After Zhou Changfeng left, Zhu Lingjing stared thoughtfully at the book in front of her for a while, then reached for a bookmark.
In her view, the Fuzhou Prefecture officials' attempt to negotiate was a bit wishful thinking and naive. Perhaps it was Zhu Shiyan's past behavior and handling style that caused them to form inertial thinking?
She can basically guess what these guys are planning.
The current situation cannot be compared. Zhu Shiyan has never been willing to be a villain in this regard. For half a century, the integrity supervision work in the Ming Dynasty has been completely led by the imperial court.
The prime minister was the key to the policy planning of the Ming Dynasty, and the differences in governance between successive prime ministers also caused this aspect to be tight and loose at times. At the same time, it is impossible for experienced politicians to be cruel to their own people. Therefore, even the prime minister who was the most severe in punishing and anti-corruption found it difficult to convince the public, and there was endless opposition and ridicule from the government and the opposition.
Zhu Shiyan, who likes to use soft knives to sharpen people, has always been relatively tolerant. If compared to ancient times, he can probably gain a reputation as benevolent and tolerant as Song Renzong.
So if it were him in the same situation, the plan of the officials in Fuzhou Prefecture would probably come true - kill a few scapegoats, fine the rest a large amount, and then order them to resign.
But it's a pity that the version has been updated.
Facts have proved that those who cannot keep up with the version are destined to be eliminated. Being aware of it later is a bad habit that is not conducive to survival. Obviously, some Ming officials' skills in this area have gradually deteriorated in their comfortable days.
"As little as 15 million, as much as 40 million." Zhu Lingjing, who looked relaxed, thought about it in her mind and murmured to herself: "Say more but not more, say less."
It's not that she covets money, but she feels that these incidental gains are very considerable.
Zhu Lingjing actually does not hate corruption, it is just the most common among many behaviors.
In her cognition and evaluation standards, neglect and laziness are more serious than this.
This is the so-called "corruption is a small matter, but political neglect is a big matter."
The power held and exercised by the government is undoubtedly important and indispensable. If officials are lazy, perfunctory, and slack, and their power cannot be applied, other forces will naturally take its place.
Ethnic groups, religions, gangs, etc. are all-pervasive. When the government is operating normally, it can only barely resist. Once the government is slack, the consequences can be imagined.
As a result, the state machinery will be quickly damaged, it will be in name only, and the efficiency of administration and governance will plummet.
In this regard, the Ming Dynasty suffered a heavy loss, and it is not groundless that the Ming Dynasty died in Wanli.
Ming Shenzong's negligent behavior due to objective and subjective factors directly caused the Ming Dynasty to fall into a state of semi-paralysis. Although he himself could actually handle some financial and military matters, the crucial personnel appointments and dismissals were extremely delayed.
This resulted in long-term shortages of many positions in the imperial court and local government. The number of officials in the Ming Dynasty was not as large as that in the Song Dynasty. They were usually at just enough levels. It was difficult to find someone to take over the job after the shortage.
As we all know, the consequences are disastrous.
As for salaries, the "famous" meager salaries of Ming officials had undergone major changes and increased a lot in the early days of the Later Ming Dynasty.
Today, the salaries of officials in the Ming Dynasty have been raised many times. Not to mention the most basic support for their families, it is enough to live a decent life, but there is still a certain distance from being rich and generous.
Many people had suggested that they could try to implement the strategy of high salary to maintain integrity, but the senior officials in the DPRK felt that the effect was not proportional to the cost, so they did not adopt it as expected, and everything continued as usual.
After returning home, Zhou Changfeng was not in a good mood. The more important reason was that the outcome of his bet with Shen Yu was basically decided.
Although it is still early for the final statistical results to be released, one thing can be concluded - with so many local officials, the total amount is less than 10 million yuan? Who are you looking down on?
Let alone one Jieyang-class destroyer, maybe two or even three can be found.
hateful!
After promotion, the salary also increased, from the previous 200 yuan per month to 250 yuan.
Losing such a large amount of money all at once is something that a gambler cannot tolerate!
"Small gambling Yiqing, how could you place such a big bet? This time, your little friend has made a lot of money."
Xia Xiaoshi stirred the noodles in the bowl, picked out a strand, and swallowed it almost silently.
Zhou Changfeng shrugged helplessly, "I didn't think much about it at the time. I thought it was only a month's money at most, but after I calmed down... I naturally regretted it."
Xia Xiaoshi, who was across the table, curled her lips and said, "Oh, sir, you are not saying that lightly. You are usually running around outside and have no time to worry about things at home. In fact, our family's expenses are not small. We have to spend nearly two hundred every month. There really isn’t much money left.”
Talking about this, she became even more unhappy. She counted with her fingers: "The unit price of firewood, rice, oil, and salt is not expensive, but it adds up to a lot. Then there are things like clothing, the cost of traveling, and the cost of refueling the car. With the salary given to Lin Xi...when the child is born, the expenses will be even higher."
Xia Xiaoshi is actually quite curious. In people's inherent impression, people who can work around the emperor will be short of money?
There should be a mountain of gifts just from those who come to greet and flatter me!
Hearing her list of expenses, Zhou Changfeng waved his hands repeatedly and said nonchalantly: "It is true that I can barely maintain a balance of payments by just relying on salary, but I still have money as the emperor's military advisor, and I also get dividends."
These two are actually the big ones. The former is as high as 500 yuan per month, which is equivalent to the salary of a brigadier general. In the past few months, he has actually accumulated a lot, but it has been kept in his bank account and has not been withdrawn.
It was undoubtedly a very wise choice to use the large amount of money that Zhu Lingjing used to win people's hearts to invest in Hengguang Company. The engagement fee she gave at that time was a huge sum of 99,000 yuan, most of which was used to invest in Hengguang Company. company.
Although the basic purpose is to find a place where you can help make experimental small arms at will, the generous dividends that come with it are also very considerable.
After the scale is expanded, Hengguang Company will naturally be able to win more orders. After making huge profits, it can continue to expand. It can be said that it has fully reaped the dividends of Ming Dynasty's war preparations.
As his agent, his brother-in-law Li Shuye also worked very hard at Hengguang Company. Even excluding his salary and a small amount of dividends, the amount of dividends purely belonging to Mr. Zhou amounted to tens of thousands of yuan.
And this is just the beginning. It is foreseeable that this originally unknown gun factory will expand rapidly in the next few years.
After listening to his story, Xia Xiaoshi blinked and said in surprise: "There are actually so many, then... a mere two hundred yuan missing doesn't seem to be anything."
But she immediately added: "No, I can't do this again. If you don't take this as a warning, you will only bet bigger and bigger."
"Okay, okay, I understand, I don't like gambling."
With the Fuzhou case temporarily coming to an end, Zhou Changfeng's attention focused on the paratrooper equipment that made him particularly speechless at the time.
After lunch, he hurriedly left home and drove straight to the Ministry of War.
Maybe some people dare not take Mr. Zhou seriously, but no matter what, they dare not despise the position of "military aircraft awaiting edict".
Regardless of prejudice or jealousy, you still have to behave yourself after meeting.
"I urged you a few days ago, how is the situation now?" Zhou Changfeng asked straight to the point as soon as he arrived.
An officer in charge of the Air Force Department presented him with a bound booklet, which was very thin and only contained a few pages.
"According to your request, we have found out the previously shelved design. We have also discussed the size and strength of the parachute with the manufacturer. It can be changed, but it will take some time."
"That's good."
The seemingly gentle Air Force officer said: "But now that this new gadget has been applied, the previous Type 32 umbrellas can no longer be used, and there are still nearly 100,000 sets in stock..."
"It's not advisable to lose something because of something small." Zhou Changfeng said calmly.
"That's true."
In fact, the officials of the Air Force Department were somewhat dissatisfied with this. Everyone felt that Zhou's arbitrary instructions were really irresponsible.
You don't even consider the opinions of actual users, just give such straightforward and crude instructions? This guy does have an extraordinary record, but that's not the capital to do whatever he wants.
The leg bags designed at that time were called "sling bags" within the Ming army. After parachuting, the canvas bag containing weapons would be hung two meters below the paratrooper, touching the ground before the legs, so as to best maintain a stable center of gravity.
But the soldiers didn't buy it. They thought it was too bulky and abandoned it on the grounds that it was inconvenient, easy to miss the best parachute opportunity, and had the potential to hinder normal parachute opening.
I don't know if they ever thought that they might have to attack the enemy's position with a pistol in the future - because the airdrop box containing the weapon fell on the opposite side.
Perhaps because the current situation was becoming increasingly tense, no one noticed such a thing, so Zhou's arbitrary request was implemented quite smoothly.
The trial-produced Type 37 parachute, which was originally only completed as a trial production but became a technical verification product, has now been ordered by the Air Force for 8,000 sets. However, the delivery time of the earliest batch will probably have to wait until next year.
“How many sets can be delivered in the first batch?”
"About two thousand sets."
"Okay, we will divide it evenly when the time comes. All three groups will get some, and then get familiar with it. You will be able to adapt to it as soon as the subsequent batches arrive."
The officer pushed up his glasses and whispered: "It's just... I'm afraid those soldiers won't be willing..."
"Oh, they won't really treat war like children's play, right? That will kill people." Zhou Changfeng patted the table, then said with his hands on his hips: "The first priority is to do everything possible to achieve the goal, no matter what, it is better than It will be a hundred times better to look for weapon boxes everywhere, and with their mentality, they will suffer a big loss!"
It can be considered as a way to make amends. The omissions discovered accidentally were plugged up by the resolute Zhou Changfeng.
After fixing an omission in his country, he inevitably thought of the Germans who had suffered a lot from this in history.
Do you want to remind them by the way?
Although Zhou Changfeng was very entangled, and he felt that the rigid Germans would most likely not make changes.
After suffering heavy casualties, people are still the same. Will they really follow the advice of a foreigner?
At the same time, at the German Embassy in Ming Dynasty located in Zhongcheng District...
The comfortable days will undoubtedly make people decadent, and Chris feels that her choice to come to Ming Dynasty may have been a wrong decision.
Since Germans really don't have much talent in cooking, she has tried all kinds of dishes and snacks during her stay in Yingtian Mansion in the capital.
The price was that she gained a full five kilograms, from the original fifty-eight kilograms to sixty-three kilograms. If it wasn't for her height that the weight was not obvious, she would be really depressed to death.
But this is just a corner of Nanjing. Trying to eat all of China is an arduous task that will probably take half a lifetime to accomplish.
"How is the progress of your work? Are there any other actions by the Chinese?" Major General Justus Kohler, who serves as the chief military attache, asked routinely.
"It's still the same as before, no obvious large-scale operations were found." Chris replied truthfully.
Due to the surveillance and restrictions of the foreign intelligence factory, the movement of the legation attaché was very inconvenient, so her work was basically limited to obtaining information through newspapers, periodicals, and radio news, and filtering and summarizing useful intelligence.
"The war is coming," Kohler said, looking out the window. "It happens to be a very suitable time to watch the Northern Lights."
The British Empire Cabinet has issued instructions, and Prime Minister Neville is particularly confident after making up his mind.
The hawks in the British army were even more optimistic. They declared:
"...After landing, you will immediately get a big prize - not only can you control a large amount of 1.5 million tons of iron ore, but you can also occupy a Nordic port that is of great value to the navy. Even if we cannot use the railway, we can rely on the port to gain a foothold. , there is no possibility for the Scandinavians to resist, at least they will not stand opposite us."
Their optimism also infected the generals of the United Expeditionary Force. Some people boasted smugly: "I can foresee the tall and burly Scottish warriors shocking the Norwegians who just woke up at six in the morning... God is on our side. This way."
However, compared to the confidence of Lord Chatfield and others, Major General Maxey, the supreme commander of the Joint Expeditionary Force, seemed worried.
First, the British troops planned to be under his command were severely lacking in training, and the details of the French troops were unclear; and due to ice and capacity constraints, it would take approximately two weeks to land all troops and equipment.
What's more important is that there are no roads available there, and the only transportation line is only a railway, a one-way electrified railway - which not only has limited capacity, but will also be paralyzed if the power is interrupted.
Obviously, the risk was actually very high. If the Germans had reacted sharply and acted decisively, this expedition to Scandinavia would have ended in a tragic failure.
But how can a warrior influence the decisions that the Zhengmi Banner politicians have made?
At the same time, the German news agency also unified its opinions and determined that the British and French landings in Norway and Sweden to wait for opportunities to help Tsarist Russia maintain stability were just a pretense.
The latest intercepted cables indicate that about a dozen British submarines are heading to the North Sea, and four more are preparing to set off - twice the usual number and an obvious danger signal.
Berlin decided to complete preparations for the combat plan as quickly as possible and issued an order to "complete preparations before January 15th."
Operation codename: Northern Lights.
(End of chapter)
