The wind rises and the clouds fly,

Wei Jia returns to his hometown in China,

How can you get a strong man to guard all directions?

This is a feeling of emotion after Liu Bang unified the world and returned to his hometown. Now, Zhu Cijiong, the Emperor Chongzheng of the Ming Empire, also had the same feeling.

He did not return to his hometown after unifying the world. The world was long over. There was no such thing as unification or not. His hometown was not going back in later generations. What he sighed was his last sentence: How could a strong man guard the world?

Now the territory of the Ming Dynasty can be said to be terrifying, from the north to the Arctic Ice Ocean, from the south to Batavia, from the east to the Japanese islands, from the west to Wushan and the Caspian Sea. All the territory contained here are either the direct territory of the Ming Dynasty or the territory of the vassal states of the Ming Dynasty.

According to the algorithms of later generations, if the territory of the Ming Dynasty was included in the vassal states, it would be nearly 40 million square kilometers. Even if the vassal states were not included, the territory of the Ming Dynasty would exceed 30 million square kilometers, which was simply unimaginable.

With such a huge territory, which warriors should be used to defend all directions? This is exactly the issue Zhu Cijing is considering now.

The east side should be safe for the time being. After Japan surrenders, there will be no enemies in the entire east side at this stage. Just station a legion in Liaodong to shock the vassal states;

The south is a bit similar to the east. After the Ming Dynasty recovered Luzon and occupied Batavia, there will be no enemies in the entire south at this stage. Just station a legion in Xingchen Port to shock the various vassal states;

As for the north, the situation is a bit special, because the territory in the north has been almost defeated in the past two years. The local nomadic people first returned to the Ming Dynasty and still need to guard the garrison. However, the Ministry of War has already had a plan to migrate the garrison, so he doesn't have to think too much about it.

The most important thing to defend at this stage is the West. In the west of the Ming Dynasty, from the South Asian subcontinent to the Wushan Mountains in the north, it can be said that no place is absolutely safe, especially the Wushan Mountains to the front line of the Kazakh Khanate. It directly borders the European powers and must send heavy troops to guard it. Otherwise, once the European powers unite and cannot get along with the Ming Dynasty, the entire north will be in danger.

There is also the railway from South Asia to the Ottoman Empire. How can such a narrow and long area defend to save troops? If three or four legions are placed there, it would be too unpaid.

Looking at the latest Ming map, Zhu Cijing was both proud and had a headache.

What is proud of is that after more than ten years of hard work, he not only brought the Ming Dynasty out of the danger of national destruction, but also expanded his territory to four or five times the size. Now the Ming Dynasty has surpassed its peak period and has become the world's number one power without dispute. It is a well-deserved boss in both military and economic terms.

The headache is that there is such a large territory. People have to be arranged to garrison everywhere, and administrative divisions have to be considered, territory development has to be considered, and food and grass transportation has to be considered. There are too many things, so he will not think about it for a while.

What should I do if I can't think about it? He simply stopped thinking about it and asked Cao Huachun to send someone to notify the Secretary of the relevant yamen to hold a meeting the next morning to discuss issues such as border defense, administrative region division and territory development.

The reason why he didn't choose to hold a meeting immediately was that he wanted the ministers of the relevant yamen to think carefully and be prepared. After all, this is a very complicated issue. He would not consider it well for a while, and naturally he would not consider it well for a while.

The next morning, as soon as the morning court was dispersed, the ministers of the relevant yamen came to the Ganqing Palace with the emperor and gathered in Zhu Cijiong's private study to discuss it.

Although there are many incidents this time, there are actually not many related yamen. The meeting was attended by Sun Yuanhua, Minister of War, Minister of Revenue, Minister of Revenue, Secretary of Commerce, Zhang Cai, Secretary of Commerce, and Zhang Pu, Secretary of Transportation.

Everyone seemed very excited because there were too many happy events recently. First, Siberia won a great victory, Tsarist Russia was driven back to the continent, and then the great powers surrendered to the military power of the Ming Dynasty and signed an unprecedented indemnity contract "Wushan Treaty". In order to paralyze the Ming Dynasty, the great powers paid the compensation this year early. So many happy events piled up together, so everyone was naturally very happy.

Zhu Cijing was also very happy. After he asked everyone to sit down, he took out the latest map of the Ming Dynasty, spread it on the conference table, and said in a high spirit: "Everyone, now that Tsarist Russia has been defeated by us, the great powers have already admitted their defeat. It is time for the Ming Dynasty to stop and take a rest and digest the fruits of victory."

When everyone heard this, they praised it: "The Emperor is wise."

It was time for the Ming Dynasty to stop and take a break. It was a great success for successive victory, but the pressure was also great.

Since the second year of Chongzheng, the Ming Dynasty has fought almost every year, and has fought for more than ten years. Not only did the soldiers on the front line be tired, but the officials in the rear are also tired, especially Sun Yuanhua, who is in charge of logistics. He has almost no time to rest throughout the year. He has to be busy transporting food, supplies, weapons and ammunition for wars on the front line. He has no rest if he doesn't fight on the front line, because there is basically no inventory of food, supplies, weapons and ammunition, and he must organize and raise them, otherwise there will be nothing to fight in the war next year!

Others were not relaxed either. Like Yang Sichang, it seemed that war had nothing to do with him. However, the territory of the Ming Dynasty was expanding almost every year, and after the battle, the emperor basically divided the provinces and then left behind. The next official allocation and the division of state prefectures were all his business.

The most exaggerated time, the Ming Dynasty destroyed the Mughal Empire in one breath, and that guy had more than ten provinces at once, which was really a life-threatening person!

There are also Zhang Cai and Zhang Pu. It seems that they can’t handle wars or fights, but the material transfer on the front line needs to occupy the railway. Zhang Pu is busy every time, and the material transfer takes up most of the Ming Dynasty’s transportation capacity, so the economic development led by Zhang Cai is even more difficult.

In short, as long as the war is fought, no one will be relaxed. Now the emperor finally plans to stop and rest. Everyone breathes a sigh of relief. No one can stand it if they are in a row for several years under strong pressure.

But not fighting does not mean that everyone is fine. Zhu Cijiong immediately said: "Chuyang, have you figured out the issue of border defense?"

Sun Yuanhua hurriedly bowed and said, "Return to the emperor, Weichen considered it yesterday and already had a rough draft."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Cijiu immediately stuffed the ash rod into his hand and said with great interest: "Let's say it quickly, I'm having a headache about this."

Sun Yuanhua respectfully took the ash pole, stood up and bowed, then pointed to the map and introduced: "I think there is no threat in the south and east. It is enough to have the Nanyang Navy and Navy Reserve Legion in the south. There is the imperial guards in the capital, plus the Beiyang Navy and the Beihai Fleet, which is almost the same. If the emperor is still worried, it will be enough to transfer another legion to shock Liaodong."

These were similar to what Zhu Cijing thought. He nodded and continued to ask: "What about the north and west?"

Upon hearing this, Sun Yuanhua pointed to the map and continued to introduce: "The northern minister thought it should be divided into two blocks. The Siberian Plateau has moved enough treasurys, and the effect is pretty good. I don't have to worry about it for the time being, but the Siberian Plain needs to be considered together with the defense line in the west."
Chapter completed!