While the Daqin army was progressing smoothly in Japan, Xiao Ruxun was not idle.
On April 17, the second year of Longwu, after Xiao Ruxun learned that the army was progressing smoothly, he convened the Cabinet, the General Staff Department, the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of Works to hold a joint meeting.
The main purpose of the meeting was to make preparations and arrangements for the abduction of young men and women from Japan to the Central Plains.
Regarding this matter, before the war, Xiao Ruxun had already decided and informed the major departments, asking them to come up with their corresponding regulations and make preparations. After the army achieved its strategic goal, they could immediately start working in an orderly manner.
Xiao Ruxun made such a decision not only because Japan had the potential to become a serious threat to Huaxia, but also because of the practical needs of the Daqin at the moment.
Many of the overall national policies that Xiao Ruxun planned for the Daqin required a lot of manpower and material resources, and even the efforts of several generations to complete. For example, the guiding ideology of world cultivation required a lot of manpower and material resources to complete.
Xiao Ruxun planned the goal of Dazhi Road, which was not only to achieve the effect of settling the people's hearts in the process of establishing a stable order in the Empire, but also not only to strengthen the control of the Imperial government over various places.
More importantly, it was convenient for the Imperial government and the elite troops of the Empire to reach the remote areas of the country from the capital, Beijing, to expand the furthest distance of the Imperial Wall, laying the foundation for the future expansion of the war for the benefit of future generations.
The goal of Dazhi Road was also very clear.
One was to be built from Beijing to Shenyang, and then spread to the major cities and fortresses in Liaodong, so that it was convenient for the Daqin to implement formal rule over Liaodong.
Because Liaodong was a new territory that had just been taken, there were no constraints, so now it had basically established a five-level system of states, counties, and villages. It was the most thoroughly standardized five-level system of Daqin, except for Northern Zhili and the three southeastern provinces.
In order to strengthen their control over Liaodong, to achieve more immigrants to facilitate the reclamation of the fertile black land of Liaodong, and to completely control Liaodong and make it the territory of the Han family, the construction of the Dazhi Road was necessary.
The second Grand Highway was to start from Beijing, pass through Shanxi, and arrive at Guanzhong, then connect to Ningxia and Gansu. There would also be branches leading to Datong and other areas. This was to prepare for the Northern Expedition five years later. It would make it easier for the imperial court's troops and supplies to reach the borders.
The third was the road from Beijing to Guangzhou. This road passed through Shandong, then Zhili, Zhejiang, Fujian, and finally arrived in Guangdong. It was a large road close to the coastline. The purpose of this road was to strengthen the central government's control over the provinces in the southeast, which were economically rich and developed by sea.
Although the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal existed in the past, it was now mainly used to supply military supplies. Moreover, the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal could not go deep into the south. It was only cut off when it reached Hangzhou. There was also the freezing period in winter, which was more restrictive.
Therefore, Xiao Ruxun decided to open up another path and go deep into the mountains of Fujian. Then, he would reach Lingnan and Guangdong, allowing the tentacles of the central government to reach deep into Lingnan like never before. This would lay the foundation for further development of Lingnan.
This was also an important migration route to the south in the future.
The fourth was to go from Zhili to Henan, then to Wuhan in Huguang, and then to Jiangxi. Finally, it would enter Guangdong and arrive in Guangzhou. From there, the road would be built to Guangxi.
The fifth was a branch of the fourth route starting from the Wuhan area. It would take the Guizhou route to Yunnan.
The sixth was a branch of the second route starting from the Guanzhong area. It would go south to Hanzhong and arrive in Sichuan.
In the future, Xiao Ruxun still had plans to build the Yunnan-Burma Grand Highway to connect Myanmar and the mainland. However, these six Grand Highways were still the top priority at the moment. Opening up the domestic transportation routes was of great significance to the military, politics, and economy.
However, even in the modern world, this amount of work was still a huge amount of work.
At present, if it were not for the fact that the Daqin had formed such a centralized system, he would not dare to boast that it could be done. Even so, according to calculations, it would take at least ten years.
"For such a project, ten years is the most optimistic estimate. The manpower, material, and financial resources consumed are also extremely huge. In order to reduce the financial burden of the central government, we should try to use prisoners of war who do not need to be paid as the main labor force.
In this way, we can avoid conscripting too many people, which would cause public discontent and delay local production. Local production is also extremely important. For the northern expedition five years later, the Daqin must accumulate enough food and materials to meet the large consumption in the future. "
The Minister of Works, Yang Yikui, organized more than two hundred officials of the Ministry of Works to carry out extremely accurate calculations day and night. After three months, they finally came up with a more conservative labor demand figure.
"Five hundred thousand, five hundred thousand young men. At least five hundred thousand. If the number is lower, this project will be difficult to achieve. Therefore, the army to fight against the Japanese pirates must capture at least five hundred young and strong Japanese pirates as labor force.
In addition, considering the possibility of a large loss of labor force, it is best to have five hundred thousand backup labor force. These large projects, especially after going deep into the south, will encounter many mountainous areas. Building roads in the mountainous areas will cause great losses and a large number of deaths is very likely.
Furthermore, this is under the condition that the Wokou prisoners of war have two meals a day and that they need medical care. If we don't provide them with enough food, then the five hundred thousand people will die in less than three years. And this is just a conservative estimate. "
After Yang Yikui finished the calculations of the Ministry of Works, he sat down and waited for the Emperor's opinion.
After hearing Yang Yikui's words, Xiao Ruxun looked at Ye Xianggao.
"Minister Ye, according to the budget of the Ministry of Finance, if the labor force is calculated according to the number of five hundred thousand people, how much will the imperial court need to spend?"
Ye Xianggao stood up and took a thick stack of paper, saying, "Your Majesty, according to the calculation of the Ministry of Finance, according to the expenditure of two to three copper coins per person a day, five hundred thousand people will need to spend about one thousand to one thousand two hundred taels of silver a day to maintain their livelihood."
"Has medical care been included in the calculation?"
"It has been calculated."
Ye Xianggao nodded.
Xiao Ruxun thought for a while.
"Considering that they need to be used for a long time, we will provide them with some medicinal herbs and doctors. But sometimes, if they are seriously ill or seriously injured, there is no need to treat them at all. We can directly kill and burn them. The rest can be captured from the island and sent here.
We don't need to use all young and strong men as prisoners of war. Young and strong men eat more, but they don't need to do much work. It's not that we can't use the old and weak to make up the numbers. Even if they only work for three to five months, we can save some money.
There must be an order and priority in the construction. At present, we should focus on the northwest line, followed by the Liaodong line. The construction of these two lines has already begun. The main effort should be placed on these two lines, and the young and strong labor force should be arranged on these two lines.
We can use the old, weak, women, and children to make up the numbers. We should first lay some foundation and then slowly build it. The number of prisoners transported to the interior of Daqin should be controlled. The young and strong should not exceed one hundred thousand, sixty thousand in the northwest, and forty thousand in Liaodong.
The remaining four lines should be replaced by the old, weak, women, and children. When the old, weak, women, and children are used up, new ones will be caught. When the old, weak, women, and children are used up, young and strong will be used.
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