"So, I think the person who serves as the city guard of these two provinces must be someone who can come up with countermeasures to quickly revitalize the economy of the two places. Time waits for no man. Now the situation within the empire is becoming increasingly complicated. In addition to the Taiping Cult, the intelligence department also reported In the two counties of Jiangnan and Wuhu in the empire, a secret religious organization called "Qiankun Dao" has also developed quite rapidly. Although it cannot be compared with the Taiping Religion now, it should not be underestimated. This organization is quite concealed and can penetrate Its power is astonishing. Not only the middle and lower class people, but also many officials and businessmen are inextricably linked to this organization. So far, the intelligence department has not found out who their leaders and supporters are. "Speaking of which, I I couldn’t help but sigh, “If these evil ways can really be implemented according to the slogans they put forward, we can still look forward to it, but history tells us that these things are just selling sheep’s meat and selling dog meat. They will not become a big trend and will only harm the country and the people and cause chaos. . We don’t have much time, we just have to hurry up.”
Ling Tianfang continued: "Yes, the current empire is like an ancient building. Its interior has long been decayed, and it may collapse with the slightest external force. Look at the forces inside and around it. Isn't everyone gearing up and eager to try? They all want to get a piece of the soup in the coming chaos. Our northwest county has a poor foundation and a late start. If we want to occupy a favorable situation in the future competition among the heroes, we can only strengthen ourselves as quickly as possible. .”
After opening the conversation, Xiao Tang was no longer restrained, and his deep eyes revealed a fanatical and confident look: "Sir, there is no need to worry too much. Although our foundation in the northwest is a bit poor, there are many things that cannot be achieved in other ways." Comparative advantages. First of all, the entire northwest has been basically pacified, and what is left is just ringworm and scabies, which is insignificant. It is precisely because of the long-term war and banditry that the people are eager for a strong political power to protect their hard-won achievements. A stable, peaceful and happy life, coupled with the fact that your military and political achievements in the past two years have brought your prestige to an unparalleled level in this land, the people's hearts in the entire northwest can be said to be monolithic. Nothing can compare to the people's hearts. As the saying goes, He who wins the hearts of the people wins the world, this saying is an eternal truth."
Picking up the tea bowl and taking a big sip to moisten his thirsty throat, Xiao Tang continued to speak, "Secondly, the northwest region's transition from glory to decline is largely due to the Tengger Grassland. The rise of the Luo Bei nomadic people blocked the normal circulation of this extremely important trade route in the northern continent. The decline of the northwest started from this, especially the two prefectures of Guide and Bonan were most directly affected, because The main commodities of these two provinces are sold to the central and western mainland through this channel. Now we have defeated the Luobi people twice, and what is commendable is that we have signed an agreement with the Luobi people to ensure the normal exchange of caravans. I think With this agreement, businessmen who smell the smell will come in droves without spending much effort, and the economic revival of Guide and Bonang will be just around the corner."
The more he spoke, the more excited he became, and Xiao Tang's face glowed with excitement, "Again, although the economies of Guide and Bonan have also suffered from war, their foundations are much stronger than Qingyang, and the power of merchants is also stronger than that of Qingyang. Yangyang is much larger, and its population far exceeds that of Qingyang in the early stages of development. After all, the early glory still left a considerable foundation for them. In addition, the unique geological and climatic conditions of these two provinces cannot be replaced by other places. As long as we formulate practical policies to stimulate economic development, I firmly believe that we can achieve the goal of revitalizing the economy in a short time."
After listening to Xiao Tang's analysis, Ling Tianfang couldn't help but stand up and clapped his hands to show his support, "Brilliant! Mr. Xiao, I didn't know that you still have such good eloquence. After listening to your analysis, now even I feel sorry for us." We are extremely confident about our future. Then let us plan carefully to make this ending more perfect."
Xiao Tang's words also aroused the great ambition in my heart. Although the world is about to be in chaos, it is worrying, but there are also golden opportunities hidden in it. Times create heroes. Who can seize the opportunity in the coming troubled times? If you strategize, you may be able to create an earth-shattering career. Isn't this the ideal pursuit that I have always set for myself
I tried my best to calm myself down, and my words were full of hope: "Because of this, we should seize the current opportunity, identify suitable candidates as soon as possible, let them get in place to start work as soon as possible, and strive to achieve the goals we have established as soon as possible." After thinking about it, I made a decision: "Guide Prefecture has a very important position. It is also the main producing area of wine and well salt. The quick recovery of the economy here is very important for our future work, especially financial support, so I decided to let Su Minshun Go and serve as the city guard. The main economic pillar of Bonan Mansion is the ceramics industry and commerce. Although Yang Zhengbin is young, he has a very flexible mind and many ideas. You might as well let him give it a try to see how capable he is and how he can do it well. Training and training him and putting a heavy burden on these young people will only benefit and do no harm."
"As for Mu and Jin, Xiao Tang, you have a heavy workload in setting up the entire northwest county's administrative structure. I think Mu Haoran will assist you in your work. Jin Ning is smart and calm, and he is a talented person engaged in intelligence work. I think in the future He will be responsible for the intelligence work of He holds important positions in the Department and other departments.”
After thinking about it, I added: "In addition, there is a huge gap in the number of our grassroots officials, and their quality varies, but we should not overdo it. I am considering whether we can hold some training courses to specifically train these officials. In order to improve their business capabilities, when the time is right, we can also establish local training schools ourselves, which can conduct long-term rotation training for all officials and gradually form a systematic business training mechanism. In addition, our supervision department must select good people and work well. We must step up. Now our management scope has doubled, and the number of officials under us has also greatly increased. It is inevitable that there will be a mixture of good and bad. I have heard some reports that a very small number of our officials are corrupt, bend the law, practice favoritism, and even some of our military personnel. Participate. I think this work is a top priority. The downfall of a regime often begins with the administration of officials. We should all be highly vigilant about this at all times." At this point, my tone has become quite stern, "For those who dare to No matter who he is or who he is involved in, I think only blood can deter those who are taking chances."
Although my tone seemed very calm, the slightest chill between my teeth still made Xiao and Ling feel a sudden shock in their hearts.
"The reorganization of the army will revolve around the establishment of the Northwest Army Corps, taking into account the security forces of each prefecture. I plan to establish the Northwest Army Corps based on the four guard divisions in Qingyang and Jinzhou Prefectures. For the time being, only these four divisions will be established. In addition, after the reorganization of the captured rebel troops is completed, they will be screened to eliminate the bad and the good, and then replenish some from the reserve personnel in Qingyang and Jinzhou, and then recruit some middle-level and grass-roots officers to form three complete security guards. Divisions, Qingyang, Jinzhou, and Bonan are each equipped with one division. The garrison force in Guide will be expanded based on the volunteers recruited by Cui Wenxiu and Kamapov." I took my time to generalize the army. The expansion plan was also presented, and Ling Tianfang nodded frequently in agreement. Although Xiao Tang did not completely agree with my idea, he could see that I was determined, so he did not raise any objections.
The meeting was held on time on the second day. At the meeting, officials from various governments and the military spoke enthusiastically and put forward many constructive suggestions for future work. The meeting was a complete success, but there were still many problems exposed. . The quality of local officials is generally low and urgently needs to be improved; the number of immigrants is still huge, causing the pressure on education and health facilities to be overloaded, and the fiscal coffers are close to being exhausted, making it impossible to build more facilities to provide more services; due to The population has increased significantly, the good and the bad are mixed, and the security situation is becoming increasingly complex, and the security forces cannot keep up, and the security situation in some areas has relapsed; although there has been great progress in infrastructure construction, it is still far from meeting the needs of the rapidly developing economy; the military's The combat effectiveness needs to be further improved, especially after receiving a large number of new recruits and surrendered soldiers, this task will be even more difficult.
At the end of the meeting, I made a concluding speech. On the one hand, I elaborated on the favorable situation and environment we are currently in, as well as the advantageous conditions we have, and encouraged everyone to cheer up and work hard to create a better tomorrow; on the other hand, I also He unabashedly laid out the existing problems and difficulties and asked everyone to work together to overcome the difficulties.
As soon as the meeting ended, Xiao Tang returned to Qingyang and began to make preparations for the establishment of the Northwest County Military and Political Envoy Office, while Ling Tianfang stayed in Bonan, Liang Chongxin and Mulig to start the attack on the 50,000 to 60,000 rebels. The troops were sent down to be divided and integrated, and reserve soldiers from Qingyang and Jinzhou were arranged to join and reorganize.
I originally planned to return to Qingyang and then to Guide after talking with the newly appointed Su Minshun and Yang Zhengbin, but Yingying and Xianxian picked up Di Leina and came to Bonan with them, so I had to stay.
The conversation with Su Minshun and Yang Zhengbin made me quite overjoyed. Both of them put forward their own opinions on the shortage of funds for the construction of the two governments that troubled me the most. Su Minshun proposed that since salt and wine are extremely profitable commodities in Guide Prefecture, especially salt, salt and wine can be franchised. If a businessman wants to operate salt and wine, he must purchase a franchise from the government. The franchise can also be It is divided into several grades, and the scale and time period allowed for operation are different depending on the price. Businessmen without business rights are strictly prohibited from operating, and the government will protect the legitimate rights and interests of franchised businessmen. In this way, by selling franchise rights, a large amount of funds can be obtained for the government's disposal, which can alleviate the current urgent shortage of funds.
Yang Zhengbin proposed that bonds could be issued in the name of the local government, explaining the reason and purpose of the debt as well as the payment time. It was mainly aimed at large businessmen in Bonan Prefecture and even the entire county. Since it was a government bond, the interest rate could be lower than borrowing from a bank. This approach should result in sufficient funding for construction and development. Bonds could be transferred between merchants but not circulated on the market, thus avoiding disrupting financial markets and giving the imperial center control. Since the economic pillar of Bonan Province is the ceramic industry, and the long-term war has caused most of the road transportation facilities in Bonan Province to be in disrepair and destroyed, they are no longer functioning at all and are in urgent need of repairs. In addition, Bonan’s urban and municipal construction They have seriously lagged behind and cannot assume the role of economic development. They also need a lot of funds for reconstruction. Local businessmen know these problems better than anyone else. If the funds obtained from borrowing are used in these aspects, they should be able to obtain Supportive and welcoming.
The ideas put forward by the two people are refreshing to me. It should be said that these two proposals have their own merits. It is not surprising to me that Su Minshun can come up with ideas that are in line with the reality of returning to Germany. Without a set of means, it is in vain to be called a top student of Imperial University. And this little-known Yang Zhengbin actually came up with the brilliant idea of issuing government bonds, which really surprised me. I immediately agreed with their ideas and encouraged them to implement them boldly without worrying about anything else. If there is anything else that you need my support for, feel free to put it forward. Anyway, the situation in Guide and Bonan Mansion can’t get any worse now. It’s better to let them go and let them do something boldly. As for the reaction of the central government of the empire, Just let me deal with it. This is what the two of them are most worried about. After all, the implementation of franchises and the issuance of bonds involve the authority of the central department of the empire. Whether it can be approved is still unknown.