"Transportation construction will indeed cost a lot of money. However, this was indispensable in industrial development. Compared to the West, the Great Ming was too backward. The gap was too big. "Therefore, we can only invest a large amount of money to quickly develop transportation to catch up with the western countries!
In addition, Great Ming's territory was vast, so the investment in transportation would naturally be much greater. This was something that could not be helped!”
The emperor explained to his ministers.
"Your Majesty, extending the Tianjin-Fengshan line to the Jizhou and Heilong provinces, extending the Longhai line to the border provinces, and building the Yanjing to Kulun railway are all very costly. In terms of economic returns, it might not be as good as other railroads! Can we wait until Ming Dynasty's finances are raised before building these few railroads?”Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Zhang Zhiwan said.
" No," the emperor shook his head." From an economic point of view, these few railroads are indeed not very cost-effective. The investment is too high, and the returns are too low. However, we need to look at it from another perspective. Great Ming's control over remote areas had always been very weak, which gave the big powers an opportunity to take advantage of. The west, north, and northeast of the Ming Dynasty were all territories of the Russians. And the ferociousness of the Russians was something that everyone must be very clear about. They have already occupied a lot of our territory.
Moreover, the Russians were insatiable. They will definitely continue to invade us and seize our territory. Therefore, we can only make preparations in advance.
Once these railroads were successfully built. Our army can be quickly dispatched to these remote areas to fight against the Russians. We can also use the railway to transport our troops and war supplies, which will greatly improve our logistics supply ability. In the future battle against the Russians, we will have a huge advantage!”
"Your Majesty is wise!" Li Shaoquan and the others shouted.
They also understood the Emperor's painstaking efforts. Although these railroads would cost a lot of money, they were still very necessary from the perspective of national defense!
"Other than that, Great Ming also needs to invest more in education. Moreover, the education I speak of is no longer the old-fashioned education, but a new education. I have decided to imitate the western education system and establish Imperial University, Imperial Polytechnical University, Imperial Normal University, and other advanced institutions in Yan Jin. The provinces below also had to prepare for universities. Each prefecture and county had to have enough secondary schools. As for the villages, they had to build primary schools. In the next ten years, all children of the right age should be enrolled in school.
Of course, in order to reduce the burden on the people and increase everyone's enthusiasm for enrollment, the school was not a big deal. Tuition and miscellaneous fees were all exempted and paid by the empire's finances. Apart from that, there was also a free lunch!”
Emperor Guang Dong announced his education policy.
"Your Majesty is wise!" Education Minister Yan Fu was very excited.
Other than the finance minister Zhang Zhiwan, who was frowning, all the other ministers expressed their support.
After all, education was a matter that would last for generations.
They were naturally very happy that the Emperor of Guang Dong placed so much importance on education.
"In addition to establishing universities, middle schools, and primary schools, Ming also wants to increase the intensity of sending international students to study in the West. Let them go to the West to receive a better education. Only after they return to the country can they better serve the country. Of course, they also had to prevent people from not wanting to return after going abroad and seeing the colorful world of foreign countries.”said the emperor of Guang Dong.
In this era, the western world was much more developed and advanced than the Ming Empire.
Therefore, it was necessary to send students overseas.
Only at this age would he be able to learn the advanced technology of the West.
"Yes, Your Majesty. I guarantee that no one will forget their ancestors!”Yan Fu immediately replied.
"Minister Yan, you can't guarantee that." The emperor shook his head. Even if we strengthen the education of the ideology. However, humans had selfish motives and desires. If someone felt that it was better to stay abroad, they would definitely not return to China. However, we still have to try our best to avoid the appearance of such people.”
"Yes, Your Majesty!" Yan Fu nodded.
"Everyone, education will be something that Great Ming needs to persist in developing in the long term. The reason why the Germanic Empire could rise so quickly and become a first-class country in the world was because they attached great importance to education. Therefore, the Primus Kingdom was able to defeat the Gaul Kingdom and unify the entire Germanic Empire. The Germanic Empire, which had only been unified for a little more than a decade, had already become a powerful country in the West, second only to the Empire of the Sun Never Sets!
Even the East Asians began to invest more in education after the reform. In this aspect, Da Ming couldn't be worse than the East Asian. If the entire country was filled with illiterate people who couldn't even read, then how could Da Ming's industry develop? How could Big Ming become strong?”
The emperor of Guang Dong placed great importance on education.
This also made the ministers of the Ming Empire sigh with emotion.
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