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"10 million tons? Daozi, do you know how much this will cost?"

"Yes, Daozi, have you done the math? If not, let me do the math for you. 10 million tons is almost 1,000 10,000-ton cruise ships. Now the cost of a 10,000-ton cruise ship is between 2 million and 3 million.

Between silver dollars, 1,000 ships is 2 billion - 3 billion silver dollars!"

"This is still an understatement. The average cost per ton of the battle cruisers, battleships, large cruisers, large drives, small drives and escort destroyers we plan to build will definitely be higher than the old-fashioned 10,000-ton cruisers. And what about the aircraft carrier?

It also has to be equipped with an aircraft, which is another huge expense. If it is built with 10 million tons, I am afraid it will cost 4 billion!"

"There are also auxiliary ships! These 10 million tons are still combat ships. There are also oil ships, supply ships, ammunition ships, maintenance ships, and hospital ships to be built. To support the 10 million tons of combat ships, at least auxiliary ships must be built.

Three to four million tons. This is at least another billion!"

"There are also naval bases! How many military ports will be needed for 10 million tons of combat ships and three to four million tons of auxiliary ships? How many docks will be needed for maintenance? How many forts and fortresses will be needed? One or two billion will have to be spent."

"There are also personnel, training, and maintenance costs, which are all astronomical expenses!"

"Not counting personnel, training, and maintenance, shipbuilding and infrastructure alone will cost 5 billion! If spread over 10 years, it will be 500 million silver dollars a year! Daozi, do you know how much revenue our Ming Dynasty has in a year?

?Only more than 2 billion but less than 3 billion! If you include maintenance costs, you will have to spend almost 600 million to 700 million silver dollars a year!"

As soon as Zhuge Weidao's astonishing suggestion was put forward, everyone present was stunned. According to Zhuge Weidao's plan, in the next 10 years, the Ming Dynasty will have to spend more than 20% of its financial income and the British

Are you having a hard time building ships?

Hearing these people, especially Zhuge Weiyi, who used these two military advisors who had read the Book of Heaven to settle accounts for himself, Zhuge Weidao could only smile bitterly. It seemed that his ancestors had not carefully studied the economic cost of World War I.

So future generations don't know much about it.

Before World War I, the British domestic fiscal revenue was only 140 million pounds per year. The British Empire spent 1.56 billion pounds in the fiscal year 1915-1916! In the following years, the British spent nearly 2.5 billion pounds every year.

Sterling – this is almost equivalent to Britain’s pre-war gross national income!

If Ming Dynasty were to defeat Britain in this timeline and become the world's overlord, then its average annual military expenditure after the outbreak of the war should be at least 50% higher than that of Britain, which is an average of more than 3 billion pounds per year, equivalent to 15 billion silver dollars.

.Before the war, spending an extra 600 million to 700 million silver dollars every year was not a big expense at all.

If the war process can be shortened by two years due to sufficient pre-war expenditures, it would be equivalent to exchanging 6 to 7 billion for 30 billion and saving millions of lives. Is it more cost-effective than this?

Moreover, if the Ming Dynasty launched a 10 million-ton navy, the British Empire would have to follow suit!

600 million to 700 million silver dollars a year, that is the entire wealth of the British Empire.

Thinking of this, Zhuge Weidao put on a confident smile, glanced around the conference room, then coughed and said with a smile: "Is it more than 600 million to 700 million a year? It's not much at all.

How much is Australia worth? How much is the Dutch East Indies worth? How much is Sumatra worth? How much is the Oregon Colony worth? How much is India worth?

Moreover, our annual income is almost 3 billion. We spend an extra 600 million to 700 million a year, which is an increase of 20% of the fiscal deficit. Wouldn’t we just issue some bonds and be done with it? Now that the economy is in recession, these 600 million to

—With the 700 million expenditure, it can at least create a lot of jobs, and shipyards, steel plants, etc. can also get more orders. Maybe the economy can also prosper a lot. What's wrong with that?

Besides, can the British follow suit? How much wealth do they have? 600 million to 700 million pounds is all their wealth. Can they issue an additional 100 million pounds of bonds a year? This is simply impossible

!Such an approach will inevitably cause the British financial market to collapse, and a large amount of funds will flow from London to Paris.

So the Grand Army can offer a sky-high price of 10 million tons in the Palace of Versailles. If the British can’t keep up, then they have to bow to us! This is another small card game!”

This is another small bet. If you win in Benshawar, you will also win in Japan, so you can continue playing in Versailles!

"Taozi," Zhuge Weiyi asked, "if the British don't dare to follow, what do we want?"

"I need two things," Zhuge Weidao held out two fingers. "One is that the Ming Dynasty's navy has the largest tonnage in the world! Second, at least the eastern half of Sumatra Island must be obtained."

Being number one in the navy is a sign that the Ming Empire surpassed Britain in all aspects except territory (including colonies)! When those Western countries want to take sides, they should think carefully about it.

And Sumatra.

"What's on Sumatra?" Guan Tianpei, chief of staff of the Naval Aviation, asked.

"Oil field!" Zhuge Weiyi said, "It hasn't been discovered yet. The Dutch haven't discovered it yet, but we already know it."

Zhuge Weidao took up the topic and said: "The future war will be an oil war. We have the oil fields in Borneo, the oil fields in Sakhalin, the oil fields in Yan'anqiang in Myanmar, the oil fields in Karamay in the Western Regions, and the oil fields in Shaanxi.

The oil fields in Yumen, Gansu, currently have an annual output of six to seven million tons, and should be able to exceed 10 million tons in 10 years. The oil fields in Sumatra should have a potential of 3 million tons, so that we can have a total of 13 million tons of oil.

annual output!”

This number is not much, but it is enough.

Of course, the British Empire does not have as much oil as the Ming Dynasty! Although they have a great influence in Persia and Iraq, the oil there has not yet been discovered. The only people who can stably supply oil to the British Empire are those that nominally belong to the Turkish Empire.

The Ploiesti oil field in Avadia and the Baku oil field in the Rakshasa Kingdom are either in the hands of Mao Zi, or they are under the leadership of Mao Zi!

Therefore, the British Empire's navy can only rely on coal-fired steam as its main power source, while the Ming Dynasty's navy has begun to transition to heavy oil boilers plus steam turbines!

"Okay! That's it!" Zhuge Weiyi, Minister of the Navy, nodded, "Let's use 10 million tons of navy to blackmail the British Empire!"

Zhuge Wenyong said: "If the British Empire won't give in, then we might as well build a 10-million-ton navy. As long as Britain is willing to go out of its way, our court has no reason to be timid!"

"How much? How much? Military Advisor Zhuge, how much can you tell me?"

In the splendid Hall of Mirrors of the Palace of Versailles, British Prime Minister Robinson, who was participating in naval arms negotiations, started shouting loudly regardless of diplomatic etiquette, and his face turned red, which made Viscount Palmerston and Commodore Elliot very worried.

——The British Empire has had two prime ministers in a short period of time. Will there be a third prime minister again? If he is so angry, who will be this short-lived prime minister?

This No. 10 Downing Street has been a bit annoying to the Prime Minister lately!

"Luo Zhongtang, please be patient." Zhuge Weijiu also looked at the red-faced Robinson with concern, "Don't be anxious, if your body breaks down in an emergency, it's all your own!"

"Yes, yes, don't rush." ​​Robinson thought to himself, and quickly took a few deep breaths to calm down his emotions.

In fact, his emotional instability will not kill him. He is only 46 years old, in good health, and has more than 30 years to live, so he can be angry for a long time!

Seeing that Robinson's face was no longer red, Zhuge Weijiu smiled and said: "Luo Zhongtang, our Ming Dynasty thinks that the 3 million tons of arms control line is too low. Our Ming Dynasty's population is more than 10 times yours, and our steel is more than the entire

Europe has more coal, electricity, and railways than the whole of Europe. Ten million tons is not much, right?"

As he spoke, he looked triumphantly at a group of dumbfounded arms control representatives in the Hall of Mirrors. Everyone was stunned by the 10 million tons. It turned out that Ming's "Thousand Ships Plan" was for real!
Chapter completed!