"Oh? According to Mr. Wang, it seems that Bai Yuanzhong has some intentions?" Angel's eyes were focused, and Angel's blue pupils seemed to become darker, "He actually put his plan on my head?"
"Well, mistress, this is actually not important. What is important is whether he is talented and worthy of attention. As for some differences in methods, I think it is understandable." Wang Liao explained with a wry smile.
With a snort from her nose, Angel's face recovered a little, "What exactly is Bai Yuanzhong's idea?"
"Mother, Bai Yuanzhong has made great achievements in Hejian, and Hejian Mansion is ranked high in the entire Western Xinjiang. Now Beiyuan and Heshuo have been restored, and the new county has been rebuilt. It has also been put on the agenda. The first major event in the construction of the new county is naturally to select the governor. I heard that the Government Affairs Office suggested last time that the governor should be selected from the best among the city guards in each prefecture. Once this trend comes out, these are expected to Which of the contenders for the position of governor is not craning his or her neck in anticipation? It’s just that the people in the Supervision Department have vicious eyes and are looking at those who dare to violate disciplines all day long. In addition to working hard to do their jobs, these city guards can only raise their eyebrows. I have heard the news. This time when Mistress comes to Western Xinjiang, how could the city guards along the way not take the opportunity to curry favor with her? This is also reasonable. Mistress really does not need to care." Wang Liao's words were also quite satisfactory. Open the topic and speak directly without any pretense.
"So that's it! But I'm trying to get rid of the governors of these two places. Doesn't he know that I never get involved in government affairs? Isn't he afraid of having the opposite effect?" Angel asked thoughtfully.
"Mother, there are no other outrageous words in Bai Yuanzhong's words. How can it be counterproductive? Besides, I heard that he ranks first in the quarterly assessment of the Government Affairs Office. I'm afraid he has a plan in mind." Wang Liao doesn't want to be overly optimistic. By the way, these things sometimes get worse the more you explain them.
"Seeing as he is a talented person, I won't bother with him. If he is really talented, he will take it into consideration without having to work in the Government Affairs Department. If he spends his energy on this all day long, I think this I'm afraid it will be difficult for a person like this to find a job even if he becomes the governor." Angel's words were plain and powerful, "Master Wang, please send a message to Bai Yuanzhong for me. I hope he will be more pragmatic, less cunning, and not get involved in the empire. Those officialdom habits cannot be tolerated in Western Xinjiang. In this way, we will walk quickly today and rest later. Tomorrow we will try to pass Tianshui City in the afternoon. We can also rest in Zhendian in the evening. I don’t want to see the second Bai Yuanzhong 's appearance."
"My subordinate understands." Wang Liao nodded in agreement.
"Master Wang, I would like to ask, if I am in charge of Kansai this time, where will the seventeenth princess be placed? Hasn't your Highness considered this issue?" Angel finally asked the most difficult question. question.
"We have repeatedly considered this. The Seventeenth Princess is not suitable at this time, so you can only play this role. As for the Seventeenth Princess, with her wisdom, she should understand the whole story of what His Highness is doing at this time. "Wang Liao replied lightly.
Except for the sound of wind, the carriage seemed to be calm again, and both of them were chewing on the meaning of their respective words. Role? Take on this role? This means that many times people often cannot act completely according to their own wishes and feelings, but must obey the overall situation and play the role he or she should play.
On March 18, 699 in the mainland Gregorian calendar, Li Wufeng, the King of Qin of the Tanghe Empire and the Protectorate of Western Xinjiang, who was on his way back to Guanxi from Tiannan, spoke to the media while passing by Lujiang, saying that the empire's people were now in decline and the economy was in recession. At this time, the whole country should put national affairs first, use the voice of the people as a warning, call on all parties in the empire to put aside their past grudges, and maintain the current hard-won peace prospects. He also expressed that he was about to go to Beijing. In order to reflect his true intention of peace, he announced that he would be in his own territory. Large-scale reduction of the military.
Mainstream media in Western Xinjiang such as Northwest Star and Nanfang Daily published the full text of Li Wufeng's speech the next day, while national newspapers and periodicals such as Daily Express and Empire News in the imperial capital also published the speech in its entirety the next day. Reposted this speech. Just when many people in the empire thought that this was just a cover-up by Li Wufeng to win the hearts and minds of the people, the Western Xinjiang Military Affairs Administration also officially introduced a plan to downsize local security forces. Except for border prefectures, each prefecture will retain a guard regiment. In addition to the army, only one or two brigades of security forces in other inland prefectures and counties were retained, and the rest of the troops were eliminated. The six major legions of the Western Xinjiang Protectorate have also undergone large-scale adjustments, streamlining some useless logistics personnel, maintaining the full strength of the legions, and strictly prohibiting overstaffing. The entire reduction plan will be completed within a month.
It should be said that this plan was neither light nor heavy, but it still caused considerable repercussions within the empire. After all, when the shadow of foreign invasion had not yet disappeared, and the clouds of civil war began to shroud again, Li Wufeng, the largest foreign vassal in the empire, actually raised it high. The banner of disarmament, although the slogan of reorganizing the six armies is meaningless, it is just a vague and empty one, but the reduction of the police force is real. This will require the reduction of at least 100,000 people. Troops, and according to the resolute efficiency of Western Xinjiang, the guard troops of this legion will disappear within a month. And a month later, everyone knows that anything can happen after the meeting of kings. At this time, the army will be reduced. It's not dangerous.
Wu Feng's move was also premeditated. As his territory continues to expand, the number of troops becomes larger and larger. According to a rough calculation based on the territory he currently controls, even if there is only one regiment of guard troops in each prefecture, There are more than 200,000 security forces. These security forces usually have low combat effectiveness and are scattered. Except for some border counties, the functions of the security forces in inland prefectures and counties are gradually being replaced by increasingly strengthened police stations. In some places, the security forces are It even became a burden. In view of this situation, Wu Feng made the decision to reduce the security force on a large scale.
Wu Feng's plan has also received support from the Military Affairs Administration and the Government Affairs Administration. The Government Affairs Administration believes that it can not only reduce the financial burden, but also increase the local labor force. It is simply a good thing that has the best of both worlds. Eliminating unused police forces can also effectively improve the overall quality of the army, and the funds saved can be used to support elite troops.
In fact, although this disarmament plan is suspected of being a show to create publicity, it is indispensable. Of course, the main reason is the financial problem in Western Xinjiang. Military expenditure in Western Xinjiang has reached a terrifying astronomical figure. The number of troops that need financial support in Western Xinjiang exceeds one million, which has far exceeded the number of regular troops during the Tanghe Empire's heyday. Now, the empire is still considered the richest, but Li Wufeng doesn't even have a mansion. Never got it either.
And just the salary issue of army officers and soldiers can make any party raise eyebrows. The average monthly salary payment reaches 6 million imperial gold coins, which means that the annual salary expenditure of army officers and soldiers alone reaches more than 10 million. Imperial gold coins, and this is just salary, plus the daily training and maintenance costs of the troops, the budget of the Finance Department should be more than 50 million imperial gold coins every year. Calculating this, the annual military expenditure in Xijiang will exceed 100 million. Thirty million imperial gold coins, but this is only based on conservative calculations in peacetime, and does not include the special military expenditures required in the event of war. Based on this calculation, even if there are two medium-sized wars, it is estimated that Western Xinjiang will Military spending will exceed 150 million.
When the Financial Secretary handed over the military budget expenditure to Li Wufeng, who had not interfered much since James took over the financial affairs, Wufeng couldn't help being shocked, even though he had gold antiques seized from India. As a basis, although the financial industry is now advancing by leaps and bounds, if calculated according to this military expenditure, it is difficult to maintain the current financial resources of Western Xinjiang for a long time. In particular, military expenditures have taken up a lot of projects that should be invested in civil affairs, such as road transportation, farmland water conservancy, urban Construction and other infrastructure construction, as well as investment in scientific and technological development, culture and education, and medical and health care have made the already backward civil affairs in various parts of Western Xinjiang even more difficult. In particular, investment in education and health is pitifully small, except for a very small number of people. Except for what the wealthy class can guarantee, the vast majority of middle- and lower-class children simply cannot satisfy their desire to study through state education.
Although Wufeng has also taken some measures to attract foreign private schools and academies to run schools in Western Xinjiang, such private institutions are inherently insufficient in funding and rely entirely on the support of local gentry and subsidies from local governments. It is difficult to expand in scale. Generally speaking, It's just a drop in the bucket and can't help big things. Under such circumstances, Wu Feng came up with the idea of disarmament, but the war tasks before him were still quite heavy. If the six legions were eliminated, it would not be conducive to the development of the war in the later period, and the impact on military morale would also be fatal. , the only way is to eliminate the useless part of the police force.
Wu Feng's plan to downsize the garrison force still caused some confusion. Many soldiers who had served in the garrison force for a long time were extremely angry when they were disbanded. They asked to meet His Highness the King of Qin to express their demands, which even triggered a small-scale quarrel. riot. However, Wu Feng had already made preparations. In addition to preparing a fairly generous retirement pension, he also adopted a differentiated policy and recruited a group of highly qualified personnel to retire and join the local police department of the interior department. He also called on industrial and commercial workshops from all over the country to recruit more These people entered the workshops and through various means gradually resolved these unstable factors.