There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 150 Dongting Lake Navy

"There are indeed too many grassroots officials at the moment," Lin Wenchang chimed in. "The expenses of supporting these officials are too high. They have to support the troops, the officials, and fight wars. The Ministry of Revenue is almost unable to make ends meet."

It was a very realistic question, and Nie Yu couldn't refute it.

He created the Rural Workers' and Peasants' Association and the two-level administrative divisions of villages and towns, referring to the advanced ideas of the Red Regime and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, which were somewhat out of touch with reality.

It would certainly be beneficial for the General's Office to control real power at the grassroots level, but the functions of villages and towns are highly overlapping. The combined work of the villagers' workers' association and the village head is equivalent to what the town-level officials should do.

After they finish their work, the town-level officials have nothing to do, unless it is a special period of tax collection or disaster, these town-level officials will become a little busy, but only for a short period of time.

They are said to be redundant officials, but they don’t seem like redundant officials. They are not redundant officials, but they do have nothing to do most of the time and are bored to death.

After a moment's thought, Nie Yu knew where the problem lay. He had been taking things for granted and overlooking the fact that the current population and productivity were insufficient to support two parallel teams in villages and towns and farmers' unions.

Nie Yu smiled and said, "After all, our Han army is still in its infancy, so we need to take our time with many things. If there are any problems, we will correct them promptly. However, the rural peasant associations and the village and town divisions cannot be revoked."

Liu Jun nodded. "The rural peasant unions and the town-village divisions must be upheld, and must be maintained. However, the number of grassroots officials can be appropriately reduced. For example, Linxiang County currently had eight market towns. After our Han army incorporated them into its jurisdiction, they broke them up and established two more. Meanwhile, Pingjiang County to the south covers a larger area, yet only has eight towns. This doesn't make sense. Linxiang County can at least reduce the number of towns by three or four, which will also facilitate the co-existence of villagers from various villages and towns, and prevent the proliferation of clans. As for the reduced town-level officials, they can be sent to places like Changsha, Hengzhou, Guiyang, and Chenzhou, where they can divide the land and govern the people."

After Liu Jun finished his speech, it was obvious that he had made preparations in advance and had calculated how many officials should be reduced in each county and where these officials should go.

Nie Yu nodded and said, "In that case, we will carry out a coordinated reduction of towns in each county based on population and actual conditions. Each county will reduce a maximum of three towns. All the officials who are removed will be sent to Chenzhou, Guiyang, Changsha, and Hengzhou to govern the people and distribute land there."

The adjustment of grassroots officials in villages and towns was finalized, and some minor adjustments were also made to the division of prefectures and counties under Nie Yu's command and the appointment and removal of officials.

The Changde prefectural position finally passed into vacancies; the candidate had been internally chosen: Nie Lin, the prefect of Lizhou, who had been transferred from the prefecture. Xu Min, the deputy prefect, had been promoted to the position. A native of Yuezhou, Xu Min had no particularly impressive achievements, but he diligently assisted the prefect in managing Lizhou's civil affairs.

Chenzhou also appointed a new prefect, named Liu Hongchang, who was from Jingzhou Prefecture. He also had no special achievements, but he had the title of Juren, and he had enough seniority. He never took bribes and was serious and courageous in his work.

With the successive appointment of two new prefects and one new governor, the stability problem in Xiangxi was almost temporarily solved.

Nie Yu continued, "Since we're already talking about civil affairs, let's also discuss military affairs. What's the status of the Dongting Lake Navy?"

Wang Ruoyu quickly stepped forward and said, "The Dongting Lake Navy is currently in training. There are a total of 3,500 sailors, 2,000 of whom are Dongting Lake residents who have been enlisted and registered. Their land has been distributed first, and another 1,500 are residents of the surrounding lakeside villages and towns."

"No, it's still not enough." Nie Yu shook his head and said, "The navy is still too small. My Han army's land force already has 50,000 soldiers, so the navy must be expanded by at least 10,000 more."

As soon as he finished speaking, Lin Wenchang immediately stepped forward to object: "General, our Han army is already financially stretched. Just supporting these 50,000 troops is already a huge financial strain. If we add another 10,000 naval forces, I'm afraid we won't be able to sustain the military expenses and food costs."

Nie Yu said, "I understand the difficulties faced by the Ministry of Finance, but the navy is still necessary. Without it, how can we face the pseudo-Qing navy on the Yangtze River in the future?"

In reality, the Qing dynasty didn't even have a fully-fledged navy on the Yangtze River at the time, but that's what made it so terrifying. While the Qing didn't have a Yangtze River navy, it did have a massive Fujian navy, and even had a special admiral who commanded the Fujian navy. His power was equal to that of a governor.

The total strength of the Fujian Navy reached more than 27,000 people. Such a huge fleet size is like the difference between an adult and a child compared to the 3,500-person navy that the Han army painstakingly raised.

If Emperor Qianlong was really pushed into a corner and dispatched the Fujian navy to blockade the Yangtze River, the Han navy would not be able to win even if they fought with all their might!
It's no wonder Nie Yu felt a sense of urgency; he couldn't help but be anxious. He couldn't risk his life on the chance that Emperor Qianlong wouldn't go mad. Therefore, expanding the navy was essential. Even this expansion of 10,000 navy soldiers wasn't enough; it was barely enough to protect the Yangtze River and blockade its defenses.

Of course, this is the worst case scenario.

Nie Yu thought for a moment and said to Wang Ruoyu, "Since the Navy is expanding, and the Navy is under the command of the Army Department, the original Army Department is obviously no longer suitable. "From today on, the Army Department will be officially renamed the Han Army Department. The Han Army Department will be further divided into the Land Division and the Navy Department. The highest official position will be the head of the Land Division and the Navy Department. The heads of the two departments will be under the jurisdiction of the Han Army Department. The rest of the official positions will remain unchanged for the time being."

Wow, after all this reform, it seems that there is no change, only a few names of official positions have been changed, but in fact the internal power structure has changed a lot.

First of all, the original Army Department could only manage the land forces. Even the Dongting Lake Navy was also managed by the Army Department. This cannot be said to be against the rules, because the Han army had no concept of the navy at all before, and no one regarded the navy as an independent military system.

There are 3,500 people. You can't set up a separate department to manage them all. Isn't that just a waste of time?

But now, the military reform made by Nie Yu even directly changed the Army Department into the Han Army Department, raising the land army and the navy fleet to the same level, which is equivalent to treating the two as equals. The navy is no longer a vassal of the land army, but a separate and independent military system.

In this way, there is a lot of room for maneuver.

Because the navy has independent power, its power is magnified invisibly.

No matter who is in charge of the Navy Office of the Han Army, they will naturally strive to gain as much benefit for the navy as possible in order to maintain the power in their hands.

For example, military budget, navy expansion, warship construction, and the promotion of colonial expansion and naval warfare...

This is Nie Yu’s ultimate goal. Defending against the pseudo Qingshui Division is secondary. Our goal will always be the vast ocean and the foreign continent.

All dynasties did not attach importance to the navy and even disbanded it because they had no interest in overseas and believed that overseas were remote and poor areas.

But Nie Yu was different. He wasn't an ancient being. As a time traveler, he naturally knew what was on the other side of the sea. Not to mention the other side of the sea, even the South China Sea was teeming with wealth. If he didn't take it all, wouldn't his entire journey have been in vain?
Wang Ruoyu couldn't see through Nie Yu's deep thoughts, but he knew that with the operation of changing the Army Department into the Han Army Department, the expansion of the navy was a foregone conclusion.

Lin Wenchang was already numb, but at the same time he felt helpless.

Because what the general said does make sense. Without a navy, how can they guard against the navy of the pseudo-Qing Dynasty?
That's what rebellion is like. Having no money is the norm. If you can hold on, you'll be a founding hero. If you can't, then you don't have to worry about money.

(End of this chapter)