Chapter 1077

“Not a single copper coin will be missing from your pocket.”

Xiao Ming glared at Cui Shang’an. If it were before, he would not have dared to boast about expanding the army to six hundred thousand men.

After all, a modern army was not like a feudal cold-weapons army that would be satisfied with a mouthful of food. The training of soldiers, the procurement of equipment, daily food, and soldiers’ wages were all a huge expense.

In addition, the Empire’s army had a large generational gap in weaponry compared to other countries, so three to four hundred thousand men in the six major military regions were more than enough.

However, the war in Southeast Asia still made him decide to expand the army, because the Empire’s army seemed to be numerous, but after removing those who were garrisoned and those who were defending the borders, the number of soldiers that could be freely sent out to fight was a tight squeeze.

If the Europeans were to fight him to the death, his current number of men would truly be difficult to deal with. After all, according to the intelligence he had received, Europe was also working hard on technology now. As long as they could hold on for a few more years, their weapons would probably be upgraded, and at that time, the fighting would be even more brutal.

Although Xiao Ming wanted to crush Europe, fighting a war across the ocean in Europe was still a bit unrealistic. Firstly, the Empire did not have such a powerful troop transport capacity, and attacking Europe would require at least four to five hundred thousand troops.

Such a large-scale army plus its supplies would be an epic and difficult mission.

Therefore, to prevent a future counterattack from European countries, it was necessary to expand the army in advance. He did not want to be in a hurry when a problem arose in the future.

And the most important thing was that the stable growth of the Empire’s tax revenue also gave him the capital to maintain a large army. The bullets and cannonballs that were fired now were all real money, so he could not do it without money.

“If that’s the case, then this is not a problem. There are still many young people in the Empire who are aspiring to join the army,” Cui Shang’an said.

After a pause, Cui Shang’an remembered something. He said, “Does Your Majesty still remember the foreign legions that you ordered to be established?”

“Are you talking about the foreign legions from Goryeo and Japan?”

“Precisely. Now, this foreign legion has been assembled and trained, with a number of about twenty thousand men. Ye Qingyun has sent a telegram asking if they can be deployed to the Siberian battlefield now?” Cui Shang’an asked. “If Your Majesty is not in a hurry to conquer Siberia, this foreign legion can be deployed to the Indian battlefield.”

“Have them go to Siberia. Now, the only land threat to the Empire is Tsarist Russia. We cannot give them a chance to grow. We must drive them to the west of the Ural Mountains as soon as possible,” Xiao Ming said.

Cui Shang’an responded. Although the protagonist of this year’s war was the Southeast Army, the actions of the other military regions had not stopped. Ye Qingyun had been preparing for the war to seize Siberia. Qi Guangyi, on the other hand, had been focusing on Central Asia.

Luo Xin had been preparing for the campaign to the south. He had now formulated a complete offensive plan and submitted it to the General Staff.

The only military region that the General Staff had not heard from yet was Zhu Sansi’s Eastern Military Region. After conscripting and training the first batch of eight thousand soldiers, Zhu Sansi set off for Alaska in the second half of last year, but there had been no feedback since.

However, he also understood this situation. After all, Alaska was a snowy land. It was not easy to land and establish the Empire’s first city in this place, and even traveling back and forth would take a long time.

After talking about the foreign legions, Xiao Ming suddenly remembered the civil unrest in Japan. Last year, his attention was focused on the war in Southeast Asia. He did not know how Wang Xuan’s arrangements in Japan were progressing.

But this thought only flashed through his mind, because he now had an even more important matter, which was petroleum.

It did not matter if India was not taken down for now, but purchasing petroleum from the Middle East had to be put on the agenda. Now that internal combustion engine technology had achieved a breakthrough, the only thing missing was petroleum.

However, buying petroleum from the Middle East was not something that could be done just by saying it. Although it was said that oil would gush out with a single shovel in the Middle East, that region currently had no concept of petroleum.

To successfully obtain petroleum, they had to first send an exploration team to find the location of the oil field. Secondly, they had to ensure the safety of the exploration team. This would require them to have a good relationship with the Ottoman Empire or Persia.

Therefore, he was prepared to send two groups of envoys to the Ottoman Empire and Persia on the same day. Betting on both sides was always his style. This way, at least if one side had a problem, the other could be used.

…

Istanbul.

This was the capital of the Ottoman Empire and the residence of Suleiman III.

As with every leisurely morning, Suleiman III, the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, woke up as the sun shone into his bedroom window.

But just as he finished washing up and was about to enjoy his breakfast, the Vizier of the Ottoman Empire came to him.

“Salid, why have you come to my palace at this time?” Suleiman asked with some surprise.

Bowing his head respectfully, Salid said, “Great Sultan, a group of envoys from France just arrived here. They have requested an audience with you in the palace, saying that they have a very important matter.”

“France!” Suleiman frowned when he heard this. “Do the French not know that they are not welcome here? Unless they return the Peloponnese Peninsula to us.”

Salid smiled at this time. He said, “Great Sultan, the French envoys said that they have come precisely to discuss this issue. And they said that they have also received Britain’s support for this visit, and are representing Britain’s stance.”

Suleiman was stunned for a moment. He said hesitantly, “Could this be a trap? These damned Europeans have already taken too much land from us.”

Thinking of this, Suleiman gnashed his teeth in hatred. A few hundred years ago, the Ottoman Empire was a vast empire that spanned across three continents: Asia, Africa, and Europe.

But with the rise of European technology, the Ottoman Empire continuously lost wars with the Europeans and continuously lost its territories in Africa and Europe.

This made the Ottoman Empire, which was once a hegemonic nation, feel extremely humiliated. Because of the continuous losses in wars, there were now voices against him within the Empire.

They claimed that he was the reason why the Ottoman Empire was still at the technological level of a few hundred years ago. But to Suleiman, he felt very wronged, because he had only taken over the Empire for a little over twenty years, not a few hundred.

“I believe they have come with sincerity this time. It is said that both the British and the French have been beaten back in Asia by the former Great Yu Empire. Now, they have something to ask of us.”

“The Great Yu Empire? The country that was almost annihilated by the Golden Tent Khanate?” Suleiman asked.

“That’s right, that’s the one.” Salid said.

Suleiman was even more surprised. In fact, due to the closed geographical environment and his contentment with the status quo, he rarely cared about countries outside of Europe.

Salid’s words truly surprised him.