Finally home!

After three years of expeditions, Li Xiao killed India and the Ottoman Empire in one fell swoop. The power of the Ming Dynasty reached as far as the Middle East, and the fully navigable Suez Canal was in the hands of the Ming Dynasty.

Xinjiapo, located on an important waterway, is also in the hands of the Ming Dynasty, and there are all Ming garrisons at key nodes.

In other words, the most important part of world trade today is completely monopolized by the Ming Dynasty.

If the Ming Dynasty doesn't want to do business with anyone, then the country's cargo ships are out of luck. Your ship will have to make a detour to the coast of Africa, a long journey of several months. The cost of transportation is several percent more expensive, and after transportation to the mainland, there is no competitiveness at all.

Li Xiao knows that this world is a world about money. As in England, the act of sending troops to control a country is very costly. Countries that do such things are definitely kicked in the brain by a donkey.

Since it's a world about money, let's control trade. Whoever controls trade controls money. Whoever controls money is tantamount to controlling the world in disguise.

The obedient give carrots, and the disobedient big sticks wait. Uncle Sam's approach has been brought to the present day and is also very effective.

However, Li Xiao is very dead to trade, and most of the materials transported by Daming have to be transshipped through the port of Singapore. All non-Ming vessels, even those with foreign crews, are not allowed to pass through the Strait of Malacca.

In other words, the Ming Dynasty's coastal defense line is not in the South China Sea, but in the Indian Ocean.

Any unidentified ship in the South China Sea, or a foreign vessel, will be sunk.

The status of the Wa Kingdom and the Korean State is very special, they are subject states of the Ming Dynasty. You can enjoy almost all the benefits that the Ming ships have, and these vassal states also feel that it is a very face-saving thing to be able to become the younger brother of the Ming Dynasty.

At the very least, when their cargo ships pass through the Strait of Malacca, they will not be sent directly to the bottom of the sea with guns.

This has created a strange phenomenon, in the South China Sea, where trade is booming, only ships flying the Ming dragon flag are shuttling. The ships of the rest of the other countries will not see a single one!

Li Xiao was very surprised by the change in Daming, when he left the capital. The roads in the capital are still cement pavement, but now they have all become asphalt pavement, and the next heavy rain will wash them clean, and they will be translucent when they look at it.

"Now our roads in Daming are all paved with asphalt?" Li Xiao knows that the main source of bitumen is oil. There can be so much asphalt, which is enough to show that the Daming oil industry has begun to gradually become large-scale.

"To say that this asphalt is a good thing, not only the construction period is short, but also the car does not bump at all when walking on it. Unlike on the concrete pavement, where cars walk and people jump in the car. It's like shaking the Lantern Festival, you look at the car now, it's going steadily. ”

Sun Chengzong is even older, and the few black hairs left on his head are now completely white. The face is covered with age spots, but the teeth in the mouth are not bad. Very white, very new, estimated to be a pair of dentures of Xin'an recently.

"Hmmm! The asphalt pavement is better than the cement pavement, and when I passed by Jeju Island, I looked at the oil refinery there. It's already getting bigger, and I think it's going to have to be bigger. In this way, Daming will have more asphalt.

In the future, all the roads in our Ming Dynasty must be asphalt pavement. Li Xiao looked at Sun Chengzong with a smile.

"You built such a big oil refinery on Jeju Island, and the old man didn't understand. You make so much oil, we can't use that much.

The Newton and his men, whom you escorted back from India, spent the whole day studying on Changxing Island. The money is spent like running water, but it hasn't come up with anything, and the gasoline engine you said hasn't been done yet.

Do you think they can do it, or do they deliberately don't want to work for us? Sun Chengzong stroked his beard and asked Li Xiao very seriously.

"Mr. Sun, you put your heart in your stomach. In the future, you will not be able to get enough oil from the Jeju refinery, not too much.

Newton and his men had only settled down for more than a year. Many things are not achieved overnight, and now Daming can afford to wait. And the gasoline engine is a delicate job, even if they design it, whether we have the ability to manufacture it is a matter of two questions.

Anyway, let's develop step by step, and now the new energy of oil is in the hands of Daming. We're already invincible! In the future, even if there are unworthy descendants, it will not be easy to defeat. ”

Coaxing the old man is like coaxing a child, Sun Chengzong is like a child now, he has to coax it.

"The railway bridge built in Jinling has not been completed after three years. It is said that there is a big problem with the design! Zhang Huangyan's spirit is very strong, his eyes are shining, and he can't see his old age at all.

It looks like the old guy is having a good time.

"If there is a problem with the design, it will be modified, and we will cross the river by feeling the stones, and we have never built a bridge like that before. As long as the difficulties are eliminated, a good design and construction team will be trained. In the future, we will also build a bridge in Wuhan, and we can also build a bridge in Jiangyin.

The North and the South always have to be connected, and only when they are connected. The Ming Dynasty is considered a whole, from the north to the south, it is always necessary to transfer it by boat. Not only is it troublesome, but it is also easy to tear the country apart.

At the beginning, Nanming was in a corner of the south of the Yangtze River, and it was a loophole with inconvenient transportation between the north and the south. The Yangtze River is known as the moat chasm, but with the bridge, the Yangtze River is not a moat chasm.

In the future, we will not only connect the south of the Yangtze River, but also build bridges over the Pearl River, the Liao River, and the Yellow River.

There were some setbacks in the early days, which is understandable. Li Hao smiled and excused Stilwell.

Shi Kefa personally wrote a letter to himself, and he still has to give this face. After all, this thing is really crossing the river by feeling the stones, and it is impossible to make a mistake.

Although Li Xiao knows some bridge repair techniques, he did not graduate from civil engineering after all. For a major project such as the construction of a bridge across the Yangtze River, there is really only a limit to what can be offered.

"You have said all the good things, in fact, the old man and Mr. Sun also mean the same. As long as you use the construction of this bridge, a team will be trained. In the future, we will be able to build bridges on major rivers. It is necessary not only to connect the north and the south, but also to connect the whole country. ”

A few people were talking, and the carriage had already arrived at Li Xiao's marshal's mansion.

Entering the Marshal's Mansion, Sun Chengzong and Zhang Huangyan had no intention of leaving. Li Xiao could only take them into his office, he knew that there was something to discuss.

"Two gentlemen, please have tea!" Li Xiao asked people to serve tea, and then the three of them sat on the huge leather sofa.

"There's one thing you have to do." Sun Chengzong did not move the teacup. It's still the old rule, holding a teacup is to send off guests.

"Oh! What is so urgent? Li Xiao didn't understand, he had just returned from fighting from afar, what kind of thing was it that made the two old guys unbearable, and they needed to pull themselves to do things?

"Disarmament!" When the two old guys said this sentence, Li Hao immediately remembered a word, called unloading the mill and killing the donkey.

Just finished the war, just grabbed back such huge benefits. And the sacking of Constantinople, and also gained a lot of wealth. After conversion, this money can basically offset the cost of this expedition by sixty percent.

The dignified Ming Empire can't even get forty percent of the military expenses of the expeditionary force? With the current economy of the Ming Dynasty, this is a bit sensational.

"Two gentlemen, the army has just returned from battle. I am afraid that the current abolition of military personnel is somewhat unjustifiable. At the very least, we have to wait for the soldiers to be rewarded and recuperate, and then they will be dismissed! Li Xiao looked at the two super old foxes and didn't understand that these two guys couldn't hold their breath for Mao.

Originally, Li Xiao had already paid great attention to controlling the number of military personnel.

As the absolute main force, the first division has the largest establishment and the largest number of personnel. Adding up, there are 100,000 horses in the first division, which is the most powerful armed force in the Ming Dynasty.

Next is Yuan Chonghuan's Second Division, which was previously stationed in Lianguang and Fujian, and had more than 80,000 military personnel. It was only during the expedition to India that many troops were left behind as local troops.

There are currently just over 60,000 posts, and more than 60,000 are currently in Cyrenaica, awaiting repatriation by boat. Because they had the experience of garrisoning Liangguang and Fujian, the garrisons they were still stationed in Liangguang and Fujian after returning to China.

Cao Wenzhao's third division was stationed in the northwest all the year round, and now it has penetrated directly into the Western Regions to control the Ili River Valley. The total number of troops is only more than 50,000 people, and Li Xiao plans to return after Ao Ye's first division.

The Man Ye was transferred to the Ili River Valley, and Cao Wenzhao was transferred back to Xi'an. In these years of fighting in the northwest, his third division was the hardest fighting unit.

The ancestral Dashou division of the Fourth Division has not been too heavy in combat missions because it has always been a combat mission. There are only 40,000 people, and now the garrison is in Hami, controlling the entire Western Regions to enter the Ming Dynasty.

At the same time, it is also a barrier to defend the grassland peoples from attacking and harassing the Ming Dynasty.

The rest is the first cavalry division of Man Ye, whose number of personnel remains at more than 20,000 all year round. The current garrison is in the capital! As the only cavalry division of the Ming Dynasty, it is absolutely impossible to disband.

There are only these main armed forces in the Ming Dynasty!

Geng Zhongming and Kong Youde were stationed in Qinghai, and the ones who were on guard were the Tubo people. They have even fewer posts, just over 10,000 people. To deal with the Tibetans, more than 10,000 people are enough. But their equipment cannot be compared with the main force.

There are still people using revolver rifles, for the first division, many recruits have not seen them, and they belong to legendary weapons.

The Ming Empire, with a population of more than 200 million, had only 250,000 people in the main force. This is already a miracle, and this figure is not even comparable to England, France, and Prussia.

It's impossible, Daming can't even afford to feed these 250,000 people.

The rest of the troops, that is, Li Xiu's navy. Li Xiao admitted that the expenditure of the navy is a bit larger. Especially those expensive ironclad ships, not only are they expensive. The annual maintenance cost is also very expensive.

Moreover, after a certain period of time, warships have to return to the factory for overhaul. This overhaul also required a lot of silver to fill in.

The Marine Corps now has three divisions, each with about 40,000 men. They protect the maritime interests of the Ming Dynasty, and some key nodes on the sea are garrisoned by the Ming Marine Corps.

They are also responsible for the escort of the Suez Canal, and it can be said that the scale of 120,000 people is already stretched. If we want to abolish it now, how can we protect our overseas interests?

"The main force of the Liao army is the foundation of the country, of course it cannot be abolished! If the navy wants to deter overseas, it certainly cannot be dismantled. What we and Mr. Sun mean is to dismantle the original guard troops of the Ming Dynasty.

In the past, the guards left by the Ming Dynasty, although the annual military salary was not much. But it is always a burden on the state, and the military discipline of the guard is corrupt. We have carried out a large-scale layoff, and now the old man and Mr. Sun mean.

Since the country is peaceful, and there is no local civil uprising that needs to be suppressed.

Is it to abolish all the soldiers of the original guard of the Ming Dynasty, and all the personnel to be registered in the civilian population. In this way, the country will reduce a lot of expenses every year, and it will also free up a lot of labor.

There are more and more factories in our Daming, and more and more workers are needed. It's always good to have a little more labor into the factory. Sun Chengzong didn't speak, but it was clear that he supported Zhang Huangyan's meaning.

"All the guards are out and ...... removed!" Li Xiao pondered for a moment.

It is true that the guards have no combat effectiveness, and now they are only local troops, preparing to suppress the local existence. There are almost 100 or so people in each county, which is already very small.

However, the sum of more than 2,800 counties in the country makes this number very objective. According to a rough estimate, there are almost 300,000 people in the whole country.

Moreover, the quality of these people is generally not high, and the corruption situation is also very serious. To dismiss them, Li Xiao felt that it was still due.

The abolition of the guards means that the guard system formulated by the Ming Dynasty since the Hongwu period has officially ended.

"The guards have been removed, which is naturally a good thing. But......!

This matter needs to be carried out later, and the second division is in Cyrenaica and is preparing to withdraw to the country in batches. When the Second Division is withdrawn to China, we are currently dismantling the guards in Liangguang, Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, and other provinces.

Then we will strip out the heavy weapons units of the Second Division, and the defense of these provinces will be handed over to the Second Division.

The 3rd Division will be transferred back to China from the Ili River Valley, and the 1st Cavalry Division of Man Ye will exchange guards with them. After the third division is transferred back to China, it will be responsible for the defense of Shaanxi, Sichuan, Shanxi, and Henan.

At this time, the guards of these provinces will be dismantled!

After all the 1st Division returned to China, it was stationed in Gyeonggi, Hebei, Liaodong and Shandong. In this way, the garrison units in these places can also be dismantled.

The Fourth Division will be in charge of Gansu and the entire Western Regions, and their strength will not only not be weakened, but strengthened.

In addition, Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming's ministry can't move, this is my promise to them.

The guards who have been laid off should try to arrange a good place to go. Come to think of it, they won't make trouble either. In this way, the total number of troops in the country is about 700,000 to 800,000, which is already a very low number for the Ming Dynasty, which has a population of 200 million. ”