Master Yuan, start!

According to Yuan Xiangcheng's plan, this very cheap compulsory literacy education is really not expensive and will be gradually promoted nationwide in the future.

The school site can be borrowed from the ancestral hall or the property of the "Manchu elements".

As for teaching materials, you only need to send the Three Character Classic and Hundred Family Surnames and Thousand Character Classic to the teachers. It doesn’t matter whether the students have them or not.

Blackboards and chalks are not a problem for the current large-scale printing industry outside the customs.

Wooden board + black painted blackboard. If you want wide and thick wood, you can find it everywhere in the Jilin mountainous area.

The raw materials for chalk are everywhere and can be obtained locally.

The biggest expense is nothing more than the teacher's salary and the students' food expenses.

This is also the reason why Yuan Xiangcheng set compulsory literacy education at the age of 7-10.

If the children are too young, their comprehension ability will be limited and the educational effect will be poor.

If the child is too big, he or she will become half a labor force, and parents are often reluctant to let him or her go.

As for comprehensive compulsory education covering primary schools, frankly speaking, the Republican government cannot currently come up with that much funding, so it can only barely set up a literacy school.

You should know that even the "primary, middle and high school education" that is running well in North Korea and outside the Great Wall is actually only able to operate with the help of donations from various industrial companies.

Chapter 373 Sichuan-Hankou Railway and the Party Secretary

In early summer in May, the Chongqing docks were crowded with people.

The temperature has been gradually rising. Logically, people should be busy at work on the riverside docks.

But today, the hustle and bustle here is a little different from before.

Brothers of the Pao clan, scholars, laborers, merchants, and ordinary people all stood on tiptoe, wanting to catch a glimpse of the Sichuan-Huaihe New Army and the workers carrying hammers and sleepers on the dock.

That’s right, today everyone is looking forward to something extremely important.

Sichuan-Hankou Railway!

The people on the shore held high large flags with the word "Chuan" in different colors.

In addition to the word "Chuan", the name of the provincial capital is often written on the big flag.

Chongqing Prefecture, Chengdu Prefecture, Kuizhou Prefecture, Jiading Prefecture, Luzhou Prefecture

Each provincial capital sent representatives to Chongqing to attend the groundbreaking ceremony for the middle section of the Sichuan-Hankou Railway.

After Liu Bingzhang became the governor of Sichuan, he gained the trust of the people of Sichuan because he resisted the British army externally and suppressed the chieftains internally.

In addition, he cracked down on bandits, abolished customs, promoted culture and education, and built water conservancy projects. He could be said to have given the people a break in domestic affairs, which led to the rapid development of Sichuan's economy in recent years.

As the economy develops, the demand for transportation becomes more urgent.

The section of the Yangtze River above Hubei Province had not undergone large-scale repairs in the late Qing Dynasty. The mountains are high and the water is narrow, with a huge difference in height, reefs everywhere, and obvious seasonal changes.

The famous "Three Gorges" of Qutang Gorge, Wu Gorge and Xiling Gorge, where countless ships sink every year.

Therefore, after the political situation stabilized and commercial activities increased, the people of Sichuan began to think about building railways.

Liu Bingzhang naturally expressed his support for this, but the funds required to build the railway were extremely huge. After ordering people to survey the area, he estimated that it would cost about 1500 million taels, which was unaffordable for the Sichuan Governor's Office.

Liu Bingzhang once sent a telegram to Li Hongzhang asking for help, but all he got was a group of railway construction workers sent from Guangdong by the Lingnan Governor-General's Office, without any financial support.

Fortunately, the people of Sichuan have always been united. Under the leadership of the Chongqing Pao brothers, merchants from Chengdu, Xuzhou, Kuizhou and other places successively established the "Sichuan-Han Railway Fundraising Association".

The fundraiser will continue to lobby people from all walks of life and seek donations from Sichuan people across the country.

At that time, Yuan Shikai led a large army to attack the capital, and the Qing Dynasty was declared extinct.

Stimulated by the situation where the Han people were in charge, the wealthy people in Sichuan erupted in unimaginable patriotic enthusiasm.

Almost everyone participated in the investment, with one tael of silver per share. The company raised an initial capital of 500 million taels, and the Sichuan-Hankou Railway Company, owned by the whole people, was established.

Compared with the Sichuan-Hankou Railway in history, the current fundraising for the Sichuan-Hankou Railway can be described as extremely fast.

In the original time and space, the government-run Sichuan-Hankou Railway Company was established in 1904 under the auspices of the Qing court. It took nearly four years to raise funds. Later, due to slow progress, it was changed to a privately-run Sichuan-Hankou Railway Company. It was not until 4 that the fundraising was completed and construction began.

In this time and space, the Sichuan-Han Railway began to raise funds when Yuan Shikai was conquering Hunan. In about a year, it raised one-third of the expected capital.

Two years later, that is, today, the jubilant people of Sichuan gathered at Chaotianmen Wharf in Chongqing to witness the laying of the first pile foundation of the Chongqing-Wanzhou section of the Sichuan-Hankou Railway Central Line Project.

"Bang search:!linsan six!"

"Bang!"

Hearing the sound of hammers hitting the dock, Sichuan Governor Liu Bingzhang, who was sailing eastward from Chengdu, also walked to the bow and waved to the people along the coast.

After a while, the boat docked and Liu Bingzhang, with short hair and simple clothes, stepped onto the pier.

The people on the pier had been waiting for a long time. When they saw Liu Bingzhang coming forward surrounded by the crowd, they immediately discussed:

"It's Master Liu!"

"Now that we have a republic, we should no longer call you Sir, but Governor Liu!"

"What Governor Liu? It's obviously General Manager Liu!"

"That's right, you and I are both members of Huaxing Party, so we should be addressed by our party positions."

The people waiting were Liao Zhongkai and Chen Jiongming, members of the Huaxing Party sent to Sichuan, and Liu Shiliang, a local member of the Huaxing Party in Sichuan.

And the heavyweight figure, Li Hongzhang's son, Li Jingfang.

And the person they were going to welcome was Liu Bingzhang, the governor of Sichuan Xinghan Military Governorate, who was appointed as the general affairs director of the Huaxing Party by Li Hongzhang, the leader of the Huaxing Party.

Or in short, the leader of Sichuan and Huaihe River, Liu Bingzhang.

Although Li Hongzhang acquiesced to Liu Bingzhang's behavior of provoking the British on the Sichuan border due to practical needs, the Huai Army theoretically controlled the entire southwest from Sichuan to Guangdong.

But in fact, the Huai River in Guangdong and the Huai River in Sichuan are not unified.

In order to win over Liu Bingzhang, Li Hongzhang had to appoint a powerful "General Manager"

For this reason, Li Jingfang, who had originally been happy to serve as the general manager to share his father's worries, was quite dissatisfied.

However, in order to build momentum in the party struggle, Li Hongzhang chose to put his son in a difficult position first.

As a result, Liu Bingzhang naturally became the so-called "General Manager of the Huaxing Society".

The General Manager's position in the party was below that of the party leader Li Hongzhang, above the Secretary-General who was a group of veteran members of the Huai faction, and above the Executive Director Huang Xing.

The reason why Li Hongzhang went to so much trouble was simply to ensure that the southwestern provinces were firmly in the hands of his own people in the congressional elections he had envisioned.

However, during the Wuchang talks, Yuan Shikai did not agree to the so-called federal autonomous congress plan as Li Hongzhang intended.

Therefore, Li Hongzhang had to send someone to test Liu Bingzhang's attitude and ask him what he really thought.

Although Li Jingfang was angry that Liu Bingzhang had taken his position, he had to obey his father's orders.

Li Jingfang left without delay, taking Liao Zhongkai, who was recognized as a good eloquence in the party, and his little follower Chen Jiongming to Sichuan.

After the two sides met at the dock, led by local party member Liu Shiliang, they went to a private room on the top floor of a river view restaurant near Chaotianmen to welcome the general manager and Mr. Li who had come from afar.

The banquet was not extravagant. After three rounds of drinks, Liao Zhongkai and Chen Jiongming were soon invited by local party member Liu Shiliang to go and see the foundation piles of the Sichuan-Hankou Railway.

After watching Liao, Chen and others leave, Liu Bingzhang stopped eating and asked Li Jingfang, the governor of Sichuan, who was also his fellow villager, in a Hefei accent:

"Bo Xing, isn't Marshal Quan still in Wuchang?"

Although Liu Bingzhang and Li Hongzhang currently have some ideological conflicts, they are both from Hefei and have been through life and death together since the Taiping Rebellion period.

Therefore, even if the actual relationship is not that good, the formalities of condolence should still be performed in a formal manner.

"My father stayed in Wuchang, working hard for state affairs day and night, and he couldn't reach an agreement with Yuan Shikai for a long time." Li Jingfang took over the conversation, as if he was angry for his father:

"But I never thought that Yuan Shikai would even bother to go to Shanghai and announce a three-year compulsory school!

How can someone who doesn't care about national affairs be president and win the support of the people?"

"I've also heard about the three-year compulsory education program." Liu Bingzhang twirled his beard and nodded in agreement.

“Westerners have always said that a strong country requires a strong people, and a strong people requires enlightenment.

Yuan Xiangcheng's move was to enlighten the people and it did not delay national affairs."

Liu Bingzhang showed his admiration for Yuan Xiangcheng on his face, but when Li Jingfang heard Liu Bingzhang's words of praise, there was some surprise in his eyes at first, and then a hint of ruthlessness appeared in his eyes.

Chapter 374?

As if he had thought of something, Liu Bingzhang took out a bill of exchange from his pocket, handed it to Li Jingfang, and said:

"This is last year's deposit from the Huai Army's money houses in Chengdu, Chongqing, and other places. I originally planned to take it to Guangzhou in person at the beginning of this spring.

Unexpectedly, Marshal Quan was invited to go north to Wuchang and was unable to go.

This time when you go to Sichuan, it's a good opportunity to take this silver back with you."

Deposit money?

Li Jingfang looked down and saw that Liu Bingzhang was holding a draft of US$50 from the Shanghai branch of Citibank.

In total, it is equivalent to about 60 taels of silver.

60 taels is the expenditure of a division of the Lingnan New Army for most of half a year, which is not a small amount.

So, when Liu Bingzhang took out the money, Li Jingfang's eyes fixed.

When did Sichuan intercept such a large sum of money and keep it in a foreign bank?

Why did the Lingnan Bank headed by Sheng Xuanhuai never report it?

Did he never hear about it, or did he know about it but kept it secret?

In fact, Liu Bingzhang had no intention of hiding it from Guangzhou.

The reason why Liu Bingzhang used bills of exchange instead of silver notes from money shops was not because he was worshipping foreigners, but simply to make more money.

The reason lies in the word "interest".

Although Sheng Xuanhuai followed Li Hongzhang to Lingnan, with his support, he founded the Lingnan Bank in Guangzhou and also established branches in Sichuan, Guizhou, Guangxi, Shanghai, Hong Kong and other places.

However, although Lingnan Bank learned the modern banking system, it still did not provide interest on depositors' deposits, just like the old-style money houses.

On the contrary, for large deposits, foreign banks such as Citibank, HSBC and Credit Agricole often pay a certain amount of interest.

Due to the development of economy and finance in the late 19th century, the number of small banks in Europe and the United States increased greatly.

Business owners from almost every industry, including miners, cigarette sellers, alcohol sellers, coal miners, and iron smelters, have opened their own private banks to collect deposits.