PFC Chapter 261: Ge Languo and the Southern New Army Reached an Agreement
Chapter 261: Ge Languo and the Southern New Army Reached an Agreement
Three days had passed, and Zhuang Jiwu, Zhou Zhuowu and Yao Feng were discussing intensively the transfer of officials from Nanshan and the filling of vacancies.
The 12th, 13th and 14th Divisions have also entered Nanshan and launched the task of suppressing bandits.
At the same time, the Seventh Division had already been dispatched to cooperate with the Intelligence Department to arrest problematic officials in Nanchuan.
While Nanchuan was being reorganized, Tao Yunong found Fang Jian and reported that Ge Languo had reached an agreement with the New Southern Army.
Sitting in the pavilion in the backyard, Fang Jian sighed, "Do you know the contents of the contract between the two parties?"
"We haven't heard the contents of the contract yet, but the Gelan Kingdom has provided a loan of 100 million silver dollars to the Southern New Army." Tao Yunong, who was standing aside, replied.
Instructing Tao Yunong to pay close attention to the movements of the new army in the south, Fang Jian asked about Prussia again: "Has the ambassador from Prussia replied?"
"Originally, the Prussian ambassador didn't care much about us, but after learning that the Gulen Kingdom was cooperating with the Southern New Army, the Prussian ambassador immediately contacted Chen Zui." When mentioning the Prussian ambassador, Tao Yunong couldn't help but smile.
"Now that the talks have started again, the concrete results have not yet come out."
Fang Jian couldn't help but shake his head and sneer: "These Prussians lack a sense of the overall situation. Even if they can gain some local advantages, they are still a little behind in the overall situation."
Knowing that the Gülen agreement had been reached, these Prussians began to panic. How could they accomplish anything?
After being disappointed with Prussia, Francis was left to rely on himself.
The top priority is to develop our own strength, sort out the internal political structure, develop the economy, and then expand the military.
Two days passed and it was November 11th.
Zhuang Jiwu and Tao Yunong came to the Nanchuan Military Governor's Mansion together and asked to see Fang Ji'an.
Fang Jian came to the living room and saw the two people. After sitting down, he asked, "Why, have all those problematic officials been arrested?"
"Yes, Commander, a total of 1383 officials and 762 gentry were arrested," Tao Yunong introduced.
More than a thousand officials were arrested, and these were officials of certain ranks, at least at the section chief level. Even more government officials without any rank were arrested.
Francis asked, "Didn't it cause some unrest during this period?"
"Some families in the province protested and joined forces with some officials to cause trouble, but they were all suppressed," said Zhuang Jiwu.
Now that Fang Jian's power is established, he no longer has to be careful in dealing with these people. In the face of the general trend, even a big family cannot cause any trouble.
To put it bluntly, a big family has connections, money, food, and people. But even if there are people, how many can they mobilize? They will still be vulnerable in front of a large army.
Without people, money and grain are just spoils of war for others. Besides, their so-called relationships have been eradicated, so what kind of waves can they make?
What Francis was concerned about was whether the local government was stable, so he asked, "Have all the vacant officials been filled?"
"Report to the commander, we have arranged for replacement personnel from Nanshan and Nanchuan. Due to the long journey from Nanshan to Nanchuan, some people are still on the way." Zhuang Jiwu replied.
Then Fang Jian asked again: "Have you investigated the police officers who had problems in various places?"
As for the police investigation, Zhuang Jiwu and Tao Yunong were asked to investigate separately, and finally the results of both parties were summarized to find out the omissions and fill in the gaps.
The police problems were what distressed Francis most. These reserve soldiers had been trained for quite some time. They became corrupt within a few months of being sent out. This was something Francis could not accept.
"Most of the people with problems are the local police chiefs, while most of the police officers under them are fine." Zhuang Jiwu replied.
The police chiefs in various places were originally reserve soldiers. They came from poor backgrounds, but suddenly became high-ranking officials and were bribed with money by local gentry. Naturally, many of them could resist the temptation.
Even in modern times, many cadres who have been trained for many years have fallen under the offensive of money, let alone during the Republic of China period on the backward Diyuan Star.
Having Tao Yunong deal with the police station issues in various places, Fang Jian also ordered: "All the land recovered this time will be distributed to the people in various places."
“Now is the time to move all of Nanshan’s land policies to Nanchuan.”
"Establish courts, industry and commerce, taxation and other units, abolish other city entry taxes, showdowns and miscellaneous taxes, etc."
The gentry arrested this time all had large amounts of land under their names. In addition, some large families were also involved in the turmoil in Southern Capital, and a lot of land was also confiscated.
"Yes." The two of them immediately went down to make arrangements and promulgate the new policy for Nanchuan.
The next day, the Propaganda Department posted notices in Nandu to discuss land and tax issues, and sent people to various places to publicize new taxation, land, and business issues.
Seeing the posted notice, many people in Nandu City gathered around out of curiosity.
The illiterate people in the crowd hurriedly urged those who could read to read out the content of the notice.
After hearing the announcement, some people said in disbelief: "Will all these miscellaneous taxes be abolished in the future? Is this true?"
"The government has posted the notice, so it can't be fake." Some people still believe in the new Nanchuan government.
In the past few months, after the Nanshan Army took control of Nanchuan and quelled the war, Nanchuan's economy and people's livelihood have improved a lot, and people's lives have also improved a lot.
Comparing the two, it is natural that some people will be grateful to the new government.
Some people also said angrily: "These officials rarely speak the truth. They always say one thing in front of you and another behind your back."
There were also some business owners in the crowd, and after hearing about the need to apply for business licenses and pay taxes, they couldn't help but look sad.
A business owner asked the person next to him: "Lao Li, what is this business license? I don't want to pay for it again, do I?"
"Well, who knows? We've just had a few months of good days. I just hope it won't be worse than before." Old Li also sighed.
After the Nanshan Army took control of Nanchuan, there were police patrols everywhere, and most of the police maintained a good style of work and would not take anything for free or collect money indiscriminately.
In addition, the police's crackdown on young thugs has greatly improved street security.
With better public security and no one coming to collect protection fees, these merchants are naturally living a much better life than before.
Restoring and improving the people's livelihood in Nanchuan is a long and continuous process. Even the original Nanshan took more than two years to get back on track.
There will still be many problems in the early stages, such as problems with law enforcement officers, and the fact that those who are bullied still tolerate and do not trust the government, are unwilling to report to the authorities or call the police, allowing the bad guys to run rampant.
Now that the Nanchuan officialdom has been rectified and the officials have been purged, Fang Jian no longer cares about this matter and has handed it all over to Zhou Zhuowu.
Fang Jian appointed Zhou Zhuowu as the governor of Nanchuan and Yao Feng as the governor of Nanshan, and put all the government affairs of the two places under their charge.
As for Zhuang Jiwu, he continued to serve as Fang Jian's secretary and butler.
After being freed from Nanchuan Province, Zhuang Jiwu breathed a sigh of relief. Although he was still very busy around Fang Jian, he no longer had to deal with endless official duties from morning to night as before.
Of course, Nanchuan is now on the right track, and there are fewer things to deal with, so naturally there is no need to do the same as before.
Fang Jian looked at Zhuang Jiwu and asked, "How is it going? Have you found any news about the mineral deposits in Nanchuan?"