And now that the two million and a half million taels of silver are given to build ten warships, more than two million more will have to be given for various infrastructure facilities, personnel training, etc.
Adding the two together, that's more than five million.
Let alone more than five million, even half a million Luo Zhixue must consider carefully.
Five hundred thousand is enough for the Ministry of Rites and Education to provide basic education support to at least three or four provinces and build dozens of government-run schools.
Moreover, Luo Zhixue also knew that despite the tense situation described by the navy, in fact, the Da Chu Empire Navy currently has no real enemies in the Asia-Pacific waters.
Although the Chu Empire has conflicts with Portugal, Spain, and the Dutch, and the conflicts are expected to get bigger and bigger in the future, at least they haven't started fighting yet.
Even if a fight breaks out, it is still difficult for these three countries to threaten the coastal security of the Chu Empire in the Asia-Pacific waters. The ships of these countries in the Asia-Pacific waters are basically armed merchant ships, and they are basically all kinds of things. The Indian company's armed merchant ships do not have many serious navies from various countries.
Even if a war actually breaks out, with the strength of the Chu Navy, it will be able to kill these armed merchant ships in a short time. As for waiting for the main force of the enemy's navy to come all the way, it will probably take several years...
After all, sailboats these days can only sail very slowly, and coupled with the risks of long-distance sailing, it is very possible that the fleet may encounter a storm on the way over and disappear directly...
Going halfway around the world to defeat the Chu Empire was extremely difficult.
Even if they did this, the Chu Empire would still have time to urgently build ships, and within a few years a large number of warships would be ready for emergency operations.
Therefore, it is possible to expand the fleet, and Luo Zhixue also agrees, but Luo Zhixue also believes that in the short term, we should focus on defensive operations. For example, it would be good to build a large number of Daye-class frigates and cruisers.
In the next three to five years, as long as we ensure the absolute advantage of the East Asian waters and ensure the maritime trade interests in the East Asian waters, especially the Fuso trade interests and the Nanyang trade interests, it will be enough.
After the Chu Empire has taken care of its internal affairs, well, that is, it has eliminated the Eastern captives and Mongols, it will then expand the size of its main fleet on a large scale and head to the Atlantic Ocean!
——
Therefore, after Luo Zhixue read the report carefully, he asked about the details of the navy in detail, especially focusing on the navy's recent conflicts with the Portuguese, Spanish and Dutch.
In the end, he made the decision personally and cut the Navy's application for additional shipbuilding funds to the bone... The two million and a half million was directly cut down to half a million, which meant that only the construction funds for the two Jinling City battleships were approved.
As for the Navy's desire to build more Jinling City battleships, it must either wait for additional funds in the future, or the Navy must save money from its annual fixed funds.
If the Navy can squeeze out money from fixed funds, Luo Zhixue won't stop them from building battleships!
Just do it!
Luo Zhixue thought he had broken the Navy's application for additional funding... But after Admiral Lu Xingye received the approval for five hundred thousand taels of silver, he smiled and said to a group of subordinates: "As the saying goes Well, only babies who can cry will have milk to drink. From now on, I have to tell His Majesty more about the difficulties of our navy!"
Five hundred thousand taels of additional funding. Just hearing the word "extra" tells you that the navy does not have such a shipbuilding plan in the first place. It is a good thing to apply for it. If you don't have it, it doesn't matter.
Admiral Xia Qiuyang, commander of the Beiyang Fleet on the side, also said: "It seems that the scale of future shipbuilding plans can be larger and the pace can be larger!"
General Xia Qiuyang was thinking as he spoke: The report of two and a half million taels of silver was approved, but half a million were approved. If a report of five million taels of silver was submitted, wouldn't it be possible to approve one million?
Seeing Xia Qiuyang like this, Lu Xingye laughed, but he didn't laugh at him, because he thought so too.
Trying to find ways to ask His Majesty for money to expand the size of the fleet and increase the strength of the navy. This is the responsibility of Lu Xingye and many other senior naval generals. There is nothing bad to say.
Why did Lu Xingye always get the support of many naval generals? You must know that apart from leading the fleet to fight a few river battles in the early days, Lu Xingye never led the fleet to fight in the future.
But his prestige within the Navy has always been high.
The reason is very simple. I dare not say that the Navy is full of talents, but there are many generals who can lead troops to fight. Admiral Xia Qiuyang in front of me is one of them, and Zheng Zhilong, who was born as a general, is also good.
But being able to face a shameless army boss, whether it's making a fuss, threatening the table, or secretly exchanging benefits, ultimately ensures that when the army and navy allocate military expenditures, the navy can get sufficient fixed funds.
Lu Xingye is the only naval admiral who can come to His Majesty every now and then to get some extra funds.
Without him, Lu Xingye, it would be difficult for the navy to maintain its current scale, let alone expand its scale through large-scale shipbuilding.
In this regard, the Navy is also very convinced and very supportive of Lu Xingye's work.
That's why it was possible for a man like Lu Xingye, who had never even seen the sea, to become the Minister of the Navy and join the imperial study.
Until now, Lu Xingye has actually never been to the ocean...
The only way to survive was to take a boat ride in the coastal waters of the Yangtze River Estuary, and the wind and waves were so strong that he even got seasick!
A seasick Minister of the Navy is almost unimaginable in other countries, but it is very normal here in the Chu Empire, and even the navy supports him.
What, you are saying that the boss of our navy is seasick and has no way and no understanding of how to command the fleet to fight in the ocean?
Do you regard the dozens of generals in our navy who are proficient in naval warfare as trash? While we are here, do we need our Minister of Staff and Minister of the Navy to go to sea and lead the fleet to fight?
Not needed at all!
As long as Lu Xingye can ensure that the Navy's annual fixed funding is sufficient, he won't be manipulated by those bastards in the Army.
If we occasionally get hundreds of thousands or millions of additional funds from His Majesty, we will become the undisputed backbone of the Navy, and everyone will be convinced!
This time, taking advantage of the commissioning ceremony of the cruiser Songjiang and inspecting the battleship Jinling under construction, Lu Xingye found another opportunity to get 500,000 taels of silver.
No, the navy was very happy.
The next day, I couldn't wait to start thinking about placing orders for the third, fourth and fifth Jinling-class battleships.
As for why His Majesty only approved additional funds for two battleships, the Navy placed a new order for three battleships.
This is naturally the funding that the Navy has found a way to squeeze out.
The navy of the Dachu Empire is also quite large, with fixed military expenditures of two to three million per year.
Moreover, a top-level battleship often requires a construction cycle of more than three years to ensure quality, which means that the Navy can also pay in installments...
In the end, more than 80,000 taels of silver a year would be enough.
As for the Navy, if you save 18,000 here and 18,000 there, you can almost squeeze it out.
Besides, if next year's Northeastern Campaign goes well, the Chu Empire will definitely be able to obtain a large amount of confiscated goods.
According to past tradition, part of these confiscated gains in newly occupied areas will be allocated to the military as additional military expenditures.
The Army has already agreed to the Navy. If the Navy can streamline maritime transportation in this Northeastern campaign, and successfully cover the Army's landing on the Liaodong Peninsula to capture the Jinzhou Guard, and ensure a normal maritime logistics line, then the gains from confiscation on the Northeastern battlefield will be The navy can get 20% of the additional military expenditures.
This made the Navy quite excited. In the past, the army basically took the lion's share of the military expenditures allocated from such confiscation, and the navy could only eat the leftovers.
Not to mention 20%, not even 10%!
In the past two years, the Navy has basically been able to survive on its annual regular military expenditures and occasional additional funds obtained from Luo Zhixue.
In order to obtain the right to distribute the confiscated proceeds, the Navy once encouraged the army to land and capture Jeju Island, if for no other reason than to show off its face and increase the right to distribute additional military expenditures from the confiscated proceeds.
It is a pity that the landing on Jeju Island has been abandoned. Now the Chu Empire has not even taken back the Liaoxi Corridor. It jumps directly to Jeju Island where it cannot affect the overall situation to engage in landing operations. It feels a bit like putting the cart before the horse.
Nice romance
Now, the Army is planning to launch a landing operation on the Liaodong Peninsula, and the Navy is naturally willing to cooperate.
According to the results of the discussions at the Imperial Land and Sea Consultation Conference in June of the sixth year of Chengshun.
In order to better launch the Northeast Campaign and provide a more favorable environment for seizing the Western Liaoning Corridor, it is planned that the Army will dispatch landing forces, and the Navy will be responsible for covering the landing, maintaining logistics, and evacuating after a possible subsequent defeat.
Land and sea cooperation will lead to a wave of landings in the Jinzhou Guard on the Liaodong Peninsula.
As long as it can successfully land and gain a firm foothold, the Chu Empire can open up the battlefield on the Liaodong Peninsula, greatly containing the forces of the Eastern Capture, and reducing the pressure on the battlefield in the Western Liaoning Corridor.
The Dongji people still have a relatively large number of troops. After all, in addition to the Dongji people's own troops, they also control the Han Eight Banners and the Mongolian Eight Banners. They can also control the troops of the Koryo Peninsula and Monan Mongolia who have surrendered to them.
If they were really allowed to gather all their forces and invest in the Liaoxi Corridor, the Chu Empire might not face more than 200,000 enemy troops when they attack the Liaoxi Corridor.
Although the Da Chu Empire Army was very confident in itself, it also believed that it could push past even if there were 200,000 troops on the opposite side with its powerful firepower.
But if there is a better way to reduce the pressure on the battlefield in western Liaoning, it will naturally be a good thing.
Anyway, the navy of the Dachu Empire occupies absolute control of the sea in the Bohai Sea and the Yellow Sea. The Dongji side cannot even launch a sampan into the sea, and it is completely unable to prevent the sudden sea landing of the Dachu Empire. Even if it is counterattacked by a large-scale enemy force after landing, , and can also rely on Jinzhou Guard's own small and complex terrain to build a defense line.
To put it another way, if the landing troops really cannot defeat them, they can retreat directly from the sea, which can effectively control the losses.
Based on the above, the army and navy of the Dachu Empire cooperated and the operational plan for a joint landing on the Liaodong Peninsula was officially finalized in September this year, and then entered the preparatory period.
The Navy attaches great importance to this!
It had been planned long ago that Admiral Xia Qiuyang of the Beiyang Fleet would personally lead the team.
Led some of the main warships of the Beiyang Fleet and almost all the transport ships, plus some civilian transport ships recruited by the Logistics Department, to form a huge fleet of more than 500 ships to participate in the Liaodong landing operation.
