Volume 1 Tigers in Southeast Asia Chapter 79: Stabilizing the Empire
Chen Jingui's eyes lit up and he said in surprise: "We are going to attack Mindanao? That's great!"
Lin Fei said jokingly: "What's so good about that? When we attack Mindanao, we will definitely need to transport a large amount of supplies. The transportation of supplies is the responsibility of your logistics department. You will be busy then."
Chen Jingui smiled and said, "The more work you do, the more money you earn. I am willing to work more."
Lin Fei laughed and said, " Don't try to make money with any crooked ideas, if you dare to put the public money into your own pocket, I will definitely shoot you!"
Chen Jingui said quickly: "I dare not!"
Lin Fei joked for a few words, asked Chen Jingui to go back, and then began to make preparations before the expedition. The most important thing here was to stabilize the internal situation of the Chinese Empire.
In terms of politics, Lin Fei divided the Huaxia Empire into three provinces, Samar, Leyte and Surigao. The towns where the original tribes lived were divided into cities. There were many Filipino farmers living around the towns. They lived relatively concentratedly, so Lin Fei divided their concentrated areas into villages.
The area of Samar Island is more than 10,000 square kilometers, the area of Leyte Island is more than 7,000 square kilometers, and the Surigao Region is more than 3,000 square kilometers. These are not small areas. If there is no strong grassroots government, it will be easy to form a situation where the emperor is far away, and each city and village will act on its own and refuse to obey the jurisdiction of the central government of the Huaxia Empire!
So Lin Fei called the Minister of Transport and road construction expert Feng Mingcheng and asked him to build roads from Yanhuang City and Chiyou City to various cities and villages. He also told him that these roads should be connected into a road network. With the road network, the central government's government orders and military forces could be dispatched overnight.
Feng Mingcheng was a little embarrassed and said, "City Lord, I'm afraid we don't have enough manpower to build these roads."
Lin Fei said: "During the road construction process, you can recruit local workers, and let the Filipinos do the rough and heavy work. The Chinese will only be responsible for management and technology. Several tribal leaders on Leyte Island are very afraid of me and dare not disobey my orders. The same is true in Surigao. You can bring the police force with you. With the backup of force, you don't have to be afraid of anything."
The police force is led by the Ministry of Public Security. This force is composed of Chinese. These Chinese originally wanted to join the army, but Lin Fei made it clear that the army would only recruit 1,260 people for the time being, so many Chinese were turned away. So Lin Fei organized them into a police force, responsible for the internal security of the Chinese Empire, and equipped them with the Mauser M1893 rifles that had been eliminated by the army.
Feng Mingcheng nodded in agreement, and Lin Fei asked, "Are there enough materials to build the road?"
Feng Mingcheng said: "There are a lot of rocks in the Philippines, and we can make cement according to your method, so there is enough material."
Lin Fei asked Feng Mingcheng to prepare, and then began to calculate the number of cities and rural areas. There were originally two tribes on Samar Island, and he established Yanhuang City and Chiyou City on the basis of these two tribes. There were ten tribes on Leyte Island, and ten cities were established. There was a Bazahai City in Surigao Region, and one city was established. There were thirteen cities in total, and there were forty rural areas surrounding these cities. In other words , he needed fifty-three grassroots governments to firmly control these areas.
The fifty-three grassroots governments all need people to lead them, but he is really short of people under his command. Although there are many craftsmen, there is no talent to manage the local areas. Where can he find these people?
Lin Fei thought about it again and again, called a servant and said, "Go and call Chen Fu."
Not long after, Chen Fu came over cheerfully and asked with a smile, "Does the city lord want me to go shopping again?"
Lin Fei laughed and said, "This time I'm not buying things, I'm buying people!"
Chen Fu said with a wicked smile: "Are you buying a beautiful woman?"
Lin Fei reached out and patted his head, scolding him with a smile: "What's in this little head? I don't buy women! Let me ask you, have you ever seen a scholar in Taiwan who failed the imperial examination?"
Chen Fu nodded and said, "Of course, there are quite a few!"
Lin Fei said: "That's good. You don't have to go to attack Mindanao this time. Go to Taiwan and recruit these people for me."
Chen Fu was stunned and asked, "What are you recruiting these people for?"
Lin Fei said: "I need managers of grassroots governments, and I recruited these people to do this."
Chen Fu smiled and said, "Your idea is really great. These people have only read the Four Books and Five Classics, and their brains are very pedantic. They are usually frustrated. If you bring them to be officials, they will definitely be grateful for your kindness and will be loyal to you until their death."
Lin Fei nodded and said, "Those traditional scholars have always valued . They will indeed be loyal to me to the death, but they also have the thought of not wanting to leave their homeland. You have to think carefully if you want to bring them here."
Chen Fu smiled and said, "Don't worry, I will definitely find a way to get them here."
Lin Fei said: "Then you should hurry up and prepare. When you are ready, set off. Remember, get as many people as you can. I want them to be my teachers."
Chen Fu said goodbye and left. Lin Fei called Li Mingbai back and said to him, "Old Li, I don't have enough manpower now. You can be my Minister of Public Security."
Li Mingbai was stunned for a moment and said, "City Lord, being the Minister of Public Security is too boring. Aren't we going to attack Mindanao? After all, I am the Chief of Staff. I can't help but follow."
Lin Fei smiled and said, "I asked you to stay in the Huaxia Empire so that you can lead the police force to set up grassroots police stations in the villages of the empire. These police stations have to maintain local law and order on the one hand, and carry out assimilation education on the other. I asked Feng Mingcheng to lead people to build roads. In the process of building roads, it is hard to guarantee that there will be no conflict with the locals. Without guns to support the road-building team, it will definitely not work."
Li Mingbai thought about it and agreed, agreeing to serve as the Minister of Public Security and lead the police force to go deep into various villages. Lin Fei asked him to go back and prepare, and Li Mingbai said goodbye and left.
After Lin Fei finished dealing with political affairs, he began to deal with economic issues. If a country wants to be stable, the economy must be stable first. Only when everyone is well fed and well clothed will no one think of rebellion.
Lin Fei asked someone to find Chiyo Mika. When Lin Fei came back today, Chiyo Mika did not come to greet him like Ling Xue did. He was not surprised because there were a lot of things going on in the central bank and Chiyo Mika might not be able to spare the time. When Chiyo Mika walked in, Lin Fei suddenly discovered that there were traces of tears in the corners of Chiyo Mika's eyes, as if she had just cried.
Lin Fei hurriedly asked: "Mei Xiang, what's wrong with you? Who bullied you?"
Chiyomika actually sobbed softly when she heard Lin Fei's question, and said while crying: "Nothing... nothing..."
Lin Fei frowned and said sternly, "You're crying like this and you're still saying it's nothing! What's going on?"
Chiyo Mika stopped sobbing and said, "Lin Feijun, before you left, didn't you ask me to send people to collect economic data every day?"
In Lin Fei's era, Lin Fei was trained as a senior military officer. The difference between senior officers and middle and grassroots officers is that senior officers cannot only understand military affairs, but also politics and economics. Therefore, Lin Fei learned a lot of economic knowledge. He asked the central bank to collect economic data in order to use these economic data to control the operation of the Chinese Empire's economy.
Lin Fei nodded and said, "I asked you to send people to collect economic data. What does this have to do with your crying?"
Chiyomika said: "Today I found out that one of my subordinates who was investigating prices was lazy and didn't do any price research at all. The data he reported these days were all made up by himself..."
Lin Fei rushed to ask: "Is it because his attitude was bad when you criticized him?"
Chiyomika hurriedly shook her head and said, "I...I didn't criticize him."
Lin Fei frowned and asked, "Why don't you criticize him?"
Chiyomika stammered, "I...I don't dare. I have never criticized anyone."
Lin Fei then asked: "Then why are you crying?"
Chiyomika shook her head and said, "I don't know either. He made a mistake, but I didn't dare to criticize him. I felt so useless, and before I knew it, tears started to flow... "
Lin Fei laughed helplessly, thinking that it was a big mistake to let her be the governor of the central bank. How could such a weak and fragile young lady like her be able to manage others?
Lin Fei said softly: "Okay, don't cry, I will find someone else to be the president, and you can be a consultant."
Chiyomika said stubbornly: "No! I must be a good bank president!"
Lin Fei shook his head and said, "Let's not talk about this for now. Tell me about the economic situation."
Chiyomika said "OK" and then said, "We have issued a total of 5 million banknotes. The prices of more than a dozen major daily necessities such as food, cloth, and salt are very stable and basically have not changed."
Lin Fei nodded and said, "It's good that prices are stable. Do ordinary people have places to spend money?"
Chiyomika was stunned and asked, "What do you mean by a place to spend money?"
Lin Fei said: "In the Huaxia Empire, all production departments use currency to settle goods. For example, the mine mines ore and sells it to the smelting factory at a certain price. The smelting factory produces steel and then sells it to the weapons manufacturing factory at a certain price. In this way, money circulates between various factories, and the workers will be paid, so the workers have money. Do you understand this process?"
Chiyomika said, "I've read in a book that this process is called commodity economy."
Lin Fei said: "People have money in their hands, how do they spend it? This is what I mean."
Chiyomika thought for a moment and said, "Besides buying food and clothes, there is nothing else."
Lin Fei shook his head and said, "That won't work. You need to find a way to give people more things to do to spend money. Only when money is flowing can more wealth be created."
Chiyomika said, "I understand this principle, but I don't know how to spend money."
