In the palace of Anning City in the Ning Kingdom of Western Tianzhu, King Ning was reading newspapers from the Ming Dynasty.
"The price of Egypt Canal stocks continues to rise and has now exceeded the 100-yuan mark. With the opening of the Beijing-Tianjin Railway, the stock value of the Beijing-Tianjin Railway Company has continued to rise and has now exceeded the 100-yuan mark. These two stocks
Becoming the highest priced stock on the Tianjin Stock Exchange.”
The Daming Business Daily that King Ning read first was not the Daming Daily. The Daming Business Daily had a column dedicated to reporting on the stock market and would report on the current situation of the Ming Dynasty stock market.
"It's more than a hundred shares!"
Seeing that the stock price of Egypt Canal exceeded one hundred yuan, Prince Ning had a look of dumbfounding on his face. He felt regretful.
"If you buy one hundred shares, my one million Egyptian Canal shares will be worth hundreds of millions of taels of silver. Hundreds of millions of taels of silver!"
Prince Ning's eyes began to turn red.
There was once a project that made me rich overnight, but I didn't catch it and gave it away with my own hands. Hundreds of millions of taels of silver, such a huge amount of wealth, I just gave it away.
"The construction of the main channel of the Egyptian Canal has now begun. When it is opened, it is estimated that the stock price will rise. With such a superior geographical location, after the canal is repaired, you can sit and collect cash in the future."
"Why doesn't Ningguo have such a place? Otherwise, we could build a canal."
King Ning looked at the map of Tianzhu Continent, then looked at the map of Ning Kingdom near Chixia City, and couldn't help but sigh.
After missing out on hundreds of millions of taels of silver and such huge wealth, even Prince Ning couldn't calm down.
Ningguo's current annual tax revenue is only about five million taels of silver, which is quite good. Among many vassal states and colonies, Ningguo can be regarded as one of the best. It is estimated that only the Western United Commercial Bank and the South African United Commercial Bank can compete.
Compare.
Of course, Ningguo's tax revenue is mainly used for the operation and expenditure of Ningguo's national institutions. King Ning himself also has a huge industry, among which the slave industry is considered the largest industry in King Ning's hands.
It can earn Prince Ning several million taels of silver a year. As for other spices, plantations and the like are not very profitable. There are many competitors, cheap prices, and low profit margins.
Calculating that Prince Ning would earn tens of millions of taels of silver in one year, it would be considered very good. It would take at least ten years to earn hundreds of millions of taels of silver.
This is why Prince Ning regretted it so much that his intestines turned green with regret.
"If I have hundreds of millions of taels of silver, I can build several railways in Ningguo. I don't know if this railway is really as magical as what the newspapers say. It can transport 2,000 people at a time and can run day and night."
It runs very fast.”
"If there is such a powerful railway, then wherever the railway goes, the rule will be extremely stable."
King Ning looked at the huge world map and the territory of the Ming Empire. It was too huge and vast. Almost the entire world had been occupied by the Ming Empire, leaving only Africa, Europe and Asia.
A small part.
"Alas~"
Prince Ning sighed and returned his gaze to Tianzhu Continent, looking towards the north of Tianzhu Continent. This is the richest and most densely populated area of Tianzhu Continent.
The decadent Lodi dynasty has ruled here for hundreds of years, and now the building is about to collapse. With just a slight push, this dynasty will collapse.
"After occupying this place, the target can turn to the African continent. However, there are too many diseases on the African continent. If we cannot defeat the many diseases on the African continent, it is absolutely impossible to penetrate deep into the interior of Africa."
Prince Ning frowned.
This is a heroic figure. During the Ming Dynasty, he was a pig raised in a pigsty. After leaving the Ming Dynasty and going overseas, he became a real dragon. He governed the huge Ning Kingdom in an orderly manner and became more and more powerful.
.
"Your Majesty~"
At this time, Prime Minister Li Shishi on the right and Prime Minister Liu Yangzheng on the left came to King Ning's side.
"sit down."
Prince Ning nodded, indicating that they did not need to be polite.
"Your Majesty, has the Egyptian Canal stock price risen to over 100?"
Liu Yangzheng looked at the newspaper on Prince Ning's table and couldn't help but widened his eyes slightly and asked.
"Yes, it's more than a hundred shares."
There was a sudden sharp pain in the wound in Prince Ning's heart. He finally felt better. When Liu Yangzheng asked, Prince Ning's intestines turned green again.
"More than one hundred shares. If we hadn't refused at that time, wouldn't this be hundreds of millions of taels of silver?"
Liu Yangzheng widened his eyes and added some salt to Prince Ning's wounds again.
Prince Ning's mouth twitched and his face turned blue.
"Yes, hundreds of millions of taels of silver are just gone."
Prince Ning said weakly.
"Let's not talk about this anymore. How is the conscription going?"
"Your Majesty, everyone in the Ning Kingdom is grateful for your grace, Your Majesty, and has responded positively. Judging from the reports from various states and counties, everyone is very active in applying for the army. There is no problem at all with the 50,000-strong army."
Li Shishi, who was in charge of the matter, quickly reported it to Ning Wanghui.
"Just having a few people is not enough. It also requires rigorous training, and weapons and equipment must also be fully prepared."
Prince Ning nodded with satisfaction.
This time the attack on the Lodi Dynasty in the north was a joint action of many vassal states and colonies. The main force was naturally Ningguo and the Western United Trading Company. The other vassal states and colonies were weak and could only contribute limited efforts. Of course, they would also eat meat when the time came.
Ningguo and the Western United Trading Company took the lion's share, and other vassal states and colonies followed suit.
Although the Lodi Dynasty has been in decay, it is still the country that rules the states in northern Tianzhu, and northern Tianzhu is the richest, most densely populated, and most advanced region on the Tianzhu continent.
It is not an easy task to conquer the Lodi Dynasty. After discussion, everyone decided to send 200,000 troops. Ningguo and Western United Commercial Bank were the main forces, each sending 60,000 troops. At the same time, North Korea and Japan would also send 20,000 troops each.
Other vassal states and colonies sent a total of 40,000 troops, with a total strength of 200,000, striving to capture the entire northern Tianzhu at once.
Ning Guo sent 60,000 troops, which has always been a huge challenge and pressure for Ning Guo.
Because Ning State's own military strength was only about 20,000, if it wanted to send 60,000 to fight in the north, it would have to recruit at least 50,000.
After much deliberation, King Ning finally had no choice but to recruit troops from all over the Ning Kingdom, including slaves. If he relied on Han people alone, it would be impossible to recruit 50,000 people. The total number of Han people in the entire Ning Kingdom was less than
Two hundred thousand people, and 20,000 are already in the army.
"Your Majesty, I have hired instructors from the Ming Dynasty Royal Military Academy to train our army and at the same time cultivate our own officers."
"I have also contacted Miyun Arsenal for weapons and equipment. They have sufficient supply and their quality is very good, but the price is too expensive."
"The price of weapons and equipment for 50,000 soldiers at the Miyun Arsenal exceeds 10 million taels of silver. In total, the weapons and equipment for one soldier exceeds 200 taels of silver."
When Li Shishi said this, he couldn't help but shake his head.
Since ancient times, this war has consumed a lot of wealth, it is really no joke.
This is just weapons and equipment for 50,000 people, and it costs tens of millions of taels of silver. This is just weapons and equipment. The soldiers and horses have not yet used food and grass. There are also expenses such as food and grass that have not been accounted for.
"A soldier's armed equipment exceeds two million taels of silver?"
"What equipment is this equipped with?"
When Prince Ning heard this, he immediately frowned. This was too expensive and a waste of money.
"Your Majesty, according to your instructions, all the weapons, swords, halberds, shields, bows and arrows are prepared. There are not the most expensive muskets, but these are armaments. Only the Miyun Arsenal can produce and manufacture them on a large scale.
Their quality is indeed the best.”
"So after calculation, this is already the cheapest preparation. If one soldier is equipped with bows and arrows, sabers, muskets, helmets, armors, horses, etc. according to the Ming army's preparations, two hundred taels of silver are simply not enough.
"
"The most advanced muskets of the Ming army now cost more than one hundred taels of silver. A qualified war horse also costs dozens of taels of silver. Counting other things, the Ming army spent more than five taels of silver on a soldier.
One hundred taels of silver."
"Now we are only equipped with swords, guns, swords, halberds, bows and arrows, armors, helmets, etc. We have not purchased muskets or horses. Two hundred taels of silver per person is already the most economical preparation."
Li Shishi calculated everything for Prince Ning one by one.
"What if you don't equip armor and helmets, but just buy weapons, bows and arrows?"
King Ning also frowned after hearing this. Money is really worthless in the face of war, just like running water. It is no wonder that such a huge Ming Empire can only support an army of about one million. This is because it has its own
Arsenals, horse farms, etc., all kinds of things can be supplied to the Ming army at the most favorable prices. Otherwise, the Ming Empire would not be able to support such a luxurious army.
"It can be less, but we still need to buy cannons. Without cannons, it will be difficult for us to attack the city, and the casualties will be heavy."
"And the cannons produced by Miyun Arsenal are even more ridiculously expensive. A cannon costs tens of thousands of taels of silver. It's like robbing money."
Speaking of this, Li Shishi also seemed very angry. The things in the Miyun Arsenal were really too expensive. To be honest, many things were not worth that much money at all, but according to the agreement between the vassal state and the Ming Empire.
The vassal state cannot produce weapons privately, and all the weapons and equipment it needs must be purchased from the Ming Dynasty, so the Miyun Arsenal can deliberately raise prices.
Of course, what they say to the outside world is reasonable profits.
