There were five people sitting in the imperial study, Zhu Youxiao, the three bigwigs of the cabinet, and Yang Feng.

These five people can be said to have included the people with the highest status and the greatest power in the Ming Dynasty, and of course there is also the Gonggong Wei who is not here, but this one belongs to the eunuch and cannot be put on the table, so the five people are already the most powerful people in the Ming Dynasty.

This has to be changed to the modern society of later generations, that is, the proper Ming version of the Nine Great Elders of China.

Facing the eyes of the four people at the table looking at him, Yang Feng first glanced at everyone with a blazing eye, and then asked: "Your Majesty, all the elders, you are all people who have read poetry and books, and it can be said that you are well-versed in the past and the present, so Ben Hou dares to ask you, why have you been very taboo about the expedition of laborers since ancient times?" ”

Han Yi just snorted lightly but didn't speak, while Zhu Guozhen smiled and said: "Duke Kaiyang is one of the few important ministers of Yunwen and Yunwu in my dynasty, and he has the most say in this matter." ”

Sun Chengzong and Yang Feng have a very good relationship, this face is naturally to be given, after hearing this, he stroked his beard and smiled: "Since ancient times, the army expedition has paid attention to the first step of the soldiers and horses before the grain and grass are moved, and it is good to fight in this dynasty, but it will be different if you step out of the border."

The daily consumption of the army is a huge amount, and if you want to maintain tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of troops once you are far away from the border, the people who need to be mobilized and the conscription that need to be conscripted are several times that of the army.

Why did the former powerful Great Sui perish in the hands of Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty in just fourteen years? Isn't it because Yang Guang abused the people's power and was extremely poor and extravagant, first conquered Tuguhun in the west and then conquered Goguryeo three times, causing the national strength to fail, and finally won the world for Li Tang, this is a lesson from the past! ”

Sun Chengzong said on the side, Han Yi and Zhu Guozhen on the side nodded frequently, and now the Ming Dynasty has finally improved a little, but it can't be destroyed because of the expedition.

"Elder Sun Ge has a point."

Yang Feng said as he lifted the wine jug to fill the wine for a few people on the table, and then said: "However, at this time and that time, the reason why the ancients were afraid of the labor expedition was because the army was outside, and it was very difficult to supply food, grass, equipment and materials.

Ben Hou once calculated that if the army left the border for 500 miles, if you want to maintain the army to fight, you need the same number of people to transport grain and grass materials in the back of the army, if you leave the border for 1,000 miles, this number needs to be doubled, and the same is true for the people who transport grain and grass materials, and so on, the farther the army leaves the border, the greater the manpower and material resources required, which is why many people have talked about it when they hear about the labor expedition throughout the ages. ”

"Exactly."

Sun Chengzong asked curiously: "Since the Marquis of Jiang Ning is already so clear, why does he still want to forcibly incorporate Luzon into the territory of the Ming Dynasty?" It must be known that Luzon is more than 2,000 miles away from the Ming Dynasty, and it is far away from the ocean, not to mention the food and salary required to maintain a large army. ”

Yang Feng raised his glass and said with a smile: "Come, let us drink this cup together, let's talk about it in detail." ”

Everyone still has to give this face, and even Zhu Youxiao drank all the wine.

Putting down the wine glass, Yang Feng said: "So you only know one thing but you don't know the other, in the past, if you want to maintain the consumption of a large army, the only way is to mobilize or levy a large number of people to supply grain and grass for the army on the front line, but have you seen and heard that this time Benhou expedition to Luzon in Fujian wantonly recruited young and strong people?" ”

Everyone looked at each other, as if they hadn't heard of it.

I want to say here that the food and equipment needed by the Jiangning Army under Yang Feng since its establishment were all paid by Yang Feng himself, and the imperial court has never paid a penny of silver, so the imperial court has always been in a state of indifference to the logistics and supplies of the Jiangning Army, so even Sun Chengzong, the newly appointed head of the cabinet, is not very clear, and now he was very curious when he heard Yang Feng say this, so he hurriedly asked.

"Jiang Ninghou, why is this, can you tell me in detail?"

"There's nothing strange in this, to put it bluntly, it's just two words, sailor."

Yang Feng Zhengse said: "Since ancient times, when our Chinese army went on an expedition, the logistics and supplies were all carried by land horses, and then a part of the army was escorted along the way, and it was sent to the front line after difficulties.

But Luzon is different, since Benhou rebuilt the Fujian Naval Division, now the Fujian Naval Division has nearly 300 warships and hundreds of cargo ships. A 1,000-gauge cargo ship can carry about 900 to 1,000 loads of grain, so it only takes 35 cargo ships to make a round trip to maintain an army of 20,000 people, so that the use of cargo ships to maintain the supply of the army is several times less than that of land routes.

And there are many advantages of shipping, that is, there is no need to send heavy troops to protect, only a few warships need to follow the escort along the way, which is to reduce the loss of the army, we do not need to consider the rations to be consumed by the heavy soldiers who transport grain and grass when transporting grain and grass, how much we need to transport the front line, you can transport as much as you want, please think, do you need so much food to maintain a large army in Luzon? ”

"Hiss......"

It was the first time that several cabinet elders heard this kind of thing, and they were all stunned on the spot for a while.

After a while, Sun Chengzong slapped his thigh.

"Wonderful...... Wonderful...... Tens of thousands of troops need only dozens of cargo ships to transport them all in a month, and there is no need for civilian men or heavy troops to escort them on the way, so that the loss on the road is reduced several times, and it is amazing that the sailors can still use it like this.

In the future, if we have an expedition in the Ming Dynasty, wouldn't we be able to use the same method? ”

Looking at Sun Chengzong, who was overjoyed, Yang Feng sighed secretly in his heart. In later generations, even junior high school students know that sea freight is the lowest cost means of transportation, but now no one in the Ming Dynasty can realize this, which is really sad.

Since ancient times, China has been a land power country, only seeing the risks of the sea but not realizing the importance of the ocean, but they do not know that the ocean contains countless treasures, and whoever can dominate the sea can dominate the world.

In order to make several people present realize the importance of the ocean, Yang Feng added another fire.

"In fact, the princes still only know one and don't know the other."

"Oh...... What else is there that I don't know? Come on! Sun Chengzong's eyes lit up, staring at Yang Feng and asking.

"As you know, before he came, Benhou led a great army to destroy the Spaniards entrenched in Luzon and took thousands of prisoners. And why would the Spaniards be thousands of miles away from Luzon, and why would they rather send a large army and fleet to occupy Luzon for decades? Do they have too much money to spend? ”

"Huh...... That's right! ”

Sun Chengzong and others were also stunned, as if this was the case.