"Oh! Well done, Zheng Sen is a bit interesting." Li Xiao looked at the long telegram sent back from Paris and nodded happily.

All these years of hard work have not been in vain. Zheng Sen still has some tricks up his sleeve!

"Commander, even if France is messed up, it's not a big deal. Anyway, just send troops to do it!" Nie Dahu, who had just been appointed commander of the Fourth Division, waved his hand like a cattail leaf fan with great momentum.

"Big difference, big difference. France is actually divided into two parts, one is Paris and the other is outside Paris.

If Paris is in chaos, half of France will be in chaos.

If Napoleon really dares to send troops to suppress it, then I will provide weapons and support to the rebels. Military expenses are tight, so I will not send troops.

But spend a little money and start a civil war in France. That would be something you would like to see!

Once a civil war breaks out in France, the little wealth that France has accumulated over the years will be wasted.

We want to see what Napoleon wants from our Ming Dynasty. Hum!"

"We can do the same with Prussia. Those who instigate them will make trouble with them. Anyway, in such a big country, you can easily find something inappropriate or dirty.

As long as we find out these things and publicize them, we can achieve the goal that our Ming army cannot achieve.

Perhaps, this is a new situation of war in the future." Ai Husheng was also in Li Xiao's office, and he was very interested in this new situation of war.

On the face of it, this action would cost the country a lot of money.

But from the actual effect point of view, it is worth thousands of dollars. If nothing else, if the Ming army is allowed to travel across the ocean to fight.

Logistics supply alone will cost you your life!

Not to mention the cost of eating horse chews for tens of thousands of troops.

The action of dismembering India seemed like a complete victory for the Ming Dynasty. But in fact, the Ming Dynasty only dispatched hundreds of thousands of troops.

But military expenditures reached more than 11 million Ming Dynasty silver dollars! If you add in the money Li Hu spent in the tug-of-war with Wu Sangui in the early stage, the total amount is an astronomical figure.

The army enjoyed fighting well, and after returning home, they made meritorious deeds, were rewarded, were promoted and made a fortune. But Ai Husheng had a sad face, because the treasury was empty enough for rats to run away.

On several occasions, the salaries of officials were almost impossible to pay.

This is also the reason why the Ming Dynasty never had any large-scale wars after its expedition to India. It was not that they were unwilling to fight, but that they simply had no money to fight.

After holding back for several years, they finally sent out two tank regiments and Man Ye's First Cavalry Division to attack the Mongols.

There were only two tank regiments, plus Man Ye's First Cavalry Division. The total number added up to only 30,000 troops!

But the military expenditure initially reached an astonishing over nine million Ming silver coins. If it sent as many troops as the expedition to India, the Ming government would directly declare bankruptcy.

You know, the Ming Dynasty still implements a thin tax policy. The entire empire's annual tax revenue is only more than 8 million Ming Dynasty silver coins!

The imperial court's expenditure and income were completely out of proportion.

The reason why Ai Husheng has been able to survive for so many years is entirely due to plundering wealth from abroad to supplement the domestic supply.

This is also the reason why European businessmen began to boycott Ming Dynasty goods, making the entire Ming Dynasty's top brass restless.

Now it's better. We don't need to send out a large army. We can achieve the same goal by spending a million Ming silver coins.

What a money saver!

Ai Husheng feels that this method of subverting the enemy's regime needs to be greatly promoted.

"Yes! If Napoleon was smart, he would not have sent troops to suppress it. If he had sent troops to suppress it, we would use the power of the church to support French civil organizations with weapons and equipment.

By then it will be enough for Napoleon to drink a pot!

With the little wealth France has now, a civil war would probably destroy it.

Napoleon can only come and beg us to show our favor, haha!" Ai Husheng became more and more happy as he thought about it, and finally laughed out loud.

"Hmph! When fighting, you have to fight with real swords and guns. What's the point of doing this." Nie Dahu's words resonated with Shi Dewei.

The mission of the army is to fight wars. If it doesn't even have to fight wars, then where is the value of the army?

If you have no value, you have no right to speak!

The authority, treatment, and money in your hands will all be reduced. This is a matter related to the interests of the entire army, and we cannot remain silent.

Let this method become the mainstream of Ming Dynasty's external actions.

"Haha! Although this method is very effective, the Ming Dynasty's strong military power is the guarantee for the success of this operation.

Without the strong military deterrence of the Ming Dynasty, do you think Napoleon would not mobilize his troops to kill those who caused trouble?

From now on, this kind of thing must be left to Lvzhu. They will do it more professionally!

The Jinzhou Research Institute recently built a machine for taking photos. I think this thing is very useful.

We can take photos of our Ming Dynasty scenery and then find a way to print them in foreign newspapers.

Let them also see the happy life of us Ming people.

If they envy our Ming Dynasty people's lives, they will worship us Ming Dynasty from the bottom of their hearts. If they envy us, they will become even more dissatisfied with their country.

Being able to influence the spirit of citizens of other countries is soft power."

"Soft power! The commander-in-chief said it well. From now on, we will use soft power to repair those who don't listen to us.

If you have financial difficulties, just ask Luzhu to come to me. One year... I will squeeze out one million silver dollars in funding every year."

Ai Husheng greatly appreciates the concept of soft power. His motto is to spend the least money to accomplish the greatest things.

One million silver dollars seems like a lot, but when you look at it, it's not even enough to pay a month's salary to all the officers and soldiers of the Marine Corps.

"Hey! The God of Wealth is so generous today. Please approve my money note. It's not much, nine hundred thousand silver dollars."

Nie Dahu saw Ai Husheng's appearance and immediately came out to join in the fun.

"If you don't have money, you can drag me out to squeeze oil if you want money." Ai Husheng looked like a dead pig who is not afraid of boiling water.

"If I don't have money, then I will go to your Hubu Yamen to eat from today."

"It doesn't matter. You and your guard company can also come and eat. However, the food expenses of five cents per person per day will be deducted from the military expenses of your fourth division."

Ai Husheng has a lot of free time. Anyway, the Ministry of Household Affairs is the yamen that allocates funds, so I'm not afraid that I won't be able to repair you.

"You're such a picky old man, you've already mastered it."

"Haha! Let him dig it, and we'll treat him to lunch. Dong Laishun, let's boil the mutton and eat it. Hahaha!"

A few people were talking and laughing when suddenly there was a noise outside the office. Then, the door was opened with a bang.

Li Xiu appeared at the door with an angry look on his face. The guards wanted to stop him but did not dare to stop him. They could only stand aside rubbing their hands.

"Uh...!" Everyone stood up.

You can tell by looking at Li Xiu's expression that he is in an extremely bad mood. No one dares to come forward to say hello!

Li Xiu is the commander of the Ming Dynasty Navy!

Although he is the commander of the navy, he has more than 500,000 soldiers under his command.

Not only are there more than 150 ships of various sizes, but there are also 300,000 marines.

In terms of establishment, the number of the Marine Corps is almost close to the total number of the Ming Army.

Li Xiu, who was in a high position, had a cold face. Looking at the Ming Dynasty, no one dared to chase this guy's tiger beard.

"Everyone get out!" Li Xiao looked at Li Xiu and looked at Ai Husheng in a wrong way. He must have gone to the Hubu Yamen.

I couldn't find Ai Husheng, so I found myself here.

No wonder Ai Husheng stayed in his office and refused to leave. It turned out that he had received the news a long time ago and came to seek refuge.

There are people everywhere who are fawning over the God of Wealth, so it is not unusual for him to get wind of it in advance.

After hearing Li Xiao's words, everyone bowed to Li Xiu and went out. Only the two brothers were left in the huge office.

Shunzi closed the door outside, and the inside and outside of the house were immediately separated into two worlds.

"Now that I have become a commander, I have a bad temper. This time I broke into the door, but next time I have to kick it in."

Li Xiao lit a cigar and took a puff, blowing out a stream of blue smoke.

"Brother, why was my request to build a new battleship rejected?

You also said at the beginning that there are at least nine battleships. Three are on mission, three are for maintenance, and three are for training.

But now, why don't your words count?

The discount of six battleships has now been changed to three destroyers. Can destroyers be the backbone of the Ming Dynasty's navy?

Not to mention, you have to help the Russian Navy build a shipyard in St. Petersburg. Do you know that I destroyed that shipyard with great difficulty?"

Li Xiu was furious and roared like a fierce lion.

"That's all, are you done?" Li Xiao took another puff of his cigar and looked at his high-ranking brother.

"No!" Li Xiu rubbed his neck with a look of dissatisfaction.

"If not, just hold it in." "Bang!" Li Xiao slammed the table, causing the tea cup on the table to jump up, and the tea inside spilled out and flowed down the table.

"What kind of place is this? The office of the Generalissimo of the Ming Empire, how dare you break in through the door.

If it had been anyone else, they would have been beaten into a hornet's nest.
To be continued...