Chapter 3595
In fact, this method does not need Zhu Zian's guidance, Yue Shizong has already been doing this. Based on past experience, newspapers are an indispensable channel for collecting intelligence information in Haihan, and they are also the lowest-cost and least-risk means.
Therefore, as long as it is a publicly distributed newspaper on the Haihan market, whether it is government-run or private, Yue Shizong will buy it and read it. When the content is more important, he will buy a few more copies and rush them back to the capital on a fast horse.
However, Haihan's sudden military action near Nanjing came without any warning, and there was no usual briefing session to guide public opinion through newspapers before major actions. Zhu Zian did not give any reasonable explanation for this.
Yue Shizong asked over and over again for a long time, but when he saw that he couldn't get any more information from Zhu Zian, he could only say goodbye in frustration.
In Yue Shizong's view, although Zhu Zian has obtained an official position in Haihan, the level of information he has access to is obviously not high, especially Haihan's various plans for the Ming Dynasty. He has obviously been excluded from " Apart from "Informed Persons", the number of contacts with Haihan's senior management may not be as many as that of Yue Shizong himself.
According to this, rather than expecting Zhu Zian to provide valuable information, it is better to study the newspapers that represent Haihan's official will.
Yue Shizong did not wait too long this time, and saw an article worth pondering in the "Haihan Times" published later.
This article is not on the eye-catching front page, but is placed in an inconspicuous corner of the third page. The length is not too long, but the content is closely related to Yue Shizong's recent concerns.
The title of this article is "Overview of the New Autumn Recruitment Rules for the Supreme Glory of Joining the Army and Serving the Country," and the content is to introduce the autumn recruitment activities that are about to begin this year.
Due to the extremely high treatment given to soldiers by Haihan and the golden sign of Haihan's army being invincible, the enthusiasm of young people of the right age to join the army has always been very high.
Especially the younger generation who grew up under the Haihan dual-color banner have a very strong sense of identification and belonging to Haihan. Many young people regard joining the military as one of their life goals. Therefore, they have been very enthusiastic about signing up to join the army in recent years, and the number of people often exceeds 10%. needed by the troops.
Recruitment activities scheduled in spring and autumn each year generally set clear quantitative limits based on previous years' registrations, and maintain a pass rate of no more than 30%, so that the military can select the best from the applicant pool and effectively control the overall size of the army.
The main reason that restricts the Haihan Army from recruiting more troops is the military budget. The line of elite troops pursued by Haihan focused more on the actual combat effectiveness of the troops rather than the size of the establishment. The investment in both military treatment and weapons and equipment was much greater than that of the armies of the same era.
According to such high standards, even with Haihan's wealth, it would be difficult to support an excessively large army. Therefore, military expansion in the past was often based on upgrading garrison establishments in some areas, and large-scale expansion was rarely carried out during the two annual recruitment campaigns.
However, there seem to be some new changes in this year’s fall recruitment campaign.
The article clearly stated that this year’s recruitment activities in various places will relax the restrictions on the number of final selections, and after the completion of recruit training, new troop establishments will be given by the Ministry of National Defense based on the actual situation of the garrison in each place.
In short, this is about military expansion, but the statement is more euphemistic. With Yue Shizong's knowledge and knowledge, it is certainly not difficult to see Haihan's true intention.
However, it is difficult to get a glimpse of the scale of this military expansion from this article. Yue Shizong knew very little about the recruitment data of previous years and had no way to make inferences. Yue Shizong then read on, and the article even clearly pointed out the areas where the scale of conscription will be increased this year. The Northern Region, Donghai Region, and the two major regions bordering the Ming Dynasty were all among them.
There are also Luzon Region, Singdao Region and North America Region located far away overseas, which are also on the list. Calculated in this way, it accounts for more than 80% of the areas currently under Haihan's actual control. Only Hainan, Taiwan, Fujian, and some overseas enclaves located in other countries are not included in this list.
For the areas that were not included, Yue Shizong quickly figured out the reasons. Hainan is the place where Haihan was born, and it has the old capital of Sanya, which has a very special status. The scale of recruitment is independently determined based on the needs of the local garrison and is not affected by this.
The population size on the island of Taiwan is not even comparable to that of any of the three states of Zhangzhou, Quanzhou, and Fuzhou across the Taiwan Strait. With such a small population, the number of troops it can provide is not large, and it makes little difference whether there are restrictions or not.
As for Fujian, controlling the scale of conscription is obviously a restraint on the Xu family. This has long been a tacit understanding between the Executive Committee and the Xu family.
Those overseas enclaves located in other surrounding countries may also intentionally restrict sensitive activities such as military recruitment in order to avoid affecting international relations. Otherwise, it would be difficult to avoid misunderstandings if a large-scale military recruitment was carried out openly at people's doorsteps.
But even so, Yue Shizong was already sweating behind his back. Expanding the scale of conscription on such a large scale is certainly not because Haihan has too much military spending and has no place to use it. The only reasonable explanation is that Haihan is preparing to explode his troops for a big fight.
As for who the target was, Yue Shizong did not dare to think about it further. Because no matter how you calculate it, Daming, which has been competing with Haihan for thirty years, cannot be excluded.
Judging from Haihan's recent actions and the statements of the top executives of the executive committee, it is very likely that Daming will even be ranked first among the targets.
Yue Shizong slowly put down the newspaper, stood up and looked out the window. Dark clouds were rolling in the sky, just as depressing as his mood at this time.
How to resolve this crisis, Yue Shizong believes that it is not completely impossible, but it is extremely difficult to implement.
If it can arouse anti-war sentiment among Haihan people, it may be able to delay their plans for large-scale conscription, thereby delaying the outbreak of war.
It's just that the Haihan Army was always victorious and had outstanding military exploits. A large number of heroes have emerged in the past thirty years, and its glorious image has long been as unbreakable as the Executive Committee. Countless people in Haihan regard joining the army and fighting as a shortcut to making achievements, and it is a consistent trend to be bellicose with foreign countries. Even the literati with pens wish that the Haihan army would conquer all directions and merge them into their own territory.
In such an environment, it is not easy to arouse anti-war sentiment, unless the Haihan Army suffered several heavy defeats on the battlefield.
However, if the Ming army could defeat the Haihan army, there would be no need for Yue Shizong to worry here.
This road was obviously unworkable. Yue Shizong quickly gave up the idea and started to think about another way - if Haihan could be moved to change his target and move Daming's order back a little, could this be done? The arrival of the crisis was delayed.
It's just that the world is so big, where can we find a replacement for Ming Dynasty for Haihan?