On 16 July, the first enlarged meeting of the wartime economic committee since the establishment of the national unanimous system was underway in the Imperial and Critical Affairs Department, which is located in a convex building of the National Defense Headquarters.

In addition to the ministers of finance, industry and commerce, communications, agriculture and forestry, science and technology, and public health, as well as the vice ministers of the ministries, there were also 10 industrial and commercial tycoons who stood at the top of the pyramid of imperial wealth, five supervisors of state-owned industries, the governor of the central bank of the empire, the chairman of the banking regulatory commission, the economic adviser to the cabinet, the chairman of the APEC, the representative of the logistics department of the General Staff Department, and the director of the quartermaster department of the National Defense Headquarters.

Chairman and Quartermaster Ma Feng was impressed by the sight, which reminded him of the good old days before the war when he was prime minister, even though he had been away from the post for less than three months.

Perhaps the engagement banquet between his eldest daughter and the second-in-line heir to the throne, Prince Wuhe Liu Fan, two days ago, could be a consolation to the former prime minister who had served only after the late civil leader Duke Wenyi.

Although the cabinet has changed, the actual executive organs of various ministries and commissions are basically the same as when he Ma Feng was in office, and since Yang Zhengjin is not sure about playing a big blood change, it is logical that he Ma Feng will preside over the most important wartime economic committee.

Before Ma Feng formed a cabinet, the civil officials of the group had been divided into two factions, Zhang and Mo, the military was nominally unified under the banner of Yang Zhengjin, but in fact there was an undercurrent, Liu Bailiang, one of the veterans, and Zhang Yaoqian, who once manipulated the northwest department, formed a party of his own, and Hu Ke, another veteran with deep seniority, formed his own faction, and the rest were either close or alien or antagonistic. Ma Feng did not dare to enter the muddy water, and only identified Yang Zhengjin and Zhang Zhigao, who were the most powerful. All major matters are discussed with the two of them in advance, and only after reaching a consensus is put on the table, so they act smoothly and unimpeded. And he is strict with himself, does not put on a show, does not engage in gangs, acts carefully and meticulously, and has the reputation of "eight-faced Bodhisattva face and exquisite heart".

It was Ma Feng's motto to sail carefully for ten thousand years, but the war was about to start, and there was no room for hesitation. Taking advantage of the new wind of the establishment of a unified system for the whole country, we should quickly cut through the chaos and bring the economies of the empire and its allies into the orbit of wartime control in an all-round way, with a view to bringing into play the war potential of the countries of the East Asian Union more quickly and deeply, and providing sufficient material support for defeating the enemy.

The 1915 basic military plan submitted by the General Staff was delivered to Ma Feng's desk a week earlier.

In terms of armament, 900,000 rifles and submachine guns, 8,000 light and heavy machine guns, 2,500 artillery pieces (including regimental and brigade infantry guns), 4,000 grenadiers and 2,500 mortars are needed to equip the new troops, replenish the projected combat losses and support the allies.

Guaranteed 150 divisions and 60 brigades of ammunition for 6 battles.

2000 aircraft for the Navy and 3500 for the Army. total

2500 combat vehicles and armored vehicles.

3 automobiles (including no less than 15,000 trucks).

500 locomotives, 15,000 wagons.

10,000 kilometers of various rails.

All kinds of oil and coal are available on demand. The supply of oil shall not be less than 300 tons, and the supply of refined coal shall not be less than 10 million tons.

In terms of troop strength, the minimum amount required for the establishment of new troops and the projected replenishment of rotation is 400,000 in the Army.

In terms of ships, the 1915 Memorandum of Understanding on the Construction of Naval Ships was still proceeding steadily, and at least 2 warships, 2 aircraft carriers, 5 cruisers, 30 destroyers and destroyers, and 32 submarines should be completed that year.

In terms of ship requisition, in addition to continuing to requisition the existing 200 gross tons, at least an additional 120 gross tons need to be requisitioned during the war.

For reference, in the secret annex is a list of the basic armament production of the countries participating in the war in 1915 in another time and space history, as well as the estimated production of the United States by computer:

On the part of the Allies -

Germany (historical value, the same below): rifle 1155. 8000, airplane

Austria-Hungary: rifle 900,000, machine gun 2500: 85,

Subtotal: rifle 2055 thousand, machine gun C0. Cannon-barrel 5585 aircraft

On the part of the Entente—

France: 800,000 rifles, 6,000 machine guns, 1,200,

British: 610,003 rifles, 6064 machine guns, 3400 barrels of aircraft

Russia: 740,000 rifles, 4,250 machines, 2,106 aircraft

USA (estimated): 800,000 rifles, 8,000 machine guns, 1,500 aircraft

Subtotal: rifle 2953 thousand, machine gun 24314, barrel 8206, aircraft

In addition, in 1914, the United States produced more than 100 automobiles, and the total tonnage of its ships reached 710 tons, second only to Britain (nearly 20 million tons) and more than all of the East Asian Union (about tons).

U.S. arms production is expected to reach +.3 times the 15-year estimate in 1917.

Ma Feng knows very well that it is impossible to maintain superiority over the United States in terms of absolute armaments production, because after all, there is a gap of more than double the industrial strength, but if we do not achieve comprehensive control of the domestic economy as soon as possible, I am afraid that we will not even be able to meet the basic needs of the military in the war situation in the next five years -- we absolutely must not affect the combat determination of the base camp because of such a humiliating reason as "insufficient production."

It doesn't matter what the United States does, just try to get what the military needs, and of course, at the same time, we must not forget to cultivate national strength and enhance the empire's ability to fight a protracted war.

At this time, the Planning Office under the Economic Commission became busy, and mathematicians, economists, and statisticians collected from all over the country gathered together to convert the values of the General Staff Quartermaster Planning and Planning into basic resource units, such as how much steel, how much coal, how much ~ how much electricity, how many working hours, how much production capacity (occupied by production facilities, divided into several categories such as light industry, heavy industry, and manual work), and so on. Comparing with the current estimated output of various resources, it is clear how much more basic resources need to be produced to meet the needs.

The crux of the matter is, how can we increase the output of this part of the basic resources, and how can we ensure that this part of the increased output will actually flow to military production?

A group of digital maniacs were clearly unable to solve this kind of problem, which was beyond their capabilities.

Industrial integration and control, unified purchase and sale of strategic materials, suspension of trading in the stock market and foreign exchange market, complete freezing of foreign exchange, gold and silver, cooperation and alliance of banks, implementation of rationing system for people's livelihood, and control of the economies of the allies through APEC...... All kinds of measures are simple to say, but they are complicated to implement, and they affect the whole body, and if they don't gather together powerful figures from all walks of life and discuss them openly and honestly, Ma Feng will never dare to rashly advance.

Enthusiasm and rationality can be regarded as Ma Feng's consistent style.