With regard to the issue of attracting investment from Shengli Port, the Executive Committee has already concluded that the introduction of foreign capital can speed up the construction of Shengli Port, promote local economic development, and make Shengli Port become a commercial and trade center in the South China Sea region at an early date. Based on this understanding, the Executive Committee believes that it is necessary to start attracting more people from the outside world to settle and invest in Shengli Port, and the main source in the early stage must be Yazhou City, which is close at hand.

In addition to wealth, the Executive Committee also paid close attention to the intellectual community in Yazhou. At present, there are more than 200 school-age children in the Shengli Port area, but there is a shortage of teachers. It stands to reason that everyone can make a cameo appearance as a teacher to teach literacy, arithmetic and basic general knowledge courses, but the actual situation is not so optimistic, and there are less than ten people in charge of education full-time. When the large-scale immigration is implemented, the number of school-age children will increase further, and we can't wait until the Victory Harbor Primary School bursts to find a way to solve the problem.

As a result, Yazhou, which has a large number of scholars, has become the goal of the Executive Committee, and most of the scholars with merit and reputation will not be willing to be a teacher, but those who are older, have poor families, or have studied hard for many years and have not been able to obtain fame, the Executive Committee can provide them with a job to earn a living. Although these pedantic scholars who read the Four Books and the Five Classics cannot teach much really useful knowledge, they still have no problem teaching basic literacy courses. Tao Donglai asked the Yazhou Office to put more effort in this regard, as soon as possible in Yazhou to network a group of undesirable scholars to send a group of unwanted scholars to Shengli Port, the tide of immigrants from North Vietnam is about to come, Tao Donglai did not want to hear Ning Qi's complaints at that time.

For the Yazhou Office, which has gradually weakened its functions, attracting investment and recruiting talents from Yazhou will be the main tasks in the coming period. Although Marik was not sure about this, he still assured Tao Donglai that he would complete the tasks assigned by the Executive Committee.

Feng Anan saw that Tao Donglai had a bit of a meaning to stop here, and hurriedly asked, "Mr. Tao, I don't have any new tasks with Lao Mu?"

Tao Donglai smiled and asked, "What new tasks do you need?"

Feng Anan frowned and said: "There is really nothing to do in Yazhou, the two of us just go to the four city gates every day to take a turn to see if those guards are on time." It's a bit too idle these days, and if there are no special arrangements in the near future, I think it would be better to go back to Victory Port and lead the militia. ”

Mu Xiabai's temper was much hotter: "Mr. Tao, I'll just say it directly, I can understand the executive committee's gradual encroachment policy on Yazhou, and I personally don't advocate solving Yazhou by force, but my current status is a soldier, so I should always be assigned to a place with military tasks, right? ”

Tao Donglai smiled dumbly and said: "It turns out that you can't be idle! Okay, very good! I was afraid that you would be used to living a comfortable life here, but it seems that you are worried in vain!"

Feng Anan heard a hint of flavor from Tao Donglai's words, and hurriedly asked: "Is it that the executive committee has made new arrangements for us?"

Tao Donglai said: "It's not the arrangement of the executive committee, it's my personal idea...... Of course, I have to ask for your opinions before I submit it to the Executive Committee for discussion. ”

"Mr. Tao, if you want to talk about the internal personnel arrangements of the Military Police Department, then we will not audit. Mariko got up and took his leave. Seeing this, the others couldn't stay any longer, so they got up and went out, leaving the room to the three of them from the military police department.

The personnel arrangements of the Military Police Department have traditionally been decided internally before they are submitted to the Executive Committee, which is more of a "notice" than a real need for discussion by the Executive Committee, which is procedurally different from other departments. And it is precisely because of this independence that the last time the Black Earth Port Colonization Team determined the candidate for the military chief, it made waves because of Qian Tiandun's nomination, but the final winner of that dispute was still the Military Police Department.

This independence of the Military Police in personnel arrangements was decided by the then five-member Preparatory Committee before the crossing, and its purpose was to ensure that the military would not be influenced by the ruling civilian officials in the future. Otherwise, after the founding of the country, what if the Executive Committee sends an engineering student to be the Minister of Defense?

This is not an unfounded attempt by the military to fabricate such an absurd possibility. In fact, before they crossed, the fourth secretary of defense nominated by President Oba Donkey of the United States was a real physicist, a doctor and professor with a long list of titles, but he had never served in the military. The United States, which has the strongest military strength in the world, has not even been able to elect a representative figure with the ability to command the entire armed forces, and has been reduced to the point where it needs to let a science tyrant take the helm? The reason is, of course, not so simple, and the reason for such an absurd situation is more of a political game and compromise. As for whether this Minister of Defense, who has not even worn a military uniform for a day, can command one of the most powerful armies on the planet, I am afraid that he can think of the result with his toes.

In order to avoid this kind of layman commanding an insider's in the future, especially in such an important department as the military and police, the Preparatory Committee at that time specially formulated relevant personnel rules for this purpose, and the military and police departments and even the Ministry of National Defense in the future had full autonomy over the appointment of personnel. Of course, this rule also stipulates that the Executive Committee still retains the right of veto on the appointment of personnel of the Military and Police Department, but the Executive Committee does not have the right to directly appoint and dismiss the personnel of the Military Police Department or the Ministry of National Defense. In this way, the possibility of the civilian system directly interfering in the internal affairs of the military police department in the future is eliminated, and this is the point that the civilian officials criticize the current military police department the most.

No matter what the civil servants think, the rules are the rules, and the rules are set for people to follow. Although Marik is the number one leader of the Cliff Office in his position, he will never take the initiative to interfere in the work of the military police, intelligence, and security, let alone the internal personnel arrangements of the military and police departments.

After a few unrelated people went out, Tao Donglai asked, "I have to ask first, are you all willing to continue to work in the army?"

Both nodded abruptly without the slightest hesitation.

Tao Donglai said: "There are two places to go now, you can consider it." First of all, after we reached an arms trade with the Trần clan of North Vietnam, we will set up a training camp on the Tu Son Peninsula on the coast of Vietnam, and we will send military advisers to train the Trung troops in the use of firearms and corresponding tactics. To this end, the Executive Committee will add a company of militia to the port of Black Earth to ensure that the number of troops stationed there will not be greatly affected. Qian Tiandun will be responsible for the training of the newly formed company, and we also need to send people to the training camp on the Tushan Peninsula. ”

"This training camp is not just for military training, right?" Mu Shabai was older after all, and he was keenly aware of the trickiness involved.

Tao Donglai nodded and confirmed his guess: "The firearms units we trained for the Zheng clan will definitely be the elite of the North Vietnamese army in the future, and what they have learned from us will affect the attitude of the North Vietnamese military towards us for a long time to come." ”

Feng Anan clapped his hands and said, "I also understand, if this is done well, it is actually the Zheng family who paid to help us cultivate a puppet army!"

Tao Donglai said: "The operation mode in this is very flexible, we don't necessarily need to get the actual control of these troops, we just need to be able to control the thoughts of senior officers." ”

"This is easy to do, high-level training for senior officers! When the time comes, we can select some officers who show signs of development and let the Zheng family send them to Shengli Harbor for advanced training. Mu Shabai's feelings also rose: "Think about the military schools in China in the past, which school doesn't accept a large group of officer students from Africa and South America every year to study?"

"This errand sounds very interesting!" Feng Anan's eyes had already begun to glow.

"But I also need to remind you that the Tushan Peninsula is very desolate, and there are no living facilities except for a few shacks and tents. Although that place will be used as a base for our immigration, trade, and military exchanges with North Vietnam for some time to come, the living conditions will be relatively difficult, not to mention Shengli Port and Yazhou, and even Heitu Port will not be comparable. Tao Donglai gave them a preventive shot in a timely manner.

Mu Xiabai grinned and said: "It's nothing, I was a border armed police officer before I retired, and I was used to staying in the barren mountains and mountains." After retiring, he entered the city as a security guard, but he still felt uncomfortable. Mr. Tao, count me in advance!"

Tao Donglai said: "Don't make a decision in a hurry, I'll talk about the second place." Mr. Yan proposed a plan to expand the scale of militia training a few days ago, you should have heard about it, right?"

Both of them nodded, and Feng Anan said: "The boat that came to Yazhou to pull immigrants last week has sent the latest news, which is a great thing for the development of our military police department." ”

"A good thing is a good thing, but it will take the entire military and police department to implement this plan. To expand the scale of militia training, we need a large number of instructors, and now the oldest militia members have not been used for more than half a year, and it is still very reluctant to use them as instructors, and we still have to have our own people keep an eye on it. Tao Donglai explained the situation succinctly: "Don't think about fighting for the time being, there should be no foreign military action in the near future, but as an instructor, there are two ways to go." Let's think about it!"

Tao Donglai saw that the expressions on the faces of the two were a little hesitant, so he said again: "You don't need to answer me right now, anyway, I won't leave tonight, you have time to think about it slowly." ”

In these two ways, choosing to be a military adviser abroad will undoubtedly increase the gold content of qualifications, and even its significance will far exceed the current garrison office, but relatively speaking, the living environment will be more difficult, and the results will be relatively slow, and it will be slower to train a group of qualified soldiers, and then achieve results after going to the battlefield, which will take at least three or five months. And it is obviously easier to get results when you go back to Shengli Port to train the militia, and it is also easier for the bigwigs of the Executive Committee and the Military Police Department to see their own expressions, but the corresponding competition will be more fierce The military camp in Shengli Port has many instructors who have crossed the crowd, and there is also Gu Wei, the chief instructor, who is pressing, and it is not so easy to get ahead.

Even a relatively conscious veteran like Mu Xiabai was a little hesitant when faced with this fork in the road. He is not worried about how bad the environment is in the overseas station, but wants to consider which path is more beneficial to his future development. This may sound like a bit of a philistine, but this is the unavoidable reality, since I chose to travel to this world, I want to become a leading general as soon as possible and make contributions to the new regime.

Although everyone is now a lieutenant, it is unlikely that they will be promoted to captain or even higher ranks at the same time, and it is impossible for all of them to serve as company commanders, battalion commanders, or even higher-level positions in the future. In such an era, whoever has made more military achievements will be promoted faster, and if you want to become a general on the battlefield as soon as possible, you have to be careful now and add as much weight as possible to your resume.

The young Feng Anan thought more directly, as a soldier who wants to become a general as soon as possible, he must obtain as many military merits as possible, and if he wants to obtain military merits, he must go to the battlefield, and now there is no ready-made battlefield in the crossing group, in this case, he must choose to go to the place closest to the battlefield. The current attitude of the Executive Committee towards the local government of the Ming Dynasty is to cooperate on the surface and encroach on it secretly, and it will definitely not tear its face with the Ming Dynasty in the short term, and at present, the closest battlefield in the South China Sea region to the crossing group is probably only Vietnam.

After breakfast the next day, Tao Donglai got a unanimous answer from the two men, and they invariably chose the training camp on the Tushan Peninsula as their next goal. Tao Donglai expressed his understanding and support for this, and promised to do his best to determine the relevant matters after returning to Shengli Port.

As for the current work of the two, the Military Police Department will also send personnel to hand over after that. However, the personnel sent to take over the surveillance task next time may not be the traversal, as Mushabai said, the existing surveillance task is not difficult, and only a naturalized citizen with simple training is enough to complete.

After that, Tao Donglai spent nearly an hour listening to Qiu Yuan's financial report alone and reviewing the relevant financial records. In addition to the cost of living, a considerable part of the financial and accounting expenses of the Cliff Office are social expenses. This includes bribes and bribes to officials and clerks of various yamen, and daily eating, drinking, and co-opting relationships, which is not a small amount in bits and pieces, but the Executive Committee unconditionally approves of this part of the expenditure, because its results are very obvious, and the role it has played has far exceeded this limited expenditure.

In terms of income, it is not the strong point of the Cliff Office. Although the Executive Committee also hopes that overseas institutions such as the Yaya Office can have self-hematopoietic capabilities, it is very difficult to implement in practice. Now that the two commercial banks have even sent their own ships to Shengli Port to purchase goods, the role that the Cliff Office can play in commerce and trade is getting smaller and smaller, let alone any profit. Moreover, this place is too close to the base camp, unlike the Black Soil Port or the Canton Office, which is far away from the emperor and has enough autonomy to act, even if Marik and they occasionally have any ideas that can make a little money, they have to go through the base camp first, and this time of coming and going often misses the opportunity.

Tao Donglai personally doesn't care much about the financial burden of the Cliff Office, compared with the expenditure of the Guangzhou Office of the same nature of overseas institutions, this is actually just a pediatric. The Guangzhou Office spent 2,500 taels of silver just to buy a house, and from its establishment to the present, if you don't count the low-cost glass products that were given out as gifts, the actual amount of silver spent has not reached 3,000 taels. Moreover, the local network of the Guangzhou Office has only just begun to be built, and when it has a scale, the daily expenditure in this area will certainly not be a small amount.

And Wang Tom seized the time in the morning and went to the field with Mu Xiabai and Feng Anan to see the city defense situation of Yazhou City. After confirming it with his own eyes, Wang Tom also had to admit that Mu Feng and the others had a point, Yazhou did not have much offensive value, and it would have to send a large number of civil and military personnel to manage it, occupying limited human resources in vain, and it was better to leave this place to the government to take care of.

After lunch that day, Tao Donglai and Wang Tom set off from Yazhou again, took the boat sent by Luo Shengdong down the Ningyuan River, and then transferred to the "Feisu" at the mouth of the Ningyuan River. Luo Shengdong said very doggedly that he could escort all the way to Shengli Harbor, but Tao Donglai politely declined his kindness, if he had to wait for his slow warship along the way, it was estimated that he would not be able to reach Shengli Port after dark.

The "Flying Speed" sped all the way, and it took only three hours from the mouth of the Ningyuan River back to Shengli Harbor, which according to Tom Wang seemed to have set a new one-way time record for the "Flying Speed". After leaving Shengli Port for more than ten days, Tao Donglai and his party finally returned with a fruitful harvest.

That night, Tao Donglai convened a discussion meeting with the executive committee members, one was to report to the executive committee on the harvest of the tour, and the other was to communicate on a number of measures to be taken in the next step and solicit everyone's opinions. The lengthy meeting lasted from the end of dinner until midnight, but the participants maintained a high level of excitement, because Tao Donglai's tour solved many problems for the development of the group, and in the next period of time, it seemed that they could finally throw off their arms and do a big job.