1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 3942

Yan Chujie ended the meeting before the next session began and hurriedly left the conference room, without even having time to listen to Chen Pingliao's report on other military projects.

Chen Pingliao did not get up and leave immediately, but remained seated, recalling his conversation with Yan Chujie.

He could sense that his superiors did not support his father's idea, but they also did not intend to hold the garrison in the Northern Region accountable. This seemed to be a better situation than expected.

From Chen Pingliao's perspective, he really couldn't understand the obsession of these senior members of the Executive Committee, why they were always worried that the northern territory would be occupied first by those Russians from the west.

It should be noted that the Russians' strongholds are thousands of miles to the west, and the number of troops that can reach the Heilongjiang River basin is extremely limited. Moreover, there are indigenous tribes such as the Solon, Daur, and Oroqen to the north, who are now under the command of the Northern Region.

Every year or two, these tribes would gather together to raid the Russian colonial outposts in the Heilongjiang River basin, determined not to let them easily settle down. The Northern Region would then reward them with supplies based on their final spoils.

At least for now, those Westerners are not enough to pose a real threat to the border defenses of the Northern Region, let alone cause territorial disputes. Under these circumstances, Chen Pingliao believes that the Executive Committee is being overly pessimistic by constantly urging the Northern Region to expand northward and establish outposts.

Even if the day comes that the security of the northern region is threatened, all we need to do is send out a large army to wipe out all the Tsarist Russians north of Heilongjiang in one go, completely eliminate them, and then take over their colonies in the Far East. This would save us the trouble of building and developing them ourselves.

Moreover, the local council's current opinion is that the government should focus its efforts on the development and construction of the Bohai Rim region. The council's attitude is very important to the northern regional government. Without the support of the councilors, blindly expanding northward will not only fail to gain popular support, but may also provoke strong opposition.

Of course, the council and the government are currently aligned on the issue of northward expansion, and almost no one wants the northern route to be the main direction of development for the next few years.

If the Executive Committee were willing to allocate substantial resources to the Northern Region for northward expansion, there might be room for discussion. However, there has been no such indication so far. The Executive Committee clearly expects the Northern Region to utilize its own resources to achieve this goal, so it's no wonder that the Chen family is shirking their responsibilities.

But in any case, at least the report to the Ministry of National Defense was temporarily completed. Chen Pingliao slowly stood up, put on his general's cap, and strode out of the conference room.

He didn't return to his residence immediately, because his reporting duties in Hangzhou involved more than just the Ministry of National Defense. After all, besides being a military officer, he was also the young master of the Northern Region, overseeing the work of multiple departments. Chen Yixin also intended to train him, so he entrusted him with several reporting tasks this time.

After leaving the Ministry of National Defense building, Chen Pingliao did not even take a carriage, but walked straight to another building near Victory Square—the location of the Haihan Ministry of Education.

Because the reporting session at the Ministry of National Defense was very short, Chen Pingliao arrived at Ning Qi's office nearly an hour earlier than the scheduled time. After introducing himself, Ning Qi's secretary led him to a meeting room to wait for the meeting.

Chen Pingliao was only led into Ning Qi's office at the appointed time. Although the room was larger than Yan Chujie's office, it felt more cramped due to the large amount of books and documents piled up inside.

When Chen Pingliao was sent to Sanya to study as a child, he received personal instruction from Ning Qi, so they had a teacher-student relationship. Therefore, when he saw Ning Qi, he first stood at attention and raised his arm to give a standard military salute, and greeted him, "Hello, Teacher Ning!" Ning Qi nodded to him, indicating that he should sit down and talk.

"Now that you're serving in the military, do you have time to manage local cultural and educational work?" Ning Qi asked bluntly.

To Chen Pingliao, these words sounded like Ning Qi questioning the legitimacy of the Northern Region sending him to the Ministry of Education to report on his work.

However, Chen Pingliao was prepared for this and calmly replied, "Reporting to my teacher, I am indeed currently serving in the Northern Region Garrison Command, but I also concurrently manage some cultural and educational affairs. I have come to Hangzhou to report to you on my work over the past year."

Every year when Chen Yixin tours the local areas, local cultural and educational institutions are one of his must-visit destinations. Chen Pingliao usually accompanies him throughout these trips, so he does have a certain understanding of the cultural and educational situation in the northern region.

In addition, the education department of the northern region had prepared a detailed work report for him before he went south, and he had also done a lot of preparation during the journey. Therefore, he remained calm and composed when facing Ning Qi.

Since the arrival of the Haihan Army on Zhifu Island in Dengzhou in 1634, the time travelers brought with them an advanced educational system that was ahead of its time, and gradually established educational institutions at all levels, eventually becoming the main force in implementing education.

To date, the Northern Region has over one hundred primary schools, seventeen secondary schools, and five vocational and technical colleges, essentially covering all prefectures and counties within its jurisdiction. There is also a comprehensive administrative college specifically for training local officials. This does not include two military academies that only enroll active-duty military personnel and focus on advanced studies.

The supporting facilities include two printing plants located in Denpasar and Kimbae respectively, as well as a regional library that was completed just two years ago.

In addition, Jinzhou has built a large stadium that can accommodate 20,000 people, which can host various large-scale events such as sports competitions, military parades, and cultural performances.

Besides these government-run institutions, a considerable number of private schools and academies still exist in the private sector, but their teaching staff and quality are limited and they are gradually failing to meet the requirements of the new imperial examination system introduced by the Han Dynasty in recent years.

Since the provincial examinations were first held in Jinzhou in 1655, nearly a thousand students had been recruited through the new imperial examination system in the northern region. Most of these scholars went through subsequent induction training and were then assigned to various prefectures and counties within the jurisdiction to serve as officials.

These measures not only provided a golden path for scholars in the Northern Region, but also greatly alleviated the vacancies in official positions caused by rapid expansion, so that the region no longer had to rely heavily on the Executive Committee to appoint local officials to the Northern Region, as it had in earlier years.

In the past, capable local officials were highly sought after in the northern regions, and many places could only retain officials from the Ming Dynasty. However, such special resources are no longer so scarce. Through the northern regions' own education system, one or two hundred qualified scholars can enter the official system every year.

After the Second War against the Ming Dynasty in 1657, more than 70% of the officials who went to take up their posts in the newly occupied territories were talents trained by the northern regions themselves, which shows that the effect was remarkable.