Chapter 724 Five Million Tons of Steel

"We can't recruit any more soldiers! Now it is 10 million, and the monthly salary alone is more than 300 million. If it weren't for the support of a special fund, a single training fee would have hollowed out the finances! We have the largest army in the world, so doesn't that keep us safe? The country can't afford it! Li Zongren, who participated in the high-level core meeting, heard Meng Xiang's proposal to increase his troops, and couldn't help but admonish.

When he gradually integrated into the upper echelons of the Pioneer Army, he saw the general strength of the Vanguard Army.

The strength of the vanguard army that I saw before was only the tip of the iceberg, and I couldn't help but be shocked when I thought of the terrifying strength that the vanguard army could easily uproot the Gui family. Fortunately, he listened to the persuasion of Bai Chongxi and Huang Shaohong and became a member of the vanguard army, not their enemy.

Thinking of the old Jiang who was still holding on at this time, Li Zongren couldn't help but sneer: "Jiang Zhongzheng, Jiang Zhongzheng, you are a generation of heroes in vain, and this time you will be treated as a small chess piece!" With his many years of experience, seeing the super strength of the vanguard army that can easily defeat the central army and recover Sichuan, he still doesn't understand that the vanguard army wants to set up a target by keeping Lao Chiang.

Only by finding an external goal can we better unify the internal.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but shrink his initial intention of infiltrating from within to fight for more power. Although the Wehrmacht is a larger arena for display, if we are not careful, it can also become a stepping stone for others.

Li Zongren has been carefully adapting to the rhythm of the vanguard army, and after three or four months of running-in, he found that the environment of the vanguard army is very democratic, and the suppressed mind has become active again.

At this high-level core meeting, he specially expressed his presence in response to the issue of increasing troops raised by Meng Xiang, highlighting his existence.

The current high-level core meeting is no longer the former Big Nine, with the entry of forces such as Li Zongren, Long Yun and the Central Party, it is already an enlarged meeting of more than a dozen people. After all, some people's qualifications are there, and they need to be properly respected and appeased, and although some confidential matters are still agreed among the giants, some things still need to be voted on at an expanded meeting to show democracy.

The nature of power dictates that it needs to shake its head and tail at the side that decides its fate.

Under the top-down system, there is always no shortage of bullies who flatter the superior, and the privilege from above is never capped.

No matter how many hypocritical signs are put up, the bottom-up political system always has more checks and balances on power.

Even if it is democratic, it is impossible for the small people of Doumi to divide the food on the plate of the predators, but with the many checks and balances below, at least they can get the favor of Doumi. The fart people are finally no longer stuffy, and they finally have a little noise.

The lessons of later generations made Meng Xiang establish the principle of checks and balances from the bottom up from the very beginning, and actively promoted the reform of the Chinese political system.

Others may lose their grasp of power in the lower part of power, and eventually because of the imbalance between power and interests, unnecessary shirking and prevarication will be caused, and finally they have to concentrate. And the loyalty of the clones has become the biggest help for Meng Xiang to promote democracy.

In the high-level core meeting of more than a dozen people, Meng Xiang and his clone heroes accounted for more than half, and they had the most democratic and centralized voice.

Meng Xiang didn't have to experience it himself, and he was not afraid of the high achievements of the clone heroes around him, and the great decentralization of power reassured everyone, but it contributed to a relatively harmonious situation.

The upward and downward effects, and the middle and low levels also have the node control and influence of the clones, and a relatively democratic atmosphere and environment are gradually forming. As long as people's thinking is slowly influenced, the atmosphere of the whole environment will naturally be slowly reversed, and eventually every Chinese citizen will defend his rights and fulfill his corresponding obligations.

This is something that others can't learn no matter how much they learn, even if others give up the temptation of power, it is easy to make a wedding dress for others, but they will be trampled into the mud by others.

At this time, Li Zongren couldn't help but fight for a little more power. But after all, he was not among the Nine Giants, and he didn't know as much as Yan Xishan, he didn't know Meng Xiang's big plan at all, and he didn't know that the underwater part of the vanguard army he saw was only less than half of this behemoth, otherwise he wouldn't have said such a thing.

Yan Xishan was just smiling beside him, purely looking at the joke.

It was the first time for Long Yun, who had just been elevated to the center, to participate in such a meeting, and when he heard that the 10 million troops and the numbers were already gasping in his heart, where could he bother to say anything else.

Lin Sen next to him coughed lightly, and said without pain: "Right now, the people's livelihood should be the priority!" ”

Little did he know that his fate had also taken a turn and that he would not fall in a car accident in Chongqing a year later. When the space of the Central Party was getting smaller and smaller, Lin Sen was no longer willing to be the target pushed by Lao Chiang, and instead joined the Xishan Conference faction to join the more promising vanguard army, and also tried to seek a better position in the new government.

Compared with the silence of Niu Yi and others, he needs to make his voice heard. It's just that the sentence just now has some meaning of not offending both sides.

Meng Xiang's expression was indifferent in the main position, this high-level core meeting was not the real core of the vanguard army, and in view of the funnel spirit of the Central Party intelligence in the past, some content was not suitable to be said in this situation at all.

On the side, Zhou Bai smiled and said: "It doesn't matter if the money is paid, it is all stored in the account of Taiping Bank." Even if some soldiers withdraw money from their accounts, it stimulates domestic consumption and promotes industrial and commercial development. It doesn't matter if it's a few hundred million more. As for the cost of training, the cost of the earmarked fund is sufficient. It doesn't matter if you increase it a little more, it's better than a huge pension. ”

Due to the inexplicable source of some funds and goods, there are the most special funds of all kinds in the vanguard army, even Zhou Bai, who specializes in managing the economy, does not know how many there are, but he knows that Meng Xiang is never short of money in his hands.

"Now that the world is full of war, even the United States is involved, and the war is still expanding, the first thing we must do is to ensure the security of the country. It is still beneficial to recruit more soldiers, at least to form a perfect reserve system. Bai Chongxi, who also attended the meeting as the deputy chief of the general staff, had already swept everyone's expressions, and gave Li Zongren a look and interjected.

"We have a lot of Chinese people, and this source of soldiers is not worried. However, now that the war needs to lay the groundwork, we should invest more money in heavy industry. For example, produce more steel. so as not to be subject to others. Long Yun, who had been silent next to him, couldn't help but speak again.

His army is now being renovated, and he has a sense of being in a position of power after being transferred to the central government. At this time, seeing Bai Chongxi also jumped out to speak, he couldn't help but make his own voice.

With heavy industry, there will be more guns. He didn't know much about the strength of the vanguard army than Li Zongren, and he felt that this was the way to hold the foundation for the country.

He ruled Yunnan for many years and also vigorously developed industry and commerce. But in the end, it has not developed and grown due to factors such as capital. One of the reasons for the lack of funds is that because of the gold-swallowing beast of military spending, it is normal to eat up most of the finances on a regular basis. Chongqing's side is reckless and militaristic, which leads to the decline of industry and commerce, and the people are not able to make a living, which leads everyone to turn away.

Chongqing has only raised a million troops, and the 10 million troops of the vanguard army, even if they are paid and trained, where will so many weapons come from?

Although he knew that industry and commerce were thriving on the territory of the Pioneer Army, he did not believe that the Pioneer Army could build those artillery planes by itself. And relying on imports, he had already experienced being subject to foreigners, so he reminded.

Another reason was that he heard that the vanguard army planned to build a large iron and steel plant with an annual production capacity of more than 200,000 tons near Anning in Kunming, Yunnan Province, and he was naturally unwilling to reduce this part of the investment because of the increase in military spending.

Now that the world is at war and the price of steel is rising, the opportunity of steel mills is enough for many businessmen to smell it.

Capital always needs a spokesperson. In Longyun, there are also many industrialists and businessmen who are actively approaching. While Long Yun was a little frustrated, he was unwilling to take advantage of this opportunity to expand his strength.

It's easiest to see what a steel mill over Hanyang means on its former turf. Moreover, Long Yun had already heard from Meng Xiang that he would stay in Yunnan to coordinate some local ethnic relations. These are opportunities.

Zhou Bai and Meng Xiang looked at each other and smiled, before saying, "Speaking of steel, I have good news here, so I will disclose it to you in advance." ”

He paused for a moment, and looked at everyone curiously, before he suppressed his excitement and smiled: "Our 41 years of steel production in China have been counted. The total has already exceeded five million tons, catching up with the Japanese. ”

There was an uproar.

"What? Five million tons? Long Yun's mouth opened wide in surprise, and he couldn't close it for a long time.

The pen in Li Zongren's hand also fell on the table and rolled.

"Caught up with the Japanese?" The tea had already soaked the placket of Lin Sen's beard, and he was still unconscious.

However, the expressions of the clone heroes were still indifferent, even Li Shuchun and the others were only slightly surprised.

"Impossible! I remember last year's government report, wasn't it only 610,000 tons? Now ......" Long Yun's face was full of disbelief. It's almost tenfold in a year, who can believe such a statement? This is steelmaking, and probably from the time of the Manchu Qing Dynasty to the present, there are not 5 million tons of steel produced.

"It's true!" Zhou Bai said firmly.

A few people know that when Meng Xiang was attacking the outside world this year, he improved the domestic industrial system internally, exploded steel, and the accumulation of more than three years finally broke out last year, creating a miracle.