Chapter 138 Persuasion and Li Datou
Li Yi paused for a moment, then continued.
"From now on, the General Staff Department and the Internal Affairs Department will be in charge of the military and political affairs of our Restoration Army respectively."
"The various departments under the General Staff Department and their specific responsibilities remain unchanged."
"The Department of Interior has different departments under its jurisdiction, including organization, education, justice, taxation, finance, construction, industry, commerce, agriculture, diplomacy, etiquette, and publicity."
"Among them, the Organization Department is responsible for the promotion, demotion, appointment and removal of officials within the Restoration Army."
"The Education Department is responsible for promoting education, organizing the imperial examinations, and other matters."
"The Judicial Department is responsible for the trial of many cases under the rule of our Restoration Army, the formulation of laws and regulations, and other judicial affairs."
"The Taxation Department is responsible for collecting different taxes, including agricultural taxes, commercial taxes, salt and tea taxes, etc."
"The Finance Department is responsible for reviewing and calculating the financial expenditures and income of the Restoration Army."
"The Construction Department is responsible for the construction of various projects under the rule of our Restoration Army."
"Industry, commerce and agriculture are three departments that support the formulation of policies and coordinate the development of the three aspects of industry, agriculture and commerce."
"The Diplomatic Department is responsible for external exchanges, receiving foreign officials visiting China, dispatching ministers and ambassadors overseas, managing customs, etc."
"The etiquette department is mainly responsible for various ceremonial and sacrificial work."
"The Propaganda Department is responsible for propaganda, education, and many other matters related to unifying people's thoughts."
To put it bluntly, Li Yi actually just split up the traditional six departments of "Li, Li, Xing, Hu, Bing, Gong" and planned in detail the specific content that each department should be responsible for.
With Li Yi's prestige in the Restoration Army, no one could oppose him implementing these policies, and no one dared to stand up and oppose him.
When everyone heard this, they immediately responded in unison.
Li Yi nodded and continued.
"The fourth thing is the direction of our army's next deployment."
"Now that the Taiping Army is about to launch a northern expedition, the Qing demons will inevitably focus their attention on the Taiping Army."
"And this is the best time for our Restoration Army to continue to use its military force abroad and expand its sphere of influence."
Although Li Yi was prepared to devote some of his energy to sorting out internal affairs, his main focus would still be on military affairs.
It is naturally impossible to stop using military force against foreign countries!
This is exactly why he asked each department to take turns for training instead of training together.
To put it simply, it is a rotation battle training!
After thinking for a while, Li Yi spoke.
"Next, our Restoration Army's military operations will be divided into three main phases."
"In the first phase, Li Sheng will lead the army northward from Guangzhou to capture Fogang Hall, Shaozhou, Nanxiongzhou, and Shaoguan, opening up the way to fight in Hunan and Jiangxi."
"Wang An led the army eastward from Guangzhou, captured Huizhou, Chaozhou, and Jiayingzhou, and opened up the road to Fujian for the battle."
"In the second phase, Li Sheng and Wang An's troops returned to Guangzhou for training. The troops of Zhao Xiang, Bai Yuanqin, and Luo Dagang, who had completed the training, took over the battle and sent troops to Zhangzhou in Fujian, Chenzhou in Hunan, Ganzhou and Nan'an Prefecture in Jiangxi..."
"In the third phase, Feng Zicai and Chen Yucheng will lead their troops to launch offensives against Leizhou, Lianzhou, and Qiongzhou in Guangdong, as well as Yulinzhou and Nanning in Guangxi."
"Take over Ling 18's troops and have them come to Guangzhou for training."
Well, after the battle to retake Hong Kong, Feng Zicai was promoted from regiment commander to brigade commander.
After Chen Yucheng successfully completed the anti-smoking mission, he was promoted to brigade commander.
Today, both of them are qualified to take charge in the Restoration Army.
You can lead troops into battle alone!
Upon hearing this, all the generals responded in unison.
Seeing this, Li Yi was about to order the meeting to adjourn when Wang An stood up and spoke.
"Your Highness, I have something to say."
Li Yi nodded slightly and then asked.
"What's the matter?"
Wang An took a deep breath and bowed in front of Li Yi.
"Since the national disaster of Jiashen, the land of China has sunk, the mountains and rivers have been shattered, the Qing demons have been rampant, the world has fallen into bloodshed, clothing and etiquette have disappeared, and it has been two hundred years!"
"Fortunately, the Grand Commander rose up in Guangxi, raised the banner of 'expelling the Tartars and equalizing land rights', led us to conquer Guangdong and Guangxi, occupied Guangzhou, and defeated the Qing demons, which led to the good situation today."
"I hope the Grand Commander will obey the will of heaven and respond to the will of the people, proclaim himself king in Guangzhou and establish a system to spread his power throughout the world!"
As soon as Wang An finished speaking, the generals around him bowed down one after another and then spoke in unison.
"I hope the Grand Commander will obey the will of heaven, respond to the will of the people, claim the throne, establish a system, and spread his power throughout the world!"
"I hope the Grand Commander will obey the will of heaven, respond to the will of the people, claim the throne, establish a system, and spread his power throughout the world!"
"..."
What is this called? This is called persuasion!
Upon hearing this, Li Yi did not agree immediately. Instead, he looked frightened and spoke.
"I am a governor of little virtue and little luck, how dare I take on such a great responsibility?"
"Generals, please do not mention this matter again!"
"It's all gone!"
Li Yi waved his hand to signal the generals to retreat.
Of course, Li Yi didn't want to be king, but he just wanted to show off.
If he immediately agreed to something as soon as his subordinates urged him to do so, it would inevitably make Li Yi seem a little too eager for quick success.
So, he decided to try a three-refusal and three-concession strategy!
When the generals saw this, they knew that this was a routine of three declines and three refusal, so they were not in a hurry and took their leave one after another.
Then prepare to persuade him to go in for the second time!
……
In the afternoon, Li Yi was handling military affairs when Wu Xingbang, his newly appointed chief of the Finance Section of the Department of the Interior, came to ask for a meeting.
Wu Xingbang was once a big manager of the Wu family, the head of the Thirteen Hongs. In order to win the trust of the Wu family and climb up the ladder, he even changed his last name to Wu.
After the Restoration Army confiscated the Thirteen Hongs, Wu Xingbang turned from evil to good, changed his surname back to his original name, and was promoted by Li Yi to be in charge of the financial affairs of the Restoration Army. Well, although Li Yi confiscated the Thirteen Hongs, at most he would kill or arrest the owners and send them to labor reform.
As for the former shopkeepers and clerks of the Thirteen Hongs, most of them were let go as long as they were willing to work for the Restoration Army.
One reason is that Li Yi doesn't want to exaggerate the matter.
The second reason is that these people are still useful.
Due to the Qing Dynasty's policy of isolation, contemporary China is extremely short of talents who know foreign languages, understand foreign trade rules, and are able to communicate with the outside world.
The shopkeepers and clerks of these Thirteen Hongs are scarce talents due to their past experiences. Unless they have committed extremely heinous crimes, they cannot all be killed.
Li Yi met Wu Xingbang in the study, asked him to sit down, ordered someone to serve tea, and then asked.
"Xingbang, what are you doing here this time?"
Wu Xingbang heard this and took a deep breath.
"In reply to the Grand Commander, I came here today to report to you."
"The coin minting you entrusted has come to fruition!"
As he was speaking, a guard came in after reporting and brought an inspected wooden box to Li Yi's desk.
Wu Xingbang stepped forward, opened the wooden box, and said.
"Grand Commander, please take a look. These newly minted coins have three denominations: silver dollars, silver cents, and the copper coins with the largest circulation."
"One silver dollar is equivalent to one tael of Kuping silver, with 50% silver and % copper, with a total weight of grams."
"The silver coin is round in shape, and was cast using a new type of coin casting machine. The edges are regularly serrated. The front is your portrait, the Grand Commander, and the back is the Great Wall..."
Well, Li Yi learned this trick from Yuan Datou. He printed his own portrait directly on the money. It is so popular among the people.
But when he thought that he might be called Li Datou in the future, Li Yi felt inexplicably depressed.
Of course, it is just similar to Yuan Datou, there is still a difference between the two.
Historically, the value of Yuan Datou was one silver dollar equal to seven cents and two cents of silver, which is a bit awkward.
The reason why Yuan Datou came up with such an awkward currency value was actually to facilitate foreign trade, so that Yuan Datou could be exchanged one-to-one with Mexican Eagle Dollar.
He was right to do so!
Li Yi created the one-liang silver dollar to facilitate the Chinese people's own conversion and to promote the policy of abandoning the silver liang and using the silver dollar.
I guess everyone has their own needs!
Wu Xingbang continued.
"A silver coin is equivalent to one coin of Kuping silver, with a silver content of 5% and a total weight of grams."
"That is to say, one silver dollar is worth ten silver coins."
"The copper coin is a standard square-holed coin with the words Guangfu Tongbao engraved on it."
"In terms of currency value, one silver coin can be exchanged for one hundred copper coins."
After listening to Wu Xingbang's report, Li Yi picked up the silver dollars, silver dimes and copper coins in the wooden box and played with them carefully.
After stroking the coin for a while and feeling the texture of the coin, Li Yi nodded with satisfaction.
"Yes, whether it is silver dollars, silver coins, or copper coins, the casting process and quality are very good. This governor is very satisfied."
Upon hearing this, Wu Xingbang did not dare to take credit for it and spoke.
"Thanks to the blueprints of the Western coin minting machine provided by the Grand Commander, the workers were able to copy it. Otherwise, it would not be easy for us to mint coins."
Li Yi smiled and didn't take it too seriously, because the blueprint of the coin minting machine was not drawn by him, but exchanged from the system.
Li Yi hesitated for a moment, then continued to ask.
"How much can the mint produce now?"
Wu Xingbang heard this and spoke.
"In reply to the Grand Commander, my Restoration Army's mint is newly established and all aspects need to be adjusted."
"Therefore, the production capacity can only reach 30,000 silver dollars, 50,000 silver coins, and 1 million copper coins per month..."
The reason why the minting efficiency of copper coins is so fast is mainly because the value of copper coins is relatively low, so no coin minting machine is used for minting.
Instead, the mother coin casting method is still used!
The efficiency is very high, but the problem is that the coins minted are rough in appearance and there are also errors in weight.
Therefore, it can only be used to mint copper coins of lower value.
Silver dollars and silver coins with higher values can only be minted using coin minting machines.
So the efficiency is a bit slow!
Li Yi thought for a while and then said.
"The mint's coin-minting speed is still a bit slow. While maintaining the quality of the coins, the efficiency needs to be improved. If you need any support, please feel free to ask."
"I will do my best to satisfy you!"
Li Yi attached great importance to the matter of coinage.
Because this stuff really makes money!
The silver content of a silver coin is 90%, even if the remaining 10% of copper, as well as workers' wages, machine wear and tear and other costs are taken into account.
By minting a silver coin, you can still get at least 7% net profit.
Isn’t this higher than the profit from a certain lighthouse’s national debt?
Moreover, it is more stable.
The treasury bonds of a certain lighthouse company seem to have high profits, but that thing is bound to collapse sooner or later.
Whoever takes over will be in trouble!
But coin minting involves precious metals, what risks can there be?
That is to say, for every hundred silver dollars minted, a profit of seven silver dollars could be made.
Ten thousand coins, the profit is seven hundred coins.
One million coins, the profit is 70,000 coins.
Although the Restoration Army has been quite wealthy recently and has no shortage of money, who would complain about having too much money?
(End of this chapter)