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According to the results of discussions between Qin Mu and the ministers in the court, the navy and army on the Indochina Peninsula officially began a strategic transformation, changing from the original purpose of occupying territory to the purpose of acquiring resources.
Except for the relatively wealthy plains areas such as Baiqi City, Thang Long Prefecture, Hue, Yangon, and Ava, the Qin army was no longer in a hurry to occupy the mountainous areas on the entire Nanyang Peninsula. The Qin army could not let the energy of the Qin Dynasty be trapped in these mountainous areas.
Of course, it was not that they would just leave it all alone. They had to make use of local resources and organize more vassal armies. The Qin army would only be responsible for guarding these important cities, and then the task of clearing out the indigenous people in the mountainous areas would be left to the vassal armies to complete.
Whether you burn, kill, or implement the Three Alls Policy, Daqin will no longer interfere. Daqin only wants local resources, including manpower.
On the other hand, Qin Mu also formulated a ten-year plan, which was to reduce the population of the entire Nanyang indigenous people by more than 60% within ten years. At the same time, all mountainous areas would become uninhabited areas. In addition to using them for war, they could also be brought back to the country for labor.
As for the remaining 40%, those that can be localized will be localized in Chinese, and those that cannot be localized will be moved to islands like New Zealand.
We can even allocate a piece of land in a place like Kalimantan for them to live on, put all the tribes there, and let them fight among themselves. Anyway, we can't have them distributed everywhere like they are now.
This strategic plan has to be implemented by the military. The Qin Dynasty will not send civilian officials to govern Luzon, Qinghai, and Indochina now. It is not the right time to govern them. Maybe ten years later.
Qin Mu conferred the title of Shunyi Bo on Wu Jin, granted him a house in Nanjing, gave him maids and concubines, and gave him many rewards.
After Wu entered the capital and was conferred the title, Cui Feng immediately divided his 50,000-man army into five groups, namely Hong Yuan, Wu Shan, Aung San He, Nayeli, and Tu Yi.
Cui Feng began to put away his aggressive momentum and gave the task of clearing out the various places in Dongwu to Hong Yuan and the other five people. Go ahead and fight, burn, kill, rob, and do whatever you want.
It doesn't matter if you lose the battle, I will organize troops for you. Ava region is a land of fish and rice, with a large population, so it is not difficult to organize tens of thousands of vassal troops.
Ma Liuliang, Gu Rong, Hai Rufeng and others also organized their own vassal armies.
And as the imperial court begins to dispatch the army to take over, the navy will soon be withdrawn from these war zones and fully prepared to expand outward.
As for the chieftains in Guangxi and Yunnan, you can also organize more wolf soldiers. According to the rules, 40% of all the spoils will be divided among you.
All Cui Feng had to do was to send out a small number of troops to supervise the actions of the various vassal armies.
During this period, the weather was hot and the officials of the Ministry of Revenue in Nanjing were very busy. In addition to counting the newly deposited summer taxes, Wang Guichen of Brunei, Gu Rong and Ma Liuliang of Thang Long, Zheng Sihai of Guangyuan, Hai Rufeng of Yangon, and Cui Feng of Ava also escorted a large amount of seized goods back to Nanjing.
Jiaozhi and Dongya were the two most powerful countries in Indochina, and were also relatively civilized and wealthy countries.
For example, the Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon is gilded with seven or eight tons of gold, so don’t underestimate the wealth these countries have.
It's just that their productivity is not developed enough, and the social commodities are not as abundant as those of the Qin Dynasty. But in terms of valuable things, they definitely have a lot.
Moreover, the Qin army's fighting method this time was mainly plundering. They would try to move everything they could from the occupied areas back to the national treasury.
The gold, silver, gems, jade, agate and other items seized this time were worth as much as 70 million dragon coins.
In addition, there were a large number of spices, pearls, medicinal herbs and other commodities, too numerous to count. They were shipped back in shiploads, and there was no time to count them. If they were counted together, their value would definitely exceed 100 million dragon coins.
Of course, if you take into account the large population, even if a young woman only sells five dragon coins, it would be an inexhaustible huge fortune.
At the morning court session that day, Xu Yingjie, the assistant minister of the Ministry of Revenue, was the first to come out and report, "Your Majesty, the navy and army have won a great victory in the Indochina Peninsula. According to incomplete statistics, the total amount of spoils seized will exceed 120 million dragon coins."
As soon as Xu Yingjie said this number, there was an uproar in the Golden Palace. All the officials ignored the order of the court and whispered to each other.
Since ancient times, wars have always been a waste of money, especially in the era when the country was governed by Confucian ideas that emphasized benevolence, righteousness, and morality. Foreign wars were almost always a matter of losing money without making any profit.
The ministers had never experienced this kind of colonial war and could not imagine how much amazing wealth a small country like Spain could plunder from overseas.
This time, the navy and the army attacked the Indochina Peninsula and brought back hundreds of millions of wealth in one go. It is easy to imagine how shocked they were.
As the saying goes, money can move people's hearts. Before, there were many voices in the government and the public opposing such a war because it was in stark contrast to the Confucian ideas of benevolence and righteousness.
But in the face of such huge wealth, the voices of opposition in the court suddenly became much smaller.
Money, how many people can resist money
Moreover, the ministers in the court actually had no idea how brutal the war in Indochina was. They only heard that the army had fought somewhere and had won several great victories. Everything they reported was just a vague numerical concept.
Qin Mu raised his hand and flicked it gently, suppressing the noise in the Golden Palace, and then said to Xu Yingjie: "Xu Qing seems to have something else to say."
"Yes, Your Majesty." Xu Yingjie said, "In my opinion, this huge amount of wealth, if used improperly, will bring a far-reaching disaster to our Great Qin."
As soon as Xu Yingjie finished speaking, the hall was in an uproar again.
Many people vaguely realized that Xu Yingjie was right, but more ministers thought it was nonsense and believed that Xu Yingjie was exaggerating.
Some ministers even couldn't help but stand up and accuse Xu Yingjie immediately, using rather harsh words.
"Silence!" Li Zhongming, the Imperial Censor in the palace, shouted, restoring order in the palace.
Qin Mu nodded and said, "Xu Qing, as the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, can see this clearly. I can rest assured. Please explain it to the ministers in the palace who don't understand."
"Yes, Your Majesty. The huge amount of money and property that the military handed over this time cannot be earned back through commodity exports. For our Great Qin, it is equivalent to gaining something without any effort, and we have an extra 100 million dragon coins out of thin air.
If this huge sum of money is wasted hastily, it will inevitably cause a huge impact on the financial and monetary order of the Qin Dynasty. To put it bluntly, doing so is equivalent to the court printing 100 million dragon coins and putting them into circulation, which will inevitably lead to serious inflation and soaring prices. If this consequence really occurs, it will not only not bring any benefit to the Qin Dynasty, but will cause endless harm. Therefore, how to use this huge sum of money needs to be carefully considered. "
"What Mr. Xu said is very true. Did you understand, ministers? However, in my opinion, sealing up this huge sum of money is not a solution. So how can we use this money to achieve the corresponding benefits? Please express your opinions, ministers."
Wei Yuan, the Minister of Works, immediately said, "Your Majesty, I think it can be used to build roads and water conservancy projects, improve people's livelihood, and promote agricultural development."
"Yes, this is feasible. Do you have any suggestions, ministers?"
Minister of Rites Tan Qiubai was unwilling to be left behind and immediately said, "Your Majesty, I think the most appropriate use of this money is to develop education in Daqin. Your Majesty often says that knowledge changes the fate of individuals and the fate of the country; science and technology are the primary productive forces; education is the foundation of a century-long plan. I suggest increasing investment in education so that more children can go to school for free."
This time, before Qin Mu could answer, the Minister of the Imperial Household Department spoke up and said, "Your Majesty, the Imperial Household Department needs more funds for animal husbandry research. Your Majesty, I think there is nothing better than investing money in research. It will produce many scientific research results and play an immeasurable role in promoting the productivity of Daqin."
The Ministry of Works, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Military Equipment Inspectorate and other departments also came out to support the Minister of the Imperial Household Department and asked for scientific research funds for their own departments.
Originally, it was a bit difficult to know how to use this huge sum of money. Once various departments stepped forward to ask for money, you immediately found that the money was not only not much, but also not enough.
In general, Qin Mu believes that it is feasible to invest this unearned wealth in infrastructure, education, and scientific research.
As long as the money is really used, there is no need to worry about the impact on Daqin's financial currency, and it will generate continuous benefits.
.(To be continued..)
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