Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1455 Intense preparations ([-])

"How much military spending should we prepare for this war?" On the first afternoon in October 1666, the sun was shining brightly, and Qi Wangping, chairman of the Executive Committee of the Eastern China Republic, lit a handmade cigarette with a crocodile match, slightly wrinkled. Brow, asked.

The person who is being questioned by him is Major General Guo Zili (Canada with the rank of Lieutenant General), who is in charge of the military operation against France, including the mobilization and assembly of the navy and army, the selection of attack targets, and the establishment of supply bases. Wait, it's all because of his staff officers sitting together and "suffocating". Of course, the cooperation of the army staff officers is also indispensable, but this time they are not leading.

As an important part of war, it can even be said that the most important factor for military commanders and senior government officials is undoubtedly the cost and benefits of war.Let’s not talk about him now, but the cost can be estimated realistically. Gein’s navy is so weak that it can almost be overwhelmed by the navy on the east coast, and the army on the east coast is unlikely to land in France to fight. , so to some extent, the cost of this war can actually be roughly estimated, and the cost should not make the members of the Executive Committee feel too distressed-of course, this is only the Navy's unilateral idea. How to have to see.

"The navy dispatched eight 'August [-]'-class battleships, two 'Jiqi'-class escort gunboats, and eight 'Madao'-class escort gunboats, a total of [-] battleships, together with a number of auxiliary ships, to form the Spanish Temporary Special Detachment Fleet. The main combat mission of this fleet is to find the main force of the French Navy for a decisive battle, and to blockade its Atlantic coast, focusing on La Rochelle and Dunkirk, where French naval ships may exist.” Guo Zili became energetic when he talked about his old business, and he said in a froth: "In addition, the Ministry of the Navy plans to organize a landing fleet composed of two 'star' class light cruisers and several auxiliary transport ships. Head to Trinidad in the Caribbean Sea, with the cooperation of some ships of Air Canada, conquer the French strongholds in the Caribbean Sea and nearby, and then proceed to the next step according to the situation.”

"This is a two-way attack on the troops, not counting the auxiliary ships. Twenty warships have already gone out. If they go out for a year, according to normal conditions, it will cost 40 to [-] yuan. This is still counting on Air Canada, What about the cost when the Free State and the Spaniards provided some food nearby.” Qi Wangping really lived up to the nickname of “small abacus” given to him by others. I'm also a little ashamed, as expected, he is indeed the chairman of the executive committee of the East Coast Republic of China. This damn is so good at calculating accounts, why not become the Minister of Finance!

"It's about the same amount, let's calculate it as 40 yuan, leave some margin, after all, if there is a real fight, there will be a lot of surprises, and the pension is definitely not a small amount." Guo Zili nodded in approval. The chairman gave the data, and then continued: "In addition, the Second Fleet will send some ships to French South Africa, accompanied by a small number of officers and soldiers. It is expected to easily take over that piece of land. Therefore, the cost of this part is very small, It may even be possible to win without a fight. I think it is only necessary to dispatch some food and daily necessities from the nearby Hezhong area to stabilize the local situation, and the overall cost is expected to not exceed 1 yuan a year."

It is said that the people on the east coast have now found out where the French went and what they did after they were driven into the sea from Fort Doufan, and they have already made an attack plan.After deduction, the staff officers of the Ministry of the Navy believed that the Second Fleet only needed to dispatch "three or two ships" and "hundreds of armed personnel" to easily capture this colony where the French had not yet fully established themselves, and it was even possible It is done without bloodshed, so there is basically no cost.

"Well, the Second Fleet really doesn't need much money. Sending a few hundred islands and Eight Banners, and a fleet of deterrents, I believe that if the French are wise, they should not make too much resistance. It will cost several thousand a year. Basically, there is no problem with one yuan maintenance." Qi Wangping twitched his lips, squinted his eyes and said thoughtfully: "Next, we will talk about the cost of the army combatants who attack with the ship. This is not a small amount. Lao Guo, what do you think? Although they are all unnamed troops, salaries and pensions are not a problem, but when they are away from home, the consumption of these various materials is not a small amount..."

In fact, the low salary level of the miscellaneous troops that Qi Wangping mentioned just now is indeed a common situation in the East Coast Army. The most direct reason for the miscellaneous cannon fodder troops such as the Nationalist Army-there is no other, low cost, and less money!

You know, the miscellaneous army is similar to the militiamen on the east coast. They don't have any military pay when they go out to fight.Moreover, unlike the militia, if the motley army dies, those with family members can still give some pensions (but very few), and those without family members can directly save the cost (this is also the main reason why most of the motley crew are single men) , and the pension for the disabled is more than one level lower than that of the nationals of the country, and sometimes it will even be in arrears when military expenditures are tight. This cost should not be too low!

Before Guo Zili came to meet Qi Wangping, the army staff officers in the Joint Chiefs of Staff gave him an estimate. This batch of newly recruited soldiers of the Fengguo Army is expected to fight throughout the year. It looks like it won't exceed 12 yuan a year, maybe even just over 10 yuan. It's really a cheap army-of course, compared with the "Central Empire" army at the end of Ming Dynasty, the cost is still much higher.

However, the cost of the regular army companies that are determined to go out this time is not so small.Judging from the current plan, the third mixed battalion has two regular companies equipped with Mini guns, the first and second companies of the independent field artillery, the engineering platoon, and several staff and miscellaneous personnel. The total number is close to 750.Although they usually have to pay military salaries even if they don't go to war, they still have to pay some wartime allowances after they go to war, right?This is also an expense, but fortunately there are not many people, and it can still be supported!In addition, if you count the consumption of various materials during the battle, the pension for the dead and wounded in battle, and the cost of burning and burying, the cost will be about 10 yuan a year.After all, these people are regular troops, and the supply of supplies has always been plentiful, and the various allowances and benefits are not comparable to that of the miscellaneous troops.

Calculated in this way, the army's one-year expedition abroad may only cost more than 20 yuan under normal circumstances.In fact, because there are no serious battles to fight - except for Santo Domingo, the French colonies basically have no decent armed forces, which can be easily conquered - so the actual cost may be less than [-] yuan, but this It’s all uncertain, and it’s better to make the budget higher, so as to save a lot of trouble when the money is not enough to supplement the budget.

Therefore, this time to fulfill the obligation of the military alliance with the Spaniards to send troops to France, the Joint Chiefs of Staff estimated that the total expenditure of the navy and army for one year will be 60 yuan.Considering the existence of some unforeseen circumstances, the final reported budget has some margin. Therefore, the final war expenditure submitted to the Executive Committee is 70 yuan a year.

To be honest, the extra military expenditure of 70 yuan a year is still within the tolerance of the Executive Committee, not to mention that the actual cost may be less than 70 yuan, and there are still some spoils to make up for the shortfall-of course this It cannot be taken into account when making budget plans. What if nothing is grabbed, although it is unlikely—and if this war can be controlled to end within three years, then the total cost may not exceed 200 million This is quite a bargain for people on the east coast of the nearly 20 square kilometers of fat land and the Chilean region south of the Bueno River.

The land equivalent to one square kilometer is only ten yuan. Is there any more cost-effective business than this in the world?You know, that is the famous Mesopotamia region and the fertile Central Valley of Chile. If the Spaniards hadn't suffered "at home", how could it be easy for you, a pagan, to obtain it?

"70 yuan a year doesn't sound like much, but it still takes a lot of effort to raise it." Although Qi Wangping said this, the expression on his face was obviously relaxed. I heard him say again: "The government can squeeze out part of this money, up to 20 yuan per year. There is no more, and the rest has to be raised from many sources. It's a pity that the gold reserves in the Army's No. 50 Prison have not been able to The growth has been used to repay debts, and the [-] yuan shortfall in military expenditures still has to be funded from the national debt and the introduction of new taxes.”

Speaking of which, the debts owed by the East Coast Republic of China in the past few years were really huge. At the time, the principal and interest reached a huge amount of 600 million yuan. This is a debt amount that made many monarchs of the Old Continent desperate.However, the repayment ability of the people on the east coast is also very strong. The gold obtained from the Far East Heishui, Denglai, Ezodi, Japan and other places (mined by themselves + traded for) is half-robbed and half-deceived from the black natives of East Africa. The gold that comes here, the output of the Tieling Gold Mine, adds up to 900 kilograms per year, which is about 45 yuan in East Coast silver dollars, which can offset a large part of the debt.

And this is obviously the reason why the East Bank government has not been affected by the debt principal and interest economically over the years, and has always been relatively affluent.Otherwise, where do you think that there are so many buildings and museums in China, so many urban sewage facilities, so many road piers, and so many warships and armies?

Now facing the problem of declaring war on France, the executive committee feels that if all the funds are squeezed out, they can still collect 20 yuan in cash to support the war. As for the other 50 yuan gap, bonds can be issued and new taxes can be levied. But, of course, there are other means, such as collecting taxes in a disguised form through commodity monopoly.

"The three commodities, matches, lottery tickets, and cigarettes, are monopolized by the state. It seems inevitable. Otherwise, where will you get money from?" Not enough, I can only find a way from these ways. Regarding this aspect, I will urge the Ministry of Finance to give a feasibility report as soon as possible to see how much the funding gap can be filled. If it is not possible, we will continue to levy temporary war taxes , and the issuance of war bonds to the whole society, anyway, it is not the first time to do this, no pressure..."

It is said that due to the "negligence" of previous work, many commodities such as tobacco, alcohol, salt, sugar, tea, and spices are not monopolized by the state. As a result, the government now wants to take back the monopoly rights of these things, and the resistance is extremely huge. too likely.Therefore, we can only learn from the old wisdom of the United States, France, Germany, Japan and other countries in the 19th century, and find ways to find new products that have not yet been interviewed, such as matches that look promising, such as lottery sales that are increasing day by day, and The cigarettes that the government is trying to promote recently (although tobacco leaves cannot be withdrawn for the time being, but cigarettes can...) and so on.

Officials of the Ministry of Finance predict that, among other things, the three major commodities, lottery tickets, matches, and cigarettes, can recover a net profit of more than 20 yuan for the financial system in a year, and there is still a lot of room for this figure to rise. It is not impossible to rise to 30, 50 or even more.And if the government engages in the monopoly of several more types of commodities, such as opium, diethyl ether and other commodities (which are currently being implemented intensively), then this number can rise even further.

In short, after the implementation of the special commodity franchise system, removing the cost of the already arranged places (a part of the lottery ticket will be used for transportation construction), it can probably support military expenditures of about 15 yuan per year, which is quite good.

Calculated in this way, half of the year's additional military expenditure gap has been blocked, and the remaining half is not difficult to solve!

"The collection of temporary war taxes can be carried out again. Additional consumption taxes can be levied on high-end luxury goods such as high-end fur, wine, whale oil candles, whalebone products, clocks, pianos, and high-end brocades. The tax rate can be set higher; for some Consumer goods for the general public are also subject to additional consumption tax, but the tax rate can be set at a lower level. Together, these two items can contribute more than 20 yuan to the fiscal year. It’s settled, anyway, the amount is not big, and several companies will share it and buy it without even needing to sell it on the open market. This is a high-quality financial product, who doesn’t like it! At worst, we will help the government return the spoils of the Joint Staff Headquarters in the future Alright, what a joke!" Guo Zili said, patting his thigh for the last time.

So far, the biggest problem of military expenditure has been quietly solved in a few words between Qi and Guo, and the conditions for launching troops against France are already ripe.

(End of this chapter)