, it will cause a serious problem for the empire.

In the afternoon of the same day, Long Yufei went to the General Staff Headquarters to listen to the General Staff's war preparation plan. When Long Yufei began to conduct a private interview with Weifu, the General Staff had already begun to plan a war operation. This time, the target is the Japanese who slandered the empire during Long Yufei's enthronement ceremony. Although Onodera Sannori has apologized for his crimes, the high-ranking Japanese official Mabe Kankatsu has repeatedly apologized to the empire. However, the empire clearly does not intend to leave it at that. Japan is small in size, but it has a large population of more than 20 million. Japan is barren and cannot even be self-sufficient in food, but Japan is rich in gold and silver. Although the lives of the common people at the bottom are very poor, the ruling class is arrogant and lascivious. By taking this opportunity to conquer Japan, the empire could not only take the opportunity to recover a large amount of wealth from Japan, but also obtain a large amount of free labor. Now the empire is undergoing large-scale infrastructure construction and industrialization, although the army of Nanyang is constantly sending natives, but there are not enough people. Because of the conditions, many dangerous jobs have relatively large casualties. For example, when building a railway in the mountainous areas of northern Guangdong, there is often an indigenous skeleton buried under each sleeper. To this end, the Ministry of Transport has repeatedly contacted the General Staff to request an increase in the amount of indigenous imports to ensure that the construction period can be carried out smoothly. Although, the population of the empire was also quite small. However, the common people of the empire will never be sent to those dangerous construction sites. If Japan is taken, this labor gap can be well solved.

After several months of preparation, the General Staff has drawn up a complete set of plans, just waiting for Long Yufei to review it. As long as Long Yufei nodded, the Imperial Army and Navy would start acting as soon as possible to defeat the Japanese archipelago.

"Your Majesty, the War Department has drawn up a plan, and below, there is Major General Liu Zhongming, Deputy Minister of the War Department, to report back to His Majesty!" General Niu Meng, Chief of the General Staff, said. Niu Meng is now a general, and he is not too young, and he is not as impulsive as before. In the General Staff, he held more leadership positions, and specific matters were entrusted to the young people. In Niu Meng's words, he was originally a guy who was born as a pirate, and in terms of military affairs, he was a halfway monk, even if he studied Guò for so many years, he could not be compared with a professional. Therefore, he trained young people as much as possible and gave them all opportunities. Major General Liu Zhongming, deputy director of the Operations Department, is undoubtedly the most outstanding of those young people. When he was only in his thirties, he became the deputy minister of the war department, with the rank of major general, which can be described as a promising future.

"Hmm!" Long Yufei nodded. At this time, Japan was still under the rule of the Edo shogunate. The conflict between the domestic emperor and the shogun was also intensifying. If China were to take action against Japan now, the Japanese would not be able to resist it at all. For this war against Japan, Long Yufei is full of confidence. As long as there is no natural disaster similar to the 'kamikaze', Japan will be dead this time!

"Your Majesty, the General Staff estimates that in this operation against Japan, a total of two infantry corps and three brigades of marines will be invested. The 1st Fleet of the Navy will be responsible for the destruction of Japanese naval divisions and coastal targets. The specific battle plan was as follows, the 1st Fleet of the Navy escorted 3 Marine Brigades, landed directly in Edo Bay, and attacked Edo. After taking Edo, the army's two infantry corps landed in Edo and southern Japan, and gradually advanced, destroying all of Japan. Major General Liu Zhongming said. In fact, the plan for the war against Japan was very simple, and it can be summed up in one sentence, that is, to use the strong strength of the imperial army and navy to directly destroy Japan with the overwhelming force of Mount Tai.

"How many troops does Japan have? Will we be able to win lightly? Long Yufei asked.

"Your Majesty, according to what we have now, there are about 200,000 troops in Japan. Of these, more than half were in the hands of the Edo shogunate, and the other half were in the hands of the local feudal lords. Some of the feudal lords supported the Edo shogunate, while others supported the emperor of Kyoto. Others, however, remain neutral. Judging from the comparison of the strength of all parties, the Edo shogunate undoubtedly occupies an absolute dominant position, and the emperor of Kyoto is just a puppet with no real power! Major General Liu Zhongming said.

"Hmph, a small projectile land, the lord of the country dares to call the emperor, it is simply arrogant. After taking Japan, the emperor will not have to save zài, what is the imperial family that has been inherited for thousands of years, uproot it for me! Long Yufei said coldly. For these little people, Long Yufei owes no favor at all. The reason why Japan is a country with a deep-rooted foreign aggression is largely due to the existence of the Imperial Family. Although the Imperial family is a spiritual symbol of the Japanese. Pulling out the Imperial Family will inevitably provoke a revolt from all the Japanese. But so what? Long Yufei believed that even if all the Japanese resisted, the Imperial Army and Navy would be able to deal with it, and it would be a big deal to kill in Japan with a river of blood.

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Major General Liu Zhongming nodded. The faces of the other generals of the General Staff were also a little stern. Although they didn't know why Long Yufei hated Japan and the Imperial Family so much, they didn't need to know the reason. As long as Long Yufei gives the order, they will carry out the order. What's more, these generals really feel a little too arrogant for the lord of a small country to call himself emperor.

"Also, the General Staff should pay attention to the fact that the Japanese are crazy, or rather paranoid. The samurai, in particular, were even more fearless of death. After the attack on Japan, the divisions should pay special attention. It doesn't matter if it's a man or a woman, an old man or a child, if they are a threat, kill them. The most important thing is to ensure the safety of our soldiers! Long Yufei admonished. (To be continued......)