Mountains are dry northwest of Beijing. After the republic, although there were fewer officials who went to Xishan to build villas, but the villas of businessmen increased, because the central government also built a villa area here to provide a place for government officials to recuperate, so the social activities here were more active than in the former Qing Dynasty, and businessmen and industrialists hoped to be able to find a backer in the officialdom, so they were not stingy to spend a lot of money in Xishan.

Although the central government now advocates clean government. Oppose the collusion of officials and businessmen, but as long as there are interests. As long as there are individual selfish desires, it is impossible for this officialdom to remain absolutely clean, which is the inevitable dark side in the process of social progress. All the central government can do now is to keep this dark side under a safe level so that it does not affect the health of the social body.

However, in recent days, the villa area in the western mountains has suddenly deserted, not because the weather is cooler and people do not want to live in the mountains, but because a special guest came from the south a few days ago, scaring away the bureaucrats who are looking for pleasure here.

This special guest is the current president of the republican government, Zhao Zhenhua, who has always hated the depravity of officialdom and is also unceremonious to those corrupt and degenerate officials, therefore. As soon as the president came, the atmosphere in this western mountain suddenly improved, the corrupt and depraved officials left, and the businessmen who wanted to tie their hands also clamped their tails. The officialdom who went back and forth between officials and businessmen also disappeared, of course, they did not disappear completely, but only temporarily hibernated, and when the climate is right, they will be ready to move again.

In the final analysis, the prestige of the president alone is not enough to eradicate the degeneration of officialdom, and this can only be done by relying on the system, and now Mr. President is discussing with his aides about the establishment of this system and the cultivation of human resources.

In fact, the system has long been established, and the selection, appointment, and evaluation of officials, as well as the supervision, restriction, and balance of power, can maintain the "ecological balance" of officialdom. The system has been basically established two years ago, but the problem is that the system must also rely on people to implement, and now all kinds of people in the officialdom are all inherited from the former Qing officialdom, in order to maintain the authority of the government and ensure the central control over the locality. These old-style officialdom figures must be used for the time being, this is a double-edged sword, it depends on whose hands it is.

Zhao Bei also considered strengthening the supervision of public opinion, but he soon realized that public opinion would also be used by officialdom figures, and in the internal struggle of officialdom, public opinion circles were often regarded as the vanguard of the charge by the officialdom, so in all kinds of contradictory public opinion, even he, a person in the bureau, could not distinguish between the southeast and the northwest.

Therefore, this system must be further improved, Zhao Bei insisted that although the system is implemented by people, as long as the system is perfect, the people who implement the system will not be able to easily get the opportunity to exploit loopholes, but this also means that the system is cumbersome and the ensuing administrative organs are stacked on the bed, which is a heavy burden for the current state finances.

Although there is a system of local self-government, which can solve the problem of self-financing of part of the funds on the spot, it is obviously impossible to adopt the system of self-government for the various departments of the central government.

The key is still a question of balance, how to not only play the role of restraining power, but also reduce administrative costs to the maximum, which is not only a test of Zhao Bei's leadership ability, but also a test of the administrative efficiency of all administrative agencies in the country.

Zhao Bei convened his staff to discuss the issue of system construction. It is to improve the administrative efficiency of administrative agencies. His staff team is basically the staff in the chamber and the supervision office, these people come from various departments, each has their own strengths, they get together, they can indeed provide Zhao Bei with a lot of choices, but how to do it, how to formulate the rules, this depends on Zhao Bei's idea.

Zhao Bei's trip to choose this time to run to Xishan to "recuperate in seclusion." One of the reasons was that he wanted to improve the rules of officialdom in a relatively quiet environment, but this reason was not the main reason why he came to Xishan.

The main reason is to retreat into the background. Concentrate on remote control to direct this chaotic situation in the Far East.

Now that the Sino-Japanese war has basically ended in form, unless the Japanese government goes completely insane, the war between China and Japan will soon officially end. Zhao Bei can go all out to plan another strategic plan that he has already formulated, this strategic plan is not only related to China's future development path, but also related to the future strategic direction of the entire Far East region and even the entire Pacific region.

Therefore, after finishing the reform of the rules of officialdom with his staff, Zhao Bei shifted the topic to the current situation in the Far East, especially the situation in the South Seas, but fewer people can participate in the discussion of this topic, after all, this plan is too wide. If the news leaks out, I am afraid that it will arouse the hostility of Britain, France, and even the United States and Germany.

Zhao Bei is now more of a tightrope acrobat and also plays the role of a magician. Not only must you pay full attention, but you must also constantly use tricks to deceive the audience, otherwise. Not only will he fall off a high wire rope, but he will also be exposed to deceptive tricks. and is likely to be coaxed off the stage by the audience. The biggest advantage in Zhao Bei's hands is the accuracy of the general trend of history, Jia Ran he does not know some historical details, but he can see clearly which cannon is attached to the true direction of the history of the north, and will not lose his way in the fork in the road, for example, whether to participate in the Entente or the Central Powers, Zhao Bei will never choose to join the Allied side to fight, because he is very clear about the strength of the Allied Powers, as well as the strategic choice of the US government, the world needs a leader, but this leader will definitely not be Germany, The decline of Britain does not mean the rise of Germany, and the old Eastern adage that the praying mantis catches the cicada and the yellow finch follows applies equally to Western politics.

But on the other hand, Zhao Bei will definitely not go to the Entente right now, he prefers to see both the Entente and the Allied Powers lose, just like in history, only that. Only then will the fence of the old order be torn open a gap, through which those backward countries can rise, and this is how Japan rose in history, but now, China is likely to take Japan's place.

Because he has a historical line, Zhao Bei's current position is very clear, that is, he will not blatantly help the Entente to attack Germany, nor will he blatantly help Germany attack the Allied countries, but will play right and wrong between the two hostile military blocs, and try to make some artificial corrections to the details of history, so that Britain and Germany can fight "more devotedly", let Britain and Germany shed their blood, and make the decline of the two countries more intense than the decline in history, and the hatred between the two countries will also be more intense.

Understanding this, it is also understandable that Zhao Bei's current strategic choice, he did not bet on joining any party, but on the Nanyang side, and he hoped to muddy the waters on the Nanyang side. Let Britain not care about each other, and "help" Germany to expand the gains in the Far East, and ensure that this Anglo-German war will be fought longer and more intensely.

However, not all the people involved in this strategic plan agree with Zhao Bei's analysis, Li Zanhe, the director of the chamberlain, has reservations about Zhao Bei's crazy adventure, in his opinion, this, the strategic plan is too crazy, if it is leaked, Britain will not spare China lightly, even if there is no time to take care of retaliation during the war, but if the war in Europe ends, no one can guarantee that Britain will not settle accounts after the autumn.

Who knows how long the war in Europe will last? Zhao Bei insisted that this was a protracted war, but Li Fanhe agreed with the opinion of some officers of the General Staff, and he also believed that the war in Europe should be a decisive battle, just like the "Northeast Asian War" between China and Japan, after all, the European powers learned many things from this local war born in the Asian region, including air force tactics and submarine tactics.

However, Zhao Bei scoffed at Li Bianhe's objections, although he also knew that after the "Northeast Asian War" between China and Japan, the all-out war born in Europe would certainly be different from the First World War in history, but this could not fundamentally change the face of the war; in fact, because of the limitations of the technological level, even if the European powers learned to use aircraft, tanks, submarine warfare, and chemical warfare, the European powers were still unable to fully display the combat effectiveness of these new weapons. To illustrate: let's say, for example, the "blitzkrieg" with tanks and aviation as the backbone. "This tactic can't be played now, not even Zhao Bei, for the simple reason that it is limited by means of communication. Without reliable wireless communication equipment, there is simply no way to achieve close cooperation between the various branches of the armed forces. Since the principle of large-depth operations based on "blitzkrieg" cannot appear in the operational plans of the staff officers, then the so-called "decisive battle" is just talk on paper.

The reason why China was able to quickly defeat Japan in this war was because of one, "surprise." "But the European powers do not have this advantage, and considering the balance of national power between the European powers and the fact that it will take some time for industry to move into the orbit of war, then this all-out war in Europe will be a protracted war.

The details of history may change, but the general trend of history will not change, and the outcome cannot change.

This gamble is indeed crazy, Zhao Bei also admits this, but he will not choose to give up this strategic plan because of the risk, not to mention, even if Britain knows that the chaos in the South Seas has something to do with China, Zhao Bei is not afraid, the current China is no longer the China of the past, and more importantly, the strong neighbor in the north will also decline in this European war. China will no longer have to worry about being attacked from the north for some time.

Since Zhao Bei was so confident, it was impossible for him to accept the opposition, and the opposition in his staff quickly disappeared, and all that remained was how to help the president revise some details of this strategic plan according to the situation.

Just when Zhao Bei led his staff to plan in the secret room, the phone rang, and an adjutant picked up the microphone, listened to a few words, and then pressed down the microphone, walked back to Zhao Bei's side and whispered a few words. "I see, you tell the chamber. Ask them to invite Mr. Minister to the villa, and I will soon go over to meet him. Although I'm now in "seclusion." I don't see an official, but I still have to meet friends, and Mr. Minister and I are friends, so of course I can meet him.

Zhao Bei quickly made up his mind, indeed, he has been "secluded" in Xishan for many days, and if he doesn't go out of the mountain, I'm afraid that the world will be in chaos, and at that time, not to mention his strategic plan, even the central authority will be affected. It is said that the book is full of umbrellas