1905: Beer Hall Speaker

Page 117

Even if you don't get promoted in the end, being the head of the Prime Minister's Office still gives you considerable influence; at the very least, you can sit at the table of the Supreme Council of Government.

At that time, as long as Ding Anmin is willing to help, Zhao Yangchun can also try to get the position of Minister of the Central Committee, which is the ultimate dream of the Republic's cultural management system.

To gain access to the central government, one must either become the deputy head of a department or, given the opportunity to become the head of a department, any provincial governor would seize it.

The new political rules under the republican system are completely different from the old system of the Manchu Qing Dynasty. In the past, many positions were exclusively held by Manchus. Even if a Han official risked his life, it would not be as effective as a Manchu's casual greeting. The emperor made the decision with a single word.

The Manchu imperial family and the Manchu Eight Banners held absolute power. At best, Han officials were only allowed in to maintain balance, such as the well-known character Ji Xiaolan in the TV series, who was able to fight back and forth with Heshen.

In reality, Ji Yun only gained the favor of Emperor Qianlong by selling out the Siku Quanshu (Complete Library of the Four Treasuries) as a pledge of loyalty and by betraying his own cultural heritage. In the end, he sold out the legacy of the ancient Han Chinese sages who had lived for thousands of years, and finally became the Minister of Rites and a Grand Secretary. However, when he saw Heshen, he still had to stand at attention obediently and had no courage to fight him.

With the current republican government, after Zhao Yan came to power, the Han officials have ushered in a political spring, and all the factions and the veterans who have always followed him have all ascended to heaven.

Zhao Yan was all alone. He had no brothers or sisters, and not even a single relative. At best, he had a group of disobedient disciples to keep him in line.

Originally, after marrying Wu Xia, he hoped that his stepson Wu Zifu would be able to handle things. However, Wu Zifu's mind was full of revolution, and he went to become the chairman of the Comintern in name only.

Such a vast country, with 400 million people, two capitals and twenty-nine provinces—what a huge political pie this is! It's a pity that even if Zhao Yan eats until he's stuffed, he can only eat a small portion.

The rest can only be eaten by those who are capable. The only thing Zhao Yan can do is set a standard and let political achievements and data determine everything. The rest is up to the subordinates to rely on their own abilities.

People like Zhao Yangchun, in the Qing Dynasty, would at most be a prefect, but now, they have the potential to rise to the top of the central government.

Only when you reach the position of a high-ranking official in the capital, or the head of a department, can you truly see the light at the end of the tunnel and have the opportunity to stand at the foot of the emperor and look up at the scenery on the mountaintop.

As for trekking through the snow to the mountaintop, that's unrealistic. The position of Premier is no longer a matter of luck; it's a sure thing for veterans. If you're not among the veterans of the Changsha Uprising and the Songhu Beer Hall, you can forget about that position. You'd only get it if all those veterans died.

But look at the ages of Zhang Xinghua, Wang Dingyun, and Wu Zifu, who can outlive them!

"The road to officialdom is fraught with difficulties, and each mountain is higher than the last. I wonder if I can overcome this obstacle and see the scenery in the clouds?"

Zhao Yangchun stared out the window, a look of ambition flashing across his face.

Chapter 196 Northeast (1)

Fuyuan County, early morning.

Farmer Li Chunhua stepped out of his mud-brick house and sat down in front of the door, slurping down a bowl of corn porridge.

Fuyuan County is located in the northeast corner of Heilongjiang Province, in the northeast of Northeast China. The area across the river is Russian territory.

Fuyuan County currently has a population of 76,000, of which more than 50,000 are immigrants from within the Great Wall, especially from Shandong and Hebei provinces.

The county has as much as 2.77 million mu of arable land, and that's not the limit. The problem is that there isn't enough manpower. After all, the area is located in the Sanjiang Plain, with open terrain and fertile soil. However, the climate is somewhat cold, and only one staple food can be grown per year.

The main industry in Fuyuan County is agriculture, mainly the planting of corn, wheat and soybeans. Apart from agriculture, the county's biggest source of income is "smuggling".

The term "smuggling" is very broad, encompassing smuggling of people, goods, information, and other items.

Li Chunhua enjoys crossing the river to Russia to make money whenever he has free time. He owns 70 mu of land in Fuyuan County, which is just within the tax-free zone for his family of seven, but he also owns more than 400 mu of land in Russia on the other side of the river.

When trouble comes, they act as law-abiding citizens within China; when there's no trouble, they take up guns and become mobs in Russia across the border.

This is the simple survival rule of many Chinese farmers in the northeastern border region. The Russians, on the other side of the river, number only about a million, but they occupy vast forests and lands in the Outer Khingan Mountains and the Sanjiang Plain. This is unfair.

What the Chinese find most intolerable is unfairness. They have excellent land and forests, but since the Russians don't have enough labor to develop them, they shouldn't blame the Chinese for coming to help.

During the Far East War, many Chinese took advantage of the fact that the Russians were too busy to pay attention to the situation and went to the other side of the strait to cultivate land and run forest farms. After the war ended, they continued to go there to farm the land without any qualms.

The Russians were helpless in this situation and could only acquiesce. They even went so far as to process Russian citizenship for these people, hoping to assimilate them as immigrants.

But the idea of ​​Chinese illegal immigrants is very simple: they want all the benefits, but in the end they still have to be Chinese. No matter what kind of citizenship or naturalization they get, they all agree verbally but refuse to admit it in practice.

People traveled back and forth between the two sides of the strait very frequently, but it was mainly Chinese people going back and forth. There were ferry crossings and docks everywhere along the river. Chinese farmers would go there to work during the day and come back to sleep at night.

The Russians attempted repression but dared not use force because the Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation between China and Russia, signed in Irkutsk, stipulated a visa-free policy between the two sides and the opening of channels for people-to-people exchanges.

If the Russians dare to expel Chinese people from their territory, they will be violating the Sino-Russian Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation. Then the Russian military can enter Russian territory to defend "international peace" under the pretext of Russia's breach of the treaty.

There were also many Russians attacking Chinese people who illegally entered the country and seized land, but the Chinese never waited overnight to retaliate and would kill the perpetrators on the same day.

Every night, groups of armed migrants would cross into Russia to commit crimes, and then brazenly return by boat during the day.

The more than 300,000 Chinese who originally lived in Russia also began to act unruly. Relying on the support of their motherland, they continued to erode the original Russian share in various fields such as agriculture, commerce, shipping, and fishing. Gradually, they colluded with foreign forces to turn what was originally Russia's Far East into China's Far East.

Behind all this is the support of the Heilongjiang Provincial Government and the entire Northeast China. They are taking advantage of their large numbers and the small number of Russians. Since they cannot use force to reclaim lost territory due to treaty restrictions, they will use every means other than force to take back their interests.

"Old Li, are you working on this side of the river today, or on the other side?" A neighbor carrying a hoe greeted Li Chunhua as he passed by.

Li Chunhua finished the last mouthful of corn porridge, put away the bowl, and laughed heartily, "It must be across the river. There are hundreds of acres of land over there. It's almost harvest time, so we can't afford to delay!"

The neighbor said, "Alright, I'll go too. Let's go to the dock together. I bet a lot of people will be going today. Bring your guns. If those Russians dare to cause trouble, we'll wipe them out!"

Li Chunhua chuckled sheepishly, "I still have two hand grenades at home, I'll bring them with me. If we don't need them, we'll fry fish on the way back and have a good meal tonight!"

The neighbor nodded and said, "That's fine. I'll bring out the wine tonight and cook a whole pot!"

After breakfast, hundreds of people began to gather at the river dock. They were all strong laborers from nearby villages, carrying rifles and hoes, and some even had grenades on their waists. They were all farmers waiting to take a boat to the other side of the river to work.

Three armed gunboats on the dock were making final preparations to add water and coal. The gunboats belonged to the border defense fleet and were responsible for patrolling when they were not in a position to do so. On the side, they would give some people traveling between the two sides of the strait a ride to earn some extra money.

The Russians also have patrol boats on the river, but they only exist on the official list; in reality, those patrol boats have been sold to unidentified customers due to "rust and mold."

Half of the Russian river defense troops on the other side were also Chinese, and their own people could cross the river by boat without any hindrance.

The Russians' rule in the Far East is currently on the verge of collapse. Their army of over 100,000 suffered a crushing defeat in the Far East war and was relentlessly pursued by Zhao Yan.

Since then, the Han Chinese in Northeast China are no longer afraid of the Russians, while the Russians are filled with fear of the Han Chinese.

The top military and political officials of the Russian Far East Governor-General's Office were all holed up in Vladivostok like snails. As long as the Chinese didn't launch a full-scale armed invasion or cut off the Trans-Siberian Railway, everything else was a minor matter.

The Russian army could only barely control cities like Shuangchengzi, Khabarovsk, and Vladivostok. As for areas outside these cities, well, they were powerless to do so; the money His Majesty the Tsar had given them was only enough to cover so few tasks.

At 10 a.m., a scene of thousands of sails racing began on the Heilongjiang River. A large number of sailboats, small steamships, and even wooden fishing boats were heading to the opposite bank, carrying a large number of laborers to Russia.

The Russians on the other side ignored it, pretending not to see it.

After crossing the river, people began to appear on the vast fertile land on the other side. Groups of farmers went to the fields and began to work diligently to harvest wheat and soybeans.

There were also merchant ships and merchants waiting at the dock, specializing in buying freshly harvested crops, especially soybeans. Many merchants waved Han Yuan banknotes to find farmers to buy their produce.

Recently, after the governments of the four northeastern provinces simultaneously began to tighten soybean export quotas, the market price of soybeans surged to 87 yuan per ton, which is equivalent to about 5.8 pounds!

Sounds intimidating, right? But it's really not that bad. The average price of grain in China is currently stable at eight cents per kilogram, which is at a historical low. That means the price of grain is only about eighty yuan per ton. In reality, the price of bulk grain transactions is stable at about 65 to 73 yuan per ton.

But in reality, growing grain is more profitable, because these days, the yield of soybeans per mu is only about 100 jin, but the yield of wheat can be more than twice that. This is based on fertile black soil. If it is land inside the Great Wall, the yield will be even lower.

The main reason farmers are willing to grow soybeans is that they can fertilize the soil, can be planted intermittently without affecting staple food crops, and are very easy to sell!

Of course, farmers can't receive payment based on the port futures price; they can only receive half at most, with the remainder going to the distributors.

This was only after China gained tariff autonomy and independent import and export rights following the war, giving it bargaining power. Before that, when China lacked tariff autonomy and relied heavily on foreign channels for exports, foreigners would relentlessly drive down prices. At its peak, the price of soybeans was only about £1.9 per ton, equivalent to 28.5 yuan per ton.

After calculation, each kilogram of soybeans can only be sold for 2.8 cents, and the farmers probably only get less than 1.5 cents. It's unbelievable that an oilseed crop is cheaper than grains!

Even at this price, some foreigners still complained it was too expensive and wanted to keep haggling. But now, Chinese suppliers are completely indifferent; if you don't want it at this price, I'll just sell it domestically. And if you want it, that's all the quota I can get—I won't give you any more.

Li Chunhua has now arrived at his own land. These "illegal lands" are 244 mu (approximately 16.7 hectares) of land that he has cultivated over three years, from the war to the present. All of them are fertile land near the river.

Of course, the methods of land reclamation were far from honorable, and even carried the sins of the first pot of gold, but the victimized Russians were too powerless to speak out, so let's just pretend it didn't exist.

Today, Li Chunhua hired more than 200 local Russians as laborers to harvest all the farmland. The pay was 80 cents per person, with each Russian laborer responsible for one acre of land. Payment was made immediately after the harvest was completed.

In the past two years, local Russians have also relied heavily on labor opportunities provided by Han Chinese on the other side of the strait to earn wages, especially during the busy farming season, when it is most profitable, with a starting wage of at least six cents a day and endless work every day.

Of course, if the wage is 60 cents, the employer has to provide a meal, and it has to be a meal with alcohol. If it's 80 cents, then no meal is required.

During the off-season, many Russians would even go to China to work, because there were many infrastructure projects in China that needed to recruit workers. The wages were generally around three yuan per month, which was very stable and safe. Most importantly, they were not subject to exploitation by Tsarist Russian officials!

Russian rule in the heart of Europe was a complete mess. Corruption and dereliction of duty were minor issues; the norm was the disregard for human life and rampant exploitation.

Europe was in such a state, and the Far East was even worse. The Russians who came here were the lowest rungs of society who couldn't make it in Europe, and many of them were exiles. The officials here were also heartless.

Otherwise, why would so much land be occupied by the Chinese? It's because even the Russians themselves couldn't stand the exploitation by officials. The more land they cultivated, the more the officials exploited them.

The less land is planted, the more officials, in order to meet their performance targets, will intensify their taxation and exploitation, creating a vicious cycle.

It wasn't until the Han Chinese began to value these lands more that the Russian officials, who were either unwilling or too afraid to cede them, began to back down. Under the threat of the Russian defense forces on the other side of the strait, they negotiated a fixed amount with the Han Chinese farmers, levying a tax of 0.6 rubles per mu.

Russian Far East officials were surprised to find that in 1908 alone they had collected more than two million rubles in taxes, and after paying St. Petersburg, a considerable amount was still left in their own pockets.

Local Russians also abandoned their land to work for the Han Chinese, and some even entrusted their land to Han Chinese in exchange for a fixed tax rate.

Thus, the Russian Far East became a distorted ecosystem constructed by multiple parties. The local governments of the four northeastern provinces and the military were ambitious and eyeing the region covetously. There were frequent and close interactions between the people and the Russian Far East Governor-General and the military and political leaders, who were living a life of debauchery and simply going through the motions.

Whether they were officials or generals, their biggest concern every day was how to make more money for themselves and then use their connections to be transferred back to Europe.

The Far East is too close to China. No matter how ambitious the Russian elites are, once they come here and experience the reality, they will understand that this is a land destined to be lost. Just as easily it was ceded from the Qing Dynasty, it will be just as easily thrown away now.

Getting back to the main point, Li Chunhua's land was harvested by four o'clock in the afternoon. The Russians bundled the neatly harvested soybeans along with the stalks, loaded them onto horse-drawn carts, and sent them to the dock.

When it came time to settle the bill, Li Chunhua reluctantly handed over more than 190 yuan in wages. This was all for the Russian foreman, who would then take at least 30 cents from each person before giving the rest to each individual.

After the 245 mu of land was sampled and weighed by the buyers at the dock, it was estimated that the total amount of soybeans that could be produced was about 9.5 tons, with a yield of less than 40 kilograms per mu.

The buyer offered a purchase price of 44.73 yuan per ton, based on a weight of nine tons, and Li Chunhua agreed after thinking about it.

The buyer readily gave him 403 yuan, rounding up the change. After calculating the harvester's wages and land tax, and the transaction tax to be paid back on the other side, Li Chunhua estimated that he would only have 40 or 50 yuan left to pocket.

Traders need to make money, Russians need to collect taxes, local Russian workers need to earn wages, and they still have to pay taxes when they return home. It's already quite good that they can keep this much.

In this day and age, information is scarce, and everyone has their own way of making money. There's no such thing as a one-stop shop where you can make all the money yourself.

Li Chunhua was fortunate that he sold his produce on the other side of the river. If the provincial agricultural department's officials had come down to force him to buy it in two more days, he would have had to sell it for even less, and he probably would have only made a meager profit in the end.

Farmers rely on this last bit of income before winter arrives, as they have no income during the year and can only make enough to cover their expenses throughout the year.

Many crops in Northeast China are only harvested once a year, and it is difficult to harvest them twice a year unless they are grown in greenhouses.

Chapter 197 Northeast (2)

"These stubborn Russians are simply asking for trouble!"

"The connection between China and Russia's railways is irrefutable proof of the friendship between the two countries and a symbol of the enduring friendship between China and Russia. Why would they refuse it?"

Standing at the end of the railway line on the riverbank in Fuyuan County, Zhan Tianyou held up his binoculars and gazed at the opposite bank with a face full of resentment.

When the Jiamusi Railway reached Heixiazi Island, Zhan Tianyou went to great lengths to build a bridge. He was just waiting for the Russians on the other side to give in so that he could build the Fuyuan Bridge across the river and connect the Jiamusi Railway directly to Khabarovsk in Russia, thus connecting it to the Trans-Siberian Railway.

But the Russians were stubborn as mules, determined to refuse. No matter how much Zhan Tianyou pleaded, the Russians simply wouldn't agree.

"Minister, why don't we have someone from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the central level come forward and communicate properly? We specially built this broad-gauge railway precisely to seamlessly connect with the Trans-Siberian Railway. If it can't be connected, wouldn't all our efforts be wasted?"

His subordinates were also full of resentment. They had clearly agreed to cover all the costs of building the railway bridge, and the Russians could have just enjoyed the fruits of their labor. If the Russians had come to them, Zhan Tianyou would have been overjoyed. But when it was their turn to approach them, they were met with a cold shoulder.

"Hmph, why should the Ministry of Foreign Affairs get involved in my Ministry of Transport's affairs? Do you expect me, a minister, to bow down and beg Gao Dewu for help?" Zhan Tianyou also had his pride. As a minister at the division level, why should he have to ask Gao Dewu for help?

Gao Dewu's chances of becoming the head of the Etiquette and Education Department are still slim, but his own promotion to the head of the Infrastructure Department is a sure thing.

Since the beginning of 1907, Zhan Tianyou has been in Northeast China under the imperial order of Zhao Yan to be in charge of infrastructure and transportation development. Now, a full 31 months have passed. Zhan Tianyou has expanded the original Chinese Eastern Railway into a double-track railway, built the main artery of the Northeast Ring Railway, built a railway from Shenyang directly to the Yalu River in Andong, and a railway line to Pyongyang is also being approved.

Under Zhan Tianyou's leadership, the infrastructure and transportation in Northeast China underwent a revolutionary breakthrough, at the cost of spending 78 million taels of central government funding and the deaths of over one million people in reform camps.

The railway mileage in Northeast China increased directly from 1,800 kilometers in 1906 to 7,700 kilometers today. It can be said that he laid the foundation for the infrastructure of the Northeast Development.

"Oh well. They refuse now, but they'll agree in the future. It's only a matter of time. It's just a last-ditch effort, which is understandable."

"Now the matter in the Northeast can be put to rest. Infrastructure development across the country should be a coordinated effort. We can't just focus on the Northeast; other places should also benefit from the development."

"The central government has urged me to return. The Longhai Railway and the Beijing-Shanghai Railway are progressing and require a lot of manpower and resources. The reform camps in Northeast China, as well as the road construction funds and equipment, all need to set off for the interior."

Zhan Tianyou sighed, his face full of regret. After all that effort, they still couldn't open up the China-Russia railway. It was truly a pity.

Unfortunately, he has to let go, and it is estimated that he will have little chance to personally organize and direct the construction of railways in the future. The central government has made it clear that Zhan Tianyou is the only candidate for the new Prime Minister's Office Cabinet Chief of Infrastructure. No one is competing with him, but the position of Minister of Transport will be vacated after he is promoted.

The new Minister of Transportation will be someone promoted from Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Zhan Tianyou can only compete for the remaining vice minister position. Although the Minister of Transportation and the vice minister are both at the director level, their prestige is completely different. The former is the top leader, while the latter is just the deputy. It's roughly the difference between a fourth-rank official and a fourth-rank official.

After that, Zhan Tianyou became the top person in the national engineering and infrastructure field. He was in charge of the planning and management of not only railways and highways, but also water conservancy facilities, power stations, power grids, ports, and airports.

He will no longer be in charge of just the Ministry of Transport. He will be overseeing the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Railways, the Ministry of Water Resources, and other departments. He will no longer have the opportunity to personally visit the front lines and watch a road be built from scratch.

His subordinates understood Zhan Tianyou's feelings and comforted him, saying, "Minister, we can talk about the future later. You have already done your best."

Zhan Tianyou withdrew his gaze, turned around and walked towards the carriage. Before getting in, he turned back and said, "Don't get involved in this change in the Ministry of Transportation. We just need to focus on road construction and not meddle in anything else."

"After I leave, the Northeast Railway Bureau will be established, and you will be its director. Your rank will be that of a fifth-grade minister, the same level as a provincial governor. Don't concern yourself with central government affairs; just stay in the Northeast. As long as you achieve results, things will be easier to arrange when you return to the capital!"

He was instructed by his subordinates, his face showing reluctance: "I will follow your instructions, but Minister, please take good care of yourself when I'm not by your side!"

Zhan Tianyou nodded without saying a word, then got into the carriage and headed to the train station.

That evening, Zhan Tianyou's special train arrived in Harbin. While ministers of the central government were not entitled to special train privileges, cabinet members were. Cabinet members were considered the pinnacle of civil service positions, and the next level up was cabinet member plus committee member.

Committee members may hold high positions but have little real power, but if they are paired with a cabinet member with real power, they will definitely hold high positions and have great power, second only to the emperor.

Zhan Tianyou is the official with the best chance of achieving this, because the head of state Zhao Yan attaches unparalleled importance to national infrastructure. It is not impossible that a prime minister or vice prime minister will be specially appointed to handle infrastructure in the future.