Wu Feng was speechless for a long time. He didn't know that now was the best time to explore the south. However, the situation in the east was unclear. Facing the impact of drought and locust plague, the internal situation in the empire was already undercurrent, especially the situation in the Five Lakes. Yungui, Situ Biao's power has expanded rapidly, while Situ Jun's power has shrunk day by day. According to the latest intelligence, Cheng Dayou, a remnant of the peace in Jiujiang Mansion, has also secretly gotten in touch with Situ Biao. Wu Feng soon He was worried that Situ Biao would regain Huanggang in one fell swoop when the time came and completely take over his brother's power. Once there is a major turbulence in the situation, if you fall into the southern front, it may be difficult to mobilize enough troops to deal with the changes in the situation in the east.
Although the peninsula alliance countries in the south are not as united as the Nanyang Alliance, they are because they control the main commercial routes, including the two major forces of the Eastern Continent, including the Nanyang Alliance and the Machi Khans, and the Kingdom of West Orchid, a large country in the southern part of the Central Continent. They are all very fond of this key place. They have also signed the "Urgen Treaty" to ensure the smooth flow of the southern trade route, stipulating that all signing countries have the obligation and responsibility to defend this trade route from the control and influence of external forces.
Although the series of attacks launched by the Pasha Kingdom in the south do not involve the status of the peninsula alliance countries, it has also aroused the high vigilance of the West Oran Kingdom and began to attack the southern part of the central continent that was attacked by the Pasha Kingdom. Countries and city-states provided military assistance, and the peninsula alliance countries also donated huge sums of money to recruit a large number of mercenaries because they were afraid of the expansion of the power of the Pasha Kingdom to the south and put them into the battlefields of the countries in the southern part of the Central Continent. As a result, the offensive of the Pasha people was also affected. containment.
If I go south with all my strength now, I may be able to capture a few places at once. Not to mention the peninsula alliance countries, even the Machi Khan and the Nanyang Alliance will definitely not sit back and let this lifeline be controlled by me, and my southward movement is very likely It will turn into a protracted war of attrition.
Although the peninsula alliance countries have a small army, their combat effectiveness is not weak. The most important thing is that almost every city-state or principality hires a large number of mercenaries. Some principalities even have 30,000 mercenaries, far more than The number of troops it owns, the Peninsula Alliance alone has more than 30 mercenaries, more than 100,000 people, and most of these mercenaries come from retired soldiers or reserve soldiers of several major military powers in the Western Continent, and there are even some A considerable number of them are soldiers who escaped from the regular army of their homeland in order to make money. Only a small number are locals. Their combat effectiveness is no different from that of regular armies of other countries. In some aspects, it is even better. This is also One of the reasons why Wu Feng is most worried.
If you are really stuck in the quagmire of the southern war, it will inevitably affect your Eastern Front strategy. It is not impossible to fight on multiple fronts, but you must measure your own strength and inability to maintain multi-front operations. If you have unfounded confidence, then It becomes arrogant and will inevitably lead to failure. As the commander-in-chief of the entire army, Wu Feng has a clearer understanding of this than anyone else.
Trade routes are important, and access to the sea is what he desires, but this must be based on reality. Wu Feng shook his head and rejected Liang Chongxin's opinion. At least under the current circumstances, the conditions are not yet mature. Maybe he will wait until the situation in the Central Plains stabilizes. , we might as well consider the possibility of going south, but right now we can only go as far as Myanmar.
Hearing Wu Feng explain his views slowly, Liang Chongxin had some objections. The Peninsula Alliance was not as united as imagined, and Nanyang Alliance goods could still be transported by sea even if trade routes were cut off. Liang Chongxin did not think that the Nanyang Alliance would do it for There was a conflict with the northwest side on the business road issue. He believed that the members of the Nanyang Alliance Parliament did not have such courage, but what his boss said made sense, that is, his side's focus was still on the east, unless he adjusted his direction and temporarily abandoned the east. strategy plan, otherwise more troops should not be committed to other areas, whether it is the south or the west. However, he still proposed to strengthen intelligence collection in the area south of Myanmar and increase political penetration and economic control in this area so that when the time comes in the future, maximum benefits can be obtained at the minimum cost.
The steps to adjust local government officials in Tiannan's five prefectures are proceeding in an orderly manner. Although the supervisory department was the first to enter Tiannan, the administrative department was not slow in coming. Since the number of officials who abandoned their official positions following the Lang family was quite large, especially It was after Wu Feng announced that as long as things happened before the Western Xinjiang Protectorate took over Tiannan would be forgotten, but once the Western Xinjiang Protectorate officially intervened in the management, officials from various ministries would be re-examined and supervised, the Tiannan governments started to stir up trouble. There was a wave of people abandoning their official positions and resigning from power. Middle and high-level officials in the administrative departments of the five governments and the military imitated their former masters and transferred their income from officialdom to the Nanyang Commercial Bank. Many people even sold their properties and moved their families to Nanyang. The countries in the alliance either went to sea to do business or lived in a comfortable apartment, but Nanyang Commercial Bank smiled happily and added a lot of funds out of thin air, greatly increasing its strength. However, the Northwest Bank that followed up later was implicated by the Western Xinjiang Protectorate. No matter how they explained it, almost no one of these officials who abandoned their official positions was willing to deposit their funds in the Northwest Bank. In this battle for funds, the Northwest Bank lost a lot of money. The defeat was so bad that he gained almost nothing, which made James, who is also the president of Northwest Bank, deeply regretful.
In view of the fact that the vacancies of a large number of officials have seriously affected the normal work of the administrative department, and the officials recruited from Northwest and students graduated from Northwest University simply cannot fill so many vacancies, Wu Feng had no choice but to instruct Tiannan to take charge of daily administration. Wang Zongxi, who was at work, immediately formulated rules for the temporary selection of officials, preparing to select those with both ability and political integrity from local ordinary and grassroots officials, and directly promote them to important positions. Except for some key departments such as internal affairs and intelligence, as well as the chief officials of various ministries, many positions are vacant. The Government Affairs Office of the Western Xinjiang Protectorate will directly publicize these vacant positions to the public and publish them in the largest newspaper in Tiannan and Myanmar, the Southwest Morning Post. It was announced in the early newspapers that all vacant positions would be selected from the original grassroots and ordinary officials as well as scholars recommended by local gentry and merchants through special assessments. The entire process would be supervised by the supervisory department of the Western Xinjiang Protectorate to prevent Engage in malpractice for personal gain.
This news immediately caused a strong sensation in the Tiannan mansions and surrounding areas. This kind of selection of middle and senior officials directly from grassroots and ordinary officials and civilians was the first time in the history of the Tanghe Empire, especially directly from civilians. The selection of middle- and high-level officials is unheard of. The political power advantages established by the gentry for hundreds of years have all been abandoned in this selection. This kind of direct opportunity for ordinary people of the middle and lower classes to leap over the dragon's gate has made the people of the middle and lower classes have more confidence in the new lords. The degree of recognition immediately increased exponentially, and Li Wufeng's reputation spread rapidly throughout the cities, towns and villages throughout the southern part of the world.
According to the current security department's statistical survey of Tiannan's public opinion, Li Wufeng's approval level was only less than 20% when he first entered Tiannan. After the meeting with Lang Yongquan and he sent his family away with gifts, the approval level increased to more than 30%. A week after the announcement of this move, the recognition rate quickly skyrocketed to more than 60%, and after the selection was completed and the appointment was announced, the recognition rate jumped to 70%. Being able to operate in a new territory, especially when the previous lord did not have much Even Wu Feng and Wang Zongxi did not expect that the new territory with many unethical behaviors would achieve such results.
This selection attracted almost all ordinary grassroots officials and a large number of civilians in the five Tiannan prefectures to participate. Wang Zongxi also adhered to Wufeng's will and ingeniously divided the positions into administrative affairs, finance and taxation, and comprehensive economics according to the system to which the positions belonged. , agricultural administration and water conservancy, industrial and commercial development, culture and education, medicine and health, urban planning and construction, law, finance and other major categories. Each person participating in the selection is required to carefully choose the industry that they are proficient in and good at. Each person can only choose one major. , which means that one person only has one chance.
The conservative nobles in the Five Houses of Tiannan suddenly took such revolutionary measures in the face of the new lord who came to power. Although they dare not directly oppose it, they cannot tolerate such a direct deprivation of the rights of the nobles. They also know that the new lord has always been They are independent and behave very differently from other important ministers and lords of the empire, but this time they must express their opinions, otherwise the continuation of similar situations will greatly damage the political interests of the entire Tiannan noble clan. They united and sent representatives to meet with Li Wufeng, demanding that the new lord, who was a nobleman and also the emperor's consort, must consider the difference in rights between the nobles, the common people and the common people, and fully protect the rights and interests of the nobles. The implication was that Wufeng was required to give the nobles more rights. The generous policies showed the difference between the political rights of the gentry and other classes.
Wu Feng politely rejected this request, but in order to quell the dissatisfaction of the nobles, as a compromise, Wu Feng agreed that noble children can participate in this selection, and made specific requirements and restrictions for civilian children to participate in the selection, that is, the civilian nobles participating in the selection The child must obtain a character guarantee from a guarantor. The guarantor must have one of three identities to qualify as a guarantor, namely, aristocrat, industrial and commercial owner (must be a member of the county chamber of commerce or the chamber of commerce of each prefecture), administrative official (regardless of level), This seems to satisfy the vanity of the nobles, but in fact it does not have much restrictive effect. After all, industrial and commercial owners are willing to provide guarantees for talented people, so why not do such an effortless but favored thing? Why not? However, administrative officials, such as those at the town level, had more or less friendships with local scholars, so this restriction had essentially no effect.