Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Chapter 1214 – Monster Research Institute
Making use of the resting period, Ouyang Shuo remained in the Capital City and adjusted the Imperial Court Structure based on the development needs of the dynasty. Building the Great Xia Bank was just the first step in this organizational adjustment.
10th month, 10th day, the Great Xia Traffic Department and Asset Management Department were established.
These two organizations were not listed under any of the four courts and had a similar status to the Industrialization Department. It was managed directly by the Cabinet. Such an arrangement was due to both strategic needs and the need to balance the powers of the four courts.
The four courts held enormous power within the Imperial Court. Once their power swells too much, they would go against the Cabinet to suppress it. If the problem was more serious, it might even lead to administrative orders not running smoothly.
It was due to such considerations that these two departments were not under the four courts.
The Traffic Department had the Road and Bridge Division, Water Transport Division, Ocean Transport Division, and Railroad Division to manage all traffic related facilities of the dynasty. They were in charge of organizing, regulating, and pushing out plans regarding land and ocean transport. They were responsible for joining up the transport systems to promote connections between the various modes of transports.
The most eye catching one was the Railroad Division.
Along with the dynasty industrialization proceeding swiftly, the construction of railroads was officially shifted up the schedule. The preliminary plan was to build the Fengshan line that started up north in Fallen Phoenix City and ended in Shanhai City.
The Fengshan line would go through Hedong, Zhongyuan, Jingchu, Xiangnan, and Chuannan, these five provinces, opening up the north south transport channel of the dynasty. It would strengthen the dynasty’s control of the provinces.
Although Jingchu Province was still under Great Song rule, to build such a railroad that stretched from north to south was a huge project to the current Great Xia. It was similar to the Great Wall of China.
The Imperial Court planned for this line to be completed in three years.
It was because of this Fengshan line railroad plan that the Imperial Court decided to independently set up the Railroad Division.
The Asset Management Department, like its name, was in charge of managing the enterprises that the dynasty had set up. This role was previously taken by the Industry and Development Planning Department under the Financial Court.
To pull it out was not to weaken the power of the Financial Court. Rather, as the scale of the corporations and groups grew, they needed a professional organization to manage it.
Shu Mountain Steel Corporation, China Garment Group, China Construction Group, Canglong Military Works Group, Shanying Brand Bicycle Factory, and other enterprises would be under the management of this group.
Only the China Shipping Group was listed under the Traffic Department.
Using this chance, the Imperial Court also made changes to the chambers of commerce, leading them to undergo a company system revolution to set up industry standards and audit the running of the businesses.
This job would be managed by the Business Department under the Financial Court.
Great Xia’s commerce and business environment was really prosperous, and it was relatively free and developed. Based on the calculations by the Business Department, there were no less than five thousand different sized chambers of commerce in Great Xia.
Amongst which, the giants amongst the chambers of commerce like the Bai Family Trading Company, Cui Chamber of Commerce, Song Chamber of Commerce, and Thread Chamber of Commerce had their businesses encapsulating many different industries.
As long as the Imperial Court allowed them to enter that industry, these super chambers of commerce would enter it.
The chambers of commerce had slowly become the giants hiding beneath the surface; this was a huge risk to the dynasty because they could surface at any moment and affect the running of the Imperial Court.
Ouyang Shuo had to be wary about it.
Along with industrialization intensifying, the power of capital would only become stronger and stronger and become more and more unrestrained.
What Ouyang Shuo could do, or rather, what Great Xia Imperial Court could do, was not to use violence to control it because that would only hurt the commerce environment that they had set up arduously. Such a course of action would only injure both sides.
The true way to solve the root of the problem was to restrain this beast before it revealed itself from the water. They would use policies to lead them and achieve a win-win situation.
Changing the running system of companies was the first weapon that the Imperial Court released.
They would use this change in system to establish the industry and commerce registration system to make the businesses of the chambers of commerce more transparent and easier to monitor.
By establishing the company qualification auditing system, they could remove substandard products and increase the threshold to enter the industries. It was also helpful for monitoring the chambers of commerce because they would not be able to just swarm at all areas that could make money.
Apart from that, it helped to raise tax returns and prevent the chambers of commerce from avoiding taxes.
All things considered, Ouyang Shuo was determined to let the Business Department focus heavily on this and try to complete the relevant changes in the systems and auditing work before the 7th year.
If a chamber of commerce dared to comply only in appearance, Ouyang Shuo would go down on them viciously.
In the short term, this would definitely affect the eagerness and proactiveness of the chambers of commerce, reducing some of their strength. However, from a long term viewpoint, it would help to increase the scale of Great Xia’s business environment and help to make it more prosperous.
The construction of the finance system had become an important aspect of territory construction.
…
11th day, Ouyang Shuo arrived in the Privy Court office to attend an unveiling ceremony.
The Privy Court would establish the Monster Research Institute to research and analyze the way the monsters and beasts fought and develop weapons and equipment targeting them. Additionally, they would develop methods to turn the monster meat into military rations and the like.
Entering the 10th month, the number of beast calamities in the various lands did not show any signs of decreasing and was instead becoming more and more serious. Based on the Privy Court data, the casualties of the soldiers in the camp near the beast caves were slowly increasing.
This matter attracted Ouyang Shuo’s attention.
Gaia really was not playing around this time. The beast waves had become a huge problem to the territories, and it was even worse than the raiders and bandits of the past.
It was only the first year of the beast siege, so would there be new changes next year?
Ouyang Shuo had no way to find out, so he could only prepare and defend against it.
It was under such a situation that Ouyang Shuo decided to establish the Monster Research Institute to go from the back foot to the front foot. That was because the monsters and beasts were lifelike and real, and the results of the research would help them in the future on Planet Hope.
……
10th month, 12th day, Shanhai City.
Within the Imperial Reading Room, Ouyang Shuo summoned the Science, Education, Culture, and Health director Ouyang Xiu to discuss the education system that was about to released. This was also one of the matters that Ouyang Shuo focused on out of all the change in systems because this concerned the foundations of the dynasty.
A change in the education system, a change in the banking and commerce system, and the like was all done to speed up modernization.
Along with the dynasty territory expanding, just relying on the Xinan University and the Army Military Academy, these two civil and military academies, was not enough to sustain the territory’s need to develop talents.
A change of system was needed.
Ouyang Shuo decided to rename the Xinan University to Capital University, Army Military Academy to Army Military University, and Navy Academy to Navy University.
It was not only a name change. The Capital University and the Army Military University would be moved from the imperial city to a place where they had more space to build a bigger campus to fulfil the needs of expansion.
The imperial city was just too small and restricted, and it was not suitable for the freedom and openness required for a school.
Apart from that, Ouyang Shuo decided to build a Capital Teacher Training Institute where the three universities were moved to for developing education experts to inject blood into this change in system.
In the future, other professional universities would be set up like the Capital Arts University.
An even further plan would be to establish local universities in central cities like Luoyang, Quanzhou, and Chengdu to further perfect the education system.
Only then could the dynasty’s need for talents be quenched.
Just as Ouyang Shuo and Ouyang Xiu were discussing the education planning, a guard suddenly ran in, “My king, the Shanhai Guard intel station in the Mongol Empire has sent a red emergency document.”
Ouyang Shuo was shocked and knew that something big had definitely happened.
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