1905: Beer Hall Speaker

Page 134

When the rest of the group joins, the focus shifts to refining the distribution of benefits within this overarching framework, ultimately finalizing the overall plan.

Zhao Yan and Zhang Mingqi are the top two leaders of the Republic. They must set the tone with the same stance, otherwise things will easily get chaotic when others gather around for meetings.

Zhang Mingqi didn't mince words and said directly, "Next year will still be the same. Just continue to implement the First Five-Year Plan. It will still be the four major areas: education, infrastructure, industry, and agriculture. In the end, it all boils down to the economy."

"What trick are you up to now? Or have you come up with a new idea?"

Zhao Yan did not deny it and began to express his thoughts: "The key points are still these key points, but we also need to distinguish between primary and secondary points."

"Education must be the top priority now. Before, we didn't have enough money, and the education coverage rate was less than 20% of all school-age children in the country. That's far too low!"

"Education must be the top priority in the future. No matter how hard life is, we cannot let our children suffer; no matter how poor we are, we cannot neglect education!"

This year's data is very impressive, with rapid growth. The only one that stands out is the education enrollment rate. In 1907, the national enrollment rate for school-age children was only about 2.5%. By 1908, when money was poured into education, the enrollment rate increased to 7%.

In 1909, the education coverage rate in the Republic reached 10 percent, and it was not until this year that the education coverage rate for minors has risen to 15 percent.

The total number of school-age children aged 6-14 in China is approximately 70 million, meaning that only 10.5 million are enrolled in school, while the rest remain out of school.

Everything is rising in price, except for the number of people receiving education, which is unacceptable to Zhao Yan.

Despite the rapid growth, all the data is built upon educational data. In other words, if educational data doesn't increase, other data will soon reach a bottleneck as well.

Imagine tens of millions of illiterate young men in the future, growing up and flooding into society to become a new generation, knowing nothing and recognizing nothing. What kind of talk is this?

The children of this age were born around 1900. By the time they grow up, it will be around 1915, which is when World War I broke out. So many illiterate people can't all be filling in blanks, can they?

What's even more critical is that by the time they had weathered the storms and matured, and replaced their predecessors as the backbone of the nation, it was already 1940!

The bottom line of this group almost determined the fate of the nation. They were the unfortunate bunch who had to survive World War I and then World War II. They were given some preferential treatment.

The arms race is irrelevant. As long as a country's population quality improves and its industrial base is strong, it can have whatever it needs. Not to mention machine guns and cannons, even warships and airplanes can be produced in large quantities whenever needed.

Education is something that cannot be rushed or prepared at the last minute. It requires investment that begins decades in advance. The saying "it takes ten years to grow a tree, but a hundred years to cultivate a person" is no exaggeration.

The reason the Americans were able to build massive numbers of airplanes, tanks, and warships during World War II was because of the millions of educated workers and soldiers who operated the weapons.

The fact that the University of Tokyo was able to rise against the tide in the 1980s and become the only post-war industrialized superpower in the world is also supported by decades of fruitful educational achievements.

As the Republic continues to develop, it will need a large number of educated people to fill various sectors in the future. At the very least, they should be literate, able to do multiplication and division, and have a certain level of comprehension and learning ability. Only then can they be qualified cogs in the machine of an industrialized nation.

Zhao Yan put forward his ideas and explained a lot of reasons, which Zhang Mingqi pondered.

"Your Majesty, the fiscal revenue is limited, and education is extremely expensive."

"To be honest, your idea of ​​universal compulsory education is just wishful thinking. How could our current national strength possibly support free compulsory education for tens of millions of children? It's unrealistic!"

“Even if all the money is poured in, it won’t be enough. The country isn’t supported by education alone. If all the money goes to children’s schooling, what will the rest of the country use?”

Zhang Mingqi spoke the truth: Zhao Yan, do you have any magic touch or the ability to turn stones into gold? What makes you think you can brag about providing free compulsory education?

China is no small country; its population is the largest in the world. Out of 1.8 billion people globally, 400 million are in China. With such a large population, expecting to provide universal education based on the Republic's meager fiscal revenue is pure fantasy!

Undeterred, Zhao Yan's eyes lit up and he started coming up with a quirky idea: "What if we canceled free compulsory education? How about that?"

Zhang Mingqi's mouth dropped open in disbelief. "You mean forcing adults to spend money to send their kids to school? That's outrageous!"

"Will ordinary people agree to this? Where will they get the money to go to school?"

"Moreover, compulsory education is not something to be taken lightly; it is enforced by law. People can accept it if it is free, but it is not necessarily acceptable if it is paid."

Zhao Yan sat up straight and said domineeringly, "More than 90% of the country's population are farmers, and the remaining 10% are urban residents. As for the urban residents, if they don't have the money to send their children to school, then they might as well go to the countryside to farm!"

"And dealing with the rural population is easy too. I've exempted them from the tax on ten mu of land, which means we're basically not collecting agricultural taxes anymore."

“They must have saved a lot of money over the years. The government doesn’t care about them, and the country doesn’t confiscate their money, but they can’t keep it to raise more children. They’ve used it all to pay for their children’s education!”

“My taxes, Zhao Yan’s taxes, are not so easily waived. I’ve been waiting for this moment to come. Once the agricultural tax is waived, we must pay our dues.”

“Establish a new rule: only families that have completed compulsory education are eligible for exemption from agricultural taxes. For those without children, it’s essentially a disguised form of levying a single tax and an education tax on them!”

"The central government should continue to squeeze more funds from the government to provide subsidies for education, and we should work together from top to bottom to make sure that universal education is achieved!"

Zhao Yan's determination was extremely firm, and Zhang Mingqi could only agree in principle after hearing it, but the specific plan could not be as straightforward as Zhao Yan had said, and further research and improvement were needed.

Chapter 223 A Century-Long Plan: Education First

December 25th, Forbidden City, Presidential Palace, Hall of Supreme Harmony.

The plenary meeting of the Supreme Governing Council was held here, with more than forty central and local committee members in attendance.

The year-end meeting is usually used to finalize the financial plan for next year. This is a matter that concerns the distribution of interests among all parties, so no one will take it lightly or be absent.

As always, Zhao Yan did not sit on the dragon throne, but instead sat on a small stool on the steps, closer to the committee members, so that they would not hold small meetings below.

Once everyone had arrived, Zhang Mingqi announced the start of the meeting.

Those present were all at the core of the Republic's power: the Premier and Vice Premiers of the Prime Minister's Office, several heads of various fields, the Minister of National Defense, several central committee members, and nearly thirty local committee members were all seated in the main seats.

The central ministers could only listen and speak, without the right to vote. As for the provincial governors, they could only sit against the wall, without even the right to speak, and could only listen obediently.

Figures like Wang Dingyun and Zhang Xinghua, who held sway in their local areas, became marginalized after arriving at the Taihe Hall.

The only exception worth mentioning is Wu Zifu, who was granted special permission by Zhao Yan to attend a committee meeting and sit in the inner circle.

Wu Zifu has finished the finishing touches in Tibet, and his Sixth Mountain Division, his direct subordinates, has also withdrawn to Chengdu for rest and recuperation. This was all Zhao Yan's idea, after all, the high-altitude environment is too harmful, and Zhao Yan is unwilling to let Wu Zifu stay on the plateau for so long.

The subsequent establishment of Tibet as a province, as well as the configuration of the garrison, were all taken over by the central government, and Wu Zifu withdrew from the matter.

Zhao Yan originally wanted to send Wu Zifu to Nanjing to oversee things and keep him there.

However, Wu Zifu took the initiative to come to the capital to attend the meeting, and without even asking Zhao Yan's opinion, he set off back to the capital with a few close followers.

After returning to the capital, he stayed in the military camp and never saw Zhao Yan again. He didn't even visit his own mother and younger brother. It was Wu Xia who took Wu Zijian to take the initiative to find him.

The relationship between Zhao Yan and Wu Zifu is extremely complicated. No one dares to interfere, just like a father and son whose relationship has reached its extreme. Neither of them will bow down to the other. The best way is to not see each other and live their own lives.

Until this meeting was held, Wu Zifu proposed that he should also attend. Zhao Yan remained silent, and Zhang Mingqi, caught in the middle, had no choice but to arrange for Wu Zifu to attend the meeting, and even arranged for him to be in the inner circle.

After all, Wu Zifu was the Crown Prince who previously controlled the military and political affairs of the South. No one would object to him sitting in the core circle; it would be strange if he didn't.

"Alright, everyone quiet! The meeting is now officially starting, so please maintain basic decorum!"

"Hey you guys, don't think I can't see you just because you're far away! What's going on between the governors of the two provinces, Mo Nan and Mo Bei? Huh! What are you two arguing about!"

"And those provincial governors in the Northeast, what are you holding? Who gave you permission to eat sunflower seeds?"

The first thing Zhao Yan did after getting up was to restore order to the meeting. As soon as he stood up, his imposing figure swayed, and he looked down at the entire room. All the big shots immediately became obedient, just like students seeing their dean of students.

Zhao Yan was very satisfied. His gaze swept across the entire room, but when it fell on Wu Zifu, he guiltily skipped over him. Wu Zifu also looked calm and composed, sitting there with an upright posture, still fearless.

After the conference began, Zhao Yan tidied things up, and then Zhang Mingqi walked up the steps and began to loudly announce the various agendas and discussion topics.

Zhao Yan didn't have time for formalities and went straight to the core budget issue, stating, "Education is the foundation of a century-long plan!"

"This year, I've decided that the education budget will account for more than 30 percent of the fiscal budget expenditure!"

The entire audience erupted in uproar; everyone understood that the head of state had once again stepped forward to tear down the roof.

Education funding accounts for 30%. What does that mean? The fiscal revenue is only 1.166 billion yuan. 30% is 350 million yuan. What does that mean?

A single dreadnought costs only around 15 million, enough to build an entire Pacific Fleet.

The fiscal pie is only so much, and education funding takes up 30%. How are the rest of us supposed to make a living? Apart from education officials and committee members, everyone else present looked serious.

But no one dared to voice their opposition. Fear of Zhao Yan was secondary; the main reason was that education was one of the absolute politically correct practices in the Chinese cultural sphere, and who would dare to oppose it?

Every word a person says will be recorded. If this gets out, you will be disgraced for opposing education.

After Zhao Yan stepped forward and stated a number, he didn't stop there. He began to explain to everyone why they had to do it.

Zhao Yan's attitude was unusually firm, and his words were also very harsh.

After the head of state played the bad cop, it was Premier Zhang Mingqi's turn to play the good cop.

When Zhang Mingqi spoke, he did not directly oppose the proposed education budget. Instead, he suggested a balanced approach, emphasizing the importance of education while also recognizing that other areas should not be neglected.

In the end, Zhao Yan had no choice but to back down, reducing the original 30% to 20%, and he looked regretful and unwilling, as if the strong opposition and protests from the crowd had forced him to back down.

"Now let's raise our hands and vote!"

"I agree!" Wu Zifu was the first to raise his hand.

The others looked at each other, their eyes filled with sorrow. In the end, they could only raise their hands. The head of state and the prime minister were putting on a show, and the crown prince was raising his hand in agreement. This was pretty much the end of the matter. Even if the others understood, they had to pretend not to.

The border provinces, especially those with small populations, are very dissatisfied with this, because the funding for universal education is allocated based on the number of school-age children. Provinces with large populations are naturally happy, while those with small populations are full of resentment.

After achieving his goal, Zhao Yan handed over the reins to Zhang Mingqi, who then proposed the government budget, which constitutes the bulk of fiscal expenditure and is the source of all civil servants' salaries.

Subsequently, the heads of the Prime Minister's Office and the cabinet began to propose budget plans, including various expenditures such as infrastructure budgets, industrial budgets, scientific research budgets, environmental budgets, and medical and health budgets.

Committee members will give face to the head of state and the prime minister, but they may not give face to these people. Some budgets are approved quickly, but others are sent back for re-audit.

Wu Zifu, who was the first to raise his hand, remained silent afterward, neither raising his hand nor speaking.

Zhao Yan also did not participate in the distribution of these benefits, and remained silent in his seat.

It wasn't until one of his incompetent old subordinates begged for help that Zhao Yan was forced to speak up.

The most aggrieved person in the room was Wang Chongshan. As the Minister of National Defense and a member of the National Defense Committee, he was practically the target of everyone's attacks. Everyone felt that Old Wang was easy to bully.

In 1908, the defense budget still accounted for 13 percent of the total expenditure. After all, it was the time of large-scale military downsizing, and it was right after the war, so there was a need for resettlement fees, pensions, and compensation for a large number of demobilized soldiers.

Thirteen percent seemed to be the peak of defense spending. By 1909, the defense budget had been reduced to nine percent, and this year it couldn't even be maintained at nine percent. The committee only agreed to approve a military budget of five percent of the total amount.

That's 58 million in military spending. When Lao Wang heard this number, he almost fainted. This amount of money isn't even enough to support the army!

Including the garrison, the army and navy have a total strength of 800,000 people. The annual expenditure on personnel and food alone is 120 million, not to mention other expenses such as military equipment procurement, exercises and training.

Zhao Yan couldn't bear it any longer and offered a word of help, but it only increased the percentage from five to six, raising military spending to around seventy million.

The rest simply can't be increased. Education funding accounts for too much of the budget, so in order to maintain spending in other areas, the only option is to cut military spending, since there's no war going on right now.

Moreover, it is well known that the military has its own slush fund. In the past two years, the Ministry of National Defense has been subsidizing military spending by selling land and buying real estate. At its peak, it even used core real estate in Shanghai to exchange for artillery pieces from military factories.

Everyone knows that the military has its own extra budget, so they simply cut military spending. They'll give you the normal military budget after you've sold all your land and houses.

It's estimated that even 5% or 6% would have been enough to cover military spending at that time, since the economy was growing every year.

Of all the expenditure items, none are easy to cut except for military spending. So everyone is just doing their job properly, and it's definitely not because they think you, Lao Wang, are easy to bully that they're doing this.

After Zhao Yan offered his assistance, he didn't continue to help. He had done all he could. In peacetime, there was no urgent need for war, and increasing military spending would be counterproductive.

The arms race in Europe is something you can't avoid. In those European "boss rooms," there's no one to back down from. If someone expands their military, you can only grit your teeth and follow suit.

Moreover, other countries have almost completed the industrial, economic, and educational development they should have done, but the Republic has too much debt and can only make up for it through military spending.

In East Asia, the People's Republic of China is now the boss, with a military force of this size that can guarantee peace. The only country qualified to compete with China in a high-level arms race is Japan, but Japan is in a tough spot now, still trying to secure its own internal stability before dealing with external threats. The two dreadnoughts that were initiated in 1908 have not yet been launched or fitted out.

The first day of the Supreme Executive Committee plenary meeting only finalized 70 percent of the budget, but the meeting adjourned in the afternoon, and the meeting will continue to be held tomorrow.

Some local committee members wouldn't even let go of a fraction of a few hundred thousand yuan, showing a penny-pinching attitude.

Everyone knows exactly which areas the budget will cover, which provinces will benefit, and which will suffer losses. For example, in major infrastructure projects, provinces along the Longhai Railway and the Beijing-Shanghai Railway regularly provide strong support, but those provinces that don't pass through these areas object and make all sorts of sarcastic remarks.

The arguments and noise in the meeting room never ceased, and even after the meeting ended, the provincial governor and local committee members were still planning to find a quiet corner to settle their differences.

Amidst the noisy crowd, only two people remained quiet and silent, so much so that no one dared to approach them: Wu Zifu and Zhao Yan.

After the meeting, neither of them had a say and remained where they were, while the others wisely made the time to leave.

"Come to my place for dinner tonight, your mother is waiting!" Zhao Yan finally took the initiative to speak.

Wu Zifu smiled and said, "I will be there on time, Master."

Wu Zifu did not refuse and readily agreed.

But Zhao Yan felt no joy at all looking at the smile on Wu Zifu's face. The master and disciple hadn't seen each other for several years, and so much had happened in between.

This time, Zhao Yan would rather Wu Zifu scold him or even punch him a couple of times, because as long as there is still anger in his heart to vent, there is still room for reconciliation.

The worst situation is when someone greets you with a smile and agrees to everything you say; that's the most difficult to deal with.

After saying his sentence, Wu Zifu turned and left. Zhao Yan stood there, watching the other's back. His back bent slightly without him realizing it, and a lot of worries appeared between his brows.

Wang Dingyun and Zhang Xinghua stood at the door watching. When Wu Zifu passed by, they greeted him respectfully. Only after Wu Zifu left did the two enter the hall and stand in front of Zhao Yan.

Zhao Yan wasn't in the mood to say much, he just waved his hand and said, "Go ahead, let me have some peace and quiet."

"Your wife has prepared dinner. You two, invite Liu Shangsheng and Qiu Xingxun to come along too!"

The two men bowed and said, "Yes, Master!"

After everyone had left, Zhao Yan climbed the steps alone and sat quietly on the dragon throne, only to find that there was no one around.

"Ah~"

Inside the vast Hall of Supreme Harmony, only a deep sigh remained.