After finalizing the rewards for the major meritorious generals in the Indian war, Luo Zhixue ordered the establishment of the Indian Garrison Command to take charge of the local garrison affairs of a total of 26 colonies in the Indian region and the directly administered territory of Ceylon.
On the army side, the Indian Expeditionary Force was reorganized into the 24th Army of the Army. This was established by the Chu Empire in the past ten years after the 22nd Army in the Nanyang region and the 23rd Army in the Fusang region. The third field army.
In the future, the 23rd Army will be the main field force of the Army in the Indian region, and will have one first-class division, the 72nd Division.
The original strength of the Indian Expeditionary Force was more than 8,000, plus a mixed regiment transferred from the Nanyang region to form the 178th Division. This division was a standing second-class division.
Another first-class mixed regiment, the 18th Class A Division, which was reinforced from Nanyang, was upgraded to the Army's 18th Mixed Brigade, with its strength expanded to 8,000 men. This brigade is also a first-class division.
In addition, the 27th Heavy Artillery Regiment, which was previously transferred from China, will continue to stay in India and join the 24th Army.
Luo Zhixue also decided to dispatch a cavalry brigade from China to India to ensure that the 24th Army had sufficient cavalry strength.
The above-mentioned expansion and reinforcement of the cavalry troops are actually mainly to fill the vacancies after the Guards troops return home, because after the local war is over, the Guards will transfer their troops back to the country.
This is also the tradition of the Guards being dispatched to fight abroad. When there is a war, they will temporarily queue up to fight. After returning home, they will not be stationed in the field for a long time.
The more than 5,000 people in the Guards are not weak in combat effectiveness. After they return home, the Army will naturally deploy troops to fill their vacancies.
There are still some Marine Corps personnel who need to fill the vacancies. The Marine Corps is also the same. When landing operations are needed, they will be transferred to fight with the Army. After the landing operations, the Navy will often transfer the Marines to other places.
After all, the number of marines in the navy is limited, and the tasks are relatively heavy. The navy's more than a dozen marine regiments are transferred here and there all year round. It is difficult to be stationed in a certain place for a long time like the army.
After a simple adjustment of the military strength in the Indian region, there are not many Indian military affairs left that need to be handled by Luo Zhixue personally. Some more detailed matters will naturally be handled by the generals at the Military Academy, and Luo Zhixue does not need to worry about them.
After finishing military affairs, Luo Zhixue focused his energy on government affairs in the direction of India. To this end, he called the heads of civil servants from the Ministry of Rites and Education, the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the Ministry of Personnel Affairs and other departments to come over for a meeting.
Discuss the governance issues of the colonies in India and the direct territory of Ceylon, as well as the subsequent settlement and settlement issues.
Regarding the establishment of more complete administrative institutions in India and the dispatch of corresponding officials, the Ministry of Civil Affairs has long been prepared and has rich experience.
Shi Deyi, who had just assumed the post of Minister of Civil Affairs and was the second Minister of Civil Affairs in the history of the Chu Empire, suggested that Ceylon be directly established as a province following the example of Malacca, Java and other places.
However, considering the province of Ceylon and the large number of scattered coastal colonies on the Indian peninsula, the province of Ceylon will not have a separate governor for the time being, but will continue to be governed by the Indian governor.
Of course, to put it another way, it can actually be said that the governor of India was turned into the governor of Ceylon, and then the governor of Ceylon took charge of many colonial affairs on the peninsula.
In short, there is only one governor in the Indian region for the time being, and there is also the province of Ceylon and multiple colonial states and counties, such as Bombay State, Gua State, Gohe State, Surat County, etc.
Immediately, the Ministry of Civil Affairs suggested that official immigration to Ceylon Island should be increased this year, and Indian activities towards India should be focused on Ceylon Island in recent years, striving to completely complete Ceylon Island within three to five years. The expulsion and purge of the indigenous people ensured that in five years' time there would only be people from the Chu Empire on the island of Ceylon.
The immigration affairs of the Dachu Empire have always been under the jurisdiction of the Immigration Department under the Ministry of Civil Affairs. It is not only responsible for the flow of domestic immigrants, but also responsible for the flow of overseas immigrants. In the past few years, the Immigration Department has advocated the expulsion of one place and the settlement of one place. The local policy has been very successful.
They have achieved relatively great success in places such as Malacca, Java Island, Borneo, and Luzon Island. In quite a few places, there are no indigenous people left, leaving only the hard-working immigrants from the Chu Empire.
This time, they planned to do the same on the island of Ceylon.
Later, Ji Dehua, the head of the industrial department, said that at the invitation of the military, the industrial department will also prepare a series of defense industries on the island of Ceylon, mainly to set up a number of ammunition factories, warship repair factories, gun repair factories and other front-line forces. urgently needed defense industry.
Due to the long distance and transportation difficulties, the Chu army has always had the tradition of setting up small emergency arsenals on the front line to supply the front line troops nearby. For example, the early Jiayuguan arsenal was a typical front-line arsenal that mainly produced ammunition and repaired firearms. Mainly the gun mount.
As the Chu Empire defeated Zhungeer and its troops moved further west, the Jiayuguan Arsenal was also moved to Yinning and renamed Yinning Arsenal... Although the location and name were changed, in fact the technology The personnel and workers are still the same batch, and even the machinery and equipment are the same.
In addition, there is the Kuhl Arsenal next to Lake Baiga. This arsenal was the main supply arsenal for the Chu army when they fought against Russia. It supplied almost 80% of the ammunition needed for the local army to fight.
However, as the war gradually moved westward, because the supply lines were lengthened step by step, in order to solve the problem of ammunition supply difficulties, the Ministry of Industry of the Dachu Empire moved the production capacity of the Kurcheng Arsenal westward, to a site two hundred meters south of Tomsk. A new New Taipei Arsenal (Novosibirsk) was established in New Taipei City many kilometers away.
At the same time, in the 25th year of Chengshun, the Hetong Arsenal was moved northward and rebuilt in Tobo City (Tobolsk). That is, the Hetong Arsenal disappeared and was replaced by the Tobo Arsenal.
Tobo is the strategic base of the Great Chu Empire closest to the western front. It is only more than 200 kilometers away from Tyumen, and the two are connected by rivers. Relocating the Hetong Arsenal here can provide ammunition supplies to the local garrison nearby.
Due to the existence of the New Taipei Arsenal (Novosibirsk) and the Tobo Arsenal (Tobolsk, later part of the Tyumen Oblast), the strategic role of the Kurdish Arsenal in the rear has gradually declined. At present, in addition to maintaining small-scale weapons production capabilities, it has begun Switch to civil industry.
Relying on this gradually converted arsenal and the good natural conditions here, it is not only the intersection of two major rivers in Siberia, but also the surrounding natural resources, especially mineral resources, are rich. At the same time, the end point of the planned steppe railway is The city of Chur on the shores of Lake Baiga is therefore relatively popular with imperial immigrants and the industrial and commercial community.
At present, the city of Khur has become the largest city in the vast Siberian region of the Chu Empire in the north.
At present, the urban area and surrounding suburbs have a permanent population of more than 200,000, and the industrial development is quite good... almost single-handedly supplying the entire Lena River Basin and Yenisey River Basin with immigrants to settle. point of demand for most industrial products.
Due to the good development of Kuhl City and the large area of Xiaobeihai Prefecture, the empire's senior officials have considered separating Xiaobeihai Prefecture from Mobei Province, with Xiaobeihai Prefecture as the core, and several other states. A province has been established together with the government, and the name has even been chosen: Little Beihai Province.
Taking over the Kurcheng Arsenal, it is the Tomsk Arsenal and the further frontline Tobo Arsenal (Tobolsk) that are responsible for the current ammunition consumption of the army in the western Siberian region.
From the establishment and cancellation of a series of small arsenals in the border areas of the empire, we can understand that the Chu Empire has put a lot of effort into solving the supply problem of the frontline army. The establishment of arsenals on the island of Ceylon is also based on the same considerations.
However, in order to ensure subsequent troubles, comprehensive immigration of Ceylon Island is necessary. The Chu Empire does not want indigenous people to cause trouble every three days.
At the same time, due to cost and technical problems, arsenals set up on frontiers or overseas generally focus on producing ammunition and repairing firearms, and do not have the ability to mass-produce rifles or artillery.
Mainly the weapons production of the Chu Army. With the advancement of technology, the technical requirements have become higher and higher. Today's standard rifles and artillery are relatively difficult to produce and require an entire industrial system to support them.
It would be very difficult to build such a large arsenal in an overseas territory...or the investment would be too large, so it's not necessary.
Frontline arsenals can produce ammunition and supply it to the frontline armies nearby. Producing guns and artillery domestically and transporting them will not increase the cost much.
After all, although guns and artillery are also consumables, their consumption is limited. It is impossible for soldiers to change guns every time they fight a war!
After all, guns and artillery are not ammunition. Once fired, they are gone!
Because the Colombo Arsenal was to be established locally, the expulsion of the indigenous people on the island of Ceylon must be accelerated, and immigration efforts must also be intensified.
In time, Ceylon Island will definitely become the Chu Empire's unsinkable battleship in the Indian Ocean. Well, it will also be an arsenal...
After finalizing these basic Indian affairs, Luo Zhixue let his ministers disperse to do their own business, while he left the palace in the afternoon and went to visit Guo Quanshu, the former Minister of Counselor, Taishi, and Minister of Civil Affairs.
Previously, the imperial doctor at the Royal Hospital reported that Guo Quanshu's health has reached the end of his life, and he may only have a few days left.
Luo Zhixue and Guo Quanshu have always gotten along well with each other for more than 20 years. After Guo Quanshu fell ill in the autumn of the 25th year of Chengshun, Luo Zhixue was very concerned and even gave him the title of Grand Master in advance. .
In February of the 26th year of Chengshun, Guo Quanshu, who had been bedridden for half a year, formally begged for his body. Luo Zhixue followed the procedures and repeatedly asked to retain him. At the same time, he specially granted Guo Quanshu the title of Marquis, specifically referring to the fact that the original Duke would inherit the title for three generations, with a reduced rank. No replacement.
This is the first civil servant to be awarded the title of Marquis in the history of the Chu Empire!
Except for Guo Quanshu, no other civil servant has ever received it. This is also a unique honor given to Guo Quanshu by Luo Zhixue.
After officially taking office, Guo Quanshu was still bedridden every day. When winter came last year, he spent less time awake than sleeping. Although he was barely hanging on with top-notch resources, everyone knew that he would not live long.
After receiving the imperial doctor's report, Luo Zhixue took the time to visit him today.
However, when he arrived, Guo Quanshu had already fallen asleep. Luo Zhixue waved his hand to ask Guo Quanshu's family not to wake him up, and just stood by the bed and watched.
Guo Quanshu looks skinny, with messy and white hair... But in fact Guo Quanshu is not very old. He was only twenty-three years old when he served as a dragon in Funiu Mountain, and he is only fifty years old now.
Fifty years old may be a very old age for people from the lower class, but for people from the upper class with better living conditions, fifty years old is not too old.
There are a lot of officials in their fifties and sixties in the court!
But looking at Guo Quanshu's current appearance, it is said that he still has a human heart in his seventies or eighties... This disease has directly tormented Guo Quanshu to the point of losing his humanity.
Luo Zhixue couldn't help but sigh when he looked at Guo Quanshu, and remembered the scene in Funiu Mountain more than 20 years ago.
Those people back then, those things back then!
Today, more than twenty years later, there are very few people who hung out with him in Funiu Mountain who are still with him.
Although Luo Zhixue does not engage in the practice of purging the founding heroes, many of the founding heroes have disappeared as time goes by.
Over the past two decades, people have grown old, become ill, and died. Some people have died in battles. Some people have failed in political struggles and had their heads chopped off.
Among the remaining people who are still alive, some have also lost their power, or have gradually moved out of the core of power through normal careers. Even though their titles are still there, they actually have not much contact with Luo Zhixue.
Guo Quanshu is the last founding hero to retire.
Seeing Guo Quanshu like this, Luo Zhixue looked a little uncomfortable. If Guo Quanshu died, then a group of old subordinates from back then would completely disappear from his sight.
This makes him feel bad!
He is not a person who likes to be nostalgic, otherwise he would not let the second or even third generation of civil servants and military generals continue to challenge the first generation of founding heroes.
He has always been very rational in his treatment of his ministers!
But this doesn't mean that he likes to see familiar faces disappear before his eyes!
Once Guo Quanshu dies, who will be able to join him in lamenting the hardships of starting a business on Funiu Mountain and bragging about his bravery when he personally led his troops to conquer the north and south, raided Xiangyang, and captured the entire northern Chu?
No one left!
After standing next to Guo Quanshu's bed and watching for a while, Luo Zhixue left with a calm expression.
But everyone can see that Luo Zhixue is in a very bad mood now...
Before leaving, Luo Zhixue also asked the Guo family to take good care of Guo Quanshu.
If anything happens, be sure to tell him as soon as possible.
Then he reassured the Guo family that they don’t have to worry about Guo Quanshu dying. As long as you don’t be stupid, the wealth of your Guo family can be preserved for at least a hundred years.
The original title of Marquis has been inherited for three generations, and then the descendants of the descendants are added to the inheritance. Even if the Guo family's children just stop doing nothing and just lie down, they can at least maintain their wealth for a hundred years with this title alone!
Of course, if you do something stupid and get into trouble, especially if you take sides in some kind of political struggle, it's hard to say whether you can keep your wealth and wealth. If you do this right, you may go a step further, but if you lose, the outcome will be particularly miserable.
In the Great Chu Empire, the political struggle between ministers was very cruel!
Not long after Luo Zhixue visited Guo Quanshu, Guo Quanshu's son reported that his father Guo Quanshu died on the night of February 17, the 27th year of Chengshun.
After Luo Zhixue heard the news, he remained silent for a long time, and finally personally drafted Guo Quanshu's posthumous title: Wenzheng!
This is one of the highest posthumous honors that a civil servant can obtain.
This posthumous title is also the final conclusion of Guo Quanshu’s official career in the past twenty years:
The first civil servant in the Chu Empire for more than 20 years!
