The first thousand one hundred and ninety-six chapters must colonize America for gold
Not only did the Army take away most of the temporary military expenditures, but it also wanted to take away part of the Navy's military expenditures from the Navy. Naturally, the Navy was very dissatisfied.
Fortunately, the Holy Emperor Shengming directly vetoed the Army's proposal, which gave the Navy some peace of mind.
But even so, they still felt huge pressure, and even more felt the deep malice from the army.
With the war in the north, the subsequent distribution of military expenditures will definitely be heavily tilted towards the Army. Even if the Navy is dissatisfied, it cannot change this fact. However, in this way, I am afraid that the southward strategy led by the Navy will be even further out of reach.
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If you want to completely drive the Portuguese out of the Nanyang Sea and capture Malacca, you probably don't even know how long it will take.
If the war in the north drags on for a longer period of time, for example, if it is involved in a long-term war with the nomadic peoples in the north, it may be very difficult for the navy to expand to the islands in Southeast Asia.
After all, although the indigenous people on the Nanyang islands are not doing well, they still need to send troops to encircle and suppress them. Moreover, due to the long distance and terrain, it is difficult to send troops and supply, and the casualties of the troops will be relatively large, and
These casualties are not combat casualties, but non-combat casualties.
The harsh environment on the Southeast Asian islands not only brought huge survival pressure to the immigrants and caused many injuries and illnesses, it was also very troublesome for the military. Even if they were not fighting, some soldiers would fall down due to illness.
Non-combat casualties are high, which also makes the Army less interested in Nanyang. There has always been a argument within the Army that we must be more cautious when fighting in Nanyang to avoid the disastrous defeat in the Burma Campaign in the early years.
At that time, the Fourth Infantry Division pursued the Can Ming troops into Burma. The enemy did not pursue them, and they did not fight any battles with the indigenous people. It lost one-third of its troops due to illness, and more than a thousand people remained forever due to non-combat attrition.
On the land of Myanmar.
This also made the army extremely vigilant about fighting in tropical jungles. They were not afraid of the enemy no matter how powerful it was. However, the army was helpless and deeply embarrassed when it came to those germs.
In addition, the expansion of the Nanyang region is basically led by the navy, so the army is even less interested in fighting on the islands in the Nanyang.
For many years, the Army's main garrison in Nanyang has always been two units, namely the Banten Garrison Regiment and the Luzon Garrison Regiment. The establishment of these two garrison regiments has not increased since their establishment.
Each has a size of just over a thousand people.
Although the two garrison regiments of the Army will not refuse to fight or neglect the war, it is impossible for the Army, with a total strength of less than 3,000 people, to occupy or even control the Nanyang Islands.
The two garrison regiments of the army can basically only be used to defend the main island. For example, the Banten garrison regiment's main task is to defend Banten City and the surrounding areas. The main task of the Luzon garrison regiment is to defend Manila and the surrounding areas.
surrounding area.
In recent years, expansion in other areas has relied on the coordinated operations of the Marine Corps and some militia forces.
There is nothing we can do about this. If the Army doesn't do it, the Navy will have to do it themselves!
This is why the Navy has established a Marine Corps with a total strength of more than 10,000 people, and it was all forced!
The Navy not only needs to maintain a large fleet, but also needs to maintain a Marine Corps of more than 10,000 people. It also needs to build and protect various naval bases, and the financial pressure is also very high.
For this reason, the Navy also followed the example of the Army and began to reform military expenditures. In addition to encouraging various naval military bases to cultivate crops, grow vegetables and raise pigs, and strive to be as self-reliant as possible in terms of food rations, it also adjusted the salary structure.
From ordinary soldiers, to middle and low-level officers, and even senior generals, their salaries have been reduced. The overall reduction is even more radical than that of the army, with a decrease of several percentage points every year. By the 14th year of Xuanping,
Today, compared with Xuanping's eight years ago, the average salary of the Navy has been reduced by about 20%, thus freeing up a lot of funds.
In order to avoid dissatisfaction within the navy, the navy's senior admirals took the initiative to cut their salaries. In addition to reducing their salaries, they also used part of it for donations. With senior generals taking the lead, middle and lower-level officers would not have too many
Great resentment.
As for the ordinary soldiers, they were still dissatisfied in the early years, but as time passed, the dissatisfied people retired one after another, and the newly recruited soldiers would not be dissatisfied.
Because even after the salary reduction, there are still countless rural children who want to join the army, and there is no need to worry about recruiting high-quality soldiers.
Because the military treatment of the Tang Dynasty, whether it was the navy, the army, or the Guards, has always been very high, and the overall treatment of its soldiers was much higher than that of ordinary civilians.
Even now after the salary reduction, a newly enlisted Navy private's monthly salary is still one or two cents. At first glance, this income does not seem to be high, and is similar to the salary of ordinary workers, but you have to know,
The wages of workers in the factory still need to be used to maintain their lives, while the income of soldiers is pure income.
Because in the army, it provides food, clothing, and clothing. The soldiers receive wages in the army without spending a penny. They can send all the money back home.
And the most important thing is, keep it full!
Full control has always been the core advantage of the Tang Army in recruiting soldiers, and it is also a major military expenditure of the Datang Army.
These soldiers are all strong men. They eat a lot every day and consume a lot of money.
However, the Tang Dynasty military would rather reduce other aspects of treatment than reduce the food treatment of soldiers, because food represents physical fitness, and physical fitness directly affects combat effectiveness.
In the past, the navy followed the army's example and cut salaries, naturally in order to save military expenses. However, with the war in the north now, I am afraid that the navy will be even more difficult in the future. Many navy bosses are worried about this.
Even today's imperial military and political meeting, the navy bosses didn't care to listen, and they didn't have much to do with them anyway. No matter what the final decision was, their navy had only one mission, and that was to ensure the safety of the Yellow River.
Escort logistics ships transporting supplies, and when necessary, provide fire support to troops stationed on the shore.
As for these tasks, the Yellow River Squadron can handle them themselves, and there is no need for the top brass of the Navy to worry about them.
Regarding the war in the north, they were even more concerned about a report sent back by the Luzon Squadron some time ago. This report was not a military report and had nothing to do with the war. It was a report about the war in Luzon this year.
Report of a large Spanish fleet during the Song trade.
This year, the Spanish followed the successful precedents of the past few years and boldly dispatched a large-scale trade fleet to Asia. This trade fleet had a total of eight ships, all of which were Galenic galleons. They sailed from the Americas
Set off, then cross the Pacific, and finally successfully arrive in Manila, Luzon.
According to the previous trade agreement reached between the Tang Empire and Spain, the two sides can enter each other's ports for trade. This has also promoted the gradual increase in trade between Spain and the empire in recent years. In order to bypass the Portuguese
People directly used the method of global trade.
Its fleet first set off from the mainland to the Americas, then crossed the Pacific Ocean loaded with American goods and gold and silver, then arrived at Luzon under the control of the Tang Empire, and then headed south to Bandan, which was also under the control of the Tang Empire, and then passed through
The Sunda Strait entered the Indian Ocean, then crossed the Indian Ocean to the Indian Go River state under the control of the Tang Empire, and then began the journey back to Europe.
The focus of this kind of global trade is the Tang Empire. If the Tang Empire had not given the three crucial footholds of Luzon, Bandan, and Gohe Prefecture to the Spaniards, it would have been impossible for them to complete such a task.
A feat of global trade.
In this process, the Tang Empire acted as a landlord, providing East Asian specialty goods, ports of call, supplies, etc., while Spain provided specialty goods from Europe and America as well as large amounts of gold and silver.
In the past, Spain only had one or two ships coming, which did not attract much attention from the empire. But this time, Spain came with eight ships at once, and the most important thing is that these eight ships carried
Lots of gold and silver!
Although the Spaniards brought a lot of gold and silver before, the amount was still not large. But this time, in order to purchase goods in Luzon, they unloaded almost a mountain of gold and silver at the port. This was almost shocking.
Luzon authorities!
Because the Luzon authorities judged that Spain was very generous in this trade and purchased high-priced goods, such as silk, fine porcelain, perfumes, spices, spirits, etc. In contemporary times, even if
In the empire, they were all luxury accessories, and shipping them back to Europe was even more expensive.
And they purchased various goods worth more than three million taels of silver, all paid for in gold and silver.
But according to the judgment of the Luzon authorities, their fleet must still have more gold and silver, because it is impossible for them to trade in Luzon. They must still go to Banten, Gohe Prefecture and other places.
Trade and then return to Europe loaded with goods.
The military observers of the Luzon Squadron made speculations and determined that their fleet carried at least more than five million taels of cash!
After this judgment was made, the naval officers of the Luzon Squadron all wanted to directly act as pirates and rob them, but in the end they still did not dare to violate the empire's major policy and did not dare to act recklessly.
They didn't know that the Spaniards had been preparing for this trade for many years. The previous small-scale trade was just to test the risks and explore the routes. After they were sure of safety, they planned this global route.
Moreover, these eight Galenic galleons are actually used as cargo ships, but their combat effectiveness is not weak. In a fight, even the battleships of the Luzon Squadron are not necessarily their opponents.
The Spaniards directly use the navy's battleships and plan for several years to prepare for a big one!
But such a generous move still shocked the Luzon authorities and the naval officers of the Luzon Squadron!
Therefore, the Luzon Squadron specially sent a report to the country. The focus of the report was that since the Spaniards were able to obtain so much gold and silver from the Americas, it makes no sense that our Tang Empire could not obtain it!
Colonizing America must be put on the agenda, even if it is for gold!