Munitions Empire

Chapter 614: 573 Dahua Court Council

Zhao Kai stood in the great hall, staring at the group of ministers in front of him, his face so frosty it seemed one could scrape off the frost with a knife.

He was incredibly sullen, his anger apparent to anyone who looked. In the center of the great hall, there was an enormous table, upon which a map was spread.

This map was of Qi Country, and it included part of Dahua’s territory; on another side, there was a corner of Tang Country.

Underneath this map, another map peeked out, showing just a corner—it was a full map of the Dahua Empire.

"What do you mean, ‘impossible?’ Huh? What do you mean, ‘can’t be done?’ Over two years, I’ve spent money building hundreds of kilometers of railway! And now you’re telling me that it’s impossible to dispatch a hundred thousand troops to the border of Qi Country?” Zhao Kai glared at Minister of Works, Chen Jing, and rebuked him harshly.

Chen Jing kept his head down, unfazed as if a dead pig in face of boiling water. Whether these railways were useful or how useful they were couldn’t be negated by just a few words from Zhao Kai, so he didn’t bother to defend himself.

Everyone knew that, at present, the transportation throughout the north, south, east, and west of the Dahua Empire relied on these railways and the highway systems built around them.

Without these highways and railways, the Dahua Empire would be at least ten times behind where it was now! Chen Jing’s contributions had long been recorded in history, and they had nothing to do with Zhao Kai’s reproach.

All present knew that the current passive situation was not due to a waste of money spent on railway construction, but rather because not even more money had been wasted on it!

The current rail network of the Dahua Empire was desperately scarce. According to estimates, the total mileage of railways and highways needed to increase to five times the current distance to barely meet basic requirements.

If they wanted to continue developing, then the total length of the railways would need to be increased by tenfold! That was the consensus of everyone from the Ministry of Works to the Ministry of War and other departments.

"Your Majesty! There are too few railways at the border, and our troops are slow to mobilize and difficult to manage. The Ministry of Works has indeed done its utmost,” Minister of Revenue, Wang Yucái, who knew the difficulties of the Ministry of Works, had no choice but to stand up and explain at this moment.

According to the Ministry of War, railways should be built between borders and military strongholds to facilitate troop movements.

However, railways built in border areas during peacetime are liabilities, unused and requiring money for maintenance.

Therefore, railway construction should be as beneficial to people’s livelihood as possible and consider maintenance costs. Thus, after a meeting with compromises on all sides, the current Dahua railway network was established.

The railways of Dahua were built around the main north-south and east-west lines, which then extended out to most cities.

This type of railway network was primarily focused on passenger and freight transport during peacetime, making it profitable and very lucrative.

It was because of these profits that the Ministry of Works had the means to continue extending these railways, creating a virtuous cycle, which was the main reason why Dahua was able to build such a large-scale railway network in a short time.

However, railways built with a focus on civilian use were not as convenient for military purposes: the radial railway lines spreading from the core of the Dahua capital were too rushed to include ring lines, so horizontal transport at the ends of these lines was actually impossible.

This resulted in inconveniences for the military—even though transporting supplies from central production areas to border regions was convenient, the adjacent troops on the borders faced a lot of difficulties in movement.

This was similar to the situation with Qi Country’s railways: once a problem arose, moving troops required a long detour. This is the difference between a railway network and individual railway lines.

Everyone knows that a railway network is advantageous, but constructing it requires time and money. Those iron tracks, to a country with insufficient production capacity, felt like golden bars lying on the grounds.

The Dahua Empire wasn’t short of money; they were short of time. Given another ten years, they might have been able to construct a barely functional railway network.

To be frank, Dahua’s Ministry of Works had done an excellent job already. They not only built numerous railways but also encouraged the establishment of various factories, their efficiency and strategy far surpassing those of the officials involved in the Self-Strengthening Movement by who-knows-how-many times.

The industrial level of the Dahua Empire was actually not bad at present, at least they could be said to have a certain industrial base. Quite a few machines could be manufactured domestically; they were truly in full pursuit of progress.

"Every time, you all brush me off with such excuses!” Zhao Kai looked discontentedly at Minister of Revenue, Wang Yucái. He now viewed these ministers as if each one of them were a wastrel purposely opposing him.

Prime Minister Chu Muzhou also knew that this was not the time to discuss these matters, so he spoke up to persuade, “Your Majesty, our current situation has improved vastly compared to two years ago. This is the result of Your Majesty’s diligent governance; you’ve done well enough.”

I damn well know I’ve done well enough! Right now, I’m damn annoyed by this group of wastrels, aren’t I? Zhao Kai cursed inwardly in frustration, but his face betrayed none of it.

As the Minister of War, Shen Chuan was the main protagonist of this conference. Seeing the situation, he hurriedly spoke up, taking over the conversation from Prime Minister Chu Muzhou, “Your Majesty, although a month ago we had already deployed the 5th Army to support the north, it ultimately was still a bit too slow.”

As he spoke, he traced the position of the 5th Army on the map, “Three divisions, nearly thirty thousand men, had just arrived at the border of Qi Country when the roads were sealed off by the attacking Tang Army.”

"At the end of the day, it was the fact that Qi Country’s defenses were breached too quickly. Such an event was unforeseen by anyone.” He deftly pushed the blame onto those who were beyond reproach.

Such a graceful deflection of blame! Even Prime Minister Chu Muzhou quietly praised him in his heart. The ministers also nodded in agreement, endorsing this explanation.

"Utter trash! All of them in Qi Country are trash! Jiang Xian, that fool, couldn’t even defend his own borders! Bastard! Worthless!” Zhao Kai, beside himself with anger, had no outlet for his frustration except to keep cursing, his voice filled with rage.

"Your Majesty, the situation in Qi Country is beyond salvage. Now, what we need to consider is what to do next Prime Minister Chu Muzhou once again stepped in to remind Zhao Kai.

Zhao Kai clenched his fists. He had been preparing to avenge Zheng Country two years ago, but these ministers disagreed, and the situation indeed did not allow for it, which made him abandon the thought.

Back then, Tang Country was also paying tribute and giving face to Dahua. Dahua desired technology, and Tang Country provided it in varying amounts, which was the main reason for Dahua’s technological progress in the past two years.

At times, Zhao Kai even felt that Tang Country had truly submitted to him, so he didn’t continue to press down on or make any preparations against Tang Country.

But now, he realized how right he had been back then. If not for these incompetent officials holding him back, Tang Country would have been eradicated long ago.

It was too late for regrets now, so Zhao Kai decided to once again consider the possibility of obliterating Tang Country, “Continue to reinforce troops at the Qi Country border, pressure Tang Country! Warn them that if they continue to invade Qi Country, the elite forces of Dahua will advance east into Qi and catch Tang Army in a pincer movement!”

It was a move to strategically intimidate Tang Country—everyone present thought that verbal intimidation was the lowest-cost option and wouldn’t have any issues, so they all nodded in agreement.

Mobilizing troops northward to reach the Dahua-Qi border was the necessary course of action; even if they weren’t attacking the Tang forces, they could still defend the existing Qi-Dahua border section, which was killing two birds with one stone.

However, such mobilization should have been swift, yet now it was excruciatingly slow—the mere dispatch of the 5th Army had already overwhelmed the already inadequate border road system.

"On the other hand, Your Majesty, we should also contact Shin Country and Chu Country! If both are willing to deploy troops and broaden the scope of this war, then we will still hold absolute advantage.” Speaking purely from a strategic standpoint, Minister of Personnel Zhou Qiang suggested.

"Chu Country is fine, but contacting Shin Country… is that appropriate?” Great General Feng Kezhi frowned, voicing his doubts, “Goblins are not of our kind to begin with, and they once rampaged through Zheng Country. Now, taking them as allies, we might breed trouble for the future

"This Tang Country is already a tiger or wolf. If we don’t drive the tiger to devour the wolf, our Dahua borders will never know peace!” Zhou Qiang continued to explain his strategy.

In his view, Tang Country was the true menace, so even if it meant allying with the despised Goblin dwarves, they should first contain Tang Country.

Why was he so opposed to Tang Country? Because Tang Country had implemented a series of agricultural reforms internally and was systematically abolishing landlords, destroying the traditional scholar-gentry class.

In Zhou Qiang’s eyes, destroying a country was no big deal, but reforming the traditional social order threatened the very livelihood of the Nobility and scholar-gentry class, which was unacceptable.

Therefore, Zhou Qiang would rather join forces with the Goblin dwarves, whom he usually despised, than allow a Tang Country that disregarded the scholar-gentry Nobility to rise.

"Carry out Minister Zhou’s plan! Jiang Run!” Zhao Kai made up his mind and turned to the Minister of Rites, who had a low profile, and commanded.

"Your servant is here!” Minister of Rites Jiang Run, in charge of foreign affairs, stepped forward and responded with a bow, “Your servant will arrange it at once.”

"Hmm!” Finally encountering a minister who was not evasive, Zhao Kai’s expression lightened somewhat. “Besides, contact Shireck and the Laines Empire! Make trouble for Tang Country on the other side as soon as possible! Otherwise, if this gets ugly, no one will be able to escape the consequences!”

"Your servant understands!” Jiang Run continued to respond.

After all, he was only responsible for diplomatic affairs, and executing the decree when it came would not entail much cost, so there was no need to question anything.

"Also, reach out to Chu Country to discuss the feasibility of attacking the southern part of Tang Country!” Lastly, the Emperor of Dahua added this instruction.

"Your servant obeys the order! Your servant will do everything possible to relieve Your Majesty of your worries,” replied Minister of Rites Jiang Run, assuming the role of the agreeable official.

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