On the fifth day of the fourth month of the eighth year of Gaia, the admiral of the Royal Navy, General of the Imperial Army Zhou Yu, was summoned to the capital.
Zhou Yu had come to the capital this time to accept his new appointment.
A few days ago, in view of the imminent surrender of the Egyptian Dynasty and the imminent return of Great Xia to the Mediterranean Sea, Ouyang Shuo suggested that the imperial court decided to immediately restore the designation of the Atlantic Fleet.
In fact, as early as April of the sixth year of Gaia, the reconstruction of the Atlantic Fleet had already begun. The relevant personnel training and warship construction were still ongoing.
The Protectorate of Africa was the headquarters of the Atlantic Fleet.
The reason why the designation had been delayed until now was also because the situation in the Mediterranean Sea was unclear. Even if the Atlantic Fleet was restored, it would be useless and would instead raise the vigilance of the European dynasties. The loss outweighed the gain.
Zhou Yu was the new admiral of the Atlantic Fleet.
While restoring the designation of the Atlantic Fleet, the imperial court would also remove the designation of the Royal Fleet. The Royal Fleet would be integrated into the Atlantic Fleet as a whole, becoming the First Formation of the Atlantic Fleet.
This was also Ouyang Shuo's suggestion.
The original purpose of the Royal Fleet was to escort Ouyang Shuo on his voyages. Ouyang Shuo's two voyages had laid the foundation for the empire's domination of the seas.
The contribution of the Royal Fleet was indispensable.
At this point in time, Ouyang Shuo didn't have a need to sail the seas any longer because Grand Xia's territory had already spread all over the world, and it would be a waste to maintain such a fleet.
In the past two years, the Royal Fleet had basically been docked in the Beibu Gulf and rarely had the opportunity to go out.
Merging the Royal Fleet into the Atlantic Fleet would not only save the expenses of the imperial court, but it would also provide the Atlantic Fleet with a core formation, which would be very beneficial to increasing the strength of the Atlantic Fleet.
As such, the Great Xia Navy maintained its five major fleets. The three major ocean-going fleets operated independently, while the two coastal fleets belonged to the Central Plains and Nanyang warzones respectively.
The structure of the navy was stabilizing.
Apart from the Mediterranean Sea, the Atlantic Fleet's defensive area would mainly be active in the Atlantic Ocean in the future, including the South American region in the west and the Moroccan region in the east.
South America, in particular, would become an important defense area for the Atlantic Fleet in the future.
The flagship of the Atlantic Fleet was named Alvaro to commemorate the former admiral who had died in battle.
This was also a kind of inheritance.
This transfer was also a platform for Zhou Yu to display his talents.
After accepting the appointment, Zhou Yu would lead the former Royal Fleet to cross the Indian Ocean and head for Africa. He would rendezvous with the other four fleets and reestablish the name of the Atlantic Fleet.
The first battle was to seize control of the Mediterranean Sea.
…
After sending Zhou Yu off, Ouyang Shuo began to read through the memorials.
After the opening of the yamen, the Imperial Court began to execute the important matters that had been decided by the Military and Political Conference a year ago. In the past March, the Press and Publication Bureau and the Sports Bureau had been established.
All kinds of newspapers and magazines sprang up like mushrooms after a spring rain, greatly enriching the lives of the common people.
Subscribing to newspapers had become the new trend of urban culture.
Faced with this kind of new thing, the Press and Publication Bureau's supervision standards were relatively strict. They demanded that the newspapers were not allowed to discuss national affairs, promote vulgar culture, etc.
Ouyang Shuo's attitude was that he would rather walk a bit slower than walk too fast, so as to avoid talking nonsense.
Of course, the imperial court would also provide great support to some outstanding periodicals. For example, the [Poetry Weekly] and the [Folk Arts Miscellany], which were established by the Writers' Association, received a cultural support fund of 10,000 Great Xia Dollars each in order to distribute the periodicals overseas.
Ouyang Shuo had even subscribed to these two magazines and would read them whenever he had time.
The people below could also see that His Majesty spared no effort in promoting traditional Chinese culture.
As the saying goes, "Whatever is good at the top, those at the bottom must be even worse."
Ouyang Shuo's attitude had set off a national culture craze in the local provinces, especially in overseas regions, such as the African continent. Learning Chinese, learning to write Chinese characters, and reciting poems had become a trend.
Cultural assimilation was quietly germinating.
Such a move was difficult to implement even in the Federation era. As the game world was a blank slate, Ouyang Shuo could paint whatever he wanted. Who knows, he might really be able to create a new situation.
The announcement of the Empire's first Sports Meet had also been sent to the entire country, setting off a fitness craze everywhere. According to the regulations, in order to ensure the fairness of the competition, martial artists were not allowed to participate in sports competitions.
Ouyang Shuo wanted the entire nation to be fit, to promote the spirit of sports competition, and not to let martial artists show off. The stage for martial artists should be the annual Martial Arts Conference held by the Martial Arts Department.
Before the Empire's Sports Meet, each province would hold a local sports meet around June. First, it was to promote this new thing, and at the same time, it was to select outstanding athletes to participate in the National Games.
For this reason, the newly established Sports Bureau recruited a large number of professionals who had been in the sports industry in the real world, to guide the formulation of the competition rules, and to train professional referees and other professionals.
The Sports Bureau at the provincial level also followed suit, which solved the employment problem of a lot of mutants.
Because it was established in a hurry, there were bound to be loopholes. Ouyang Shuo was not worried, however. As long as it was put into operation, he could clean up the parasites and regulate the industry.
In addition, after deciding to give priority to the development of the coastal cities such as Shen City and Zhen Hai City, the Imperial Court began to increase their support to these cities. Other than financial allocations, they also gave preferential policies to attract talents.
The industrialization of the empire was moving on a different path than before.
The coastal cities would burst forth with power that would attract the attention of the world and become the new engine of the empire's economy.
The downsizing of the government offices was also carried out in an orderly manner.
At the same time, the government offices at all levels would recruit a new batch of professional officials. Of course, the targets were also the mutants, in order to improve the professionalism of the government offices at all levels.
Of course, the recruitment of the mutants was only a temporary solution.
Ouyang Shuo's strategy was to start education for all as soon as possible while paying attention to the construction of universities. He would kick out private schools, family schools, and other institutions, and establish a bottom-up education system.
Primary schools, middle schools, and universities would all be taken care of.
"Let all children of suitable age enjoy free compulsory education." This was Ouyang Shuo's promise.
Just as a wise old man said, "Education is the foundation of a century's plan."
Gaia could impart knowledge to NPCs, but it could not replace the territory to establish a modern education system.
In the past seven years of Gaia, education expenditure accounted for 55% of the empire's gross domestic product (GDP). This year, this figure was raised to 6%. It showed how much importance Ouyang Shuo placed on education.
Ouyang Shuo's ambition for education did not stop there.
He hoped that in the near future, when he reached Hope Planet, the NPC children would be like the mutant children, sitting in the same classroom in this virtual world.
From then on, there would be no distinction between humans and natives.
It had to be said that such ambition contained Ouyang Shuo's shocking schemes that no one knew about.
It was also the biggest conspiracy that Ouyang Shuo had ever laid.
Ouyang Shuo was very clear. Although the mutants were gradually integrating into Great Xia and had a certain level of recognition for the empire. However, to these people who grew up in the Federation era, their minds were filled with democracy and freedom. They would never recognize Ouyang Shuo's rule.
Not to mention, to continue this rule from generation to generation.
If not for Great Xia controlling their distribution rights on Hope Planet, they would not be behaving now.
The Chinese elites' attempts to recruit Ouyang Shuo were full of excuses, and they even wanted to divide Ouyang Shuo's authority. This was an obvious sign.
This was enough to make Ouyang Shuo vigilant.
Therefore, Ouyang Shuo did not have any expectations for this generation of mutants.
Both parties could only take what they needed. It was a binding of interests and nothing else.
However, the natives were different.
Their fathers had wandered the wilderness and entered the embrace of the empire. The empire had given them a second life. From the bottom of their hearts, they saw the empire as their home and Ouyang Shuo as a sage.
Great Xia had become a kind of faith.
Their descendants had also grown up under the empire's nurturing.
Some of the best among them had grown up under Ouyang Shuo's careful nurturing. They had become high officials or military leaders. They were the forces that Ouyang Shuo trusted the most.
They were the cornerstone of Ouyang Shuo's governance of the empire.
As long as he firmly grasped this power, Ouyang Shuo's position would be unshakable.
Allowing their descendants to receive the same educational opportunities as the mutants was diluting the influence of this generation of mutants and assimilating them.
After two or three generations, there would be no difference between the two and they would recognize Great Xia as the only faith.
This was Ouyang Shuo's ultimate goal.
...
Just as Ouyang Shuo was reading the memorials, Bing'er walked in with a pile of memorials.
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