During this period, the staff of the institute were very busy with Ouyang Xuan. They went to industrial and mining production sites during the day and went to training schools at night. This was specifically requested by Ouyang Xuan, because although the researchers were selected from various industries and villages and were both literate and flexible, they lacked practical knowledge of industry and mining and needed to start from students. At present, training schools only hold classes at night, much like later amateur night schools. It offers subjects such as forging, chemistry, refining, mining, commerce, and construction. The students are all managers and technicians from industrial, mining, construction, and commerce companies. Unlike other students who only study this major, the graduates also need to study all courses except business.
Ouyang Xuan is busier than a researcher because he also teaches - in addition to professional courses, he also teaches political courses. In terms of curriculum, Ouyang Xuan required the school to include political courses as compulsory courses in addition to professional courses, which he and Lu Dezhi would teach. The political and ideological content Ouyang Xuan talked about was mainly about the ideas of serving the country with loyalty, diligent service and loving the people. He also told the story of Yue Fei, Yu Jie and others who served the country loyally but were framed by traitors. He emphasized that this "country" is not a country of one family and one surname, but a country of one family and one surname. It is the "country" for everyone; Lu De's teaching content focuses on instilling Mencius' concept of "the people are the first, the country is the second, and the king is the least". Although these political views are based on scriptures and are spoken by Confucian saints such as Confucius and Mencius, they will still be resented if they are known to traitorous officials in the court. But Ouyang Xuan still insisted on teaching the above content, and the reason was very simple - the Southern Song Dynasty court had neither the will nor the means to work hard to protect the people from the massacre by the Mongols. Why did it still have to work hard for this decadent regime?
In addition to teaching political courses, Ouyang Xuan also teaches professional courses in various classes. Although he is not proficient in other professional knowledge except chemistry, this lack of proficiency is only for modern people. Ouyang Xuan's intellectual horizons transcended thousands of years, and still caused great shock and impact to the students. He not only pointed out the way forward for students, but also broke the shackles of old concepts and thinking in their minds. When Ouyang Xuan was lecturing, Du Daquan and Lu Dezhi ordered people to record what he said, and bind it together with the lectures of other teachers into a volume. They were carefully preserved as the most important information of the institute and the school. As for why it is not printed into books, firstly, there are not many literate people at present, and secondly, there are no printing conditions in this mountain. More importantly, these contents are definitely the most sophisticated technology in this era, and are not suitable for the general public at the moment. scale spread. The content taught by Ouyang Xuan mostly uses modern scientific terminology, which is also consistent with the terminology used by industrial, mining and construction companies. At the beginning of the industrial and mining industry, Ouyang Xuan fully adopted the modern weights and measures system of "kilometers, meters, centimeters, tons, kilograms, grams". This system of weights and measures is more suitable for industrial development, and it also makes it more difficult for enemies to imitate and plagiarize.
Of course, technology diffusion is inevitable. Ouyang Xuan just hopes that it will come later to ensure the overwhelming technological advantage of the Thunderbolt Army. In order to prevent leaks, Dong Hu led the security team to conduct strict background checks and investigations not only on the researchers, but also on the participating students. Of course, strict review almost hid talents. When Ouyang Xuan went to the iron mine to inspect the production, he found that the mine support frame was not only fastened but also extremely fine, so he asked who the manufacturer was. Dang Shijian, the manager of the mining company who was accompanying him, told him that it was made by a prisoner named Ni Xianzhong in the labor camp. Ni Xianzhong was originally a craftsman who made siege equipment in the Chongqing Prefecture army. During the attack on Liuliba, he was captured along with several craftsmen and became a member of the labor camp. Ouyang Xuan then ordered Dong Hu to conduct an in-depth investigation into his situation. After verifying that he was indeed being coerced into being a bandit, he transferred him to an industrial company and was specially approved as a trainee. He also authorized him to select personnel proficient in equipment among the prisoners. Engage in relevant research. In this era, the production of siege equipment was definitely a high-tech and delicate job. Of course, Ouyang Xuan didn't want them to make trebuchets and ballistae, but wanted them to trial-produce machine tools. In fact, our country has had primitive machine tools since the Sui and Tang Dynasties, but most of them were made of wood as the main material and iron as the supplement, and the structure was also very simple. Ouyang Xuan asked Ni Xianzhong and others to develop and manufacture machine tools for producing muskets, cannons and other weapons.
Ouyang Xuan's educational training is not limited to research institutes and schools. In his view, the ideological and political education of the Pili Army is one of the current priorities. For this reason, he also opened a political class in the Perak Army. In addition to the political content taught by him and Lu Dezhi at the school, he also asked Yu Zhu, Huang Dagen, Cao Ergou and others to tell their personal stories of the anti-Mongolian resistance and express their painful experiences. The brutality of the Mongolian army, the weakness and corruption of traitorous officials in the court, and the profound suffering of the people in the Sichuan Gorge. Through political education, the political awareness of Perak officers and soldiers has been greatly improved, giving them a preliminary understanding of fighting for the people.
The purpose of the military's existence is to win wars. Cao Ergou was also extremely strict with the Perak Army's discipline and military skills training. They were all high-intensity drills close to actual combat, which made the soldiers complain endlessly. The increase in training intensity also brought about a sharp increase in food consumption, which made Yang Xiucai, who was responsible for food supply, frowning all day long. During the breaks in training, Ouyang Xuan did not let the soldiers completely relax. He asked the soldiers to hold large discussions in squad units. After the winners were determined between squads, they also held debates between companies. The discussion questions set are all related to the current and future actual combat of the Perak Army. For example, the first discussion question is: How can we defeat the Wanjiaping gang at the minimum cost and obtain maximum benefits? The second question is: If you are stationed in the plains, how can you resist the attacks of siege weapons and cavalry?
Ouyang Xuan discussed military issues in this way, and he was not afraid of leaking secrets. In addition to the closed management implemented by the Perak Army, it is also because everyone with a discerning eye can see the strategy whether it is to attack Wanjiaping or go down to the mountains to farm. As for the implementation method to be adopted after the discussion, it is a secret known only to the top brass of the Perak Army. The benefits of adopting this kind of military democracy are many. In addition to pooling the wisdom of everyone and opening up the public, it can also enhance the soldiers' sense of ownership and belonging, in addition to checking and correcting omissions in the next military plan. At the same time, through this method of confrontation and debate, talents can also be discovered, which will lay a solid foundation for the next step of establishing a staff for the Perak Army, transforming the traditional military leaders into arbitrary command, and transforming them into a modern military command system.
