Chapter 2553
Taking into account the threat posed by the arms transaction, the Executive Committee certainly does not want too many standard weapons to flow into the hands of the Ming army, so the operation of such projects is generally more cautious, and the transaction scale will be carefully controlled to try to Avoid allowing the Ming army in a certain place to form too strong a fighting force.
However, arms trading is only a part of this gray area, and more trading projects outside supervision are often just pure profit transfers.
"Our country's replacement of the Ming Dynasty did not achieve its goal entirely through war. You should have some understanding of the process in between. Before Emperor Chongzhen bowed his head to our country, many places in the Ming Dynasty had actually changed their doors and joined us, thus avoiding the The fundamental reason why the rulers of these regions made such a choice was of course due to interests.”
Shi Diwen talked eloquently and explained the situation to Tao Hongfang and others present: "Through these unregulated gray areas, our country has delivered a large amount of benefits to the upper-level officials of the Ming Dynasty, and ensured that they can still preserve their own rights after the change of dynasties. Of course, Emperor Chongzhen finally surrendered, partly because he realized that he could no longer mobilize domestic resources to fight against our country. , surrender is the most honorable way to end it.”
When Tao Hongfang heard this, he basically understood the situation explained by Shi Diwen. Haihan exchanged benefits for the surrender of part of the ruling areas of the former Ming Dynasty. This kind of transaction was highly confidential because it involved huge interests. Even the relevant departments are unable to supervise it, and it is impossible to disclose these measures to the outside world. Even a second-generation official like him seemed to have no access to this level of information before coming to Hangzhou.
Although Shi Diwen's explanation clarified Tao Hongfang's problem, it did not completely dispel his concerns. Tao Hongfang thought for a while and then continued to ask: "Uncle Shi, since this is an extraordinary measure taken during the change of dynasties, now that the overall situation has been decided, should such extraordinary measures be stopped or brought into the scope of normal supervision? Inside? ”
Shi Diwen responded: "The change of dynasties does not end when the Emperor Ming sends a letter of surrender. You also know that there are still many places in the world that continue the rule of the Ming Dynasty. If our country wants to fully take over these territories, I am afraid it will have to be It will take several years. In order to maintain a stable situation, some extraordinary measures cannot be stopped. Everything is focused on the overall situation.”
Although Haihan has nominally replaced the Ming Dynasty's dominance over the traditional Han residential areas, in fact the areas directly controlled by Haihan are still concentrated in the coastal areas, and many places in the interior still continue to have the same situation as Shi Diwen said. The system of the Ming Dynasty.
Haihan's problem is that there are currently not enough bureaucrats and armed forces to take over these areas, let alone the turmoil and war that occur in these areas. Therefore, they can only try their best to maintain the stability of the situation, so that at least the areas they take over in the future will not be one piece. confusion.
Of course, there are still many drawbacks to this approach, but the Executive Committee hopes that the world will be stable, rather than struggling to provide disaster relief and quell chaos in various places. As long as the original local officials of the Ming Dynasty can maintain a stable situation, Haihan will not hesitate to continue to transfer benefits to these local officials.
The overall situation is the most important thing. These four words really blocked Tao Hongfang's mouth. Although he still insisted in his heart that there might be a better way to handle this situation, so that maintaining stability and implementing supervision could be implemented at the same time, he also knew that his influence was unlikely to influence Shi Diwen's thoughts, let alone This may allow the Executive Committee to make fundamental changes to existing measures.
After the communication with Tao Hongfang ended, it was Ha Jianyi's turn. Ha Jianyi made a brief visit to the camp of the Second Regiment of the Seventh Army Division today and inspected the equipment storage conditions and artillery training conditions of the camp. However, the thing he wanted to ask Shi Diwen was not directly related to this, because there was another thing in the military camp that attracted his attention more.
"I have a question to ask Uncle Shi. Why are a considerable number of the former Ming officers currently retained by the Lu Qi Division born in Yangzhou?" Ha Jianyi is a straightforward person, and he doesn't talk around in circles at the moment. He puts it directly. answered his own questions.
Shi Diwen said: "Since you will find this problem, I think Dai Chengrong, the leader of the Second Regiment, should have explained it to you. Why, are you still dissatisfied with the explanation he gave?"
Ha Jianyi said: "According to the retention standards and subsequent revision plans for personnel who were demoted to the army promulgated by the Ministry of National Defense in 1633, 1638, and 1648, we should first consider their professional abilities when retaining soldiers from the former Ming Dynasty, but it seems that the Lu Qi Division did not They did not fully comply with the standards set by the Ministry of National Defense, and Commander Dai did not explain to me what was so special about these soldiers from Yangzhou that it was worthy of the Lu Qi Division to break the rules.”
Shi Diwen did not immediately explain, but instead asked: "You went to see the weapons and equipment of the Second Regiment, what do you think?"
Ha Jianyi didn't know what he meant, but he still responded seriously: "The weapons and equipment are in good condition, but a considerable number of models of light and heavy weapons are old. If conditions permit, comprehensive upgrades should be arranged."
Shi Diwen nodded and said: "Dai Chengrong should also want to upgrade equipment, but the problem is that the budget that the East China Sea Region can obtain from the Ministry of National Defense is limited, and the part of the budget that can be used for equipment upgrades is even more limited. And because the East China Sea Region Due to the special environment of the region, resources and military expenditures must be tilted towards the navy, and the part that the army can allocate is extremely limited. However, I believe you also know that the Ministry of National Defense has never had many restrictions on self-funding of local garrison troops, so our Donghai Region. The military expenditure gap can often only be filled through other means.”
"What is the financial strength of this special group of Yangzhou salt merchants? I believe you have heard a lot of rumors, right? They are rich and wealthy, which are all used to describe them in the past. Of course, if this group does not have its own umbrella, it is just a group of people. They are fat sheep waiting to be slaughtered, so they let their children join politics and the military, using the government as their protection. Dai Chengrong, who you met today, is also one of them."
Ha Jianyi responded: "What Uncle Shi means is that the Lu Qi Division wants to raise military expenses by retaining these Yangzhou personnel? Doesn't this seem like spending money to buy officials?"
(End of chapter)