Chapter 514: Chapter 251: The Birth of the Eldest Son
Regarding the issue of the navy, back in the years when it was still the Changsha Kingdom, Lu Yuan deeply realized this deficiency when he led the Three-Nation Alliance against Ning Country.
With just 50,000 troops, Ning Country’s navy directly split Dongting County in half, isolating the Changsha Kingdom from north to south.
At that time, the transportation between the north and south of Changsha was cut off.
Merchants and travelers were blocked at various ports. Domestic government orders were delayed and stagnated. Communication between the north and south even required sending martial arts experts on small boats to sneak through Ning Country’s naval blockade.
One could almost say that as soon as their blockade of the Yangtze River was in place, the Changsha Kingdom was almost paralyzed.
Such a lesson was fresh in his memory, and after just over half a year, Lu Yuan had not forgotten it.
Although he knew the importance of the navy and considered it a matter of shame, setting up a navy required a large amount of money.
And now, what the Chu State was lacking was money.
“However, in two years, the taxes of Changsha Kingdom will balance its revenues and expenditures. At that time, the 5 million silver tales aid from Su Country and Nanhai Country can be used to support the navy.
Five million silver tales, even if it costs twice as much as the army to support a navy of equal size, can still raise a navy of 50,000.
With these 50,000 naval troops, it may be difficult to compete with the Ning Country navy on the Yangtze River.
But relying on the heavy cities of Baling, Tianmen, Xiangyang and other cities along the Yangtze River and the Han River, it is still possible to stop the enemy outside the country’s gates, ensuring the smooth flow of communication between the north and south of the country.
Being able to achieve this is enough.”
As Lu Yuan calculated in his heart, his plan gradually took shape.
Regarding the navy’s requirements, he never expected to defeat Ning Country with the navy alone and take over the Jiangdong region.
Ning Country inherited Yue Country, and Yue Country inherited the previous dynasty. In the hands of these coastal families, the Jinling court accumulated a large number of talents in the naval field, so there were more than enough personnel.
Could you really defeat such a time-honored accumulation with a simple command?
If the navy can defend the country, it would have fulfilled its purpose for him.
As for other matters of contention with Ning Country, he could personally command the elite land army, attacking Yuzhang and Linhai ashore, and advancing all the way to Jinling City.
Compared to the navy, which is still only an idea, the land army that he has been commanding for more than a decade is obviously more reliable.
Although the main focus is still on the land army, it is indeed time to start preparing for the navy.
As of now, Ning and Chu are temporarily at peace because both need time to recuperate and digest their gains.
But in this era of great contention, no one knows when war will break out between the Two Countries.
If at that time warfare between the Two Countries resumes and Ning Country’s navy invades without obstruction, cutting Chu State in half, it would be too humiliating.
Therefore, it is essential to establish a prototype for the navy now, set up the framework, and then slowly fill in the gaps and complete the structure.
As for where the money will come from?
To build a prototype for the navy, it only needs to serve as experience accumulation. There’s no need to recruit too many people; only five or six thousand are needed. Even considering the cost of building warships, it will only be around four or five hundred thousand silver tales annually.
With Lu Yuan’s private treasury still containing a considerable amount of silver, he can naturally advance the funds.
By next year, though the immigrants will still be in the tax-exempt period, according to Sun Siwen, the business tax and customs duties will increase further, yielding an extra million silver tales.
With this money in hand, ten thousand naval troops can be recruited in the next two years.
With these ten thousand troops as a foundation, they can gradually expand their scale step by step, and within at most ten years, they can raise an elite navy of fifty thousand.
There is ample time to plan slowly.
Having settled on a plan and strategy, on the second day, Lu Yuan sent for Chu Wei.
“Greetings, Your Majesty.”
When Chu Wei arrived, he immediately bowed in salute.
“So little Wei has arrived.”
At this time, Lu Yuan was writing a plan for the navy on the shore, raising his head at the sound of the voice, he smiled and said, “Didn’t I say before? You are my disciple, and between our master and disciple, there is no need for so much formality.”
Although in his heart, the only truly intimate and trustworthy people in the world were Sun Siwen and Zhou Qing.
But for others, such as Lan Cai’er, Cui Changqing, and his own few true disciples, to say there was no sentiment at all would be utterly false.
People are not emotionless like plants.
After spending a long time with people, they will inevitably develop some feelings for them.
Not to mention Chu Wei and the other disciples, who were very respectful towards Lu Yuan, observing the etiquette of the disciple and the minister without any transgression.
Any master or monarch would cherish such loyal disciples and ministers, wouldn’t they?
So, beyond the closest circle of Sun Siwen and Zhou Qing, Lan Cai’er and Chu Wei were second-tier confidants.
And Lu Yuan naturally cherished these confidants.
“In front of my master and father, I dare not transgress.”
But faced with his affection, Chu Wei did not become complacent or forget himself and remained cautious.
“You.” Lu Yuan couldn’t help but smile at this, but he didn’t make it difficult for Chu Wei and handed him the recently written strategy for naval development, saying, “Here is a strategy for naval development that I just wrote. Take a look at it.”
Chu Wei took the strategy and carefully read it.
After a while, he had read everything on it word by word and then looked up at his master and said, “Your Majesty wants to establish a navy?”