[.guan m.] It is spring again in March. Different from the continuous rain in the south, the spring in the north is bright, the grass is long and the orioles are flying, and it is full of vitality. To the west of Baoding Prefecture is the battlefield, and the situation is tense. However, there is a large area of land outside the battlefield. Above, countless people are working in the fields,
Due to the fighting last year, Baoding Hejian Prefecture missed the winter wheat planting season. Now they are rushing to plant spring wheat, and there are also large-scale wasteland planting for cotton. Compared with Shuntian Prefecture, Baoding Hejian Prefecture has more fertile land and more water resources. It is sufficient and has been developed for a long time. The irrigation system is relatively complete and has natural advantages in developing agriculture.
Occupying this piece of treasure land on the plain is of immeasurable value to the Peking Army. Of course, it is also very difficult to hold on to this fertile land. In addition to military security, the political, economic and cultural aspects cannot be relaxed. , especially education, is a top priority. Wan Lei does not want to have the problem of different perceptions of people in different prefectures.
No, on the seventh day of March, dozens of graduates from the Normal College headed by Fu Wei came to the two Hejian prefectures in Baoding to investigate and supervise the work of literacy and popularization of compulsory education. Naturally, the folks from the two prefectures came to welcome them. Provide maximum support. After all, these people know that it is Mrs. Wan who is coming. They must give Mr. Wan enough face.
The two Hejian Prefectures in Baoding are different from Shuntian Prefecture. More than 90% of the people in Shuntian Prefecture live in Beiping City. However, the people in these two prefectures are scattered in urban and rural areas at all levels. The population density is relatively low. School-age children must be concentrated for education. It’s very difficult, let alone educating ordinary people about illiteracy.
Education work is difficult, but Fu Wei, like her husband, has never been afraid of any difficulties. Under her leadership, Baoding and Hejian Prefectures established a temporary teacher training center and selected some literate people from the two prefectures. After a few months of further study, he was then sent to various cities and rural areas to serve as teachers.
As for the problem of school buildings, it was not a problem for Fu Wei. Based on the population distribution, she designated school districts for the two prefectures of Baoding and Hejian. Each school district set up a middle school, and each densely populated rural area under the school district set up a middle school. The primary school and the school building were converted from public facilities such as some post stations and government warehouses, so that nearby school-age children can go to school nearby.
At the same time, night classes will be added to schools to educate adults, striving to make more than 70 percent of the people in Bac Parallel Province literate within three years.
Fu Wei was busy with his education career, and Wan Lei was not idle either. While supervising the troops on the front line, he controlled the Huihuang Petroleum Industry Company and sent people to carry out excavation work in the newly discovered oil field in Baoding Prefecture. In addition, , he is also waiting for a reply from the Ming army,
On the tenth day of March, the Ming Dynasty, which had always been procrastinating in doing things, finally sent an envoy to express its agreement to exchange prisoners. In an open area between the positions of the two armies, the prisoner exchange ceremony soon began. The Beiping army used Ping Xihou Mu Sheng and The prince-in-law, Captain Wang Ning, exchanged Jiao Yu's family of seven and Yang Shiqi's family of five.
During the exchange, Jiao Yu and Yang Shiqi were also present. These two guys were "given" poisonous wine by Wan Lei, but in the end they didn't have the courage to drink it. Although Wan Lei looked down on these two fake Taoists, since they Even if he didn't want to die, Wan Lei would not punish them too harshly and would give them the same treatment as Liu Jing and Yang Zirong.
Of course, Wan Lei has always valued talents, but in his eyes, literati like Liu Yang are so pedantic that they are still far from the standard of real talents. Now Wan Lei can at most let them copy and write. As for major military affairs, it is not their turn. Seeing these people gesticulating,
In fact, Wan Lei also puts a lot of effort into cultivating talents. In addition to running large-scale school education, the General Officer Academy affiliated with the Peking Army conducts selections in the military almost every quarter, and the selected people are trained in two directions. , one kind is cultivated into a shrewd and capable military and political commissar; the other kind is cultivated into a brave and capable military officer at all levels,
The Peking Army has a clear rule that those who have not graduated from the General Academy cannot be generals. Therefore, the quality of officers at all levels in the Peking Army is relatively high, and they are also selected from the grassroots soldiers. They will not be like Those aristocratic officers were so detached from the grassroots,
Corresponding to the General Officer Academy, there is also an administrative academy, which is also a further education academy. Officials with better political performance at all levels are selected to enter it for further education. Only those who pass the advanced training can be promoted. After the establishment of the North Parallel Province, officials There is also a provision for internal promotion and external transfer in the selection process.
The so-called internal promotion and external transfer means that all promoted officials in the provincial department must be sent to local areas to hold corresponding positions. After passing the examination, they can be transferred back to the provincial department to serve.
Don’t underestimate this provision. Firstly, this method can train officials’ abilities and allow them to go to local areas to further understand the actual situation at the grassroots level. Secondly, it can break the barriers between the “central government” and local governments and allow outstanding local officials to come in and show their talents. Fists and kicks also allow outstanding officials of the "central government" to go out and exercise their abilities, forming a virtuous cycle.
Strong generals must be sent to the army, and prime ministers must be appointed from states and counties. This is true.
Compared with the practice of parallel provinces in the north, the official system of the Ming Dynasty can be said to be extremely backward. At first glance, the six ministries and nine ministers in the central government and the governor's office of the five armies are very complete departments; each local province has three divisions (accepting the official envoys) (the Department of Prosecution, the Department of Prosecution and Prosecution, and the Department of Commanding and Envoys), below which there are officials at all levels in prefectures, prefectures, and counties, and a whole set of leadership teams.
However, the Ming court was very rigid in selecting and deploying talents. Everything was based on family background. The people in the Governor's Office of the Five Armies were all nobles, and almost none of them were earned through strength. Therefore, there were really few generals in the court who were truly qualified. Most of them are dandies,
Most of the civil servants are Jinshi. After taking the exam every three years, the Jinshi who pass the exam will be screened. Only the selected ones will have the indicator to stay in Beijing and become officials. As long as they don't make serious mistakes in the future, they can generally stay in Beijing until retirement. Even if you have no political achievements while serving as an official, as long as you work hard to gain seniority, you can at least reach the rank of minister in a few decades.
It would be tragic if he failed the election this time. Jinshi who are sent out to serve as local officials will not only be promoted slowly in the future, but also depend on the face of the officials in the capital. After working in the local area for decades, they may not be transferred back to the capital. Therefore, Once local officials were transferred to other places, they began to become discouraged. Anyway, they were doing the same thing well and bad, and many people simply broke the pot. If this continued, the Ming Dynasty would certainly become increasingly corrupt and inefficient.
As for the various internal shortcomings of the Ming court, especially the over-centralization of power by the central government, which led to the loss of initiative and enthusiasm of local governments, even if the emperor was aware of the shortcomings, there was no way to rule them out. Wan Lei also saw through the fact that the Ming Dynasty was strong on the outside and acted on the inside. Only then did they dare to openly raise troops to "rebellion",
"Brother, what are you thinking about? Are you missing Sister Wei'er?" Zhao Xueer saw Wan Lei sitting in a daze and pushed him gently.
"Oh," Wan Lei finally came back from his deep thoughts and asked, "How's it going? I've changed back."
"The exchange has come back, but Yang Shiqi's mother is determined to die and refuses to leave with us, so we forced her to come over," Zhao Xueer pouted and said,
"I pulled it here," Wan Lei shook his head and smiled bitterly. He had long expected that this would happen. After all, the monarchy had been in existence for more than a thousand years, and the people had been brainwashed by the idea of loyalty to the emperor. Some officials' family members were even worse than the officials themselves. Be stubborn, these people have the most difficult ideological work.
"We kindly exchanged them and reunited them with their families, but they didn't accept our kindness. It's really true," Zhao Xueer was still aggrieved,
"Forget it, they just can't turn around for the time being. When they arrive in Beiping City, they will soon 'disappear' in the chaos of 'mass war'," Wan Lei shrugged, the corners of his mouth raised proudly, he He is never afraid that scholars will not take the initiative to cooperate, because he has a lot of means to force them to cooperate obediently.
"I just can't stand their stinky faces, as if our Peking Army owes them hundreds of thousands of taels of silver and won't pay them back,"
"Don't be angry, people say that if a woman is always angry, wrinkles will easily appear on her face."
"I want to be angry and have wrinkles, but I'm happy with that."
"Hehe," Wan Lei still had a smile on his face. Ever since he learned that his wife was pregnant, he had been smiling every day. Zhao Xueer said that he was so stinky, and she usually had to contradict him, but she just couldn't make him angry. ,
"Brother, now that the people have returned and the Peiping Army has no fighting for the time being, why don't you go back to accompany Sister Wei'er. She is also in Baoding Mansion now, not far away." The cold words could not anger Wan Lei, and Zhao Xueer turned to gossip. ,
"No rush, no rush, why are you in a hurry?" Wan Lei said with a sweet smile. He said he was not in a hurry, but in his heart he was eager to return to his wife right away. However, the war was not over here and he could not leave for the time being. Of course, He couldn't take the risk of letting the Peking Army fight the Ming Army, which was unable to retreat, just because he had to rush home to take care of his wife. That would be disrespect for the lives of his subordinates.
"You heartless guy, Sister Wei'er is pregnant, and you don't go home to accompany her, but let her run around. If anything happens to Sister Wei'er, don't expect us to deal with you anymore," Zhao Xueer said anxiously. In fact, She also fell out with Wan Lei just to persuade him to go home early.
"Don't worry, your sister Wei'er is not as rich as other young ladies. What could happen to her? Besides, she has your sister Li Yuan with her, so why not worry?" Wan Lei was actually very worried, although He couldn't get away for the time being, but he sent one or two love letters to his wife almost every day. The sweet words in them could make people numb to death.
"Humph, you heartless guy, I'm too lazy to talk to you," Zhao Xueer saw that the persuasion was ineffective, pouted and went out. As soon as she left, a loyal guard quickly entered the camp and handed over a copy with three big red stamps on it. The sealed secret letter is presented,
"Three-star urgent report," Wan Lei took the urgent report, tore it open and read it. As soon as he read the beginning, his expression changed drastically, and he ordered the Jingzhong guard who sent the message: "Go, find Commander Zhao, immediately, "
The so-called three-star emergency report is the most urgent information of the Jingzhong Guard. Normal information is generally not starred. Once it is starred, it means that it must be delivered quickly. After receiving the letter, the messenger must work non-stop and deliver it in the shortest possible time. The letter will be delivered within the time limit, and if three stars are added, it means it is extremely urgent.
Jing Zhongwei trotted to ask for Commander Zhao. Just before Wan Lei read the secret letter, Zhao Quanjie hurried over. Seeing Wan Lei's gloomy face, he hurriedly asked: "Sir, what happened?"
"It's important to see for yourself," Wan Lei handed over the secret letter. Zhao Quanjie also glanced at it, then his expression suddenly changed and he said in a trembling voice: "Sir, if this is true, then our Peking Army will be in trouble. "
"I should have expected that the imperial court would play this trick, but I didn't expect that the emperor's son would actually dare to play it. It seems that there are still capable people in the imperial court." Wan Lei touched his chin and said: "The war here can't be delayed any longer. Okay, we have to fight quickly,"
The reason why Wan Lei suddenly became anxious was because the imperial court made a ruthless move. The Jingzhong Guards stationed in Yongping Mansion found out that the emperor's son gave a secret order to Guo Ying, who was guarding Yongping Mansion and Shanhaiguan. Not only did Guo Ying open Shanhaiguan and release the Liao army After entering the customs, he also handed over Yongping Mansion's army, horses, money, food and civilians to the Liao army.
The Ming Dynasty played such a trick, with the purpose of driving away tigers and devouring wolves, allowing the Liao army to enter the pass and fight with the Peking army. It has to be said that this trick was really insidious, and the implementation process was also very insidious. If it weren't for the elite and loyal guards, After attacking Yongping Prefecture, the Liao army might have attacked Shuntian Prefecture, while the Peiping army would still be covered in bones.
Although the intelligence has been obtained now, it is already a bit late. According to the Jingzhong Guard, the leading troops of the Liao Army have entered the pass and begun to receive hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians from Yongping Prefecture. I believe that it will not be long before the Liao Army will launch a large-scale attack. Invasion of Beiping City,
As for the military strength of the Liao army, the vanguard army mentioned by Jingzhongwei alone has more than ten thousand troops, and they are all brave men. God knows how many more troops will go south later, but based on Wan Lei's understanding of Liao King Zhu Gaoxu, this This guy is a master who either doesn't do anything or never does it. This time when he goes south, he will definitely come out in force.
Maybe he even put aside the war in Korea and brought all the troops there. Adding to the hundreds of thousands of troops in Yongping Prefecture, it is conservatively estimated that the troops going south this time will not be less than 200,000. , if we combine the troops of Duoyan Sanwei, the specific number will be difficult to say.
If there were only more than 200,000 Ming troops, Wan Lei would not be so anxious although he valued it. However, the Liao army and the Duoyan Sanwei army were different. Both of them were warriors who had fought many battles. The Peiping army really wanted to fight them to the death. , I am afraid that even if we can win, we will only kill one thousand enemies and lose eight hundred to ourselves.
However, Wan Lei also knew that it was useless because he had to face the enemies he had to face. He just hoped to defeat the Ming army in the south immediately so that he could concentrate his forces to fight the Liao army, because that battle was the most important thing. The ultimate battle of honor and disgrace, the rise and fall of the Peking Army,
If the Peiping Army defeats the Liao Army and the Mongols of Duoyan Sanwei, it will dominate the world and be invincible; if it fails, it will have to trap Beiping City like it did a few years ago. With the solidity of the walls of Beiping City and the centripetal force of the people of Beiping, It is not difficult to defend, but it is useless to defend the city alone. The two newly merged Baoding Hejian Prefectures will fall, and the accumulation over the past few years will be destroyed.
A battle would determine life and death, but this battle came so suddenly that the Peiping army did not even have time to prepare.
"Well, sir, that's right. The war here can't be delayed any longer. I wanted to bring down the Ming army, but I didn't expect that the emperor would actually play this trick." Zhao Quanjie also nodded in agreement, "I'll go summon the generals right away. Agree on a battle plan,"