Anqing Vocational Secondary School is a new school established in the New Deal of the Qing Dynasty in the tenth year, and it was rebuilt into a technical school after Chai Dongliang took charge of Anhui. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, more than 50,000 primary and secondary schools were established across the country, and the number of students enrolled in schools increased from more than 500,000 ten years ago to more than 7 million.

However, the curriculum is extremely bad, **Chengdu is a liberal arts and military academy, which is the knowledge of being an official and fighting a war, and there is almost no industry involved. The new army and new-style schools established by the Qing Dynasty with the power of the whole country revolutionized the life of the Qing Dynasty. The cultivated talents are all engaged in politics and military affairs, and the emphasis is on retreat, but the industrial talents that are urgently needed by the country and can accommodate a large number of jobs have not been cultivated.

The people who graduated from the school don't know anything else except the knowledge of being officials, but where can the yamen in the Qing Dynasty accommodate so many students? Taking Wuchang as an example, there are more than 1,200 graduates of the Hubei Army Academy in Zhang Zhidong, and there are only more than 100 people who really have official positions. It is not surprising that the first shot of the Xinhai Revolution was fired in Wuchang. The result of the blind expansion was the cultivation of a large number of gravediggers in the Manchu court.

Chai Dongliang took Yang Shiqi, the two of them dressed as businessmen in green clothes and small hats and walked into the school, and the doorman did not make a fuss to stop him, all schools in Anhui allowed students outside the school to observe, and people like Chai Dongliang did not know how many people came in and out every day.

"The Western proverb: 'Heaven helps those who help themselves'. …… The British people have the most self-help spirit, everyone has a diligent and inspiring heart, and the country eats its blessings, and it is the richest and strongest in the world. The reason why the country is [***] is that the people are suppressed by it and lose the spirit of self-help. Now that the country is a republic, there is no longer the suppression of the evil political axe, and all our people, especially the need to help themselves. ”

Chai Dongliang and Yang Shiqi leaned on the classroom window to watch, only to see a student standing answering the teacher's question.

The teacher bowed his head and asked again: "In today's world, where is the most important competition between countries?" ”

The student pondered for a moment and said: "The world today is not a competition between countries, but a competition between people. Therefore, self-cultivation and good deeds are the main duty of patriotism. To oneself, cultivate virtue and mechanics...... For the society, it respects the elderly and the young, and helps the poor...... Abide by the law and pay taxes to the country, defend the country and love the public. So sincere for the good people also. If there is an invasion of foreign enemies, then the people of the whole country know why they are fighting, so the country is invincible, if the whole country is a slave, the slave only knows that there is a master and does not know that there is a country, and the war will be dangerous! ”

Yang Shiqi was surprised: "This son has extraordinary knowledge, after the defeat of the First Sino-Japanese War, Prime Minister Ito Hirobumi commented on the Chinese figures, saying that Li Zhongtang is an enemy of one country, and An can be undefeated?" Ito once said: It is said that it is a constitutional country, and the whole country is strong because of talents, and the whole country of the Qing Dynasty is a slave, so there are talents and no talents. It is really rare for this son to have such insight before he is a weak crown. ”

Chai Dongliang said with a smile: "This civics class is for every child, even primary school students have to learn. The Chinese people have suffered from [***] for more than 2,000 years, and even if they are given power, they will not use it, and most of them are illiterate. We have reformed education in Anhui Province and increased industrial education and civic education, so that young students can know what power they have, what freedoms they have, and where the boundaries between power and freedom are??? Since ancient times, China has either obeyed the people or been a mob, but there are few rational citizens, and the modern state is not something that can be built by slaves and mobs??? Brother Xingcheng Mo smiled, I called citizen cultivation from the baby. ”

Yang Shiqi smiled indifferently and said: "Ten years of trees, a hundred years to cultivate people, Fang today is the time for heroes to rise together, it is the opportunity for good men to make contributions, but Brother Guanghua is here to engage in education, isn't it a sacrifice to the end?" ”

Chai Dongliang said with a smile: "Heroes have their own people, and I am satisfied if I only want to keep one side safe." ”

Yang Shiqi smiled slyly: "Honestly? ”

Chai Dong nodded: "Sincerely." After that, he pulled Yang Shiqi and said, "Let's go, go and take a look elsewhere." ”

Behind is the student's practice workshop, the fitter trainee is learning to process spare parts with a plate file, the lathe quickly adjusts the gearbox, the thin ribbon steel scraps are curled into a ball, and the black steel castings suddenly become light.

"The students of these vocational schools are qualified technicians when they come out, with a monthly salary of not less than eight yuan, plus performance salary, one person can raise a large family, and the technician teachers in the school get the same salary as other teachers, not less than 20 yuan per month, and they come to work in the school to make chartered buses." Chai Dongliang explained as he walked.

Since ancient times, China has only attached importance to cultivation and study, and the status of craftsmen is low, but Chai Dongliang suddenly raised the status of workers to the same level as students, which made Yang Shiqi feel very novel and faintly unhappy??? After all, he is also a scholar.

After visiting the school, the two of them casually ate something on the street, and Yang Shiqi found that the whole of Anqing had become a large construction site, and almost every few steps he could see workers renovating the road. Dirt and stone roads have been dug up, sewer pipes have been buried in them, new public toilets have been built on every street, and patrols have taken the trouble to warn people not to defecate in the open.

Yang Shiqi knows too well the habit of Chinese to sweep the snow in front of their doors, the first thing every household does in the morning is to pour dirty water on the street, and open defecation has become a habit, when the eight-nation coalition army occupied Tianjin, and also built a number of public toilets, but the people did not go, it was still convenient to find a corner on the street, and finally the foreign soldiers used bayonets to force them to develop the habit of going to the toilet.

In addition to the large-scale construction of public facilities, privately run factories and schools are also stepping up construction, and Chai Dongliang told Yang Shiqi that Anqing is not much, and the newly built enterprises in Wuhu have really become large-scale.

It seems that Chai Dongliang is really planning to defend Anhui to engage in construction, and the governors of various provinces are either expanding their armaments or forming a party to prepare for election, and there are many people who beg their little wives to support their actors and enjoy the benefits of power. It is really rare for Chai Dongliang to devote himself to construction like this.

"Guanghua, President Yuan Da sincerely invites you to be the deputy minister of the War Department. How are you thinking about it? Yang Shiqi took a bite of food and asked while chewing.

Chai Dongliang said with a smile: "I'm a person who can't support the wall in the mud, and I don't have any experience in governing the army??? As you know, my Anhui Revolutionary Army has only one brigade in size, and its number is only 4,000. ”

Yang Shiqi laughed and said: "You coax me, your soldiers are all trained according to the methods of officers, 4,000 middle and lower-level officers, as long as you turn your hands, it will be 40,000 troops." ”

Chai Dongliang had long known that Anqing had Yuan Shikai's spies, and it was difficult to hide these things, so he was not surprised, and said flatly: "Forty thousand? I can't afford it, I can't afford it. ”

Yang Shiqi smiled slyly: "Really can't afford it?" Do you have a lot of money to build roads and railways, but you have no money to raise soldiers? Who believes this? To get back to the point, if you become vice minister of the Ministry of the Army, it is tantamount to expressing your attitude to the central authorities, and it is said that you, the governor of Anhu, were elected by the Anhui Governor's Bureau, not the president of the People's Republic of China, so how can the central authorities rest assured of you? You have the Yangtze River Navy Division to isolate the north and south, and there are Jiangsu and Zhejiang consortiums and Huizhou merchants to plan military supplies for you, Anhui is the central government, the key point of the two Huai salt politics, you are here to fight hard, the president is not suspicious! ”

Chai Dongliang's favorability towards Yang Shiqi suddenly increased a lot, and the last time he reminded himself of the problem of standing in line, he did not have the view of the north-south gateway. Chai Dongliang listened to his opinion, took out a lot of silver to buy a legal identity for the Nanjing Provisional Political Axe, and could be regarded as gaining a firm foothold in Anhui. This time, I put my heart into my heart again and said everything thoroughly.

"Don't think about it, I'm from Sizhou, I don't want my hometown soldiers to be broken, Anhui has a governor like you, and it's also a blessing for the people of Lianghuai. You took Jiujiang, Jiangxi Governor Li Liejun must hate you to the core, you beat Zhang Xun, and the generals of Beiyang are eager to immediately raise troops to attack you??? Brother Guanghua, you are the enemy on your back! If we do not accept the canonization of the central political axe, I am afraid that the disaster will not follow. Yang Shiqi slowly explained the crisis Chai Dongliang was in while drinking.

Although Zhang Xun is a side of Beiyang, he and Cao Kun are close friends, and they are relatively old among the generals in Beiyang, and their popularity is also good. Li Liejun is a hardcore alliance, and his prestige among the southern governors is not low, this time he beat Zhang Xun and captured Jiujiang, and Liang Zijie is not shallow. Anhui is also a place where the north and the south have to fight four wars, and if you are not careful, you will be besieged.

But if he goes to Yanjing to take up the post of deputy minister of the Ministry of the Army, what will happen to Anhui? Even if he can lead the position of governor of Anhui from afar, his subordinates will inevitably become self-contained after a long time, Yuan Shikai Huanshui fishing is an example, he can't personally lead the troops for three years, and the generals of Beiyang have become the climate. Later, Duan Qirui became the chief of the army and the prime minister of the cabinet, but he did not personally take charge of the army for many years, and his subordinates no longer bowed to him, and they had to be coaxed with good words if they wanted to go on the expedition.

The reason why Chai Dongliang has not expanded the army is also because of this concern, and now the Anhui Army Lecture Hall is in the preparatory stage, and all future officers will be trained here, Chai Dongliang will personally serve as the principal, and the army implements a staff system, and all staff officers and other middle- and lower-level officers are considered to be Chai Dongliang's students.

In this way, the army can be firmly controlled in his hands, and the general who leads the army will not have a chance to make a rebellion, otherwise his subordinates will kill him. And without an order from the General Staff, the generals could not move the army at will.

However, this will not be effective until at least a year later, and leaving Anhui at this time is too dangerous.

"Then according to Brother Xingcheng's opinion, what should I do?" Chai Dongliang asked respectfully.

Yang Shiqi enjoyed his attitude very much, and said with a smile: "How about you hand over the salt administration of Lianghuai to the central government?" ”

The salt policy of the two Huai?

The wealth of the world is half of the two Huai, and the wealth of the two Huai is half of the salt government!

This saying has been circulated in the Ming and Qing dynasties for hundreds of years, and the salt administration of the two Huai has always been the focus of national taxation, and the salt tax on the compensation given to foreigners in the "Xinchou Treaty" is also the bulk of it. After the Xinhai Revolution, the foreign powers have not recognized the Nanjing Provisional Political Axe, and the customs controlled by the foreigner tax department simply deposited the remaining balance of the indemnity into the HSBC bank to eat interest, and after Chai Dongliang took Anhui, the income of the two Huai salt classes was also intercepted by himself.

The foreigners took Guan Yu and didn't let go, Chai Dongliang didn't give the foreigners the salt tax, and no one cared about anyone. Yuan Shikai became the president and the treasury was only 200,000 silver dollars, and now he relied on borrowing money from banks and money banks. Imagine a foreigner borrowing a large sum of money, but there is nothing to pledge.

Britain and the United States refused to borrow, but they were willing, but the problem was that Yuan Shikai inherited the mantle of Li Hongzhang, and Beiyang hated Yue himself very much, and he asked for Hanyeping Company as collateral for borrowing, which was an unacceptable condition for Yuan Shikai.

The biggest reason why the Nanjing Provisional Political Axe successfully handed over power to Yuan Shikai was that the finances had gone bankrupt, and the staff of the Political Axe hoped that they would throw this mess to Yuan Shikai as soon as possible, and they really couldn't play it. Others don't care about the transfer of power, but Sun Wen is the interim president, of course, he is a little unwilling, he made two preparations, if Yuan Shikai accepts the "Temporary Covenant", then he will step down and let Xian, if Yuan Shikai refuses, he will reorganize the army and fight with Beiyang.

In order to raise military expenses, he once tried to borrow money from himself, and the condition he put forward was to use Han Yeping as collateral and jointly run the company. As soon as the news spread, the whole country was in an uproar, and Zhang Taiyan, a veteran of the Restoration Society, denounced in the newspaper that "all other businesses can be joint ventures with outsiders, but iron ore is not; The iron factory may be able to make joint ventures with other countries, but it is absolutely forbidden for people." The press and public opinion were one after another, and Sheng Xuanhuai, who was in charge of negotiating with him, scolded him as a Han anniversary and a national thief.

The shareholders of Han Yeping Company held a meeting, and all 480 votes were against co-organizing with him, and the shareholders' meeting called Sheng Xuanhuai, and the "Han Yeping Company Co-organized the Draft Contract", which was officially cancelled.

Since the beginning of the Republic of China, whether it is Li Yuanhong, who was besieged in Wuchang, the capital of the first uprising, or Sun Wen in Nanjing, including Yuan Shikai who is now Yanjing, the most troublesome thing is that there is no money.

The central government's monthly expenses are 20 million, and the income is only 6 million, which is a huge shortfall. The provinces are also the same, only Chai Dongliang has a large amount of dollars and silver reserves in his hands, banknotes issued by the bank pass through the southern provinces, and the orders in the industrial park are overtime to meet the needs, and they all collect the agent's deposit and advance payment before production, so the finances do not feel tight.

Lianghuai Yanzheng is a lifesaver for Yuan Shikai, counting on this to apply for a loan from the bank group, but this does not help Chai Dongliang much.

"Okay, I'll hand over the salt administration of Lianghuai, but there is one condition."

Yang Shiqi said with a smile: "Guanghua is willing to hand over the salt administration to the central government, even if you open your mouth, don't say one, ten will do." ”

Chai Dongliang said with a smile: "I want to be an official." ”

Yang Shiqi was stunned: "Official? Anyway, except for the army chief, you can choose other positions! ”

Chai Dongliang said with a smile: "I want to serve as the Jianghuai patrol envoy." ”

Yang Shiqi's eyes rolled, and then he laughed: "Use the salt administration in exchange for the name of patrolling Jianghuai, you will lose money in this transaction!" ”

Chai Dongliang smiled but did not speak.

(To be continued)