Struggle in Russia

Li Xiao feels that if Russia's reformists continue to operate according to the current model without making changes, big problems will occur sooner or later.

As the Russian people gradually awaken and as more and more elites are dissatisfied with the status quo, can revolution be far behind?

It's not that Li Xiao is afraid of revolution, but once it gets to that point, it will have a huge impact on his interests.

So the day after the Ukrainian reform bill was passed, he specifically found Nikolay Milyutin and put forward a new proposal: universal basic education.

This proposal confused Nikolai Milyutin, but it wasn't that he didn't think it was necessary. Russia's social elite understand the importance of education. We also hope to broaden people’s wisdom as much as possible.

But the problem is no money!

Now that the Ministry of Finance has opened the skylight, at least there is not much money left in the treasury. Universal basic education requires huge financial support. Where does the money come from?

Of course, Li Xiao knew that the money problem was difficult to solve, and it might not be feasible to wait another thirty years to do this with the support of the treasury.

"Although the difficulties are very real, I think this is a matter of great merit and must be done, and the sooner the better!" Li Xiao replied sincerely.

Nikolai Milyutin smiled bitterly: "But there is no money!"

Li Xiao nodded and said: "Yes, the funding problem is very difficult. But I think it is not completely impossible to solve... I think universal basic education can also be divided into several steps. At present, because I am really difficult, I can consider some measures first. Conduct pilot projects in large cities, such as St. Petersburg, Moscow, and Kiev... We will first popularize basic education in these cities, and then gradually expand the scale when funds become available. "

Nikolai Milyutin touched his chin and thought about this possibility carefully. To be honest, even if it is only a small-scale pilot, the difficulties are still huge. After all, big cities have a large population and the expenses are not small!

Li Xiao quickly said: "Of course we cannot rely solely on financial support. We should try to widely absorb social funds, such as calling for donations..."

Nikolai Milyutin's cheeks twitched, donating money didn't sound very comfortable. What's more, there have been too many donations in recent years, and the Crimean War emptied the pockets of many nobles.

Donate again now? Can people be happy?

Li Xiao explained: "Of course, we are not apportioning and mandating donations, that won't work. I can personally take the lead in donating 300,000 rubles. This should have a certain demonstration effect, right?"

Is three hundred thousand rubles a lot?

Of course, it’s a lot. For ordinary Russians, they may not earn more than 10,000 rubles in their lifetime. A relatively well-off aristocratic family may have total assets of only thirty to fifty thousand rubles.

There are very few people in Russia like Li Xiao who can donate 300,000 rubles in one go.

Nikolai Milyuting knew what Li Xiao meant very well. He had already taken the lead in donating so much money, and other reformist bigwigs couldn't help it.

And you shouldn’t be too stingy. You can’t even spend 30,000 to 50,000 rubles for a trivial thing. You have to donate at least 100,000 rubles to be decent.

If you calculate it like this, the reformist big guys can probably raise 2 million rubles here. If other reformist little bosses join in, it won't be a big problem to raise 3 million rubles.

But just because the problem isn't big doesn't mean it's completely feasible. In Nikolai Milyutin's opinion, it's just a one-shot deal. After all, it’s impossible to force people to donate so much money every year, right?

Once these three million rubles are used up, will the so-called universal basic education become obsolete?

Li Xiao nodded and said: "Yes, such donations are indispensable. Once the funds are spent, the project will most likely have to be terminated."

Nikolai Milyutin frowned and said, "Then what's the point of doing this?"

Li Xiao smiled and replied: "Listen to me. If all three million rubles are invested in the basic education popularization project, it may be able to sustain the expenses of the three cities of St. Petersburg, Moscow and Kiev for about three years. And basic education is A long-term project should be carried out for a long time.”

Nikolai Milyutin nodded, this was what he was worried about.

Li Xiao continued: "So the idea of ​​​​investing all our funds in one go and closing the stall after three years will definitely not work. I think the best way is to set up an education fund and use the funds we raise to give birth to more children. money, and then allocate part of it every year to maintain education expenses, so that it can last!”

Nikolay Milutin was stunned. Li Xiao's meaning was very simple, that is, use the three million to do business to make more money, and then use the money earned to maintain education expenses.

Why does he feel so unreliable in doing this?

He asked worriedly: "What if the fund doesn't make any money, or even loses money?"

Li Xiao nodded and said: "This possibility does not exist, but I think with the influence of you and Duke Vorontsov and other Your Excellencies, the possibility of finding Shuyuan www.zhaoshuyuan.com is very small."

Nikolai Milyutin was speechless again, these words were too outrageous. It is almost obvious that they will rely on the influence of their big bosses to do business. With their power and status, there is really no possibility of losing money.

But, if you do it this way, it always tastes a little weird. It made him feel a little bored.

"Isn't it good?" he said hesitantly.

Li Xiao smiled and said: "What's wrong? Yes, we do need to rely on the influence of you and other gentlemen, but we are not buying or selling by force, we are just relying on your influence to conduct better business activities. !”

Nikolai Milyutin still felt that it was inappropriate, and Li Xiao quickly said: "I personally think that popularizing basic education is more important than this little discomfort. It only takes such a small price to pay for thousands of people to be educated." It is worth the price to change the fate of children who once could not afford to go to school!”

Nikolai Milyutin stopped talking, because Li Xiao was right. If thousands of children can be saved from their original fate, the price is indeed worth it.

He is not a pedantic person, even if he thinks that doing business is not good, but considering that even if they are not in the officialdom, there are thousands of officials doing similar things.

Compared with those greedy guys, their purpose is noble. In this case, why not do it?

After thinking for a moment, he said to Li Xiao: "I will forward your suggestions to Duke Vorontsov and the Grand Duchess. We still need to listen to their opinions on how to do it!"

To Li Xiao, this was actually a disguised agreement. Nikolai Milyuting should have asked those people for their opinions to see if it could be done, rather than how to do it!