With Wan Lei's current power, he can naturally directly approve the establishment of diplomatic relations with a certain country, or even the sale of arms. He insists that Annan follow the normal procedures for establishing diplomatic relations, but he just wants to delay time. He has never thought about establishing diplomatic relations with Annan. The southern country truly established diplomatic relations.
In the spirit of procrastinating as long as possible, Wan Lei handed over the important task of deceiving Annan's envoy to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. After walking in Guangdong for ten days, he took the road north to inspect Jiangxi.
Jiangxi, a non-coastal province, looks inconspicuous, but it has outstanding people and developed education. From the establishment to the fall of the Ming Dynasty, a total of nine imperial examinations were held, and among these nine imperial examinations, three times Jiangxi people won the title of number one, and in In the last imperial examination, all the first prizes were won by people from Ji'an Prefecture, Jiangxi Province. This is even more of a spectacle.
As a place where imperial examination education is developed, Jiangxi people value ethics and are relatively loyal to the Ming Dynasty. Of course, the Peking Army encountered varying degrees of resistance when they entered Jiangxi. Although it has been basically pacified now, some old scholars still call themselves survivors of the Ming Dynasty. , unwilling to submit as a citizen of the Republic of China.
For such non-violent and non-cooperative people, Wan Lei cannot use coercion. After all, they are all compatriots and can only be gentle. This time, he entered Jiangxi instead of Guangxi. The purpose is to appease the people of Jiangxi, especially to appease the people. Those scholars who originally wanted to advance through the imperial examination.
In fact, although the imperial examination was abolished in the Republic of China, officials were still hired through examinations. However, the subjects and content of the examinations changed, and the examination was changed from one examination every three years to one examination every year, and only those who passed the examination were It is almost impossible to start from a ninth-grade clerk and want to become an official directly.
It is precisely because of the changes in the scholarship system that scholars in Jiangnan, Hunan and other places were not able to adapt to it for a while, and it is normal for them to have feelings of resistance. Moreover, the content tested in the civil service examination is no longer the Four Books and Five Classics, but is divided into science, engineering, law, business and politics. In various subjects, students not only have to receive general cultural education, but also learn mathematics, chemistry, biology, law and politics, etc.
There are too many miscellaneous subjects, which is really unfair to the scholars from the Jiangnan area who just joined the Republic of China. After all, Jiangbei’s education started early. It is said that one step leads and every step leads. If this is really the test, the Jiangnan scholars will There is no advantage at all, and it can even be said to be a kind of regional discrimination.
In order not to undermine the basic system of official selection and appointment, but also to take into account the rights and interests of Jiangnan scholars, Wan Lei began to recruit "scribes" in Jiangnan last year. The main job of these scribes is to help review and proofread government books, and assist While compiling the "Huadian", they were also allowed to enter the administrative school for emergency training, and selected outstanding scholars to serve as officials.
As soon as Wan Lei launched the policy of recruiting "scribes", scholars from Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong, Hunan and other places responded one after another. Only the scholars in Jiangxi did not appreciate it. As far as Wan Lei knew, this was mainly caused by some old people. Scholars were secretly obstructing it, and the loudest among them was an old Jinshi named Xie Lun.
Since ancient times, most literati have pretended to be noble and sanctimonious on the outside, but in their hearts they only care about profit and salary. Wan Lei has long understood this, so he didn't bother to talk to those old scholars. Instead, he directly visited famous academies in various places, such as He talked about the Xiangshan Jingshe where Lu Jiuyuan once taught, the Bailudong Jingshe where Zhu Xi once taught, etc. He also met with the Confucian scholars who taught there and the scholars who studied in major academies.
Since there were many places to visit and many people to meet, Wan Lei stayed in Jiangxi for nearly a month. It was not until the end of April that he left Nanchang and went to Jingdezhen to inspect the ideological work of most of the scholars. Ceramic production.
Jingdezhen can be called the porcelain capital of the Central Plains. The locals have been making pottery and porcelain since the Han Dynasty. In the Song Dynasty, they even produced a high-quality blue and white porcelain. This high-quality blue and white porcelain was used in the Yuan and Ming dynasties. All of them were designated as items for royal use, and there were even many official cellars dedicated to firing royal porcelain for the palace.
However, the good times did not last long. With the rise of the northern ceramic processing industry and the fall of the Ming Dynasty, Jingdezhen fell into difficulties. Because the price of blue and white porcelain fired at each kiln was relatively high, the people simply could not afford it. , coupled with the absence of official procurement, a lot of inventory simply cannot be sold.
The decline of Jingdezhen and related industries and commerce were also hit hard. Many Jiangxi people's jobs were smashed. This was one of the reasons why they resisted the Republic of China. Wan Lei came this time to bring these broken jobs and People's hearts and minds were replenished.
The first step was to resume production. Wan Lei stayed in Jingdezhen for several days, inspected more than a dozen official and private kilns, and met with dozens of well-known local porcelain craftsmen to discuss how to establish a new ceramic production base.
In order for Jingdezhen to regain its vitality, government orders must be indispensable. Wan Lei placed some orders for those outstanding porcelain craftsmen. 40% of the porcelain used in Huayuan and Xiayuan will be ordered from Jingdezhen. At the same time, Huayuan Company also serves as a blue and white porcelain company. As the general agent of porcelain, he purchases high-quality blue and white porcelain and transports it overseas to make a profit.
There are government procurements and maritime consignments. If Jingdezhen cannot be brought back to life, then the local people can only be blamed for being too cowardly.
On the second day of May, Wan Lei finished his inspection work in Jingdezhen and rushed to Wuchang by boat overnight. The reason why he was in such a hurry was because the Peking Army came back with good news. The First Army of the Fourth Army dropped explosives from a hot air balloon to cover the ground troops in launching a night attack. They even defeated the Lingxiao City and Jiu Silong where the palm barbarians were entrenched, killed thousands of rebels, and killed many tribal leaders.
After hearing the news, all the tribes on the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau were frightened. They turned their backs one after another and did not dare to resist again. In just ten days, the Peiping Army occupied most of the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau and gathered troops in the Dali area. , prepare to carry out large-scale eradication in southern Yunnan and northwest Guangxi.
As the Peiping Army advanced, the policy of reforming the land and returning people to the countryside advocated by Wan Lei also began to spread. Wan Lei established a Guizhou Province on the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, with ten prefectures and troops stationed there, and even Troops were stationed in every tribal village, the strictest military control was implemented, and citizen education was carried out for those minority tribes. The policies of carrots and sticks were used to promote the process of repatriation and citizenization.
On the third day of May, officers at all levels from various group armies gathered in Wuchang City to hold an enlarged meeting of the Military Commission. After this meeting, the main forces of the Second Group Army, the Third Group Army and the Fourth Group located in Jiangnan carried out large-scale mobilization. By August, we will completely conquer southern Yunnan and western Guangxi, and finally achieve true unification.