Chapter 794: Insight into the Situation

Latest website: "Your Highness, the Rubber Tree seeds have been found." Having obtained information about Rubber Tree seeds from the documents, Zhao Xu ordered soldiers to search the warehouses in Malka City.

Before long, Pan Zhang returned with an excited look on his face.

"Besides this, this general has also released the Great Song commoners imprisoned by the Franks and found the eyes and ears of the Four Courts," Pan Zhang added.

Zhao Xu nodded.

He must commend Xu Ke when he returns this time; if not for Xu Ke's Four Courts, he would have been in danger this time.

At the same time, this also shows from another perspective that the huge investment he has made in the Four Courts over these years is worth it.

With the entire Yizhou taken, Zhao Xu prepared to leave six thousand soldiers stationed here.

He also ordered people to head to Yanzhou to have Liu Fu send officials south to establish a Government Office to govern Yizhou.

For thousands of years, the number of commoners coming to Yizhou from the Great Song has not been small; along the way from north to south, he saw many villages.

According to what he knows, the entire Yizhou has at least one million people.

By bringing these one million people under his rule, Yizhou will become an important node on the Great Song's maritime trade route, as well as a maritime fortress.

If the Western Fleet wants to head north, they must first pass the hurdle of Yizhou.

Moreover, after taking Yizhou, he has effectively connected Dongying, Ryukyu, and Yizhou into a defensive line.

This defensive line will be able to effectively prevent the Sam Country's fleet from coming from the east.

Of course, his goal is not limited to this.

He will continue to use this line as a springboard to continue expanding into the deep sea and comprehensively seize the islands occupied by the Sam Country in the ocean.

Until he builds the Great Song's naval bases at the doorstep of the Sam Country, letting them taste the feeling of being kicked at their own door.

For hundreds of years, the warships of these Xitu Guo have sailed the seas, going wherever they wanted, and bullying whoever they pleased in Dongtu.

This era is coming to an end.

"In this battle, Malka City was basically not damaged.

Station three thousand soldiers here and at Lujiao City each," Zhao Xu said to Zhou Yi after discussing the garrison matters for a while.

Hearing this, Zhou Yi pulled a bitter face, "Your Highness, if we keep stationing them like this, the available troops for the Marine Corps will become fewer and fewer. Can we let the Army station here instead?"

At present, they have four thousand people stationed in the north of Dongying, two thousand in Ryukyu, and if six thousand are left in Yizhou, the Marine Corps will only have half its men left to use.

Even so, most of these troops are still being worn down at Wufeng Island and Dongying.

If they encounter any more battles, there really won't be many troops left to pull out.

"If you want to expand the army, just say so; stop beating around the bush. These soldiers are stationed in places like Dongying, Ryukyu, and Yizhou, but can't they be temporarily transferred when needed and moved back after the war?" Zhao Xu glared at Zhou Yi.

Hearing this, Zhou Yi chuckled twice, "This general didn't think of that layer, but it's still a bit troublesome after all. It's more straightforward to expand the army."

Shaking his head, Zhao Xu thought for a moment.

The war in Jiangnan is likely to drag on for some time.

Wu, led by the Liang Family and supplemented by the Xie Family, Han Family, and Wang Family, is one.

The Dou Family, who retreated to Yizhou, is another.

Besides these, there is also the Fan Family, who sits securely in Yunzhou.

And the Frank who controls Jiaozhi.

Therefore, even if the war in Jiangnan ends, the Army's affairs will still be very heavy.

The Prince's Personal Army needs to garrison the south to guard against the Frank and the Ashuer Tribe that controls Tibet.

Moreover, once Jiangnan is settled, the threat from the North Territory must be resolved.

During this period, while Britain has been making frequent moves, the Ross state has also been quite active, exporting many firearms to the Northern Di.

Military Instructors from the Ross state have also appeared in the Northern Di army.

Since ancient times, dynasties in the Central Plains have often perished because of the North Territory.

He will absolutely not allow a massive force to entrench itself in the north of the Great Song.

And this, too, will be a hard battle to fight.

Thus, for the next period of time, he still has to rely on the Navy to maintain overseas interests.

"Since that is the case, I will give you another thirty thousand in troop quotas to expand the Marine Corps to sixty thousand," Zhao Xu said.

Regarding the number of troops, he only asks that it be enough.

If the situation worsens, he will expand the army on a large scale again.

Raising an army requires money and also requires young, able-bodied men, which will affect development.

And due to the reform of the military system and the use of muskets, it only takes three months to train an army, so there is even less need to maintain a massive standing army.

Before World War I, it was not until the war broke out that the armies of various countries expanded on a large scale.

Within a few months, Germany increased its standing army from 790,000 to 5 million, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire from 450,000 to 3.35 million.

France increased from 790,000 to 4 million, and Russia from 1.2 million to 6 million.

By the time of World War II, the scale of military expansion was even more terrifying; when World War II ended, both the Soviet Union and the United States had standing armies in the tens of millions.

Of course, this is a modern example, and there is another example right before his eyes.

That is Dongying and the powerful clans.

According to intelligence, after he launched an attack on Dongying, Watanabe expanded his army on a large scale. Under his strikes, the troop strength of the Four Domains in the south did not decrease but instead increased to 600,000.

According to the captives, the troop strength of Wu alone increased from 400,000 to one million.

And this is just Wu; it does not include the Xie Family and others.

"Thank you, Your Highness." Zhou Yi was overjoyed upon hearing this.

As the Navy General, he naturally is happy to see more and more soldiers under his command.

Having settled this matter, Zhao Xu did not rush back.

This time, Yizhou was taken by him, and he wanted to know what reaction Wu would have, so he waited for the eyes and ears of the Four Courts in Lincheng to send the intelligence here.

Three days later, the eyes and ears of the Four Courts delivered a piece of intelligence into his hands.

"Wu is currently moving its capital, preparing to head to Changcheng in Jiangzhou, while simultaneously ordering the commoners in coastal cities to relocate inland, clearing the fields and fortifying the defenses." Zhao Xu read the letter that had been delivered, then handed it to Zhou Yi.

This Jiangzhou is the Jiangxi of the modern era, and Changcheng is the location of Nanchang.

In the modern era, Tengwang Pavilion is in this very place.

During the Tang, Song, Yuan, and Ming dynasties, Nanchang's economy was extremely prosperous and developed, once serving as the largest shipbuilding base in the south.

In Great Song, although Changcheng is not as wealthy as the Liang Family's Lincheng, because it guards an important waterway where goods can reach Lincheng via water routes, it can also be called one of the important cities of Great Song.

Moreover, Jiangzhou is mountainous, which is convenient for hiding troops.

Liang Kai choosing this place is therefore understandable.

Of course, in his view, this Changcheng is merely a temporary capital.

If the war goes poorly, they will certainly continue to move the capital.

However, Liang Kai being able to make such a decision this time did surprise him a little.

Voluntarily abandoning the wealthy coastal regions to relocate inland requires quite a lot of courage and decisiveness.

"The powerful clans know they have no way out; they are now like a dog jumping over a wall in desperation." Zhou Yi felt slightly displeased.

He had been preparing to lead the navy to deal with the Jiangnan Powerful Clans just as he had dealt with Dongying.

He had not expected the powerful clans to pull the rug out from under him and simply run away.