"Why do you have to spend so much money?" Wang Zhenyu couldn't help but gasp as he looked at the budget calculated by the Armaments Department.

It seems that he still thinks about the problem too simply, with the progress of the First World War, the cost of building a steel plant has also increased, in the past, Wang Zhenyu built the Anjiang Iron and Steel Plant with an annual output of only 200,000 tons, plus the supporting power plant, it only cost more than 20 million oceans. But that's not the price anymore. For a steel plant with an annual output of 100,000 tons, the price quoted by the Americans is 40 million oceans, of course, the higher the production capacity, the price will be preferential, for example, one million tons, the quotation will be 200 million US dollars. In other words, eight million tons of steel jihua simply cannot be achieved in five years, Wang Zhenyu took a deep breath and lowered this standard to 4.2 million tons, that is, in Hanyang, Ma'anshan, Hainan Island to build three million tons of steel plants with an annual output of three million tons, plus the original Anjiang and Liuzhou.

"It can't be lower, no lower, what will the Navy take to build ships?" Wang Zhenyu is determined to invest 10 billion yuan in steel industry projects in the next five years, and it is expected that in five years, the industrial chain formed by steel and the power generation, coal mines, and iron ore attached to this industry will provide 100,000 jobs.

Liu Guojun's industrial jihua was once again on Wang Zhenyu's desk after being revised, and once Wang Zhenyu agreed, these projects would be started in the name of the Nationalist government, and the specific implementation was the China Development Corporation, a monster that made people blush to death.

The annual production capacity of automobiles has reached 10,000 units, which is still very good. In Hainan, rubber is planted in an all-round way, and this can be had. There is also a package of jihua, all of which revolve around heavy industry, including jihua, the shijie cotton spinning king proposed by the Rong family. Wang Zhenyu simply looked at it lazily and signed, anyway, in the next five years, Liu Guojun will be responsible for smashing 40 billion yuan of funds into it.

Weng Wenhao reported that Wang Zhenyu also approved 4 billion Chinese yuan for the construction of the railway, and the 200,000 railway army will complete the completion of the three railways within three years.

In addition, a total of 900 million Chinese yuan has been allocated for the construction of the three special cities of Nanjing, Shanghai and Wuhan, and 900 million Chinese yuan has also been allocated for the construction of the nine provincial cities of Suzhou, Anqing, Hangzhou, Changsha, Nanchang, Nanning and Guangzhou.

Looking at the money in his hand spent like flowing water, Wang Zhenyu began to think about Yang Yongtai's latest report again, Britain and France have already mentioned the issue of military expenses, if the Chinese expeditionary force finally appears in Europe, Britain and France will provide an interest-free loan of 30 million pounds to 50 million pounds, with a repayment period of 30 years, and the specific amount depends on the performance of the Chinese expeditionary force. In addition, the benefits can also be determined based on the results of the war, for example, after the defeat of the war, the Chinese side of the Germans has the right of first refusal. For example, some of the industrial jishu and equipment belonging to the Germans could also be distributed to the Chinese as dividends of the war.

Wang Zhenyu felt that the British were still too unrealistic, and if Lao Tzu was negotiating with the Germans now, it was estimated that they would transfer all the submarines to him. Thinking about it here, Wang Zhenyu picked up the phone on the table: "Pick up the Hubei Provincial Government Governor's Office for me"

"Old Yang, this clearly tells the British and French that we will send 200,000 to 500,000 troops, and the army needs a promotion fee, which is roughly 100 pounds per person, that is, 20 million to 50 million pounds. Then we need an interest-free loan of £100 million, but we will use it to buy British products. The most important point is that there must be a standard for dividends according to the results, and they must be implemented in strict accordance with the standards at that time, and they will be signed without objection. ”

After hanging up the phone, Wang Zhenyu asked Chen Bui to invite Tian Yingzhao, Tian Yingzhao was a strange person, he would rather not be an official than quit smoking, and as a last resort, Wang Zhenyu could only give him an errand as a senior lieutenant general adviser. However, the line of Premier Xiong in Beijing has always been coordinated by this old man in the center.

"Brother Ying Zhao, this time I may still want you to go to Beijing, I have an idea about participating in the war, that is, the president and the prime minister support the war, but the premise is that we are allowed to train the participating army and independently command the participating army. Nothing else, in addition, you are stationed in Beijing this time, you have to help me keep an eye on many aspects, as for your funds, the old rules, from Ma Xicheng. In addition, if there is anything else, you can contact the attendant directly. ”

Tian Yingzhao's spirit was not very good, but he still nodded and said that it was no problem, which caused Wang Zhenyu to sigh for no reason. Opium is a thing that hurts people a lot, and when I complete reunification in the future, I must completely wipe out this thing.

After these messy things were over, Chen Bui told Wang Zhenyu very dutifully that there were still guests to see him.

This made Wang Zhenyu, who was already ready to get up and go home to make a man, very surprised: "I remember that all the activities you read to me in the morning have been done, why are there still guests?" ”

Chen Bui smiled and said, "This guest really didn't have an appointment, but his matter for you is more urgent and important, so I dared to let him in." ”

"Who is it?"

"Minister of Education Cai Yuanpei." Chen Bui replied respectfully.

"Oh, Zhang Taiyan's people, how did you find this place" Wang Zhenyu thought to himself, but he commanded: "Please come in!" ”

Cai Yuanpei is a middle-aged man in his forties, with a pair of black-framed glasses, a thin face and a popular mustache, but he exudes the temperament of a scholar. It's hard for you to mix such a bookish person with an assassination person, but compared to Wang Zhenyu, Cai Yuanpei is definitely a revolutionary senior.

So Wang Zhenyu did not sit on the high-end leather sofa sent by his second brother Du Yuesheng, but got up and went to the door to greet Cai Yuanpei, shook hands with him, and invited him to take a seat. Since Du Yuesheng is mentioned, we might as well talk about how after the establishment of the National Government, Wang Zhenyu gave his underworld tycoon brother through Zhang Taiyan, as well as Huang Jinrong, Zhang Xiaolin and others, all of whom were qualified as delegates to the National Assembly. So much so that Shi Liangcai, the editor-in-chief of "Declaration", personally wrote the book, ridiculing the national government for having an affair with the underworld. As soon as this news came out, Zhang Xiaolin, who had just been proud for a few days, was so angry that he almost didn't organize people to clean up Shi Liangcai, but Du Yuesheng understood the accident and vigorously dissuaded him to avoid the incident. This incident also caused dissatisfaction among some elders, including Sun Wen, who expressed their dissatisfaction to Wang Zhenyu through Wang Longzhong. Wang Zhenyu's answer to this is very simple: "Now they are all officials, so I don't remember that there was a request for help during the revolution." This is really treating people as urinals, and they don't care when they run out. When these words reached Nanjing, everyone immediately shut up.

"Minister Cai, old-timer, what kind of wind blew you from Nanjing to Wuhan?" Wang Zhenyu was polite and didn't forget to joke to ease the atmosphere, after all, Cai Yuanpei was seeing him for the first time.

Cai Yuanpei immediately felt Wang Zhenyu's kindness, he rubbed his hands and plucked up the courage to say: "That's the case, I have something to ask Chairman Wang for help, originally I shouldn't talk about this matter, but now the one who can help is Chairman Wang." ”

Wang Zhenyu took the coffee from Chen Bui's hand, personally handed it to Cai Yuanpei's hand and said: "If there is anything, you can just say it, you are a revolutionary senior, if there is anything I can do, I will never shirk!" ”

Cai Yuanpei nodded and said......

It turned out that on 20 May, the budget for the first year of the Nationalist Government was released in a noisy noise, and the bulk of the budget was naturally land reform, followed by free primary education and the construction of urban health care systems. In the case of limited funds, many departments asking for money, and too few monks, it is naturally impossible for the Ministry of Education, which has already received funding for free primary education, to apply for higher education fees. But Cai Yuanpei is a straight man, he went directly to the dean's office to reason with Hu Hanmin, Hu Hanmin is almost annoyed to death for the budget these days, plus Cai Yuanpei belongs to the Zhang Taiyan family of the Restoration Society, naturally there is no good face to look at, the two of them almost staged a full martial arts in the office, Zuihou was stopped, Hu Hanmin also yelled: "The national government has so much money, if you want to ask for money, go to Wuhan to find Wang Wenzheng to go, I Hu Zhantang don't want money here, there is another life." ”

When Cai Yuanpei said this, Wang Zhenyu couldn't help laughing: "He Hu Zhantang is also a single, I thought he would say that he would not give it to him." Hehe, it's okay, old-timers, we all understand each other, the government is just beginning, and it is inevitable that the finances will be tight. Tell me, what kind of charter is your higher education, if it is indeed possible, I will allocate some money from the military budget here It will not be in the way, the plate is so big, there is always room for maneuver. ”

Cai Yuanpei nodded and said: "My Jihua is to set up an international standardized university in Wuhan, Nanjing, Guangzhou, and Shanghai, regardless of discipline or faction, and recruit all experts in the intellectual, cultural, and scientific circles with high salaries. Then we will build a world-class university and cultivate talents for our country, and I have chosen the budget and the school site, which are all in these documents. ”

Wang Zhenyu didn't read the document after taking it, he just smiled and said, "Minister Cai's idea is still not atmospheric enough, in fact, before the establishment of the National Government, I announced that I would build a national Wuhan University at Wuhan Higher Normal School." Since you brought it up, I might as well make a few changes. First, colleges and universities do not necessarily have to be public, but also allow private schools, and even foreigners to run schools, which has a precedent in Shanghai, I mean to mobilize Nanyang businessmen, on the one hand, to encourage them to return to China to invest, on the other hand, in Xiamen, Shantou and other places where expatriates are densely populated to set up universities for them to invest, which can be regarded as benefiting the villagers. Cai Yuanpei applauded loudly and hurriedly wrote it down.

"Second, I think public universities, Wuhan University, Nanjing University, Shanghai University, and Guangzhou University can be done, but there are only a few universities in higher education, and our country's talent pool is in place? I see, it's not enough, I'm a soldier, but I've also run a military school. In my opinion, the Ministry of Education should not want to become a big fat man in one bite, these four universities should be run, and they should be run in a big way. In the provincial capitals, local governments and local celebrities should be allowed to run schools, and the Ministry of Education should have a five-year plan, which should be implemented step by step. Third, I won't say too much, how many dollars Mr. Cai needs, you speak. ”

Cai Yuanpei gritted his teeth and said: "At least 500 million, and no less than 100 million will be invested every year in the future." ”

Wang Zhenyu smiled: "No wonder Hu Hanmin refuses to give it to you, if you really want to give it to you, the other 11 departments of the Government Council are not allowed to go to the street to ask for food." ”

Cai Yuanpei said embarrassedly: "If the chairman feels embarrassed, you can do less, and we can set up 2 institutes first." ”

Wang Zhenyu shook his head and said: "The country needs talents, so this matter cannot be delayed, the most important thing is to do it well, and I believe in Minister Cai's character, I still have a sum of money here, 1500 million, you can do as much as you want." Education costs money, but the talent it cultivates can make money in the future. ”