afterglow

Chapter 554: Zhou’s total war speech; chasing people away!

Amid everyone's confused and puzzled looks, Zhou Changfeng waved, "Let's go! Go to the enemy's lair!"

In addition to deliberately leaking the news in advance, two trucks belonging to the Forbidden Army were also on standby outside Gaoqiao Airport - they were instructed to come today to help Zhou Daizhao pull some personal belongings.

But before my personal belongings arrived, a bunch of reporters got on the bus?
Reporters from major newspapers looked at each other. Everyone was confused, but everyone was extremely excited and could feel that there was going to be big news later.

When I set out, I just wanted to try my luck, but now it turns out that I came to the right place. Those colleagues who turned down the trip thinking that it would be in vain must have regretted it later.

Two sidecar motorcycles were at the head, one sidecar motorcycle was behind, and in the middle were Zhou's off-road vehicle and two trucks full of special passengers.

The motorcade passed through the Zhonghe Bridge and then passed through the Zhengyang Gate. The magnificent double-eaves veranda roof of the Consultative Yuan shone in the bright sunshine. The motorcade also turned left and right before arriving at the main gate of the Consultative Yuan. forward.

Here we are still "working" as usual today. Committees including the Foreign Affairs Committee, Government Affairs Committee, Finance Committee, Legal Affairs Committee, etc. of the Consultative Council are responsible for reviewing the rationality of related matters.

For example, the Government Affairs Council is currently discussing the court's recent policies. After the meeting, a short press conference will be held as usual. At the same time, the Legal Affairs Council is also preparing to start reviewing an industrial and commercial law in a quarter of an hour.

Zhou's sudden arrival was beyond everyone's expectation. The people standing guard here were officers and soldiers of the Fourth Brigade of the Guards, and the leading lieutenant even knew him.

"As a humble official, please refer to Zhou Daizhao! Can you help me with anything?"

"Just maintain order, forget about the rest."

"Yes."

There were many reporters waiting outside the gate of the Consultative Yuan, who were preparing to attend the upcoming press conference of the Government Affairs Council; some MPs also came by car to participate in the review work of the Legal Affairs Council.

The sudden appearance of Zhou Changfeng and his party was particularly unexpected and immediately attracted the attention of everyone present.

About ten minutes later...

There are still only eight or nine people in the conference hall in the west room of the main hall of the Consultative Council. The attendants have placed files and tea for each person in front of each seat at the conference table, but most of the seats are empty.

The president of the Government Affairs Council pushed up his glasses with dissatisfaction, and asked angrily and confusedly: "I have been absent for most of the time. Something strange happened today. What's going on?"

The bystander raised his hand and glanced at his watch and found that it was only one minute away from the scheduled start time of the review meeting.

At this time, a burst of rapid footsteps came from far and near. When everyone turned their eyes, a figure also ran into the meeting hall.

"Something happened, something happened! A large group of people gathered at the gate, all listening to people speak in public!"

"Speech? Who?"

At this moment, the scene outside the gate of the Consultative Yuan was particularly strange.

I saw more than a dozen trucks, motorcycles, and cars parked in various directions. Hundreds of reporters, congressmen, officials, soldiers, citizens, etc. gathered around and listened to the speech with bated breath.

Situations like this have happened before, but usually they were forcibly driven away by the imperial guards or patrolmen on duty within two minutes.

"...Our enemies have a steel production capacity of 60, 70, or even 80 million metric tons, which is four times ours; and a car production capacity of 5 million units, which is 40 times ours."

"Many people have been dazzled and blinded by the series of victories, and are intoxicated in the illusory glory they imagined. Little did they know that when we were standing still, the enemy who had suffered heavy losses was pursuing us with all his strength."

Zhou Changfeng, who was dressed in straight regular clothes, suddenly turned sideways, holding his sword in his left hand and pointing to the east with his right hand.

“Right now, the enemy across the ocean is building sixteen aircraft carriers, five battleships, sixty submarines, one hundred destroyers, one thousand transport ships, and twenty thousand aircraft. Could it be that these things are just for display at home? Counting for fun?”

"It is certain that the enemy's military expenditure will exceed 25 billion US dollars this year! But what about us? We are still struggling with whether 20 billion yuan in military expenditure is too much. Is this ridiculous? Is this attitude worthy of winning this war? ?”

"This stage of stalemate is when both sides are accumulating strength. Every day cannot be wasted, otherwise it will be giving up the initiative in the war. By then...it will be too late to regret it, and the war will burn at the doorstep!"

"Two years from now, we will be faced with dozens of aircraft carriers, thousands of landing ships, and tens of thousands of aircraft. With our current military strength and the expansion of our military strength, can we withstand it?"

"Only with a clearer understanding, more thorough mobilization, and a more comprehensive war can we stabilize the front and achieve victory. Some people say that this will delay construction and affect life, but rights are earned through hard work, and we cannot win a battle. Talk about construction and welfare!”

"In my opinion, even if all opponents are subjectively concerned about the country, they are objectively selling out the country and being irresponsible to the people of the world. Their mistakes and infamy will be recorded in history forever!"

Facing the cameras and many scorching eyes, Zhou Changfeng, who can be described as high-spirited, held the scabbard and raised his sword high, and asked loudly: "Everyone, do you want to win?!"

"think!!!"

When the shouts gradually stopped, Zhou Changfeng continued to call: "Now, abandon your illusions and start fighting! Long live!"

"Long live!!!"

Except for a few people who responded silently, the shouts of the others instantly formed a torrent that reached into the sky, and even rushed into the main hall of the Consultative Council.

As the speech ended, the extremely excited reporters turned around and squeezed out.

As soon as they squeezed out of the crowd, they immediately started running wildly, trying to reach their respective newspaper offices as quickly as possible...

At the Metropolitan Government House, Wu Weihuan, Cheng Han and others were originally discussing a report sent back by the Australian Corps, but it didn't take long to learn what happened at the Consultative Council.

"Ah?" Cheng Han's eyes widened so much that his gold-rimmed glasses slipped off, "That boy... isn't he putting people on the fire?"

Wu Weihuan, who was looking at the map with a magnifying glass, couldn't help but laugh, "Young people are courageous. They dare to speak and act. Now the people in the Consultative Yuan are getting anxious."

Cheng Han said helplessly: "He is causing trouble for the government by making such a fuss. I'm still wondering why there hasn't been much movement since returning from Hawaii. I didn't expect it to be a big deal!"

Wu Weihuan waved his hand and said: "Hey, that's not what you said. The court is not monolithic. Some people are happy and some are sad."

"That's true. Zhou Kexing has not finished his work this time, so he is not afraid of making such a fuss." "Well, regardless of that, let's quickly draw up a draft and list the estimated expenses for next year. It doesn't hurt to exaggerate."

"Speaking of this money, the Finance Committee (of the Consultative Yuan) always complains that it is not enough. It makes a lot of excuses but refuses to let go."

Facts have proven that the development of science and technology has a very significant impact on the speed of information dissemination. Early image fax technology allowed the classic photo of Zhou holding a knife to call for rapid transmission to major state capitals across the country.

At dusk that day, the evening papers of all major newspapers published this eye-catching news.

Because she took a nap, Zhu Lingjing only found out about this in the afternoon.

She clenched her fists subconsciously and gritted her teeth: "You dare to trick me again! It's so disturbing!"

"Your Majesty, you said not long ago that he was worry-free..." Su Yiyi beside him muttered.

Zhou actually specifically asked her for instructions beforehand, saying that the current level of mobilization is still insufficient, and there is a serious lack of experience in large-scale recruitment, and various funds are not sufficient, so he wants to remind and urge the Consultative Yuan to persuade them We will further increase the proportion of military spending in the future budget.

In the end, this is how this guy came to "remind, urge, and persuade"?

However, Zhu Lingjing is not angry. Her own view is that the focus should be on military spending, while spending on economic construction and public services should be slightly slowed down, and the fiscal deficit should be solved by issuing public bonds and additional banknotes.

Last year, due to endless debates in the court and the Council's insistence, only an additional 1.3 million yuan was issued in addition to the normal amount of banknotes, which is quite small.

Several analysts estimate that it is feasible to issue an additional 20 billion yuan in banknotes and will not have a significant impact on the market. The figures given by the tax superintendent are more conservative, and it is recommended that an additional 16 billion yuan be issued in batches throughout the four quarters of the year. If there are signs of price imbalance, it will be stopped.

Economists are generally optimistic about the future development momentum. Strong demand from the military industry has driven the development of metallurgy, food, medicine and other manufacturing industries.

In addition, due to the great progress made in the war, a large amount of oil and non-ferrous metal resources flowed into the Ming Dynasty from Nanyang, which significantly reduced the cost of production and construction - after all, some of these resources relied on imports before the war.

But is this false prosperity or real prosperity?

Market surveys are optimistic, with prices in most state capitals remaining stable and even falling in some places.

湖北布政使司的调查指出自去年六月至今年六月，武汉府的一般物价上涨2.7％、米价上涨1.5％、电价上涨4.2％、日用品价格上涨2.4%；工业原材料价格涨跌不一，铝材价格上涨11%、铜材价格上涨3.3%、钢材价格下跌0.8%，总体来看还是较为健康的。

Another more important situation is precious metals. Although the era of the gold standard has come to an end, it is not complete enough. Gold is still an important reference under the existing monetary system.

The Ming army collected gold and silver in various places in Southeast Asia, a small part of which was reserved as a reserve for the currency issued by the local vassal state regime, and the remaining tons of gold and silver were all transported back to the mainland.

On the premise that basic resources are relatively sufficient, the shining golden and silver precious metals are undoubtedly the best proof of the court's credit currency, and they can completely start the money printing press.

Zhu Lingjing is more radical in economics. Her idea is to increase the issuance of banknotes in batches until the market fluctuates and then stop it. At the same time, she will use policies such as restricting cash withdrawals, encouraging savings, and gold controls to stabilize the currency value and curb inflation.

However, a considerable number of people in the court were very taboo about issuing additional banknotes, and the negative votes in the Consultative Council's voting tables were always slightly more than half. As a result, the Ming court had not made full use of financial means to obtain additional funds.

Seeing that what Zhou Changfeng did was of great benefit, Zhu Lingjing decided not to cause trouble for him for the time being, but after all, he took advantage of the loophole and deceived her, so he must be intimidated, so...

"His Majesty ordered you to leave immediately for Zhou Daizhao and go to Yili to wait for orders. You are not allowed to stay in the capital."

People from the palace came directly to the door to notify, almost chasing people away.

Zhou Changfeng was originally bragging to his wife with great interest about his high-spirited scene outside the gate of the Consultative Yuan, but he never expected that woman Zhu Lingjing would drive him to a distant border area, even though there were still many days before the scheduled departure date.

Xia Xiaoshi held her daughter's little hand and said casually: "That's fine, sir. You just made a big deal, and if you stay, you're in the middle of the storm. You might as well go and avoid the limelight."

"Actually, there's nothing terrible about keeping it..." Zhou Changfeng muttered, then put his hands on his hips and said, "Then let's go! Get away!"

There is no father here, there is a place to keep the father!
The couple first sent their daughter to Xia Bing and Gao Lingling, then packed the necessary luggage and clothes and drove to the airport early the next morning.

At three o'clock in the morning, the Youyun-2 passenger plane they were riding accelerated and taxied into the sky, and disappeared among the clouds in the western sky after a short time...

While the upper echelons of the Ming Dynasty were arguing over internal affairs, the United States on the other side of the ocean was preoccupied with dealing with these hateful enemies.

On the same day, the U.S. War Department approved the printing of a booklet after review, allowing it to be issued as standard to each company of the infantry division that would be deployed to the Pacific Theater.

This booklet summarizes in detail the many lessons learned over the past year - and the cost is very high.

1. The Ming Empire Army was composed of a large number of volunteers. It was a modern force full of professional soldiers, with a large number of heavy weapons and sufficient training.

2. Chinese forces like to attack from several different directions, and commanders are encouraged to conduct surprise attacks—usually at dusk or midnight.

3. The enemy relies on powerful fire support when attacking. Xu Jin's barrage shooting is more common, but the distance is very long, usually more than 300 yards.

4. The Chinese troops are quite good at defense. Their commanders are all defense experts, and their firepower distribution is very complete and precise. It is not recommended to attack an enemy position that has been occupied for more than 12 hours with less than twice the number of troops and sufficient firepower.

5. The enemy's patrol operations are carefully arranged and often consist of 20 to 30 people, carrying no less than one heavy machine gun and one mortar. They will try any means to detect the strength and firepower of our positions. .

6. The enemy often sends patrol teams of 5 to 10 people. These teams will penetrate behind our army's front lines, attack officers or signal soldiers, eavesdrop on or destroy telephone lines, and record the coordinates of our army's artillery positions, supply depots, and assembly areas.

7. The enemy is quite cunning and will deploy booby traps very smartly. Even if they make a tactical retreat, they will also place mines or booby traps under the leftover items. As a result, we suffered a lot of losses. Note that the site must be cleared by engineers in any case.

8. It is worth noting that Chinese commanders are accustomed to sending elite advance teams 5 to 10 miles in front of infantry divisions or infantry regiments—enough to defeat our patrols alone, thus delaying our movements or attacking our marching troops. The army carried out an ambush.

9. The Chinese army has sufficient automatic weapons at the company and platoon level and powerful firepower. If close contact is possible, the infantry battalion commander should strengthen the equipment of the company with submachine guns or Browning automatic rifles.

In the final epilogue of the booklet, the editor noted:

"The series of victories of the Ming Empire army clearly prove their wisdom and bravery. We must deal with these enemies with the highest vigilance. The calm thinking of the commander and the courage of the soldiers are what our army lacks - this is also our tactical failure. s reason."

(End of this chapter)