Chapter Eighteen: The Autonomous Council

  The next day, Xia Jun held a military parade, with uniform uniforms and equipment, and the neat security team soldiers appeared in front of the village gentry.

  The demeanor of the soldiers of the Security Guard Regiment was highly praised by the village gentry, and Xia Jun also showed them the military law of the Security Guard Regiment to further familiarize them with it.

  After reading the military law, the village elders felt much more at ease.

  At this time they can determine that this is a well-disciplined armed force, and the armed forces can also be used to suppress bandits in Xixiang. Later, there were fewer bandit troubles and better days.

  No one wants to be kidnapped and then asked for thousands of dollars in ransom someday.

  Later, Xia Jun also showed these gentry the Maxim heavy machine gun. The powerful firepower of the Maxim machine gun directly broke a tree trunk as thick as a bucket, leaving those gentry utterly amazed.

  The Maxim heavy machine gun has been around for a long time, but in this rural area, these country gentlemen have never seen it before, so they are extremely astonished.

  In terms of equipment, the Qing army was absolutely no match for the opponent. In addition to the new army, the other troops had hardly been trained and their combat effectiveness was extremely low. Moreover, the Manchu people deployed most of the new army in the north, and there were almost no new armies in the south.

  This brief review gave the local gentry a reassurance that the Jianzhou Security Regiment indeed had sufficient strength, and local autonomy should not be a problem. Moreover, Xia Jun also hinted to them that the number of security regiments would be further expanded.

  Most of the gentry at this time had already agreed to autonomy, and they were also eager to shake off the burden of the Qing dynasty. Under the rule of the Qing dynasty, except for those who held official positions and could maintain their family business, other groups were prone to bankruptcy, including landlords, who only took slightly less risk.

  Being an official can be said to be the most profitable and prestigious profession in the Qing dynasty. The phrase "three years as a clean prefect, ten million silver taels" means that even if one doesn't embezzle funds, just relying on income from gifts and other forms of tribute, one could still accumulate ten million silver taels; if one were to engage in corruption, it would be even more unimaginable.

  It would be more accurate to say that the suffering of the people at the end of the Qing dynasty was caused by the thorough corruption of the Manchu administrative system, rather than the invasion of foreign powers. The corruption at the end of the Qing had reached a point where there was no supervision whatsoever, and it had evolved into open corruption.

  So the local gentry did not welcome the government office, and the head of Xixiang was controlled by Xia Jun, leading to these gentry collectively supporting Xixiang autonomy.

  Xia Jun drove a truck, taking a group of villagers to Shiniu Mountain.

  At this time, the five mu of paddy fields under Shiniu Mountain had turned golden, and the rice in the fields was ready to be harvested. The ears of grain on each stem were full of grains, weighing them down so that they bent over.

  A group of villagers were suddenly amazed and got off the car one after another, rushing to the field to watch.

  Xia Jun then took out a digital camera exchanged from the system and snapped a few shots at the rice field, capturing this harvest scene which would naturally be used for publicity.

  This era has also seen the emergence of color cameras, but the colors of these cameras are not so complete, should be three or five colors, and Xia Jun uses... digital.

  Lin Debao brought villagers from Tangkeng Village to start harvesting rice in the fields.

  Xia Jun used a digital camera to take continuous shots, the villagers cut down the rice and then took a bundle of rice to smash onto a wooden board, the grains on top fell off gradually after repeated smashing.

  Xia Jun saw this scene and found that the productivity of rural areas still needs to be improved. Harvesting is so laborious, it won't do.

  A group of villagers also rolled up their sleeves and helped out on the side, and with everyone working together, the five mu of rice was quickly harvested.

  "How much is left below."

  "Right, hurry up and weigh it."

  "I think there should be over 1,000 catties."

  "Isn't this nonsense?"

  A group of villagers were chattering around, at this time a scale as thick as a child's arm was brought up, under the efforts of several strong men, basket after basket of rice was gradually weighed to the right weight.

  "After counting, Lin Debao exclaimed excitedly: 'One thousand three hundred catties.'"

  Wow!

  "1,300 catties!"

  "Ordinary rice varieties can produce about 600 catties, which is already quite good."

  "That's right!"

  "Listen to me, everyone." Xia Jun raised his hand and pressed down, the villagers immediately quieted down and looked at Xia Jun. He said with a heavy heart: "Today, 40 million people in our country are not full, we Xixiang are lucky because we have high-yielding rice varieties, and it is unique to Xixiang. I hope that all of you will work together with me to make sure that every person in Xixiang has enough food to eat and warm clothes to wear."

  "Okay."

  The villagers all applauded at once. Xia Jun's words were indeed elegant, he didn't say "security team" anymore, but said "our Xixiang", instantly pulling them closer together.

  Then those rural gentry also found out that Xia Jun was willing to provide this high-yielding rice variety to them.

  Of course, Xia Jun still has something to say, he wants to plant his high-yielding rice, at least 100 kilograms of rice per mu for him. Otherwise, wouldn't he be losing money?

  And now Xixiang is tax-free, Xia Jun still has to support his troops!

  Under Xia Jun's temptation, the village gentry signed their names on the "Xixiang Autonomous Manifesto" drafted by Xia Jun that day, and the Xixiang Autonomous Council was formally established.

  The number of members of the council is fixed at 70, and the council building is located in Long Village. The council is convened on the fifteenth day of each month when the market is held, and sometimes an emergency meeting is also convened.

  At the first council meeting, Xia Jun threw out an administrative bill.

  The proposal mainly classified each village and set up six administrative villages. Under the administrative villages are natural villages, and this proposal was almost unanimously passed.

  Xia Jun then brought out a second proposal, which decided to establish one primary school in each of the six administrative villages and one middle school in Long Village.

  These six primary schools and one secondary school will provide free education for the children of Xixiang.

  As for the required expenses... a group of rural gentry discussed it for half a day and decided to concentrate this year's land taxes, each village reported the amount, and when added up, there were nearly 10,000 silver dollars.

  In the end, most of the gentry agreed on this proposal and took out 10,000 silver dollars to run the Western Township Education.

  Xia Jun was delighted to see this, originally thinking that he would have to pay for the education expenses himself. Unexpectedly, these rural gentry solved it themselves. Education is of utmost importance, without education there are no talents, and if he wants to develop further, education is crucial.

  Then a group of gentry discussed for another half day and decided to send someone to other places to invite new school teachers, and the education in Xixiang would be carried out in accordance with the new school method.

  At this time, Confucian scholars had no legal status, although they were dissatisfied, most people would not insist on not letting their children attend new schools.

  Xia Jun naturally became the principal of the middle school, and the model of Chairman Chiang's success as a modern principal was right there, how could he not emulate it.

  After the meeting was over, the gentry also went back.

  Xia Jun then called Zhang Si Gou over, who was currently serving as the squad leader. Xia Jun had always been somewhat wary of him, after all, Zhang Si Gou's connections were well-known, and many soldiers in the squad had a good relationship with him.

  "Four Dogs! This name is too embarrassing! I called you over today to give you a new name." Xia Jun said with a smile.

  "Thank you, Captain! You can give me a better name!" Zhang Si Dog said with joy, thinking that the captain gave him a name, guessing that he wanted to make him his confidant. The captain is so capable, following him will definitely have a bright future!

  "I'll think about it... Let's just call her Ji Yu then! Zhang Ji Yu." Xia Jun thought for a moment and casually came up with a name.

  "Zhang Jiyu, Zhang Jiyu, this name sounds good. From now on, I'll call my four dogs Zhang Jiyu." Zhang Sidog excitedly said.

  At this time, Xia Jun smiled and said: "Of course, calling you over to take the name is secondary. There's a very important task that I want to assign to you."

  "Please instruct, Captain. Zhang Si Gou will definitely complete the task." Zhang Si Gou puffed out his chest and stood at attention, giving a military salute.

  "It's all right." Xia Jun nodded and said, "You also know that now we are in Xixiang autonomous region, the government will inevitably react. As the saying goes, 'know yourself and know your enemy, win a hundred battles without danger.' What we lack now is an intelligence network. We don't know when the Qing army will attack or which route they will take. Once we clash with the government, although our strength will definitely not lose, but it will be very passive to deal with, just like a blind man."

  Xia Jun paused for a moment, then continued: "So! I called you here today to entrust this important task to you. From now on, you will be the director of our Jianzhou Security Team's Military Intelligence Bureau, with a monthly salary of 20 silver dollars. In addition, we'll provide you with an additional 5,000 silver dollars as expenses."

  "Ah!" Zhang Si Dog was stunned, how did he suddenly become the director? And his salary had also been increased.

  "Your mission is to spread your network in Jian'an and Jiangyang, monitor the movements of government troops and bandits in real-time, and report back immediately if there's any sign of trouble." Xia Jun said.

  Zhang Si Dog is very clever, and he has some culture, and he is a local, so he is the best candidate to set up an intelligence department. At the same time, Xia Jun's intention is also to transfer Zhang Si Dog out of the army, lest he form cliques in the security team, and one day when he is sleeping, he will be done by him.

  "The task is indeed very arduous, do you have confidence in completing it?"

  "There is, Fourth Dog guarantees the completion of the task." Zhang Fourth Dog gritted his teeth and took it on, but actually had no confidence in his heart, not knowing if he could handle it.

  ————

  The first shift is here, vote!