"Next, Shandong battlefield." Li Mingxun's eyes reminded Gao Feng's eyes and swept the other people's faces.

Lin Cheng coughed lightly, "This time, the army needs to make sacrifices."

Gao Feng focused his attention and said solemnly, "The Beiyang War Zone has made plans to retreat to Qingdao Fortress."

Li Mingxun nodded with relief and said, "This time I started a war with the East India Company, I need to mobilize all the Marines in the Beiyang War Zone. Guangdong and Jiangnan War Zones will draw the army to participate in the war. The total land combat force exceeds 25,000. However, the army, Yi army and the security army in the Beiyang War Zone will not use it. Are you sure to defend the Jiaodong Peninsula for the remaining troops?"

Gao Feng pondered for a moment, "Yes! But there is a price."

After the transfer, the Beiyang War Zone had less than 50,000 troops, and they had to face the Qing army with as many as 150,000. The three-fold disadvantage in force made the defense a problem. Fortunately, the Qing army had no intention of attacking, and it might have been stopped by the winter offensive that the United States had prepared since spring this year. The Qing army deployed defense along the Weishui River. As long as it knew that the United States' troops were moving south, the attack was certain.

"What's the price?" Li Mingxun asked.

"Military expenses!" Gao Feng said directly, "I need enough military expenses, and once it is necessary, I hope to hire the Ming army in Zhoushan to fight like the Korean battlefield, so that I can be sure to defend the Jiaolai Canal."

"Yes, I can give you all the authorizations, and military expenditure is not a problem." Li Mingxun said directly, and he looked at the veterans again. "I need to pass a special military expenditure case."

"No problem." Lin Cheng was the first to express his opinion.

Although the change in the strategic direction of the United States caught the elders off guard, the finances were very abundant. Last year, the United States "seized" more than 6 million silver and as much as 24 million grain in North Korea. Some of the grain was stored in the official warehouses of various administrative regions, and some of the grain was auctioned and sold, which earned more than 10 million taels of taels of Korean battlefields. After the war to the East India Company, two major imports were obtained. One was to seize Dutch merchant ships and cargo from various ports, and the other was to recover Tainan and make land sales to the whole country.

Next year, some North Korean food will be sold and Tainan land and Dutch goods will be auctioned. The United States' finance will have as many as 25 million taels of "special fiscal revenue" in the fourth year of Yongli, five and six years. The part of the finance and the military expenditure of the original command will make the military expenditure of about 16 million next year. Among them, the special military expenditure case will bring about 10 million military expenditure, which is enough to support military operations on both battlefields. United will not have much resistance to the special military expenditure case next year. After all, it is the money "grabbed" by the army, and part of it is reasonable to use it for the army.

"To avoid financial constraints, the draft for capital relocation will be suspended, and the draft for naval military equipment expansion will not be passed. Mr. Simmons, you should submit a more reasonable plan." Li Mingxun said.

The United States moved its capital when it was just founded, but Taipei was not ready at that time. With the rapid development of Taipei in the past two years, the urban population exceeded 300,000 and the infrastructure was improved, more and more people in China called for the relocation of the capital to Taipei. At least the center of the United States' economy, finance and diplomacy is in Taipei.

Before this, Taichung City was established and the first-level administrative district was changed to a second-level administrative district directly under the Senate, all of which were prepared for the capital relocation.

"So how to explain to the citizens the suspension of the draft moving the capital?" Lin Cheng asked.

Li Mingxun said, "It's very simple. Even if the capital is moved to Taipei, it is a temporary capital. It can be told to citizens that expelling the Tartars and restoring China is not a slogan. The capital of the United States of China must be on the mainland, not in Taiwan, a small place."

"Your Excellency, our Navy's plan." Simmons hesitated.

Lee Mingxun smiled, "His Excellency Simmons, please be clear, who is the essence of our war with the East India Company, the ocean overlord of the Eastern World, and not a life-and-death replacement relationship. We have no intention of eliminating the East India Company, and we cannot do it, and we cannot afford it. All the marine countries in the Eastern World will not be happy to see this scene, including Portugal and the British.

Therefore, this war will not last long, two or three years. After the war, it is not the battleships that maintain and enhance our hegemony, but the armed merchant ships. Because our hegemony, the most important thing is economic hegemony, not military hegemony. Do you understand?"

The draft naval expansion submitted by Simmons was really shocking. He took advantage of the war with the Dutch and demanded that eight battleships and ten heavy cruisers be built in one go, including two Ai Beast-class battleships. Not to mention the construction, the cost of supporting such a fleet will be huge financial pressure even after the formation of maintenance. Moreover, even if all shipyards in the United States participate in this scale, even if all the shipyards in the United States will be involved, they will have to be built in two batches. When the fleet is formed, it will be seven years later and there will be no time to participate in this war. Unless it is a full-scale war between the Dutch and the Dutch, then such an expansion plan will be meaningless.

Before this war, the Dutch were the maritime overlords of the Eastern world. Every maritime force here, whether it was the United Kingdom, Portugal, Spanish colonists, local countries and sultanates from Europe, had various hatreds and interests disputes with the rapidly expanding Dutch. They were unable to fight against the Dutch, so they were willing to see the United States challenge the hegemony of the Dutch. However, once these people discovered that the United States wanted to destroy the Dutch, it would arouse opposition from all maritime forces. After all, the battle between the two strong will allow the weak forces to reap profits and give them space to compete for the straits. If one side dominates, it would be a huge threat to all weak forces.

"But the Dutch would not give in so easily. Even if we defeated their fleet and captured their cities, the Dutch would launch a raid war. This is a huge loss for us. We must be prepared for a protracted war, Your Excellency." Simmons said.

Li Mingxun smiled mysteriously, "No, the Dutch will recognize the situation."

"Why?" Simmons was puzzled.

Lee Mingxun smiled, "This is my intuition, Simmons, hasn't my intuition always been very accurate?"

"This." Simmons was speechless. Lee Myung-hoon's intuition was always accurate, but it was not acceptable to make strategic decisions based on this judgment.

"Okay, no matter what, this draft has no operability. We cannot be militant and will not always focus on the ocean. Perhaps the Dutch will not give up easily, but we can give them a way out. This ocean is the world we rely on for survival. We cannot withstand the losses caused by protracted war than the Dutch, so Simmons, stop arguing." Lin Cheng knocked on the table and said.

Li Mingxun did not explain his intuition. The so-called intuition is the upcoming First Anglo-Dutch War. This war that took place in Europe would consume most of the Dutch resources. Although this naval coachman country has accumulated a lot of money, its manpower and national strength are ultimately limited. It is impossible to support two comprehensive wars in both directions of the earth. Between the colonies and the locals, the Dutch would not make a wrong choice. Therefore, as long as the United States does not lose, it will be a comprehensive victory.

For at least a hundred years, the large fleet of battleships, mainly fighting the oceans, was a joke. Although battleships were the overlords of the sea, they did not have the ability to fight on the high seas and oceans at all. This was not truly available until the 19th century. In the entire sailing era, sailing battleships were the "port queens". Whether it was an emerging country like the United States or an old powerhouse like Britain and the Netherlands, the British navy in the 17th century still had the tradition of not training in winter because the wind and waves were too big in winter.

Spending a lot of money to build a batch of battleships that are not available now and cannot be exported in the future is a huge waste of national resources.

"Well, I will ask the Admiralty to revise the draft and submit it to it at next year's budget meeting." Simmons said honestly.

Li Mingxun nodded, "That's good, now it's a combat plan against the Netherlands. First of all, we need to mention that after declaring war on the Netherlands, we have gained the first maritime ally - the Portuguese! This means that the threat from the Dutch fleet in the Indian Ocean is basically lifted."

The conference room was filled with joy. The Port of Galle on Ceylon Island had always been stationed with the second largest fleet of the Dutch East India Company. At the beginning, this fleet of twelve armed merchant ships shocked the Portuguese and British on the Indian coast and assisted the Dutch Army in capturing all Ceylon colonial sites except Colombo. The Portuguese in Goa did not have a comparable fleet, but their fleet was enough to involve the Dutch Galle fleet, at least most of them.

"Where are the British?" Simmons asked earnestly. It would be even better if there were British cooperation.

Linhedao "The British chose to watch the wall."

"Damn British," said Simmons.

Lee Myung-hoon shook his head indifferently and said, "Simmons, Fleet!"

Simmons coughed lightly and said, "After the Battle of Manila, the Dutch were seeking to expand their maritime power. In fact, they have developed very quickly in recent years, especially in the years after the end of the European War. As far as I know, the East India Company purchased five warships in the retired Netherlands and Zelan Navy to strengthen their East Indies fleet. At present, the Dutch East India Company has a total of 65 ships with more than 40 artillery guns, including 14 professional warships, and the rest are large armed merchant ships such as East India Sailing. Fortunately, these merchant ships also have to bear the heavy responsibility of East and West trade. Therefore, we only need to face thirty-five to forty heavy gunboats. It should be pointed out that the longer the war lasts, the more armed merchant ships returning to Europe will come back, and the threat will increase.

In addition to these heavy gunboats, the Dutch also owned 130 armed merchant ships and light warships, but 32 of them were seized or sunk by us, and some of them were scattered in Nagasaki, Ambon, Malacca and other places. Batavia certainly has the most armed ships. The number of various types of ships may be about ninety, of which there are more heavy gunboats with more than forty artillery gunboats in about twenty-five. Obviously, the Dutch have more than our ships, but our ships are more professional and powerful."

Although the Dutch have always been unable to accept the rise of the United States, the rise of the United States has been good news for the armed forces and trade of the East India Company. Once upon a time, the Dutch had been maintained by more than 100 armed ships in the East. However, with the rise of the United States bringing prosperity to the maritime trade to the Eastern world, more and more pirates were eliminated or simply turned into seamen. The security environment of maritime trade in the East has greatly improved, and the prosperity of bulk trade has also challenged the Dutch's armed ship trade model.

Not to mention, except for the trade in raw silk, porcelain, copper and spices, other goods transported by armed ships are all losses. Therefore, in the past seven or eight years, many ordinary merchant ships have been added to the Dutch name, mostly based on the Guangzhou ships and Nanyang ships, and sailing and rudder transformations were carried out. These ships were equipped with light guns and clamping guns, and there were only a few businessmen and navigation officers on the ship. The crew hired South China Sea pirates and even Chinese and Chinese, and the goods traded were also turned into wood, iron and grain. Most of the ships seized by the United States at various ports in the north were of this kind.

The addition of ordinary ships liberated the Dutch's armed merchant ships. Even though it was the north wind season when the war was declared, there were still quite a lot of armed ships in Dutch strongholds such as Batavia. However, even in paper data, the Dutch had the upper hand and could not organize an active attack. The reason was naturally because of the chronic disease that the colonists could not cure - there were too few army.

The unfavorable wind direction makes it impossible for the Dutch fleet to go north in large numbers. So what if it goes north? Can the Dutch still break into the seaports of the United States that are fortified by fortresses and forts, and still land on the siege?

The weakness of the Dutch is very obvious. Although their shopping malls are spread all over the Southeast Asian region, there are only a few that can be called strongholds, including Batavia, Ambon, the Spice Islands, Malacca in the Strait of Malacca, Galle Port in Ceylon, and Nagasaki. None of them except Nagasaki could withstand the full attack of the United States. After all, this country has a strong fleet and a strong army.
Chapter completed!