Chapter 1263: Prepare for war first, prepare for education (Second update, please subscribe)
"The military's intention is..."
After thinking about it, Sun Hu said directly.
"The military's intention is very simple. War is nothing more than a competition of guns, artillery and ammunition. This competition is about industrial production. After the outbreak of war, the empire will definitely mobilize all factories to produce military products. This plan was formulated as early as the Nanhua period, and the National Defense Mobilization Committee revises it every two years."
The National Defense Mobilization Committee is a very special organization. There are both civil servants and military officers in the committee. It is the only "mixed organization" in the Ming Dynasty. This organization was established in the Nanhua era. It was established by Emperor Zhu under "survival pressure". It belongs neither to the military nor to the civil servants. It is an independent organization that directly obeys the palace.
What is its responsibility?
That is to formulate a national defense mobilization plan, conduct a survey of the population, industry and agriculture of the Ming Dynasty every two years, in order to find out the empire's war potential and formulate a corresponding mobilization plan.
Therefore, Sun Hu was not worried at all about military supply production and manpower mobilization.
"There has never been a country in the world that prepares for a 25-year war, let alone a total war. Moreover, the weapons in the Empire's military reserve are enough to arm 200 divisions, so there should be no problem with mobilization. The only problem is..."
After a pause, Sun Hu said.
"These are not real war preparations!"
"General, what is the real war preparation?"
“True war preparedness is not necessarily military production, but the most insignificant education!”
Sun Hu said.
"The original intention of Ming Dynasty's compulsory education was to provide a high-quality workforce for industrialization. In the past 28 years, it was through popular education that industrial upgrading and replacement were completed to prepare for human resources. Of course, popular education is also the most important part of preparing for war, because war is not only a competition of industrial production machines, but also a competition of manpower, and this manpower is not available at any time."
After a pause, Sun Hu looked at Qian Degong and said,
"If Prime Minister Qian asks what the military wants the government to do, then ask the Executive Yuan to change the six-year compulsory education to nine years!"
Looking at the Imperial Prime Minister in front of him, Sun Hu, the Imperial Army General, explained.
"The current six-year compulsory education implemented in the empire includes some military content in the basic physical education class, but the real military training still has to wait until junior high school. Half of the physical education in junior high school is military sports, and military courses will be offered in high school. Although it is said that two or three months of intensive training is enough to train qualified soldiers based on primary school education, once a war breaks out, the empire will need millions of non-commissioned officers. These non-commissioned officers must receive junior high school education, and qualified non-commissioned officers need at least one and a half years, and officers need at least two years. The reserve in this regard still depends on the popularization of nine-year compulsory education. Now the reserve officer corps in the imperial university and expert colleges can provide enough officers. Those who receive primary school education are soldiers, but between soldiers and officers, a large number of non-commissioned officers are needed. There is such a fault in the current military system of the empire. My suggestion is to establish a reserve of non-commissioned officers by popularizing junior high school education and establishing reserve training for reserve soldiers in technical schools..."
In fact, nine years of compulsory education is the military’s most important supplementary opinion on the empire’s war preparedness plan.
Of course, compared to other options, this suggestion can be said to be the most expensive.
"Moreover, this matter is not only related to future wars, but also to the improvement of the overall quality of the people, a matter for generations to come... If the finances allow, please expand compulsory education to junior high schools and popularize nine-year compulsory education. Can Prime Minister Qian achieve this goal?"
Faced with this suggestion that benefits both the country and the people, Qian Degong did not answer immediately. He just pondered silently in his mind.
As the Prime Minister of the empire, Qian Degong certainly could not make a decision on a whim. Implementing nine-year compulsory education is definitely beneficial to the country and the people, but many things cannot be decided with just a word. In his mind, he was quickly calculating the expenses of implementing nine-year compulsory education.
Money is the key to everything.
While Qian Degong was concentrating on mental arithmetic, Sun Hu was not in a hurry. He just drank tea silently. After drinking tea for several minutes, Qian Degong slowly raised his head.
“Let’s use all the revenue from state-owned land to support education!”
Sun Hu was speechless for a while.
As we all know, the empire's biggest financial benefit is not taxation, but the rent from state-owned land. The empire's land tax on private land is not heavy, but the empire has nearly 1.2 billion acres of state-owned land, and 25% of the output of those lands is collected uniformly by the government in the form of rent.
How much money is this?
A total of more than 700 million yuan!
That is more than 100 million pounds. In the past few decades, the empire has relied on the rent from state-owned land to invest in industrialization, and the annual education expenditure of 150 million yuan is also spent from there.
After a long silence, Sun Hu put down the teacup in his hand:
"Qian Xiang...how much money do you want?"
"According to what you said, universal nine-year compulsory education across the country, including the cost of establishing a preparatory group for technical schools, takes into account the need to build a large number of new schools. Junior high schools have been expanded, and high schools must also be expanded. At the same time, the same is true for universities. From infrastructure construction to staff salaries, these are all costs. In the first three years, an average of about 400 to 500 million yuan per year will be needed."
"You want so much..."
Sun Hu was suddenly surprised. He certainly understood what the number Qian Degong reported meant.
"We have already established many schools before. Have you considered this? We are not starting from scratch. The Empire has built many schools over the years..."
“It has been deducted.”
Qian Degong answered mercilessly.
Seeing that Sun Hu seemed a little unconvinced, Qian Degong picked up the teacup, drank a sip of tea, and then explained seriously:
"I calculated it according to the imperial standard for ordinary junior high schools. Each school has 300 students. The school building is a simple brick and tile house, each accommodating 30 to 40 people. Towns with conditions can build two-story buildings. In addition to classrooms, libraries and laboratories are also needed, but each school must be equipped with a standard playground with a 400-meter runway, plus a basketball court, and all the corresponding sports equipment. Junior high schools can be set up in the market, and they are allocated according to primary schools and population ratios. Each school is of similar size and requires similar facilities. Although the government can purchase in large quantities to reduce costs, the expenses in this regard are not small. Correspondingly, there is also the expansion of high schools and universities. After all, the foundation has expanded, and the upper level must also expand accordingly. This accounts for 35% of the total cost. After all, the higher you go, the greater the expenses. In addition, national defense education and military education also require a large amount of funds, 500 million per year..."
After a pause, Qian Degong said.
"Five hundred million may be considered too little. Even after the early construction is completed, the expenditure will not be less than 300 million!"
"This... universalizing nine-year compulsory education requires so many resources..."
Sun Hu frowned and said.
"300 million... that's a lot! If we use it to build dreadnoughts, it would be enough to build dozens of them!"
(End of this chapter)
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