afterglow

Chapter 378: Cut up and eat; the title of Brigadier General of Jin Dynasty and the title of Captain of Mounted Cavalry
After losing the Dutch East Indu, the Dutch found that their country had nothing to do with the Ming Dynasty?

The two countries are separated by the entire Eurasian continent, and there are not many economic and trade exchanges. Moreover, there are actually more Ming Dynasty companies in the Netherlands than there are in the Ming Dynasty.

Starting from the morning of yesterday, the Dutch government officially announced that it would begin confiscating Ming Dynasty enterprises in the Netherlands that were “related to Ming Dynasty’s crimes of aggression.”

Many import and export trading companies and factories were seized by a large number of military police, and tens of thousands of large deposits related to them in Commerzbank and General Bank of Holland were also frozen.

Facts have proved that the so-called "civilization" of Europeans is often just a cover for doing bad things.

Unexpected but reasonable, Zhou Changfeng said leisurely: "The Dutch have lost their way."

Xia Xiaoshi thought seriously for a moment and said, "Sir, I feel like this is a bit like... a certificate of submission."

The Netherlands, with almost only its mainland left, suddenly fell from a second-rate power to a third-rate industrial country. Although there are still Netherlands Antilles and Netherlands Aruba, these are just two small islands the size of sesame seeds.

So she instinctively felt that the Netherlands wanted to hug her tightly.

"It cannot be said that the Netherlands, as the leader of the three lowland countries, borders Germany. Geographical factors determine its importance to Britain and France." Zhou Changfeng explained casually.

"Well. Then...the entire continent is in chaos now. Can the Netherlands be immune? They don't even have overseas resources now, so they can only rely on the protection of Britain and France."

Zhou Changfeng smiled disdainfully, "Xiao Shi, the Dutch are like grasshoppers after autumn, they can't jump around for a few days."

Just wait, the Germans will be at your door soon, the Bf-109 will soar in the sky of Rotterdam, and the III will rumble past the Royal Palace in Amsterdam.

As a retaliatory response to the Dutch's bad behavior, the Ming court also issued the same instructions and confiscated all Dutch companies in China.

Some of these enterprises and other assets were state-owned, and some were transferred to private enterprises willing to take over.

"Hey, no, there's someone in the wing."

"uh-huh?"

While talking and laughing, Zhou Changfeng reached out to tease his wife, who was a little shy as always.

Unfortunately, you can't rush things after giving birth. It's best to wait for one and a half to two months for a natural birth in good condition, so that your body can gradually recover.

Compared with the promotion to the rank of captain, the ceremony for promotion to general is more important and requires more preparations.

The Ministry of War sent a letter stating that the specific date was April 28, and you could just go to the Military Promotion Division of the Ministry of War that morning.

While complaining about the poor efficiency of the Ming court, Zhou Changfeng learned from his father-in-law that all major government offices have been very busy recently, and the impact of the great victory is rapidly affecting the mainland.

The departments of the Ministry of Rites must prepare to support the local political power; the departments of the Ministry of Industry must organize manpower to repair and expand local transportation facilities...

The restoration work of the Old Port Oilfield and the Balikpapan Oilfield is proceeding fully according to plan and has not encountered any major obstacles so far.

During the attack on Java, the Dutch-Indian Army Air Force organized an air raid against the NKPM refinery in Old Port, which seemed to suggest that it would be better to destroy the jade than to destroy it.

The formation participating in the air attack included 15 Martin B-10 bombers and eight escorting P-8 fighter jets. Although it did cause some damage to the factory facilities, the formation was quickly overtaken by dozens of aircraft that scrambled from three nearby airports. Ming army fighter jets laid siege.

Facing the swarming Ming Air Force fighter jets, only a few aircraft managed to escape, and the rest were shot down.

This air strike was wrong from the beginning. The limited aviation power should have been used to bomb the Ming army fleet or landing troops. The air strike on the oil fields was meaningless except to attract hatred.

Since then, until the BDA coalition surrendered, the Dutch have never dared to organize air strikes on oil fields.

The Daming National Oil and Gas Company is fully managed by Guangxin Hou Gemao. He actually holds a considerable share in it, but he does not just hold shares and wait to receive money.

After the assessment and preliminary repairs by the special task team sent, his answer to the court was relatively optimistic - it would be fully restored to normal production in two to three months, and 370 million tons of finished fuel oil is expected to be sent back to the country this year.

Of course, the premise is that the transportation capacity is sufficient.

The major financial groups of the Ming Dynasty, or rather the bureaucratic capital groups, are happily taking over Dutch assets in Malaya, Sumudara, Borneo, and Java these days.

The National Oil and Gas Corporation acquired the Old Port Oilfield, while the Balikpapan Oilfield was acquired by Chongsheng Petroleum Company.

The Jiangsu and Zhejiang Shipbuilding Industry Group ate up the Tanjong Priok Dry Dock Company in Batavia, and all the facilities of the Surabaya Dry Dock Company were taken over by Tai'an Shipping Company.

In this way, oil wells, refineries, shipyards, banks, auto repair shops, aircraft repair shops, etc. have all been divided up.

Sharing the cake, cutting the cake, and eating the cake, what could be happier than this?

However, these are only temporary. As the puppet regime is supported and established, these companies will ostensibly be handed back one after another.

From the 26th to the 28th, a series of new news of changes came from Europe.

The large number of German troops gathered on the border gave the Poles great confidence. Russian Poland took the lead in declaring its independence from Tsarist Russia and officially became independent.

Immediately afterwards, the Estonian militia (People's Independence Army) and the revolting Estonian Russian army began to attack local pro-Russian forces. The military camp was captured and bureaucrats were arrested, and they immediately declared independence.

The next day, after careful consideration, the Parliament of the Grand Duchy of Finland passed the proposal by multiple votes and declared independence again.

22 years ago, when Tsarist Russia fell into chaos due to the revolution, the Finns tried to become independent. However, as the situation in Tsarist Russia returned to stability and faced with a large number of approaching gray cattle, Finland's short-term independence ended.

This time, the Finns were determined not to give in.

In the heart of Tsarist Russia, the situation was even worse.

On the approximately 11-kilometer-long front from Smolensk to Bryansk, through the deployment of troops by the red and blue sides, the known organized troops include 2 infantry divisions, 4 cavalry divisions, and 20 infantry brigades. As well as a large number of militia troops, the total strength of both sides exceeds [-].

A huge confrontation was inevitable, and the Metropolitan Governor's Staff Office began to conduct deductions based on known intelligence.

The days passed like this, and the day that Zhou had been thinking about day and night finally arrived.

"By the way, sir, how are most of the students who graduated with you back then doing now?"

Early in the morning, Xia Xiaoshi was helping Zhou Changfeng put on his regular clothes and saber.

The latter replied nonchalantly: "My results back then were originally among the best, but this can only determine the starting point. To be honest, military achievements often depend on luck. Whether the battle can be encountered and won, None of this is certain.”

"I once told my friends that you could become a general before thirty." Xia Xiaoshi recalled the past and curled her lips: "They still don't believe it, huh."

Zhou Changfeng, who was holding a saber, smiled and said: "I was only a major when I met you, but even a major was one of the fastest among the students who graduated that year. It has only been three years. If it hadn't been for the real fight, After a few beautiful battles, you have to wait until you are 40 to become a general." Xia Xiaoshi is completely satisfied with the status quo - her husband is a serious general, which is what many girls dream of?
"Can you not go to the front line in the future? Sir, don't you always say that it is important for you to stay in the country?"

"No, it's just as important."

Zhou Changfeng, who was neatly dressed, turned to look at her and reached out to touch her cheek.

set off!

The more times I have come, I no longer feel the grandeur I felt when I first saw the military headquarters.

When passing the guard post at the gate, the lieutenant on duty took the lead in stroking his chest and saluting. The guards on guard also placed their rifles on the left side of their bodies and placed their right hands flat on their chests.

In the past few months, the war had been invincible, and all the major government offices were happy and busy, especially the Ministry of War and the Governor's Office.

The person who presided over the promotion and awarding ceremony today was none other than Xu Zhanming, who had been promoted to lieutenant general before.

"The four great joys of life, how do you feel today?" He asked after looking up and down at Zhou Changfeng, who was looking more majestic than usual.

"Well..." The latter pondered for a while and replied seriously: "This is the starting point, not the end."

"Okay, it might be arrogant to change someone else's mind, but you...hahaha" Xu Zhanming couldn't help but smile and said, "I can't believe it."

Those who are favored by others will be promoted quickly; those who have made outstanding achievements will not be promoted slowly.

The combination of the two, then...it's hard to imagine how the Ming Dynasty's water and soil gave birth to such a monster.

Facts have proved that the dozens of bottles of Maotai, Mianzhu Daqu, and Luzhou Daqu I spent back then were very cost-effective. There has never been such a small amount of money in the world!

Now, Xu Zhanming can understand firsthand what Ouyang Xiu said 900 years ago: "I should avoid the road and let him escape."

He was awarded the rank of Commodore of the Jin Navy, awarded the title of Captain of the Cavalry, and awarded the First Class Eagle Medal.

In the melodious music, Xu Zhanming finished reading the nothing new imperial edict, rolled it up and put it into an exquisite rosewood box.

He stretched out his hands to hand it over, and Zhou Changfeng also stretched out his hands to take it.

Rewards are awarded using imperial edicts and edicts, and military positions and military rank promotions use imperial edicts except for generals.Both were drawn up by the Military Promotion Department of the Ministry of War, and then submitted to the palace to be stamped with the seal of the Imperial Treasure or the Royal Imperial Treasure.

Is your kid so happy that he gets carried away?Why have you forgotten what you should say?
Xu Zhanming winked at him, and then he reacted and added "Long live your Majesty".

If you say you are unhappy, you must be lying. A soldier who doesn’t want to be a general is not a good soldier. Who hasn’t had the dream of being a general when they were young?
There were many acquaintances who came to congratulate me, but most of them were unfamiliar people and people with whom I had not had much contact.

"When are the promotion banquets going to be held? I'm waiting to make you poor."

After learning that Zhou was promoted, Shen Yu also slipped out of her busy schedule today.

"If you are willing, I will set up a table for you alone."

After all, they had known each other for three years, and they had fought side by side and had withstood the test. Zhou Changfeng and he had always had a very good relationship.

"Oh, just tell me when. I'm usually very busy. I won't be able to get away unless I determine the time in advance."

"It's just a few days, first year of junior high school."

The two walked and talked, and then simply went to a teahouse, found a corner to eat snacks and drink tea, and chat slowly.

After recounting their experiences during this time with great interest, their conversation inevitably returned to business matters.

Shen Yu habitually glanced sideways at the nearby area. After confirming that there was no one nearby and no one from far away deliberately paying attention, he said: "Now that we have gathered information from many parties, we can basically determine the United States' plans. The Senate is already discussing the plan to target our country." North Korea’s trade embargo bill.”

Oh well, what is supposed to come will always come.

“Basically, it’s gasoline and machine tools, right?”

"Almost, the rest is insignificant, but the technical blockade will be a little more troublesome."

Although the United States is currently huge, it still has not widened the gap with the established European powers in terms of high-tech and sophisticated technologies.

The oil problem has been solved, and machine tools are now in greater demand in Ming Dynasty.

Unlike Japan in history, it still urgently needs to import scrap steel and rare metals to maintain its metallurgical industry.

Although the output of the local machine manufacturing industry is not small, the problem is that it is too small when spread across the huge market. Orders from machine tool factories have been scheduled until next autumn.

According to the registration summary of the imperial court, as of the 38th year of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty had a total of 66 machine tools of various types, one-fifth of which belonged to official arsenals, mostly used to manufacture weapons and equipment.

The United Kingdom has about 71 units, Tsarist Russia has 43 units, and the United States has 94 units; the German Press has as many as 129 million units because it includes Austria.

Among them, the industrial capacity of the United States is outrageous. Although the current number of machine tools does not seem to be too many, historically it had 105 million units in 124, which surged to 153 million units in 177. Reaching [-] million units, it surged to [-] million units in [-].

The modern machine manufacturing industry of the Ming Dynasty began with the first self-made small lathe tried by the Guangzhou Nanyang Fleet Ship Repairing Station. It has been more than 40 years, but it took until the 22nd year of Zhichang to really get the machine tool industry on track.

There are now a total of thirteen manufacturers, large and small, in the north and south of the country, mainly engaged in machine tool manufacturing, of which five are government-owned and eight are privately owned, with a total annual output of 4.3 units.

It may seem like a lot, but it cannot meet growing industrial demand.

Ten years ago, the number of imported machine tools in Ming Dynasty was as high as 4 units per year. It has declined in recent years, but it still hovers around 2 units.

Zhou Changfeng nodded, "I've heard about this before. The cabinet had planned to seize the time to buy another batch from the United States. They should buy as much as they can. They should be leaving soon now."

"Speaking of which, we have an idea here." Shen Yu, who looked calm, lowered his voice, "The plan is to divide the political and business circles in the United States and win over some people; and then use public opinion propaganda to start a war, which will have disadvantages and no advantages. We should firmly isolate and The Monroe Doctrine. That should slow them down a bit."

"Is this the strategy you are considering after studying the national conditions of the United States?" Zhou Changfeng laughed dumbly and said thoughtfully: "Well... it's not impossible, but it may be too late. It would be much better if it was implemented earlier."

Shen Yu couldn't help but asked in surprise: "Is it too late? The imperial court has already decided to send troops to Australia?"

After speaking, he paused and added: "If it's not convenient for you to talk about it, don't say it."

"That's not the case." Zhou Changfeng waved his hand and picked up a piece of mung bean cake. "The imperial meeting will discuss this matter in a few days. It's undecided now."

(End of this chapter)