After Song Biao returned to Fengtian City, the rhythm was always extremely busy, and there were endless guests every day, and there were many vacancies in the three eastern provinces before, and many officials would rather be free than come to the three eastern provinces to try their luck with the Russians, but now they are all over.

I heard that Song Biao, the governor of the three eastern provinces, came back, and everyone couldn't wait to come to the door to ask to see them to show their loyalty, these people in the officialdom know better than anyone that the imperial court has long lost control of the three eastern provinces, and this is Song Biao's fiefdom, only Song Biao's people will have the opportunity to serve here safely.

Because there were too many officials who came to ask for a meeting, and Song Biao was too busy during the day, he could only let Shu Fangde and Yuan Jinkai arrange to come to meet in batches at night, and the finance and taxation bureaus, civil affairs bureaus, reclamation bureaus, telegraph bureaus, and academic political bureaus of the three provinces were all received together, but Chen Baochen of the Fengtian Political Bureau was met alone.

This person is very special, according to the qualifications and Zhang Zhidong is a group, twenty-one-year-old Zhongjinshi, can be regarded as a young ambition, and Zhang Zhidong, Zhang Peilun, Baoting was once known as the four counselors of the cardinal court, deeply favored by Cixi, but because of improper promotion in the Sino-French War, he was demoted to nine levels, and he has been idle at home for twenty-five years.

In particular, in the past ten years, he has insisted on promoting the New Deal, set up a new school in Fuzhou, appointed himself as the head of Aofeng Academy, set up four schools of Oriental Literature, Normal Studies, Political Science and Law, and Commerce, and sent students from law, politics, industry, commerce, and agriculture to study in Yueben year by year.

Before Yin Chang went to the three eastern provinces, Zhang Zhidong wrote a letter to Yin Chang to recommend Chen Baochen to the three eastern provinces to handle a new study, thinking that he would be able to achieve great success, and Yin Chang recommended it to Song Biao.

Song Biao also felt that this was the case when he heard it, so he agreed to Yin Chang's recommendation.

He didn't know much about Chen Baochen, but he knew that he was also known as a widow during the Republic of China, but when Puyi went to Manchuria to restore, Chen Baochen tried his best to prevent this, but unfortunately he failed.

Song Biao is indeed too busy these days, and it is not easy to find time in the evening, so he will meet Chen Baochen alone, and tomorrow night he will also meet with the school and political bureaus of the other three provinces and provinces.

Chen Baochen arrived in the afternoon, because he couldn't wait for time, he happened to have admired Shu Gaoli for a long time, so he took this time to be a guest in the courtyard of Shu's house.

After finishing the business at hand, Song Biao rode to Shu's house accompanied by the guards, and at night when the wind and snow were heavy, he put on a black cloak.

When Song Biao arrived outside the door of Shu's house, Shu Fangde, who came back an hour earlier, was waiting at the door, with a thin layer of snow on his body, and his whole body was cold. ”

When Shu Fangde came back, Song Biao said that it would be over in half an hour at most, who knew that this busy time would be another hour.

Song Biao waved his hand helplessly with a cold face, and said: "Don't mention it, the purchase of shells with France is not going well, don't look at the French Minister Lu Ban personally coordinated, the efficiency of the French is still annoying, and the original price was not agreed, saying that the freight was not calculated clearly, and the director of Schneider's factory did not agree." ”

Shu Fangde was quite surprised and asked: "Didn't Fulaide Foreign Bank agree very well, why did it change again?" ”

Since the dish was hot in the pot, Song Biaosuo was not in a hurry to go in, and talked to Shu Fangde about the matter first.

He lit the cigarette and said to Shu Fangde: "Naturally, the foreign company did not dare to tear up the previous contract, but the contract between us and the foreign company and Schneider did not indicate the exact amount of long-term orders, which became an excuse for the board of directors of Schneider to deny and ask for a new price, but their offer was almost the same as the price previously supplied to the company during the Russo-Japanese war, and the price of each shell was as high as thirty-three francs. ”

Shu Fangde asked: "Then what should I do, I also have a bit of a desire to renegotiate the price, we are really troublesome this time, I think I and France are sure that we have more than 400 31-year-old rapid-fire guns in our hands, and the ammunition consumption is huge, and only the two countries can supply shells." ”

Song Biao smoked fiercely, annoyed in his heart, the country's lack of military industrial strength and industrial strength really made the army suffer.

He had a lot of artillery, all of them were fucking unloaded, all the three-year-old rapid-fire guns had stopped, and now only the sixty-four three-inch Lucia field guns left to him by Russia could still be used for training.

He had more three-inch Lucia field guns before, but in order to exchange more materials with the Russian army, he was forced to exchange part of the three-inch Lucia field guns back to the Russian army, which he regretted now when he thought about it.

Song Biao took a few sips and said, "When I have dinner, I will go back to hold a training meeting to readjust the training arrangements of the artillery regiment, and I will not be in a hurry to practice live firing for the time being." I have a few plans, one is that the surname Suo is ruthless, and directly sell all these rotten guns back to Yuben, exchange them for a batch of emergency shells, and then exchange them all for the Russian three-inch Lucia field guns. 76-mm field artillery shells are available everywhere in the world, Russia does not sell them, I buy French, German and American products, and even Chile and Mexico have to sell them. The second is to order emergency artillery shells directly from Germany and Italy, although Germany and Italy are also equipped with 75 mm field guns, but considering the problem of ballistics, as well as the difference in the weight of the shells and the ratio of gunpowder, it is difficult for us to determine whether the new shells can maintain the original combat effectiveness, the key to this is that we have almost no ballistic curve design standards for the three-year-old rapid-fire gun, if we need to re-determine this through a large number of experiments, it will take a lot of time to waste in the middle. ”

In the war, as long as there are shells of the same caliber, they can be used, and they are good shells if they can be shot, but the requirements in the training are completely different, and the goal of the training is to improve the shooting level of the artillery as much as possible, which requires the adoption of unified and stable shells as much as possible, and must meet the optimal selection of artillery design parameters, and the worst problem of the Northeast New Army at this time is that there are more than 400 31-year-old rapid-fire guns, but there are no relevant design parameters at all.

Shu Fangde sighed helplessly: "Military seat, we still have to use the second method, although the seven-centimeter half-mountain cannon is a little worse, it is also artillery, we have so much inventory in our hands, it is not a pity." If you buy it again, the three-inch Lucia field cannon is 27,000 taels of silver per piece, and it will take more than 10 million taels of silver to buy all 400 guns, which is not easy. ”

Song Biao sighed: "Who said it wasn't." If we put aside France and the United States, and order artillery shells from the United States, first of all, the price will not be low, the speed of delivery may not be fast, and the training effect will be more difficult to guarantee. Of course, the only advantage is that if we place a long-term order and let the other party help us find out all the design parameters of the three-year-old rapid-fire gun, then we can completely get rid of the restrictions of France and China, and we can also buy machine tools and equipment at one time and organize production by ourselves. ”

This matter is very important, Shu Fangde didn't dare to speak without permission, so he proposed to Song Biao: "Junza, you still can't be too anxious, even if you are a little angry, you have to mediate with the French first." ”

Song Biao nodded silently, threw the cigarette out, and said, "Forget it, go see your father and Chen Baochen." ”

After saying this, he walked straight to the main house of the Shu family.

Shu Fangde stepped forward quickly, pushed the door open in advance, and as soon as he entered the door, Shu Gaoli and Chen Baochen, who were chatting in the main room, said: "Father, Lord Chen, the military seat is here!" ”

As soon as they heard this, Shu Gaoli and Chen Baochen both got up, and just as Song Biao also walked in quickly, the two stepped forward and said, "I've seen the Governor!" ”

Song Biao saw Chen Baochen for the first time, and took a little more look, his figure was thin, not short, but not tall, he was already silver-haired and white-bearded before he was in his sixties, and his face was ruddy, which was a little special.

Song Biao, Chen Baochen, and Shu Gaoli returned the salute, invited them all to sit down, and said: "Military affairs are busy, coming and going are all urgent and fatal bad things, and I have finally made time for now, and I ask the two old gentlemen not to mind, they are really all bad things, and I am in a bad mood!" ”

Chen Baochen and Shu Gaoli didn't mind, but when they heard this, they were even more worried about Song Biao.

Chen Baochen sighed: "The governor lives in three provinces, and it is really not easy to deal with the Russian countries, and if the country is weak, there is no happy event at all. It's just that I also ask the Governor to take care of his body, not to be angry and hurt his body for a while, after all, these three provinces can only rely on the Governor alone, if the Governor does not support, I will wait for the lower officials to really know what to do. ”

Song Biao bowed slightly, thanked Chen Baochen for his kindness, and said: "It's not enough to be angry, I'm still young, and I'm not such an impatient person, it's just that some things really make people resentful, the country is weak, there is no industry, there is no education, there is no factory, guns and ammunition have to be purchased from foreign countries, and there are no talents. The country is so big, the territory is thousands of miles, there are so many people, 40,000, and it is so embarrassing that I hate it when I think about it. ”

Hearing this, everyone was very sad.

The country mourns so far, people of insight, who is not sad, who can not hate!

Shu Gaoli said: "Your Excellency, it's getting late, let's eat first." ”

"It's good!"

Song Biao nodded, and invited Chen Baochen and Shu Gaoli to the table, this table of dishes was placed in the West Flower Hall on the west side of the main house, except for the three of them, only Shu Fangde was accompanied, responsible for pouring wine and tea, so as not to let the two old men pour wine for Song Biao.

The hot dishes are all in the pot and back to the stove, there are only a few cold dishes on the table, fortunately, the heating in the house is big, and the wine is also warm, so Song Biao will eat some cold dishes alive first, and drink two glasses of warm wine to dispel the cold.

As soon as the three of them sat down, soon the two daughters-in-law of the Shu family and an elderly maid helped bring the dishes up, and Shu Xuan also brought two plates of stir-fried vegetables.

There is hardly a moment of leisure in the past few days, Song Biao only remembered to invite her to the art troupe when he saw her, and he didn't hear an echo for a few days, and he didn't know if others agreed.

Shu Gaoli observed the words and looks, and said with a dry smile: "Lord Governor, the little girl heard the words of the adults before, and she has the ambition to serve the country, and she wants to be the flower Mulan of today, and she has decided to go to the art troupe to join the company, when she was studying in the United States, the music and rhythm of the literary class is quite good, and it is the most suitable place to go to the art troupe, and she can also compile some English dramas in the troupe, but she only has two daughters, all of whom are regarded as pearls in the palm of her hand and cherish themselves, and I hope that the Governor will take more care of them." ”

Hearing this, Song Biao couldn't help but be very happy in his heart, he was angry for a day today, but this news made him very happy.

He smiled and promised Shu Gaoli, and glanced at Shu Xuan again, but Shu Xuan smiled but didn't dare to look at him, and ran away with the empty plate.

Song Biao smiled and said to Chen Baochen: "Lord Chen, I will go back to the military headquarters for a meeting after dinner and discuss some things again, so let's talk straight and don't waste time." ”

Chen Baochen immediately agreed, and said: "Your Excellency the Governor is quick to speak, okay, since the lower officials have come to serve here, they naturally have ideas in their hearts, so they want to say something first, if there is any offense and disrespect, I hope that the Governor Haihan!" ”

Song Biao said: "It's okay, you can say it first." ”

Chen Baochen said: "The lower officials thought that if they wanted to run a new school, they should put the people first, follow the example of the East, buy primary schools in various counties, buy middle schools in various prefectures, and then set up specialized science halls in various provinces to cultivate new talents. ”

Shu Gaoli immediately agreed: "What Master Chen said is very good, and the old man also thinks that he can run a normal school first before he can run a new school. ”

Song Biao bowed slightly, and said to Chen Baochen: "I once talked about the New Deal in Northeast China with Lord Yinchang, the Governor of Fengtian, and I thought that the New Deal was nothing more than five things, one was to establish a bank account in the three provinces and manage finance; the second is to develop agriculture and industry, establish industries, and achieve a trade surplus, so that silver flows inward; the third is to establish a new policy axe system to effectively implement and promote the new policy; the fourth is to reclaim the northeast and expand the population; Fifth, it is necessary to establish a national education system and a wide range of specialized education, and to create the best university education. ”

Chen Baochen praised: "What the adults said is very true, if the new policy in Kanto can do these five things well, then it is really qualified to be called a new deal." ”

Song Biao took out a folded letter from his pocket, showed it to Chen Baochen, and continued: "I was circling around the envoys of various countries in the Russian concession some time ago, and I had nothing to do at night, so I used this time to sort out some of my thoughts on the new study in Northeast China, and I just asked Lord Chen to take a look. In my opinion, the three eastern provinces should first base themselves on the current situation, learn from the strengths of the United States, Britain and France, and make rational use of their own national conditions to take a suitable and convenient road. The so-called public school is to adopt the meaning of public enlightenment education in response to the tradition of private school, and adopt the method of unified recruitment of school teachers, and to set up a crash course for teachers in Mukden, Jilin and Harbin, and to train teachers who can widely promote national enlightenment education for a period of three months. All children and teenagers over the age of six are enrolled free of charge, and after completing the age of six to 12, they will go to study in secondary schools in various counties. As a result, more than 1,000 public schools will be established in each province, and about 10,000 teachers will be needed. As long as this number can be reached, all children and teenagers in the three provinces will be able to enroll, and everyone will be able to read and write. The biggest advantage of this method is that it saves money and popularizes it, and the annual expenditure is only five or six million foreign yen, which is not a great pressure on the finances of the three provinces. ”

Chen Baochen and Shu Gaoli were greatly surprised when they heard this, and they were full of praise.

Chen Baochen said: "Your Excellency Governor's policy is really clever, but the annual expenditure is five or six million foreign yuan, I'm afraid it's more difficult, right?" ”

Song Biao said: "It must be a little difficult for the time being, before the establishment of the three provinces silver, I will first issue a new school bond in the three eastern provinces, the amount is about 10 million yuan." The main purpose is to let the local gentry subscribe, or ask other rich gentry to buy, and use the money to establish 3,500 public schools in the three provinces for a period of three years, and each public school will first place one teacher, and then increase year by year, accumulating to three teachers in each public school. As for the new-style primary schools, middle schools, high schools, technical secondary schools, and universities in various localities, they should first ask the gentry from all over the country to purchase them, and the public schools should not be in a hurry, and they must first seek to do a good job in the public schools of the three provinces. In each village and each tun, the public contributes money, the people only contribute, the construction of public school buildings, first to the big village of Datun, after which there should be a public school in the tun of 100 households, popularized to the three provinces, when the children have completed six years, we have almost all the supporting middle schools and specialized science halls in each county, step by step, in ten years will be the three eastern provinces of the new school run. ”

Chen Baochen was full of praise and said: "My lord's policy is really too clever, first make the young people in the three provinces literate and read, and then seek new learning to go west, and the lower officials are in charge of Fengtian and study politics, and they must be the example of the three provinces." ”

Song Biao bowed slightly, and said: "Fengtian is not only a public school, Fengtianfu is not only the place of governance of Fengtian Province, but also the center of the three provinces. In addition, Minister Lu Ban and I also talked about Aurora University, Shanghai Aurora University was originally run by Ma Xiangbo, a famous gentleman in Shanghai, but only borrowed the land of the French Catholic Jesuits, but now, the French Catholic Jesuits have squeezed Ma Xiangbo away, and completely changed Aurora University into a church university, I asked Minister Lu Ban to mediate and move Aurora University to the Liaodong Peninsula to purchase, as compensation, I agreed that the French Catholic Jesuits will establish a church university in Mukden, and the land and the cost of building the school will be paid by me. In addition to this university founded by the French church, I would also like to ask the American church to establish a university in Mukden, and the political bureau of Mukden University will also establish another government-run university, which is called Northeastern University. ”

After a pause, he continued: "I have made a rough calculation, starting from next year, the three eastern provinces will maintain the scale of about six million taels of silver every year, half of which will be used for public schools in the three provinces, and half will be used for national schools, especially the junior colleges and universities, and Fengtianfu will have about three million taels of silver every year, which means that the main junior colleges and universities are concentrated in Fengtian, and these things need to be handled carefully by Lord Chen, and it is necessary to make sure that every two taels of silver, and even every copper coin must be used in practice." In addition, we must also introduce various laws and policies to encourage the gentry and celebrities in various places to prepare for private schools, both state and private, and we must take the period of ten years as the deadline to establish new schools in the three eastern provinces from scratch and from small to large. ”

Chen Baochen listened to these words, I don't know how excited, I just feel that the whole body is overflowing with fresh blood, people are so old, can usher in such a grand event, how excited he is, immediately stood up solemnly and bowed to the ground, said: "Lord Governor, the lower officials for the imperial court, for the ten thousand, for the tens of millions of people in the three eastern provinces thank you, the lower officials are old and decrepit, there is no generality, only to run a new school to make the people strong and prosperous, to meet the governor, it is really the blessing of the lower officials, the lower officials must act impartially, the service to the end, in order to be able to do as the adults wish, The new school in the three provinces will be run from scratch. ”

Song Biao understood why others were excited, this was really a fist heart, he got up and helped Chen Baochen up, and said: "Lord Chen is a loyal and upright person, and it is not only my blessing to invite Lord Chen to come to the three provinces to buy a new school, but also the blessing of the people of the three provinces." ”

Chen Baochen was even more excited, only felt that the entire Qing Dynasty seemed to be saved, if the new school of the three provinces was done well, and the whole country would follow suit, within 20 years, the Qing Dynasty would be completely renewed, full of talents, and the people would be strong and prosperous.

Song Biao was also very happy in his heart, after all, he had found a suitable person to run a new school.

For the sake of the new learning, he wrote a full three pages of letter paper with a pen, as the program of the new learning in the three eastern provinces, including national language education and history education, he has his own ideas, for example, he particularly emphasized the implementation of vernacular language education in national language education, to compile a complete set of vernacular language textbooks, classical Chinese should also be taught, and the four books and five classics still have to be read, but he first recommended "Xunzi", and is to find some masters of Chinese studies as soon as possible to rearrange the collection of Zhuzi Baijia, to " "Honoring the virtuous, respecting the law and loving the people" is the core of Xinxue's moral and political education, and a suitable neoclassical spirit is found between Confucianism and Legalism.

In history education, both Chinese and Western history should be taken into account, and geography and history courses should be combined with each other to jointly promote the worldview, national outlook, and historical outlook of the new generation of young people, and cultivate the spirit of patriotism and the spirit of modern nationhood.

His new study is not a completely Westernized education, but a requirement to be able to compromise and find a road with Chinese characteristics suitable for this era.

He not only recruited tutors in the three eastern provinces, but also recruited them throughout northern China, luring them to the northeast to engage in universal education with relatively generous salaries, cultivating more literate teenagers, and then cultivating these literate teenagers into modern patriotic youths and high-quality talents through new-style education.

As for funding, it can't be sustained by collecting taxes, and the only way is to print money.

In this process, public and private funds have to be put together, and the so-called issuance of public bonds to support Xinxue is to use his private money to support the previous few years, and it is really necessary to send it to the squires around the country to subscribe, and it is estimated that it will not be much.

During the time of this dinner, Song Biao talked with Chen Baochen and Shu Gaoli for a long time, and told him the whole set of programs and methods he envisioned, saying that it was a program, but he didn't care whether Chen Baochen did it completely, people would have their own ideas, especially old gentlemen like Chen Baochen and Shu Gaoli, it was normal to be stubborn.

Song Biao's concern is that things have to be done well, no matter what you think or what methods you use, don't look at me I respect you very much and use you very much, if you can't do it well, then I will replace you immediately, anyway, he won't spend all kinds of energy to do these things in person.

Everything can be handed over to others, and this is the principle that Song Biao tried to control the new policies and development of the three provinces in a light-hearted way.

(To be continued)