Only Xiao Letian could intimidate these unruly guys in the New Army. That night, an exam paper jointly written by Xiao Letian and Joseph began to be printed with ink. All the soldiers in the military camp were nervously preparing for tomorrow's exam. .
Ryukyu King Shang Tai, Wing King Shi Dakai and Xiao Letian, the three highest-status leaders of the Ryukyu Kingdom, gathered on the wall of Shuri Castle that night and held a banquet against the sea breeze.
After three drinks and five dishes, King Shangtai was the first to get drunk. He held a white porcelain wine cup and pointed at the dark coastal defense fort under the moonlight. On top of it was the American 280mm coastal defense gun that had just been moved into place. It was huge. The shadow stared at the bay like a monster.
"Prime Minister, I never thought that the Ryukyu Kingdom would have such a terrifying cannon. Do you know that after the huge cannon landed three days ago, all the Japanese were so frightened that their faces turned pale, and some even knelt down. Worship on the ground!”
"It's refreshing! It's really refreshing. It's a great blessing for the Kingdom of Ryukyu to have a husband. It's my blessing, Mr. Wang. Please drink this cup... As long as Ryukyu can be strong, Xiao Wang, I will be happy even if I eat dried fish porridge every day. !”
How could King Shangtai not be excited? A young man in his twenties is in his prime of life. He has been bullied by the Japanese for hundreds of years and now he has avenged his shame. Moreover, the country is prospering under the leadership of Xiao Letian. Everything is like a dream. .
It’s not that no one has warned King Shangtai to be careful of Xiao Letian. The Ryukyu royal family is also a little worried about Xiao Letian annexing the Ryukyu Kingdom’s ancestral temple, but form is stronger than people. Xiao Letian’s power has penetrated all aspects of economy, politics, military, culture, etc. Ryukyu.
More than a thousand new-style troops nominally belong to the Ryukyu Kingdom, but all the middle- and high-level officers inside are brought by Xiao Letian, and the Ryukyu royal family cannot command them at all.
There are also those ten schools that all received Xiao Letian's Western education. Everyone recognized Xiao Letian as their master. In less than three years, all the generals in the Ryukyu court would be Xiao Letian's disciples.
What's even more terrible is the economic control of the Ryukyu Kingdom by Rakuten Bank. All the foreign money currently circulating on the market is Mexican Eagle Ocean, and the soldiers' military pay is all beautifully printed banknotes. The kingdom's finance has been monopolized by Rakuten Bank.
The only hope is that Xiao Letian keeps his word. I hope he has a long-term and broad vision. I hope he pays more attention to the world and doesn't take this county too seriously.
In addition, I hope that the elites who came from the mainland civilization will not look too ugly, and at least leave a face for the Ryukyu royal family!
Xiao Letian and Shi Dakai looked at each other and smiled. They both recognized King Shang Tai's lame flattery. After drinking a drink, Xiao Letian smiled and said, "Is your Majesty coming to the minister to cry for poverty? Hahaha, I understand, I understand, In the past year, the Ryukyu national treasury has been unable to sustain itself without money coming in. Although foreign companies have taken over the main expenditures of the imperial court, His Majesty himself also needs some pocket money!"
While they were talking, a Chinese man who looked like a bookkeeper came up with a black lacquered wooden box. "I've seen your Majesty, I've seen the Prime Minister. This is a foreign bank. Please check..." After saying that, he put it on the table and stepped back. Then walked down the city wall.
Opening the wooden box, there were stacks of money notes printed by foreign banks. Xiao Letian picked up a stack and flipped through it, "Your Majesty, here is a small deposit certificate of 200,000 silver dollars. It can be regarded as your Majesty's New Year's money this year. Now it is on the market. Merchants have already recognized this kind of money ticket. It is very convenient for the palace to use it directly or exchange it..."
Two hundred thousand silver dollars! Or just pocket money for the royal family! King Shoutai has never been so wealthy. In the past, the Ryukyu Kingdom could collect six to seven hundred thousand a year in taxes, but the Shimazu family had to take more than half of it, and the rest had to be maintained by officials and the army. In terms of expenses, the palace does not have much balance in a year.
In King Shangtai's memory, after the palace settled accounts with the Ministry of Revenue at the end of the year, it would be considered a blessing to have a balance of 50,000 to 60,000 taels, and this balance would be the king's private money.
Today, Xiao Letian reached out and gave King Shangtai 200,000 silver dollars, which was more than the balance of four years in normal times. King Shangtai's hands were shaking a little with excitement.
"Master, now Ryukyu is in desperate need of development, and money is needed everywhere. This money should be used in more important places..." King Shangtai said politely, but his eyes were already glued to it and he couldn't take it off. In his heart, he even There are plans to renovate Shuri Castle.
Xiao Letian had already seen through his mind. "Your Majesty, don't refuse. It is true that as your Majesty said, money is needed everywhere now, but it is not short of these two hundred thousand. Don't worry, the annual balance will only increase in the future." Reduce it, just look at it..."
King Shangtai was so drunk that he drank three pots of daughter's red wine by himself. In the end, he held the cash box and refused to let go. Even the servants couldn't grab it.
The chamberlain helped His Majesty return to the harem to rest. Only Shi Dakai and Xiao Letian were left on the city wall. There was no one within a hundred steps.
"Sir, have you thought about it? Aren't you going to eat this Ryukyu?" Shi Dakai has always had this question, especially when Xiao Letian vaguely vouched for King Shangtai at the wine table.
"Haha, the prince thought wrong!" Xiao Letian pointed at the brightly lit foreign ships on the pier, and then pointed at the coastal defense forts under construction.
"Look at all this. I'm not talking about ten years ago. Even three years ago, my lord, have you ever thought about such a scene? The world today is no longer a world where saints live. The utopia of literati no longer exists. The ultimate fate of a country like Ryukyu is to be annexed by a major power..."
"I'm not being alarmist, this is the iron-clad reality. This is not a small inland and barren country that not many people care about. This is the bridge of all nations, the outlet of Chinese civilization, and the chain that locks China's national destiny..."
"This chain of islands is really important. As long as the Ryukyu Kingdom is under our control, then the Bohai Sea, the East China Sea, and the Yellow Sea will all become China's inland seas. If the enemy wants to invade, they must break through. An island chain…”
"If a war breaks out in the Pacific or the South China Sea, it is better than letting people bombard you with artillery at your doorstep, right? In my vision, an armed island chain and two or three ocean-going fleets can block foreign enemies in the Pacific. Blocking the south of the South China Sea..."
Shi Dakai gasped on the spot, "Sir, this is too big a deal. How many warships will it take to block such a large sea area? How much money will it cost? Do you want to do it on your own?"
Xiao Letian shook his head, his back molars clenching loudly. In later generations of the Beiyang Navy, from the purchase of battleships to the construction of docks, to the establishment of schools to cultivate talents and support the army, the chief engineer spent 30 million taels of silver to build the skeleton. This also includes corrupt money.
According to the corruption of the late Qing bureaucracy, half of the 30 million taels would have to be eaten. It is estimated that 15 million taels of silver would be enough for a Beiyang fleet. It was calculated that the U.S. dollar at that time was about 40 million.
Is this a lot of money? Maybe it was a huge amount of money for small countries like Ryukyu and Japan, but for the huge China, it was just a drop in the bucket. The compensation of 200 million taels of silver to small Japan was paid in the blink of an eye.
If this small amount of money were put in the eyes of Heshen and Zhongtang, they would not take it seriously. The Chinese nation's wealth accumulated over thousands of years is so huge that it is simply unimaginable.
"Prince, please rest assured. He and Shen could embezzle 200 million taels of silver from Qianlong. Do you think I don't have the ability? To tell you the truth, your old enemy Zeng Guofan has reached an agreement with me. From now on, Jiangnan I can choose from the loose silver taels on the market, and Hu Xueyan will also fully cooperate. When the time comes, the coin minting machine will be placed in Ryukyu..."
When Zeng Guofan was mentioned, Shi Dakai fell silent. This was an old enemy of the Kingdom of Heaven. Many of his disciples had died in his hands, but now Xiao Letian actually wanted to cooperate with him. He couldn't get over this hurdle emotionally.
Xiao Letian knew that he couldn't do it without breaking through the problem. His layout was too big and he had to win over all allies who could cooperate. If he wanted to save this declining country, he couldn't do it without cooperating with the Hunan Army, which was in full swing.
"I'm sorry, I really have no choice... Our national destiny is really in decline, just like a dying patient taking his last breath. We can't toss it anymore. We can't fight the civil war anymore... Your lord, the Chinese clan really There’s not much time left…”
Shi Dakai raised his head and drank a glass of wine and sighed and said, "I understand everything the military advisor said. I know you want to preserve a little more vitality for China, but have you ever thought about how so many forces can stick together?"
"During this period, I have been studying the democracies, republics, and constitutional monarchies in the West... I have been thinking about it for a long time, but I still can't figure it out. How do they make the various forces in the country convince each other? Let people with different beliefs and values sit down. Together, sharing benefits? No matter how I think about it, it feels too unreliable..."
Shi Dakai let out a long sigh and said, "Military advisor, you are a sensible person. You should think more clearly about this issue than me. Just our small new army plus the execution hall, just your brothers, how many people are there?" I haven't counted it, but it must be tens of thousands. Even if you don't have the intention to take power, what about them?"
The night wind suddenly tightened, just like Xiao Letian's heart now. Is there an answer to this eternal problem? Is there a standard for whether power is better concentrated or decentralized?
Think about the decades of melee after the fall of the Qing Dynasty in the previous life. The Chinese have proved to the world through their actions that no one in the country will obey anyone. There are many warlords and factions are rampant. Yan Xishan was able to change the spacing of the railway tracks in order to separate Shanxi. Okay, can this kind of decentralization of power really work based on national roots?
"Your Highness, give me some time, let me give it a try, let me spend my life traveling on an unfamiliar road, there will always be a way, there will definitely be a way..."
Shi Dakai paid close attention to Xiao Letian for a long time, and finally smiled, "Don't worry, I don't have so much hatred in my heart. Zeng Guofan killed many brothers from the Kingdom of Heaven, but how many of those brothers who died had never killed anyone? Brother Needless to say, second brother, don’t laugh at a hundred steps even if you take fifty steps... On the road to hell, let alone revenge, there are so many innocent souls who want to kill us..."
Xiao Letian suddenly felt palpitations as he listened to the ghostly words. He suddenly found that he had entered the deep water area and vaguely saw the largest hidden mine in front of him, a hidden mine that could completely destroy all undertakings. thunder.
