Anti-Qing: Starting from the Jintian Uprising

Chapter 384: Re-establishing the 9-Sided Great Wall Defense Line

Chapter 384: Rebuilding the Nine-Border Great Wall Defense Line
After the Northern Expedition to destroy the Qing Dynasty and Shi Dakai's troops were willing to surrender, financial issues became the most serious problem facing the Tang Dynasty.

Whether it was the reconstruction of the Yellow River embankment and disaster relief in Shandong, or the administrative expenses of the court, or the capital investment in industrial development, or the infrastructure investment in building railways and telegraphs...

It's all about spending money like water!
In addition, the military is a big spender.

The current financial situation of the Tang Dynasty is really not abundant.

Upon hearing this, Li Sheng responded immediately.

"Your Majesty, rest assured. The General Staff has already made a budget for conscription."

"The expansion of the army and navy, including personnel and equipment, will cost about six million silver dollars."

"With the current financial capacity of the Tang Dynasty, it is fully capable of supporting the expansion of the army."

After hearing this, Li Yi nodded with satisfaction.

Then he asked again.

"Can the production capacity of the arsenal and shipyard keep up with the needs of the Tang Dynasty's military expansion?"

Wang Fu, director of the Ordnance Department, stepped forward and said.

"Your Majesty, don't worry."

"Even if we exclude the Jingshan Arsenal which is under construction, the current production capacity of the Foshan Arsenal is sufficient to meet the needs of our military expansion."

As he was speaking, Wang Fu handed Li Yi a development report on the Foshan Arsenal.

Li Yi began to look through it.

Over the years, the scale of Foshan Arsenal has been expanding rapidly.

Today, the Foshan Arsenal has an astonishing 12,000 personnel.

Although most of them are just ordinary workers rather than skilled workers, the number is terrifying enough.

The production capacity has reached an astonishing monthly output of 9,000 breech-loading rifles, 210 breech-loading rifled cannons, 140 rotary machine guns, and a number of various types of ammunition such as bullets, shells, rockets, etc.

With this production capacity today, the expansion of Foshan Arsenal has basically reached its peak.

Next, Datang will mainly allocate resources to Jingshan Arsenal and focus on supporting the development of Jingshan Arsenal.

As for building two large arsenals at once, what if there is overcapacity?
There is actually no need to worry about this.

Because the current number of troops in the Tang Dynasty is still a long way from its peak.

Moreover, not all the troops in the Tang army had completed their equipment replacement, in addition to the wear and tear of weapons and equipment and the quota for foreign arms sales.

Even though the current military equipment production capacity of the Tang Dynasty has reached the point of producing 100,000 rifles per year, it is actually only barely enough.

It’s still a long way to go before there is overcapacity!
Afterwards, Wang Fu submitted a shipyard development report to Li Yi.

At present, there are only two shipyards in Datang capable of producing steam-clad ships.

One is Guangzhou Shipyard and the other is Chongming Shipyard.

The Mawei Shipyard in Fujian is in a worse position and is still working hard to overcome technical difficulties. I believe it will not be long before it will have the ability to produce steam ironclad ships.

Among them, the Guangzhou Shipyard can produce eight 5000-ton steam ironclad ships every year.

The Chongming Shipyard was not as good, and could only produce three 3000-ton steam ironclad ships.

Well, this is also the reason why the Tang Dynasty Navy only formulated an expansion plan for eleven warships.

It’s not because of anything else, but because the Tang Dynasty’s shipyard currently has limited production capacity.

Even if they want to expand their army, they can't do anything without ships!
It’s hard for a clever woman to make a meal without rice!
Afterwards, Li Yi seemed to remember something and asked Li Shengdao.

"By the way, when the General Staff was making the military expansion plan, did they take the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom into consideration?"

There is a high probability that Shi Dakai will choose to submit to the Tang Dynasty.

In this case, the Taiping Army naturally had to accept the reorganization and training of the Tang Dynasty.

With the current number of Taiping troops, even after cutting off the old and weak, it would not be a problem for the Tang Dynasty to reorganize two or three divisions from them.

If the Tang Dynasty wants to expand its military, these people must naturally be included.

Otherwise, it would be a waste to simply disband so many veterans who have survived hundreds of battles.

With these people's combat experience on the battlefield, with just a little training and equipped with advanced weapons, they can become an elite force.

The cost of reorganizing and expanding the army with veterans is definitely lower than the cost of recruiting new soldiers and training them from scratch.

Not to mention anything else, the training time alone will be much shorter.

Upon hearing this, Li Sheng replied.

"In reply to your Majesty, when the General Staff was making plans for expanding the army, they reserved two divisions for Shi Dakai's troops."

"I think it should be enough!"

Li Yi nodded in approval.

Afterwards, he continued to discuss with senior members of the General Staff the issue of rebuilding the nine-border defense system of the Great Wall.

Nowadays, although the Qing Dynasty has retreated outside the Great Wall, it still has a certain number of troops on hand.

If the Tang Dynasty did not set up border defenses, it would be very likely to be attacked by the Qing Dynasty and take advantage of the situation.

Moreover, apart from the Qing dynasty, there was also the threat of the Mongols.

Since the decline of the Qing Dynasty, they have lost control over the grassland tribes.

Nowadays, the grassland is also like "the small temple has strong evil spirits, the shallow pond has many turtles". Many Khans suddenly appeared, and the tribes fought against each other and annexed each other.

However, don’t think that just because the Mongols are fighting among themselves, no one else will invade the Central Plains.

There are so many big and small Khans on the grassland, but you can never be sure that someone among them will get excited and think of making a sudden move to take advantage of the Tang Dynasty.

Therefore, it is very important to build a border defense line to defend against the enemy.

In this regard, Li Yi's idea was to draw on the nine-border defense lines of the former Ming Dynasty and deploy troops and guards along the Great Wall to prevent threats from outside the Great Wall.

What they are discussing now is the feasibility of setting up a defense line along the Great Wall.

Soon, after discussing the matter, everyone in the staff took their leave.

Li Yi received the peace negotiation delegation sent by Shi Dakai in the Yangxin Palace and had a cordial conversation with Zhang Suimou.

Li Yi basically agreed to all the conditions proposed by Shi Dakai. Then, Li Yi asked.

"Mr. Zhang, I have agreed to all the conditions proposed by Brother Dakai. I just don't know when Brother Dakai will come to Beijing?"

Li Yi was eager to finalize the Taiping Army's submission as soon as possible so that he could complete the unification of the interior.

Only after completing the unification within the Great Wall could Li Yi carry out drastic reforms and begin outward expansion.

Zhang Suimou just spoke after hearing this.

"Your Majesty, I cannot say for sure about this matter."

"When to enter the capital depends on the decision of the King of Wings."

Li Yi smiled and waved his hand.

"is it?"

"Haha, that's right. There's no rush for this matter. Brother Dakai can handle it on his own."

"It's just that, since we parted at Jintian, I haven't seen my brother Dakai for a long time, and I miss him so much now."

"Mr. Zhang, when you return to Chang'an this time, you should convey my thoughts to Brother Dakai."

Li Yi and Shi Dakai were actually not familiar with each other.

Although the two sides had met in Jintian, that was all.

The two of them were at most familiar with each other, and they had hardly spoken to each other.

But this did not prevent Li Yi from affectionately calling Shi Dakai "Brother Dakai" and expressing his longing for him.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Suimou also spoke.

"Don't worry, Your Majesty. I will definitely convey my regards to you."

"I'm sure King Yi will be very touched!"

Hearing this, Li Yi smiled and nodded in approval.

Zhang Suimou said goodbye and left, preparing to return to Chang'an.

Li Yi ordered his men to prepare a batch of precious treasures and antiques as gifts for Shi Dakai before Zhang Suimou set off, and asked Zhang Suimou to take them with him.

……

September 17, the fourth year of the Zhaowu reign of the Tang Dynasty, was late autumn.

The autumn wind is bleak, and the leaves on both sides of the official road have turned yellow.

The autumn rain poured down, and yellow leaves were knocked off the treetops.

With the arrival of gusts of autumn wind, the chill in the air is becoming more and more obvious.

On the city wall of the east gate of the capital, Li Yi stood with his hands behind his back, gazing at the hazy rain scene in the distance.

Beside him, several attendants held up a very large umbrella for him to block the falling autumn rain.

As an autumn breeze mixed with moisture blew over, Li Yi pulled his cloak closer to protect himself from the rain and cold.

Taking a deep breath, Li Yi turned around and asked Tang Ruidao, the director of the attendant room.

"Where is the capital relocation team now?"

After hearing this, Tang Rui thought for a while and replied.

"In reply to your Majesty, the latest news is that the team moving the capital has arrived in Tongzhou."

"But due to the continuous autumn rain, the road was difficult to travel, so we stopped in Tongzhou to rest for a while."

"Wait until the rain stops before entering the capital!"

Li Yi nodded slightly when he heard this, but there was still some longing in his eyes as he looked towards the east.

Ever since the news that the Qing Dynasty had blew up the Yellow River dike reached Guangzhou in July last year, Li Yi personally led his troops north to provide disaster relief.

From that time till now, a full year and two months have passed.

Li Yi hasn't seen his mother, wife, and children for one year and two months.

How can I not miss you in my heart?

You have to know that when Li Yi left Guangzhou, his son was less than two years old.

The little guy, who is less than two years old, hasn’t seen his father for more than a year. Can he still recognize himself now?
Seeing Li Yi's expression, Tang Rui spoke.

"Your Majesty, the team moving the capital will definitely not arrive today."

"It is raining in autumn and there is a strong wind. It is cold outside. Your Majesty, please take care of yourself."

"Let's go back first!"

Hearing this, Li Yi nodded slightly and then spoke.

"Well, it's getting late, let's go back!"

After saying this, he turned around and prepared to go down the city wall.

Tang Rui quickly opened an umbrella and followed Li Yi to shield him from the rain.

Soon, the group walked down the city wall and boarded a four-wheeled carriage parked at the foot of the city wall.

Li Yi got on the carriage, and then the team set off towards the Forbidden City.

Squeak, squeak, the wheels rolled over the ground.

Li Yi lifted the car curtain and looked at the rain outside.

At this moment, a fast horse galloped to the team and Tang Rui came to report.