The Empire will continue to win

Yang Tingxi gritted his teeth:

"Your Excellency, I'm going to be frank and tell you the truth today. Over the years, apart from Zhili, Fengtian, the overseas legions, and the navy, the imperial court hasn't allocated a single gun or bullet to the provinces. They're all just piling up in warehouses and getting moldy."

"real?"

"I would stake my life on this matter; who would dare lie about something so momentous?"

Shen Moqing suddenly understood.

Six years ago~

On the eve of the young Emperor Xuanwu's ascension to the throne, the late emperor appointed eight regents and two empress dowagers to jointly govern the country, thus checking and balancing each other.

The eight regents, led by Su Shun, were reformists who advocated reducing the power of the central government and increasing the power of local governments, and therefore enjoyed the support of local forces.

The two empress dowagers were moderates who advocated centralizing power and reducing local power.

Gradually, the conflict between the two sides grew larger and larger.

On the surface, it appears to be a conflict between the two empress dowagers and the regents, but in reality, it is an escalation of the conflict between the central court and local governments at the prefecture and county levels.

The third year of Xuanwu.

The two empress dowagers launched a coup, using force to eliminate the eight regents, shocking the court and the public.

Actually.

Starting from the middle period of the reign of the late emperor, the central government reduced the military equipment quotas for local areas.

From the time Emperor Xuanwu ascended the throne, the central government further reduced the allocation of military supplies, preferring to shut down military factories and allow rust to accumulate.

It reached its peak after the coup.

Given Shen Moqing's impoverished family background and lowly military rank, he had no access to the secrets of the imperial court and was therefore completely unaware of them.

.........

He was truly shocked. With the relationship between the central government and local governments at the prefecture and county levels so rigid, wasn't the United Empire like a paraplegic?

Can you still control your head below the neck?

Has it become a Holy Roman Empire that is neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire?

We could even imagine the situation looking worse. If the central government isn't providing weapons and ammunition to the local forces, how are they replenishing their supplies?

There are only two possible answers.

First, there is a shortage of guns and ammunition, and military preparedness is lax.

Second, we produce in-house and purchase from overseas.

No wonder the Empress Dowager Cixi was so quick to release and promote him; she probably knew in her heart that she was sitting on a volcano.

Cold sweat dripped down his temples.

"Your Excellency, it's so hot and stuffy here. Why don't we go to the group's headquarters?" Yang Tingxi suggested, observing the situation.

Shen Moqing calmed himself down and deflated the bullet with a whoosh.

"good!"

"Meeting!"

"Supervisors from all factories must attend the meeting."

"Yes."

Yang Tingxi felt as if he had been granted a pardon and quickly led the imperial envoy away from the noisy production area and to the tree-lined office area.

When going upstairs~

Shen Moqing suddenly stopped and pointed to an unsigned calligraphy hanging in the corner, asking, "Who wrote this?"

"Written by the Imperial Envoy in the first year of Xuanwu, when the Japanese assistant took office at Yanshan Heavy Industry."

Shen Moqing nodded slightly.

"Hmm, vigorous and powerful, with sharp strokes; the Imperial Tutor's reputation is well-deserved."

Everyone laughed.

The atmosphere seemed to have eased considerably.

The message of this calligraphy is: The way to establish a nation is to value etiquette over power and intrigue. The fundamental principle lies in the hearts of the people, not in skills and techniques.

This means that the fundamental principle of a nation's establishment lies in upholding etiquette and manners, not in scheming and deception. The fundamental hope of the court lies in the hearts of the people, not in clever tricks and gimmicks.

How could such absurd words be openly displayed inside a military factory?

Woren deserves to die!

.........

The third floor of the group's headquarters.

The spacious and impressive conference room was cool and elegant.

In the center was a long conference table covered with a sky-blue velvet tablecloth, made of two North American oaks, which was extremely grand and luxurious.

Shen Moqing sat at the head of the table, looking at the fawning smiles of the crowd as if they were a group of dead men.

Before the meeting.

Tea was served as usual.

A group of young women dressed in indigo-blue tight-fitting factory uniforms gracefully entered the conference room. They were tall, well-proportioned, and full-figured, with smiles on their faces and an air of poise and confidence.

They both have the same hairstyle and strikingly similar face shapes.

The tolerances are extremely small, and the appearance is extremely uniform.

Shen Moqing thought to himself, "Damn it, Yanshan Heavy Industry's production is not very good, but its hospitality is first-class. It would be a real disservice to the Empire not to kill you all."

The professor suddenly grabbed the hand of the girl who was making him tea.

"Can you read?"

"Your Excellency, I studied in a private school for six years and can read and write," the girl replied with poise and confidence, clearly someone who frequently attended important events.

"It's a waste to serve tea and water; let's keep it for meeting minutes."

"Yes."

"Zi Ying, you will sit next to the Imperial Envoy and be responsible for recording the meeting minutes. Your handwriting must be clear, the content must be complete, and your tone must be strict."

"Thank you, Supervisor Yang."

Zi Ying smiled gently and sat down next to the imperial envoy.

The atmosphere immediately eased, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

.........

Yang Tingxi stood up, his smile humble:

"We, the 50,000 colleagues, are overjoyed by the arrival of Imperial Envoy Shen at Yanshan Heavy Industry. This inspection fully demonstrates the special importance that the two Empress Dowagers and the Emperor attach to us. Unfortunately, the Japanese affairs officer is ill, so I will be acting on his behalf to report to the Imperial Envoy."

"In the second year of Xuanwu (1166), Yanshan Heavy Industry produced a total of 31231 Type 30 standard rifles, 9115 Type 30 cavalry rifles, 1631 naval revolvers, and 862 cannons of 80mm or less..."

~

It sounds like a joke.

The world's largest empire, with the largest military factory within its borders, has a pitifully small annual arms production, barely enough to support a single local war.

What exactly happened to the empire?

Did not a single official in the court sense the risk?

No wonder the Eastern Sang Empire dares to openly challenge its suzerain state. Its complacency, lax military preparedness, and growing disaffection must have been noticed by spies from a neighboring country!

Shen Moqing appeared calm on the surface, but his mind was wandering in all directions.

He casually placed his palm on the thigh of the woman next to him.

Zi Ying lowered her head and wrote furiously, her penmanship elegant and graceful, moving up and down the bear's paw as she recorded without stopping.

After an unknown amount of time, enthusiastic applause broke out.

This concludes the phase report.

Shen Moqing nodded slightly:

"Gentlemen, the Empire has just achieved a great victory in Goryeo, annihilating 50,000 enemy troops. The victory is brilliant, and our neighbors are trembling with fear. However, we cannot relax our war preparations. The two empress dowagers and the emperor attach great importance to the research and development of advanced weapons and equipment. The court will not hesitate to reward those who have made contributions."

"Yanshan Heavy Industry is part of the empire's arsenal. Have any of its factories recently launched advanced weapons development projects?"

The meeting room suddenly fell silent.

For a moment, no one dared to step forward; they were busy figuring out the wind direction and spying on their colleagues.

For some reason, Shen Moqing noticed a hint of mockery in Zi Ying's eyes beside him, but when he looked again, it was gone; it was probably just his imagination.

The deputy professor, thinking that everything was for the sake of the empire, became even more unscrupulous with his bear paw.

Zi Ying blushed crimson and lowered her head, remaining silent.

at last.

One person who dared to be a pioneer stood up.

"Your Excellency, the Optical Instrument Factory has just launched a marine rangefinder project and is currently conducting active research, which may lead to a breakthrough."

"What's your name?"

"Li Fugui, supervisor of the Xiaoguan Optical Instrument Factory."

"Okay~ I'll make a note of it."

"Yes." Zi Ying was a dutiful meeting recorder.

Once the first person tries it, there won't be enough crabs for everyone.

Everyone stood up, their voices filled with fervor and passion.

"The food factory has developed a new type of compressed military ration, which can replace three meals in one sitting."

"It's on record!"

"The metallurgical plant has developed a new alloy steel, with all major properties doubled. If used to build warships, one ship can be equivalent to three ships."

"On record!!"