Chapter 226: The Battle for Military Expansion
"Didn't we save a lot of money during the second five-year plan? The Ministry of Finance should still have quite a bit of surplus." Cheng Yu took over the account book, and at this point he was already a little shameless.
If they can't make a comeback after being scolded by Chen Gong, it would be difficult to expand the army by 300,000, let alone the 100,000 they originally wanted.
"Do you think it costs nothing to take over the Northeast Plain? Wenyuan has been fighting in the Northeast Plain for more than a year. That was a long expedition. Don't you know how difficult the logistics are? Do I need to settle the bill with you for all the money I spent?"
"Moreover, the large amount of population attraction and engineering construction during this period have almost spent all the surplus."
"Although the Ministry of Finance still has some surplus, this money cannot be touched. We will need money to conquer other princes and pacify the Xianbei in the future," Chen Gong retorted.
"Then Yuan Benchu..."
"Don't you know what Yuan Benchu's so-called 500,000 troops are like?" Chen Gong sneered.
"After this battle, Yuan Benchu will probably have to sell land to the Jizhou nobles again. Moreover, this battle must have drained a lot of their assets, and the production under his rule will be greatly affected. It will be good if they can recover within two years."
"If we do this, the development of the areas under our rule will slow down and stagnate. Even if we take down all the lords, we will still lose money overall, and the loss will be huge."
"This is true whether we look at it from the perspective of population, economy, stability or strength. We have already done the math many times before, so I don't need to waste my words on it again."
Cheng Yu frowned, then looked at the generals behind him who looked helpless, and said with gritted teeth: "This time it is because we have few soldiers that we lost a lot of soldiers. Instead of this, we can first expand the army by hundreds of thousands, take over the world as soon as possible, and then..."
“And then layoffs?” Chen Gong said dimly.
"Do you think it's easy to lay off soldiers? Have you considered the adverse effects? Even if you don't consider this, who do you think would be willing to lay off soldiers?"
Facing Chen Gong's scrutinizing gaze, the generals dared not look him in the face.
"You can replenish your troops if they are killed in battle. But replenishing 300,000 troops after losing 300,000 is completely different from directly expanding the army by 300,000. Have you ever thought about the cost of maintaining troops, the cost of support, and the cost of logistics?"
"If an additional 300,000 troops are sent out to fight in this war, the logistical needs will at least double. The young and strong people who need to be seconded will not only no longer have output, but will also consume money and food, and mobilize human, material and financial resources, post-war support, incentives, local appeasement, etc."
"I roughly calculated that if this is the case, the cost of this war will be more than 20 billion, and I estimate it will be more than 50 billion. What should we do then? Increase taxes?"
When Tian Ze heard this, his eyes suddenly became serious.
Agricultural taxes must not be increased. This concerns the people's hearts and his great cause of cultivation.
Although the current scale of commercial tax is not small, it is still a little short. After all, the period of stability under his rule is still relatively short. Without such a long period of accumulation, I am afraid that increasing it will not make up for it.
As for the money houses and coinage, it was actually the same situation. Chen Gong's calculations were not based on copper coins, but on the output value of the people.
Money shop loans and coinage are just a means. The overall wealth remains the same, but it enriches the government and weakens the people. They can be used, but in moderation, otherwise it will cause unrest among the people, which Tian Ze cannot accept.
Although there are many people under Tianze's jurisdiction, most of them were recruited in recent years, and most of them have only been settled for two or three years. Although they don't have to worry about food and clothing, they are not rich.
"Even if you expand your army by more than a million as you said, how long will it take you to pacify the world? Three years? Five years? Or ten years?" Chen Gong snorted coldly.
"Three years will be enough." Cheng Yu said, gritting his teeth.
"That's easy for you to say." Chen Gong sneered.
"You lead an army of hundreds of thousands, which requires a lot of logistics support. It will probably take a year to march from Youzhou to Chengdu, and three years to pacify the world, haha."
"The army doesn't need to rest? Local bandits don't need to be pacified? What about logistics? How to deal with the local noble families? How long will it take you to conquer the enemy who are defending the city? What about the princes of the Central Plains who are banding together?"
"Yuan Shao, Cao Cao, and Liu Bei are all outstanding people. Even if they retreat step by step, as long as they cannot be killed, they can keep fighting. The noble families of the whole world are their confidence."
"It is not advisable to quickly take over the world. We don't have enough energy to sort out the places, and we can't afford such a massive swallowing up."
"How long will it take to conquer the world at the rate of one state per year? It will only be about ten years. But during this ten years, our development will not be affected, and the conquered territories can be digested steadily without so many hidden dangers."
"You still haven't figured out this account yet? I'll have to do it with you a few more times before I'm satisfied." Chen Gong shouted angrily.
"But we are at a complete disadvantage in terms of manpower in this battle, and we have just acquired Bingzhou, so we need to send troops to garrison there. Expanding the army by 200,000 is not excessive, right?" Cheng Yu said with a little relief. "Excessive! Very excessive!" Chen Gong shouted angrily.
"Like you said, the population attraction in the south is only a matter of the past two years, and the scale will soon be reduced. In less than half a year, the 200,000-man army will be withdrawn, if not all of it, at least most of it. Wouldn't that make up for the lack of troops you have?"
"There is also Lu Fengxian blocking the north side of Bingzhou, so there is no need to worry too much."
"The newly recruited 100,000-man army has been trained almost completely and is now ready to go into battle."
"If there is another war from now on, even if it is still a war like this where we are besieged from all sides, in addition to the defensive forces, we will be able to mobilize at least 400,000 troops. Isn't that enough?"
"Not enough! Not enough!" Cheng Yu was also forced into a corner. He directly pulled Chen Gong's sleeve and roared.
"Lü Fengxian is not completely one of us, so I still have to divide my troops to garrison Yinshan. The navy is not suitable for battles in the north and can only be used to harass the enemy's rear."
"So the total number of troops we can mobilize is only over 200,000. We are still short of at least 170,000 or 180,000 troops."
At this moment, Chen Gong could no longer bear it and was ready to fight Cheng Yu with his fist, but Zhang Zhao, who had already noticed something was wrong, quickly held him back.
Cheng Yu also rolled up his sleeves and wanted to take action, but was quickly stopped by Zhang Liao.
Even so, both sides still struggled and refused to give up, and the verbal battle never stopped.
"With nearly 400,000 elite troops, do you want to go to war directly with the princes of the Central Plains? With so many troops, the princes are enough to fight Dong Zhuo twice."
"It's better to be prepared. If Yuan Shao and Cao Cao can form an alliance to deal with us once, they will do it a second time."
"So what? Did they lose a small number of troops this time? We still have at least 100,000 more troops."
"We now have two more threats: Li Jue, Guo Si and Gongsun Zan!"
"Can you lead so many soldiers? Even if we fight on two fronts, with 200,000 soldiers on each side, how many people can lead them?"
"Which of Yunchang, Wenyuan, Junyi, and Gongming can't command a hundred thousand soldiers? Even if you give me another two hundred thousand troops, I won't think it's too much."
"You are just quibbling. How can we fight if we can't get the orders from one place?"
"Yuan Shao and Cao Cao together can gather 400,000 troops for attack. What can 200,000 troops do? I'm afraid they are not enough for defense."
"Do you think the garrison troops in various places are just for show?"
"There are so many garrisons. Weren't they previously held back by Yuan Benchu's constant dispatch of troops?"
"That doesn't require more than 400,000 troops, 300,000 at most will be enough!"
"Okay!" Cheng Yu, who was originally in a furious state, said without hesitation when he heard what Chen Gong blurted out.
The struggling body suddenly calmed down, and he gently patted Zhang Liao's shoulder, then slightly straightened his clothes, bowed respectfully to Tian Ze on the stage with a smile on his face, and said loudly: "My lord, Gongtai said that the army can be expanded by 100,000."
Everyone present was stunned when they saw this.
Chen Gong said angrily: "When did I say that?"
"What you just said is that 300,000 troops are enough. Doesn't that mean expanding the army by 100,000?" Cheng Yu said with a smile.
Then, without waiting for Chen Gong to refute, he quickly bowed deeply to Chen Gong and said, "The officers and soldiers of the Yudai Army thank you, Gongtai."
At the same time, he gently pulled Zhang Liao beside him.
Zhang Liao immediately understood what he meant, and signaled to the other generals with his eyes. They all bowed and said in unison, "Thank you, Military Advisor Chen."
(End of this chapter)
