The teams transporting materials are getting longer and longer, and from a distance they look like long dragons day and night.

In fact, when transporting supplies from Ryukyu Main Island to Mount Tomban, the best route is to dock in Setouchi Village and then take the nearest and best winding mountain path directly up the mountain.

However, there are mines everywhere in the strait now, and there are several stranded enemy warships in the reef area outside Seto Village. About 1,000 Russian troops are relying on the warships to resist stubbornly, so Setoouchi Village has lost its role as a supply center at this moment.

All the supplies must be sent to the mountains from the west and east coasts of the island, and after a large amount of manpower, they can be delivered to the mountains.

Xiao Letian stood on the rock and looked down at everything in front of him with a telescope. He sighed and said, "If you want to maintain the 30,000 army fighting here, you must have more than 50,000 logistics support force. The funds consumed every day are no less than 400,000 silver coins! This is just a state of siege!"

"If it is a war of the same level as before, the military spending of at least two million silver dollars a day... This is war! This is burning money!"

Putting down the telescope, Xiao Letian asked Wang Huaiyuan behind him without looking back, "Do you have statistics? How much has we spent so far?"

Wang Huaiyuan said with a bitter face, "There is no latest data. Our detailed statistics were released three days ago. In order to make this ambush battle, from the early preparations until the enemy officially took the bait and entered the main battlefield, we had already spent 13 million silver dollars. The expansion cost of the fortress on Guangtangwan Mountain accounted for half of the cost..."

"In the war in the past few days, our inventory of ammunition has been consumed half, especially the artillery shells consumed more, not to mention rifles, bullets, explosives, medical products, food... Of course, there are mines, the expenses consumed by Zhiyuan, and the purchase of fishing boats and merchant ships from the private sector to sink the sea..."

"The cost of these few days alone can't be saved without seven million silver dollars! Alas... This battle was fought. Locking the enemy's cage was simply made of sterling silver. It costs too much money..."

Even though Xiao Letian was generous and generous, he sighed and shook his head with a distressed sigh, "Does he count the cost of supporting the Far East Volunteers?"

"My Prime Minister! Is that another account good? The money spent there is even more flowing. Master Long opened his mouth and asked for 100,000 Mauser. The import cost of a Mauser is about 70 yuan silver dollars, and the cost of our own manufacturing is also about 50 yuan silver dollars..."

"The cost of the rifle that Master Long just needs is more than 7 million dragon-patterned silver dollars. What about the bullets? Not to mention the others. I guess there are not much left now that the Prime Minister has prepared 30 million military expenses for Master Long..."

If you don’t take charge, you don’t know how expensive it is! The more you settle the score, the more frightened you will be. War is a monster of gold swallowing. No matter what psychological preparation Xiao Letian makes in advance, he still has to take a breath of air when the real numbers are placed in front of him.

"We can't continue to fight like this anymore. From now on, the hot war in Tangwan Mountain must be controlled. All strategies are mainly siege. As long as the enemy does not go crazy, large-scale attacks will not be allowed... We must leave some supplies for the Far East!"

Xiao Letian is right. How much money is just one aspect of the problem everyone faces. Another more important factor is that you may not be able to buy things with money.

On the surface, Tanggu and Ryukyu both have a Mauser rifle production line, but everyone knows that these two production lines are actually just assembly workshops.

Stocks, triggers, bayonets, straps... Chinese people can produce some external equipment themselves, but the barrels and striker are still unable to produce them.

The steel used for gun barrels is now produced in Prussia, and the rifle has been cut in Prussia. The striker is loaded in Hamburg and then sent across the ocean to Xiao Lotte's hands.

Such transaction efficiency is naturally much faster than a whole gun transaction, and the cost has been greatly reduced. However, the key parts are controlled by others, even if the other party is an ally, it feels very uncomfortable.

Xiao Letian had a premonition that if the results of the battle on the Tangwan Mountain were made public to the world at this moment, the stimulated British and French would definitely take action against them.

The merchant ships floating on the sea are likely to become the focus of the enemy. They will block the Suez Canal, block the Strait of Malacca, and then send troops to search one by one. They will seize all merchant ships that transport barrels and striker to the Chinese.

If that happens, Xiao Letian will immediately fall into an embarrassing situation where he has money to buy weapons. And this situation will almost happen 100%.

"We also have to consider the battle in the Far East. Limited supplies cannot be wasted. Please send more to the Far East... Send people to contact the Americans and ask the Carnegie family for help. We are willing to spend 15% more. As long as the United States ensures our arms supply..."

"Don't have any problems with the Pacific route. This is our lifeline... Let our college students join the political attack team!"

With the order from the Prime Minister, groups of Ryukyu college students who were on standby on the sea early took action. These high-level intellectuals of the future Chinese, one by one, lined up in an orderly line to get off the boat and headed straight for Tangwan Mountain.

Along the way, all the soldiers looked at them incredibly, "Hey hey... Ma Xiaobao, that's the youngest son of the Ma family in my neighborhood! He is an outstanding student at Maritime University, and he has also gone to the battlefield..."

"That's right, that's a child from Longze Mountain, Fusang District, very close to my home... I know that child too, and the one over there..."

"Boys, why are you here if you don't go to school?" the veterans asked verbally.

The child said proudly, "We are a newly formed political attack team, and the subsequent war depends on our ability! We are going to the battlefield and head straight to Tangwan Mountain!"

"What?" Everyone was stunned. Although the Chinese army had the tradition of scholars as soldiers, it was only like this in military universities. Many of the students who came here this time were students from ordinary universities!

The veterans present all knew these children. Some read translation, some read literary history, some read science, and some read physics and mathematics... I heard that these majors will be scholars and scientists in the future. What are they doing on the battlefield?

Everyone was unsolved, but no one dared to question the Prime Minister's decision. After these children walked into the forefront of the trench with the shocked eyes of the 30,000 troops, the rest was shocked.

The children took out a tin horn from their backpacks, put it on the edge of the trench and began to speak Russian, which sounded like a group of foreign birds.

The Chinese Marines couldn't understand what the children were saying, but the Tsarist Russian soldiers on the mountain were all dumbfounded. Although the Russian accent below was not standard, anyone could understand it.
Chapter completed!