Dominate the Country

[There is a supporting character in the book review area. If you are interested, you can set up a character of your own. It can be Chinese or foreign, and they don’t all need to be Chen Ming’s subordinates.]

The former governor's office of Anhui in the Qing Dynasty, the current Anhui General Military Office of the Fuhan Army, and most of the current Fuhan Army governors. Chen Ming's arrival pushed Gao Pingshan directly to work in the Yamen of the former Chief Envoy of Anhui.

On the large map hanging on the wall behind Chen Ming, the large red area that originally spanned the north and south of the Yangtze River has now shrunk by 70 to 80%. Only half of the Yangzhou Prefecture in Northern Jiangsu has been lost, and Jiangnan has once again returned to what it was like during the decisive battle in Northern Jiangsu. The situation - the only territory still controlled by the Fuhan Army was the narrow strip along the river.

"Hasn't the main garrison of Jiangyin Huangshan Fort withdrawn?"

"Reporting to the Commander-in-Chief, the main force of the Huangshan Fort has retreated."

"Then Jiangyin should also withdraw. Just hold on to Zhenjiang." Chen Ming dropped the report of Huang Jie's arrival and was a little unimpressed with Jiangyin's gains and losses. If that place is lost, it will be lost. Originally, Jiangyin was a little too far from Zhenjiang. When Nantong Prefecture on the north bank was captured by the Qing army, the too far water and land channel was too easy to be cut off by the Qing army, so it didn't matter. What a pity.

As for the situation in Nanjing, as long as the Fuhan Army still controls Zhenjiang-Nanjing-Yangzhou for the time being, such a triangle area will be enough.

Besides, for the previous strategic arrangement, the price paid by the Fuhan Army was still small?

When the team from northern Jiangsu evacuated from Huai'an, there were still more than 100,000 to 200,000 liters of grain stored in the Huai'an grain depot that could not be transported away. Didn't Chen Ming just distribute it to the local refugees and people with a stroke of his pen? As a result, even the people in Qingjiang ran to Huai'an to grab food after hearing the news. The same is true for the Huangshan Fort in Jiangyin. After the gunners and escorts withdrew, only a small number of people were left to show off on the fort. If the Qing troops came, their only task would be to blow up the forty or fifty cannons on the fort and then escape, instead of resisting desperately.

The Fuhan Army's cannons came easily, but forty or fifty cannons was not a small number. Chen Ming has given up so much, why would he not want to part with Jiangyin County?

It's a pity that he had a good impression of Jiang Yin before. The Fuhan Army had occupied Jiangyin for such a long time, and there were not even two battalions of people in Jiangyin who had surrendered to the Fuhan Army. Although this number is much better than other places, it is still far from Chen Ming's 'expectation', which has ruined Chen Ming's previous feelings.

Put down the memorial sent by Huang Jie and the express report sent by Jiujiang Miao Fuwei. The number of Qing troops and Jiangxi civilian warriors gathered on both sides of Jiujiang Hukou has reached 30,000. After Chen Yongsheng led the Jiujiang Navy and Army to attack Hubei, Chen Ming sent Miao Fuwei to take charge of Jiujiang. Naturally, he also had the title of Jiangxi Chief Military Officer, just like Gao Pingshan's current Anhui Chief Military Officer. .

Miao Fuwei currently has a small number of 10,000 troops, but 60 to 70 percent are new recruits, and the remaining 30 to 40 percent are non-main forces. Their combat effectiveness is only weaker than that of the Qing army and civilians on the opposite side. That is to say, they were in a defensive posture and had abundant artillery fire. Chen Ming strengthened an artillery battalion for Jiujiang, which allowed Jiujiang to partially block the attacks of the Qing army.

Miao Fuwei's dispatch was of course a request for reinforcements.

He picked up the pen and wrote the words 'got it' on the fold, then put it aside with his backhand. Some things can be explained to the following, but once explained, there is no need to explain to the following again. Is the battle situation in Jiujiang just a stalemate? Then let's just have a stalemate. The Fuhan Army now has enough gunpowder. How many people can the Qing Army have to feed the cannonballs? Even if Miao Fuwei sends an express message a day to ask for reinforcements, Chen Ming will not send out a single soldier. The only war he cares about now is Huangpi!

In just two hours, Chen Ming read more than 20 memorials and wrote the three characters "got it" on more than half of them. Now he is getting better and better at writing these three characters, and he can already write in continuous strokes. .

"Let Xie Hu and Xie Baoguang be appointed as the prefect of Anqing to improve Anqing's people's livelihood, industry and commerce."

After Xie Hu was rescued from the prison of Nankang Prefecture in Xingzi County, he recovered from his injuries and was disheartened by the Manchus. After his family members were taken in by the Fuhan Army, he naturally began to serve for the Fuhan Army. , Chen Yongsheng knew that Chen Ming had changed Jiujiang’s Military Control Commission into a positive one. After realizing the intention of the formal government, he wrote a special report to recommend Xie Hu, but now the person sitting in the position of Jiangxi Commander-in-Chief is no longer Chen Yongsheng. Let Xie Hu, who is closely related to Chen Yongsheng, be made the prefect of Jiujiang. Something is inappropriate. But this Xie Hu is indeed very good, so what should we do? He was transferred to Anqing and made him the prefect of Anqing.

"For the magistrate appointments at the county level below, as well as the assistant officials from various places, you must draw up a list as soon as possible. Don't be afraid of taking responsibility, as long as you don't make mistakes yourself, the mistakes of the people below are only their own faults, and they can't involve you. We have quite a few people in our pockets now. Those who have been masters are not fools. Let them be used. You should make a list as soon as possible before we leave for Hubei. All local official appointments have been finalized.”

Chen Ming said to Zheng Hongyu and Liu Dezhao in front of him. He appointed Xie Hu as the prefect of Anqing, and Zheng Wen, the former prefect of Yangzhou, as the prefect of Jiujiang. The latter was from Shaoxing and was the master of Wuhu, the prefect of Taiping Prefecture. When the Fuhan army captured Wuhu on its way to the south of the Yangtze River, Zheng Wen failed to escape, so he surrendered obediently and served the Fuhan army.

This person is afraid of death and will be very weak once he is captured. It is difficult for Chen Ming to truly trust him. Chen Ming did not trust him at the beginning, but Zheng Wen had been a staff advisor for more than ten years and was very good at handling various miscellaneous tasks. Moreover, during the long-term surveillance of him by the dark camp, no signs of Zheng Wen's collusion with the Qing army spies were found. Although Chen Ming still cannot completely trust him now, he still uses his talents.

As for the assistants below the prefect, as well as the chief and deputy officials at the county level, Chen Ming has no intention to sort them out. He directly handed them over to the original Southeast Administrative Office and Liu Dezhao to do it.

He now wants to quickly settle all the troubles in Anqing and Jiujiang, and then lead the remaining troops to enter Hubei. The troops in Jiangnan will also withdraw to Anqing and Jiujiang one after another. He really wants to complete this thousand-mile transfer of military strategy.

The dark camp's northern bureau has received news that the Qing army that was previously transferred to Guide and Kaifeng by Agui is quickly returning to the front line. Moreover, a Qing army cavalry had already gone south from Chenzhou to Xinyang, and the team led by Chen Erbao returned from De'an to Xiangyang, and then returned to Nanyang. Now the Henan secret camp is trying its best to detect the number of the cavalry...

Southeast of Anqing City, near Pogang Lake, Xishanzui was originally a piece of land owned by a wealthy man named Wang. When the Fu Han Army came, the Wang family ran away, and the land fell into the hands of the Fu Han Army. The terrain here is very high. Although it is close to the lake, the hundreds of acres of land are almost all ordinary dry fields.

Now it has become a busy construction site, which was caught up after the beginning of spring. The Fu Han Army recruited thousands of strong laborers from the surrounding areas with a salary of two silver dollars per person. In more than half a month, five rows of neat houses, a playground, a canteen, a watchtower and a seven-foot-high wall were built on this high ground.

In Anqing in the beginning of spring, the river breeze was still very cold, but the people working on the construction site were so hot that their hearts were swollen. After working for such a long time, if they still don't know what this place is going to be used for, it's ridiculous.

The Fu Han Army invested a lot of money to open this technical school to teach people skills. Technical school, technical school, a school for technicians. Blacksmiths, coppersmiths, leatherworkers, bricklayers, stonemasons, carpenters, scale makers, bamboo makers, rope makers, clothing binding, and simple literacy, arithmetic, all taught, and all free of charge.

The first batch will recruit 500 people. If their children are willing to come to the school, they can sign up and be given priority. Because these people come to the construction site to eat food and are jointly guaranteed, so they can come to work. Such a family is clean and trustworthy.

The technical school does not force future graduates to work for the Fu Han Army. The school made it clear in its external publicity that this is purely a people-friendly policy of the Fu Han Army, and there will be more and more such policies in the future. The school does not charge fees. Students who wish to live on campus also have dormitories. The canteen is open to all teachers and students. Students can carry food, firewood, etc. to the canteen to exchange for food coupons, and then use the food coupons to buy meals in the canteen.

However, the school also stated that if students do not work hard and make trouble, the school has the power to expel them.

For many people in Anqing, letting their children learn a craft is a good thing for a lifetime. In the past, if they wanted to send their children to be apprentices and learn crafts, they had to prepare generous gifts and beg the master to agree. Once the children are sent in, it is equivalent to selling them to the master for the next few years. Not only can they not get a penny of wages, but if they do not meet the master's wishes, they will be beaten and scolded.

Of course, the master will take care of the apprentice's food, clothing and daily necessities after accepting the apprentice, unlike the technical school, where the family provides food and clothing every day.

So there are pros and cons on both sides, but generally speaking, technical schools are still good.

The Fu Han Army also specially introduced a technician qualification certificate. Each of the craftsmen who taught in the school was at least qualified as an intermediate technician, while ordinary folk craftsmen might not even pass the primary technician assessment. This thing was first implemented in the logistics troops, then in the Jiujiang shipyard, and now it has been officially promoted.

If folk craftsmen are not convinced, they can go and try their hands, and they will know something.

There is an exhibition hall set up in the outermost rooms of the technical school. Not only are there ready-made products on display, but there are also live performances by masters of rims. This measure can greatly reassure the people of Anqing. Of course, the masters who practiced in the past will inevitably have to deal with the challenges of outsiders in the future and hold up the stage.

The Fu Han Army won the battle in northern Jiangsu, and now Chen Ming is full of confidence in the attack on Hubei. The foothold of the Fu Han Army in Anqing and Jiujiang has evolved from a strategic bridgehead to a front-line base that needs to be carefully managed.

The establishment of a technical school in Anqing is to win the hearts of the local people. Moreover, when the time is right, the Fu Han Army will also carry out Western-style primary education, or a modern school system. Although the school education system that Chen Ming is familiar with originated in the West, he has no idea whether the one he is more familiar with is completely consistent with the Western education system in the 18th century. Primary education, there are higher-level vocational and technical colleges, and then slowly move towards comprehensive colleges and universities. Everything must be done step by step.

With the current educational phenomenon in China, even if Chen Ming gathers the strength of the whole country, he can't think of creating Tsinghua University and Peking University in one step. That is unrealistic. The gap in some aspects of China in this era is not only in practical application, but also in systematic education and training.

A team of soldiers from the Fu Han Army was stationed outside the school for a long time. People working on the construction site often saw soldiers in red military uniforms coming and going. When the people came to the construction site from their homes, they often brought some pickled eggs, duck eggs, or meat and poultry such as chickens, ducks, and geese to sell to these soldiers.

Shortly after dawn that day, the people who went to work came to the construction site as usual, carrying loads, packages, or pushing carts. A group of them gathered outside the military camp to sell goods, but were stopped by a large number of military police. The people of Anqing all recognized the military police. These people were dressed in black with three red stripes embroidered on their cuffs. Their clothes and dress were completely different from those of ordinary Fu Han Army. They had a stern face all day long, and their cold eyes made people shudder every time they shot at them.

"The military camp is under martial law in the morning. Come back to do business in the afternoon."

A military police officer shouted at them. Although his tone was cold and hard, his attitude was not rude. The military police did not drive them away with guns, but just separated the people from a line. The people sighed and dispersed. Later, news spread that an important person had been present that day...