Iron Dynasty

Does the emperor mean to transfer the part of the industry that uses steam engines to overseas?

A flash of light flashed in Yang Chengye's mind, and he suddenly thought of something.

Xiao Ming smiled and nodded. He said: In fact, some merchants in the empire have brought steam engine technology to the colony. This is the mine in the colony. The efficiency of mining without steam engine is very low.

That's true. Relatively speaking, a thermal power plant must be built to use electricity. A steam engine only needs coal and water wherever it goes, which is very convenient. Yang Chengye said.

Pang Yukun pondered for a while, then said: The factories with steam engines as the main body will gradually withdraw from the market of the empire. These idle machines are indeed wasteful, and compared with the cheap labor in the colonies, the salaries of the workers in the empire are much higher, and the factory owners will also It's becoming unbearable, but they can continue to make profits by moving to the colony, which is also a waste for the Empire.

This is exactly what I mean. No matter where the merchants of the empire go, they are the merchants of the empire, and their output is the output of the empire. Therefore, the steam engine industry is completely abandoned and causes huge waste. It is better to transfer it to various industries. Colonies extract surplus value.

Your Majesty! When everyone heard the words, they were all in awe.

The speed of the empire's development in recent years is so fast that the people of the empire cannot keep up with the speed of the replacement of factory machinery.

After the emergence of electricity, this contradiction has become more prominent. Still using steam engines will face low efficiency and high labor costs. When using electricity, steam engines that have only been purchased for a few years will be idle.

After the empire successively occupied the colonies of the Japanese and the Southeast Asian countries, some smart businessmen were ready to move their steam engine factories to the colonies, so that they could continue to produce in the colonies and have money to buy electrical machinery.

It's just that the empire has extremely strict control over technology, except for the mining industry, it has been extremely strict in other aspects.

Because of this, businessmen and officials complained about doing business when they were in contact. Now that the emperor has set a tone, this matter is no longer a problem.

The economic and technological reports are basically over here. Next, Xiao Ming listened to the political and military reforms in the past two days.

According to the reports provided by the Cabinet and the General Staff, the restructuring of the various provinces has now been completed, and officials of various posts are responsible for their own duties.

The top-to-bottom job setting of the military region has also been basically completed.

These two reforms were successfully completed, and Xiao Ming was also relieved, because it meant that no matter in terms of industry and commerce, political system, culture, or industry and commerce, the empire has now officially become a modernized country.

In the next few hundred years, the order he created will not fall behind, enough to ensure the stable operation of the empire. After all, these systems themselves also come from the contemporary era.

The end-of-year-end court meeting lasted from morning to noon. After entertaining all the ministers in the palace, the meeting continued in the afternoon, but the content of the afternoon meeting became a meeting to formulate specific plans for next year.

If you have something to play, you will retreat if there is nothing!

In the evening, in the shrill voice of Qian Dafu, the court meeting came to an end.

Standing up from the dragon chair, Xiao Ming and Qian Dafu first exited the Zhengda Guangming Hall.

Arriving outside the hall, Xiao Ming looked up at the heavy snow with goose feathers flying all over the sky and asked, The war in Nanyang seems to be delayed until next year.

I'm afraid that is the case, but at least the Southeast Army has won Jakarta. Now I don't know if Yue Yun's fleet is enough to control the trade routes at sea. Qian Dafu was in charge of receiving telegrams, and he was naturally clear about these battles.

Xiao Ming's eyes narrowed. In fact, he had a hunch that the war in the South China Sea would not be as easy as in the Japanese and Korean kingdoms. After all, although Western weapons were backward, they were truly modernized troops.

And the soldiers in the era of queuing to be shot were the most disciplined era, because in every war they had to face the enemy's muzzle directly.

Therefore, in Jakarta, Thunder's offensive operations resulted in 2,000 casualties, while in India there were more Western soldiers, and if they confronted them head-on, they would also lose a lot of soldiers.

Now what he needs most is oil, and the occupation of India is not the first priority, so he is also considering an offensive plan for India.

Since the Imperial Navy can control the sea routes, the coalition soldiers besieged in India are a good choice.

At the same time, let Luo Xin's southwest army attack East Indochina from the land, the British-controlled Burma, and surround India from the east of India. As a result, the Indian coalition forces will be even more uncomfortable.

Soon, his idea was verified on the tenth day of the new year, and the telegram from the Imperial Navy was sent to him.

In the battle at the mouth of the Ganges, the Imperial Navy sank 96 enemy warships, but more than 3,000 people were killed or injured. This is the most serious battle damage suffered by the Imperial Navy so far. According to Liu Chen, the coalition forces built a new building in Kolkata, India. With more solid fortifications, the Southeast Army alone may not be able to gnaw this hard bone.

In the royal study, Choi Sang-an was analyzing the battle report from Nanyang.

How many people are there in the Southeast Army now? Xiao Ming asked.

Back to the emperor, there are currently 64,000 soldiers registered in the Southeast Army, of which 57,000 are combat soldiers, and the remaining 7,000 are logistics and civilian personnel. Cui Shangan said.

Xiao Ming nodded when he heard the words. Because of the modernization reform of the army, the logistics of the army are now his own business, because the logistics soldiers in the army account for a considerable proportion.

According to Liu Chen's statement, if we want to capture Calcutta, we will have to pay 20,000 casualties, which is equivalent to half of the combat personnel of the Southeast Army?

I'm afraid this is indeed the case, and the Southeast Army now has troops stationed in the colonies in order to control the colonies. The soldiers who actually participated in the attack may only be able to make up about 40,000 people.

Xiao Ming frowned, It's not worth paying 20,000 soldiers' lives for a Calcutta. If that's the case, then let's spend it slowly. Anyway, the empire has time now. Too long will eventually lose the will to fight.

Xiaguan is also of this idea. Taking advantage of this time, the empire can digest the colonies it has occupied, and at the same time let the southwest army go south to attack the city, so that they can't care about each other. Cui Shangan said.

Getting up and walking to the map, Xiao Ming encircled India in a red circle, and he said: Let's do it like this, in addition, let's expand the empire's army to 600,000 people, I'm afraid we have to deal with things in the future. Quite a few.

Cui Shangan was stunned for a moment, then he smiled and said, Your Majesty, this is no problem, but this military expense?

PS: There are two updates tonight, and one update will be later, and the third update will be tomorrow. In addition, the old book Tang Dynasty has been temporarily blocked. If anyone is reading it, you can wait for a while, sorry.