When Chen Wu received the good news of the Crooked Mountain Iron Mine, it was the afternoon of Chinese New Year's Eve.

After all, it is the end of the year, and at the most festive time, the governments at all levels in Songjiang have already taken a holiday. Even the departments facing the east street only left the staff on duty. In the huge Governor's Palace, only the guards are still doing their duty. If this news came any later, Chen Wu would have planned to return to the backyard.

"At the saddle on the west side of the Crooked Head Mountain, it is determined that there is iron ore deposits. The iron content is very high, and some can be mined in open pit. The specific stock is difficult to estimate, and it is suspected that it is a large mine......"

In a few short paragraphs of the report, Zhu Xingwen's judgment is attached.

On the last day of the year, it is undoubtedly a very joyous event to have such good news to close. However, seeing Zhu Xingwen's inference, Chen Wu smiled and said nothing, and casually handed the good news aside.

If there is no accident, this crooked mountain iron mine will organize manual mining after the Spring Festival. Since its location was not under the direct control of the Songjiang Army, even if it was very close, it was still not enough insurance. Therefore, Chen Wu's idea is to speed up the mining efforts as much as possible, and strive to empty the most easily mined part of the rich ore in a year.

In this case, even if there was any change in the local officials of Yuanshan County or the city guards stationed to monitor the Songjiang Army, Chen Wu would not lose much.

………

The busy year ended in the bell of the Yunlong Taoist Temple outside Dengzhou City and the sound of the people.

It has undoubtedly been an eventful year for the people of Songjiang County. First, the war caused by the eastward advance of the Taiping Army, then he entered Dengzhou, accepted Zhao'an, and became the new master of Songjiang, and then carried out comprehensive reforms. Although it has only just begun to be implemented item by item, it has already made many people feel the new atmosphere.

Hopefully, the new year will be better.

In anticipation, with the New Year's message issued by the Governor's Palace, the Matsue Army, which had stirred up the situation in the entire Eastern Continent, ushered in a new beginning. With the resumption of government operations after the third day of the Lunar New Year, the eight departments began to implement the new government's plans in a comprehensive and in-depth manner after initially running in for a period of time and adapting to the existing responsibilities and operations.

The Home Affairs Department and the Finance Department have joined hands to sound the clarion call for the Government to implement tax reform.

Some of the harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes that appeared in the former Qianyuan Empire over the past few hundred years, including the private tax collection checkpoints set up in various places, were all abolished. The original Songjiang land was inventoried and re-measured. We should appropriately reduce some agricultural taxes, and at the same time increase investment and support for industry and commerce. As long as you obediently accept the guidance of the new government and join the Southeast Chamber of Commerce, you can enjoy the preferential policies.

On the other hand, the police system, which had been initially operational, also took real action and began to check private soldiers. After further cracking down on local horse bandits and robbers and ensuring public order, local vigilante groups will be banned in a reasonable manner.

On the part of the Administration Bureau, it began to carry out in-depth personnel appointments in Songjiang's prefectures and counties, and gradually began to conduct comprehensive supervision and evaluation. Some who do not meet the requirements, but have escaped the clean-up before, will be completely dismissed this time to ensure that the capable will go up and the mediocre will go down.

The Military Department and the War Readiness Administration joined hands to speed up the formation of the Second Division of the Songjiang Army. In addition, a group of recruits recruited from Tiannan County have also preliminarily completed their training. Just wait for the first batch of weapons and equipment to be in place, and then the Tianlong Garrison Division can be formally established, and then Chen Wu can change the current situation in Tiannan County and achieve a thorough and stable control.

On the other hand, the maintenance and rectification of post stations in Songjiang and Tiannan are also in full swing. The MI got involved, taking the opportunity to plant agents in the post station system spread across the two counties. While ensuring the smooth operation of the post station system, it also turned it into a stealth intelligence network placed under the control of the Songjiang military.

On the side of the Press and Distribution Bureau, a group of more than a dozen people has been set up to be responsible for the editing and distribution of the Songjiang Daily -- even if most of them do not know what to do with the newspaper that the Governor wants.

The work of the Cultural and Educational Department is also a top priority.

The previous recruitment was only a temporary and unavoidable examination. What Chen Wu needs is an institutionalized, biennial examination similar to the civil service examination. Moreover, the content of the exam must also be practical, not useless. The specific content, scope, and rules of the examination, the preparation of the examiner and the examination room, and the subsequent recruitment, etc., all require the Cultural and Educational Department to formulate a charter and publish it to the world.

In addition to the comprehensive implementation of scientific research materials, it is matched by the promotion of culture and education.

Chen Wu is ready to invest a lot of money in this regard. Of course, in order not to stimulate those nobles, the upcoming promotion of cultural education is relatively low-key, and the content is not mainly poetry, books and articles, arithmetic and miscellaneous studies will be added, and there will even be physical and chemical knowledge that he intends to compile himself in the future.

It may not be effective in three or five years, but with the passage of time, the investment in education will achieve long-term and considerable results, so that the Songjiang Army will obtain a steady stream of talents.

All aspects went hand in hand, so that the Songjiang government's move caused huge repercussions and attention from the very beginning. The vast majority of the people of Songjiang absolutely support these policies, which they know at a glance to be beneficial to the people. Under the escort of the powerful military strength of the Songjiang Army, even if some local forces whose interests were affected went against the law, or even openly opposed them, they could not change the general trend.

Encouraged by this, Songjiang-gun's economy regained its vitality after years of stagnation and began to accelerate its growth.

And the prestige of Songjiang Jun and Chen Wu has also been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people with this change.

However, this is not the case in neighboring Tiannan County.

The five mansions of Songjiang County, after all, were fought down by Chen Wu little by little. The 13,000 men of the 1st Division of the Songjiang Army, plus 8,000 men from the two brigades of the Dengzhou Garrison Division, were swept across the territory of Songjiang County. With such power, it is natural that various reforms and policies can be easily promoted. But Tiannan County was taken down by Chen Wu in name by means of means, even if there was already a direct wing stationed in Tianlong, the shape was still not good.

First of all, the reforms implemented in Songjiang Shunlì have almost come to a standstill in Cheonnam-gun.

Among them, there are local interest groups in Tiannan County, the arrangements left by the former governor of Tiannan County who were unwilling to leave before leaving, and the remaining black-clothed guards of the Kingdom of Oman threading the needle. Taken together, the resistance to these three forces is unprecedentedly strong. This is still the case in the county town of Tianlong, not to mention the surrounding Nanfeng Mansion, Changlu Mansion, and Shizhou Mansion. With the support of the original local city defense battalion, the various orders given by Chen Wu were almost shelved and were not implemented for a long time.

Obviously, these people who have not suffered much have not taken Chen Wu, the new master of Tiannan's envoy and exercising power in the name of acting governor, in their eyes.

Before the Spring Festival, Chen Wu had not even completed the reform in Songjiang County, and coupled with the lack of military strength, he was naturally beyond the reach of Tiannan County. Even if you know that the orders issued are similar to air, you can only let them go. But with Songjiang County on the right track after the Spring Festival, and the formation of the Tianlong Garrison Division was nearing completion, Chen Wu naturally could no longer tolerate the semi-independence of Tiannan County.

He wanted to completely take down Tiannan County and bring it under the Songjiang-Tiannan system.

Some people may ask, why didn't Chen Wu use the strength of the Tiannan Army, after all, this force of more than 40,000 people Chen Wu can be mobilized in name. Chen Wu actually considered this matter, but in the end he vetoed it. First, they were tasked with guarding the South Peak Fortress; Second, before he completely infiltrated and mastered the three reorganized divisions, Chen Wu was not at ease about transferring them to participate in the internal affairs of Tiannan -- after all, most of the soldiers of the Tiannan Army were locals and had inextricable ties with the local forces in various parts of Tiannan.

It was precisely because of this consideration that Chen Wu would let them stay at the Nanfeng Fortress, and was ready to use his Songjiang Army and Tianlong Garrison Division to do things.

After the New Year, the army took the lead in mobilizing.

The 3rd Brigade of the 1st Division of the Songjiang Army, under the command of Mo Guohao, took the lead in moving south, and entered Tiannan County from Chishang Mansion in Songjiang through Puyuan County, and was temporarily stationed in Changlu Mansion in Tiannan. Although it did not go any further, it was certainly a clear signal.

All the people in Tiannan County who were discerning and well-informed were shocked.

That governor of Songjiang is finally going to put his hand into Tiannan County!

Although this was not the first time that the Songjiang army had set foot in Tiannan, it had come to the war against the Kingdom of Oman in the second half of last year. But that time, after driving out the Omanis, the Songjiang army did not stay, and almost all of them were pulled back to Songjiang before the military reform was introduced. This time, everyone knew that the Songjiang army would not leave when it came.

However, the entry of these 4,000 people is only a precursor.

Six days later, the newly formed First Brigade of the Second Division of the Songjiang Army also followed suit and entered Changlu Province. Due to the limited strength of the Combat Readiness Administration, these fully trained recruits were only issued with weapons and did not be equipped with armor, and their combat effectiveness was naturally far inferior to that of the first division. Fortunately, the task of this brigade is not heavy, and Mo Guohao's first division and three brigades go first, which should be a real combat experience.

As the first batch of achievements of the expansion of the army after the military reform, the first brigade of the second division was the brigade commander of Shi Yuanliang.

This person was also one of the first to join the Taiping Army, loyal and brave in battle, and was commended several times. Now the brigade commander of the new army can be said to have achieved positive results. Because of this, Shi Yuanliang is also very grateful to Chen Wu for his promotion and this important responsibility.

It is clear that many people are secretly envious, jealous, and even slanderous about him, and this time he is determined to show himself well and prove himself.

After the 8,000 people of the two brigades entered the country, the basically formed Tianlong Garrison Division also sent the first batch of two wings and drove into Changlu Mansion.

The arrival of a total of 10,000 troops made the originally somewhat chaotic Changlu Mansion feel a strong pressure. Many people who were in the camp were settled down in an instant.