Zhou Baoyu escorted Spiesmult, who looked like he was surviving a disaster, toward the outside of the palace. Liu Mingzhi stopped looking at the map and raised his hand to signal Xia Gongming and others to sit down.
They were all at the rear just now, so naturally they didn't know how they were going to deal with the Tsarist Russian general's surrender.
Naturally, Liu Mingzhi could not ignore these senior officials in the court and told Xia Gongming and others what had just happened in the front hall.
After Liu Mingzhi finished talking about what happened in the front hall, his eyes kept lingering on the four people, wanting to see their reactions.
As expected, Xia Gongming and Jiang Yuanming looked as dumbfounded as the officials in the front hall after hearing what Mr. Liu had finished.
Xia Gongming looked at Young Master Liu helplessly and shook his head: "One million taels of gold, thirty million taels of silver, a thousand boxes of rare treasures, and some specialties of Tsarist Russia.
Your majesty, veteran minister! You really have a big mouth as a lion!
This is as much as the tax revenue of one and a half seasons during the heyday of our dynasty.
How could the Tsarist Emperor agree to pay so much war reparations?
The old minister can see that you have no intention from the beginning to the end to put aside the past feud with Tsarist Russia and coexist peacefully!
Are you forcing the Tsar to go to war with us? "
Jiang Yuanming, the Minister of the Ministry of Finance, who was in charge of the world's money and food and had seen countless gold, silver and jewelry, also looked irritated at this moment.
Even Liu Mingzhi, the Minister of Household Affairs, felt that the war reparations he wanted from Tsarist Russia were a bit excessive.
All in all, it amounts to nearly 60 million taels of snowflake silver, which must be too much for Your Majesty's appetite.
"The old minister agrees with Xia Shoufu's intention. Your Majesty, no matter how you look at it, you don't seem to want to settle the feud with Tsarist Russia!"
"The veteran seconded the proposal."
"The veteran also seconded the proposal."
Young Master Liu gently fiddled with the tea leaves on the water's surface and looked at Xia Gongming and the others with a neutral expression.
"Sooner or later, Tsarist Russia will be the powerful enemy of our Dalong Dynasty, and it will be a matter of time for our Dynasty to fight Tsarist Russia.
In this case, we might as well try the attitude of Tsarist Russia first.
While we now have strong troops and horses, and the strength to defy all opponents, it is better to leave a prosperous country for future generations than to leave a mess for future generations to clean up, right?
Xia Lao Aiqing, you are eighty years old this year.
The other three beloved ladies are all in their fifties, right?
Although I am now in the prime of life, time is not forgiving, and I will eventually grow old one day.
If we don't do something for future generations while we can, what will we do when we get old?
Mr. Xia Aiqing, do you guarantee that the next chief minister of the cabinet, and even the chief ministers of the cabinet in the future, will be as loyal to the country as you are?
Two assistant ministers, can you guarantee that your successors will have the same ability as you to support the country and stabilize the government?
Jiang Aiqing, can you guarantee that your successors will be able to manage the treasury for me, which is the lifeblood of the world?
Can I guarantee that the successors in the future will have the same openness to all rivers, a broad mind and the ability to look down on the world like me? "
"This... Your Majesty has such a far-sighted plan, I am ashamed of myself!"
"Old minister is confused."
Liu Mingzhi picked up the tea and slowly stopped in front of the palace gate, looking at the palace with numerous pavilions and pavilions and sighed: "The new dynasty has just been established, and the road ahead is uncertain.
I don’t dare to be careless in calling myself the emperor.
The reason why I open my mouth like a lion is because I want to see what the background of Tsarist Russia is like.
It became the best, but it was just that the hostile relationship between our DPRK and Tsarist Russia was made clear a few years in advance.
Besides, I'm asking for a lot of money, so they can just pay me back on the spot, right?
Not to mention fully complying with my request for full compensation, even if we can give you 10% or 20%, we won’t be at a loss!
If we could lose half the amount, we would make a lot of money.
The worst outcome is for the two countries to become antagonistic.
That's just a matter of time, and it's not worth worrying about. "
"Your Majesty's words make sense. I have just thought about it carefully. This battle in the North is coupled with the battle in Yinshan three years ago.
Our court successively captured and killed no fewer than 100,000 Tsarist soldiers.
After all, the Tsar is the king of a country. He has lost hundreds of thousands of troops and horses in our country over the past few years. He should not be able to swallow his anger easily and turn a blind eye.
Once the war breaks out, it will get out of hand.
Maybe there will be no immediate war due to other reasons, but sooner or later our country and Tsarist Russia will have a great war. "
"Old minister agrees, it's not easy to make friends, but it's easy to make enemies.
Thinking about it carefully, if our dynasty had wiped out nearly 100,000 soldiers and horses in Tsarist Russia, we would definitely not give up.
Firstly, it is to avenge the death of one hundred thousand soldiers, and secondly, it is of course for the face of my heavenly dynasty.
If we suffer the loss of 100,000 troops and endure the loss, the power of our dynasty will be completely gone.
Vice versa, the same was true for Tsarist Russia. "
"It's good if you can figure it out. The combat effectiveness of Tsarist Russia's soldiers and horses is actually not weak.
The reason why they were able to achieve a complete victory in this battle in the North was that Qing Tonghou, Guyuan Bo and Rongwei Hou relied on the strength of their armor and artillery fire.
Coupled with the fact that our military strength far exceeds that of the coalition forces of the two countries, the disparity in military strength caught them off guard, so they were able to achieve a complete victory.
If they wait until they become familiar with artillery and develop ways to restrain or avoid artillery bombardment, it will not be so easy for our soldiers to win.
They are physically strong and well-equipped, making them a formidable enemy. "
"So, does Your Majesty think there is a possibility of war between our country and Tsarist Russia in the next few years?"
“I am not an omnipotent god, so how dare I draw rash conclusions.
However, no matter when war breaks out with Tsarist Russia, we must be ready to go to war with Tsarist Russia at any time starting from next spring.
We need to be prepared in advance to avoid being caught off guard when war breaks out in the future. "
"Your Majesty is right. We must prepare our army for war."
"Tobe."
"His Majesty?"
"If we have to go to war with Tsarist Russia around the end of next year or even the beginning of the next year, will the state of the treasury still be considerable?"
Jiang Yuanming took out a ledger from his sleeves and put it on the desk to read through it. After a long time, he closed the ledger and shook his head at Young Master Liu.
“Although it’s not empty, it’s not optimistic either.
There is no shortage of money, but there is a shortage of food.
If there is still no news of the success of the Western Expedition returned to the court by the end of the year, and we start a war with Tsarist Russia again, after collecting food and grass, if the war cannot be ended in a short period of time, and if the war continues for a long time, the people will have to eat sweet potatoes and dried sweet potatoes. .
Even if not all people are like this, at least 40% of the people in the state capital are living a tight life. "
Liu Mingzhi gently put down the tea lid: "What if the news comes back that the Western Expedition is complete?"
"That's no problem. We don't even need to collect food and grass from the wealthy prefecture. The emergency food and grass prepared for the Western Expedition Army is enough to support the expenses of the 300,000-strong army for about eight months.
Even if we include the consumption during transportation of grain and grass, it will still be no problem for the first half of the year.
Everything is ready and all we need is the east wind. The key is that the east wind of the Western Expeditionary Army does not know when it will blow back to the court! "
"Don't be anxious, what is supposed to come will come!"
