However, Emperor Zhu was not particularly satisfied with the plan proposed by Liu Hemming.
There was no other reason than the fact that the fighting was all being done by those short, dark Japanese rascals. What would the Ming army do? If the Ming army didn't fight on the front lines, was the emperor himself supposed to command a bunch of short, dark rascals?
Just as Emperor Zhu was pondering how he could go out and make a splash, Liu Hemming continued, "To level the entire 'little broken ball,' the current number of Ming troops is insufficient. I believe we should recruit another million soldiers."
It was an obvious fact that the current number of Ming troops was insufficient, as neither Emperor Zhu nor the Ming court could allocate all tax revenue to military expenses.
On the contrary, Emperor Zhu and the Ming court had always used the bulk of their taxes for infrastructure construction, schools, and literacy programs. The military expenses actually allocated to the Five Military Commissions were less than one-tenth of the Ming's annual tax revenue.
With insufficient military expenses allocated to the Five Military Commissions, it naturally meant that the number of Ming troops would not be large. While this was enough to ensure the security of the Ming, it was not enough to wage war against the entire "little broken ball."
Emperor Zhu grunted and was about to say something when Liu Huaiwen, the Minister of Revenue in charge of the Ming treasury, interjected, "Three billion! The Ministry of Revenue only has three billion Dragon Yuan in military funds available, not a single coin more!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Liu Huaiwen felt that something was amiss, and Liu Hemming's expression turned grim at a visible speed.
Three billion Dragon Yuan, when converted to silver, was three hundred million taels.
Assuming a soldier's monthly salary was one hundred Dragon Yuan, the monthly salary for one million soldiers would be one hundred million Dragon Yuan, and for a year, it would be twelve billion Dragon Yuan.
This was only considering the military pay, not the other costs incurred by the army.
For example, military equipment. The standard military equipment for Ming soldiers included a flintlock rifle and a bayonet. Supplies included a water canteen, two sets of military uniforms for spring and autumn, two pairs of military boots for spring, summer, autumn, and winter, and a battlefield first-aid kit. Other items included bedding, towels, washbasins, and ammunition for training, and so on.
All these miscellaneous items would add an additional cost of one hundred Dragon Yuan or more per soldier. If it were the Imperial Guards and the Solon Guard stationed in the capital, the ammunition costs would skyrocket.
If the cost of food was also included...
This meant that three billion Dragon Yuan could indeed be used to recruit a million soldiers, and it would be just enough to recruit and train them. However, the idea of using this million soldiers to push through the entire "little broken ball" was pure nonsense.
Zeng Cheng and other senior officials also suddenly came to their senses. Emperor Zhu looked at Liu Huaiwen and asked, "Uncle Huaiwen, are these three billion Dragon Yuan that can be allocated this month? Or this year? Or is it that the entire 'little broken ball' war can only be allocated three billion Dragon Yuan?"
Liu Huaiwen replied, "These three billion Dragon Yuan can be allocated to the Five Military Commissions tomorrow, but that is all that can be allocated this year. If the 'little broken ball' war ends this year, then these three billion are for the entire war. If it continues next year..."
At this point, Liu Huaiwen's expression turned somewhat unpleasant: "Next year, another three billion can be allocated. If we can squeeze some from the budgets of other departments, we can probably squeeze out another two billion."
"This means that next year, a maximum of fifty billion Dragon Yuan in military funds can be additionally allocated, but railways and other infrastructure projects will have to be delayed, and the construction period will be delayed by at least a month."
Emperor Zhu grunted, then turned to Liu Hemming and asked, "According to your calculations, how long will this 'little broken ball' war take to end?"
Liu Hemming pondered for a moment, then bowed and said, "Reporting to Your Majesty, I believe this full-scale war on the 'little broken ball' will not exceed two years. Firstly, other countries cannot afford to drag it out, and secondly, there are not enough people to consume."
Emperor Zhu nodded again, grunted, and then began to tap his desk, constantly calculating in his mind.
Although Alexander and Paul III had discussed calling on other countries on the "little broken ball" to attack the Ming, it was important to remember that there were many countries like France that were allied with the Ming. Once a full-scale war broke out, these countries would be Ming's support. If Alexander, Mahmud II, and Franz II chose to attack the Ming by land, they would have to face attacks from France and other pro-Ming countries.
Attacking by sea was also not an option.
The Ming not only possessed a large number of overseas military bases, but also controlled maritime choke points such as Old Port, Lanfang, and India. Coupled with the fact that Ming warships were half a generation ahead of England's, in the event of a naval battle, the English navy under George III would only be at the mercy of being beaten.
In this full-scale war on the "little broken ball," the Ming was basically in an invincible position and could completely wear down Alexander and Paul III.
Conversely, England, Russia, the Ottoman Empire, and other countries that wanted to attack the Ming could not afford to drag it out.
First of all, the Ming had been draining the blood of other countries on the "little broken ball" for many years. The economic conditions of those small countries had long been ruined. It would be an overestimation to expect them to support the war for even one or two years.
Secondly, it was Liu Hemming's second reason.
There were not enough people to consume!
This was the most insurmountable problem. Except for the Ming, no other country in the entire "little broken ball" could directly face this issue. Although it was said that war was fought with economics, didn't good economics require people?
The Ming now had a population of over 500 million. Even if more than 300 million were women, and among the remaining 200 million men, only 20% were of the age to be young and strong, and among that 20%, only half could go to battle, the Ming would still have a full 20 million young and strong men available for fighting.
What about the other countries? It was uncertain if their entire population reached twenty million.
Even if the Ming army was completely annihilated, and the technological tree of those barbarians in Europe reached the same level as the Ming, and the battlefield exchange ratio was one-to-one, Alexander and George III would not be able to afford it. With casualty numbers so large that they shook the foundations of their countries, their own nations would descend into chaos first!
Therefore, for the monarchs of European countries like Alexander and George III, it was best for this full-scale war on the "little broken ball" to end within two years, or even one year.
Thinking of this, Emperor Zhu couldn't help but shake his head with a smile and turned his gaze to Song Yucheng, the Minister of Works, saying, "Minister Song, how many more laborers do we need to complete our railway system in the Ming?"
What Emperor Zhu did not expect was that Song Yucheng could not provide a clear answer, and even muttered to himself – complete? What does "complete" mean, Your Majesty? Would building railways in the eighteen provinces of Han require the same number of laborers as building railways throughout the Ming Empire? Would building a single-track railway require the same number of laborers as a double-track railway?
Furthermore, even if the Ming army was invincible and could capture a large number of laborers from any country, wouldn't those captured laborers need to be fed? Wouldn't feeding them cost money? Even if they were as economical as possible, these laborers could not all be placed on a single construction site at the same time, could they?
Also, His Majesty, the territory of the Ming Empire was increasing every year! For every additional piece of territory, the Ministry of Works needed to plan railways for that territory, and the number of laborers required would also increase synchronously...
After muttering to himself, Song Yucheng still bowed and replied, "Reporting to Your Majesty, if we were to build double-track railways throughout the existing territory of the Ming Empire, the number of laborers required would be in the hundreds of millions, and the construction period would be at least thirty years."
Hearing Song Yucheng's words, Emperor Zhu, who had just wanted to say, "I will capture enough laborers for you this time," felt a sense of helplessness.
The total population of the entire "little broken ball" was only a little over one billion. Yet, Song Yucheng was asking for hundreds of millions of laborers with a single breath!
Damn it, do I look like a laborer?
After cursing silently, Emperor Zhu simply bent his fingers and tapped the table, saying, "Then let's end this farce within a year."
Liu Hemming was stunned and couldn't help but bow and ask, "Your Majesty, if we are to end it within a year, won't we have to let the armies of England and Russia come?"
This was also an obvious fact.
The "little broken ball" was not small, nor was it very large. Although the Ming had direct borders with Russia and the Ottoman Empire, it would take at least half a year to a year for the army to march overland to fight. After arriving at the location and fighting, it would take several more months to stabilize the region.
More importantly, there might be many countries attacking the Ming, and it was not very realistic for the Ming to divide its forces to attack so many countries. At the very least, one year was far from enough time.
Therefore, the best solution was to allow Alexander and George III to rally other countries on the "little broken ball" and attack the Ming by sea, and then decisively defeat them at sea.
Only in this way could the Ming end this war within a year.
However, what Liu Hemming did not expect was that Emperor Zhu actually sighed and said regretfully, "When Alexander and George III rally the other countries on the 'little broken ball,' our overseas military bases will directly dispatch their garrisons."
"Those closer to Russia will directly attack Russia, and those closer to England will directly attack England. In short, we will attack whichever is closer first and help them change their dynasties."
"In this way, this war will not take even a year to finish."
Liu Hemming was momentarily bewildered.
According to Emperor Zhu's strategy, this war could indeed be resolved in less than a year.
As the saying goes, a snake cannot move without its head. The Ming's overseas military bases were mainly distributed in Europe, making it very convenient to deal with England, Russia, the Ottoman Empire, and the Habsburgs. By killing these few troublemakers as a warning to the monkeys, other countries on the "little broken ball" could only obediently kneel and shout long live.
The problem was that this did not align with the original plan.
Why had the emperor, who had been full of passion and intended to confront the entire "little broken ball" with the Ming's own strength, and even planned to flatten the entire "little broken ball," suddenly changed his mind and decided to play the game of "capturing the leader to catch the bandits"?
Seeing Liu Hemming's bewildered look, Emperor Zhu couldn't help but sigh again and said resentfully, "The Ming still needs laborers!"
"I believe the Ming army has the strength to flatten the entire 'little broken ball,' and I believe the Ming can outlast all other countries. The problem is that I cannot flatten the entire 'little broken ball' right now."
"Therefore, I can only use England and Russia as examples to warn the others."
At this point, Emperor Zhu's voice even became somewhat mournful: "The young and strong men in those barbarian armies are excellent candidates for laborers. If they are all built into pyramids by you butchers, then the Ming's railways will be delayed..."
Liu Hemming was very sad.
Today was another day of losing a large number of generals and nobles...
He did not care whether it was killing chickens to warn monkeys or killing monkeys to warn chickens.
However, while Liu Hemming was lamenting in his heart, Emperor Zhu tapped the table again and said, "After the monkeys have been killed and the chickens have been scared into obedience, your Five Military Commissions can then call them out one by one and bleed them dry."
Hearing Emperor Zhu's words, Liu Hemming couldn't help but bow and ask again, "What does Your Majesty mean?"
Emperor Zhu snorted coldly, "I just said that the Ming still needs laborers."
"I cannot kill both the monkeys and the chickens together right now, because the more I kill, the more laborers the Ming will lose."
"However, I do not intend to let them off the hook either. If we cannot kill them together, then we will kill them slowly, one or two per year. I believe the Embroidered Uniform Guard can find sufficient and reasonable evidence."
...
Just as Emperor Zhu was plotting how to vent his anger, Alexander, who had just returned to Russia, felt a sense of disbelief.
Earlier, Alexander and the little mustachioed art student had nominally agreed to jointly divide Poland, but in reality, the little mustachioed art student had taken all of Poland, while Russia was to deal with the Ottoman Empire.
This agreement was well executed at the beginning. The little mustachioed art student had indeed sent troops to Poland, and Russia had also indeed deployed troops against the Ottoman Empire.
Even after Russia was taught a lesson by the Ming, Alexander did not regret the agreement.
He even had the audacity to rally George III, Mahmud II, and Franz II to attack the Ming together.
However, what he never expected was that before Alexander and George III could split up to win over other countries on the "little broken ball," the little mustachioed art student from Austria had inexplicably begun to attack Russia without saying a word!
What was even more outrageous was that the Russian army did not react at all in the beginning!