After Liu Qingen and Shen Fengming finished speaking, Zhao Bei stood up, paced back and forth a few steps with his hands behind his back, raised his head and looked at the plaque hanging on the wall that read "Middle school is the body, Western learning is for use", shook his head, and shouted outside the signing room: "Tian Jinfu!" ”

"Here!" Tian Jinfu walked in with two box guns. This batch of box guns was found in the arsenal warehouse, all Mauser pistols just imported from Germany, shiny and new, because of the fierce firepower, later generations of Chinese usually called it "box guns", these box guns made Zhao Beixin excited, and immediately equipped this batch of pistols with his own guard battalion, but Tian Jinfu had two, and the others only had one.

"Tell someone to take this plaque down." Zhao Bei pointed to the plaque and said.

"Yes!" Tian Jinfu answered, turned around and went out to find a ladder.

For Zhao Bei's move, Liu Qingen and Shen Fengming were puzzled, the origin of the plaque is not ordinary, it was written by Zhang Zhidong, the governor of Huguang, as for the two sentences of "middle school as the body, Western learning as the use", it is the "essence of foreign affairs" summarized by Zhang Zhidong, which is regarded as the norm by the Westernists.

Zhao Bei sat back in the Taishi chair and said to the two: "Do you know why the arsenal has fallen to such a point? Do you know why the Westernists did not make China strong? It's because of the fallacy of 'middle school is the body, Western learning is for use'! Today I took it down in order to break the rules and regulations of the past and break the bad habits of officialdom in the factory! Innovate ideas and innovate productivity. Don't hide it from the two, I disdain Zhang Nanpi's set, he is a master as an official, but running a factory is completely a layman, and a layman guides an insider, which can only lead to half the effort. From now on, the Hanyang Arsenal must formulate a new set of rules and regulations, guide arms production with new ideas and ideas, abolish the old hierarchy, establish a new work incentive mechanism, and fully mobilize the enthusiasm of the workers! ”

Seeing that the two of them still looked puzzled, Zhao Bei said again: "To put it simply, I plan to implement the 'piecework wage system' in the arsenal, pay the workers according to the amount of production, make one more rifle, and I will give a bonus. Let's not talk about seniority, we only arrange positions according to ability. In the future, we will also set up night schools for workers in factories to train technical backbones, and in the future, we will also promote vocational and technical education to the whole country. ”

"Workshop director? A technology race? Liu Qingen and Shen Fengming looked at each other, a little confused by the new terms that kept popping out of the commander-in-chief's mouth, but they could still understand the meaning.

Tian Jinfu led a few guards into the signing room, set up a ladder and climbed up, took down the plaque of Zhang Zhidong's handwriting, carried it outside, chopped it into several pieces with an axe, and then threw it to the side of the road like a piece of rotten wood.

"Alas, it's a pity, it's a cultural relic to remain in the afterlife." Zhao Bei sighed again and again in his heart, but what kind of "cultural relics" to talk to this group of soldiers was indeed playing the piano to the cow.

But then again, it seems that the official robes and hats that Zhao Bei ordered to be burned can also be regarded as historical relics, and if they are put in the future, I am afraid that they will also be eligible to enter the museum, so Zhao Bei is not qualified to blame those soldiers.

Revolution is to break the old and create the new, the old does not go, and the new does not come.

Liu Qingen and Shen Fengming looked at the few pieces of rotten wood outside the door, and couldn't help but sigh a lot, this world has really changed, when the revolutionary army did not come in the past, the workers always had to be led by the foreman before going to work and leaving work, kowtowing to the plaque outside this signing room, Liu Qingen and Shen Fengming are not exempt from vulgarity, but because of their high status, they can enter the signing room and kowtow, and they don't have to kneel in the mud on rainy days.

It was only then that the two of them truly understood the meaning of the word "citizen", and with these two words, no one would have to kneel before officials in the future, and no one would have to kneel except for their parents.

Liu Qingen remembered the scene when he studied at Tokyo Imperial University in Japan, remembered his relationship with the Alliance, and remembered the unique bowing ceremony, he did not know what kind of etiquette would be adopted in the future Republic of China, but the ancient etiquette of kneeling was probably going to disappear.

Just when he was in a state of flux, Zhao Bei spoke again.

"Both of them are progressives who are inclined to revolution, so I won't say more, I just hope that they can work together in the future to unite the workers and run the factory well." Zhao Bei stood up, walked in front of the two, and stretched out his hand.

Liu Qingen was slightly stunned, then stood up, also stretched out his hand, and shook hands with Zhao Bei, Shen Fengming slowed down, but he didn't avoid this handshake.

Zhao Bei said with a smile: "Now, in the name of the republican military government, I have appointed Mr. Liu as the superintendent of the Hanyang Arsenal and the Steel Pharmaceutical Factory, and Mr. Shen as the general office. Although there are many difficulties now, we must not retreat, and whether or not the revolutionary cause can succeed depends on the two of them, and the mobilization of workers, the resumption of production, the repair of factories, and many other tasks depend on the two of them, and the burden on your shoulders is not light. ”

Liu Qingen said: "Please rest assured that as long as the funds are in place, the factory will immediately resume the production of guns and ammunition, and if the funds are sufficient, the gun factory can also resume production within two months." ”

Shen Fengming was not so optimistic, said: "At present, there is a shortage of raw materials, if you can't take Hankou, you can't buy raw materials from foreign companies, especially sulfur, in previous years, they were purchased from Mitsui and Mitsubishi in Japan, and saltpeter was also purchased from Chile by Japanese foreign companies. It is difficult for a good woman to cook without rice, and there are not enough raw materials, and she is helpless. ”

Zhao Bei pondered for a moment and said, "I will find a way to solve this matter." Your task is to straighten out the affairs of the factory, to calm the people's minds, and to resume the production of bullets as soon as possible, and as for the artillery factory, it is also necessary to sort out and restore it as soon as possible, and even if you can't make the previous cannon, you can also make a new type of portable cannon, which I designed, and when the sketches are ready, I will send it to two staff officers. In addition, in order to appease the workers, you can immediately pay back two months' wages, as for the funds, I will immediately ask someone to send you silver, when you hit Jiujiang and Huangzhou, the republican army has seized a lot of official silver, and we have also copied a lot of the gold bureaus and official grain depots in various places, plus the property of the Manchu lackeys has been confiscated, so you don't have to worry about the financial problem at all. ”

Liu Qingen and Shen Fengming looked at each other and smiled, the two had heard that this commander-in-chief Zhao was a "family raider", when he killed all the way from Jiujiang, he went all the way to copy all the way, all the incumbent officials of the Qing court who refused to "participate" in the revolution and the idle officials were all raided by the revolutionary army, the officials were beheaded, and the officials were also arrested in the hard labor team, although this method was criticized as a "rogue", but it is undeniable that this move played a good deterrent effect, when the revolutionary army captured Wuchang, most of the Qing court officials immediately cut their own braidsEven the officials who had already gone to the Hankou Concession were worried about the land they had purchased outside the city, so they sent their henchmen and family members to contact the Republican Army with letters, expressing their "sympathy and understanding" for the revolution, and taking the initiative to provide the revolutionary army with information on the defense of Hankow.

After the two left, Zhao Bei picked up the military hat on the table, straightened his military uniform, and then strode out of the signing room, called Ueda Jinfu, and rushed to the headquarters under the escort of the guards.

When I arrived at the entrance of the headquarters, I saw Lan Tianwei walking around the door of the signing room with her hands behind her back.

"Xiuhao, I've kept you waiting." Zhao Bei had already learned from the staff officer who stayed behind that Lan Tian Weilai was coming, so he grabbed a few steps to say hello.

"Commander-in-Chief, please." Lan Tianwei didn't talk nonsense, took out the marching plan from his purse, and asked Zhao Bei to review it.

After carefully browsing it, Zhao Bei signed, stamped it, handed back the advance plan, and said: "The direction of Jingzhou will be handed over to Yang Wangpeng, which is the gateway to Sichuan, and it must be taken down at the first time. ”

Lan Tianwei nodded, and then returned to the staff headquarters to deploy the march.

"Yiren, prepare the horse." Zhao Bei yawned and said.

"Originally, the Mongolian horse was not accustomed to water and soil, and was having diarrhea, although this horse was short, it was not slow." Tian Jinfu brought a war horse for Zhao Bei.

Zhao Bei took a look, it was a Yunnan horse, there were few horses in the south, and it was not suitable for good horses, but this horse was too short, similar to a donkey.

"Don't you have a decent horse?" Zhao Bei asked.

"In order to form an independent cavalry brigade, you said that you would transfer the best horses, so now the headquarters has two decent horses, except for yours, which is mine. Why don't you ride my horse? Tian Jinfu blinked.

"Forget it, your horse is too strong, if you break your leg at this critical time, it will delay the business." Zhao Bei had no choice but to settle.

Tian Jinfu handed over the reins and asked, "Commander, you haven't closed your eyes all night, and you don't take advantage of this moment to sleep quietly, where are you going now?" ”

"Sleep? I'll talk about it when I'm done. Now let's go to the steel mill. ”

"To the steel mill? Also an inspection? ”

"Yes, inspection. Also, find someone. ”

"Looking for someone? The commander-in-chief has acquaintances at the steel plant? ”

"Acquaintances? Hey, good, acquaintance. I've seen this man's name a lot. The corners of Zhao Bei's mouth twitched slightly, smiled mysteriously, glanced at the guards behind him who had already ridden on horseback, and then turned over on the horse, and with a clamp between his legs, the short-legged Yunnan horse immediately raised its hooves and ran towards the steel plant.