Annie's departure seemed to have affected Wu Feng's state of mind. He didn't know why he was suddenly so interested in this woman he had never paid attention to. Was it because the other party's performance stimulated him or his own feelings changed? I asked myself repeatedly, but couldn't find the result. However, all this does not affect his reason and judgment. As the strongest barrier in the north of Western Xinjiang, the importance of Jiarma and Fanlin in particular is irreplaceable. The Jielock Corps has as many as six divisions. The over-staffing is enough to prove this point.
Yang Zhengbin's opinions on economic development at the banquet also deeply hurt Wu Feng. There are still quite a few unstable factors in the Western Xinjiang territory, and many of these unstable factors are caused by excessive poverty among the people. , this had previously been a favorable condition for Wu Feng to easily capture the hearts and minds of the people, but it was only when it became the territory of Western Xinjiang that Wu Feng felt the huge pressure brought by these factors.
Yang Zhengbin quickly submitted to Wu Feng a list of prefectures and counties in the currently controlled areas of Western Xinjiang that were listed as poor areas. The three major areas of Beiyuan County, Zhongnan County, and Burma County were the top priorities. Yanyun's Yunzhong Prefecture , the three prefectures of Tianshui, Heishan and Longquan in Heshuo, as well as the Pamir region, which is applying to join Northern Luzon County as one of the prefectures, while Eastern Tengger County is not included because of the nomadic habits of the local people, even if it is In this way, the blacklist of as many as eighteen prefectures and counties still made Wu Feng couldn't help but gasp.
He had some doubts about whether Yang Zhengbin was still interested in the 200 million gold coins he obtained from Tian Yi. James was this guy's classmate. It was hard to say whether this guy got the information from James, but after Yang Zhengbin introduced it in detail He also had to admit that these local areas were facing considerable difficulties. It may even endanger their own prestige and rule in these areas.
Transportation and infrastructure problems are common problems that restrict the economic development of these areas. Droughts and wars have also had a huge impact on the prefectures in the interior of the empire. Many prefectures and counties that were originally relatively good suffered from the persecution of the Taiping Religion and the empire. After the defeat, the battlefields have been completely reduced to wilderness, such as Longquan Black Mountain in Beiyuan and Heshuo. As for the areas newly annexed to Western Xinjiang, the main reason is that the original local rulers did not have a plan to promote local economic development. They only focused on squeezing the people to gain wealth. The infrastructure is almost blank. Under such circumstances, even those who are willing to invest Businessmen can also be deterred by these factors.
Yang Zhengbin submitted these lists to Wu Feng with the intention of blackmailing His Highness the King of Qin. Of course, he knew that His Highness the King of Qin must have other uses for keeping the funds. He did not expect to be able to get these funds from His Highness the King of Qin all at once. All the funds were obtained, but it was also a good thing to make His Highness the King of Qin aware of the many problems in the territory. Economic development was not empty talk, nor could the Government Affairs Office alone solve it. There were many things that His Highness King Qin had to take action on.
But Yang Zhengbin still didn't expect that His Highness the King of Qin would be so generous in allocating himself 100 million gold coins to solve the economic development of these poor areas, 100 million gold coins! What kind of amount is this? For Yang Zhengbin, this is simply a natural loss. I originally expected to be able to extract 20 to 30 million gold coins, which was already the limit. Unexpectedly, His Highness King Qin approved this huge amount of funds without hesitation after reading this list and the introduction. Although this was not enough to solve such a problem all at once. Many regions are in a difficult situation, but at least for now, they can use this fund to do a few urgent things. However, Yang Zhengbin, who is holding this money, feels a little uneasy just to get this fund out of thin air.
Wufeng, who had been cheerful and generous for a while, was also heartbroken. This was originally the fund that he used to develop and operate the navy, but now he had to cut off half of it and give it to the Economic Development Department. The construction expenditure of the Southern Ocean Fleet has already overwhelmed the Financial Secretary, and the formation of the Eighth, Ninth, and Thirteenth Legions has brought the Financial Secretary to the brink of bankruptcy. The funds originally seized from India and the profits earned from the grain trafficking movement continued to shrink in this continuous war, and the areas that continued to surrender also needed funds. In addition, the reorganization and demobilization of the three newly established legions, The funds flowed out like water, causing James to have a few wrinkles on his well-maintained face. And now the Financial Secretary has clearly told Wu Feng that he no longer has the ability to support Wu Feng's plan to build the Atlantic Fleet. If it weren't for the huge inflow of funds provided by Tian Yi, how could Wu Feng dare to let Ling Tian be so arrogant? He patrolled the south of the Yangtze River to form the Atlantic Fleet.
Only then did Wu Feng realize how difficult it was to rule such a huge territory as the empire, and he also deeply understood the true meaning of the saying that money is scarce when it is used. At any time, there is never enough money. If it were not for the careful calculation of the Financial Secretary, I am afraid that the wealth gained from India and the profits earned from the grain trafficking movement would have been exhausted long ago, and even this battle would not be able to persist.
Xiao Tang also put forward his own suggestions to Wu Feng. In view of the urgency of developing local economies in various places, he suggested that Wu Feng study and approve a large number of vacant local officials as soon as possible, especially the early appointment of the governors of Beiyuan and Tiannan counties, and the immediate appointment of governors of Beiyuan and Tiannan counties. The governor of Donghai County, which may be included in Western Xinjiang, can only make the political power of a large administrative region relatively stable by appointing the governor as soon as possible. It will also help the local administrative region to formulate a development plan suitable for the actual situation of the region in a timely manner. For example, the governor of Beiyuan County has not been able to determine , even though the Government Affairs Administration is determined to support Beiyuan and promote the economic development of the Beiyuan region, it does not have a suitable leader. This is also an important factor in delaying the economic development of Beiyuan.
The competition for governors of Beiyuan and Tiannan counties was fierce. Recommendations from all parties put Wu Feng in a dilemma. In the end, Wu Feng chose Wen Wen, a member of the Wen family, one of the seven major industrial and commercial families in Jiangnan, as the governor of Bei Yuan. Wu Feng chose Wen Wen as the governor. On the one hand, Governor Beiyuan declared to the business class throughout the empire that his standards for selecting officials were different from those of the original empire, breaking the restrictions on the appointment of officials. On the other hand, he also wanted to take advantage of Wenming's good popularity among the business class in Jiangnan to raise funds for the purpose. The dilapidated Beiyuan is looking for a shortcut for development. The choice of Governor of Tiannan finally fell on Qin Tieliu, president of Northwest University. Qin Tieliu was not originally a candidate for Governor of Tiannan, but after careful consideration, Wu Feng resolutely chose Qin Tieliu as Governor of Tiannan. , this makes many people find it incomprehensible, and many people even wonder if Wufeng is showing favor to the Qin family, one of the five major families in the empire, in order to win over the wavering forces among the major families in the empire.
Immediately afterwards, Wufeng approved the appointment of city guards from more than ten prefectures including Qingyang, Gusu, Weiyang, Baling, Jiujiang, and Anqing. At the same time, the Supervision Department also announced a series of cases of investigating officials. Several officials After being investigated for corruption and handed over to the court for trial, there were also high-priced officials such as the director of a government.
This series of personnel appointments and dismissals once again caused huge waves in Western Xinjiang, because among the more than ten city guard positions, more than 30% of the candidates were from industrial and commercial families. This completely subverted the previous requirements for middle and senior administrative officials in the empire. The tradition of being born in a gentry family, especially in the selection of candidates for the city guards of the three key industrial and commercial towns of Gusu, Weiyang and Huzhou, has attracted almost too many people's attention. Even "Jiangnan Morning News" and "Rudongnan Express" respectively represent Jiangnan. Newspapers and periodicals that reflected the attitude of the gentry and the Jiangnan industrial and commercial class also reported on the selection and appointment of the city guards of these two places by the Western Xinjiang Government Affairs Administration for several consecutive days. As a result, the candidates for the two major city governors of Gusu and Weiyang were won by Zhuge Miao, the former governor of Jincheng City, and He Zichang, the former governor of Taixuan City, who came from a business family. Although Mao Cuishan, the governor of Huzhou City, was born a gentry, he was a An out-and-out spokesperson for the industrial and commercial class, his wife is from the Murong family of the seven major families in the south of the Yangtze River. Take the analysis article of Southeast Express as an example, in this battle for city defense, the industrial and commercial class proved it with a resounding victory. The rise of the business community is unstoppable.
However, "Jiangnan Morning News" retorted sourly. Fortunately, both the governor of Jiangnan and the governor of Yuhang City came from gentry families. Otherwise, those businessmen who were obsessed with money would have declared that Jiangnan belonged to their merchants. Wouldn't it be obvious that His Highness the King of Qin was still from a gentry family? Gentry? !
In this large-scale appointment of city guards, some officials from ethnic minorities also began to emerge and became an eye-catching force on the political stage of Western Xinjiang. The newly established city guard of Pamir Prefecture was served by an Indian immigrant. This is the second Indian immigrant to serve as a senior official after Rao became the director of the Department of War Preparedness. The vacated Qinzhou City Code is a Gaoyue tribesman, and Qingzhou, an important town in the northwest, is still the seat of the Western Xinjiang Protectorate. Yangxin's city guard turned out to be a Wusun tribesman!
As the mouthpiece newspaper of Western Xinjiang, the Northwest Star conducted a comprehensive analysis of this large-scale personnel appointment. An article signed by Qian Mingliang, a special political analyst and professor of Northwest University, believes that this There is no loser or winner in what everyone sees as a political watershed battle for power. In fact, with the expansion of the geographical jurisdiction of Western Xinjiang, the officials chosen by His Highness the King of Qin are from the business class, the gentry class, or the ordinary citizen class. , they all have something in common, that is, they have certain knowledge, certain social experience, and considerable credibility and recognition among the people. Which class they come from is no longer a necessary condition for selecting officials. This also proves that Western The sources of officials in Xinjiang are increasingly diversified and the selection system in Xinjiang has matured.