Nanyang Storm 1864

Chapter 320 Negotiation Competition

after the war
Society is rapidly recovering its prosperity, and the army has entered a period of comprehensive rest, replenishment and training. The losses suffered in the war have been replenished and the army is growing stronger.

The Manila Arsenal has entered a busy production climax, with the second shift of workers working at high capacity 24 hours a day. All weapons production lines are in full swing, creating a bustling scene.

this war
All the weapons and armaments in the Chu State's stockpile were used up. After the expansion, the fully equipped army of 8.6 and nearly 20 armed militiamen almost cleared out all the weapons in stock.

After more than two months of intensive production, the 8 gun barrels originally in stock at the Manila Arsenal were transformed into more than 8 brand new striker rifles, which were fully equipped for the front-line troops.

Running production at full capacity

The Manila Arsenal's six light weapons production lines can produce 6 new striker rifles, 1.6 ten-pound Parrot rifled cannons, 130 32-inch rifled cannons, and 10 16-inch Dahlgren cannons every month, basically meeting the equipment needs of the Chu army.

The Chu State's front-line troops have now been fully equipped with ten-pound Parrot rifled cannons, replacing the original 12-pound Napoleon cannons, which have been put into the hands of militias in various prefectures and counties.

The 12-pound Parrot rifled gun was made of steel and was much cheaper than the bronze 1-pound Napoleon cannon, with the production price being only 4/ of the latter.

One gun only costs 130 silver dollars, has a long range, high accuracy, and is as powerful as Napoleon's cannon. The three major parts can be disassembled and transported by mules and horses, or carried by a single soldier, greatly improving its flexibility of use.

The American-made Springfield M1861 rifles originally equipped by the Chu army's front-line troops were also completely eliminated. The number of these weapons was extremely large, totaling more than , and many of them were in reserve.

This was military equipment that King Zheng Guohui of Chu bought from North America after the American Civil War at the price of 1.5 taels of silver per piece of scrap iron.

It played an important role in all the wars before and after the founding of the People's Republic of China.

All of these weapons were taken out and equipped first to the militias in the Greater Manila area, Tongzhou Islands, East Malaya and Donggang area, greatly enhancing the defense capabilities of the entire country.

The 4 armed militiamen in the Donggang area were equipped with American-made Springfield M1861 rifles and some ten-pound Parrott rifled cannons.

The Donggang militia was the first to be equipped with this type of standard military-issued open-barreled artillery.

the reason for this

It was a war aimed at the Australian continent. The ten-pound Parrott rifled cannon could be easily disassembled into three major parts, carried by three horses, and followed the cavalry troops to attack everywhere, making it very flexible to use.

Such characteristics are very suitable for the vast Australian continent.

The Manila Arsenal is currently producing large quantities of advanced military weapons at full speed, which will last for a few months at most. After the weapons reserves are replenished in large quantities, production will be reduced to a single shift.

War is undoubtedly a money-eating beast, and no amount of money is enough to spend it.

Based on the monthly production of 1.6 Manila striker rifles, with a purchase cost of 13.5 silver dollars per rifle, the monthly purchase cost exceeds 21.6 silver dollars. Adding artillery of various calibers, the overall monthly expenditure exceeds 30 silver dollars.

This is just the cost of weapons and equipment. If other expenses such as officers' and soldiers' salaries, tents, individual bedding, medical treatment for injuries and illnesses, and food expenses are added, the army's military expenditure alone is close to 78 silver dollars per month.

If the Chu navy is included, the monthly military expenditure will have to increase by 60 silver dollars. Every movement of a naval warship costs money, and the salaries of officers and soldiers are also very high.

This resulted in the Chu Royal Navy, which had only more than 8.6 people, having its military expenditures catch up with the Chu Royal Army, which had a total of people.

Maintaining a powerful navy has always been extremely expensive.

After more than three months of war, the Chu State spent more than 500 million silver dollars on the war. Seventy percent of these military expenditures came from the Chu royal family's appropriations, and % came from the kingdom's treasury appropriations, which was obviously unsustainable.

No matter how big the family business is, it cannot withstand such bottomless spending.

A dozen days later, on January 1869, 2

Ganquan Palace
When King Zheng Guohui of Chu received the detailed account books of various expenses reported by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, he was not very shocked by these shocking spending figures.

According to the current system of Chu State

The accounts of the Chu Kingdom's Internal Affairs Office were audited by the Ministry of Finance, and the detailed expenditure accounts of the Ministry of Finance and the General Administration of Taxation were jointly audited by the General Audit Office and the Royal Internal Affairs Office. This was a cross-audit and mutual restraint.

After reading the memorials, King Zheng Guohui of Chu put them aside.

With control over several large banks and a golden goose like Nanyang Heavy Industries, the Chu royal family has extremely strong financial strength and a full treasury. So what's a big deal about spending a little more money?
The money was spent, the territory conquered was expanded, but the biggest winner was still the Chu royal family.

Today's focus

The State of Chu was engaged in the fourth round of negotiations with Britain and France to end the war, and the debate was quite tense.

Under the tough attitude of the Chu State, Britain and France no longer put forward such ridiculous negotiation conditions. They did not mention war reparations, opening ports, concessions and super-national consular treatment.

As soon as it was mentioned, the negotiations collapsed immediately.

The focus of the dispute now

They were arguing with each other over the ownership of the three states of East Malaya and Singapore, the determination of war responsibility for the bloody massacre in Saigon, and the determination of the territories of their respective colonial areas.

The French were clearly trying to sabotage the negotiations, and they were strongly demanding that the war responsibilities of the generals involved in the bloodbath in Saigon be investigated. They were filled with righteous indignation and showed an attitude of not giving up. The Chu State had clearly informed the French that
The Chu State would not recognize, agree to, or succumb to any instigation of war.

At worst, I can just pick up my gun and fight again.

The British have an ambiguous attitude. On the one hand, they hypocritically support France's so-called "just demands", and on the other hand, they act like a good guy and try to persuade both sides.

On the issue of the "bloodbath in Saigon," he urged the French not to be too persistent, which would have led to the breakdown of important war negotiations. He also advised the State of Chu to make some concessions, at least to save the French's face.

However, on the issue of the ownership of the three continents of Singapore, East Malaya, the British acted unprecedentedly tough, which was the main reason for the breakdown of the second and third negotiations.

From the current perspective, the contradiction between the two sides is difficult to bridge and the gap in their positions is too large.

King Zheng Guohui of Chu had already learned from other channels;
The Governor-General of British India in Kolkata is preparing new forces. Recently, a steady stream of British Indian Corps soldiers have arrived, making the army look strong and powerful.

The remaining troops, which originally numbered less than 3.5, were replenished to more than 4.6. Together with the French expeditionary force of more than , the total strength reached more than .

Recently
Different infantry regiments arrived every day, mainly from the provinces governed by British colonial governors, which could be distinguished from the unique uniforms of the British Indian Corps.

The colonies under the British Governor-General's Office of India had a large population and a vast territory, and were subdivided into 7 provinces and 250 districts to facilitate colonial management.

Provinces directly administered by the United Kingdom are divided into three types:

The province is governed by the Governor, the Deputy Governor and the Commissioner.

Among them, the provinces managed by officials directly sent by the Governor-General of British India, namely the governors-general, are called governor-general-governed provinces. Most of them are the richer coastal provinces and also the provinces where the white colonial rule is the most solid.

Other provinces and regions sent deputy governors and commissioners to supervise the governance of local princely states, help build railways and bridges, suppress rebellious mobs, and consolidate the backward and ignorant caste rule. Therefore, they were unanimously welcomed by the local Indian princely states.

in this era

The proud British colonists had little sense of confidentiality, so it was quite easy for the Chu State's intelligence agencies to obtain relevant military intelligence, and the direction was extremely accurate.

Today, more than 330 sailing ships have gathered in the port of Kolkata, which is a clear sign of another large-scale expedition.

The British and French allied forces were actively preparing for war, and the Chu State was also not idle.

At the end of December last year
When the Chu State's sailing fleet, plus 17 cargo ships transporting food and armaments, forced their way into the Strait of Malacca, they engaged in a fierce naval battle with the British Royal Navy stationed there.

At that time, the transport fleet took advantage of the early morning before dawn and forcibly broke through the blockade of the British Royal Navy, which triggered a fierce battle.

Fortunately, the Chu armored strike force stationed in Singapore Bay rushed out of the bay, confronted the British fleet head-on with fierce artillery fire, and fought in coordination with the sailing fleet.

It blocked the frenzied bombardment of the British fleet, forced a gap, and won a valuable opportunity for the transport fleet to break in.

The transport fleet took the opportunity to break into the bay and was immediately protected by the Singapore Fort. Only four cargo ships suffered varying degrees of damage, but they also arrived at Singapore Port safely.

This sudden military operation was mainly aimed at delivering 3700 tons of food, more than 400 tons of ammunition, fuel, individual uniforms and other supplies to the troops and militia stationed in Singapore Port.

Singapore is actually an isolated island in an important location.

All the food and daily necessities here are imported from outside. The most important industry is the port and shipping industry, which is also the only pillar industry of Singapore Port.

The military actions of the Chu State once again confirmed its determination to resolutely defend the results of victory and sent a strong signal to the London government.

For Singapore, an important port city, the Chu State will defend the results of the war at all costs.

This military action greatly angered the British, who threatened directly during the negotiations: "The grave consequences of completely enraging the British Empire will bring unbearable calamity upon the entire small state of Chu, and no one will be spared."

The Chu diplomatic representative was not at all false and directly retorted;
"Through this war, the Chu State lost more than 1 brave warriors, but its population grew from 500 million to 600 million, giving it ample manpower and counterattack power to deal with any enemy."

This is indeed true. From September to December, the number of Chinese immigrants reached 9 to 12 each month. The fierce immigration momentum was not affected by the war.

This was due to the lack of information on the mainland, and almost no one knew that war had broken out in the State of Chu.

Secondly, the Chu State deliberately blocked the news, not wanting it to affect the national policy of Chinese immigration, and the effect was quite good.

In addition to the inclusion of the three continents of East Malaya, there were 33 more young indigenous women aged 8 to 30, which also added to the population of the Chu State.

The original population of Chu State was more than 510 million. After adding these, wouldn’t it be just over 600 million?

It must be clear

The Chu State had a population of over 600 million, % of whom were young men and women, and about % were young and middle-aged men. Its war potential was approximately equal to that of a country with a population of about million that was just beginning to enter the industrial stage.

Experience the test of cruel war
This proves that the State of Chu is definitely a tough character that is not easy to mess with. It is covered with thorns and has already stabbed Britain and France until their mouths are full of blood.

(End of this chapter)