The legend of the king of crossing

Chapter 420 War Bonds

"Shi Aiqing, there are three reasons for this," I explained, "first, because it will take one to two years for the surprise army I mentioned to grow; Rhythm, everyone knows that both Zhen and Kublai Khan will place heavy bets in Xiangyang, hoping to eliminate as many new forces as possible outside Xiangyang City, and a battle with a large number of people will be more suitable for the display of the power of our firearms; Third, before the Mongolian army arrives in Xiangfan, the domestic army can be deployed at will, and its cavalry is highly mobile. I am worried that before Yunnan is captured, the Mongolian army will go south in a large scale and trap our army in the north. There, and when the battle of Xiangyang is intertwined, there will not be many mobile troops of the Mongols, "

Shi Yanzhi thought for a while and said, "Your Majesty's words are absolutely true."

I went on to say: "After defeating the Mongols in Yunnan, the Sichuan Military Region plus most of the troops in the Guangnan and Miaojia Military Regions will surpass the Mongolian West Route Army in number. Now, our army with a large number can take the initiative, "

Fan Wenhuan praised: "Your Majesty is as tall as anyone before. As the saying goes, you can see three moves in chess, but your majesty can already see ten moves away."

I smiled: "Lu Aiqing, Fan Aiqing, your Military Affairs Council and the Ministry of War have made a preliminary plan. First, let the Sichuan Military Region's governor, General Gao, deputy commander, Zhang Jue, and appeasement general Zan Wanshou know. At that time, General Gao will be in command. Southwest Allied Forces,"

"Yes, I obey the order,"

"There is also the Lin'an Military Region. After Yin Yinglei returned to Lin'an, he immediately carried out a new tactical drill. The Lin'an Military Region currently has a three-compartment military force. In addition, by September this year, the newly expanded one will have a four-compartment military force. Now, among the soldiers of the four sides, I plan to deploy the troops from the two sides to go to Xiangfan with me, and the other side will be commanded by Yin Yinglei, plus a small number of marines, to form a special coalition force of about 5000 people. Go north by sea, land on the Shandong Peninsula, and penetrate directly into the enemy's hinterland, and the remaining side needs to divide troops to guard Ryukyu Province, Jeju Island, and Lin'an."

Lu Xiufu said: "Your Majesty, Mr. Yin only led a group of soldiers and some marines to go behind the enemy's rear. Is the number too small?"

"Although the number of people is small, it can only be so. There are two reasons for this. One is that after Yin Yinglei landed on the Shandong Peninsula, he will stay away from our dynasty. They have to figure out all the logistics supplies. If there are many people, it will be very difficult. It is difficult to solve the problem of food and grass for soldiers; in addition, the Mongolian Eastern Route Army does not dare to act rashly. It should be no problem to open the Mongols' key military defense area. I will discuss this matter with Yin Yinglei carefully before making a decision."

"Yes, I understand,"

"My dear friends, after the missions of the various military regions are finished, let me finally talk about the distribution of firearms."

"Your Majesty please instruct,"

"By the end of this year, according to the plan, the number of muskets will be about 250. Among them, except for the Yulin Army, which is fully equipped with muskets, I plan to transform the troops of the Lin'an Military Region into musketeers. The [-] musketeers trained in Lin'an formed an independent firearms division with four regiments under it. At the beginning of spring, I will be stationed in Xiangyang. As for the artifacts, about [-] will be produced by the end of the year. In addition to the [-] assigned to the navy, I will set up a separate artifact troop. This troop belongs to the Imperial Forest Army. Follow me to Xiangfan, as for the other military regions, it is enough to equip each of them with a hundred muskets in advance, let them get used to it first, and then slowly equip them after the number of firearms is sufficient next year or two."

Lu Xiufu asked: "Your Majesty, why should the firearms troops be concentrated? Wouldn't it be good to equip each military region on average?"

"Lu Aiqing, my level of firearms is still in its infancy, and there are still many shortcomings. In terms of speed alone, if it is a one-on-one match, the combat power of a musketeer is still inferior to that of a skilled archer. Therefore, Only when they are concentrated can the power of firearms be maximized. Unless the breech-loading gun can be successfully developed, it will be difficult to change the status quo. Artillery is also an artifact. Although it is powerful, its production process is very complicated. It cannot be mass-produced. At this stage, I can only use quantity to make up for the lack of quality in the use of firearms, and the quantity will cost a lot of money. Therefore, I can only use the limited firearm resources to the extreme."

"Besides, with the emergence of this new type of arms, the musketeers, the skills and tactics of the infantry will also change accordingly. For example, there will be an arquebus phalanx protected by pikemen and sword and shield soldiers, that is, horizontal formations (that is, line formations) Array, referred to as line array), or column attack plus skirmish line, or in the form of combat groups, leap forward and alternate attack, and stray soldier tactics in between, etc. At present, the musketeers in our Royal Forest Army are attacking According to the formation I imagined (based on the Dutch Morris phalanx), its advantages and disadvantages still need to be verified in the war. If the skills and tactics of the musketeers are fully adapted to the development of firearms All aspects constitute an indivisible organic whole, and a complete combat system can be formed. At that time, it is the time to promote guns on a large scale."

I have always been responsible for the technical and tactical training of the musketeers, and the Royal Forest Army is directly under my jurisdiction. The Military Affairs Academy does not know the content of the training. Today, the array of musketeers I am talking about is also the number one among the participants in the palace. I heard it for the first time.

"I didn't expect the training of musketeers to be very complicated. I thought it would be enough to stand in a row and take turns to shoot," Lu Xiufu sighed after hearing this.

"When firearms develop to a certain level, they will be as simple as Lu Aiqing said, but it's not enough now, and now we still need to rely on formations and cooperate with cold weapons to form the most effective attack."

Lu Xiufu seemed to understand, "I wish I could be a musketeer all my life."

"Well, there should be quite a long time," I said with a sigh and continued, "I'm very poor now, and war is about fighting for money. That's not bad."

These ministers all know that the production of firearms is entirely based on the accumulation of money.

Jia Sidao suddenly answered, "Your Majesty, I have two suggestions that can alleviate the current financial situation."

"Is that so, Master, let's hear it,"

Jia Sidao said slowly: "Your Majesty, the Red Cross Society in Lin'an has outstanding performance, and its source of funds comes from the donations of good people from the people. Therefore, I think I can follow suit and let the businessmen, landlords and wealthy people in our court donate money to benefit the people. In the past two years, the economy of our dynasty has developed rapidly, and the wealth of the common people has also been greatly improved. As long as your majesty ascends to the top, he will definitely get the response and support of the people of our dynasty. Secondly, whether our dynasty War-related deposit certificates can be issued, with Dasong Yinzhuang as the issuing institution of the certificate, and then repaid in years, and according to the length of the years, a certain interest is given, so that it can obtain more income than depositing in Yinzhuang , in this way, a two-pronged approach is bound to be able to prepare a considerable amount of military expenditure, "

"Donations, war bonds," I looked at Jia Sida with some strangeness.

Jia Sidao was also taken aback for a moment and said: "Your Majesty, the name of this war bond is very appropriate."

Bonds are issued to investors when the government, financial institutions, industrial and commercial enterprises and other institutions directly borrow money from the society to raise funds, and promise to pay interest at a certain rate and repay the principal according to the agreed conditions. Bonds have a longer history than stocks Among them, the earliest form of bond is the public bond produced in the era of slavery. According to literature records, in ancient Greece and Rome in the 4th century BC, the state government began to borrow money from private merchants, usurers and temples. When encountering financial difficulties, especially when a war breaks out, the country will issue public bonds.

I once asked Jerry and Polo about various situations in Venice in detail, including financial aspects. Jerry said that as early as 1189, the Venetian government tried to issue bonds. When he left, the Venetian government had officially Authorize Parliament to include the issuance of public bonds into its legal scope.

Public bonds with modern significance originated in Britain in the 17th century, while public bonds in my country started relatively late. It was not until the beginning of the 20th century that the Qing government issued the first railway bond.

I don't know if Jia Sidao himself or his staff came up with the method, but this kind of idea must be advanced and feasible. Anyway, Jia Sidao still has some content in his head, although this kind of idea is common in many people. It sounds like a fantasy to people.

The participants could understand the word fundraising, but most of them were military generals, and they had no sense of what a bond was. Responsive.

But, fortunately, I understand.

Seeing that I was silent, Lu Xiufu asked, "My lord, are these war bonds really feasible?"

"Of course it's possible," I smiled and replied on behalf of Jia Sidao, "the issuance of bonds will happen sooner or later, sir."

"The minister is here,"

"Do you have a specific plan?"

Jia Sidao got up and said: "Your Majesty, I just have such a preliminary idea. This kind of bond is similar to people depositing their own money in Yinzhuang, but its income will be slightly higher than that of simple deposits. Simply put, bond The essence is that the imperial court borrows from the common people and pays the interest of the bond owner year by year, or repays the principal with the interest when it is due. As for the detailed plan, the veteran has not yet, "