There were five people sitting in the imperial study room, Zhu Youxiao, three bigwigs from the cabinet and Yang Feng.

These five people can be said to have already included the people with the highest status and the greatest power in the Ming Dynasty, and of course there is the Eunuch Wei who is not here. However, this eunuch cannot be mentioned on the table, so the five people are already the most powerful people with the greatest power in the Ming Dynasty.

This is to be transferred to the modern society of later generations, which is the Ming version of the nine elders of China.

Facing the eyes of the four people on the table looking at him, Yang Feng first glanced at everyone with a bright look, and then asked: "Your Majesty, all the masters, you are all well-read people, you can be said to be well-versed in the past and the present. So how dare I ask you, why have you been very taboo to work hard to expeditions since ancient times?"

Han Yu just snorted lightly but didn't say anything when he heard this. Zhu Guozhen smiled and said, "Kid Kaiyang is one of the few important officials of Yun Wen and Yun Wu in our dynasty. He has the most say in this matter."

Sun Chengzong and Yang Feng had a very good relationship, so he naturally had to give him face. After hearing this, he stroked his beard and smiled: "Since ancient times, the army's expeditions were focused on the advance before the troops and horses moved first. It would be fine to fight in this dynasty, but it would be different if they stepped out of the country.

The daily consumption of a large army is a huge amount, and if it is to maintain tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of troops away from the border, the people who need to be mobilized and the corvee labor collected are several times that of a large army. One is not good, it is to shake the foundation of the country. Therefore, the saints teach us that war is a major event of the country.

Why did the powerful Sui Dynasty, which was once powerful, perish in the hands of Emperor Yang Guang of Sui in just fourteen years? Isn’t it because Yang Guang abused the people’s power and was extravagant and desperate. He first went to Tuyuhun in the west and then went to Goguryeo three times, which made the country’s strength weak and finally won the world for the Li Tang Dynasty. This is the lesson of the past!”

Sun Chengzong said, Han Yu and Zhu Guozhen on the side nodded frequently. The Ming Dynasty has finally improved a little, and it cannot be destroyed all over the place because of the expedition.

"Heror Sun made sense."

Yang Feng said as he lifted the wine pot to fill the wine for several people on the table, and then said, "But as the saying goes, one time and another, the reason why the ancients were afraid of the labor force on the expedition was because the army was outside, and it was very difficult to replenish food, grass, equipment and materials.

This marquis once calculated that if the army leaves the country's border five hundred miles, if it wants to maintain the battle, it will require the same number of civilians to transport food and supplies in the back. If it leaves the country's border one thousand miles, it will need to double the amount. The same is true for the civilians who transport food and supplies. By the same token, the greater the manpower and material resources the army needs to consume. This is also why many people have been afraid of talking when they hear the expedition of the labor army."

“That’s exactly that.”

Sun Chengzong asked curiously: "Since the Marquis of Jiangning is already so clear, why should he even order to force Luzon into the Ming Dynasty? It should be noted that Luzon is more than 2,000 miles away from the Ming Dynasty and is far away from the ocean in the middle. Not to mention the food and wages needed to maintain a large army. Is there any reason here that I don't know?"

Yang Feng raised his glass and smiled, "Come on, let's drink this glass together, let's talk about it in detail."

Everyone still has to give this face, and even Zhu Youxiao drank all the wine.

Putting down the wine glass, Yang Feng then said, "So you only know one thing but not the other. In the past, if you want to maintain the consumption of a large army, the only way is to mobilize or recruit a large number of civilians to supply food and grass to the front-line army. But have you ever seen that this time, this Hou's expedition to Luzon and conscripted a large number of civilians were recruiting young and strong civilians in Fujian?"

Everyone looked at each other, and it seemed that they hadn't heard of it.

I would like to talk about it here that Yang Feng's Jiangning Army needed all the food, pay and equipment needed by Yang Feng himself. The court never paid a penny of money. Therefore, the court has always been indifferent to the logistics supply of the Jiangning Army, so even Sun Chengzong, the newly appointed chief minister of the cabinet, was not very clear. Now, when he heard Yang Feng's speech, he was curious and asked quickly.

"Jiangning Hou, why is this? Can you tell me in detail?"

"There is nothing strange here. To put it bluntly, it's just two words, the navy."

Yang Feng said seriously: "Since ancient times, when our Chinese army was expeditions, all logistics supplies were carried by horses and chariots by land, and then part of the army was divided into escorts along the way. After going through hardships, he arrived at the front line.

But Luzon is different. Since the rebuilding of the Fujian Navy, the Fujian Navy now has nearly 300 warships and hundreds of cargo ships. A cargo ship with a capacity of 1,000 materials can carry about 90 to 1,000 dan of grain. In this way, it only takes 35 cargo ships to travel back and forth. In this way, using cargo ships to maintain the army's supply is more than several times more expensive than land.

Moreover, there are many benefits of shipping, that is, there is no need to send heavy troops to protect them, only a few warships are required to follow and escort along the way, which reduces the loss of the army. When transporting food and grass, we do not need to consider the food and food that the heavy troops of the civilians who transport food and grass. We can transport as much as the front line. Please think, do you still need so much food and food to maintain a large army in Luzon?"

"hiss……"

This was the first time that several cabinet masters heard about this kind of thing, and they were stunned for a moment.

After a while, Sun Chengzong slapped his thigh.

"Mire... It's so wonderful... Tens of thousands of troops need only dozens of cargo ships in a month to transport them all. Neither civilian nor heavy escorts are needed in the middle of the journey. This way, the loss on the way is reduced by more than a few times. It's amazing that the navy can still use it like this.

If there is another expedition in the Ming Dynasty in the future, wouldn’t we be able to use the same method?”

Looking at Sun Chengzong who was overjoyed, Yang Feng sighed secretly. In later generations, even junior high school students knew that shipping was the lowest-cost transportation method, but in the current huge Ming Dynasty, no one could realize this, which was really sad.

China has been a land-powered country since ancient times. It only saw the risks of the sea but did not realize the importance of the ocean. It did not know that the ocean contained countless treasures, and whoever could dominate the ocean would dominate the world.

In order to make the few people here realize the importance of the ocean, Yang Feng added fire.

"In fact, all the masters only know one thing but not the other."

"Oh... I don't know anything else? Come on!" Sun Chengzong, who was so obsessed with hearing this, lit up his eyes and stared at Yang Feng for questioning.

"You all know that before coming, I led a large army to destroy the Spanish entrenched in Luzon and captured thousands of people. The Spanish were more than ten thousand miles away from Luzon. Why would they travel thousands of miles and would rather send troops and fleets to occupy Luzon for decades? Are they too much money to spend?"

"Huh...yes!"
Chapter completed!