He looked at the map, which was like a collection of leaves, compared it to the *Imperial Ming Regional Map* he had seen years ago; the territory of the Great Ming was actually much larger than before.
After all, Mongolia and Tibet had never truly been part of the Great Ming's territory.
He watched as Zhu Ci placed a ring of magnetic red flags along the border between Mongolia and Tibet; and that wasn't all—beyond Mongolia and Tibet, there were also the Heilongjiang River basin, even parts of the islands had been planted with them.
He asked in surprise, "Does Your Majesty think Tsarist Russia will launch a full-scale war?"
These red flags basically occupied more than half of the Great Ming's borderlines.
If they fought this way, the pressure on the Great Ming would be far too great.
The Great Ming has only been stable for five years, the population has not yet fully grown; it will take at least twenty years to see a population boom, that is assuming there are no major natural disasters and most people can eat their fill.
Zhu Ci glanced over and said, "It won't come to that, unless the Tsar goes mad. I am merely circling all the areas that might have disputes with Tsarist Russia."
However, this answer did not comfort Fu. He asked with a furrowed brow, "Will there be disputes in these places in the future?"
Zhu Ci gave an affirmative response: "That's right."
Fu fell silent for a long while, then tapped the eastern side of the Heilongjiang River estuary with his hand and asked, "Do they want this place too?"
Zhu Ci rubbed his chin and said, "If I remember correctly, conflicts have occurred in this area, including Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands, but even if I didn't remember those, looking at this geographical location alone, Tsarist Russia would not give it up."
The climate in the lands of Tsarist Russia is truly too harsh; even in later generations, it would not be very suitable for human habitation, let alone now during the Little Ice Age.
By comparison, although the Great Ming was also suffering from disasters, it was much better than that place of theirs.
Fu felt immense pressure looking at this series of small red flags.
He calculated the current funds in the Ministry of Revenue and felt that military expenditures over the next few years might not only fail to decrease but would likely increase.
However, he felt that he was fortunate to have encountered Zhu Ci; at the very least, the Emperor's own personal living expenses were his own responsibility, the national tax revenue was truly used only for state and military affairs.
The military's rations and salaries have always been distributed promptly, there are rewards during festivals, with even greater rewards at the end of the year.
As the slogan "One person joins the army, the whole family is honored" spread, combined with the fact that the old system of hereditary military households no longer existed, joining the army actually allowed families to live better lives; consequently, there was now a selection process even for those wishing to enlist.
All of this depends on the state having enough money to support it.
Zhu Ci sat down and said, "This Tsar now holds absolute power; once the envoys are driven away, he will certainly be furious. Let us prepare the supplies first."
Let them fight, then; we will never surrender our territory.
They are not many people; do the Russians have more? Not to mention that their weapons have been constantly evolving.
The Academy of Sciences is now divided into many departments, one of which is the Firearms Research Department.
The funding for this department is actually even greater than that for grain seeds.
Zhu Ci would occasionally inquire about it from time to time, then, once he provided a general direction, he wouldn't bother with it much anymore.
The Dongfeng Bronze Cannons have already been iterated to the third generation!
All of these were the source of Zhu Ci's confidence, which was why he dared to have the Russian envoys blasted out.
Just as Zhu Ci had thought, both the Russian and the Great Ming began mobilizing troops along their respective borders at the same time. Neither side had made a move yet, but both were well aware it was only a matter of time, it all depended on who would fire the first shot.
Zhu Ci calculated the time and said, "If we wait a bit longer, winter will arrive over there. It looks like they won't make a move until next year."
Even if they acted now, it would likely only be a small-scale skirmish.
Fu said, "It would be best to wait until after the wheat harvest next year."
By then, another wave of grain will have been harvested; one must keep in mind that the seed crops were spread even more widely this year.
Not only the areas surrounding the capital, but also the cities within the radiation of the municipalities are being replaced.
The common people were not fools; they would not reject grain seeds that yielded better harvests, especially since the government fields had already taken the lead in planting them.
If they do not plant them, it is very likely that after calculating the costs, they will find that switching to the new grain seeds actually results in a loss.
However, the state will subsidize a portion of it now; although the scope of this subsidy is limited, next year's tax revenue will certainly be greater than this year's, when the time comes to fight again, they will have more confidence.
Zhu Ci said with some regret, "A pity there are no maps of Tsarist Russia."
He looked out the window and daydreamed, "It would be great if we could conquer Siberia, or even all of Tsarist Russia.."
Fu?? Wait, weren't they supposed to make Tsarist Russia retreat in the face of difficulty? Why are they planning to fight into Russian territory again?
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Author's Note: Zhu Ci: I was just thinking, thinking isn't a crime! People need to have dreams! Cat raising its head confidently. jpg
Next update at noon~
Chapter 304
Fu said persuasively, "Although Tsarist Russia is vast in territory, it is not a particularly good place."
It is truly too cold there, currently, the population of Tsarist Russia is much smaller than that of the Great Ming.
One must realize that the Great Ming has endured many years of warfare, compounded by the Manchus frequently carrying out massacres, which led to a sharp decline in the population.
Tsarist Russia never had a large population to begin with, which shows how harsh the living environment was.
Zhu Ci shook his head and said, "Don't let the cold fool you; it is a wonderful place. The black soil of the Northeast is excellent, isn't it? Ukraine also has vast stretches of black soil. Besides that, their mineral resources are incredibly abundant. Let's put it this way.. you can basically find almost all the mineral resources on the entire planet in that land."
Fu.. Fu was also quite shamelessly tempted.
Who would ever complain about having few fertile lands and mineral resources at home?
At this time, he also felt it was a pity that he lacked maps of Tsarist Russia, he didn't know if he could manage to obtain any.
Just as Fu was calculating whether anyone under his command could bribe officials on the Russian side to obtain some maps, he received news.
After reading it, Fu sighed and said, "Your Majesty, I fear we won't be able to go to war with Tsarist Russia for the time being."
Hmm? What happened?" Zhu Ci asked. "Did something go wrong within Tsarist Russia?
Fu shook his head. "It's that Tsarist Russia and Japan have started fighting."
He finished and added, "Because of the Thousand Islands."
After listening, Zhu Ci glanced at the map, narrowed his eyes, said, "We cannot let Tsarist Russia succeed. Once Tsarist Russia gains control of the Thousand Islands, they will be able to impose a maritime blockade against us."
He remembered that when future generations imposed a blockade on this land, the first island chain included the Japanese archipelago, Taiwan Island, the Philippine archipelago, parts of the Indonesian archipelago.
Although Russia has obtained the Kuril Islands and thus cannot temporarily form an island chain, it can still manage to surround Sakhalin Island.
Seeing the Emperor's attitude, Fu knew that troops would definitely be sent to Japan this time.
"What is the current situation with Alna?" Zhu Ci asked suddenly.
Fu Qingsheng said, "He is currently using the Emperor to command the lords, but even Tokugawa Ieyasu obeys his every command."
Twelve-year-old Tokugawa Sekina was no match for Alna no matter what; even Zhu Ci had to admit that Alna was truly an expert at causing trouble.
His actions in Japan could not be called wrong; in fact, they could even be considered excellent decisions for the current time, yet they unexpectedly resulted in the current tension in the Japanese situation.
Not only was the internal situation tense, but they also had to simultaneously face pressure from Japan and Tsarist Russia.
Zhu Ci said, "Let someone talk to him."
First, let his own people land on the island and then we'll see. As for what to do after landing.. would that still be within Alna's control?
Moreover, this time Zhu Ci plans to arrange a group of young generals to go there.
Some people here had experienced the great wars of those years, while others had been promoted within the last two years; they had experience, but it was not sufficient.
It just so happens that he can go to Japan to hone his skills.
It had to be said that when the battlefield was not on home soil, Zhu Ci's mindset was much more relaxed.
When the Great Ming warship entered the range of the Japanese port, Alna, who had come to personally welcome it, actually felt a moment of regret while standing on the pier.
It seemed he had still underestimated the strength of the Great Ming.
No, it wasn't that he had miscalculated, but rather that he hadn't expected the Great Ming to be able to develop to this extent in such a short period of time.
When he was by Dodo's side back then, he knew very clearly that manufacturing large warships required a vast amount of manpower and resources. At that time, the Qing Dynasty had always wanted to build ships but never had the opportunity, since naval warfare generally took place inland, very few sea-going vessels were ultimately constructed.
How on earth did the Ming Kingdom do it? In just a few short years, they actually possessed a massive naval fleet.
Have they been building ships all these years? Where did they get the money?
Alna felt that the current Ming Kingdom was even more foreign to him than it had been before.
He had always felt that his abilities and those of Zhu Ci's were neck and neck, except that Zhu Ci had a better background and a bit better luck than him.
Looking at it now, was there perhaps some other gap between them that he did not know about?
As the Ming soldiers descended from the ships in perfect unison, the overwhelming sense of pressure hitting him caused Alna's expression to change involuntarily.
He had never seen such an army; although they were clearly different people, their movements and postures were as synchronized as if they were a single person, even their clothing was identical.
Not only that, but their physiques were robust, with almost no short or weak soldiers.
The Ming Kingdom's army was even more prosperous than what he had seen back then.
Alna could not help but ask himself, once these Ming armies arrived, would the course of events still remain under his control?
The answer was, of course, no. Alna possessed extraordinary insight and persuasion skills, he was also skilled in various schemes; however, not a single general sent by the Ming Kingdom took his words to heart.
There was no need to take it to heart; all schemes are built upon one premise: either the enemy is stronger than us, or we are evenly matched.
After fighting the Japanese daimyo, the soldiers of the Great Ming discovered that not only was the Japanese army of mixed quality, but their weapons were also far inferior, making them no match for the Ming forces at all.
Who needs strategy or tactics when you can just outright crush them!
Of course, while we say it's a total crushing, everyone is still being meticulous, fearing that a single slip-up could lead to a catastrophic failure.
After seeing the overwhelming victory of the Great Ming over Japan, Korea quickly withdrew its troops and decided to increase its tributes this year, making sure to maintain a posture of complete submission.
Compared to Japan and Korea, Tsarist Russia is indeed a bit more difficult to deal with.
Because whether it was Japan or Korea, they would retreat; Korea, seeing that things were not looking good, did not participate in the war at all, even tactfully expressed that they would avoid the sharp edge of the Heavenly Empire's arrival.
Those Japanese Daimyo, seeing that the situation was unfavorable, surrendered quite quickly.
As for the Russian soldiers.. it was as if they didn't know the meaning of fear, charging forward while shouting "Ura!"
Even when facing the even more powerful Dongfeng Generation 3, they seemed to have no idea what fear was.
Young Marquis, this isn't Russian territory either. What are they risking their lives for?