Just after Christmas for foreigners, a strong cold current crossed Daba Mountain and swept across the Chengdu Plain. The sky was filled with dark clouds, and soon it started to drizzle, with hail as big as a few beans. People knew it was going to snow.

Xiao Yiming, who came to work at the Governor's Office early in the morning, was still familiar with the office environment and found that the office rooms of the civil servants were all on the east side of the main hall, and the row of office rooms he was in was located on the west side of the main hall, separated by a large courtyard with a rockery fish pond and three towering camphor trees.

Perhaps it was still early, and because of the rain, there were not many people in the Governor's office areas, east and west, so Xiao Yiming wandered around quietly.

When I returned to my office, I saw that the office with several neatly arranged desks and two rows of document racks was still empty. Only an elderly yamen runner put down the tablecloth and came to greet me.

Xiao Yiming returned the gift politely, came to his desk and sat down, pulled open the clean but empty drawer, looked at the tall document holder that was also nothing by the wall, and had to look at the exquisite pen holder and inkstone on the table, and the happy time at the banquet at the German consulate yesterday emerged in his mind.

"Xiao Military Academy, the National Taiwan Master summoned him!"

Xiao Yiming suddenly stood up and saluted the tall officer standing at the door with a smile: "My subordinate Xiao Yiming has met the Lord!"

The mighty military officer in his early thirties and dark face smiled and said, "I'll get to know him. My name is Guo Tiecheng. He is the guardian of Master Jiantai. He was born in the Zhenglan Banner of the Han army. I'm afraid he will have many opportunities to get along with Xiao Military Academy in the future."

"Thank you, Lord! Please take care of me."

Xiao Yiming quickly changed a gift and followed Guo Tiecheng. He thought that this black-faced brother Guo was the closest relative of the governor. He introduced the origin of the Han army as soon as he met. He didn't tell him clearly that he and the governor came from the same source? Moreover, he spoke in a kind voice and looked friendly. He did not have the arrogance and domineering nature of the officers of all sizes of the governor's yamen. He obviously had a good impression of himself. It seemed that he was lucky.

The two turned over the long corridor, walked through the tall and wide main hall and entered the middle courtyard, and came to the gate of the small-scale and ancient side hall, which occupied a small area. Guo Tiecheng signaled Xiao Yiming to wait for a moment and report, and soon came out to bring Xiao Yiming into the room.

Entering the small living room waiting to be summoned, turning over a huge floor-standing landscape and Sichuan embroidered screen, Xiao Yiming took two steps forward and knelt down on one leg: "I am not good at Xiao Yiming, see Master of the Taiwan Staff!"

Zhao Erxun put down the jade tube hair in his hand, took off his reading glasses, and gently placed them on the table. He leaned against the wide back of the chair and looked at Xiao Yiming who was afraid to get up. Seeing that he was rushing to throw the big braid that was hanging down to the ground to his back, the tip of the braid was still cast down. When he swung back, he wrapped his neck tightly and felt uncomfortable. He couldn't help laughing:

"Didn't you have a good time and chatting and laughing yesterday? Why did you just look like a bear when you see me? Get up."

"Sir Xie, I am ashamed of my humbleness..." Xiao Yiming's cold sweat was scared.

Zhao Erxun hooked up and said, "When you get closer, my eyes are getting worse every year."

"yes……"

Xiao Yiming quickly stepped forward a few steps, took off his big block, stood straight in front of the huge desk, and sweated coldly on his forehead. His previous confidence disappeared without a trace, and he felt an invisible pressure covering his whole body.

Zhao Erxun picked up a document and patted it gently: "Is this what you wrote?"

Xiao Yiming quickly looked up, saw the cover title clearly, and quickly replied: "Yes, a little bit of humble opinion is written in the police school."

Zhao Erxun put down the document: "Although you advocate new learning and vernacular Chinese, you have to abide by the rules of the officialdom when you are in the officialdom. This article with more than 20,000 words is good, has unique insights, and is quite inspiring to readers, but it is only suitable for military use without much knowledge. In the future, you have to work hard on wording and sentence making, and practice writing more when you have time, otherwise your colleagues will make jokes."

"I am really ashamed... I dare not hide it from adults. I have been living on the streets since I was a child. If my sister from another surname had not taken in and educated me six years ago, I would probably not have the ability to do today. Therefore, the foundation of Chinese studies in Huzhi has always been very bad. Now I still feel difficult to read those articles without a breakdown, and the articles I write are all plain language. If I were allowed to write them in the style of the yamen, it would probably make a bigger joke." Xiao Yiming replied with a blushing face.

Zhao Erxun nodded slightly: "It's rare... I'm asking you to come today, and I want to hear what you think of the new military supervisor."

Xiao Yiming's mind was quickly turned, and he quickly organized the language while Zhao Erxun drank tea, and then he dared to speak: "I was young and ignorant, had shallow knowledge, and did not dare to show off in front of adults..."

"Okay! You guy, just say that flattery is not what you are good at."

"yes……"

Xiao Yiming wiped away the sweat stains on his face and made a sound report:

"I think that the biggest drawbacks of the new army are as follows: officers at all levels lack modern military knowledge, are conservative, not strict and trained in military discipline, do not obey rewards and punishments, and even worse, they regard soldiers as their own private property, beat and scold them at will, and be greedy for deceivers and conceal their subordinates. If this continues, it will be difficult to return.

"To change the current situation of weak military forces, it is urgent to modify military orders and train new military officers at all levels suitable for the development and growth of the military. Before there is no formal and effective military education system in the country, the fastest and most effective method is to start from cultivating new military officers at the grassroots level and truly humbly learn from the advanced military concepts and technical and tactical training methods of the great powers...

"Sir, what Bei Zhi said is all about military talk on paper, which involves too much, and is purely a bold statement. If the adults allow it, Bei Zhi is willing to contact German and British military officers stationed in the province to obtain a complete set of military textbooks, and then combine national conditions, military situations, additions and reductions, and make a set of suitable regulations and try quietly."

Zhao Erxun slowly stood up, walked step by step to the window frame, and looked at the green bamboo in the rain outside the window and remained silent.

After a long time, he turned around and saw Xiao Yiming squatting quietly by the desk, carefully adding charcoal to the copper casting furnace. His heavy heart warmed slightly, and came to Xiao Yiming and whispered:

"It's rare that you have such experience at a young age. I value you. This time I transferred you to the Governor's Office to use your new knowledge and vision, learn from the training experience of the great powers, and fully assist General Zhong Ying in opening a new military academy and preparing to expand the new army. I hope you will not let me down."

Xiao Yiming straightened his chest: "Mr. Xie is cultivating! I will definitely do my best."

"Okay! Are there any difficulties that I need to solve?" Zhao Erxun returned to his seat.

Xiao Yiming hesitated a little, and took a step forward with Zhao Erxun's encouragement smile: "Sir, I want to recommend two people to the adults, and ask them to be allowed to go to the Japanese non-commissioned officer school for further studies."

Zhao Erxun was quite surprised: "What's going on?"

"That's right. Originally, this police school had a plan to send the top few graduates to Japan for further studies. Later, the first general manager, Mr. Zhou, transferred to Quanyedao in advance, and the matter was gone. All graduates were also divided back to their hometowns to serve as inspectors. Among them, the most outstanding Chongqing graduate Liu Bingxian and Luzhou graduate Zeng Chaoran were the most regrettable.

"A few days ago, Bei Zhi and General Zhong learned from a chat that the affairs of the imperial military department to select outstanding students from all over the country to go to the eighth session of Japanese non-commissioned officers' schools for further studies have begun, but there is no police or political and legal major. The students think that our Sichuan province should not lag behind other provinces."

After Xiao Yiming finished speaking, he glanced at Zhao Erxun's expression quietly.

Zhao Erxun stroked his long beard, thought for a moment, and asked back: "Where are you? The two people you mentioned are also outstanding students in the police school that I personally commended, but they are inferior to you in all aspects. Don't you want to get a valuable opportunity to study abroad?"

"Sir, do you want to hear the truth, or do you want to hear the lies?" Xiao Yiming asked boldly.

Zhao Erxun was so happy that he knocked on the table and cursed: "You guy dare to tease me? Okay, tell me, tell me the truth and lies."

Xiao Yiming finally felt relieved: "In front of adults, students only have the truth and dare not tell lies: The world is different now. As long as you study abroad, no matter whether you can learn real things, it seems like you have a layer of gold when you come back. If you enter the officialdom, you will have the qualifications that everyone envies, so there are thousands of people across the country who flock to you.

"Students have indeed dreamed of studying abroad, but students found that few people who have returned from studying abroad have learned real things. Even if they don't study abroad, they can learn advanced knowledge from European and American countries through various channels, understand the general development and scientific achievements of various countries. More importantly, students can continue to learn, learn from and summarize in practice, which may be more effective and direct than simply studying abroad."

Zhao Erxun nodded: "It's reasonable. Just being pragmatic is better than others, which is gratifying! As for the two graduates you mentioned, I still have a deep impression on me. Let's do this. When I send a telegram to the military headquarters, if time is too late, I will give these two people a chance. After studying for a few years, it may bring some new atmosphere to the new army in this province."

"Two students in the humble position, thank you for your cultivation!" Xiao Yiming hurriedly thanked.

"Come on, these two are your close friends, right?" Zhao Erxun looked at Xiao Yiming with a smile.

Xiao Yiming replied: "The wise man looks like a torch, and he is selfish."

Zhao Erxun laughed: "It's not selfish. Who doesn't want to rush for yourself? But you don't have it. At most, it's just a friend's loyalty."

"Thank you!"

Xiao Yiming saw Zhao Erxun picking up the teacup again, and quickly said tactfully: "I thank you for your teachings if you don't..."

"What's the hurry? Today is a holiday, so you don't have to rush to work. Don't you want to chat with me for a while?" Zhao Erxun rolled his eyes to Xiao Yiming.

Xiao Yiming suddenly realized, patted his forehead and complained: "I said, why are there no one in the office? It turns out that he is confused."

Zhao Erxun smiled and shook his head, signaling the guard not to add tea, picked up a document on the other side of the desk and looked at it: "What are you going to do when buying the wasteland east of the North School Field?"

Xiao Yiming didn't expect that his teacher Zhou Shanpei was approved by the Chengdu government so quickly and reported it to him, so he quickly gave a detailed explanation:

"Sir, I have two ideas for calming that place. The first is to establish a hardware processing factory that specializes in hosting disabled soldiers and poor young and strong men, and build a leather goods factory that uses German sewing machines, so that these people can have a way to survive, and can also produce some new tools, military equipment, etc. that cannot be produced in the province. There are currently two larger factories in the city that are also doing this. They are also designated military supply factories for various departments of our army. However, their main business is not military supplies, and their products are generally old and the prices are not low.

"The second idea is to build two main roads with three meters wide and drainage secret passages around that area, and then level the land along the road slightly, build a house, or sell it over. It is estimated that one-third of the land sold can make up for the investment in building two factories."

Zhao Erxun exclaimed: "This is a good idea. Not to mention that you are kind-hearted, just building roads and reselling land to make up for the factory construction, I admire your ability to make money. No wonder those profit-oriented foreigners like you so much. It seems that you have to use this ability more in political affairs. This time, Zhong Ying called me to ask you to help me. I am afraid that it is a big reason for making money, right?"

"Yes, Bei Zhi gave General Zhong an idea to demolish the walls of the former Wubei Academy on Bingbei Street, widen the road to 250 meters, and then build a row of two-story new arcades. After a investment auction, sell all the one-piece arcades. Whoever sells them to whom the price is higher will probably earn back 5,000 German Mauser rifles and twenty heavy machine guns." Xiao Yiming confessed truthfully.

Zhao Erxun laughed:

"I said, no wonder Zhong Ying, a bastard, praised you. I guess he made a lot of money in it! Well, these days, you can go to the South School to assist Zhong Ying, first take out the enrollment methods of the Army Quick School, and solve the way out for hundreds of noisy military students. After the rain stops, find someone to repair the barracks, level the playground, and make all preparations. After the Spring Festival, six instructors invited by Japan will arrive. Don't embarrass me."

Xiao Yiming raised his chest: "I will definitely live up to my ardent expectations!"

"Okay, you go. Before the Spring Festival, I will go to the East School Farm for a walk. If things are not done well, you are asking!"

"clear!"

[Warm reminder: The next chapter is updated at midnight! In the previous eleven days, the emperor updated 100,000 words, and the number of updates seriously exceeded the standard. "Apride" is very likely to release a new book list in advance. When will you wait until you don't fight?
Chapter completed!